The year 1988 was chock full of variety when it came to movies, but no matter the genre when it came to my ten personal favorites of the year it would appear that adventure elements are somewhat present in all. Perhaps this is in direct correlation to the fact that I was younger when having watched many of theses movies and they served as more of a fantasy escape for me as opposed to now with my matured mind. Actually, who am I kidding, I’m still six years old and, though more rare, Hollywood movies these days still have the potential to excite me like a kid on an adventure. It just seems the 80’s were ripe with such material. Check out the box office list and then my list.
10. Pumpkinhead: Proof that puppetry and old fashioned special effects can be cooler than CGI, this first Pumpkinhead movie wasn’t the best acted piece of work, but I sensed some depth and emotion in the characters and creature. Pumpkinhead ranks right up with Pinhead as far as my favorite horror movie characters go and it is shame that the series never really took off or stayed interesting, though the concept always will for me.
9. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?: this blend of animation and live action plays as a dark comedy in many ways with Roger’s lady playing patty-cake with another man and murder afoot.
7. Twins: I was a big Arnold fan and loved this movie. I can also point out that Arnold’s scene in which he gets the girl on the floor with him because the bed is too “lumpy,” whoops, got me pretty interested in sex early on in life, at least the fantasy elements of getting the girl and making sweet smooching sounds in my head.
6. Big: Every kid at some point or another wishes they could be an adult already. This movie fulfilled that fantasy or at least gave many of us an inside view of what might happen, in a fictional more entertaining world. Now many of us just want to be a kid again.
5. Willow: Action, adventure with swords and midgets! The bad guy in this Val Kilmar starring movie wore a skull mask that I thought awesome; being a fan of villains in general and He-Man’s Skeletor.
4. Beetlejuice: A gothic comedy of delightfully fun proportions.
3. Die Hard: Real men bleed, and cuss a lot while doing it! Die Hard is one of the greatest action movies of all time thanks to Bruce Willis and the personality he brought to his character.
2. Young Guns: I was never a huge fan of Westerns, but what happened here was a bunch of young stars were put together to tell a fictionalized version of the Regulators and Billy the Kid having gun fights, so that it did not feel like a Western, but more like just any other hip, cool movie. Awesome.
1. The Land Before Time: I love dinosaurs, enough said. I will point out though that none of the sequels were any good and I never understood why they turned into musicals. The first flick never had singing.
