Your all time favorite movies by the decade

[seahawksfan234]

One of the benefits of growing up in Eastern Washington, there aren't very many famous people living there. Before moving to North Carolina (where I met Card) the most well known person I had met was Clint Didier (not very famous I admit). I have not been one who really longs to meet people of renowned, even passing the opportunity to meet Richard Sherman when he was in Vancouver last week. Just not something I get really geeked about. Like Card, I just don't want to meet someone in person and have their personality turn me off from something I would normally enjoy.

That said, when in sales I met my fair share of jerks who have no renown. Being a jerk is not reserved for those who have more attention paid to them than they need.

Not all of them are bad. If you've ever watched TheRealRobReport, Richard Sherman is actually a really funny/cool guy.

Back when Jim Zorn lived in Mercer Island my mom used to run into him all the time (after his playing days I believe) and told me what an incredibly nice guy he was. Same goes for Steve Largent. I met Felix Hernandez back in 06 I believe it was, and he was really cool. Edgar Martinez is also a really humble guy, his English is not too great but he's a nice guy too.

One of the nicest guys I've met in sports was probably actually Jack Z. Dave Niehaus was up there too. I'm trying to rack my brain to think of who else I've met, and I've got to say more times than not they are nice guys. Randy Johnson was a complete asshole though.

 

[AZhawks]

I just give a few

70's Jaws, Rocky

80's Vacation, The Natural, Hoosiers, Top Gun, Airplane

90's Pulp Fiction, Saving Private Ryan, Tombstone

00's Gladiator, Troy, Fast and Furious (yes I know)

 

[dude82]

Nice to see some fellow Mel Brooks fans. I'm a big fan of spoof movies in general, but especially those classics from the 70's, 80's and early 90's. I would even put the first two Scary Movie films in that group. Those movies picked a genre to spoof and generally stuck with it.

More recent spoof attempts have taken more of a "throw a bunch of genres/sub-genres at a wall in each movie and see what sticks" approach. Even the Scary Movie franchise, which started out so good with the spoofs of the slasher and supernatural sub-genres in the first two movies, and looked like it might continue to be promising with the team that produced the Naked Gun and Airplane movies taking over the franchise, started to take that approach in the most recent three films.

Those classics also had better writing and they perfected the practice of taking an actor known almost exclusively for their dramatic acting and showed off their comedic chops that most people, at the time, didn't know they had. It made those movies funnier. The humor in those movies was often more subtle as well. More recent spoofs use a lot of comedians or comedic actors and the humor is more "in your face". You aren't going to find too many recent spoof movies on a list of classics 20 or 30 years from now like you can spoofs from the 70's-90's.

 

[NinerSickness]

Nice to see some fellow Mel Brooks fans.

This absolutely kills me no matter how many times I watch it:

 

[blstoker]

Nice to see some fellow Mel Brooks fans. I'm a big fan of spoof movies in general, but especially those classics from the 70's, 80's and early 90's. I would even put the first two Scary Movie films in that group. Those movies picked a genre to spoof and generally stuck with it.

More recent spoof attempts have taken more of a "throw a bunch of genres/sub-genres at a wall in each movie and see what sticks" approach. Even the Scary Movie franchise, which started out so good with the spoofs of the slasher and supernatural sub-genres in the first two movies, and looked like it might continue to be promising with the team that produced the Naked Gun and Airplane movies taking over the franchise, started to take that approach in the most recent three films.

Those classics also had better writing and they perfected the practice of taking an actor known almost exclusively for their dramatic acting and showed off their comedic chops that most people, at the time, didn't know they had. It made those movies funnier. The humor in those movies was often more subtle as well. More recent spoofs use a lot of comedians or comedic actors and the humor is more "in your face". You aren't going to find too many recent spoof movies on a list of classics 20 or 30 years from now like you can spoofs from the 70's-90's.

The problem with spoofs today is that the comedy is way over the top and mostly slapstick and physical. There really isn't that, gotta love quality to them. When was the last time a movie had an "assholes" bit. Even Airplane had it's "don't call me Shirley" stick. They just ruined the genre of the spoof with jokes that don't make sense and are just way too over the top.

 

[SDPaddlefish]

Don't go to many movies, but, from long ago:

'70's:
Godfather
Godfather II
Patton
The Sting
Deliverance
Jaws
Rocky
Halloween
Alien

80's
Raging Bull
Airplane
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Blade Runner
Fatal Attraction
Terminator

 

[C.Adl.C.Hox.Fan]

A few 80's flicks
Ferris Beuller's Day Off
Breakfast Club
Legend

 

[Logicallylethal]

Just saw The Wolverine over the weekend...it's refreshingly good especially for the superhero genre...instead of the usual focus on cgi and explosions...The Wolverine much like the Batman films were...is character oriented, well paced with nice subtle story telling and some bad ass action sequences that doesn't hold back on the gore and violence (exactly what you want to see with a character like Wolverine)

Definitely recommend

 

[nk12thman]

blstoker, I'm a bit confused by your 80's rankings. Did you seriously put Return of the Jedi on there, and not Empire Strikes Back? I've never heard of such a thing.

 

[nk12thman]

70's, Anything Monty Python

80's, Die Hard

90's, Braveheart/American history X

00's, KICKASS!!!!!

