As the first poster in this forum I would like to point in the direction of my lists from the decade which I think are all very good starting points for anyone wanting to dive into the massive material of this decade:
It would be nice with a little opinion exchange on the very best from the decade. I suggest a quick glance at our peronal top ten (however difficult that may be). Here is mine:
1. Back to the Future
2. Blade Runner
3. Mad Max 2
4. Die Hard
5. Manon of the Spring
6. The King of Comedy
7. Castle in the Sky
8. Aliens
9. The Princess Bride
10. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Of my personal top 50 of all time, 26 films are from the 80's. Of those 26, my top ten 80's films are as follows:
1. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
2. The Blues Brothers
3. Scarface
4. Star Wars: Ep. V - The Empire Strikes Back
5. Highlander
6. Aliens
7. Back to the Future
8. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
9. Raiders of the Lost Ark
10. The Terminator
Good list CAD. I really like all of those filmes except Highlander which disappointed me when I gave it a new spin some time ago, but I loved it when I first saw it, back when I was a young teenager, and a movie with Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery about ancient warriors decapitating eachother in a modern day (80s) setting can't be all bad of course. I just rewatched The Empire Strikes Back and loved it more now than ever. I would have bumped it up to no. 5 on my list if I were to re-submit.
I totally agree that "Once Upon a Time in America", "Amadeus" and "This is Spinal Tap" are masterpieces of the 80s and they are potential candidates to my own list. "Back to the Future" is the only movie that everyone in this group so far have agreed on. That's interesting... "The Blues Brothers" deserves special mention because it is the only other movie that has more than one top three entry. Brazil deserves praise for great production design and interesting themes. I really wanted to like that movie, especially since I love "Blade Runner" so much, which is similar in dystopian atmosphere... but I didn't like it , I thought it was too long, too slow or too little invested in its characters. Though I know I am part of a minority there :-)
1.Back to the Future
2.Raging Bull
3.This is Spinal Tap
4.Cinema Paradiso
5.The Blues Brothers
6.Crimes and Misdemeanors
7.Dead Ringers
8.Blue Velvet
9.Come and See
10.Ferris Bueller's Day Off
I really like Hannah and Her Sisters too, but i love how Woody Allen and Alan Alda play of each other in Crimes and Misdemeanors. I do enjoy entertaining movies such as Die Hard and Aliens,but they never really become favourites, i guess thats just my preference.
All good lists, and it's good to see the diversity in genre preference. Personally, the 80's for me was about fantasy...a lot of action and escape from reality...with a bit of humor. :)
Since we are talking about lists and genres, let's see what we can come up with as far as top films in different genres. I'll list the most popular, and you guys can suggest others I might have left out. I'll add my list after I see a couple of lists up so as not to influence your picks. Here are the genres: Action - Ass-kicking, explosions, and catch phrases Adventure/Fantasy - Discovering treasures, new worlds or dimensions Comedy - 10 Laugh Rule applies, funny and quotable (also, Black Comedies) Drama - Since this is the broadest genre, I'll break it down into sub-genres: Coming of Age - The struggle to find one's place in this world Crime - Catching the bad guy or getting away with it (also, Heist movies) Detective - Who done it? Epic - The long journey of discovery or change Gangster - The rise and fall of the bad guy Love Story - The struggle between two lovers...and in the end she just tears out your heart and stomps on it and leaves you alone. Sorry...:P Social Commentary - Fighting against the injustices of the world Horror - Not just a thriller, but blood and guts and demons and zombies and ghosts and psychos Thriller - Someone's out to get you, but not necessarily supernatural Sci-Fi - My favorite genre...Aliens, traveling to other worlds, dimensions, or times...usually by means of science and technology Musical - My least favorite genre, but there are good ones in the 80's...anything with music as a major part in the film or performed through song
A lot of these genres can be interchanged and combined, but try to pick your favorite that best represents that genre. This should be interesting...
