The ultimate 80s movie

The most memorable ones for me

Lost Boys
Aliens
E.T
The Thing
Star Wars ESB
Stand by Me
First Blood
Poltergeist

not forgetting:

Police Academy
Caddyshack
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Karate Kid
Romancing the Stone
Indiana Jones
Batman
Superman
Stand By Me
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Blues Brothers
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Flight of the Navigator
Evil Dead 2

The Quiet Man and Chinatown are two personal favourites of mine, and two of the best films ever made. Since they were both mentioned in this thread, I thought I'd reinforce just how great both are, even though neither are from the eighties.

I'll throw The Gods Must Be Crazy out there for fun 80's movies, too.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
The Quiet Man and Chinatown are two personal favourites of mine, and two of the best films ever made. Since they were both mentioned in this thread, I thought I'd reinforce just how great both are, even though neither are from the eighties.

OH! how could I forget… BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA!

One of my favorites growing up was Karate Kid, saw it a couple of years ago and it stills holds up.

Great thread btw, I'm gonna start rewatching a bunch of these with the misses.

Movies from the 80s and 90s were the best. Even average movies from back then are at least interesting to watch. Puts todays movies to shame imo.

Originally Posted by Silver
Movies from the 80s and 90s were the best. Even average movies from back then are at least interesting to watch. Puts todays movies to shame imo.

Why?
Though I like remembering certain movies and the feelings it got me at the time, I think the pace in those days are a big turn-off: ‘cooooome onnnn, I already understand what the scene’s about, move on’.

Originally Posted by Eye
Why?
Though I like remembering certain movies and the feelings it got me at the time, I think the pace in those days are a big turn-off: ‘cooooome onnnn, I already understand what the scene’s about, move on’.

I like to be immersed into the world they are showing. Slower paced cinema doesn't bother me and there is usually a better payoff because when things do happen they happen for a reason.

Originally Posted by Silver
I like to be immersed into the world they are showing. Slower paced cinema doesn't bother me and there is usually a better payoff because when things do happen they happen for a reason.

Kinda agree as technology advanced a whole lot in thirty years for movies. Nowadays the reliance on mocap and CGI is just not the same as it was back then with SFX's.

All you basically need today is a green screen and a few PC techs. Still I wont call all modern movies garbage I still watch a few gems when I wade through the pond.

Well, I think all decades have their fair share of great movies. That said, the ratio of good to crap hasn't exactly gotten better, in my opinion.

But that might just as well be me and my jaded persona. I'm extremely picky compared to what I once was.

If I absolutely had to pick a decade for "best movies" - it would probably be the 70s.

I think the last decade or so it often was more of the same. They kept on making things that had shown to be a commercial success earlier on. I remember in the eighties and nineties there was more variety, on the tele there were several series and movies not coming from the USA: Australia, Germany, France, Austria, Norway, Spain, Italy, China, Brasil. For kids, adolescents, adults.
Of course in the last decade you could see non-mainstream movies in the art houses, but not the series.

Now that Netflix has started co-producing with the local companies in the foreign countries where people can subscribe to Netflix things seem to change again.

The 80s was a period when I was a young man, recently married, new home (with giant mortgage), first full time job but nothing seemed insurmountable. So in that context the movies I did see had this belief.

Choosing one is hard. We have the Indiana Jones franchise, Star Wars, Star Trek (2 to 5), Superman (2 to 4) and Romancing the Stone. Some of these have not stood up to the test of time but they did well in the 80s. The slightly more gritty films existed and these included Blade Runner, Aliens and Terminator - all, in my opinion, still very watchable.

For me the best was Terminator. Against impossible odds the humans refuse to lay down and died. Nothing could not be solved. (Of course I am much older and I am not so sure that is true - or ever was.)

Originally Posted by Lemonhead
One of my favorites growing up was Karate Kid, saw it a couple of years ago and it stills holds up.

Karate Kid was great, how could i forget.. and yes, Big Trouble in Little China and especially Indiana Jones, those were huge..

I remember seeing the end of Blade Runner on a VHS tape (someone had recorded some other movie over it, so only the end was there with Rutger Hauer in the rain). I had no idea what movie it was and i so badly wanted to know. Several years after i found out which movie it was and it became one of my favorite movies of all time.
It's strange when you think back about how it was to find out about stuff back then, it was word of mouth or perhaps from books and magazines.. now it's a 1 second google and you know the answer.

The Dark Crystal. A movie like that will never be made again.

Hopefully so. I'm sick of "family" works, gimme R+ rated stuff.

And, with mention of The Wrath of Khan, I must play the opening credits. James Horner was a sad loss.

Originally Posted by joxer
Hopefully so. I'm sick of "family" works, gimme R+ rated stuff.

PG-13 was completely different back then in the 1980's. Borderline R-Rated almost. Still some reviewers are now saying modern PG-13 are more violent then R rated films.

My ultimate 80s films? There are just way too many to mention! First of all I must say that I really dig the action films made during this era. There are just too many to mention.

Few gems: Predator, Die hard, commando, Mad Max 2, top gun, bloodsport, conan the barbarian, Rambo: first blood, leathal weapon, under siege, running man, red heat, rocky sequels… Some of those 80s action films were just so darn entertaining to watch and rewatch. They really capture the essence of that era.

And ofcourse many classics such as indy trilogy films were made during this era. Oh and Star Wars empire strikes back. The best sw film ever made was an 80s film. I wouldn't call that an accident. So many other classics such as full metal jacket, platoon, blade runner, terminator, shining, aliens. And some of the funniest comedies were made during the 80s. I doubt they are even allowed to make jokes like that anymore in current political climate.

Lastly definitely a strong vote for Highlander! A perfect sample of an 80s cinema.

One, two
Freddy's coming for you…