My favorite 1980s Movies
My favorite films released from 1980-1989, ranked in order of preference.
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- DirectorAndrei TarkovskyStarsErland JosephsonSusan FleetwoodAllan EdwallAt the dawn of World War III, a man searches for a way to restore peace to the world and finds he must give something in return.
- DirectorAndrei TarkovskyStarsOleg YankovskiyErland JosephsonDomiziana GiordanoA Russian poet and his interpreter travel to Italy researching the life of an 18th-century composer, and instead meet a ruminative madman who tells the poet how the world may be saved.
- DirectorJérôme BoivinStarsLise DelamareJean MercureJacques SpiesserA white bull terrier named Baxter is given to an elderly woman by her daughter. As time passes, the dog develops aggressive and murderous behavior in order to be adopted by another family.
- DirectorWilliam Peter BlattyStarsStacy KeachScott WilsonJason MillerAn ex-marine psychiatrist attempts to rehabilitate his patients by indulging their fantasies, and seeks to prove the existence of a loving God to one especially troubled inmate.
- DirectorJerry SchatzbergStarsJason RobardsChristien AnholtSamuel WestTwo young boys from very different backgrounds become friends in 1933 Stuttgart. However, they don't realize how different they are until much later as one is the son of a well-to-do Jewish doctor and the other the son of a German aristocrat. After that summer and the election of Hitler, things change as anti-semitism gains fervor. After the core of the film deals with that era, the film flashes to the present and the Jewish man now returns to his boyhood home and seeks his old friend with some surprises.
- DirectorMaurice PialatStarsGérard DepardieuSandrine BonnaireMaurice PialatA priest stuck in a rural congregation and burdened with his overwrought spirituality, finds purpose in a troubled woman accused of murder.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsSabine AzémaFanny ArdantPierre ArditiIn Paris in the 1920s, a concert violinist meets and falls in love with a stylish young flapper who's the wife of an old friend. Romaine instigates the affair with Marcel, and carries it forward even as her husband, Pierre, falls ill. She may even be purposely giving Pierre a treatment that adds to his misery. After Marcel returns from a concert tour and Romaine stoops to a new low in abandoning Pierre for an assignation, she reconsiders the affair and takes a drastic step. Three years later, Pierre pays Marcel a visit to demand the truth. Will the jealous and aggrieved Marcel manage a convincing performance?
- StarsArtur BarcisOlgierd LukaszewiczOlaf LubaszenkoTen television drama films, each one based on one of the Ten Commandments.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsGérard DepardieuNicole GarciaRoger PierreThe intersecting stories of three people who face difficult choices in life-changing situations are used to illustrate the theories espoused by Henri Laborit about human behavior and the relationship between the self and society.
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsSandrine BonnaireMacha MérilStéphane FreissA young woman's body is found frozen in a ditch. Through flashbacks and interviews, we see the events that led to her inevitable death.
- DirectorAlain CavalierStarsCatherine MouchetHélène AlexandridisAurore PrietoA story of life of St. Therese of Lisieux.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTatsuya NakadaiAkira TeraoJinpachi NezuIn Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him.
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsMarie RivièreMaría Luisa GarcíaVincent GauthierIt's July, and Delphine has nowhere to go for the summer. She feels very bored and "empty", but this won't last; one day she accidently meets someone who seems to be totally made for her...
- DirectorVíctor EriceStarsOmero AntonuttiSonsoles ArangurenIcíar BollaínA woman reflects on her childhood relationship with her father, attempting to understand the depths of his despair and the truth of his myths.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsMartin LandauWoody AllenBill BernsteinAn ophthalmologist's mistress threatens to reveal their affair to his wife while a married documentary filmmaker is infatuated with another woman.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsJames SpaderAndie MacDowellPeter GallagherA sexually repressed woman's husband is having an affair with her sister. The arrival of a visitor with a rather unusual fetish changes everything.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroJerry LewisDiahnne AbbottA passionate yet unsuccessful comedian stalks and kidnaps his idol to take the spotlight for himself.
- DirectorMaurice PialatStarsGérard DepardieuSophie MarceauRichard AnconinaA moody, jaded police detective, while investigating a drug ring, falls for a mysterious woman and is drawn into a shady and dangerous scheme.
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsEmmanuelle ChauletSophie RenoirAnne-Laure MeuryIn Paris outskirts Blanche, a young clerk, befriends Lea, a girl livelier than she is. Lea is going steady with Fabien who is a friend to Alexandre who is going steady with Adrienne but is however loved by Blanche. Somehow a way has to be found to get out of this emotional chaos!
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsPascale OgierTchéky KaryoFabrice LuchiniLouise is a suburban young interior decorator divided between a boyfriend, a lover (who is married) and the wish of having some fulfillment and some balance in her life. A change to reach some independence comes when she rents a small apartment.
- DirectorRobert TownsendStarsRobert TownsendCraigus R. JohnsonHelen MartinAn actor limited to stereotypical roles because of his ethnicity, dreams of making it big as a highly respected performer. As he makes his rounds, the film takes a satiric look at African American actors in Hollywood.
- DirectorJoe DanteStarsTom HanksBruce DernCarrie FisherAn overstressed suburbanite and his neighbors are convinced that the new family on the block is part of a murderous Satanic cult.
