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[jakomocha]

Well, I'm a teen and a few of the movies on that list are some of my all-time favorites, particularly ET, Back to the Future, and Ghostbusters. Therefore, it's pretty surprising for me to hear that the 80's was not a good time for movies overall.

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

It is a PG film.

PG meant something back then.

 

[Mistel]

What about weird science, the thing, and mad max 2?

 

[bjork]

I wouldn't acknowledge my children as proper humans until they could watch and appreciate Amadeus. Your kids, too.

 

[ymmv]

Well, I'm a teen and a few of the movies on that list are some of my all-time favorites, particularly ET, Back to the Future, and Ghostbusters. Therefore, it's pretty surprising for me to hear that the 80's was not a good time for movies overall.

I was fifteen in 1981, it was a great time for fantasy/SF movies:

Gremlins
Indiana Jones 1 / 2 /3
Star Wars 2 / 3
Aliens
Poltergeist
Terminator
ET
Robocop
Neverending Story
Labyrinth
Back to the Future 1 / 2 /3
Ghostbusters
Starman
Little Shop of Horrors
Big Trouble in Little China

This list could go on and on. And then there were tons of great comedies, action movies, horror movies, thrillers, art house movies. The eighties was a far better time for movie goers than the seventies ever were.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

Born in '86, so I caught the tail end of '80s culture. I think the '80s was a most excellent decade for film, and in fact, I love the '80s, period. Of my Top 5 Movies, 3 were made in the '80s: Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Tron. I love more '80s movies than that, and there's still '80s movies I want to see.

 

[Mortimer Brewster]

Adventures in Babysitting.

Elizabeth Shue was my first crush when I saw it in the theatres in 1987.

 

[Slayven]

 

[reptilescorpio]

Transformers (1986) was awesome and is still the best Transformers movie. They just slaughtered the fuck out of everybody in pursuit of the all mighty dollar and it was glorious.

 

[Severely Beardy]

Princess Bride' R.O.U.S' scared the 'smelly treacle' out of me when I was a kid.

 

[freddy]

Platoon
Dead Poets Society
Cinema Paradiso
Raging Bull
Ran
Ghandi
Rain Man
Hannah and her Sisters
The Untouchables
The Killing Fields
The Right Stuff
My Left Foot
Mississippi Burning
The Last Emperor
Dangerous Liasons
Etc
Etc....

I watched some of these with my parents but mostly with friends.

Stand by Me is excellent for teenagers I think. That line about not having friends like you did when you were young.

 

[The Cowboy]

What about Innerspace and Batteries Not Included?

Everyone no matter the age should watch Innerspace .

 

[Volcane]

Despite that, this is actually a thread about film. And I would argue that the 80's are the worst decade for film.

There are some classics in there. There is a lot of terrible shit as well. When you see the new Transformers film which is garbage, realize that our equivalent was Flight of the Navigator, and we were lucky to get more then one sci-fi film or decent kids film every 6 months.

What? I thought the 80's was one of the best decades for movies. Are you calling Flight of the Navigator garbage, if so you are dead to me. Compliance.

 

[Chainsawkitten]

My personal picks:
Gadające głowy, Golem, Aus dem Leben der Marionetten, The Elephant Man, Das Boot, My Dinner With Andre, Možnosti dialogu, Made in Britain, Fitzcarraldo, The Thing, Vincent, The Plague Dogs, Panelkapcsolat, Tempo di viaggio, Videodrome, Nostalghia, Aeg maha, Будет ласковый дождь, 風の谷のナウシカ, Threads, O-bi, O-ba - Koniec cywilizacji, The Angelic Conversation, Иди и смотри, 天使のたまご, Письма мёртвого человека, ラビリンス・ラビリントス, Offret, 天空の城ラピュタ, Kalle Stropp och Grodan Boll räddar hönan, Przypadek, Tras el cristal, Full Metal Jacket, Rita, Sue and Bob Too!, ゆきゆきて、神軍, Au revoir les enfants, The Last of England, Kárhozat, Krótki film o zabijaniu, 火垂るの墓, となりのトトロ, AKIRA, Něco z Alenky, Dead Ringers, Krótki film o miłości, Blackadder's Christmas Carol, Elephant, The Firm, War Requiem, Der siebente Kontinent, Посетитель музея, 魔女の宅急便.

