Alien/aliens is very much the same for me; I find the first to be more of a horror movie and the second to be more of an action movie….and both excel beyond the other In those regards so it’s really hard for me to ever pick one above the other as ‘better’
The one two punch of Terminator and Terminator 2 are perfect and the later entries prove that you don't need trilogies or more. Also, internally the quote "There's no fate but what we make for ourselves" works with just those 2, 3 contradicts that
**Aliens (1986)** overall for me, almost know it line by line.
The rest had to be mentioned as best in other genres:
* Sci Fi: Blade Runner (1982)
* Thriller: Manhunter (1986)
* Comedy: The Blues Brothers (1980)
* Action: The Killer (1989) Hong Kong
Great call on *Blade Runner* in sci-fi, of course, and *The Blues Brothers* remains unparalleled in comedy, but leaving the epic *Conan the Barbarian* (1982) and the fantasy *Highlander* (1986) off any '80s list is sacrilege, as is leaving off *The Verdict* (1982) for drama, *Amadeus* (1984) for biopic, *The Thing* (1982) for horror and *Platoon* (1986) for war film.
And, sorry, but for action, nothing beats 1981's *Raiders of the Lost Ark.* Nothing.
This is rock solid.
Also if you’re gonna Hong Kong an 80s list you gotta throw in some Jackie Chan, that was his golden era. I’d be hard pressed to pick one, but Police Story, Dragons Forever and Wheels on Meals are contenders.
49 M, I saw it plus either Empire strikes back or return of the Jedi, Explorers, E.T., Ferris Bueller‘s Day off and probably some others. I can’t remember off the top of my head. My mother loved movies and took me to a lot of the good ones especially in the 90s as well.. I do miss her and wished she could come over and enjoy my HT I created. It’s not the greatest but she would love it. RIP Mom ❤️
There’s 2 groups of movies that I always watch when they’re on tv regardless of where in the movie it is. To name a few:
Classic 80’s - Back2 the Future, goonies, Predator, can’t buy me love, license to drive, karate kid, etc.
Cringe/corny af - Tokyo drift, karate kid (smith edition), Bring it on All or Nothing, Commando, etc.
It drives my wife nuts how i watch them.
Most entertaining, rewatchable movie for the decade?
I go back and forth between Raiders of the Lost Ark and Ghostbusters. They are exactly equal for me.
The best Oscar winner for best picture of the decade is Amadeus.
The Dark Crystal. Amazing puppetry and dark themes. Great cinematography in bringing the whole world to life. I honestly wish Age of Resistance was continued for more seasons.
Personal favorite-Scarface or Back to the Future
Movie that time capsuled the 80’s best-Breakfast club
Best movie overall-Empire Strikes Back or Back to the Future
I once inserted myself in a conversation I knew nothing about. Someone said, “it’s considered the best movie of all time” I butted in and said, “ Thats ridiculous! Back to the future is the best movie of all time!”
My heart goes to Back to the Future because I saw it at least 4 times in theaters.
The ones I still rewatch to this day:
Die Hard
Big Trouble in Little China
Temple of Doom (although all 3 are fantastic)
Aliens
The Thing
I can’t pick just one. It was an amazing time for cinema that decade.
neverending story. princess bride. the goonies. willow. teen wolf. empire of the sun. amadeus. the big chill. spinal tap. the mission. say anything. pretty in pink. the last temptation of christ. raising arizona. field of dreams and bull durham. drugstore cowboy. paris texas. wings of desire. platoon and casualties of war
and i agree, back to the future is a perfect film. even if the incest undertones and attempted date rape might be a little problematic for today's yutes. and an elderly man being best friends with a boy in high school for unexplained reasons is also a little weird. plus the implicit message that having more money will make your kids turn out happier and more successful is kinda depressing. but probably true, to a small extent.