OK - Interesting challenge. I have however tried twice to submit my choices but failed both times. Maybe the post became too long? I will try to submit my choices over several posts. I would also like to suggest War (any movie with a historical or current war as a major part of its plot) and Martial Arts (any movie that has hand to hand combat as a major part of its plot). Westerns should have been a seperate genre except that only one good western was made in the 80s as far as I know (Pale Rider). Let me know if there is another...
I guess you could call "martial arts" a sub-category of the action genre, but I do think it deserves special mention because the 80's was the golden age of Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. It also was the starting point for action movie legends Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal among others.
Comedy
1. The Princess Bride
2. A Fish Called Wanda
3. The Naked Gun: From the Files of the Police Squad!
4. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
5. Three Fugitives
Horror
1. Aliens
2. Re-Animator
3. The Shining
4. Nightmare on Elm Street
5. Poltergeist
That leaves me with one last category, drama, which is truly a many-headed beast of a genre. I submit one choice for each of your suggested sub-categories:
Drama Coming of Age - The Breakfast Club Crime - Body Heat Detective - Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Epic - Jean de Florette / Manon des sources Gangster - Once Upon a Time in America Love Story - Overboard Social Commentary - Do the Right Thing
Puh... That was quite a journey through a selection of my favourite 80s movies from each genre. Now feel free to challenge my selections with your own suggestions.
Hm.... I just realised that "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and "Overboard" can't really be called drama movies even though they fit the "detective" and "love story" labels. I guess I need to take some time to think about it and then I will get back to it.
Good stuff. I like your picks. Lots of favorites there. How can I forget War and Martial Arts...duh. I like that you have Overboard in there. One of my underrated favs. I guess that one would fall under the Romantic Comedy sub-genre. I also forgot Animated films, which should be fall into a separate category, I think, but can be many different things. The Princess Bride is one of those movies that fit into multiple categories. "WRONG. Your ears you keep and I'll tell you why. So that every shriek of every child at seeing your hideousness will be yours to cherish. Every babe that weeps at your approach, every woman who cries out, "Dear God! What is that thing," will echo in your perfect ears. That is what to the pain means. It means I leave you in anguish, wallowing in freakish misery forever." One of the best lines of insult in movie history.
I had that problem with the text dissapearing on me too. Copy it first and retry it if it doesn't go through the first time.
OK - Here is one for animation as well. As this is a "genre" I like very much, I'm going to make it a top 10. There were many great animated movies in the 80s, but with the exception of the movies from Studio Ghibli, they don't have a good reputation. It is often considered to be one of the weakest periods for Disney and other movies have been slaughtered by modern movie critics (Empire gave "Fire and Ice" a one star rating). Especially the last two entries on my list are controversial. There might be some nostalgic reasons for my selection of Oliver & Company as it was the first movie I can remember seeing in the cinema as a child. Some will no doubt say it's a crime that I didn't include "My Neighbour Totoro" or "Kiki's Delivery Service". I like both those movies, but find the former to be too slow and childish, while the latter almost made the list, but just fell short because I thought I had ten better candidates. Let me know if you people think I left out something else that should have been included, maybe I haven't seen it yet. Feel free to submit your own top 10 animated movies of the 80s. Here are my selections:
Animation
1. Castle in the Sky
2. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
3. The Great Mouse Detective
4. Barefoot Gen
5. Akira
6. Heavy Metal
7. Secret of Nimh
8. When the Wind Blows
9. Fire and Ice
10. Oliver & Company
OK, since I probably won't have time this weekend since I'm moving, I'll post my pick now. I'll start with your suggestions Zeltaebar. Remember, these are my favorites, and not necessarily the best of the decade, though I believe my taste in films is pretty varied in a good way. :)
War
1. Full Metal Jacket
2. Glory
3. Rambo: First Blood Part II
4. Platoon
5. Missing in Action
Three of these are a given, but the other two are definitely personal favs...I mean, it's Rambo and Chuck Norris!