 

[peely]

Never heard of Sixteen Candles, but I have no idea why you are confused about Flight of the Navigator. Is awesome.

How can you put Elmos Fire on the list and miss out Labyrinth ?

 

[freddy]

Das Boot, .

Just some trivia on this; the dubbed version(original was subtitled) was voiced by the original cast who all happened to know how to speak both German and English.

 

[Banworthy]

The Fly by David Cronenberg is fantastic. Best remake I can think of.

 

[Manmademan]

Transformers (1986) was awesome and is still the best Transformers movie. They just slaughtered the fuck out of everybody in pursuit of the all mighty dollar and it was glorious.

Truth. the first half hour of that is one of the best half hours of animated entertainment anywhere. The production values of that one are through the roof also. Holds up EXTREMELY well, whereas the syndicated cartoon sorta didn't.

Showed Transformers 86 to my niece and nephew after they first saw transformers 1 (they're 15-16 now) and they loved the shit out of it.

Despite that, this is actually a thread about film. And I would argue that the 80's are the worst decade for film.

Is that neogaf shitposts twitter still around? because this is a prime candidate right here.

 

[davepoobond]

80s are the best decade for film, bro.

 

[Marky Mark]

What about Mac And Me?

And all of the product placement. Macca's dance scene. lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdvO0tmNjGo

 

[Venture]

Big Trouble in Little China
Krull
Beast Master

Trying to keep these in the category of watched as a kid. I was born in 82 and I definitely consider myself a child/youth of the 80's+90's. I think it's fair to count the years you were very young, specifically kindergarten and beyond although I still remember plenty of stuff from preschool as well.

I always wanted to see Krull when I was a kid but never got the chance. I finally watched it a few months ago and damn, it was awful. The entire promotion of the film was built around this super-cool weapon and it's never even used until the very end of the film. So lame. There's some fun to be had on a pure cheesiness level I suppose.

Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summer were big movies for young me in the 80's. Those films influence far out reaches the box office success they had.

And John Cusack can get the fuck out with him getting all pretentious and whining about how the movies made him look stupid. Dude's a one note actor with middling success, and his pouting is one of the main reasons the above mentioned films director, Savage Steve Holland, stopped directing for a while.

I loved Better Off Dead! It definitely stands out from most other teen comedies of the time.

 

[mltplkxr]

What about Mac And Me?

Oh man! Hahaha! The horrors this thread will resurect!

Here's a quick list from the top of my head:

Beverly Hills Cop
Blade Runner
Croccodile Dundee
Short Circuit
BMX Bandits
Gleaming the Cube
The Wizard
Cloak & Dagger
Connan
Aliens
Superman
"Assorted wavy scrambled soft pron"

There's one other I can't find. It's about a guy who can hack computers with his glasses. He eventualy gets sucked into a fantasy world from which he tries to find a way out. I thought it was Game Master but that doesn't seem to be it

 

[Fancy Clown]

80's the worst decade for film? Are you mad? It takes a steaming dump all over the 2000's in terms of the sheer number of classic, and cult classic, movies. There was even better sci-fi: blade runner, the thing, aliens, terminator, back to the future, empire strikes back, superman 2, escape from new York, road warrior, scanners, ET, Wrath of Khan, Tron, videodrome, dune, brother from another planet, ghostbusters, brazil, re-animator, the fly, predator, robocop, they live, the abyss, and many more.

 

[cameron]

Wanted to suggest Stand By Me (1986), but didn't realize it was rated R until after looking it up. There's cursing and a dead body, so maybe it's not appropriate for children.

I watched it as a kid in the 90's. My parents didn't care. The bridge scene made me afraid of walking on train tracks. But in general, the movie made me want to go outside exploring with my friends.

 

[Metallix87]

.... Optimus prime dying was the 80 ' version of Mufasa dying. Also on a side note story wise it's still the best transformer movie.

It was the Mufasa dying of that time because we had all bought into the marketing and the glorified toy commercial that was the show.

 

[Chainsawkitten]

80's the worst decade for film? Are you mad? It takes a steaming dump all over the 2000's in terms of the sheer number of classic, and cult classic, movies.

That's a pretty poor measurement. Movies from the 2000s aren't old enough to be classics. We'll see in ten years or so.

 

[Manmademan]

It was the Mufasa dying of that time because we had all bought into the marketing and the glorified toy commercial that was the show.

