ShrykeVerse Top Movies of the 80's Countdown

[transformers2]

#24
Boosh: One of the most effective, potent pieces of satire ever made while also being a kickass action movie. Love it.

John: Just missed my list. Like all of the best Zucker/Zucker/Abrahams, it's jam-packed with great goofy sight gags/quips and Leslie Nielsen has (almost) never been funnier.

six: Haven't seen it.

StarLord: Never felt compelled to seek it out based on how I feel about the Mad Max movies I have seen and it's not overly likely that I ever will.

[JohnErle]

RoboCop – There's a lot to like about it, but the over-the-top violence and machismo feels like a precursor to Michael Bay, and Peter Weller is too wooden to even play a convincing android.

Nausicaa - Never saw it. I've seen very few Studio Ghibli, or anime for that matter.

Road Warrior – As far as I know, I never saw any of the original Mad Max films. I have a lot of respect for George Miller, but none for Mel Gibson, so I doubt I'll ever watch it.

Lethal Weapon 2 – I know I saw it, probably didn't like it, and I'll definitely never watch it now.

[transformers2]

#22
Boosh: Airplane! (1980)


JohnErle: The Right Stuff (1983)
How did America go from breaking the sound barrier for the first time in 1947 to orbiting the earth less than 15 years later? The Right Stuff attempts to answer that question in its epic, jam-packed, three-hour-plus runtime.


six: Blood Simple (1984)
Not only the film that kick-started the remarkable career of the Coen Brothers, but also one of the films that started the new American independent cinema, one which combined Gen X cynicism with low-budget genre stories. This is a brooding neo-noir, with Frances McDormand impressing as the hero in a story of a double-crossing gone wrong, building up for a terrifying brilliant climax.


StarLord: The Thing (1982)


transformers: Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
John Hughes' first real departure from coming-of-age stories also happens to be one of the finest efforts of his career. Steve Martin and John Candy are both in peak form as two completely different strangers who are brought together by a string of travel mishaps as they attempt to get home to Chicago for Thanksgiving and the mixture of laughs and heart is strong throughout.

[numbersix]

Boosh: I genuinely thought this was from the 70s. Excellent film. Over the years I've had many conversations with friends and partners about nearly getting food posiing, and when asked what I had, I automatically say "I had lasagne".

John: Tried sitting through it a few years ago but it failed to grab me. Just could not associate enough to endure the long run-time, and this is coming from someone who has watched the 4-hour version of Lawrence of Arabia dozens of times.

Starlord: Excellent mix of horror and sci-fi. One of Carpenter's best films. Perhaps his best?

Tranny: An absolute delight. I'm sure with a more critical eye I could tear it apart, but it's just so nice and gentle and fun. Why would I want to???

[transformers2]

#22
Boosh: Few movies shaped my taste in comedy more than this. It'll be appearing on my list a ways down the line.

John: Haven't seen it.

six: Was a bit underwhelmed by this once I finally caught it about 5 years ago. Definitely has the feel of a Coen Brothers picture and Frances McDormand is reliably great in it, they just hadn't quite perfected their formula yet.

StarLord: As a big fan of nearly all of the John Carpenter projects that I've seen, it pains me to admit that I haven't seen this but have indeed seen the 2011 remake. I just learned that it's on Peacock, so I'm going to make a point to catch it sometime next month when I start really ripping through some horror flicks.

[JohnErle]

All good picks yesterday, some of which will appear on my list, and the rest are well worth watching, even if they fell short. I suspect we're at the point where many movies will start appearing multiple times, so instead of repeating myself I'll just say I'm glad so many of my honourable mentions have already made an appearance. When I reveal my #1 that'll leave me with a much shorter list of films no one else has mentioned yet.

[transformers2]

#21
Boosh: The Killer (1989):


JohnErle: Body Heat (1981):
The art of trailer making has come a long way since the early 80s, so instead of posting a trailer that doesn't do much to sell the film, what could be more 80s than Siskel & Ebert raving about the best neo-noir of the decade


six:My Left Foot (1989):
Irish cinema rarely gets better than this. A biopic of the cerebral palsy-inflicted artist Christy Brown, Daniel Day Lewis deserved his Oscar for such a demanding role. But it’s a finely made film, depicting the working class without being patronising or one-dimensional, thanks to Jim Sheridan coming from that part of inner-city Dublin.


StarLord: Full Metal Jacket (1987:)


transformers: They Live (1988):
Yesterday, a John Carpenter movie that I haven't seen was selected, so it's fitting that I get to discuss my favorite of his today. Carpenter delivered one of the most scathing, intelligent takedowns of the dangerous threat unfettered capitalism that were brought on Reganomics brought to our world that we've ever seen in media through one of the most unlikely packages imaginable: a B-sci-fi action flick that features wrestling legend “Rowdy” Roddy Piper in the lead role. Unsurprisingly, the movie has held up extremely well as the damage Reganomics has caused grows with each passing year and while calling it underrated would be a stretch, I do feel that it's never gotten enough credit for just how well-constructed it is.

Bonus note: The 6-minute brawl between Piper and Keith David is a true work of art that needs to be preserved so future generations can celebrate its grace, beauty and pure, unrestrained excess.

