Films of the 1980s
Films of the 1980s
- Dressed to Kill (1980) - Brian De Palma
To condemn Dressed to Kill as a Hitchcock rip-off is to miss the sheer enjoyment of Brian De Palma's delirious 1980 thriller. Hitchcockian homages run rampant through most of De Palma's earlier films, and this one's chock-full of visual quotes, mostly cribbed from Vertigo and Psycho. --Jeff Shannon
- Coup de Torchon - Bertrand Tavernier (1981)
An inspired rendering of Jim Thompson's pulp novel Pop. 1280, Bertrand Tavernier's Coup de torchon (Clean Slate) deftly transplants the story of an inept police chief- turned-heartless killer and his scrappy mistress from the American South to French West Africa.
- Q (1982) - Larry Cohen
Q is a Larry Cohen movie, so b-movie fans know what to expect - a kinetic, almost documentary visual style, characters that are witty and behave like human beings, James Dixon (Cohen's Dick Miller), and little surprises to keep the movie from becoming predictable. --Chadwick H. Saxelid
- Videodrome (1983) - David Cronenberg
Love it or loathe it, David Cronenberg's 1983 horror film Videodrome is a movie to be reckoned with. Inviting extremes of response from disdain (critic Roger Ebert called it "one of the least entertaining films ever made") to academic euphoria, it's the kind of film that is simultaneously sickening and seemingly devoid of humanity, but also blessed with provocative ideas and a compelling subtext of social commentary.--Jeff Shannon
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Blood Simple (1984) - Coen Brothers
The debut film of director Joel Coen and his brother-producer Ethan Coen, 1983's Blood Simple is grisly comic noir that marries the feverish toughness of pulp thrillers with the ghoulishness of even pulpier horror. --Tom Keogh
- Tampopo (1985) - Juzo Itami
Off-the-wall entry from Japan concerns the put-upon owner of a noodle restaurant and the bizarre drifters who try to aid her in making her place a success. Tremendous, tangential comedy that may be the first cinematic celebration of the joy of eating.
- Blue Velvet (1986) - David Lynch
David Lynch peeks behind the picket fences of small-town America to reveal a corrupt shadow world of malevolence, sadism, and madness. --Sean Axmaker
- Amazon Women on the Moon (1987) - Carl Gottlieb, John Landis
A series of unrelated spoofs and sketches designed to resemble an aimless night of TV channel-surfing, and the satirical targets include grade-Z science fiction films of the 1950s, sex films of the 1930s, hospital soap operas, and Playboy video centerfolds.--Jeff Shannon
- Tetsuo: The Ironman (1988) -- Shinya Tsukamoto
Shinya Tsukamoto draws on the marriage of flesh and technology that inspires so much of David Cronenberg's work and then twists it into a manga-influenced cyberpunk vision. --Sean Axmaker
- Mr. Hire (1989) - Patrice Leconte
Patrice Leconte's Monsieur Hire is a deeply affecting portrait of the dark side of obsession. Monsieur Hire (Michel Blanc) is a lonely, middle-aged tailor who has taken up the rather depraved pastime of watching his beautiful neighbor, Alice (Sandrine Bonnaire). Observing his demeanor, one can hardly call him a voyeur.
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- Movies of the 80s - Jurgen Muller [Amazon US] [FR]
[DE]
[UK]
Step right up and get your fill of 80s nostalgia with the movie bible to end all movie bibles. We’ve diligently compiled a list of 140 of the most influential movies of the 1980s that’s sure to please popcorn gobblers and highbrow chin-strokers alike. The 80s was a time for adventurers, an era of excess, pomp, and bravado. In the era when mullets and shoulder pads were all the rage, moviegoers got their kicks from flicks as wide-ranging as Blade Runner, Indiana Jones, When Harry Met Sally, and Blue Velvet. Without a doubt, sci-fi was the most important genre of the decade, with non-human characters like E.T. winning the hearts of millions while the slimy creatures from Aliens became the stuff of nightmares and movies like Ghostbusters and Back to the Future fused comedy and sci-fi to the delight of audiences everywhere. In fact, the 1980s saw the invention of a new reality, a movie-world so convincingly real—no matter now far-fetched—that spectators could not help but abandon themselves to it. Now that’s entertainment, folks.
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