Top 101 Movies of the 80s (2 Viewers)

[JAA]

Nothing really to do with the plot, but E.T. to me had among the best residential neighborhoods. Totally wanted to live in a neighborhood like that when I first saw it as a kid.

Last time I watched it, I was high

I AM SHOCKED. I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING AT ALL.

Might as well watch Pink Floyd – The Wall on acid then. Hope that wasnt a spoiler

 

[KarmaPolice]

They've seen Karate Kid when they were maybe 12 and liked it fine. I can't imaging DRS being in their wheelhouse though.

An excellent FFA thread would be you watching this 80's movies list with you son and his friend.

This was my podcast idea I pimped to my kid. Had a title and everything.

He wanted no part of that.

 

[massraider]

#35: THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY

80s' #11 movie. Another I haven't seen.

The Year of Living Dangerously is a 1982 Australian romantic drama film directed by Peter Weir and co-written by Weir and David Williamson. It was adapted from Christopher Koch's 1978 novel The Year of Living Dangerously. The story is about a love affair set in Indonesia during the overthrow of President Sukarno. It follows a group of foreign correspondents in Jakarta on the eve of an attempted coup by the 30 September Movement in 1965.

This movie is on that list of movies that I walked by and looked at for years in video stores, and never got. I saw it eventually, but not on VHS.

 

[JAA]

Question. Is Stand By Me considered artsy fartsy?

Absolutely not. I would characterize it as a "drama". Not some neo-orchid period piece from Indonesia staring a 7 year old Linda Liotta.

 

[massraider]

They've seen Karate Kid when they were maybe 12 and liked it fine. I can't imaging DRS being in their wheelhouse though.

An excellent FFA thread would be you watching this 80's movies list with you son and his friend.

This was my podcast idea I pimped to my kid. Had a title and everything.

He wanted no part of that.

OK, tonight we are doing Ordinary People. Have some Red Bull, Junior

 

[KarmaPolice]

They've seen Karate Kid when they were maybe 12 and liked it fine. I can't imaging DRS being in their wheelhouse though.

An excellent FFA thread would be you watching this 80's movies list with you son and his friend.

This was my podcast idea I pimped to my kid. Had a title and everything.

He wanted no part of that.

OK, tonight we are doing Ordinary People. Have some Red Bull, Junior

Lol. Nah, it was going to be 100% the b.s. I watched as a kid.

 

[JAA]

I was told there would be picks??? Who is managing the draft time? WTF is going on here?!!? Pick already, or we will Vikings your pick over to

Spoiler: spoiler

Heavy Metal

Im assuming you dont have that on your remaining lists

 

[JAA]

worst
draft
ever

 

[Manster]

I get the people upset about Raiders. It was in my top 30. Those complaint about Jedi? Come on. I’m glad KP liked it but that was such a letdown after Empire. It did it’s job in wrapping up the trilogy and selling lots of toys but it’s just an ok movie.

I will be fully honest - I think a bit of my being surprised by Jedi on the rewatch could be the disappointment most of the others since then have been. Jedi ranking about 4th or 5th in the Star Wars universe sounds about right to me, and since SW was such a huge part of mine and my kid's youth I had to include is. #36 might have been a little high, but probably so was I.

I can watch the original trilogy and it takes me right back to being a kid.....love all 3! Had the action figures...the whole 9. Everything after, in the SW universe was because of those three movies. The work George Lucas, and Industrial Light, and Magic did was ground breaking at the time. They changed the game. That legacy alone puts Jedi high on the the list for me...and I still like the movie quite a bit too.

 

[Ilov80s]

#35: THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY

80s' #11 movie. Another I haven't seen.

The Year of Living Dangerously is a 1982 Australian romantic drama film directed by Peter Weir and co-written by Weir and David Williamson. It was adapted from Christopher Koch's 1978 novel The Year of Living Dangerously. The story is about a love affair set in Indonesia during the overthrow of President Sukarno. It follows a group of foreign correspondents in Jakarta on the eve of an attempted coup by the 30 September Movement in 1965.

It’s in English, don’t worry

Also maybe this is a better description: Mel Gibson is a foreign war correspondent during a military coup while falling for a sexy young lady.

 

[Ilov80s]

@KarmaPolice i don’t know how others feel but should we take the weekend off? I feel like traffic is pretty slow here on the weekends. I’m not sure how much I’ll be around during the day.

 

[rockaction]

Kevin Costner is way overrated. Bill Durham is way overated.

