Top Ten Films of the 1980s

Started by life_boy, May 27, 2005, 05:00:08 PM

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life_boy

Top 10 Films of the 1980's[/b]
(as of July 8, 2005) Expect updates (maybe).

1.  Blade Runner[/b] (Ridley Scott, 1982)
2.  Full Metal Jacket[/b] (Stanley Kubrick, 1987)
3.  Koyaanisqatsi[/b] (Godfrey Reggio, 1983)
4.  Ferris Bueller's Day Off[/b] (John Hughes, 1986)
5.  A Sunday in the Country (Bertrand Tavernier, 1984)
6.  Crimes and Misdemeanors[/b] (Woody Allen, 1989)
7.  E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial[/b] (Steven Spielberg, 1982)
8.  For All Mankind (Al Reinert, 1989)
9.  Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog, 1982)
10.  Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (Tim Burton, 1985)

Followed Closely By:
11.  Raging Bull[/b] (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
12.  Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)
13.  Atlantic City (Louis Malle, 1981)
14.  Say Amen, Somebody (George T. Nierenberg, 1983)
15.  Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987)

Ravi

Raging Bull and Do the Right Thing closely follow Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Pee Wee's Big Adventure?

w/o horse

Quote from: RaviRaging Bull and Do the Right Thing closely follow Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Pee Wee's Big Adventure?

Fuck yes.

I mean I don't like Ferris Bueller's Day Off or Pee Wee's Big Adventure all that much, but I fully support the de-mything of any and all classics.  Even the ones I love.

Everyone knows the movies they're supposed to like, worship, etc.  It's the people who stray from this categorizing that are interesting.
Raven haired Linda and her school mate Linnea are studying after school, when their desires take over and they kiss and strip off their clothes. They take turns fingering and licking one another's trimmed pussies on the desks, then fuck each other to intense orgasms with colorful vibrators.

cine

Quote from: RaviRaging Bull and Do the Right Thing closely follow Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Pee Wee's Big Adventure?

Quote from: GhostboyAnd yes, I know that technically Star Wars shouldn't be up there, but I have to include it for personal reasons, rather than critical.

w/o horse

The de-mything of the quote answer is next on my list.
Raven haired Linda and her school mate Linnea are studying after school, when their desires take over and they kiss and strip off their clothes. They take turns fingering and licking one another's trimmed pussies on the desks, then fuck each other to intense orgasms with colorful vibrators.

Pubrick

how bouth the de-mything of made up words.
under the paving stones.

w/o horse

Okay but de-mything isn't a made up word, it's just an improper word.  Well techincally all words are made up.  It's not an accepted word of dictionary.com, is what I think you meant Pubrick.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=de-mything

Look how many online journals and African tour sites use the word.

Either way it's not complicated to figure out what I'm going for.  

Another important battle at Xixax.

Annnd I have taken this 80s movie thread off topic.
Raven haired Linda and her school mate Linnea are studying after school, when their desires take over and they kiss and strip off their clothes. They take turns fingering and licking one another's trimmed pussies on the desks, then fuck each other to intense orgasms with colorful vibrators.

life_boy

Quote from: RaviRaging Bull and Do the Right Thing closely follow Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Pee Wee's Big Adventure?

Sure.  I gave up trying to somehow assume a dignified air of complete critical objectivity and mention films that I love that others may not see as great, partially to encourage others to re-examine these films and partially because I just love the hell out of them.  Besides, it is the personal choices that make these lists interesting.  

In Defense of Ferris Bueller's Day Off:
In addition to being one hell of a funny film, Ferris Bueller's Day Off is the American Dream of the younger generation realized in a single character: a bright, young kid who can control those in authority over him and live fully without responsibility or consequence.  This isn't as interesting as what Hughes does with this idea, however.  Instead of turning it into some kind of straightforward comedy of errors, Hughes lets Ferris get away with everything by making a superhero movie.  Ferris Bueller is a superhero and his superpower is being able to charm his way out of responsibility.  

The world in which this film takes place is not reality, it is not the world as seen through Ferris Bueller's eyes; it is the world as it revolves around Ferris Buller.  Ferris's family, friends, schoolmates and indeed the whole city of Chicago are stuck giving in to the boy's charm and helping him on his path to self-indulgence.  That's what the "Twist and Shout" scene is, Ferris' realization of the extent of his power and utilization of that power to have a good time while the whole city of Chicago dances and cheers him on.  

At the very beginning of the film, Hughes sets up this "other-world" by having Ferris interact with the viewer by talking directly into the camera.  This is not just a cute, novel device that the filmmaker thought would be cool to use.  The fact that Ferris Bueller does this sets up the facts that, A) this is just a movie and the main character knows it, B) because Ferris Bueller can control the very camera that films him, perhaps he can control any and everything else that comes his way and can use it as a situation for self-indulgence and fun, and C) because the film takes place outside of reality it is then removed from any moral responsibility to disclaimer Ferris' actions and attitudes.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a great film and those are a few of my reasons for thinking so.  I didn't even hit on more technical aspects such as Hughes' use of music (particularly music from other films) or Jeffrey Jones' brilliant comic performance as Ed Rooney.  Taken simply as a comedy, I think Ferris Bueller works to great effect.  But if viewed as a great film, I believe Ferris Bueller has as much to offer as any film on that list.  That is why I placed it at number four.

