Are 80's movies bad after all?

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Matt²

I just sat through Transformers (1986) and Short Circuit... recently I watched The Goonies at a local theater that was re-showing it..

I appreciate the fond memories I have of seeing these movies as a kid and enjoying them immensely.. I think I vaguely remember the local newspaper movie reviewer giving them bad reviews. I thought at the time he was crazy...

after having rewatched some of them I began to slowly come to the same conclusions...

maybe I'm turning into Dave, but all I could think in various parts of each movie "God that's annoying!!" .. specifically in Short Circuit (too many parts in Transformers, though I still love it.. just not Weird Al's music video in that one..) Ally Sheedy yelling with her high pitched over dramatized bad acting...
Another example (this might have had to do more with the theaters ancient sound system) was the constant high pitched yelling of all the kids in The Goonies.. it began to greatly irritate me while trying to watch it, so badly that at one point I completely covered my ears with my hands... understand I am a Goonies fan, and the movie was filmed (mostly) in my home state.

So I ask you folks... are some/most/all/no 80's movies bad?

This is just a small smattering of examples of 80's movies.. add your own and why you like/dislike them.
 
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Matt²

true true, there are some significant gems from the 80's, perhaps my mind is wrapped up from films that at the TIME, I thought were great...?
 
P

Philosopher B.

Whatever one grows up with is bound to be remembered with a certain degree of nostalgia ... just take a look at any list of 80s movies, though, and you realize there was a lot of genuinely awesome shit made in that decade:

http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/pages/movie-pages/movie_80s.html

^ That list doesn't even include awesome shit like Aliens and Predator.

As for the '86 Transformers ... yeah, it ripped off all kinds of shit like Star Wars and Tron and what-have-you, but there's still something in the cheesiness that's hard not to love ... I find that with a lot of 80s movies I see even as an adult. There was a lot of fun to be had in 80s cinema, methinks.

I also love the craft aspect of a lot of 80s movies ... give me Yoda, Gizmo, and that Caddyshack Gofer over CGI Alvin and the Chipmunks any day.
 
checkeredhat

checkeredhat

I really don't think the decade has anything to do with it. I think its that those are kids movies. And that's no different from movies today or from the 70s or movies in the future will be.
 
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Chazwozel

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

'80s had a lot of things that were more awful than in other decades, but movies wasn't one of them. There are loads of great movies from that decade. Die Hard, Gremlins, The Dark Crystal, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back... and too many more. Hell, John Carpenter hit his stride in the 80s.

And as for kids movies, sure Disney was sucking most of the decade, but it was Don Bluth's prime, not to mention Jim Henson was making his contributions, like the above mentioned Dark Crystal, or Labyrinth, Muppet sequels...

There's too many. How can you even think what you said in the OP? How can you be so full of wrong?
 
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Wasabi Poptart

I agree that the movies you were watching were for kids which is why now you find them annoying. There were some great 80's movies: "The Princess Bride", "Platoon", Star Trek movies, "Empire Strikes Back", and a whole slew of horror flicks like "Hellraiser", "Friday the 13th", "Creepshow", "The Shining", and so on.
 
Piotyr

Piotyr

Heck, even as kids movies go, Secret of NIMH has to be in the running for best kids movie of all time, no?
 
Shakey

Shakey

This just in. Every 10 years some shitty movies get made, and some good movies get made. Short Circuit fuckin rocked god damn it, I don't care what you think.
 
North_Ranger

North_Ranger

Staff member
Well, that's a bit too wide a spectrum to give any semblance of an over-arching statement. I would say, however, that some of the 80s movies have not aged too well (particularly some of the fantasy movies thereof - films with the infamous "fur diaper" for men). And then there are those movies that have aged so badly that they've actually become good. Like Flash Gordon, which is silly as hell but still a treat to watch.
 
IronBrig4

IronBrig4

I'm trying to think of good movies from the 70s...

Patton
Star Wars
Alien
A Bridge Too Far
Godfather
Jaws
Deer Hunter
Apocalypse Now
American Graffiti

Huh. I guess the 70s did have a lot of fine films. But I still think the 80s has more.
 
M

Matt²

escushion said:
There's too many. How can you even think what you said in the OP? How can you be so full of wrong?
Click to expand...
Sorry.. got depressed after watching Short Circuit and also had a small migraine going on.

(sigh) too tired to go over that list linked earlier, but 1: there's quite a few movies on it that I have seen and enjoyed... there's also of course a few movies on it I absolutely abhor (just a few).. 2: there's quite a few movies on that list I HAVEN'T seen and now want to... Derek Jacobi and Kenneth Branagh?! oh HELL yes!

off to make my Doctor Who thread now...
 
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Steven Soderburgin

The '80s had some terrible movies but every decade did. There are some great films that came out during the '80s, including some of my personal favorites. So I guess the answer to the question in the OP is "Yes, some of them."
 
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