[numbersix]

Boosch: Never seen it. I must give early Woo a chance

John: Can't remember if I've seen this or not. I keep mixing it up with 80s and 90s "erotic" thrillers. I suspect this is a cut above the rest, so must (re)watch

Starlord: Lesser Kubrick is still good.

Tranny: I don't think I could ever call this scathing or intelligent, with a protagonist who likes to kick ass and chew bubblegum. It may have an obvious message, but really it's just a really silly and fun b-movie. Not my favourite Carpenter film of the decade by a long shot, but it's a fun watch, particularly that fight scene

[Buscemi2]

I'm surprised this scene from Body Heat isn't a meme, especially seeing how popular The Good Place was.

[StarLord123]

Been busy these past few days, so I got some catching up to do.

Licence to Kill is in my top 5 favorite Bond movies of all time. It is probably the closest we'll ever get to an R-rated 007 film. The violence and hard edge to the movie make it quite effective, possibly the series' most brutal villain, and Timothy Dalton bringing his A-game for his second and sadly final time, in a dark revenge tale. If anything this is a better version of what they tried with the post-Casino Royale Daniel Craig films. Dalton certainly deserved more time in the role and it's a real shame that legal troubles put the franchise on ice for several years.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is I think the best and funniest film in that series, and a yearly watch during the Holiday season. With Chevy Chase and the supporting ensemble at the top of their game, and a sharp script from John Hughes with tons of outrageously funny scenes.

The Road Warrior was a crazy achievement in action filmmaking at the time, and it's still exhilarating today. Even crazier that this was put together on a shoestring budget, as the action is more exciting than many modern films. It also set the standard for road chase films and inspired a number of knock-offs.

More to come....

[JohnErle]

Killers - Haven't seen it, and nothing John Woo's ever done would make me want to.

My Left Foot - Haven't seen it since it was new-ish, so can't really comment one way or the other.

FMJ - Love it.

They Live - A true cult classic whose impact is diminished somewhat by the over-abundance of Obey t-shirts out there worn by posers when their Che Guevara t-shirts are in the wash.

[Buscemi2]

I thought they wore shirts of Pablo Escobar's mugshot now, John. I can't figure out how that became a thing.

[transformers2]

Ron will be joining us the rest of the way. His #30-21 picks will be posted right after this one.

#20
Boosh: Grave of the Fireflies (1988)


JohnErle: Fright Night (1985)
Hammer Films was lying dormant in the 80s, but its spirit lived on in the brilliant character of Peter Vincent -- whose name is an amalgam of Peter Cushing and Vincent Price -- a washed up horror actor reduced to introducing late night horror films on local TV before coming face to face with a real vampire and finding himself not up to the task. And I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but the most memorable moment in this horror comedy is a shockingly poignant death scene that comes out of nowhere and delivers a real gut punch when you least expect it.


Ron: Midnight Run (1988)


six: Predator (1987)
From intense social realist cinema, to the most ridiculous mainstream film of the 80s. Almost. Arnie being hunted in a nonspecific South American jungle may seem silly, but not as silly as the alien being Jean Claude Van Damme in an oversized stick-insect costume, thankfully. John McTiernan’s film is sweaty and tense, entirely due to holding back on showing us the voodoo-influenced extraterrestrial killer as much as possible, placing us into the POV of the muscular men who get picked off with ease. It’s a simple concept done well, with an ironic underlying anti-military-interventionalist message.


StarLord: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)


transformers: Heathers (1989)
Delicately threading the needle between angsty teen movie and pitch black comedy, Heathers is a deeply funny, legitimately daring coming-of-age tale that plenty of later films tried to copy but didn't have the wit or confidence to match its tricky tonal balancing act.

[transformers2]

Ron B #30-21 films:
30. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
29. Aliens (1986)
28. The Princess Bride (1987)
27. Star Wars VI - The Return of the Jedi (1983)
26. The Fourth Man (1983)
25. Videodrome (1983)
24. Field of Dreams (1989)
23. Hoosiers (1986)
22. See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989)
21. Rocky III (1982)

[numbersix]

Boosh: I know many regard this as the best Ghibli film, and perhaps expectations were too high, but this didn't blow me away, painting misery as sentiment. I much prefer the more lively, imaginative films

John: Haven't fully seen. Maybe parts of it. I struggle with comedy horror sometimes, and this never seemed that appealing. I am curious about this death scene you mention

Ron: Not much more to say than before

Some interesting choices prior to that, so thanks for joining. I've a soft spot for both Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and See No Evil, Hear No Evil. Never seen The Fourth Man but considering how great Verhoven's late 80s and early 90s material was, I should make this a priority.

Starlord: My least favourite of the first three. It felt more like a ghost train than the others, and the love interest is a screaming headache. But there are great sequences, and it's damn better than the last two.

Tranny: Another film I thought was 90s, for some reason. I do remember liking it. Not sure if would date that well. A few years ago I spent an evening hanging out with the writer of the film. He said that key scene near the start where all the groups are introduced was out of budget necessity - he had to find a way to introduce everyone in a single scene. A nice guy, but he seemed like the kind of person who has never been, or even seen, a teenager in his life, so it's funny he made such an iconic film.