It was a science fiction kind of year, and not just because they named it after George Orwell's visionary dystopian novel. The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale, and Dell Computers is founded. The first killing of a human being by a robot is recorded at a Michigan factory (it was accidental, not part of an android uprising). The space shuttle Discovery makes its first flight; American astronauts Bruce McCandless and Robert Stewart make the first untethered spacewalk. A woman goes for a stroll in space for the first time: she is Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya; American astronaut Kathryn Sullivan follows her a few months later.

In the U.S., AT&T is broken up into the "Baby Bells"; in the U.K., British Telecom is privatized. Phone service will never be the same on either side of the Atlantic, though travel between the two countries gets cheaper and hipper when Virgin Atlantic makes its inaugural flight. Scary things were happening on both sides of the pond. Bernhard Goetz shoots four teenagers attempting to rob him on a New York subway, and Starlight Express, an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical about roller skating trains, opens in London's West End.

Future gossipmongers rejoice as Prince Harry of Wales is born on September 15, and Scarlett Johansson on November 22. The entertainment world mourns the deaths of Johnny Weissmuller, Marvin Gaye, Count Basie, Andy Kaufman, Francois Truffaut, and Sam Peckinpah.

I was 15 years old in 1984, and I was starting to hang out at the movies sans parents a whole lot more than I used to. And so I actually saw most of these films on a big screen when they were first released, and again and again on VHS and then DVD. I love all these movies to bits.

1.) The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension
Director: W.D. Richter
Starring: Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Jeff Goldblum, Ellen Barkin, Christopher Lloyd
Why a Fave? Pretty much the most gonzo movie ever made -- at least of the big-budget studio stripe -- it is my No. 1 movie of all time, ever, in the history of the universe. Neurosurgeon/rock star/particle physicist Buckaroo Banzai is probably the coolest geek ever.

2.) Ghostbusters
Director: Ivan Reitman
Starring: Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Harold Ramis, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis
Why a Fave? It's one of the best comedies ever made, and it's still funny even after the 100th viewing. It set the stage for everything from The X-Files to Buffy. It is the sardonic base upon which the entirety of Generation X culture is built.

3.) The Terminator
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton
Why a Fave? Go back and watch this flick today, and notice how lean and mean it is. There's not a superfluous bit of fluff or fat here, which is startling to our eyes today, which have been blasted by overblown action movies puffed up with too many explosive set pieces. Cameron reminds us how it's supposed to be done.

4.) This Is Spinal Tap
Director: Marty DiBergi
Starring: David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel, Derek Smalls, Ian Faith
Why a Fave? I was forbidden, as a 13-year-old in 1982, to attend a Spinal Tap concert when their Smell the Glove tour came to NYC, but I got the chance to go behind the scenes when this groundbreaking, visionary rockumentary hit the screens. I still have my old Tap vinyl albums, if you can believe it, but I recently sold on eBay the Nigel Tufnel poster that hung over my bed when I was in eighth grade. (Nigel was soooo much cuter than Eddie Van Halen!)

5.) Splash
Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, John Candy, Eugene Levy
Why a Fave? This sweet fantasy romance showcases Tom Hanks at his early best, and reminds us today why he is (deservedly) one of the biggest stars in the world. Why don't they make movies like this anymore?

6.) Amadeus
Director: Milos Forman
Starring: Tom Hulce, F. Murray Abraham, Jeffrey Jones
Why a Fave? A stunning exploration of genius and madness, jealousy and desire, this is one of the finest movies ever made. (It won Best Picture at the Oscars this year.) The magnificent, passionate music alone makes it worth watching, as well as the perfect combination of the tragic and the heartbreaking, the joyful and the raunchy.

7.) Starman
Director: John Carpenter
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Karen Allen, Charles Martin Smith
Why a Fave? The science fiction love story is a tiny genre, and most examples of it fail miserably. This one soars, thanks for pitch-perfect performances by Bridges and Allen, and the bittersweet interstellar romance.

8.) Comfort and Joy
Director: Bill Forsyth
Starring: Bill Paterson, Eleanor David, Patrick Malahide
Why a Fave? It's a whimsical dramedy about warfare among rival purveyors of ice cream in Glasgow, and it is -- weirdly enough -- actually based on fact. Paterson turns in one of his most charming performances as a deejay/ice-cream peacemaker.

9.) Repo Man
Director: Alex Cox
Starring: Emilio Estevez, Harry Dean Stanton
Why a Fave? The more you drive, the stupider you are? This cult favorite -- a stew of subversive anticonsumerist, antireligion satire -- reminds us that once not so long ago, weird-ass movies were not verboten in Hollywood.

10.) Gremlins
Director: Joe Dante
Starring: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates
Why a Fave? Cute little stuffed-toy-looking critter turn nasty if you feed 'em at the wrong time. What's not to love?

See more of our 10 Best Movie pieces.

Disagree with my picks? Leave a comment below.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
MaryAnn Johanson (email me)
reviews, reviews, reviews! at FlickFilosopher.com

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