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80's Movies


NoRagrets

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Some of my faves that I remember watching with my parents or on HBO when I stayed with my grandparents: 

Stand By Me

Big

Just One Of the Guys

Ferris Bueller

White Water Summer

The Goonies

Spies Like Us

Rad

Porky’s

Bachelor Party

They Live

Commando

Cobra

Raising Arizona

Short Circuit

Monster Squad

Weekend at Bernie’s

Coming to America

Three O’Clock High

Police Academy 

Adventures In Babysitting 

Mannequin 

Back to the Future

Secret of My Success

Fletch

Legend of Billie Jean

Licenses to Drive

The Gate

Good Morning Vietnam

Platoon

Full Metal Jacket

One Crazy Summer

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  • 7 months later...

My son's getting to the point where I'm needing to show him various 80s movies so that we can retain the ability to communicate.

I've really only gotten him through Back to the Future. Which he loved. (Just the first part. Let's face it, there's some fun to be had watching the whole trilogy, but the original is a classic and better than the other two, other than the one bit where Future Biff beats up Past Biff for fucking up the whole "Make like a tree" thing. Also, Claudia Wells > Leah Thompson. Fite me bro)

So what else? I'm thinking these are must-haves (and in no particular order):

  • Predator
  • Big Trouble in Little China
  • Highlander
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
  • The Princess Bride (He'd seen it when he was too young to remember, so we need to re-do)

Then, for slightly less necessary, things that I'm thinking "if there's time..."

  • Ghostbusters
  • Commando

What'm I missing or fucking up here? And remember, this is for posterity, so do be honest.

Edited by Rimbo
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32 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

My son's getting to the point where I'm needing to show him various 80s movies so that we can retain the ability to communicate.

I've really only gotten him through Back to the Future. Which he loved. (Just the first part. Let's face it, there's some fun to be had watching the whole trilogy, but the original is a classic and better than the other two, other than the one bit where Future Biff beats up Past Biff for fucking up the whole "Make like a tree" thing. Also, Claudia Wells > Leah Thompson. Fite me bro)

So what else? I'm thinking these are must-haves (and in no particular order):

  • Predator
  • Big Trouble in Little China
  • Highlander
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
  • The Princess Bride (He'd seen it when he was too young to remember, so we need to re-do)

Then, for slightly less necessary, things that I'm thinking "if there's time..."

  • Ghostbusters
  • Commando

What'm I missing or fucking up here? And remember, this is for posterity, so do be honest.

All The Right Moves, so he can see gritty Ampipe (Johnstown, Pa.) and know he can only get out if he does what Coach tells him to do.

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, HouTex said:

Newman's early 80's films, The Verdict and Absence of Malice, are still some of my favorites.  He should have won the Oscar for each performance.

Completely agree.  Not winning for The Verdict was a joke.

I'll add:

Anything from John Hughes (including Mr. Mom)

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Fandango

Edited by Spoetzl
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45 minutes ago, Theshining said:

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

Saw that in a theater that would serve beer. That was a big deal back then. I wonder if anyone else remembers this one?

Into the Night - Goldblum and Pfeiffer

Something Wild - Daniels, Melanie Griffith, Liotta

St Elmo's Fire

About Last Night

That Was Then... This is Now

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4 minutes ago, Drew said:

Maybe the best decade for rewatchable and pop culture important movies.

I feel like that is true of the entire last part of the 20th century.  We just came to a screeching halt about 2005 or so.  About 1975-2000 was non stop great stuff.  Now the only way you can be creative is to go all art house.  Big + Creative doesn't really exist any more.  No Jaws.  No Star Wars.  No Raiders.  No Braveheart.  All huge movies that were promoted as huge movies at the time.  

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21 minutes ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

I feel like that is true of the entire last part of the 20th century.  We just came to a screeching halt about 2005 or so.  About 1975-2000 was non stop great stuff.  Now the only way you can be creative is to go all art house.  Big + Creative doesn't really exist any more.  No Jaws.  No Star Wars.  No Raiders.  No Braveheart.  All huge movies that were promoted as huge movies at the time.  

Well, I think it was really the rise of the art house cinema in the 1970s. Then Jaws and Star Wars showed that the artsy stuff could be insanely profitable, so studios were willing to jump onto novel ideas because the novelty had shown itself to be profitable. You saw a pale imitation of that happen in the 1990s after Clerks and Blair Witch made it big.

I think it follows a generational thing. The 1970s were when the Boomers were getting of age. 1990s, Generation X. Now that the Millennials are getting old enough, maybe we'll see that. But I think it'll more likely be a YouTube series or channel than a movie. Movies themselves are kinda... old-fashioned.

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22 minutes ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

I feel like that is true of the entire last part of the 20th century.  We just came to a screeching halt about 2005 or so.  About 1975-2000 was non stop great stuff.  Now the only way you can be creative is to go all art house.  Big + Creative doesn't really exist any more.  No Jaws.  No Star Wars.  No Raiders.  No Braveheart.  All huge movies that were promoted as huge movies at the time.  

Wow this is rose tinted. Big + Creative doesn't exist? Christopher Nolan and James Cameron would disagree with you. Been some other great sci-fi too: Gravity, The Martian, Annihilation.

I get your point but those movies are out there. I will say I'm super tired of the superhero bullshit. 

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7 hours ago, Rimbo said:

My son's getting to the point where I'm needing to show him various 80s movies so that we can retain the ability to communicate.

I've really only gotten him through Back to the Future. Which he loved. (Just the first part. Let's face it, there's some fun to be had watching the whole trilogy, but the original is a classic and better than the other two, other than the one bit where Future Biff beats up Past Biff for fucking up the whole "Make like a tree" thing. Also, Claudia Wells > Leah Thompson. Fite me bro)

So what else? I'm thinking these are must-haves (and in no particular order):

  • Predator
  • Big Trouble in Little China
  • Highlander
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
  • The Princess Bride (He'd seen it when he was too young to remember, so we need to re-do)

Then, for slightly less necessary, things that I'm thinking "if there's time..."

  • Ghostbusters
  • Commando

What'm I missing or fucking up here? And remember, this is for posterity, so do be honest.

Forgot to add to "considering":

  • Ferris Bueller's Day Off
  • Better off Dead

Actually, those are probably worth promoting to "yeah mos def." If I can get him saying "I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS" around the house then I have succeeded as a parent.

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4 hours ago, ztejas said:

Wow this is rose tinted. Big + Creative doesn't exist? Christopher Nolan and James Cameron would disagree with you. Been some other great sci-fi too: Gravity, The Martian, Annihilation.

I get your point but those movies are out there. I will say I'm super tired of the superhero bullshit. 

It's not so much that they're not out there as that they're not the studios' focus. The sequel phenomenon began as a risk-reducing measure in the second half of the 80s, and just accelerated from there to the point where now every movie is either a copy of another or a sequel. And if they're neither, then they need a big-name director or actor to sell the movie with.

Edited by Rimbo
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9 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

It's not so much that they're not out there as that they're not the studios' focus. The sequel phenomenon began as a risk-reducing measure in the second half of the 80s, and just accelerated from there to the point where now every movie is either a copy of another or a sequel. And if they're neither, then they need a big-name director or actor to sell the movie with.

Yeah this is unfortunately true. Out there but drowned in rehashed crap.

Doesn't bother me - I'm young and it let's me catch up on classics. They could quit making movies tomorrow and I would have plenty of films to watch still.

Especially now that the average ticket is $10.

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