Martial Arts
1. Karate Kid
2. The Last Dragon
3. Bloodsport
4. No Retreat, No Surrender
5. Ninja III: The Domination
LOL...I laugh at my own pics, but they are so 80's fantastic! :) My true Martial Arts favs are Shaw Bros. and 90's Jet Li, but these are my American 80's favs!
Action
1. Commando
2. Die Hard
3. Dip huet seung hung a.k.a. The Killer
4. Beverly Hills Cop II
5. Cobra
Adventure / Fantasy
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. The Princess Bride
3. Highlander
4. The Beastmaster
5. The Goonies
I may have had these ordered differently in my overall top 50, but since this is all 80's by genre...I think these all fall into their categories well, though most of my Action picks are cop movies, and can be considered Crime, but due to the heavy amount of Action, I believe it's best placed here.
How could I forget "The Karate Kid" in the martial arts category!? I have now edited my original post on that genre to include that great movie. I loved that movie as a child and when I watched it again as an adult I thought it had truly stood the test of time as an American classic. "The Killer" is a great choice and a long time favorite of mine, but just lost out to my five other pics. There are some movies among your pics that I haven't seen yet. I will seek them out very soon :-)
So far 4 of you have submitted your top 10 of the decade, but we have ten members (at the moment of writing). Let's breathe some fresh air into this group and get your opinions published. If we get ten top ten lists published in this forum, then I will make an iCheck-list where I rank our selections. That would be an interesting way of following, seeing and ticking off some of the favourite movies of our fellow 80s connoisseurs.
- Nightmare on elm Street
- Back to the Future
- Aliens
- Die Hard
- Ferris Bueller's day off
- Airplane!
- The Fly
- The Goonies
- Ghostbusters
- Poltergeist
Great list! I love all of those movies except "The Goonies". I've watched it twice and when I watch it I feel like I should like it: an 80s adventure flick with several great young actors (especially Brolin, Astin & Feldman) and with an excellent production team (such as Spielberg and Donner) and a good reputation, but for some reason I don't. I didn't see it as a child and I think a bit of nostalgia might be important in order to appreciate the movie fully today. I can easily see that I would have loved this movie if I saw it when I was a child in the 80.
5 members have submitted their top 10 lists and therefore I've created a compilation list for this group where I calculate points for all movies, add them together and see which movies are the most popular in this particular group (from the 80s). Keep posting top 10s and I will update the list.
1. The king of comedy
2. Tonari no Totoro
3. Blade Runner
4. Star Wars: Episode V
5. Kaze no tani no Naushika
6. The fly
7. The Princess Bride
8. Brazil
9. Amadeus
10. Blue Velvet
A new top 10 entry is immediatly followe by an update of the groups own top 80s list. My Neighbour Totoro is the only new contestant on the list, debuting at number 15. Nausicaä i climbing 18 positions to claim the title of fastest rising star.
1. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
2. Jean de Florette
3. Grave of the Fireflies
4. Ghostbusters
5. Back to the Future
6. The Colour Purple
7. Castle in the Sky
8. Empire of the Sun
9. Amadeus
10. Ordinary People
Add your comment
Comments 1 - 25 of 39
Zeltaebar
As the first poster in this forum I would like to point in the direction of my lists from the decade which I think are all very good starting points for anyone wanting to dive into the massive material of this decade:The Most Popular Movies From the 80s
Total Film's Best Movies of the 80s
The 100 Best Movies of the 80's
Zeltaebar
It would be nice with a little opinion exchange on the very best from the decade. I suggest a quick glance at our peronal top ten (however difficult that may be). Here is mine:1. Back to the Future
2. Blade Runner
3. Mad Max 2
4. Die Hard
5. Manon of the Spring
6. The King of Comedy
7. Castle in the Sky
8. Aliens
9. The Princess Bride
10. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
CAD
Of my personal top 50 of all time, 26 films are from the 80's. Of those 26, my top ten 80's films are as follows:1. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
2. The Blues Brothers
3. Scarface
4. Star Wars: Ep. V - The Empire Strikes Back
5. Highlander
6. Aliens
7. Back to the Future
8. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
