ShrykeVerse Top Movies of the 80's Countdown

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Welcome to the Top Movies of the 80's countdown!. Over the next month or so, several distinguished members of our little community will be sharing their 30 favorite films of the 80's to honor our late friend Patrick's/Shryke's favorite decade of pop culture. We kick things off today with a double dose of posts featuring the #30 selections and a bonus list of titles from six, Boosh and myself that just missed our respective lists. The proceedings will be starting in a matter of minutes, so sit back and get ready for the biggest celebration of 80's movies since the last season of Stranger Things wrapped up.

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The Just Missed the Cut Lists:
Boosh: (in alphabetical order)
Blood Simple (1984)

The Last Metro (1980)

Moonlighting (1982)

Ordinary People (1980)

The Right Stuff (1983)

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)

six:
White Dog (1982):
Sam Fuller’s almost-final film is a powerful story about racism, embodied by a dog who is rescued by a young women, but who attacks black people. She tries to find help, and does so in the form of a trainer determined to right the wrong. It’s a blunt, powerful, and heartbreaking film about the rage behind racism.

Ghostbusters (1984):
It’s kind of crazy to think a film like this worked. It would never be made now. A high-concept film featuring a group of SNL actors that hadn’t quite broken out, in a high-budget fantasy/adventure/comedy. But it did, and boy did it work, with plenty of thrills and fun for the kids, but some adult jokes for the folks.

Dead Ringers (1988):
Arguably Cronenberg’s finest achievement, and his most restrained film of the 1980s, his strongest decade. Here, twin gynaecologist brothers with differing personalities have their relationship battered by the arrival of a love interest. The elements of body horror play second fiddle to the sense of tragedy and melancholy

transformers (in alphabetical order):
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

The Goonies (1985)

Hoosiers (1986)

The Naked Gun: From the Files of the Police Squad! (1988)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

John will be posting his at a later date, but here's the preamble to his list:
Putting together a list like this is always tricky business, but especially when dealing with a decade like the 80s, which is when I came of age, so there's a great deal of nostalgia attached to many of these picks, as opposed to the cold, critical eye of an adult.

And it's doubly hard because limiting myself to 30 picks means I'm excluding some films I truly love, so when I reveal my #1 I might have to include a lengthy list of honourable mentions.

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#30:
Boosh: Koyaaniqatsi (1982)


JohnErle: Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Swords and Sorcery were all the rage in the early 80s, with a whole host of movies hitting theatres to capitalize on the D&D craze. Conan The Barbarian was one of the best, and one of the things that has always stood out about the movie for me is the remarkable score by Basil Pouledouris. Taken as a whole, the score is one of my top 5 of all time, and this section might be my favourite piece of music ever recorded for a film.


six: After Hours (1985)
A film I’ve only just watched, having bought the Criterion collection 4k edition. It’s a surprising addition to Scorsese’s filmography. This is by a man who made some of the best films of the 70s, faced a difficult time in his career, and decided to make something small and quick. There’s a restlessness to this dark comedy about a guy who tries to make his way home through the wrong side of town. There are absurd elements and a dash of magical realism, something rarely seen in Scorsese’s films, and certainly never done right.


StarLord: The Living Daylights (1987)


transformers: Over the Top (1987)
Over the Top is about as pure a slice of bizarre 80's cheese as you could find. Sylvester Stallone plays a truck driver/amateur arm wrestler who uses his hobby as a way to bond with his estranged son (David Mendenhall) in the midst of a heated custody battle with his late ex-wife's father (Robert Loggia in full scenery-chewing villain mode), there's a montage set to a Kenny Loggins or Sammy Hagar power ballad every 10-15 minutes that reflect both moments of euphoria and tragedy and it establishes a universe where arm wrestling culture is so prevalent that there's televised million dollar tournaments in Las Vegas annually. While Sly has starred in a number of films that are "better" than this, it's a singular tsunami of jaw-dropping ridiculousness that never fails to entertain, amuse and befuddle.

[JohnErle]

Koyaaniqatsi - Never saw it. It always seemed more like a screensaver than a proper movie.

After Hours - Did the Criterion package include a plaster of paris bagel and cream cheese paperweight? After Hours is either on my list or one of the many painful cuts I had to make. You'll have to wait to find out.

The Living Daylights - Love it.

Over The Top - Keep it up and I might have to dust off the old snark. The only thing I remember about this movie is the scene where a bone pops out of some dude's arm. Compound fractures and eyeballs popping out skulls are two things that are usually too much for me in a movie.

[StarLord123]

I kinda announced my participation last minute, so I didn't have a lot of time to write blurbs about each film. I'll post some thoughts as we go along, but we're kinda in "what hasn't been said already?" territory with a number of my picks especially towards the end.

