Flashback 1988: My top 10 favorite films from 30 years ago

Amid the harsh reaction to this year's Oscars from everyone from casual film fans to our erratic president, who apparently thinks there aren't "stars" anymore -- I thought I'd bury my head in the sand a bit and take a look backwards by a few decades.

1988 was an interesting year for the movies, in part because it took place in the shadow of a massive writer's strike which took both a creative and financial toll on the film and television business.

I was 6 years old, and while far from a regular moviegoer, some of my earliest memories of seeing a movie in theaters comes from roughly around this time.

In fact, I saw one of the films on this list on the big screen and it left a very strong impression on me at the time, but more on that later.

This was a tough list to whittle down for me, but I think this would be my top 10 for 1988 if I was force to choose.

10) Mississippi Burning - This film was polarizing and controversial when it came out 30 years ago and would likely be eviscerated today for foregrounding the story of two white FBI agents in the fictionalized version of the historic investigation into the murder of a group of activists at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, but counterpoint is that the film is a brilliant look at white attitudes about race -- the full spectrum from liberal condescension to pure vicious hate -- and its towering performances from Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe and Frances McDormand, among others, more than justify its existence. It's a powerful, if narrowly focused film, that packs an emotional wallop.

9) The Last Temptation of Christ - The best film about religious dedication and faith I've probably ever seen and a real passion project for my favorite director, Martin Scorsese. Another excellent Willem Dafoe performance anchors this film about a more flawed, more human Jesus than cinema has ever dared to present, which to my mind makes him the most compelling. This is an ambitious and absorbing film that asks a lot of its viewers, but if you surrender to its highly literate and deeply serious tone, you might find it to be as moving and transcendent a film as I do.

8) Rain Man - If you put stars Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise's off-screen misdeeds aside (and I respect that some can't), this film features some of their best, most emotional work. Cruise finally starts to shed some of his flash as he plays a pretty repulsive person who grows to truly love and respect his autistic brother. Hoffman uses all sort of tics and physicality in his Oscar winning performance, but if there wasn't real vulnerability and feeling conveyed on screen this drama wouldn't work. It's a funny road movie that's instantly quotable and oft-parodied, but few could deny how sweet that shot of Hoffman and Cruise touching heads is.

Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man

7) They Live - Unfortunately this wildly funny satire has become a bit of an overused meme, appropriated by people who either don't get it or want to capitalize on its cult cool. It is very much a John Carpenter film in that is old-fashioned and looking to the future at the same time. A totally bonkers sci-fi trip about a culture secretly infiltrated by aliens pushing consumerism that stars a not totally bad Rowdy Roddy Piper in the lead role. It's an awesomely 80s pastiche that has stood the test of time simply because its central conceit is so timeless.

6) The Naked Gun - The first and the funniest of Leslie Nielsen's three sublimely silly outings as the clueless Lt. Frank Drebin of Police Squad. This is broad, gags-based humor at its best. The absurd plot manages to provide the indelible image of Reggie Jackson trying to assassinate the queen of England, but the real joy of this film has little to do with its story and more its rapid fire pace of puns, put-ons and pratfalls, all of which are so delightfully goofy that this film almost always makes feel like a kid again every time I see it.

5) Who Framed Roger Rabbit? - So this was the movie I was referring to earlier -- I saw this animation-live action hybrid classic when i was a child in theaters, and boy did it scare the crap out of me, but I also loved it. I don't know that I fully processed its clever narrative about Los Angeles and its villain's nefarious scheme to ... build a freeway! I was just blown away by all the creativity and affection for classic animated characters on screen, culminating with a whimsical rendition of "Smile Darn Ya Smile" in the rousing finale. They don't make 'em like this anymore.

4) A Fish Called Wanda - John Cleese expertly transplanted the Monty Python style of humor into a mainstream caper comedy and wound up with a breakout hit. He's never been more charming. Kevin Kline has never been funnier and Jamie Lee Curtis has never been sexier. Meanwhile, Michael Palin's plotline (which results in many, many unintentionally maimed pets) is gut-bustingly funny. The movie functions as both a spoof of uptight, upper-crust Britishness and as a genuinely entertaining heist picture.

3) Die Hard - There is a case to be made that this is the best action film ever made. It certainly has permanently changed how these kinds of films are structured and cast. Bruce Willis was not only capable of acknowledging and playing the comedy of his crisis as a lone cop stuck in a high rise amid a terrorist attack, but he also was willing to be vulnerable in a way most genre stars often weren't at the time. The sequels and the rip-offs have never diminished the power of this perfectly structured popcorn film, which benefits enormously from one of the great villains of all time --Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber.

2) Beetlejuice - This was the film where Tim Burton really came into his own, backed by a stellar cast featuring Michael Keaton in one of his best and most iconic roles -- "the ghost with the most," Beetlejuice. Probably the best comedy to use supernatural elements other than Ghostbusters, its endlessly inventive and memorable, with a striking look and infectious soundtrack. For a movie about death its incredibly upbeat and lighthearted. For years now, Keaton and Burton have teased the prospect of a sequel, but something tells me that this one was just a case of catching lightning in a bottle.

1) Coming to America - I just recently wrote about this Eddie Murphy blockbuster, but I could talk about it all day. It's one of my favorite comedies ever -- it is one of my favorite romantic movies ever. It's gut-bustingly hilarious but also a wonderful vehicle for a celebration of black excellence -- from the costumes and choreography to the richness of the who's who of African-American performers who all turn in winning supporting turns. Murphy was never able to quite reach this height of perfection again, but his multi-character performance here should go in a time capsule as probably the best evidence of his genius.

PAST TOP 10 FAVORITE LISTS
1974 #1 movie - The Godfather Part II
1975 #1 movie - Nashville
1976 #1 movie - Taxi Driver
1977 #1 movie - Star Wars
1984 #1 movie - Ghostbusters
1985 #1 movie - Fletch
1986 #1 movie - Blue Velvet
1987 #1 movie - The Untouchables
1994 #1 movie - Pulp Fiction
1995 #1 movie - Heat
1996:#1 movie - Fargo
1997 #1 movie - Boogie Nights
1998 #1 movie - The Big Lebowski
2004 #1 movie - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005 #1 movie - A History of Violence
2006 #1 movie - Casino Royale
2007 #1 movie - There Will Be Blood
2008 #1 movie - The Wrestler