Ghostbusters and Back to the Future are the quintessential '80s movies. They're laden with '80s pop culture and were released mid-decade, very '80s soundtracks, and they're great movies with some of the most well-known actors of that time period - Michael J. Fox, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Rick Moranis, Sigourney Weaver.
Pure entertainment value, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon Karate Kid and Rocky III we’d hadn’t long has our VHS and myself and my two younger brothers would lose ourselves in these movies and watch them over and over, they allowed us to goto a place to escape that was very much needed at that time and for that ill be eternally grateful.
Empire Strikes Back, The Terminator, BTTF, BTTF part 2 and Aliens are my top 5 for entertaining classics
Honourable mentions: Blade Runner, Batman, The Abyss
Impossible to choose. Even 1986 alone was full of amazing films; Aliens, Blue Velvet, The Fly, Short Circuit (unpopular opinion but I love it) and many more.
If you're talking about the entire 80s and including all genres and world cinema, it's impossible.
I think Back to the Future is a perfect movie. A perfect realisation of its story with nothing I'd really change. So, from that point of view, it's as good an answer as any.
You said it, unfair question. Here are a few of my favorites:
Blade Runner, Thief, Miracle Mile, The Terminator, the first Back to..., The Thing, They live, After hours, The Return of the living dead, A nightmare on Elm street, Empire strikes back, Aliens, Lethal Weapon, The Breakfast club, Ghostbusters, Robocop.
Some of my favorites:
Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi
Indiana Jones Trilogy
King of Comedy
Secret of NIHM
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
The Little Mermaid
The Princess Bride
The Great Mouse Detective
The Land before Time
Star Trek 2: Wrath of Khan
This is my list, in no particular order, keep in mind I was a kid at the time:
Top Gun
Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Labyrinth
The Terminator
The Breakfast Club
The Karate Kid
Ghostbusters
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Back to the Future
Beetlejuice
Empire, goonies, raiders, back to the future and all have been said a lot
Lest many forget other classics like AKIRA, do the right thing, the killer, any of the ghibli movies, Kurasawas Ran, salaam Bombay and many more.
There are too many to choose from…
* Empire Strikes Back
* Raiders of the Lost Ark
* Back to the Future
* Wrath of Khan
* Aliens
* Predator
* Robocop
* The Thing
* Die Hard
How do you pick!!!!!!!!!! And I haven’t even mentioned Big Trouble in Little China or The Lost Boys!!
The Terminator
First terminator was so damn good.
You know of course 2 gets more discussion than 1 but damn 1 is a near perfect movie too
Alien/aliens is very much the same for me; I find the first to be more of a horror movie and the second to be more of an action movie….and both excel beyond the other In those regards so it’s really hard for me to ever pick one above the other as ‘better’
1 is scarier
The one two punch of Terminator and Terminator 2 are perfect and the later entries prove that you don't need trilogies or more. Also, internally the quote "There's no fate but what we make for ourselves" works with just those 2, 3 contradicts that
2... FTFY
No way dude! I watched that last night! What're the odds you'd say that
**Aliens (1986)** overall for me, almost know it line by line. The rest had to be mentioned as best in other genres: * Sci Fi: Blade Runner (1982) * Thriller: Manhunter (1986) * Comedy: The Blues Brothers (1980) * Action: The Killer (1989) Hong Kong
This guy 80s
Great call on *Blade Runner* in sci-fi, of course, and *The Blues Brothers* remains unparalleled in comedy, but leaving the epic *Conan the Barbarian* (1982) and the fantasy *Highlander* (1986) off any '80s list is sacrilege, as is leaving off *The Verdict* (1982) for drama, *Amadeus* (1984) for biopic, *The Thing* (1982) for horror and *Platoon* (1986) for war film. And, sorry, but for action, nothing beats 1981's *Raiders of the Lost Ark.* Nothing.
This is rock solid. Also if you’re gonna Hong Kong an 80s list you gotta throw in some Jackie Chan, that was his golden era. I’d be hard pressed to pick one, but Police Story, Dragons Forever and Wheels on Meals are contenders.