10's, any superhero movie

Honorable mention, the Desperado trilogy(I have a thing for Selma Hayek)

 

[Smirishth]

A few 80's flicks
Ferris Beuller's Day Off
Breakfast Club
Legend

THANK YOU!
Only one who mentioned the breakfast club that I have seen!

Here's a few 80s I did not see either:
Sixteen candles
Uncle buck
The burbs
St Elmo's fire
Weird science
FridayThe 13th
Dirty Harry
Home alone
Dirty dancing
Officer and gentleman (may be 70s)

90s I did not see
New jack city

00s
Harry potter movies (favorite is sorcerers stone)

 

[blstoker]

blstoker, I'm a bit confused by your 80's rankings. Did you seriously put Return of the Jedi on there, and not Empire Strikes Back? I've never heard of such a thing.

I love all the Star Wars movies, but Empire Strikes Back is my least favorite of the original 3.

 

[boogiewithstu2007]

Man you guy's have some good tastes in movies... Pretty much nailed most of my favorites...

In the 70's YOU GOTTA name the Godfather 1 and Star Wars... Rocky 1 and 2 were awesome.... Not sure if the Empire strikes back was in the 70's or early 80's off the top of my head... But that movie rocked... In the 80's don't forget Scar face and of course Raiders of the lost ark .... T2 in the 90's rocked as did Braveheart! 2000, I love the entire Harry Potter series... And of course The lord of the rings series besides the last one was great... There are allot I left out of course but just off the top of my head... OH and I enjoyed Avatar in 3D down at the Science center on that big screen... MAN that was cool... Throw in Titanic as well in the 90's... I know it was mushy but it had cool affects...

 

[Smirishth]

Didn't see "silverado" on the list

 

[SonnyCID]

70s:
Godfather II
The Exorcist
Clockwork Orange
Blazing Saddles
The Jerk
Texas Chainsaw
Network
Outlaw Josey Wales
Escape From Alcatraz
Alien

80s:
Airplane
Platoon
Raging Bull
Aliens
Predator
Die Hard
The Thing
Untouchables
Taps
The Shining

90s:
Goodfellas
Awakenings
The Game
From Dusk Til Dawn
In The Mouth Of Madness
As Good As It Gets
Groundhog Day
The Big Lebowski
Schindler's List
Dazed & Confused

00s:
40 Year Old Virgin
The Hangover
City Of God
Gangs Of New York
Memento
LOTR
25th Hour
Zombieland
28 Days Later
Oldboy

 

[iowajerms]

2010s

*Warrior (2011)
*Fast and Furious 6 (2013)
*Here Comes The Boom (2012)
*Argo (2012)
*True Grit (2010)
*Soul Surfer (2011)
*The Hammer (2011)
*42 (2013)
*Inception (2010)


2000s

*Rocky Balboa (2006)
*The Dark Knight (2008)
*Gladiator (2000)
*Blood Diamond (2006)
*300 (2006)
*Million Dollar Baby (2004)
*61 (2001)
*The Gridiron Gang (2006)
*Bourne Identity (2002)
*Catch Me If You Can (2002)

1990s

*Apollo 13 (1995)
*Saving Private Ryan (1998)
*Schindler's List (1993)
*Terminator 2 (1991)
*Billy Madison (1996)
*Dazed and Confused (1993)
*Fight Club (1999)
*The Big Lebowski (1998)
*Any Given Sunday (1999)
*Happy Gilmore (1995)

1980s

*Rocky 4 (1985)
*Raging Bull (1980)
*Full Metal Jacket (1987)
*Die Hard (1988)
*Scarface (1983)
*Glory (1989)
*Hoosiers (1986)
*Major League (1989)
*Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
*Rambo: First Blood (1982)

1970s

*Rocky (1976)
*Jaws (1975)
*One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (197)
*Godfather (1972)
*Smokey and the Bandit (1977)
*Slapshot (1977)
*Brian's Song (1971)
*The Sting (1973)
*Animal House (1978)
*Enter The Dragon (1973)

 

[blstoker]

*Here Comes The Boom (2012)
(1973)

Just watched Here Comes the Boom the other night and was surprisingly impressed. I usually view Kevin James movies like I do Adam Sanders (most are worth watching once or twice but never really good) so I was very surprised how much I enjoyed it. My wife even liked it, and she rarely likes anything.

 

[mm03]

Most of you have great lists. A few that I didn't see that might make my list:

Die Hard w/ a Vengeance, Point Break, Total Recall, Con Air, Friday, The Italian Job, Moon, Demolition Man, Star Trek: First Contact. These are just off the top of my head.

Movies that surprised me or had potential/worth a watch: John Carter, The Librarian series, and recently Oblivion.


Also, on the Ender's Game discussion -- It's going to be so hit or miss for me. The book is one of my favorites, and I'm worried a 13 year old kid isn't going to be able to handle the range of emotions for a character like Ender. In the end, I guess we get to play off the actors innocents as an audience. I just hope there isn't too big of a disconnect that will eventually detract from the story.

The books characters to on screen roles kind of remind me of Game of Thrones. In the books, the characters were all pretty young too, but they scaled them up a lot in the show, and I think it worked quite well. (I think we can all agree that it was a necessity for the type of show they created.)
(Rated pg13 aside) I just don't see GoT working w/ young actors/actresses across the board. Hopefully, Ender's Game can prove me wrong, but I'm sure some will have comparable doubts.

In the end, we get to wait and see and I hope it does one of my favorites justice.