A Brief Defense of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure:
This same mode of examination and analysis can be used to observe Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, which manages to hit on the simulacrum of Hollywood storytelling and its relationship to boring, everyday life without losing any of Burton's style or love of bizarre detail.  Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, like Ferris Bueller's Day Off, has a keen realization of its own "movieness" and decides to play with the conventions of film for comedic effect and cultural observation.  Ending the film by making Pee-Wee's adventure into a Hollywood action film with James Brolin as Pee-Wee and Morgan Fairchild as Dottie was one of the more clever attacks on Hollywood's reinterpretation of reality (even reality as far-removed from reality as that of Pee-Wee's adventure).


"Let's take a breather Dottie, the X1 needs to cool down."

_________________________________________________________

Of course, lengthy essays could be written about each film on that list, not just the ones generally considered to be complex or critically acceptable to call great films.  As Gamblor mentioned earlier in the thread, comedy became a viable part of the 80's cinematic experience and I think a list of the greatest films of the 1980's without mentioning at least a couple of comedies would be lacking.  I chose those two films (as well as eight others) to sit above Raging Bull and Do the Right Thing for any number of reasons.  But their greatness is assured and (as Losing the Horse brought up) generally unquestioned.  I questioned their greatness and still found them to be great films, but there were other films I wanted to spend more time and energy emphasising.

ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ

I'd like a full visual defense of Pee-Wee Herman's Big Adventure to be fully convinced.
"As a matter of fact I only work with the feeling of something magical, something seemingly significant. And to keep it magical I don't want to know the story involved, I just want the hypnotic effect of it somehow seeming significant without knowing why." - Len Lye

Ravi

I love Pee Wee's Big Adventure, but Ferris Bueller's Day Off...I can't really watch it anymore.  Its good, but for me Pee Wee has far more repeat value.

mogwai

1. after hours (1985)
2. planes, trains and automobiles (1987)
3. three amigos (1986)
4. police academy (1984)
5. uhf (1989)
6. trading places (1983)
7. predator (1987)
8. the goonies (1985)
9. romancing the stone (1984)
10. ghostbusters (1984)

Stefen

haha that list is great. The 80's were really a crappy decade for ahead of their time movies, but have more fun movies than any other decade. It's like the decade where filmmakers just wanted to make fun movies, and that makes the decade lovable. Everyone wanted a piece of the pie, Leonard Nimoy directed Three men and a baby. haha.
Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

Reel

I felt like doing this, just gimme a break.


Quote from: MacGuffin on May 29, 2005, 09:26:43 PM
MacGuffin's Reelist's Top Eleven 80's Movies Not Mentioned So Far


Ordinary People
Repo Man
Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer
Amityville Horror II: The Possession
Body Double
Near Dark
Child's Play
Psycho II
Friday The 13th
The Fly
Poltergeist


I happen to think that the 80's were the best decade for horror. Opinions?

socketlevel

Quote from: Reelist on October 15, 2012, 09:48:58 PM
I felt like doing this, just gimme a break.


Quote from: MacGuffin on May 29, 2005, 09:26:43 PM
MacGuffin's Reelist's Top Eleven 80's Movies Not Mentioned So Far


Ordinary People
Road House
Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer
Amityville Horror II: The Possession
Body Double
Near Dark
Child's Play
Psycho II
Friday The 13th
The Fly
Poltergeist


I happen to think that the 80's were the best decade for horror. Opinions?

Totally agree. Everything horror today is heavily based on self reflexive irony within the genre. I really enjoy a film like cabin in the woods, but it only makes sense because of the tropes established in the 80s. Even when the films were cheesy back then they had a certain earnestness to them. Part of the charm was also how these films didn't have the means to fully articulate the imagination behind them, and in some ways end up being superior because of it. I really like that about cinema, when the limitations create a palette for the artist to work. The best example is a film like Tron (though not horror), where the limitations of computer effects were so primitive it actually created the fantasy. It would be hard to come up with something like that today, where computers can simulate photo-realistic environments. They often have to reference source material to conjure up the aesthetic.

in light of your 80s horror love, this is my top 10 80s horror in no particular order:

the shining
nightmare on elm street
day of the dead
the thing
maniac cop
they live
an american werewolf in london
manhunter
videodrome
the monster squad

honorable mentions:

sleep away camp 2
night of the commit
evil dead 2
the fly
near dark

just missed the boat by a year or two:

People under the stairs
Halloween

the one last hit that spent you...

Reel

Yeah, you're right. Especially this:

Quote from: socketlevel on October 15, 2012, 10:11:36 PM
Even when the films were cheesy back then they had a certain earnestness to them. Part of the charm was also how these films didn't have the means to fully articulate the imagination behind them, and in some ways end up being superior because of it.

Good stuff  :yabbse-thumbup:


Sleepaway Camp 2 instead of 1, why?