Top 10 Films of 1988

1. ''The Unbearable Lightness Of Being'' (Philip Kaufman, USA)

2. ''Dangerous Liaisons'' (Stephen Frears, USA)

3. "A Fish Called Wanda" (Charles Crichton, UK)

4. ''Married To The Mob'' (Jonathan Demme, USA)

5. "Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown" (Pedro Almodovar, Spain)

6. "Who Framed Roger Rabbit ?" (Robert Zemeckis, Disney)

7. "Die Hard" (John McTiernan, USA)

8. "Cinema Paradiso" (Giuseppe Tornatore, Italy)

9. "Ice Palace" (Per Blom, Norway)

10. "Bagdad Café" (Percy Adlon, Germany)

Other great films:

The Accidental Tourist

Akira (Japan)
Another Woman
As Tears Go By (Hong Kong)
Big
Bird

Chocolat (France)

Coming To America 
The Dead Pool

Dead Ringers (Canada)

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Dragons Forever (Hong Kong)

Drowning By Numbers (UK)

Emmanuelle 6

The Everlasting Secret Family (Australia)

The Ghostess With The Mostess

Le Grand Bleu (France)

Hairspray

Her Vengeance (Hong Kong)
High Hopes (UK)
Hôtel Terminus (France)
In The Line Of Duty 3 (Hong Kong)

Karhozat (Hungary)

Krotki film o milosci (Poland)

Krotki film o zabijaniu (Poland)

The Last Temptation Of Christ

La Lectrice (France)

Little Dorrit (UK)

Little Vera (Soviet Union)
Maitre de musique (Belgium)

My Neighbor Totoro (Japan)
The Naked Gun
Oliver And Company
L'Ours (France)

Pelle The Conqueror (Denmark)
Plaff! (Cuba)
Police Story II (Hong Kong)
Powaqqatsi

Rain Man

The Rainbow (UK)

Salaam Bombay (India)
Salsa

Sensual Escape

School On Fire (Hong Kong)

The Summer Of Aviya (Israel)
Tales From The Gimli Hospital (Canada)
Talk Radio

Tangerine Taxi (Canada)

A Taxing Woman's Return (Japan)

Tetsuo: The Iron Man (Japan)

Thin Blue Line

La Vie est un long fleuve tranquille (France)

Willow
Working Girl

Short Top 3:

1. "On s'est tous défilé" (Jean-Luc Godard, France)

2. "Whoregasm" (Nick Zedd, USA)

3. "Puissance de la parole" (Jean-Luc Godard, France)

Other great shorts:

Fingered

Gerçure (Canada)
Gullah Tales

Top 3 Music Videos:

1. "When We Was Fab" (Godley and Creme, George Harrison)

2. "Simply Irresistible" (Terence Donovan, Robert Palmer)

3. "Roll With It" (David Fincher, Steve Winwood)

Top Commercials:

"Revolving Door" (Bush For President)

Other great commercials:

Felix Pommes strips (Sweden)

TV Top 3:

1. "Yes Prime Minister: The Tangled Web" (Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, BBC, UK)

2. "Moonlighting: A Womb With A View" (Jay Daniel, ABC)

3. "Yes Prime Minister: The National Education Service" (Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, BBC, UK)

Other great TV shows:

Trio en mi bemol (France)

Cartoon Top 3:

1. "One Of Those Days" (Bill Plympton, USA)

2. "The Cat Came Back" (Cordell Barker, NFB, Canada)

3. "Love At First Sight" (Pavel Koutsky, Czechoslovakia)

Other great cartoons:

Academy Leader Variations
Pas a deux (Holland)

Les Quatre voeux (France)

Super Powers (Iran)
Technological Threat
Tin Toy

Weak films of 1988:

Une Affaire de femmes (France)
Alice (Czechoslovakia)
Au-dela du vertige
Beetlejuice

Bull Durham
Cannibal Woman In The Avocado Jungle Of Death
Clara's Heart
Deadbeat At Dawn
Gorillas In The Mist
Let's Get Lost
Mississippi Burning
The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey

La Petite voleuse (France)
Les Portes tournantes (Canada)
Red Sorghum (China)
Stand And Deliver
Sur (Argentina)
Tiger Cage (Hong Kong)
The Vanishing (Holland)

Weak shorts:

Appointments Of Dennis Jennings

Weak cartoons:

Arnold Escapes From The Church
Candy Jam (UK)
The Dingles (Canada)
Disconnected (Canada)
Lettre d'amour (Canada)
A Nice Day In The Country (Canada)
The Writer (Holland)

Top Musical of 1988

"Salsa" (Boaz Davidson, Cannon)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit ? (1988) *****

Die Hard (1988) *****

Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown (1988) *****

Married To The Mob (1988) *****

A Fish Called Wanda (1988) *****

Dangerous Liaisons (1988) *****

The Unbearable Lightness Of Being (1988) *****

The best film about the Prague Spring of 1968, Philip Kaufman's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" is an adaptation of Milan Kundera's excellent novel of the same title. The film tells the story of a young surgeon, Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis) who attempts to float above the mundane world of personal responsibility and commitment to practice a sex life that has no traffic with the heart, to escape untouched from the world of sensual pleasure while retaining his privacy and his loneliness. His relationships with two women, Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin, as well as various short flings, dominate the story. But the real subject of Kaufman's film is freedom (the 'lightness' of the title). Rita Kempley described the film in Washington Post as a mix of ''glitzy garter belt look of "Cabaret" and the somber Angst of Bergman. Puckered lips and rounded bottoms are intercut with invasion-era newsreels of bodies under sheets. Artful compositions, with hats off to Magritte, are set to the eerie arpeggios of Leos Janacek's score. It's an atmosphere that stirs the heart, the hormones and the head. Allegorically, Tomas is torn between the two women, as he is between East and West, anarchy and order. And the movie is held together by the constant tension between people and nations, the power of love and the love of power''. It's a Hollywood movie, but with a very European sensibility, due not only to the original material, but also to the fact that the script for adapted by the great French screenwriter, Jean-Claude Carrière (''Belle de jour'', ''The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie'', ''Milou en mai'', ''Cyrano de Bergerac'').