I doubt Bill Durham would be in my top 20 of sports movies in the 1980s.

This is nuts.

Bull Durham isn't just a rom-com about two people, it's a Walt Whitman-esque love letter to all that spring and summer are in America.

It's a glacially-paced, wonderful movie about wandering spirits, wanderlust, and just plain old lust.

 

[Ilov80s]

#35: THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY

80s' #11 movie. Another I haven't seen.

The Year of Living Dangerously is a 1982 Australian romantic drama film directed by Peter Weir and co-written by Weir and David Williamson. It was adapted from Christopher Koch's 1978 novel The Year of Living Dangerously. The story is about a love affair set in Indonesia during the overthrow of President Sukarno. It follows a group of foreign correspondents in Jakarta on the eve of an attempted coup by the 30 September Movement in 1965.

This movie is on that list of movies that I walked by and looked at for years in video stores, and never got. I saw it eventually, but not on VHS.

It’s got an awesome movie poster for sure

 

[rockaction]

#43: THE RIGHT STUFF

80s' #18 pick. This was an oversight by me, as I for some reason think of it as a 70s movie. Great one, and it would have made my list and overall been higher up overall.

Tom Wolfe's book is better than the movie. I read it in my twenties and was engrossed by it. I'd seen the movie, but the book was really what got me to allow the story of people being hurtled in the air through no design of their own to be an ownership story, a story of personal conquest over forces unknown.

Yeager's breaking the sound speed record in the book was something else.

And you're right, KP. The book was written in '79, so it has a seventies feel.

 

[KarmaPolice]

@KarmaPolice i don’t know how others feel but should we take the weekend off? I feel like traffic is pretty slow here on the weekends. I’m not sure how much I’ll be around during the day.

Thats fine if people prefer. I would still do 21-29 tomorrow and just hold off on the top 20 until Monday.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Very soon we get an other odd pairing. I haven't seen it, but one movie's farts smell of art and one is a meditation on isolation and our place in the universe.

 

[zamboni]

@KarmaPolice i don’t know how others feel but should we take the weekend off? I feel like traffic is pretty slow here on the weekends. I’m not sure how much I’ll be around during the day.

You just bought yourself another Saturday

 

[KarmaPolice]

@KarmaPolice i don’t know how others feel but should we take the weekend off? I feel like traffic is pretty slow here on the weekends. I’m not sure how much I’ll be around during the day.

You just bought yourself another Saturday

Oooh, I'm crushed.

 

[zamboni]

@KarmaPolice i don’t know how others feel but should we take the weekend off? I feel like traffic is pretty slow here on the weekends. I’m not sure how much I’ll be around during the day.

You just bought yourself another Saturday

Oooh, I'm crushed.

Don’t mess with the bull

 

[rockaction]

"[Your rankings are like your] pitching--kinda all over the place"

 

[KarmaPolice]

33/34:

A ROOM WITH A VIEW [hbo max, criterion]
THE THING

Our #10 picks of the decade. I added Room with a View to my 5 to watch as I said last night. 80s had me at Helena Bonham-Carter , and it has DDL in it. If I think about my favorite movies now, The Thing is one of the movies that has climbed the farthest in the last decade or so. This is one I was talking about with f/x holding up better than some others like Predator. Predator I laugh about a bit, The Thing still grosses me out. Then add in the isolation, tension, mystery of who has been taken over....

 

[otb_lifer]

Very soon we get an other odd pairing. I haven't seen it, but one movie's farts smell of art and one is a meditation on isolation and our place in the universe.

both descriptions remind me that it's dinner time - for me.







... but hopefully not for this countdown

 

[Charlie Steiner]

"[Your rankings are like your] pitching--kinda all over the place"

Said like someone who's gone down on half the Carolina League.

 

[Scoresman]

One taken off the snub list with The Thing. Really glad to see it here.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

I think the thing still holds up really well, love the ambiguity of the ending too

 

[Ilov80s]

I am probably the only white male age 35-55 that doesn't love The Thing. Carpenter in general doesn't do it for me (save for Halloween).

 

[Ilov80s]

33/34:

A ROOM WITH A VIEW [hbo max, criterion]
THE THING

Our #10 picks of the decade. I added Room with a View to my 5 to watch as I said last night. 80s had me at Helena Bonham-Carter , and it has DDL in it. If I think about my favorite movies now, The Thing is one of the movies that has climbed the farthest in the last decade or so. This is one I was talking about with f/x holding up better than some others like Predator. Predator I laugh about a bit, The Thing still grosses me out. Then add in the isolation, tension, mystery of who has been taken over....

