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Top 101 Movies of the 80s (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter KarmaPolice
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KarmaPolice
Footballguy
1. great point on Ferris - I see what you are saying.
DDL's character in TWBB is a pretty terrible human. and the film reflects him as a pretty terrible human, with the world reacting accordingly- success or failure aside. Ferriss is beloved and celebrated. so for me, not that apt a comparison.
fwiw- I liked the move ok as a teenager when it came out. Hughes is good at what he does/did and got the zeitgeist down. I just didn't love it like so many of my peers, and never liked ferris in it. there was never any hate-watching... something I don't get. I even mentioned I wouldn't rewatch to gain any sense of greater clarity.
but OTB is definitely a hate-watching mofo, so I'll let him respond.
don't you mean Vangelis?
that scene filmed in Katz's deli- I'm looking at it across the street as I type.
feel like Harry met Sally and Princess Bride both ride the gender fence really well and have what it takes to appeal to both.
it is SO good. probably top 4 or 5 for me in the decade, but only because I have 4 personal favorites ahead of it... Raising Arizona one of them and the one that would probably slip behind it. hoping to see the other 3 make it onto this list. would be VERY surprised if at least 1 of them didn't.This is my #1 with a bullet. I figured it would get dinged a bit by being in no way an 80s movie, just the best movie released in the 1980s, so I'm not upset with the #15 placement#15: RAGING BULL [hbo max]
My #13 and 80s' #39. Just like us - we have all the boxing movies with robots, arm wrestling, throats getting ripped out, and Kumite fighting movies to choose from in the 80s, and we land on the black and white boxing movie that is a master class in acting and directing.
2. "ride the gender fence" got me
3. Knowing where we have clicked with movies so far, I think folks like you, krista, and other "movie snobs" will be happy with our top 15. I hope 1 or 2 you might be thinking of are there, if not - a suitable replacement is there instead.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
that line always cracks me up too.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
#14: BEVERLY HILLS COP [paramount+]
One we were in lock step with - 80s' #24 and my #25. This was the one I said I always preferred the sequel, until the last several years when I've been watching the first one more. I think I just like the dynamic of Axel dealing with the bad guys and the Beverly Hills police, where in the 2nd one you only get one of those.
One we were in lock step with - 80s' #24 and my #25. This was the one I said I always preferred the sequel, until the last several years when I've been watching the first one more. I think I just like the dynamic of Axel dealing with the bad guys and the Beverly Hills police, where in the 2nd one you only get one of those.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
His Michael Jackson scam to get the room at the Beverly Palms Hotel is my favorite I think.
But I'm not some hotshot from out of town, I'm a small reporter from "Rolling Stone" magazine that's in town to do an exclusive interview with Michael Jackson that's gonna be picked up by every major magazine in the country. . I was gonna call the article "Michael Jackson Is Sitting On Top of the World," but now I think I might as well just call it "Michael Jackson Can Sit On Top of the World Just As Long As He Doesn't Sit in the Beverly Palm Hotel ..."
But I'm not some hotshot from out of town, I'm a small reporter from "Rolling Stone" magazine that's in town to do an exclusive interview with Michael Jackson that's gonna be picked up by every major magazine in the country. . I was gonna call the article "Michael Jackson Is Sitting On Top of the World," but now I think I might as well just call it "Michael Jackson Can Sit On Top of the World Just As Long As He Doesn't Sit in the Beverly Palm Hotel ..."
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
IMO it's a bit funnier than the sequel. Love the stuff like this in here, and bit players like Damon Wayans even crack me up.
And it's not an 80s movie without the angry black police captain.