- DirectorIvan ReitmanStarsBill MurrayDan AykroydSigourney WeaverThree parapsychologists forced out of their university funding set up shop as a unique ghost removal service in New York City, attracting frightened yet skeptical customers.
- DirectorGuy HamiltonStarsFred WardJoel GreyWilford BrimleyAn officially "dead" cop is trained to become an extraordinary unique assassin in service of the US President.
- DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsDavid ByrneBernie WorrellAlex WeirConsidered by critics as the greatest concert film of all time, the live performance was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theater in December of 1983 and features Talking Heads' most memorable songs.
- DirectorChris MarkerStarsAmilcar CabralFlorence DelayArielle DombasleA woman narrates the contemplative writings of a seasoned world traveler, focusing on contemporary Japan.
- DirectorHiroshi TeshigaharaStarsIsidro Puig BoadaAntoni GaudíSeiji MiyaguchiThe work of Catalan architect Antonio Gaudí, as seen by Japanese New Wave director Hiroshi Teshigahara.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsIsabella RosselliniKyle MacLachlanDennis HopperThe discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.
- DirectorIldikó EnyediStarsDorota SegdaOleg YankovskiyPaulus MankerTwo twin sisters, who grew up separately, Dóra, a pseudo-aristocrat, and Lili, an anarchist bomber, are reunited through Z, a mysterious traveller of the luxurious Orient-Express.
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsJoëlle MiquelJessica FordeMr. HousseauTwo unlike girls are going to learn each other's world - lovely countryside and bustling Paris.
- DirectorHenry JaglomStarsHenry JaglomAndrea MarcovicciMichael EmilA Hollywood film director assembles a group of friends and strangers for a social gathering on Valentine's Day in a deserted movie theatre where he interviews them all on their opinions on love and loneliness.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsNicolas CageHolly HunterTrey WilsonWhen a childless couple--an ex-con and an ex-cop--decide to help themselves to one of another family's quintuplets, their lives become more complicated than they anticipated.
- DirectorChris MarkerStarsAndrei TarkovskyMarina VladyEva MattesA documentary made prior to the death of filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, showing him working on his final film "The Sacrifice". This documentation was made at Tarkovsky's request to stand as a record of his working practices. Interspersed with clips of the director's previous films, this should prove especially interesting for fans of Tarkovsky's work.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsRandall AdamsDavid HarrisGus RoseA film that successfully argued that a man was wrongly convicted for murder by a corrupt justice system in Dallas County, Texas.
- DirectorAleksandr SokurovStarsAndrei TarkovskyTonino GuerraAleksandr SokurovA film in homage to Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. It concentrates on his absence from the Soviet Union and what he left behind. There are episodes of his funeral and places he lived in Moscow.
- DirectorMichal LeszczylowksiStarsErland JosephsonAndrei TarkovskyLarisa TarkovskayaDocumentary on the making of "The Sacrifice."
- DirectorJane CampionStarsGeneviève LemonKaren ColstonTom LycosAn introspective young woman's life is upturned by the arrival of her maladjusted sister.
- DirectorAtom EgoyanStarsMichael McManusArsinée KhanjianGabrielle RoseA lonely woman stalks a co-worker by obsessively watching videos he appears in. He is an actor trying to get a part in a new TV movie, written by his lover. She has written about her brother's death, but is losing control of the project.
- DirectorBruce RobinsonStarsRichard E. GrantRachel WardRichard WilsonA cynical advertising exec has a block at work leading to a meltdown. He's hilariously out of control. Getting a big, talking boil on his shoulder doesn't help.
- DirectorPhil Alden RobinsonStarsKevin CostnerJames Earl JonesRay LiottaIowa farmer Ray Kinsella is inspired by a voice he can't ignore to pursue a dream he can hardly believe. Supported by his wife, Ray begins the quest by turning his ordinary cornfield into a place where dreams can come true.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsMatthew ModineNicolas CageJohn HarkinsAfter two friends return home from the Vietnam War one becomes mentally unstable and obsesses with becoming a bird.
- DirectorBernard RoseStarsCharlotte BurkeJane BertishSamantha CahillA young girl lost in the loneliness and boredom of reality finds solace in an ill boy, whom she can visit in a surreal dream world that she drew in her school composition book.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsMia FarrowJeff DanielsDanny AielloIn 1935 New Jersey, a movie character walks off the screen and into the real world.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsErland JosephsonIngrid ThulinLena OlinAs an aging playwright interacts with the young lead in his play after everybody's gone home, he reminisces about her mother, whom he maintained a sexual relationship with before she died.
- DirectorEliseo SubielaStarsLorenzo QuinterosHugo SotoInés VernengoA patient in a mental hospital claims to be an extraterrestial. Could he be right?
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroCathy MoriartyJoe PesciThe life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.
- DirectorJim JarmuschStarsJohn LurieEszter BalintRichard EdsonA New Yorker's life is thrown into a tailspin when his younger cousin surprise-visits him, starting a strange, unpredictable adventure.
- DirectorGus Van SantStarsMatt DillonKelly LynchJames Le GrosA pharmacy-robbing dope fiend and his crew pop pills and evade the law.
- DirectorHector BabencoStarsWilliam HurtRaul JuliaSonia BragaA gay man and a political prisoner are together in a prison. The gay man narrates the stories of two fake movies and his own life.