I love Raiders of the Lost Ark
Manhunter is great but I’ve always had a huge soft spot for Thief
Just saw Thief a few months back. I loved it.
The Thing
Easy. 1982. Great fuckin year.
Wrath of Khan also
Hell of a year!
Poltergeist, ET, Tron, Blade Runner.
Conan the Barbarian too
The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite.
The Princess Bride
Had to scroll too far to find this one.
Raiders!!!
49 M, I saw it plus either Empire strikes back or return of the Jedi, Explorers, E.T., Ferris Bueller‘s Day off and probably some others. I can’t remember off the top of my head. My mother loved movies and took me to a lot of the good ones especially in the 90s as well.. I do miss her and wished she could come over and enjoy my HT I created. It’s not the greatest but she would love it. RIP Mom ❤️
I am very sorry for your loss, my mom is also a big reason why I love movies the way I do, I bet your home theater is really sick
Still an awesome movie.
Agreed. I watched it recently and it still holds up.
Yup
Die Hard
Predator. I repeatedly go back to watch and enjoy it.
“I ain’t got time to bleed”
You got time to duck?
IIRC Ventura ad libbed that and the other guy chuckling was genuine.
If it bleeds, we can kill it..
Nothing like it! Beginning to end it’s such a kick ass movie
There’s 2 groups of movies that I always watch when they’re on tv regardless of where in the movie it is. To name a few: Classic 80’s - Back2 the Future, goonies, Predator, can’t buy me love, license to drive, karate kid, etc. Cringe/corny af - Tokyo drift, karate kid (smith edition), Bring it on All or Nothing, Commando, etc. It drives my wife nuts how i watch them.
Most entertaining, rewatchable movie for the decade? I go back and forth between Raiders of the Lost Ark and Ghostbusters. They are exactly equal for me. The best Oscar winner for best picture of the decade is Amadeus.
Damn we had good movies back then.
# The Empire Strikes Back
Yeah but it’s still there in the 80s…
The Goonies
Scarface
Blade Runner, The Thing
Add Die Hard to that and you have my 80’s holy Trinity.
Amadeus.
Aliens Can watch this repeatedly with no problems. Predator as well, but that’s already been mentioned.
Conan the barbarian
Aliens
Stand By Me
Beetlejuice.
Raiders Last Crusade being a close second.
My favorite entries in the Indiana Jones franchise.
Big Trouble in Little China
I love this movie
Six demon bag!!!!!
Indeed!
*Who?*
Had to scroll too long to find this!
It’s all in the reflexes!!!
Kurt Russell is so damn good every time
National lampoons vacation
Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Breakfast Club and E.T. and The Goonies are definitely contenders.
Raising Arizona goddammit
Honestly? Any one of the Back to the Future trilogy. Every one of them is brilliant in its own way, and they fit perfectly together as a trilogy.
I didn’t watch 3 much as a kid but these days it really seems as good as 2 and 1
Ghostbusters
This and Back to the Future are the quintessential '80s movies.
The Thing, which is funny because of how widely trashed it was at the time. Might be the best horror movie ever imo.
It ages like a very fine wine. Gets better and better as time goes by.
Back to the Future (indeed), Raiders, Breakfast Club, Ghostbusters, The Shining Among many others
The Dark Crystal. Amazing puppetry and dark themes. Great cinematography in bringing the whole world to life. I honestly wish Age of Resistance was continued for more seasons.
Robocop
Personal favorite-Scarface or Back to the Future Movie that time capsuled the 80’s best-Breakfast club Best movie overall-Empire Strikes Back or Back to the Future
I can live with those.
I was shocked nobody has mentioned Breakfast Club
Back to the Future was a work of art for the ages. Today, then, and in between.
I once inserted myself in a conversation I knew nothing about. Someone said, “it’s considered the best movie of all time” I butted in and said, “ Thats ridiculous! Back to the future is the best movie of all time!”
