[samIamsad]

Pretty In Pink++Dirty Dancing++Babyboom (in exactly that order. Got it?). Mh, maybe not......

[stepurhan]

Mel's mention of Matthew Broderick reminded me of an 80s classic.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Definitely a movie of its era. I always felt sorry for Mr Rooney the principal (played by the marvellous Jeffrey Jones star of Howard the Duck ). He gets so close to nailing Ferris and then has it snatched away from him. Plus you get an early appearance of Charlie Sheen as "Boy in Police Station".

[insane_cobra]

Originally Posted by Once A Villain

I'm sure many people think the 90's were a better movie decade than the 80's (not me neccessarily), and those movies are already more recent. It's not that the 80's were bad, I'm just thinking numbers here. More quality films could have been made in the 80's than in the 70's actually, but "quality" is different from "masterpiece". I'm going by which movies are the kind that could stand with the best of all time, regardless of decade, and the 70's had more of those than the 80's did, in my view. Other people may not judge like that, and I can accept that.

I do agree with all that, but that's based on what people consider a masterpiece now, it might totally change in 10, 50 or 500 years. I'll give you an example that's used much too often, but it works. Shakespeare's plays were considered trivial entertainment for the masses back in his time. Likewise, some future Shakespeare might be considered a daft hack today. Nothing is set in stone and I firmly believe the 80s' filmmaking will get the attention it deserves one day. Just like video games will.

[Junkface]

Off the top of my head:
Once Upon a Time in America - wonderfully enigmatic, wonderfully shot, wonderfully edited, wonderfully scored, wonderfully acted and wonderfully out of control. Also has themes and a central character that really resonate with me. Best rape scene I've ever seen too.

Raging Bull - Brilliant cinematography, editing and sound design. Like OUATIA also has themes and a main character I don't have a lot of difficulty relating to. Probably also the best film to use when making a case against all those arseholes who want to pigeonhole Scorsese as a realist.

Ran - the silent (well music only) battle sequence alone gets it on the list of all time greats. A soft spot for being the first Kurosawa I saw as well.

Brazil - Hilarious, heartbreaking, beautiful, and in parts, terrifying.

Raiders of the Lost Ark - a good candidate for the film closest to perfection out of all I've seen (factoring in what it's aiming for.) Also scores points for having the only action hero I know of with a history of peadophelia.

Back to the Future 1 and 2 - also candidates for the best "entertainment" movies I've ever seen, though I haven't seen them in a while. Zemeckis, why hast though forsaken me?

The Empire Strikes Back - the rebels finally get what's coming to them. Ruined by the unrealistic Return of the Jedi.


And just to clarify, Shakespeare was, is and always will be a daft hack. That may change if I ever see a decent production of one of his plays... seems like a bit of a populist though...

[Once A Villain]

Wow! I can't believe I forgot to mention Brazil! Good call Junkface.

[samIamsad]

Originally Posted by Junkface

Off the top of my head:
Once Upon a Time in America - wonderfully enigmatic, wonderfully shot, wonderfully edited, wonderfully scored, wonderfully acted and wonderfully out of control. Also has themes and a central character that really resonate with me. Best rape scene I've ever seen too.

Wonderfully butchered (theatrical release). Completely awesome movie.
But...... no Aliens?

[insane_cobra]

And Blade Runner.

[Kolzig]

Originally Posted by Once A Villain

Wow! I can't believe I forgot to mention Brazil! Good call Junkface.

I thought about putting Brazil and/or Once upon a time in America to my list, but I haven't yet seen either of those.

Originally Posted by insane_cobra

And Blade Runner.

Jesus. How could I forget that?

[Kolzig]

Originally Posted by temporaryscars

Trading Places

How could I forget that? A superb movie with the SNL actors Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. One of the three Big movies that started Eddie Murphy's rise to Hollywood fame.

Spoiler:

Oh yeah and this movie has a scene where Jamie Lee Curtis shows her breasts. Now that was an interesting scene when I saw this for the first time in somewhere around 1990-1991.

[Talas]

Originally Posted by Kolzig

I thought about putting Brazil and/or Once upon a time in America to my list, but I haven't yet seen either of those.

Stop whatever you are doing and go rent them right now.

[Kolzig]

I've thought about buying the 3 dvd Criterion Edition of Brazil, but it's SO damn expensive.

[lumi]

Legend, one of the best fantasy movies made.

[Wimli]

Gosh, I think the 80s is generally less liked cause it's the decade in which blockbusters took over from the director controlled productions. Or when money talked louder than artistic freedom. Still, a lot of great movies were made, a lot of them already named here.

But what about:

Scarface (Pacino's performance of a life time! DePalma does the impossible and matches Hawks 1932's original in this brutal remake)

The Abyss (One of Cameron's best if you ask me, I like it better than the action loaded Aliens, my least favourite Alien movie. The Abyss has the perfect balance between action, drama and sci/fi while still leaving enough room for wonder and surprise)

The Name of the Rose (Eco's novel could not have had a better transition to the screen! oozing atmosphere, talent, intelligence and brilliant production design.)

Akira (crazy manga, still don't know whether the end sequence is over the top or simply brilliant. )

Beetlejuice (Burton's first big budget movie, it's funny, it's crazy and shows a talent at work capable of greater things yet to come)

Das Boot (stunning war movie, one of the best ever! creepy, claustrophobic, dramatic and hyperrealistic. )

An American Werewolf in London (Funny, scary, and plenty of terror, and yet Landis blends all this into one brilliant, suspenseful horror movie)

My Beautiful Laundrette (small drama that shows what's rotten in the Kingdom of the Tatcher. Powerful stuff)

The Terminator (Maybe the most brilliant action movie of the 80s, Schwarzenegger was simply born to play this part. The special effects may not have aged that well, but for 1984 they were revolutionary)

[Karmillo]

I was very dissapointed when i saw blade runner

[Kolzig]

The Blade Runner that ended up being the theatrical version is reportedly not at all the version Ridley Scott wanted to make.

There has been stories about the Real Director's Cut 2 or 3 dvd set that he wants to make but can't because someone owns the rights for the movie and won't let go.

... Couldn't picture Blade Runner any other way. It would look pretty cheesy, I think.

[DustCropper]

The Kirate Kid! Yes, it's very very very hollywood, but it was one of my favorite movies when I was a wee little lad. I'd love to see it again.

Also: Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. One of my favorite movies.

[Jeysie]

I was rather disappointed by Blade Runner myself... it had great atmosphere and premise, and the individual scenes themselves were intriguing, but the plot felt very weirdly edited. My roommate and I never were quite sure what in the hell was going on.

In any case, I realized that I had forgotten to add in The Neverending Story and The Dark Crystal. The former especially was one of my favorite movies as a kid, and is on the short list of movies that I think did justice to the novels they were based on.

Peace & Luv, Liz

[Kolzig]

The theatrical version was especially something that Ridley Scott and Harrison Ford were not at all happy about.

The producers/the studio wanted that Harrison narrates the beginning and Ridley & Harrison wanted to use just a text beginning so that people could just read the text themselves, they only did a few takes on that and made it as bad as possible as they could (Harrison read the text through with the most boring voice that he could ), hoping that way the studio would just use the way the R & H wanted to use.

The studio just used the narrator version and also they wanted to make some heavy cuts to the movie, the movie was meant to be A LOT longer originally, like the unicorn scene was totally cut from the theatrical version, but was added to the VHS/DVD DC release.

There are also some other interesting stories about Blade Runner movie production but this is all I remember right now.


EDIT: Oh yeah and the ending is different.