Boss. The Chief ain't chew it all out. You still got a little *** there.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
For sure. There's always a little crossover. I think Ordinary People, The Verdict and First Blood are similarly leftover from the 70s. Conversely, a few movies like Sex, Lies and Videotape or Batman feel more 90s to me than 80s.In ethos and execution, it's a '70s movie that happened to be released in the first year of the '80s.This is my #1 with a bullet. I figured it would get dinged a bit by being in no way an 80s movie, just the best movie released in the 1980s, so I'm not upset with the #15 placement#15: RAGING BULL [hbo max]
My #13 and 80s' #39. Just like us - we have all the boxing movies with robots, arm wrestling, throats getting ripped out, and Kumite fighting movies to choose from in the 80s, and we land on the black and white boxing movie that is a master class in acting and directing.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
Yeah, it's interesting when you see those movies at the beginnings and end of decades that either echo the one before or set the stage for more to come. Perfect examples you listed too.For sure. There's always a little crossover. I think Ordinary People, The Verdict and First Blood are similarly leftover from the 70s. Conversely, a few movies like Sex, Lies and Videotape or Batman feel more 90s to me than 80s.In ethos and execution, it's a '70s movie that happened to be released in the first year of the '80s.This is my #1 with a bullet. I figured it would get dinged a bit by being in no way an 80s movie, just the best movie released in the 1980s, so I'm not upset with the #15 placement#15: RAGING BULL [hbo max]
My #13 and 80s' #39. Just like us - we have all the boxing movies with robots, arm wrestling, throats getting ripped out, and Kumite fighting movies to choose from in the 80s, and we land on the black and white boxing movie that is a master class in acting and directing.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
"it's a very important piece"
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
The slight downside of talking about these movies - I just want to watch them all over again. (then I never get to new stuff)
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
It always kills me when he does the "Mr. Akmed Foley" bit then just stares at him and doesn't try to say it again and just says "Foley".
Those are the little things in movies that I just love on rewatches.
Based on this thread I watched RoboCop last night. If I've seen it it's been a long time. Got some others marked to watch/rewatch as well. Thanks for the thread!
Ilov80s
Footballguy
I assume you liked it since you weren't mocking us lol
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rockaction
Footballguy
Interesting point.
I have really nothing more to add to that, but it's interesting to think about how some movies usher in an era that blooms later in society or is a faint echo of that which came before.
Andy Dufresne
Footballguy
Just give me my ****ing phone call.
Oh yeah. Would I put it in my top 25? Probably not. But it's a good movie and worthy of making a list.
Just give me my ****ing phone call.
I'm a big "That 70's Show" fan so when I saw Kurtwood Smith was in this it made me happy, and he did not disappoint. If only he'd called someone a dumb*** in this movie it would have been perfect.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
I ended up not being too tired late last night so I fired Goonies up. I hadn't seen it since I was a little kid. I agree, it's very entertaining but I'll take Stand By Me over it every time.
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KarmaPolice
Footballguy
I watched Robocop last night too.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
That's the odd thing about my method - neither of us did either, but it's higher due to the "on both lists" bump.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
That might as well be the motto of the countdown.
Scoresman
Footballguy
I've been meaning to actually thank you for the RoTLA debacle. Now I can put whatever crappy movie I want into the "next 100" and still have it not be this bad of a blunder.
rockaction
Footballguy
Raiders was rated lowly here?
That's not too much of a surprise, but it really is a blockbuster -- and a great one, IMO. Harrison Ford is perfect as the archaeology professor (the scene with his female students is awesome), perfect as swashbuckler, perfect as adventurer.
And it has one of the few credible evil imaginations of the Nazis in the history of modern movies because it focuses on their (true to history) occult fixation with anything supernatural or beyond reason.
It's a brilliant movie.
That's not too much of a surprise, but it really is a blockbuster -- and a great one, IMO. Harrison Ford is perfect as the archaeology professor (the scene with his female students is awesome), perfect as swashbuckler, perfect as adventurer.
And it has one of the few credible evil imaginations of the Nazis in the history of modern movies because it focuses on their (true to history) occult fixation with anything supernatural or beyond reason.
It's a brilliant movie.
rockaction
Footballguy
That's not to tell someone (ahem) their taste is wrong. It was just was the perfect 80s blockbuster. It had a great lead, it was intelligent, the action was somewhat cool (that's never what I look for in a film), and it had a sense of humor about both the characters and itself.
Brilliant.
Brilliant.
zamboni
Footballguy
My Tutor and Losin’ It, I agree.
otb_lifer
Footballguy
"Repo Man" & "Sid and Nancy"
... the Alex Cox subgenre, amirite?
YUUUUUUGE WHIFFS.
YUUUUUUUUGE.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
Quick question- did you watch it for the first time in the 80s or in the 2010s?