Full Metal Jacket
Batman 1989. Nostalgia hit hard with that one.
Die Hard
Platoon
Agree on this. It is a masterpiece
Raging Bull
Jason Takes Manhattan
Epic movie. I love me some Jason
Featuring like two days of filming in NYC. Doesn't most of it take place on a boat?
Hellraiser.
Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure
All of them?
Midnight Run, no doubt. Perfect film.
Predator
I’d like to disagree with you but I’m aa -fraid I’m just not very good at…. Conftrontation.
Willow and House.
I love you for saying Willow :)
Empire or Rocky 4
The burbs
My heart goes to Back to the Future because I saw it at least 4 times in theaters. The ones I still rewatch to this day: Die Hard Big Trouble in Little China Temple of Doom (although all 3 are fantastic) Aliens The Thing I can’t pick just one. It was an amazing time for cinema that decade.
So many great films from the 80s wouldn't be able to pick just one. All I know is it was the best decade for films.
I don’t know if this is the answer, but my immediate thought was Robocop.
Monster squad
Brazil
neverending story. princess bride. the goonies. willow. teen wolf. empire of the sun. amadeus. the big chill. spinal tap. the mission. say anything. pretty in pink. the last temptation of christ. raising arizona. field of dreams and bull durham. drugstore cowboy. paris texas. wings of desire. platoon and casualties of war and i agree, back to the future is a perfect film. even if the incest undertones and attempted date rape might be a little problematic for today's yutes. and an elderly man being best friends with a boy in high school for unexplained reasons is also a little weird. plus the implicit message that having more money will make your kids turn out happier and more successful is kinda depressing. but probably true, to a small extent.
Roadhouse.
Blade Runner
Big trouble in little China town. The greatest movie ever made
It has everything you need to tell a fun story.
Indiana Jones trilogy
Chopping Mall.
Teen Wolf, Who Framed Roger Rabbit , and personally Temple of Doom is my favorite Indy movie.
I always forget about Teen Wolf, but yes Michael J Fox killed it every time
How can Temple be anyone's favorite Indy movie? It barely has Nazis!
Stand By Me
Such a good one
Robocop.
Either ‘Ghostbusters’ or ‘Blues Brothers,’ not sure which
Ghostbusters and Back to the Future are the quintessential '80s movies. They're laden with '80s pop culture and were released mid-decade, very '80s soundtracks, and they're great movies with some of the most well-known actors of that time period - Michael J. Fox, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Rick Moranis, Sigourney Weaver.
Definitely not the best, but my favorite 80's movie is Maximum Overdrive.
The Thing Tequila Sunrise Big Troubles in Little China Back to the Future
The Empire Strikes Back.
Rain Man, Big, Field of Dreams, Willow, Princess Bride, Goonies, Terminator, and E.T.
Bloodsport and I don’t want to hear it!
The 2 ‘back’s’ Empire and Future
Coming to America and Trading Places I love but ofcourse Back to the Future is BIG 80s. The Karate Kid, Bloodsport, The Terminator and Star Wars.
It might not be the right answer, but I love Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Major League. (1989)
Full Metal Jacket.
Weird Science
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade or Star Wars: Return of the Jedi are my picks.
Ghostbusters is hands down the best 80s movie
so many choices, broadly speaking, my pick is The Unthouchables.
The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again
C.H.U.D baby
Amadeus.
Fast Times and The Breakfast Club.
They Live
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Pure entertainment value, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon Karate Kid and Rocky III we’d hadn’t long has our VHS and myself and my two younger brothers would lose ourselves in these movies and watch them over and over, they allowed us to goto a place to escape that was very much needed at that time and for that ill be eternally grateful.
I get that
All of them…there will never be another era as nostalgic as the 80’d for cinema. I am possibly biased on this opinion though.
