Movies 80s or 90s - Which decade has the best movies?

[Takes_Two_To_Tango]

I thought the 80s would win this easily, but it's still very close.

 

[Takes_Two_To_Tango]

I was looking at my past threads/polls. And obviously this poll is very close.

Lets see if we can get more votes and have a more decisive result.

 

[Herwald]

80s and it's not even close for me.

 

[Hitman81]

Tough call but I'd slightly favor the 80s.

 

[MusterX]

I picked 80s but it's really close. The gap between the 90s and 00s or 10s is big enough to drive struck thru tho

I'm convinced 1980-2000 was the Golden Era of everything.

 

[heavy_hands]

I’d say I enjoyed both decades about the same, I was a kid entering the 80’s so the more fun, cheesier movies of the decade were awesome, as were the more serious, better acted movies of the 90’s as I entered my 20’s

 

[Tentacle Grape]

this is tough as fuck. I do believe these are the two best decades. there were just soooo many great movies in the 80s. 90s had some damn great movies too.

I've never understood the love for Scarface. It's awful. It was fun as a child

it is such a great movie. One of the best. I was watching it long before every rapper was putting it in their songs. the best use of scarface clips in music is Geto Boys self titled album.

in a way it has great set pieces. the tent with rebenga (sp?) kill, the killing frank scene, the final shootout, the hotel shootout with the chainsaw, classic lines by pacino, damn near perfect movie.

I'll say 90's because directors started having more creative control again.

The 80's produced some amazing movies but it was a dark era for filmmakers as studios started playing control freak over what kind of movies to produce after the New Hollywood of the 70's ended.

you hear that...but think about F13 and NOES and Scarface and Body Double and The Shining and Full Metal Jacket and Lost Boys... I do think 80s movies are superior to 90s in creativity... oh and robocop and terminator... and shit like Re-animator....puppet master...
oh Clue....History of the World pt1... Caddyshack


but 90s has 2 of my favorite movies #1 Basic Instinct #2 Natural Born Killers (I think I have to put Kill Bill pt1 at #3 but that was wayyyy later)
and movies like total recall and silence of the lambs and fight club and seven.....and Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction..oh and Scream
but I think if I started listing out great movies that the 80s would have at least double the 90s

 

[dc007]

The 70s

 

[Rand M Arthur]

90's for sure.

 

[I Fusion I]

90s.

While 80s had probably more influential and game changer pieces, the best film were in the other decade.

00s was good and 10s was ok btw, but these two decades are far better.

 

[Simple Southerner]

Hard 1 I went 90`s but barely

 

[moreorless87]

I'll say 90's because directors started having more creative control again.

The 80's produced some amazing movies but it was a dark era for filmmakers as studios started playing control freak over what kind of movies to produce after the New Hollywood of the 70's ended.

I'd say exactly opposite personally, the 80's was an era of blockbusters but most of the big ones were very much the product of creative directors, the studios hadn't really worked out a formula at that point. The mid 90's really was I think were things started to shift in that direction, the big CGI heavy blockbusters started to become very formulaic and less dependent on the big creative names involved.

I did feel there was a general blandening of Hollywood in the 90's as well, or at least after the early 90's as 90-91 really felt more like a continuation of the 80's. Films became less cynical and less visually interesting, I spose partly the end of the cold war but also i think the Dems caving into Reaganism meant there was a lot of bland US conservatism comfort food cinema around.



You did have the indie scene scene rising up but honestly a lot of the focus at the time was really on edginess and little else, Tarantino did it well but a lot of others really the films really havent aged well at all and a lot of more creative directors actually ended up being progressively more sidelined during the decade.

Japan was definately strong during the 90's creatively but I feel in the west it was the point between New Hollywood and the current Arthouse scene were there wasnt really dependably funding for more creative cinema.

 

[I Am Legion]

2 powerhouses going toe to toe. No wrong answer. My top 10 list is half from 80s half from 90s. I voted 80s Because it has more bests.
Best Sci Fi Horror ever: Aliens, The Terminator
Best Action ever: Doe Hard
Best Family Movies: Goonies, ET
Adventure: Raiders, Crusade, Back to The Future
Horror: The Shining, The Thing

 

[eworden78]

Objectively, the 80's were a pretty thin decade for great movies.
You have Aliens, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Shining, The Thing, The Terminator, Predator, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Back to the Future, Once upon a Time in America, Amadeus.
That's like 1 great mainstream feature film per year.

There are lots of other fun movies, but not much else of real critical acclaim. When you look at the 90's you have Shawshank, Schindlers list, Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, Forrest Gump, The Matrix, Goodfellas, Saving private Ryan, Se7en, Silence of the Lambs, Life is Beautiful, Usual Suspects, American History X, Leon, The Lion King, T2, GWH, Toy Story, Braveheart, Reservoir Dogs.

That's almost double the amount of critically acclaimed feature films.

 

[Drain Bamage]

I'd say exactly opposite personally, the 80's was an era of blockbusters but most of the big ones were very much the product of creative directors, the studios hadn't really worked out a formula at that point. The mid 90's really was I think were things started to shift in that direction, the big CGI heavy blockbusters started to become very formulaic and less dependent on the big creative names involved.

I did feel there was a general blandening of Hollywood in the 90's as well, or at least after the early 90's as 90-91 really felt more like a continuation of the 80's. Films became less cynical and less visually interesting, I spose partly the end of the cold war but also i think the Dems caving into Reaganism meant there was a lot of bland US conservatism comfort food cinema around.



You did have the indie scene scene rising up but honestly a lot of the focus at the time was really on edginess and little else, Tarantino did it well but a lot of others really the films really havent aged well at all and a lot of more creative directors actually ended up being progressively more sidelined during the decade.

Japan was definately strong during the 90's creatively but I feel in the west it was the point between New Hollywood and the current Arthouse scene were there wasnt really dependably funding for more creative cinema.

Tarantino says the 50's and the 80's were the worst decades for filmmaking. He says the 90's was like the 70's.

 

[Drain Bamage]

but think about F13 and NOES...I

Think about how they killed the slasher genre? And how SCREAM, in the 90's, revived it?

Meta/self aware filmmaking didn't even really become a thing until Tarantino pretty much invented it in the 90's.

 

[cheesus]

I've never understood the love for Scarface. It's awful. It was fun as a child

Scarface I can understand, Carlito's Way I can't, that movie is basically a poor mans Scarface the only good thing about it is Sean Penn's overacting as a coked up lawyer.

 

[cheesus]

I'll go with 80's

 

[Otto!]

80s all the way. I was a teenager in early 80s so I got to see all these classics on the big screen. Local theatre was $3 for double feature. Every movie night was always 2 movies.

 

[BenderIsGreat]

Was raised in the 90s but think the 80s was the better decade for movies. I'm a big horror fan though, so it's mostly based on that.

Could you do a poll for better decade for horror movies?? I'd like to see what other people think.