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Post by berkley on May 4, 2023 13:55:39 GMT -5
Skimming through the 1984 list quickly, I'd say my favourites were Buckaroo Banzai, Top Secret (not quite as good as Airplane, but still very funny), Repo Man, Johnny Dangerously, The Cotton Club, Greystoke the Legend of Tarzan, The Terminator, and Spinal Tap.
I'll go with Repo Man, possibly because I've seen it on the big screen recently but I think not only that. This is one year when I think my favourite might also be a contender for best.
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Post by berkley on May 4, 2023 14:12:52 GMT -5
some stand-outs from 1985:
After Hours
Brazil
Flesh and Blood
Ladyhawke
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
Ran
Re-Animator
Rocky IV
Tampopo
Yes, Madam
Like Hoosier X, I'll go with Brazil
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Post by berkley on May 4, 2023 14:16:58 GMT -5
One 1984 movie I don't remember hearing about until I went through the list just now is "Draw!", described as a comedy-western. I don't care how bad it might be, any movie with Kirk Douglas, James Coburn, and Alexandra Bastedo (Sharon from the late '60s spy series The Champions) I'm going to make a point of looking for.
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Post by berkley on May 4, 2023 15:09:26 GMT -5
Missed one from 1985: Peter Greenaway's A Zed & two Noughts, which I didn't see until much later, I think some time in the 2000s.
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Post by commond on May 4, 2023 15:31:02 GMT -5
My favorite film from 1985 is easily Tampopo. I still remember giving it a standing ovation in the middle of my university's audio-visual library.
Kiss of the Spider Woman is another favorite from this year. I went through a big John Hurt phase at one point.
Shout out to Return to OZ as well. Freaky ass film. And Cocoon. Can't forget the Guttenberg days.
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Post by EdoBosnar on May 4, 2023 16:40:24 GMT -5
Tampopo is a great movie.
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2023 17:00:06 GMT -5
The Breakfast Club - To hell with it. It's 1985. I'll just wallow in nostalgia. I did not grow up in a city suburb. But this movie hits close enough to home to my high school experience that that isn't a problem. I knew every character in the movie intimately. And while my school wasn't particularly cliché-y there was enough that I could totally feel it. We even started a school club "The Breakfast Club" where a bunch of us would go eat breakfast at a local restaurant before school one day a week. The cast is excellent. The writing is brilliant. The movie is eminently quotable. This movie really is the 80s for those who grew up then. 100% agree. Similar experience relating my school days to this movie. And I don't know if this was a standard design at the time, but my school had an almost identical library to the one depicted in the movie, the similarity haunts me to this day. This is my 1985 top movie as well. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on May 5, 2023 1:52:04 GMT -5
Wait, we're talking about 1985? Just remembered that's the year that my favorite neo-noir film was released: To Live and Die in LA.
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Post by tartanphantom on May 5, 2023 9:09:37 GMT -5
Yeah, Back to the Future is a film that holds up surprisingly well after all these years. The sequels aren't bad, either. However, of those that you listed, my personal pick would be Better Off Dead - the best '80s teen comedy, and, I'd say, the best teen/high school comedy ever, probably because it's simultaneously a parody of that same genre.
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Post by badwolf on May 6, 2023 16:47:16 GMT -5
My favorite film of 1985 is My Life as a Dog.