It was the mufasa of it's time because before that cartoon characters didn't get killed.

The first 30 minutes of that movie was a massacre and no one saw it coming because US Cartoons didn't do that. Kids were traumatized and this is why Duke survived in GI Joe: the movie because no one wanted to repeat all the bad publicity.

That's a pretty poor measurement. Movies from the 2000s aren't old enough to be classics. We'll see in ten years or so.

2000 was 14 years ago. Most of the movies cited as 80s "classics" were considered as such before that decade was even over.

 

[Metallix87]

It was the mufasa of it's time because before that cartoon characters didn't get killed.

The first 30 minutes of that movie was a massacre and no one saw it coming because US Cartoons didn't do that. Kids were traumatized and this is why Duke survived in GI Joe: the movie because no one wanted to repeat all the bad publicity.

Again, that only traumatized kids because they had grown attached to the characters on the show. Today, no kid would be affected in any way by that.

 

[Firemind]

It was the mufasa of it's time because before that cartoon characters didn't get killed.

The first 30 minutes of that movie was a massacre and no one saw it coming because US Cartoons didn't do that. Kids were traumatized and this is why Duke survived in GI Joe: the movie because no one wanted to repeat all the bad publicity.

Now I'm not that old, but Bambi did it before The Lion King did in 1942.

 

[zerosum]

Only thing I remember from this is something about space herpes. Makes me laugh when I think about it though. Then I vaguely remember something about them getting stuck in some time warp thing and they aged really fast... I don't know.

Need to re-watch it, but It's been about 25 years since I've seen it, and I'm not sure it held up too well.

Absolutely incredible decade for sci-fi/fantasy.

 

[Banworthy]

That's a pretty poor measurement. Movies from the 2000s aren't old enough to be classics. We'll see in ten years or so.

Some years ago, I was traveling with American Airlines. The flight being quite long and me being a friend of movies, I decided to kill time by turning to the wonders of motion pictures. And not just any motion pictures, but good ones. So I took a look at the American Airlines' "classics"-section. Predictably, I saw titles of many good movies, some old and some slightly less old. And then I noticed an unexpected title: X-Men by Bryan Singer.

 

[harriet the spy]

Now I'm not that old, but Bambi did it before The Lion King did in 1942.

I had to go double check Bambi was from 1942. Holy shit. I watched a 40 year old film as a kid, not able to see it was much older than everything else I was watching (well, except for the other disney classics).

As for movie decades - I think the 80s are really classic. Of course there is a bit of nostalgia, but I think there is more than that. I have nostalgia of playing games in the 80s, but feel (PC) gaming was at its best in the 90s (this is not to say there wasn't phenomenal games coming out in 00's and 10's, or before). But for movies, I think the 80s runs in circles around the 90s. The 90s was like the awkward teenage age of cinema (esp. for holywood). Good thing it started getting better again afterwards.

 

[thefit]

Wait, what's wrong with Labyrinth? I loved that movie as a kid, and still love it now. Probably one of my top ten movies of all time.

WRONG!

My kids love it and you and sometimes on occasion when they pull out their transformers I can hear them singing the hair metal theme as they play.

 

[zerosum]

I always wanted to see Krull when I was a kid but never got the chance. I finally watched it a few months ago and damn, it was awful. The entire promotion of the film was built around this super-cool weapon and it's never even used until the very end of the film. So lame. There's some fun to be had on a pure cheesiness level I suppose.

I loved Better Off Dead! It definitely stands out from most other teen comedies of the time.

I think Krull is still pretty fun. Some good imagination, atmosphere, and the cyclops was bad-ass. Oh, and Liam Neeson. That's more than likely nostalgia talking though. Hard to say what I would think if I first saw it as an adult.

 

[sf2fanatic]

Definitely have them watch Stand and Deliver. Great movie.
What's shocking is that most kids these days never seen it.

 

[Shaffield]

everyone needs to watch the original Fright Night. that movie is essential 80s

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

Transformers: The Movie was a glorified toy commercial that will be / is meaningless to kids today.

My 6-year old nephew loves it!

He also likes the old Ninja Turtles film a lot better than the new one. Kids are smart.

 

[outsidah]

Transformers: The Movie was a glorified toy commercial that will be / is meaningless to kids today.

You sure about that?

 

[Metallix87]

You sure about that?

