this is sort of like asking what's your favorite thing

Akira

my cousin mose wrote:this is sort of like asking what's your favorite thing

Favorite Thing:
50's: ...from Another World
80's: John Carpenter's
90's: Addams Family
00's: Fantastic Four
10's: prequel to John Carpenter's

Best decade for movies. Worst decade for music. imo

TheDude24 wrote:Some lesser known or underappreciated ones I like:

John Carpenter's "The Thing"
Dario Argento's "Phenomena"
Michael Mann's "Thief"
My Neighbor Totoro
Vampire's Kiss
Paris, Texas
The Verdict
Koyaanisqatsi
The Thin Blue Line
My Dinner With Andre
The Vanishing
Wings of Desire
The Killing Fields
Batman

Several of these in my list too. Several of these I considered and decided not to include.

When I first got "Prism" cable in center city, one of the channels ran "Paris Texas" over and over for a month. I had seen it in the theater but ended up watching 3-4 more times. Very quiet flic. Wings of Desire was great. Verdict was a good thriller.

To TV's point about 80's vs. now -- I think it may partly be due to the fact that a lot of new stuff was coming out then. More and higher quality and so that today there is a lot more derivative. As well, what were foreign and alternative, has become itself a middle-ground of "arty-ish" but still distributed by the big boys. Sundance didn't operate as it does today back then.

I feel like I've seen amazing films in ever decade of my life. I'm not sure if there is a dip in quality, but I don't favor Hollywood or blockbusters. My list had plenty of hollywood flics but I saw a ton of foreign films in the 80's. A couple of those stand the test of time...

If you've never seen "Das Boot", or "My Life as a Dog", they are worth renting. The early Jarmush was good. Lots of good stuff. I didn't include the cult hit "Liquid Sky" which apparently a sequel is coming out this summer.

dajafi wrote:Many of the great ones have already been named, but let me add:

Something Wild (1986: Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, Ray Liotta; directed by Jonathan Demme)
After Hours (1985-ish: Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, Linda Fiorentino; directed by Martin Scorcese)
Fletch

I forgot about After Hours. That was a weird weird flic. Yeah, I"d add that to my list. I saw this one a bunch of times too, I think it too ran on cable over n over at some point. Interesting to see Dunne as the 'rainmaker' on House of Lies, compared to the way he was portrayed back then. I like him better older, just like Jeremy Irons as the Borgia Pope, which I enjoyed, but really couldn't stand the guy in flics like French Lieutenant's Woman.

Eddie and The Cruisers

Goonies goddamnit

Bucky wrote:Eddie and The Cruisers

for the Nasty Stuff!!

ek wrote:Real Genius

Is this the movie where C Thomas Howell paints his face black?

no its the movie about the baby geniuses.

TenuredVulture wrote:I really do think there were more better movies in the 80s than their are now.

This is definitely true for the blockbusters. There was a lot of thought put into them back then. These days, most of them are pure product.

Slowhand wrote:Worst decade for music. imo

Really? I don't know about that.

REM, the Smiths, The Cure, Gang of Four, Billy Bragg, the Dream Syndicate, Mission of Burma, the Church, the Replacements, Echo & the Bunnymen, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, Husker Du, Robyn Hitchcock, Galaxie 500, New Order, the Fall, Sonic Youth, Talking Heads, the Feelies, Devo, Brian Eno, the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Go-Betweens, Mekons, the Wedding Present, Buzzcocks, Minutemen, etc.

And that's just off the top of my head. Pretty good list right there.

But I do agree with you on best decade for movies.

Has anyone mentioned ET? Also, Polyester. And the original Hairspray.

Also, I kinda think the 70s might be even stronger for "Hollywood" movies than the 80s.

Doll Is Mine wrote:

Slowhand wrote:Worst decade for music. imo

Really? I don't know about that.

REM, the Smiths, The Cure, Gang of Four, Billy Bragg, the Dream Syndicate, Mission of Burma, the Church, the Replacements, Echo & the Bunnymen, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, Husker Du, Robyn Hitchcock, Galaxie 500, New Order, the Fall, Sonic Youth, Talking Heads, the Feelies, Devo, Brian Eno, the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Go-Betweens, Mekons, the Wedding Present, Buzzcocks, Minutemen, etc.

And that's just off the top of my head. Pretty good list right there.

But I do agree with you on best decade for movies.

yeah a lot of great 80s music under all the terrible hair metal. Prince had a run of masterpieces and also made the batdance.

adventures in babysitting
they live
scanners

this came out in 1985 and is a must watch

midnight run

Muppets Take Manhattan