Other notables:
The Breakfast Club
Return to Oz
Tampopo
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 12, 2023 14:11:29 GMT -5
And we hit 1986...the year I graduated from high school. Aliens - A very worthy sequel to one of the great SF/horror films. James Cameron ratchets up the FX. The last hour of the film is incredibly intense. I really feel that it's Sigourney Weaver that holds this whole thing together. Ripley is one of the great SF heroes and Weaver does an incredible job bringing her to life. I don't think that this is as artistically interesting as Alien. But it's still a fine movie. Ferris Bueller's Day Off - A fun, remarkably sweet comedy. One could dismiss it as a trifle, but it's just incredibly endearing. Matthew Broderick shines as Ferris, the boy who just can't be caught. Mia Sara is lovely as Sloane. It's just a cute movie. Stand By Me - This is a very 80s film. It trades on nostalgia, probably far too knowingly. There's quite bit of what seems to be manufactured rather than organic drama. That said, the young cast is almost universally excellent. It's a movie that I probably shouldn't like, but that I will almost always watch given the chance. Big Trouble in Little China - Not a great movie, but a great deal of fun. It's loud and silly and that's just fine. Highlander - So much of this movie is an absolute mess that doesn't make any sense at all. But I don't care. It's chaotic fun. Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery and Clancy Brown are all just super fun. This movie played incessantly on HBO when I was in college and we watched it every time. And there's a reason that my youngest son's name is Connor. But let us never speak about the sequels. Three Amigos - I'll cop to loving me some dumb 80s comedies. But I laugh at this every damn time. Because it's In-famous. You know...more than famous. Back to School - Another 80s comedy...another movie that just busts me up. Rodney Dangerfield is great. And so is Robert Downey, Jr. as the friend. "I'm all out of pens. Here, have a calendar." The Golden Child - Everyone seems to hate this movie except me. Another one I watched a bazillion times during college. It cracks me up. "You picked the wrong money, Monty." Luxo, Jr. - Yeah, it's only two minutes long. But there's a lot of characterization for a couple of lamps in that two minutes. I love this little short that shows the beginnings of Pixar. As usual there are many films I've either not seen or not seen in far too long. Including; most of the big foreign language films; Platoon (at least 30 years); Blue Velvet (eons); The Fly (I need to see this again); Name of the Rose (I remember liking this, but it's been eons); The Color of Money (long time); The Mission; Mona Lisa (I need to see this again. I feel like I should love it); Round Midnight; So what's my favorite film of 1986? It's Highlander. I know it's a mess but I just love that mess. And the soundtrack is amazeballs. And 1986 in film for those as need a look. |
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Post by berkley on May 12, 2023 14:59:58 GMT -5
1986 is one year I can say I have a clear favourite: Blue Velvet. This is the movie that made me a confirmed David Lynch fan in the sense of, from this point on, making a point of seeing anything new he came out with as soon as possible. I had seen The Elephant Man back in 1980 and it was one of my favourite from that year but for some reason I never thought of as a director's movie. But Blue Velvet so obviously was the vision of one creator and I was so impressed with it that I kew I had to keep an eye out for anything he did in the future.
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Post by EdoBosnar on May 12, 2023 15:21:02 GMT -5
Pretty much agree with everything you said about Aliens, Ferris Bueller, Big Trouble, Back to School and Highlander - in the case of the latter, never have truer words been spoken:
However, we part ways on Three Amigos - I found that movie extremely unfunny and even a bit dull. Cripes, the two funniest scenes/lines were provided by Chevy Chase...
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Post by Hoosier X on May 12, 2023 19:51:16 GMT -5
Yeah. Blue Velvet.
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Post by commond on May 13, 2023 17:13:33 GMT -5
My favorite film from 1986 is Eric Rohmer's The Green Ray, which is probably my second favorite Rohmer film. I absolutely idolize Eric Rohmer. He's not for everyone as his films are mostly about people talking, but if you like films like Before Sunrise (a masterpiece) then Rohmer is the master.
Hannah and her Sisters is probably Woody's third best film. Blue Velvet isn't my favorite Lynch film, but very good. Dust in the Wind is my favorite 80s film from Hou Hsiao-Hsien. Love Cronenberg's The Fly too.
Jean de Florette (and its sequel) is the quintessential 80s foreign film, the kind of foreign film your parents would rent and watch together on a Saturday night, but it's extremely well made and deserving of its rep.
Shout out to An American Tail, which choked me up at the movies as a kid, and Labyrinth, which was a trip back in the days when they weren't afraid to scare the crap out of kids in children's movies.
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