9. Raiders of the Lost Ark
10. The Terminator
Zeltaebar
Good list CAD. I really like all of those filmes except Highlander which disappointed me when I gave it a new spin some time ago, but I loved it when I first saw it, back when I was a young teenager, and a movie with Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery about ancient warriors decapitating eachother in a modern day (80s) setting can't be all bad of course. I just rewatched The Empire Strikes Back and loved it more now than ever. I would have bumped it up to no. 5 on my list if I were to re-submit.Zeltaebar
I totally agree that "Once Upon a Time in America", "Amadeus" and "This is Spinal Tap" are masterpieces of the 80s and they are potential candidates to my own list. "Back to the Future" is the only movie that everyone in this group so far have agreed on. That's interesting... "The Blues Brothers" deserves special mention because it is the only other movie that has more than one top three entry. Brazil deserves praise for great production design and interesting themes. I really wanted to like that movie, especially since I love "Blade Runner" so much, which is similar in dystopian atmosphere... but I didn't like it , I thought it was too long, too slow or too little invested in its characters. Though I know I am part of a minority there :-)shydee
1.Back to the Future2.Raging Bull
3.This is Spinal Tap
4.Cinema Paradiso
5.The Blues Brothers
6.Crimes and Misdemeanors
7.Dead Ringers
8.Blue Velvet
9.Come and See
10.Ferris Bueller's Day Off
shydee
I really like Hannah and Her Sisters too, but i love how Woody Allen and Alan Alda play of each other in Crimes and Misdemeanors. I do enjoy entertaining movies such as Die Hard and Aliens,but they never really become favourites, i guess thats just my preference.CAD
All good lists, and it's good to see the diversity in genre preference. Personally, the 80's for me was about fantasy...a lot of action and escape from reality...with a bit of humor. :)Since we are talking about lists and genres, let's see what we can come up with as far as top films in different genres. I'll list the most popular, and you guys can suggest others I might have left out. I'll add my list after I see a couple of lists up so as not to influence your picks. Here are the genres:
Action - Ass-kicking, explosions, and catch phrases
Adventure/Fantasy - Discovering treasures, new worlds or dimensions
Comedy - 10 Laugh Rule applies, funny and quotable (also, Black Comedies)
Drama - Since this is the broadest genre, I'll break it down into sub-genres:
Coming of Age - The struggle to find one's place in this world
Crime - Catching the bad guy or getting away with it (also, Heist movies)
Detective - Who done it?
Epic - The long journey of discovery or change
Gangster - The rise and fall of the bad guy
Love Story - The struggle between two lovers...and in the end she just tears out your heart and stomps on it and leaves you alone. Sorry...:P
Social Commentary - Fighting against the injustices of the world
Horror - Not just a thriller, but blood and guts and demons and zombies and ghosts and psychos
Thriller - Someone's out to get you, but not necessarily supernatural
Sci-Fi - My favorite genre...Aliens, traveling to other worlds, dimensions, or times...usually by means of science and technology
Musical - My least favorite genre, but there are good ones in the 80's...anything with music as a major part in the film or performed through song
A lot of these genres can be interchanged and combined, but try to pick your favorite that best represents that genre. This should be interesting...
Zeltaebar
OK - Interesting challenge. I have however tried twice to submit my choices but failed both times. Maybe the post became too long? I will try to submit my choices over several posts. I would also like to suggest War (any movie with a historical or current war as a major part of its plot) and Martial Arts (any movie that has hand to hand combat as a major part of its plot). Westerns should have been a seperate genre except that only one good western was made in the 80s as far as I know (Pale Rider). Let me know if there is another...I guess you could call "martial arts" a sub-category of the action genre, but I do think it deserves special mention because the 80's was the golden age of Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. It also was the starting point for action movie legends Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal among others.