Akira (1988) ****

Krotki film o milosci (1988) ****

Bagdad Café (1988) ****

Ice Palace (1988) ****

Cinema Paradiso (1988) ****

Beautiful and touching film about a little Sicilian boy, his childhood and his great love for cinema.

Krotki film o zabijaniu (1988) ****

Wstrzasajacy film o okrutnym zabojstwie taksowkarza przez mlodego wloczege. Film przedstawia ponury obraz polskiej rzeczywistosci u schylku ery komunistycznej. Skrocona, nieco mniej udana wersja tego filmu jest piatym epizodem telewizyjnego cyklu "Dekalog".

Big (1988) ****

A little boy suddenly becomes an adult (played by Tom Hanks).

Dead Ringers (1988) ****

Willow (1988) ***

Excellent fantasy film.

Thin Blue Line (1988) ***

Compelling documentary about a miscarriage of justice.

Talk Radio (1988) ***

Oliver Stone directed this hard-hitting film about a controversial talk radio host.

Plaff! (1988) ***

Brechtian comedy from Cuba.

Oliver And Company (1988) ***

A little cat joins a bunch of canine thieves. A animated adaptation of Dickens' "Oliver Twist", set in contemporary New York. Songs: 

"Once Upon A Time In New York" * 

"Why Should I Worry ?" ** 

"Streets Of Gold" * 

"Perfect Isn't Easy" * 

"Good Company" 

"Why Should I Worry ?" (reprise) *

Little Dorrit (1988) ***

A superlative adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel set in a debtor's prison. It consists of two parts, each telling the same story from a different point of view.

"Nobody's Fault" ***
"Little Dorrit's Story" ***

In The Line Of Duty 3 (1988) ***

Cynthia Khan kicks some major ass in this fine crime flick from Hong Kong. Aka "Force Of The Dragon".

High Hopes (1988) ***

Very original black comedy about snobbery and class-consciousness in Thatcher's Britain.

Hairspray (1988) ***

Ricky Lake is an obese dance contest winner in this campy comedy directed by John Waters.

Dragons Forever (1988) ***

Jackie Chan plays an ass-kicking lawyer in this typical chop socky film.

The Dead Pool (1988) ***

Clint Eastwood, Liam Neeson and Jim Carrey star in the fourth sequel to "Dirty Harry" (1971).

As Tears Go By (1988) ***

A responsible gangster (Andy Lau) has to deal with his impulsive "little brother" (Jacky Cheung) who can't keep out of trouble. Maggie Cheung plays Lau's love interest. This is Wong Kar-Wai's first film, less self-conscious and artsy than his later creations, but beautifully shot and directed.

The Accidental Tourist (1988) ***

Interesting film about a travel-guide writer (William Hurt) and his romance with an excentric dog-trainer (Geena Davis).

The Naked Gun (1988) ***

The first, and the best, of the farces starring Leslie Nielsen as the bumbling Lt. Frank Drebin.

Maitre de musique (1988) ***

Excellent Belgian film.

Hôtel Terminus (1988) ***

Excellent documentary about Klaus Barbie, the notorious Gestapo chief in Lyon.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) ***

Excellent, and very sophisticated comedy starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine.

Another Woman (1988) ***

Gena Rowlands star in this serious drama directed by Woody Allen.

Bird (1988) ***

Wonderful jazz musical by Clint Eastwood.

L'Ours (1988) ***

An orphan cub is adopted by a large kodiak bear who's chased by two hunters in the Canadian Rockies. Beautiful film, gorgeous photography.

Police Story II (1988) ***

Jackie Chan plays a disgruntled cop in this engrossing sequel to the 1985 hit.

Powaqqatsi (1988) ***

A follow-up to "Koyaanisqatsi" (1983), filmed in Brazil, Egypt, Kenya, Peru, India, Hong Kong, Israel, France, Nepal and Berlin.

Salaam Bombay (1988) ***

Deeply moving film about young children living on the streets of Bombay.

Salsa (1988) ***

Excellent dance numbers in this fine musical with a Latino flavor. Songs include:

"Cali Pachanguero" *
"Under My Skin" *
"Good Lovin'" *
"Oye Como Va" *
"Puerto Rico" **
"I Know" **
"Spanish Harlem" **
"Margarita" **
"Chicos y Chicas" **
"Puerto Rico" (reprise) **

School On Fire (1988) ***

A young schoolgirl (Fennie Yuen) witnesses a crime, testifies against the triads and pays a heavy price for it by being forced into prostitution. The script belongs to a sexploitation flick, but helmer Ringo Lam directs it like a straight crime movie. Nevertheless, it includes a scene where the girl is forced to strip to her underwear in front of leering gangsters.

Tales From The Gimli Hospital (1988) ***

Surrealistic tale about nurses, patients and old Icelandic legends.

Coming To America (1988) ***

Working Girl (1988) ***

Rain Man (1988) ***

The Last Temptation Of Christ (1988) ***