1985 in film.

Top ten box-office films of 1985:

1. Back to the Future
2. Rambo: First Blood Part II
3. Rocky IV
4. The Color Purple
5. Out of Africa
6. Cocoon
7. The Jewel of the Nile
8. Witness
9. The Goonies
10. Spies Like Us

What are your top three films for 1985? We will keep a running tally and eventually have some sort of bracket. For me it would be:

1. Shoah
2. Come and See
3. Ran

What are some of the forgotten gems from the year? What is overrated? What did you discover at a young age and what did you discover later?

YEARS IN FILM • forum.chorus.fm

 

Come and See is probably the best discovery I (with a push from @SpyKi) have made in doing this project. I actually had it on my hard drive in a folder of movies I needed to see, but I usually just rewatch Seinfeld or Friday Night Lights.

 

1. Taipei Story
2. The Breakfast Club
3. Ran

Breakfast Club is a nostalgic favorite. A lot of it is good and some of it isn’t but overall I like thinking about it and how much I loved it as a preteen. I’m not sure the last time I saw it.

Ran isn’t my favorite Kurosawa but it’s very good, and Taipei Story isn’t my favorite Yang but I like it more the more I reflect on it. I haven’t seen Come and See, it’s one that’s been in my queue for ages and I haven’t yet pulled the trigger. Back to the Future is really fun but I’ve never loved it as much as a lot of others do.

 

There was a movie called Heaven Help Us that came out that year that I really liked as a kid. I have not watched it in about twenty years and I assume it wasn't that good but I want to preserve the memory of what it was at the time.

 

Holy shit what a year

1. Come and See
2. Demons
3. The Breakfast Club

highlights:
Better off Dead
After Hours
Police Story
Nightmare on Elm Street 2
Fright Night
Day of the Dead
Weird Science
Back to the Future
Cemetery of Terror
Lifeforce
The Goonies
Return of the Living Dead
The Stuff
Miami Connection
Friday V

 

1. Ran
2. Come and See
3. Tampopo

Really need to see Taipei Story, every time I watch an Edward Yang movie I think “this guy was the best to ever do it”

 

1. After Hours
2. Rocky IV
3. Witness

meh.

 

After Hours is fun and man Better Off Dead rules. I remember finding out he went on to do Lizzie Maguire and it making a lot of sense once I realized it.

 

It’s been on cable for me a few times in the last year, but I first saw it in middle school, I think it still holds up. Young Andrew McCarthy, Kevin Dillon, Patrick Dempsey, Mary Stuart Masterson... plus Donald Sutherland and John Heard!

 

1. Come and See
2. Brazil
3. The Breakfast Club

Amazing year, One of my favourites of the decade. Also love Rocky IV, Mishima, Back to the Future, Taipei Story, Ran, Tampopo, Clue, Vagabond, bunch of great stuff.

 

1. Fright Night
2. Clue
3. Re-Animator

 

An even better year than the one before with at least ten films I could pick from with horror films being particularly strong but these are my choices -

1. Day of the Dead
2. To Live and Die in L.A.
3. Lifeforce

Could have easily picked any combination of the following though especially the first seven; Back to the Future, Fright Night, The Return of the Living Dead, Phenomena, Witness, Pale Rider, Runaway Train, Ran, Re-Animator, Commando, Demons, The Stuff, Cat’s Eye, The New Kids, and Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins.

 

1. Police Story
2. Tampopo
3. Vagabond

Police Story was the big breakout Jackie Chan film that moved him fully away from period piece martial arts and into big budget modern action blockbusters. Full of ludicrous stunt work that'd be a massive influence on Hollywood cinema, it's a completely committed and over the top film with more broken glass than anything else I can think of.

Tampopo is a very funny Japanese film about a ramen shop, full of Monty Python esque diversions and non-sequitur cutaway scenes. Consistently funny, and there's also a scene where two lovers kiss and "erotically" repeatedly pass an egg yolk back and forth to each other that's one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen on film... Link for the curious.

Considered Ran and Taipei Story for the third place, but went for Varda's Vagabond about the death of a young drifter. A tragic film about the desire for autonomy and independence in a callous capitalist world.

Honourable mentions include the surreal and bureaucratic dystopia of Brazil. Re-Animator a fantastic horror comedy splatter film that remembers to both be horrifying and comic. Yes, Madam a great action film with a star turn from Michelle Yeoh. Mr. Vampire, the first of many of these films, with our hopping Jiangshi, and Lam Ching-Ying playing the same character he'd play for the rest of his career, a Taoist priest, with ridiculous eyebrows.

I do need to see Come and See, I'm sure it's as excellent as everyone says, but I do find it hard to motivate myself to watch films that I know will make me feel miserable afterwards. If I stumble across them without looking it up it's a different matter, but would need to be in the right mood to watch this.

 

1. Hail Mary
2. Taipei Story
3. Vagabond

HM: Tampopo, She Spent So Many Hours Under the Sun Lamps, After Hours, Four Sisters, Typhoon Club, The Time to Live and the Time to Die

Ran and Come and See are two of my biggest blindspots. I should have watched Ran months ago - I was on a run through Kurosawa's filmography but I got stopped at Kagemusha and its 3 hour runtime when I was moving apartments and just haven't gotten back to them. Come and See is on my Criterion Challenge list for this year, but I just haven't felt the mood for 2.5 hours of that so far this year. Mishima is another one from this year that I have been meaning to get around to for many years.

 

1. After Hours
2. Enemy Mine
3. Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome

 

Glad to see a reappraisal for Nightmare 2 in recent years, it rules.

Better off Dead was a huge blindspot for me, especially since I would watch One Crazy Summer a ton as a kid. I loved it! Wish I saw it as a teen.

Demons was a ton of fun, need to watch the sequel. The score is so good

Cemetery of Terror is my second favorite of Galindo’s horror flicks, behind Don’t Panic. Worth a watch if you wanna get into Mexican Horror!

Breakfast Club and Goonies were huge for me growing up. I watch TBC every semester with my film class. Holds up

Return of the Living Dead might be my favorite zombie movie.

Come and See was on my list for a while and holy shit did it blow me away.

 

My AP US history teacher showed us Better Off Dead in 10th grade after the AP test when we just watched movies and played Oregon Trail for the last couple weeks of the term.

 

I decided to look up what the cast did after the movie. One of the main 5 boys will surprise you.

 

I haven’t seen enough of movies I should see from this year. Started Ran and will rank when I’m finished, but could take me a few days with this running time.

 

Evil Ed! Big year for him

 

I'm not sure if I'm misremembering it, but the only thing I can remember from Rambo II , is Rambo’s girlfriend being shot about 100 times repeatedly in the chest and then Rambo rushes over to her and says (in a big Stallone voice), “Are you alright?”

I’ve probably built it up in my mind since, but that’s the only thing I can remember from that film.

 

Come and See wins it with 10 votes. After Hours was in second place with 6 votes. Come and See will move on to the bracket.

 

1. Ran
2. The Breakfast Club
3. After Hours
Haven’t seen Come and See but I’ve been meaning to.

 

The Goonies, The Breakfast Club, and Back to the Future all coming out in the same year is just unfair.

I guess it could be nostalgia for my childhood when I saw all these movies but goddamn the 80s was a good decade for movies.

 

Oh, and Clue! Goddamn.