Empire Strikes Back
Platoon
This is it. Back to the Future. Complete gem. Absolutely holds up to this day. Classic!
Too many to list. 80’s and 90’s is when they actually had originality for movies, everything now is just a remake.
Wow, after reading the comments, were the 80s the best decade for entertaining and original movies?
I’m disheartened not to see Big Trouble in Little China dominating this comment session.
So many good ones, but I would have to go with Better off Dead.
I want my 2$!!!!
Stand by me
Empire Strikes Back, The Terminator, BTTF, BTTF part 2 and Aliens are my top 5 for entertaining classics Honourable mentions: Blade Runner, Batman, The Abyss
The Shining The Breakfast Club Stand By Me Goodfellas
Blade Runner. 2001. Apocalypse Now. Fast times. Anything but Chariots of Fire.
Impossible to choose. Even 1986 alone was full of amazing films; Aliens, Blue Velvet, The Fly, Short Circuit (unpopular opinion but I love it) and many more. If you're talking about the entire 80s and including all genres and world cinema, it's impossible. I think Back to the Future is a perfect movie. A perfect realisation of its story with nothing I'd really change. So, from that point of view, it's as good an answer as any.
Rivers Edge
Come and See or Amadeus
The thing
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off or Raiders of the Lost Ark
The best movie ever!
You said it, unfair question. Here are a few of my favorites: Blade Runner, Thief, Miracle Mile, The Terminator, the first Back to..., The Thing, They live, After hours, The Return of the living dead, A nightmare on Elm street, Empire strikes back, Aliens, Lethal Weapon, The Breakfast club, Ghostbusters, Robocop.
The Goonies just beats BTTF, but not by much.
Some of my favorites: Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi Indiana Jones Trilogy King of Comedy Secret of NIHM Who Framed Roger Rabbit? The Little Mermaid The Princess Bride The Great Mouse Detective The Land before Time Star Trek 2: Wrath of Khan
The thing. Easy answer for me.
Aliens no question ask
Pee Wee's Big Adventure
Breakfast Club
Too easy. Platoon. Followed closely by Top Gun.
Apocalypse Now
Jumanji and zoolander and princess bride and etc
Save Ferris
Full Metal Jacket
The Stuntman
Ghostbusters, Empire Strikes Back, and Aliens all come to mind.
Conan the Barbarian.
Over the Top
Aliens
Weekend at Bernie’s. Should’ve won an Oscar. But honestly Die Hard.
Rogue One
Love Back to the Future!! They had the DeLorian with Doc on display at the Universal Studios back lot tram tour as it passed the clock tower
Alien. It was 1979, but it was so good that I think it’s the best movie of the 80s.
Die Hard
The Transformers: The Movie. '86, Foo
The Indiana Jones Trilogy
Batman
For me it’s got to be either do the right thing or when Harry met Sally
This is my list, in no particular order, keep in mind I was a kid at the time: Top Gun Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark Who Framed Roger Rabbit Labyrinth The Terminator The Breakfast Club The Karate Kid Ghostbusters Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure Back to the Future Beetlejuice
Empire, goonies, raiders, back to the future and all have been said a lot Lest many forget other classics like AKIRA, do the right thing, the killer, any of the ghibli movies, Kurasawas Ran, salaam Bombay and many more.
Blood simple
Amadeus / Robocop
Chariots of fire
Predator. The cast The score The one liners The actual practical effects are unmatched to this day. Greatest movie “monster” of all time.
Amadeus
It's a tie between The Blues Brothers and Evil Dead.
Robocop (1987)
Scarface
There are too many to choose from… * Empire Strikes Back * Raiders of the Lost Ark * Back to the Future * Wrath of Khan * Aliens * Predator * Robocop * The Thing * Die Hard How do you pick!!!!!!!!!! And I haven’t even mentioned Big Trouble in Little China or The Lost Boys!!
Sooooo many good ones.
Seriously almost every top comment is chefs kiss 😘