It's her first movie and she is perfectly cast here. It's one of the best adaptations I've seen. DDL is pretty funny in this, certainly a character we never saw him play again. He's such a stuffy dandy that you can't help but roll your eyes at everything he says and does- just totally oblivious.

 

[KarmaPolice]

One taken off the snub list with The Thing. Really glad to see it here.

3 left tonight. MAYBE one gets crossed off? I'm not sure, as I also consider it one of the surprises. It got the "on both lists" bump since it's in the 50s for both of us.

 

[KarmaPolice]

So coming up tonight we have: a rom/com at the workplace, a fish out of water story, and a movie people only seem to like 1/2 of.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

So coming up tonight we have: a rom/com at the workplace, a fish out of water story, and a movie people only seem to like 1/2 of.

Sounds like they may have a major malfunction for that last one

 

[Mummy4]

@KarmaPolice i don’t know how others feel but should we take the weekend off? I feel like traffic is pretty slow here on the weekends. I’m not sure how much I’ll be around during the day.

You just bought yourself another Saturday

Oooh, I'm crushed.

KP reaction.

 

[zamboni]

So coming up tonight we have: a rom/com at the workplace, a fish out of water story, and a movie people only seem to like 1/2 of.

Sounds like they may have a major malfunction for that last one

I’d keep that pile of information private

 

[KarmaPolice]

So coming up tonight we have: a rom/com at the workplace, a fish out of water story, and a movie people only seem to like 1/2 of.

Sounds like they may have a major malfunction for that last one

I’d keep that pile of information private

The edit was an improvement.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Before going on to more ****ty movies, I was thinking about the f/x discussions that were popping up. One thing I did with both kids is show them some "making" of stuff of movies they liked. I think that really helped my son get over the hump of the older Star Wars movies. I think we can also have discussions about the f/x that hold up and don't look cheesy vs. movies that might have more warts. One that stood out was Predator. I love the movie, and rated it on my list, but compared to some of the movies coming up? The cloak effects and Predator POV stuff is rough. A lot of the "action" at the beginning is just explosions and dudes flying off platforms, things like that. My son came in to ask about something and chuckled about them too. I watched couple action movies coming up in the top 20 recently as well and didn't have nearly those issues.

Id have to rewatch, but I believe Predator does more with less? Kind of like Jaws suspense without showing the monster. I mean you dont see its face till? Its neon green blood though?!?!?!

I've been thinking about this post. The BIG difference to me is what they had to do to "hide" the monster was part of the bits that looked bad to me - the camouflage f/x and the POV infrared. Jaws had things like a John Williams score and the barrels stuck in the shark. So while I agree that part of what they were doing what you were describing, those parts dinged the movie a bit for me in 2023 vs. other movies that are higher that don't have this issue. Also, like I said, some of the other cheesy stuff was the action in the village before the Predator shows up.

 

[KarmaPolice]

#32: COMING TO AMERICA

This was on both our lists - at #56 and #53. Another I watched recently and laughed a lot at and thought still holds up. This was another random one I remember my friends and I watching and quoting. Since my first job was (fittingly at the same store, but down the road) at a sort of fast food place, this quote got a ton of run:

"“Hey, I started out mopping the floor just like you guys. But now... now I'm washing lettuce. Soon I'll be on fries; then the grill. In a year or two, I'll make assistant manager, and that's when the big bucks start rolling in.”

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Before going on to more ****ty movies, I was thinking about the f/x discussions that were popping up. One thing I did with both kids is show them some "making" of stuff of movies they liked. I think that really helped my son get over the hump of the older Star Wars movies. I think we can also have discussions about the f/x that hold up and don't look cheesy vs. movies that might have more warts. One that stood out was Predator. I love the movie, and rated it on my list, but compared to some of the movies coming up? The cloak effects and Predator POV stuff is rough. A lot of the "action" at the beginning is just explosions and dudes flying off platforms, things like that. My son came in to ask about something and chuckled about them too. I watched couple action movies coming up in the top 20 recently as well and didn't have nearly those issues.

Id have to rewatch, but I believe Predator does more with less? Kind of like Jaws suspense without showing the monster. I mean you dont see its face till? Its neon green blood though?!?!?!