Yes, it was ranked low, and it was my fault because it's not in my top 100. A sequel was though.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
I can't rank what I haven't seen.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
Pauline Kael's review of Raiders is incredible. She wrote in 1981 and it's spot on for the what the next 40 years of movies would bring and an effective takedown of some of negative aspects of some 80s style 80s movies:
The marketing executives are the new high priests of the movie business....Their growing power isn’t in any special effectiveness in selling pictures; it’s in their ability to keep pictures that don’t lend themselves to an eye-popping thirty-second commercial from being made....In the new Hollywood wisdom, anything to do with people’s lives belongs on TV.
The actors are mostly just bodies carrying pieces of plot around.
...essentially, George Lucas is in the toy business.
The marketing executives are the new high priests of the movie business....Their growing power isn’t in any special effectiveness in selling pictures; it’s in their ability to keep pictures that don’t lend themselves to an eye-popping thirty-second commercial from being made....In the new Hollywood wisdom, anything to do with people’s lives belongs on TV.
The actors are mostly just bodies carrying pieces of plot around.
...essentially, George Lucas is in the toy business.
rockaction
Footballguy
Definitely 80s. I haven't seen it since the aughts. I guess that makes a big difference, huh? I try to use a degree of historicism with films that came out during a specific era. Like, I try to place my criticism by comparing similar things of that era, rather than comparing the themes or humor to what we accept or appreciate now. That's just the way I do it, though, and there are really no wrong ways, though I'd argue that New Historicism is the best way to approach something like this.
New Historicism
rockaction
Footballguy
The long-standing snob criticism (based on a single anecdote of Pauline Kael talking about Nixon and her social milieu) leveled at Kael is so lethal it destroys her as an authority figure on cinema, in my opinion.
I'd love to read the article, but will take it with (as otb might say) a yuuuuuuge grain of salt.
If it is trenchant and wise, I will surely eat my words here, and I don't doubt it has wisdom, but to pooh-pooh the whole enterprise seems rigid and uppity, at first glance.
Run The Jewels have action figures. It makes them no less trenchant in their own observations.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
I really like it and rewatched it in the last year. I ranked it pretty high (34) but that is lower than I would have 10-15 years ago. It just does feel a little cornier than I remember.
Andy Dufresne
Footballguy
Incredible? I have no idea WTF she's talking about. The word I'd use is "cantankerous".Pauline Kael's review of Raiders is incredible. She wrote in 1981 and it's spot on for the what the next 40 years of movies would bring and an effective takedown of some of negative aspects of some 80s style 80s movies:
The marketing executives are the new high priests of the movie business....Their growing power isn’t in any special effectiveness in selling pictures; it’s in their ability to keep pictures that don’t lend themselves to an eye-popping thirty-second commercial from being made....In the new Hollywood wisdom, anything to do with people’s lives belongs on TV.
The actors are mostly just bodies carrying pieces of plot around.
...essentially, George Lucas is in the toy business.
She's a worse version of National Review's Edmond White and that's saying something.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
There is a difference between having action figures and designing your "art" around them (Ewoks anyone?)
Ilov80s
Footballguy
She is 100% right that stories about real people have mostly been pushed to TV - see the golden age of TV we have just lived through. It became the superhero movies that ultimately completed the box office takeover. IP is king because it is so easily marketed. The audience is already there. That's all pretty obvious and things widely discussed for years. I thought it was interesting she was seeing this in 1981. A lot of foresight.Incredible? I have no idea WTF she's talking about. The word I'd use is "cantankerous".Pauline Kael's review of Raiders is incredible. She wrote in 1981 and it's spot on for the what the next 40 years of movies would bring and an effective takedown of some of negative aspects of some 80s style 80s movies:
The marketing executives are the new high priests of the movie business....Their growing power isn’t in any special effectiveness in selling pictures; it’s in their ability to keep pictures that don’t lend themselves to an eye-popping thirty-second commercial from being made....In the new Hollywood wisdom, anything to do with people’s lives belongs on TV.
The actors are mostly just bodies carrying pieces of plot around.
...essentially, George Lucas is in the toy business.
She's a worse version of National Review's Edmond White and that's saying something.
As for Lucas, I think that's pretty clear. Treat the audiences like children and sell them "toys". What decisions can I make with the movie that will make it the easiest for people to enjoy, can get toys, lunchboxes, theme parks, video games, etc. The whole mass culture has gone that way. The whole nerd fandom thing has taken control of the movie industry.
rockaction
Footballguy
True. I'm reading the article now.
