American Filmgoing, decade by decade — What are your picks?
11-17-15 | 07:20 AM
#1
Thread Starter
DVD Talk Godfather
American Filmgoing, decade by decade — What are your picks?
How would you summarize American filmgoing decade-by-decade, using only two films as example?
What is the most 80s movie ever made?
Which two films sum up what it was like to be a filmgoer that decade?
For example, maybe your picks for the 90s are Pulp Fiction (because it spawned so many similar films for the next decade) and Jurassic Park (as the first example where CGI felt real).
Pick good films or bad films, commercial successes or arthouse stuff, it just has to feel like a film from that decade.
What is the most 80s movie ever made?
Which two films sum up what it was like to be a filmgoer that decade?
For example, maybe your picks for the 90s are Pulp Fiction (because it spawned so many similar films for the next decade) and Jurassic Park (as the first example where CGI felt real).
Pick good films or bad films, commercial successes or arthouse stuff, it just has to feel like a film from that decade.
11-17-15 | 07:45 AM
#2
DVD Talk Hero
Re: American Filmgoing, decade by decade — What are your picks?
I was born in the 80s, so I'm going to go with Nightmare on Elm Street and The Last Dragon.
The 80s featured some of the most unusual, creative and often phenomenally terrible horror flicks ever created and I always felt Nightmare on Elm Street was the pinnacle of it. The Last Dragon is just spectacularly 80s in every sense of the word. It isn't realistic by any stretch, and it isn't as good of a movie as say Big Trouble in Little China, but it captures everything great and bad about the 80s in one fell swoop.
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The 90s I'd go with Pulp Fiction and Bad Boys due to all the influences spawned from both of them. Pulp Fiction changed the face of indie "more clever than clever" cinema, Bad Boys introduced the world to Michael Bay who, despite having few good movies to his name, had a style that ultimately influenced a good 50% of the major movies released in the 00s and 10s.
The 80s featured some of the most unusual, creative and often phenomenally terrible horror flicks ever created and I always felt Nightmare on Elm Street was the pinnacle of it. The Last Dragon is just spectacularly 80s in every sense of the word. It isn't realistic by any stretch, and it isn't as good of a movie as say Big Trouble in Little China, but it captures everything great and bad about the 80s in one fell swoop.
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The 90s I'd go with Pulp Fiction and Bad Boys due to all the influences spawned from both of them. Pulp Fiction changed the face of indie "more clever than clever" cinema, Bad Boys introduced the world to Michael Bay who, despite having few good movies to his name, had a style that ultimately influenced a good 50% of the major movies released in the 00s and 10s.
11-17-15 | 08:21 AM
#3
DVD Talk Legend
Re: American Filmgoing, decade by decade — What are your picks?
Initial attempt:
70s - The Godfather, Jaws - a breakout for the new crop of filmmakers and the beginning of the blockbuster
80s - Ghostbusters, Top Gun - a buddy comedy with supernatural elements and Reagan-era militarism
90s - Pulp Fiction, Titanic - the rise of independent cinema and a huge hit that brought back historical epics
00s - Fellowship of the Ring, Batman Begins - the post-9/11 era of escapism that continues to this day, with high fantasy and more serious takes on comic books
70s - The Godfather, Jaws - a breakout for the new crop of filmmakers and the beginning of the blockbuster
80s - Ghostbusters, Top Gun - a buddy comedy with supernatural elements and Reagan-era militarism
90s - Pulp Fiction, Titanic - the rise of independent cinema and a huge hit that brought back historical epics
00s - Fellowship of the Ring, Batman Begins - the post-9/11 era of escapism that continues to this day, with high fantasy and more serious takes on comic books
11-17-15 | 10:17 AM
#4
DVD Talk Legend
Re: American Filmgoing, decade by decade — What are your picks?
I'm going to try and pick movies that were truly a reflection of society in the decades in which they were made:
1970s: Saturday Night Fever and The French Connection
1980s: The Breakfast Club and Top Gun
1990s: American Beauty and The Big Lebowski
2000s: Mean Girls and The Hurt Locker
Maybe not the BEST movies made, but ones that you can look at and get a good gauge of what the world was like.
1970s: Saturday Night Fever and The French Connection
1980s: The Breakfast Club and Top Gun
1990s: American Beauty and The Big Lebowski
2000s: Mean Girls and The Hurt Locker
Maybe not the BEST movies made, but ones that you can look at and get a good gauge of what the world was like.
11-17-15 | 10:37 AM
#5
Re: American Filmgoing, decade by decade — What are your picks?
Okay, I'll play (strictly off the top of my head):
1930s: KING KONG and 100 MEN AND A GIRL (Deanna Durbin was among the biggest boxoffice stars of the '30s)
1940s: THE MALTESE FALCON and THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES
1950s: REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and SOME LIKE IT HOT
1960s: WEST SIDE STORY and GOLDFINGER
1970s: DIRTY HARRY and STAR WARS
1980s: GHOSTBUSTERS and BATMAN
1990s: PULP FICTION and THE MATRIX
2000s: KILL BILL VOL. 1 and TRANSFORMERS
1930s: KING KONG and 100 MEN AND A GIRL (Deanna Durbin was among the biggest boxoffice stars of the '30s)
1940s: THE MALTESE FALCON and THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES
1950s: REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and SOME LIKE IT HOT
1960s: WEST SIDE STORY and GOLDFINGER
1970s: DIRTY HARRY and STAR WARS
1980s: GHOSTBUSTERS and BATMAN
1990s: PULP FICTION and THE MATRIX
2000s: KILL BILL VOL. 1 and TRANSFORMERS
Last edited by Ash Ketchum; 11-17-15 at 02:34 PM.
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11-17-15 | 12:48 PM
#7
Re: American Filmgoing, decade by decade — What are your picks?
Purely subjective. This is how I think of the decades:
1970's - Nashville and Taxi Driver
1980's - Blue Velvet and Repo Man
1990's - Dead Man and Magnolia
that's all I got
1970's - Nashville and Taxi Driver
1980's - Blue Velvet and Repo Man
1990's - Dead Man and Magnolia
that's all I got