I've been thinking about this post. The BIG difference to me is what they had to do to "hide" the monster was part of the bits that looked bad to me - the camouflage f/x and the POV infrared. Jaws had things like a John Williams score and the barrels stuck in the shark. So while I agree that part of what they were doing what you were describing, those parts dinged the movie a bit for me in 2023 vs. other movies that are higher that don't have this issue. Also, like I said, some of the other cheesy stuff was the action in the village before the Predator shows up.

I used to just throw that predator DVD on and skip to the part where they start shooting into the woods and crank the volume…the part where that Gatling gun runs out of bullets but just keeps spinning sounds so cool too

Also some great quotes like “I ain’t got time to bleed” and Hawkins jokes

 

[Dan Lambskin]

#32: COMING TO AMERICA

This was on both our lists - at #56 and #53. Another I watched recently and laughed a lot at and thought still holds up. This was another random one I remember my friends and I watching and quoting. Since my first job was (fittingly at the same store, but down the road) at a sort of fast food place, this quote got a ton of run:

"“Hey, I started out mopping the floor just like you guys. But now... now I'm washing lettuce. Soon I'll be on fries; then the grill. In a year or two, I'll make assistant manager, and that's when the big bucks start rolling in.”

My favorite one is “what is this…velvet?”

 

[Charlie Steiner]

#32: COMING TO AMERICA

This was on both our lists - at #56 and #53. Another I watched recently and laughed a lot at and thought still holds up. This was another random one I remember my friends and I watching and quoting. Since my first job was (fittingly at the same store, but down the road) at a sort of fast food place, this quote got a ton of run:

"“Hey, I started out mopping the floor just like you guys. But now... now I'm washing lettuce. Soon I'll be on fries; then the grill. In a year or two, I'll make assistant manager, and that's when the big bucks start rolling in.”

I still get mileage out of: His momma called him Clay, Imma call him Clay.

 

[zamboni]

#32: COMING TO AMERICA

This was on both our lists - at #56 and #53. Another I watched recently and laughed a lot at and thought still holds up. This was another random one I remember my friends and I watching and quoting. Since my first job was (fittingly at the same store, but down the road) at a sort of fast food place, this quote got a ton of run:

"“Hey, I started out mopping the floor just like you guys. But now... now I'm washing lettuce. Soon I'll be on fries; then the grill. In a year or two, I'll make assistant manager, and that's when the big bucks start rolling in.”

If you want to keep working here, stay off the drugs.

 

[KarmaPolice]

I will post 80s' #3 and my #2 in about an hour after the kiddo goes to sleep.

 

[zamboni]

I am probably the only white male age 35-55 that doesn't love The Thing. Carpenter in general doesn't do it for me (save for Halloween).

Interesting connection between Halloween and The Thing: in the babysitting scene in the original Halloween, the little girl Lindsay is watching the original The Thing.

 

[Ilov80s]

The barbershop scene from Coming to America is comedy gold.

 

[Ilov80s]

When you think of garbage, think of Akeem!

 

[zamboni]

The barbershop scene from Coming to America is comedy gold.

reaction

 

[Scoresman]

Coming to America is great, but if it's the only Eddie Murphy comedy on the list, it's the wrong one.

 

[Charlie Steiner]

The barbershop scene from Coming to America is comedy gold.

Did you notice that the other barber also had a small role in Trading Places? He was in the scene when Billy Ray is in jail and had one line: Tell us how you cut him. And then he shows up in this movie as a barber! Tell us how you cut him, indeed.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Coming to America is great, but if it's the only Eddie Murphy comedy on the list, it's the wrong one.

I swear, if you say The Golden Child you will get a virtual nut punch.

Also, we have already had an Eddie Murphy comedy on the list.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Also, I should have been crystal clear - we were ranking fictional movies. So there won't be things like Raw or Stop Making Sense on here.

 

[Scoresman]

Coming to America is great, but if it's the only Eddie Murphy comedy on the list, it's the wrong one.

I swear, if you say The Golden Child you will get a virtual nut punch.

Also, we have already had an Eddie Murphy comedy on the list.

Also the wrong one.

 

[zamboni]

The barbershop scene from Coming to America is comedy gold.

Did you notice that the other barber also had a small role in Trading Places? He was in the scene when Billy Ray is in jail and had one line: Tell us how you cut him. And then he shows up in this movie as a barber! Tell us how you cut him, indeed.

That boy’s good

And Cuba Gooding, Jr. was the customer in the barber shop getting his haircut.