Great 80's Movies...

[geek the girl]

Howcome I've never seen this thread before? I was born in 1980 and grew up watching the movies you've mentioned so far; perhaps that's why most of my favourite movies from the era are essentially kid's och teenage flicks. Here are the 80's movies I never get tired of seeing:

The Lost Boys
Breakfast Club
Pretty in Pink
Heathers
Stand By Me
The Goonies
Beetlejuice
ET
Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (or any 80's movie where Winona Ryder starred as a moody, Goth oucast)
Can't Buy Me Love

[pikachu]

I'm sorry but xanadu! Great??? Memorable for being bad maybe but Great? no. I remember my friend won premier tickets to it when it first opened in our home town. 1980 something I was in my teens. We were so excited, all dressed up we sat down and watched. My god I was so dissappointed. I couldnt speak it was the worst movie I had ever seen and from the looks of most people coming out of the theatre they felt the same. Now when its on TV I watch it for five minutes to remember my a teenagehood and then i remember how bad the movie is and turn it off.

I have to disagree. I loved Xanadu! My mom, sister and I went to it and liked it so much we stayed and watched it again!! That's the only movie I ever remember us watching twice in one sitting at the theater.

I got it on VHS and went through a streak where I watched it every day after school for like two weeks. I loved the music and the individual scenes.

One thing I will say is they alternate great scenes with bad scenes. I love the beginning when the girls come to life, I love the part where Sonny first meets Kira, I love the part where Kira dances with Danny, I love the part where Sonny and Kira go skating at the music studio, I love the animated sequence they do, and I love the ending.

[jasmar]

Heathers was once my all-time favorite movie (and still in the top 10), but I'm not the same fatalistic pre-goth I was back then.

One I still love is Bladerunner. I ran across the director's cut version over Christmas, but didn't have the money to buy it. I've been dying to see the original version, before the sappy, happy ending that was tacked on for theater release.

I also loved Brazil, the French version of 3 Men and a Baby (hated the American version), and Cousins.

I absolutely HATED Blue Velvet. I loved everything else David Lynch did, but Blue Velvet was just too bloated white underbelly for me. The Dennis Hopper character still makes my skin crawl, and Isabella Rosellini, whom I normally love (see Cousins), was too believable in her role. Ick. It didn't help that I saw it on a first date with a really cute guy I'd had a crush on for a long time, who invited me back to his apartment to do cocaine afterwards… Of all the trouble I got myself into in the 80s, drugs was not an issue, so it was a total turnoff.

[PhoneGrrrl]

The late 80s were all about 3 movies that me & my friends would watch over & over: sex lies & videotape, Blue Velvet, and Heathers. S,L&V was filmed where I live and it was fun driving around finding the locations. My sister does a killer impression of Laura Dern making her "horrified" face from Blue Velvet, and, to this day any Roy Orbison song makes me think of Dean Stockwell in that makeup with the lightbulb. And it kills me that, were it released today, Heathers would likely cause riots in the streets with all its teen suicide, school shootings, and suicide bombing treated via comedy. But it was great times back then...we'd gather at somebody's house, make spaghetti, dress in primary colors, and drink Perrier and leave the empty bottle in someon'e locker.

Other teen movies I used to like --The Breakfast Club, The Lost Boys, Say Anything-- all seem so utterly awful to me now. The only 2 "teen" movies I still like are 16 Candles and Better Off Dead. Can't ever go wrong with a claymation hamburger.

[karalott]

I LOVED the 80's! And I especially loved the music and movies from that decade more than anything. All of my favorites have pretty much been mentioned but here's a few I didn't see (and some that just deserved to get mentioned again):

A Christmas Story
The Goonies (a classic)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Back to the Future
Vacation (the first was the best but I'll also throw in European Vacation and Christmas Vacation)
License to Drive
Look Who's Talking
The Legend of Billie Jean
Child's Play
Baby Boom
Three Men and a Baby


And two of the biggest bombs in cinematic history but two of my other favorites are Howard the Duck and Who's That Girl (so corny I actually found them entertaining).

[burntbrat]

I love Howard the Duck! That duck had the cutest little butt.

I stayed up late last night watching War Games on HBO. I started watching it because it was nostalgic and I was laughing at the 5" floppy disks. But then I got sucked in and couldn't stop even though I knew the ending and could see the tic-tac-toe and global thermonuclear war stalemates in my head vividly. It's a great movie, Matthew Broderick is unbelievably cute and Ally Sheedy is so wonderfly bubbly. It made me feel good

[karalott]

I love Howard the Duck! That duck had the cutest little butt.

I stayed up late last night watching War Games on HBO. I started watching it because it was nostalgic and I was laughing at the 5" floppy disks. But then I got sucked in and couldn't stop even though I knew the ending and could see the tic-tac-toe and global thermonuclear war stalemates in my head vividly. It's a great movie, Matthew Broderick is unbelievably cute and Ally Sheedy is so wonderfly bubbly. It made me feel good

Liking Howard the Duck is like a deep dark secret. But I loved how Howard jammed on that guitar. And I never knew that Tim Robbins played in that movie, either, until I went to look it up. The movie made no sense but sometimes being corny can translate into entertainment. And I forgot another movie that I loved from the 80's-The Monster Squad, despite the fact that even today the wolf man scares me to death.

TBS/Superstation used to have an 80's night on the weekend, starting at 8 p.m. and running straight through until like 6 in the morning. I wish they still did that.

[Broadway]

Oh so many good 80s movies!

Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles are a given
Poltergeist
The Sure Thing <---- our cult classic.. I could still watch it over and over
Better Off Dead
Spaceballs
Vacation
Blues Brothers
Stripes (has its moments)
Stand by Me

[burntbrat]

And I forgot another movie that I loved from the 80's-The Monster Squad, despite the fact that even today the wolf man scares me to death.

I completely forgot about The Monster Squad! Wow, talk about a blast from the past. My siblings and I used to run around quoting that movie because it was a kid's movie with slightly perverted lines. Like, "Wolfman's got nards!"

[MsFroggy]

This is a great thread. Lots of my favorites have been listed but anyways, I loved:

The Breakfast Club - The quintessential 80's movie and my favorite of that era

Dirty Dancing - Loved the music and the dancing and even though it wasn't about the 80's, it could've been

Can't Buy Me Love - Early Dr.McDreamy!! He wasn't so dreamy then but looks like fine wine got better with age

Some Kind of Wonderful - My second all time favorite

St.Elmo's Fire - Has several of my 80's favorites in it. I really should buy this on DVD.

Pretty in Pink - Duh!

About Last Night - Great Chicago locations. Love this one!