A little about my favorite movies of 1979: Alien: You've probably heard of it. Sometimes it's a little too arty for its own good, but I still like it. Try to imagine a world before anyone ever saw a creepy alien burst out of someone's stomach - you can't, can you? That's how much of a cultural impact this movie left. Apocalypse Now: Actually I don't really like this movie, but 1979 was a pretty slow year for films and I needed a tenth entry. It's just nowhere near as "deep" as people like to think it is. However I did enjoy the short film "Pork Lips Now" which I highly recommend. Being There: Who should get credit for this, Hal Ashby, Jerzy Kozinski, or Peter Sellers? Maybe all three. Too bad Hal Ashby died so young. Come to think of it, all three of those people died early, so maybe there was a curse on this movie. The Tin Drum: Don't see this until you've read the book, not because it distorts the book, but because reading the book was one of the most pleasurable reading experiences I have ever had. You wouldn't want to miss out on that! Also if you ever plan to eat eels in your life, do it before watching this movie because you won't be able to afterwards. That's all I'm saying. The Jerk: A movie that feels dumb watching it the first time, but that can be watched with rapt attention from then on. I like to watch it on TBS and see how they edited many scenes beyond comprehension, due to naughty language. My favorite is how they changed Navin's letter home from "I should be getting more work soon - my girlfriend promised me a blow job" to "my girlfriend promised me a job" which renders Navin's stepbrother's reaction unintelligeble. The Life of Brian: Not another Monty Python movie! Aren't we sick to death of them yet? No, we are not. I just like it for the socio- religio-political discourse about Roman-occupied Palestine, really. Mad Max: Sadly, I have only ever seen this in the infamous dubbed version, because the movie studio didn't think Americans were smart enough to understand Australian accents. They still do that - they dubbed "Babe"! Anyhow, this is a perfect b-movie. Nosferatu: One of my all-time favorite movies. Werner Herzog shows how to make a CREATIVE shot-for-shot remake of a classic film, in this case Max Schreck's silent classic. Hypnotic. And Isabelle Adjani is the palest, most haunted looking actress they could have hoped for, to say nothing of how perfect Klaus Kinski is for the vampire. There is a dubbed version of this floating around, which I have heard is an embarrassment. Phantasm: Another fine b-movie. See? 1979 was a slim year for films. The plot and images resemble a dream, a b-movie dream. I bet the surrealist crowd would have appreciated it. Rock 'n' Roll High School: Oh, what ever happened to PJ Soles? I once read that this movie was written, incredibly enough, without a particular band in mind. I can't imagine anyone else besides the Ramones in it, though. A perfect b-movie comedy.