She offers some good criticisms of the film, actually, but her criticisms seem rooted in oldster-ism. What on earth would she say about Tarantino if she were around to critique his use of older formats with a modern sense of irony like Raiders does? If anything, Tarantino saw Raiders and made its ironic retro-gazing high art and blockbustery when he did it.
Her criticisms -- the pace is too fast, there's not enough time to reflect, the story moves breathlessly, Spielberg's cuts aren't precise or vague enough (she never tells us), the characters are in service of the audience's sentiments, you know who the villain is, she has a difficult time with the suspension of disbelief because of the script, etc. are all valid concerns, but it strikes me as somebody who is, frankly, rooted in a pastoral view of the movies. She does not see the accelerated BPM (cross genre again) as a thrill ride, but something to deride.
In short, she sounds old and curmudgeon-y, dude.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
She was old and curmudgeon-y especially by 81. She was 62 and was already old guard by then. Just as she had championed Bonnie and Clyde in '67 and forced out the old guard film critics she was now finding herself becoming out of step with the 80s. It's easy to say she should have loosened up and just enjoyed the fun 80s movies but we always do need those who hold tight to some traditions and point out to people when major changes are happening. I disagree with her a lot on many movies but she's almost always interesting. Her breakdown here isn't any earth shattering revelation. It's been pointed out here a bunch that the 80s had a certain kind of movie which was very different the 70s kind of movie. I am just surprised that so quickly this was being recognized.
She did review Tarantino in 1994 right after PF:
He’s certainly talented, but it’s too early to say if there’s any depth to the talent. I laughed a lot at “Pulp Fiction.” It tickled me the way Paul Morrissey’s 1970 porno-absurd “Trash” did, and Stuart Gordon’s “Re-Animator.” There’s nothing under “Pulp Fiction,” no serious undercurrents. And I didn’t find any of the important “statements” I had read about in the reviews, but it’s got a crazy good humor. Tarantino has a flair for pop dialogue, and a flair for casting. He used wonderful people.
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rockaction
Footballguy
Right. Now imagine her being asked to take him as the director everyone thinks of and review him with any degree of seriousness. She'd certainly have a hard time doing that. I can smell her criticism of him from a mile away.
But thank you for posting her. You and KP have obviously seen an ungodly amount of movies and thought about movies much more than I have. My views on Raiders certainly aren't to be castigating nor to set in stone its greatness. But the brilliance I see in its blockbuster-ism is something she detests.
She's asked to move from the pace of the art house to modern mass consumption, and she doesn't like it.
I can relate, sure. I get it. See my music thread about the Zoomers. I feel the same way about Late Millennials and Zoomers as she does the eighties. No biggie. We all age and what tickles us might be more esoteric and fewer and farther between.
Don Quixote
Footballguy
On a QT note, currently reading his book ”Cinema Speculation.” Pretty interesting insights from QT on the movies that influenced him — 70s focused. As you might expect, he is pretty critical in the book of 80s movies versus 70s movies.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
I would assume she would sound a lot like Wikkid on a review of QT. He wasn't a big fan and called it all pastiche.
Yeah and keep in mind, I had Raiders among in my 30s. I am not trashing it by any stretch! I love Raiders, it's just not maybe quite perfect for me. Kind of a tough position to love a movie, place it in like the top 1% and then feel like I need to defend that position as if I don't like the movie. That's not directed at you- just the general discussion.
Funny, I thought about that thread as well.
Manster
Footballguy
The ad lib scene where he shoots the dude gettin all fancy with his sword is classic!
Harrison Ford as Indy, and Solo...... swashbuckling GOAT, imo
rockaction
Footballguy
Yep, I gathered that. Went back and looked. That's why I said to KP that I wasn't singling him out and said "ahem."
You have every right and apparently the wherewithal to say why it belongs in the thirties. Nobody is pillorying you, at least not that I can see today. I think your overall humor about the complaints has been outstanding and something I could never pull off. Both of you. Godspeed.
:brohug:
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
I think that it's been announced.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
Yeah said it was the worst decade for movies ever, right? My film taste doesn’t align very well with his though.
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