Zeltaebar
My top five selections for the two extra categories that I would like to add:War
1. Barefoot Gen
2. Ran
3. Full Metal Jacket
4. Kagemusha
5. Gallipoli
Martial Arts
1. Dragons Forever
2. Rocky III
3. The Karate Kid
4. Road House
5. Kickboxer
Zeltaebar
My top five selections for two additional genres:Action
1. Mad Max 2
2. Die Hard
3. Aliens
4. First Blood
5. Lethal Weapon
Adventure / Fantasy
1. Castle in the Sky
2. The Princess Bride
3. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
4. Field of Dreams
5. Raiders of the Lost Ark
Zeltaebar
Another top five for two other genres:Comedy
1. The Princess Bride
2. A Fish Called Wanda
3. The Naked Gun: From the Files of the Police Squad!
4. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
5. Three Fugitives
Horror
1. Aliens
2. Re-Animator
3. The Shining
4. Nightmare on Elm Street
5. Poltergeist
Zeltaebar
Top five selections for three additional genres:Thriller
1. The Hitcher
2. The Terminator (Sci-Fi, but feels like a thriller)
3. Blow Out
4. Witness
5. Outland (Sci-Fi, but feels like a thriller)
Sci-Fi (my favourite genre as well)
1. Back to the Future
2. Blade Runner
3. Mad Max 2
4. Castle in the Sky
5. Aliens
Music & Dance (to broaden the genre a bit)
1. Amadeus (classical)
2. Footloose (dance)
3. Popeye (songs)
4. The Great Muppet Caper (songs)
5. Dirty Dancing (dance)
Zeltaebar
That leaves me with one last category, drama, which is truly a many-headed beast of a genre. I submit one choice for each of your suggested sub-categories:Drama
Coming of Age - The Breakfast Club
Crime - Body Heat
Detective - Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Epic - Jean de Florette / Manon des sources
Gangster - Once Upon a Time in America
Love Story - Overboard
Social Commentary - Do the Right Thing
Puh... That was quite a journey through a selection of my favourite 80s movies from each genre. Now feel free to challenge my selections with your own suggestions.
Hm.... I just realised that "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and "Overboard" can't really be called drama movies even though they fit the "detective" and "love story" labels. I guess I need to take some time to think about it and then I will get back to it.
CAD
Good stuff. I like your picks. Lots of favorites there. How can I forget War and Martial Arts...duh. I like that you have Overboard in there. One of my underrated favs. I guess that one would fall under the Romantic Comedy sub-genre. I also forgot Animated films, which should be fall into a separate category, I think, but can be many different things. The Princess Bride is one of those movies that fit into multiple categories. "WRONG. Your ears you keep and I'll tell you why. So that every shriek of every child at seeing your hideousness will be yours to cherish. Every babe that weeps at your approach, every woman who cries out, "Dear God! What is that thing," will echo in your perfect ears. That is what to the pain means. It means I leave you in anguish, wallowing in freakish misery forever." One of the best lines of insult in movie history.I had that problem with the text dissapearing on me too. Copy it first and retry it if it doesn't go through the first time.
Zeltaebar
OK - Here is one for animation as well. As this is a "genre" I like very much, I'm going to make it a top 10. There were many great animated movies in the 80s, but with the exception of the movies from Studio Ghibli, they don't have a good reputation. It is often considered to be one of the weakest periods for Disney and other movies have been slaughtered by modern movie critics (Empire gave "Fire and Ice" a one star rating). Especially the last two entries on my list are controversial. There might be some nostalgic reasons for my selection of Oliver & Company as it was the first movie I can remember seeing in the cinema as a child. Some will no doubt say it's a crime that I didn't include "My Neighbour Totoro" or "Kiki's Delivery Service". I like both those movies, but find the former to be too slow and childish, while the latter almost made the list, but just fell short because I thought I had ten better candidates. Let me know if you people think I left out something else that should have been included, maybe I haven't seen it yet. Feel free to submit your own top 10 animated movies of the 80s. Here are my selections:Animation
1. Castle in the Sky
2. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
3. The Great Mouse Detective
4. Barefoot Gen
5. Akira
6. Heavy Metal
7. Secret of Nimh
8. When the Wind Blows
9. Fire and Ice
10. Oliver & Company
CAD
OK, since I probably won't have time this weekend since I'm moving, I'll post my pick now. I'll start with your suggestions Zeltaebar. Remember, these are my favorites, and not necessarily the best of the decade, though I believe my taste in films is pretty varied in a good way. :)War
1. Full Metal Jacket
2. Glory
3. Rambo: First Blood Part II
4. Platoon
5. Missing in Action
Three of these are a given, but the other two are definitely personal favs...I mean, it's Rambo and Chuck Norris!