100% sure? No. I just can't see kids crying over Optimus dying when they're not as invested to the old series as they are to the new.

 

[Infinity]

Would definitely add Ferris Bueller's Day Off to the list along with Lethal Weapon.

 

[Sobriquet]

Only thing I remember from this is something about space herpes. Makes me laugh when I think about it though. Then I vaguely remember something about them getting stuck in some time warp thing and they aged really fast... I don't know.

Need to re-watch it, but It's been about 25 years since I've seen it, and I'm not sure it held up too well.

Absolutely incredible decade for sci-fi/fantasy.

All I remember are space herpes and castrated slaves. Good ol' 80s kids movies. lol

Would definitely add Ferris Bueller's Day Off to the list along with Lethal Weapon.

And Beverly Hills Cop.

 

[midramble]

Maybe it's nostalgia, but it feels like movies back then had more character. I re-watch these today more often than I re-watch current films.

What about Innerspace and Batteries Not Included?

There is so much awesome (if not absurd) scifi that goes on in innerspace, a movie that makes a frontier out of martin short's body. There is more personality in each character of Batteries Not Included (a movie about tiny robot aliens) than in most blockbusters I've seen in a while. (Though I still enjoy going to movies for better or worse)

The Neverending Story should be on that list.

Another great example. The scale and tone of The Neverending Story still stands as an amazing children's movie for me to this day. Although the animatronics are outdated and don't stand up to the fluidity of modern CG, they still feel more meaningful since it's a real object and thus gives is kind of a symbolic weight since you don't feel like it's trying to convince you that it's real, where CG often says "I'm trying really really hard to fool you into thinking I'm real". Also that Artax scene will always stay in my memory.

Wanted to suggest Stand By Me (1986), but didn't realize it was rated R until after looking it up. There's cursing and a dead body, so maybe it's not appropriate for children.

I watched it as a kid in the 90's. My parents didn't care. The bridge scene made me afraid of walking on train tracks. But in general, the movie made me want to go outside exploring with my friends.

I'm going to have to second this. To this day, one of my favorite films of all time.

There are some classics in there. There is a lot of terrible shit as well. When you see the new Transformers film which is garbage, realize that our equivalent was Flight of the Navigator, and we were lucky to get more then one sci-fi film or decent kids film every 6 months.

I mainly felt like I had to say something about this that breaks my heart. Flight of the Navigator was one of my favorite films of all time. To this day it's one of my favorite ship and alien designs I can think of. The aerodynamic warping of the ship, the entirely mechanical alien that collects lifeforms across space and time that as a bare utilitarian center capable of morphing to fit the navigators needs. Both this and Explorers are still pretty damn good scifi in my book. (even with the somewhat silly ending to Explorers)

 

[Fancy Clown]

That's a pretty poor measurement. Movies from the 2000s aren't old enough to be classics. We'll see in ten years or so.

I suppose that's true, but I think time will show that 80's will be a better decade for film. Calling 80's a bad decade for film in general is just ludicrous, too. Hollywood hadn't become overly bloated and blockbusters were still something worth looking forward too, you had a bunch of great, ambitious genre filmmakers, home video was booming which facilitated underground and cult hits, it was before 'cgi everything' became a thing, etc. You had directors like Kubrick, Scorsese, John Carpenter, James Cameron, and Spielberg basically on the top of there game (maybe not quite 70's level for some, but still).

 

[wondermega]

how is this not mentioned yet

 

[Christine]

Ok, you really want to understand the 80s movies, kids?

The Little Mermaid (1989)

came out before

The Rescuers Down Under (1990)

but you'd never know it because every discussion of the 'Disney Renaissance' goes straight from TLM to Aladddin or outright mentions TRDU as the last 'pre-renaissance' Walt Disney Animated Classic.

 

[Dead]

Out of all those movies, I think ET alone is enough to convey what the 80s felt like more than anything.

 

[Data West]

Missing Monster Squad

 

[Sectorseven]

how is this not mentioned yet

Hope you've got a night light.

 

[Extra Sauce]

I feel like making a long ass list of great 80's movies but I was about to go to bed.

I'll just say that the 80's represent my favorite decade of cinema. Back to the Future being my favorite film.

 

[spwolf]

reading this thread made me realize how great 80s were for movies... so many great ones. i started my kids with ghost busters which they love and will continue.