Even though he played the titular role in just two films, Timothy Dalton is in my opinion the second best silver screen James Bond behind only Sean Connery. His gritty and serious take on the character was a nice change of pace as the 80s were winding down, and if anything he should've taken over a few movies sooner than he did. The Living Daylights is the epitome of a classic Bond adventure, delivering all the charm, the thrills, and the action alongside a more faithful approach to the character. One of the better theme songs as well.

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I prefer Licence to Kill over The Living Daylights. Licence is a much more daring film and it's basically the precursor to the Daniel Craig Bonds.

[StarLord123]

Yep, more on that a little later, possibly.

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Boosch - I think I saw this. Or one of them at least. Fascinating to just watch and let it wash over you, but I've no desire to revisit them unless I'm hosting a hipster party and want to project this on a wall all night.

John: Well, never has a piece of music sounded the complete opposite to its title! As for Conan, it's been a while but a lot of that 80s fantasy stuff has dated tremendously.

Starlord: I was on a packed train to an English seaside village the other day. The train was hell. Bascially everyone had the exact same idea, it being the only sunny day of the year. I was furious at having to stand in the doorway and cling on to my life. As I was disembarking I was so mad that I failed to greet Timothy Dalton, who was also getting off at the same stop. Then again, the only thing I would have said was "Well, at least you're not Pierce Brosnan".

Transformers: Ah the 80s. I may have seen this, I'm not sure. There are a bunch of silly action movies I surely devoured as a lad, but my memory has blurred them all into one sweaty, somehow homoerotic AND misogynistic mess, starring Mel Gibson, Sly Stallone, Patrick Swayze, and/or Van Damme, possibly as the same character. But hey, at least the women are topless.

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#30
Boosh: Haven't seen it.

John: Here's an embarrassing admission: I've yet to see this, but I've seen the remake with Jason Momoa. It's quite possibly my most egregious Schwarzenegger blindspot and I hope to be able to rectify before too long.

six: Damn fine flick. One of the more unique Scorsese films that I've seen and just a generally nutty, fun ride.

StarLord: Timothy Dalton is actually the only Bond that I've never seen in action. Had always heard mixed things about his entries, so I never bothered to seek them out around the time I watched a number of pre-Brosnan entires back in high school. Maybe I'll do a Dalton Bond double feature one of these days.

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For some reason, it's not letting me do the daily post right now. I have no clue what the issue as this post went through just fine. I'll try again later and hope this is only a temporary issue.

[JohnErle]

I always get an error when I try to post here, but when I go back it shows that the post was actually made.

Here's the error I get:

This page isn’t working
forum.reelsociety.com is currently unable to handle this request.
HTTP ERROR 500

[numbersix]

i've been getting something like that for a while now

The problem is that I can't find the email of Digicrat (David) who is the contact for tech help. Only Shryke had his email. If anyone has any ideas on how to find this guy, let me know

[transformers2]

I always get an error when I try to post here, but when I go back it shows that the post was actually made.

Here's the error I get:

This page isn’t working
forum.reelsociety.com is currently unable to handle this request.
HTTP ERROR 500

I''ve gotten that same one for months now and the same thing happened. But today (including just now), I was greeted with this and the post did not go up:

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator at webmaster@forum.reelsociety.com to inform them of the time this error occurred, and the actions you performed just before this error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

This is a big fucking problem and like six said, I have no clue how to get in touch with the powers that be to solve it.

[transformers2]

#29:
Boosh: Full Metal Jacket (1987)


JohnErle: Kagemusha (1980)
This is one movie on my list with zero nostalgia attached to it since I only saw it for the first time a few years ago, but I was absolutely blown away by the cinematography, especially its use of colour.

Akira Kurosawa was one of the most acclaimed directors of the 50s and 60s, but the 70s were a real dry spell for him, and at one point he even attempted suicide, but this Palm d'Or winner from 1980 was a stunning comeback and lead to another productive period for one of the all-time great directors.


six: Ran (1985)
A late-career masterpiece by one of the greatest film-makers of all time. This epic story once again borrows from Shakespeare, this time King Lear as a warlord decides to divide his kingdom to his sons. It's a film that is at times epic and huge, and at others, intimate and still. It's like an amalgamation of everything Kurosawa learned from his vast and stunning back catalogue, but this is probably his most visually stunning.


StarLord: First Blood (1982)


transformers: Caddyshack (1980)
While it wouldn't surprise me at all if it's aged horribly, there's a nostalgic glow surrounding this film stemming from an incredible memory I have of sharing many laughs with my dad, grandfather and brother while watching it on an otherwise pretty shitty vacation when I was a teenager that will permanently preserve my love for it.

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I found a work around when I typed everything here and didn't copy/paste it from a Word document, which is really puzzling because I've done that exact thing a bunch recently (including yesterday) with no problem whatsoever. Anyways, crisis (maybe) averted for now and enjoy the double dose of Kurosawa on the menu today.