Wednesday, October 15, 2008

8 Essential Non-80's 80's

The 1980's gave us some great period films. I mean really great. While viewing may not tell you much about the decade they were made in, they will certainly lend merit to its film making. I love these movies:

#1 Blade Runner (1982)
I haven't seen this in ages and I'm sure I didn't understand most of it. But it's one of the few quality futuristic films (set in now-not-so-distant 2019), with a happy ending twist of sorts at the end.

#2 Dead Poets Society (1989)
Perfect! What a fabulous film! Made in the good old days before Ethan Hawke grew up and Robin Williams became annoying beyond description.

#3 Glory (1989)
Career-defining roles for Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Matthew Broderick. Everyone should see this film. I assume it's even somewhat historically correct.

#4 The Mission (1986)
DeNiro at his finest as an 18th century slaver-turned-priest in South America.

#5 Out of Africa (1985)
It seems like every movie set in or about Africa since this has tried - and failed - to replicate it. This was the first Meryl Streep movie I ever saw, and was later shocked to find out she was American.

#6 Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
A true original. Nothing comes close.

#7 Somewhere in Time (1980)
"Come back to me!" Whew, I love Jane Seymor and Christopher Reeve together - talk about chemistry. Plus I happen to also love time travel stories so you can't go wrong with this.

#8 Stand By Me (1986)
An impressively well-done coming of age memoir of four preteen boys on a small adventure. It seems important to watch, but left me with unshakable nostalgia and regrets over my own adolescence.

Honorable Mention:

Dirty Dancing (1987)
Nobody puts Baby in the corner.

3 comments:

Just Katy said...

May I suggest "Dream Team" and "Lady Hawk"?

Disco Mom said...

Nice ones, though "Dream Team" goes in the previous 80's list. I forgot about Lady Hawk, it's wonderful. And I think "Hoosiers" (1986) also belongs in this list.

Shells said...

Funny about Meryl Streep. After watching The Importance of Being Earnest Dave said how good he thought Minnie Driver's accent was. I told him she was a Brit and he didn't believe me at all. It took me pulling her up on IMDB and THEN seeing an interview with her on David Letterman for him to believe me.

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