Martial Arts
1. Karate Kid
2. The Last Dragon
3. Bloodsport
4. No Retreat, No Surrender
5. Ninja III: The Domination
LOL...I laugh at my own pics, but they are so 80's fantastic! :) My true Martial Arts favs are Shaw Bros. and 90's Jet Li, but these are my American 80's favs!
CAD
Action1. Commando
2. Die Hard
3. Dip huet seung hung a.k.a. The Killer
4. Beverly Hills Cop II
5. Cobra
Adventure / Fantasy
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. The Princess Bride
3. Highlander
4. The Beastmaster
5. The Goonies
I may have had these ordered differently in my overall top 50, but since this is all 80's by genre...I think these all fall into their categories well, though most of my Action picks are cop movies, and can be considered Crime, but due to the heavy amount of Action, I believe it's best placed here.
Zeltaebar
How could I forget "The Karate Kid" in the martial arts category!? I have now edited my original post on that genre to include that great movie. I loved that movie as a child and when I watched it again as an adult I thought it had truly stood the test of time as an American classic. "The Killer" is a great choice and a long time favorite of mine, but just lost out to my five other pics. There are some movies among your pics that I haven't seen yet. I will seek them out very soon :-)Zeltaebar
So far 4 of you have submitted your top 10 of the decade, but we have ten members (at the moment of writing). Let's breathe some fresh air into this group and get your opinions published. If we get ten top ten lists published in this forum, then I will make an iCheck-list where I rank our selections. That would be an interesting way of following, seeing and ticking off some of the favourite movies of our fellow 80s connoisseurs.RitchievsGabriel
My Top 10 (No Particular Order)- Nightmare on elm Street
- Back to the Future
- Aliens
- Die Hard
- Ferris Bueller's day off
- Airplane!
- The Fly
- The Goonies
- Ghostbusters
- Poltergeist
Zeltaebar
Great list! I love all of those movies except "The Goonies". I've watched it twice and when I watch it I feel like I should like it: an 80s adventure flick with several great young actors (especially Brolin, Astin & Feldman) and with an excellent production team (such as Spielberg and Donner) and a good reputation, but for some reason I don't. I didn't see it as a child and I think a bit of nostalgia might be important in order to appreciate the movie fully today. I can easily see that I would have loved this movie if I saw it when I was a child in the 80.5 members have submitted their top 10 lists and therefore I've created a compilation list for this group where I calculate points for all movies, add them together and see which movies are the most popular in this particular group (from the 80s). Keep posting top 10s and I will update the list.
Tamori
My top 10:1. The king of comedy
2. Tonari no Totoro
3. Blade Runner
4. Star Wars: Episode V
5. Kaze no tani no Naushika
6. The fly
7. The Princess Bride
8. Brazil
9. Amadeus
10. Blue Velvet
Zeltaebar
A new top 10 entry is immediatly followe by an update of the groups own top 80s list. My Neighbour Totoro is the only new contestant on the list, debuting at number 15. Nausicaä i climbing 18 positions to claim the title of fastest rising star.Natashenka
My top 10:1. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
2. Jean de Florette
3. Grave of the Fireflies
4. Ghostbusters
5. Back to the Future
6. The Colour Purple
7. Castle in the Sky
8. Empire of the Sun
9. Amadeus
10. Ordinary People
Showing items 1 – 25 of 39