TOP TEN FILMS OF THE 1980s

1989
1. SAY ANYTHING... (Cameron Crowe)
2. CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS (Woody Allen)
3. MONSIEUR HIRE (Patrice Leconte)
4. SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE (Steven Soderbergh)
5. THE KILLER (John Woo)
6. ROGER AND ME (Michael Moore)
7. DRUGSTORE COWBOY (Gus Van Sant)
8. THE SEVENTH CONTINENT (Michael Haneke)
9. DO THE RIGHT THING (Spike Lee)
10. THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE & HER LOVER (Peter Greenaway)

Honorable Mention: CASUALTIES OF WAR (De Palma); DRIVING MISS DAISY (Beresford)

Notable Shorts: A GRAND DAY OUT (Park); ELEPHANT (Clarke); EXPRESS YOURSELF (Fincher); JANIE'S GOT A GUN (Fincher); LIFE LESSONS (Scorsese)

Most Overrated: None

1988
1. A SHORT FILM ABOUT LOVE (Krzysztof Kieslowski) [standing in for DEKALOG as a whole]
2. GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES (Isao Takahata)
3. DEAD RINGERS (David Cronenberg)
4. ANOTHER WOMAN (Woody Allen)
5. SUPERSTAR: THE KAREN CARPENTER STORY (Todd Haynes)
6. DANGEROUS LIAISONS (Stephen Frears)
7. MIDNIGHT RUN (Martin Brest)
8. TALK RADIO (Oliver Stone)
9. THEY LIVE (John Carpenter)
10. WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT (Robert Zemeckis)

Honorable Mention: THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST (Kasdan); A FISH CALLED WANDA (Crichton); CAMILLE CLAUDEL (Nuytten); CROSSING DELANCEY (Silver); THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST (Scorsese); MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (Miyazaki); THE NAKED GUN: FROM THE FILES OF POLICE SQUAD! (Zucker); THE PAPERHOUSE (Rose); RAIN MAN (Levinson); RUNNING ON EMPTY (Lumet); TRACK 29 (Roeg); WINGS OF DESIRE (Wenders)

Notable Shorts: None.

Most Overrated: CINEMA PARADISO (Tomatore)

1987
1. BROADCAST NEWS (James L. Brooks)
2. HOUSEKEEPING (Bill Forsyth)
3. PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES (John Hughes)
4. AU REVOIR, LES ENFANTS (Louis Malle)
5. HOUSE OF GAMES (David Mamet)
6. BARFLY (Barbet Schroeder)
7. HOPE AND GLORY (John Boorman)
8. ANGEL HEART (Alan Parker)
9. RAISING ARIZONA (Joel Coen)
10. THE DEAD (John Huston)

Honorable Mention: BOYFRIENDS AND GIRLFRIENDS (Rohmer); CHRISTINE (Clarke); EVIL DEAD II: DEAD BY DAWN (Raimi); EXTREME PREJUDICE (Hill); MATEWAN (Sayles); MOONSTRUCK (Jewison); NEAR DARK (Bigelow); THE PRINCESS BRIDE (Reiner); ROBOCOP (Verhoeven); ROAD (Clarke); THE UNTOUCHABLES (De Palma); WHERE IS THE FRIEND'S HOUSE (Kiarostami)

Notable Shorts: THE DANTE QUARTET (Brakhage); SHAKE! OTIS AT MONTEREY (Pennebaker)

Most Overrated: EMPIRE OF THE SUN (Spielberg); THE LAST EMPEROR (Bertolucci)

1986
1. HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (Woody Allen)
2. THE FLY (David Cronenberg)
3. BLUE VELVET (David Lynch)
4. ALIENS (James Cameron)
5. LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Frank Oz)
6. PLATOON (Oliver Stone)
7. LUCAS (David Seltzer)
8. AT CLOSE RANGE (James Foley)
9. SID AND NANCY (Alex Cox)
10. BIG TROUBLE (John Cassavetes)

Honorable Mention: A BETTER TOMORROW (Woo); COLOR OF MONEY (Scorsese); 52 PICK UP (Frankenheimer); THE GREEN RAY (Rohmer); HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (McNaughton); MANHUNTER (Mann); MONA LISA (Jordan); PEKING OPERA BLUES (Hark); RIVER'S EDGE (Hunter); SOMETHING WILD (Demme); STAND BY ME (Reiner)

Notable Shorts: NIGHTMUSIC (Brakhage); TAKE ON ME (Barron)

Most Overrated: SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT (Lee)

1985
1. AFTER HOURS (Martin Scorsese)
2. RAN (Akira Kurosawa)
3. THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (Woody Allen)
4. PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE (Tim Burton)
5. PRIZZI'S HONOR (John Huston)
6. RE-ANIMATOR (Stuart Gordon)
7. BRAZIL (Terry Gilliam)
8. CONTACT (Alan Clarke)
9. BACK TO THE FUTURE (Robert Zemeckis)
10. VISION QUEST (Harold Becker)

Honorable Mention: ANGEL'S EGG (Oshii); COME AND SEE (Klimov); LOST IN AMERICA (Brooks); MY LIFE AS A DOG (Hallström); RUNAWAY TRAIN (Konchalovsky); SMOOTH TALK (Chopra); TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. (Friedkin); TROUBLE IN MIND (Rudolph)

Notable Shorts: CLOSE TO ME (Pope), ROAD TO NOWHERE (Byrne & Johnson)

Most Overrated: THE COLOR PURPLE (Spielberg); KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN (Babenco)

1984
1. PARIS, TEXAS (Wim Wenders)
2. LOVE STREAMS (John Cassavetes)
3. CHOOSE ME (Alan Rudolph)
4. L'AMOUR À MORT (Alain Resnais)
5. THE COTTON CLUB (Francis Ford Coppola)
6. STOP MAKING SENSE (Jonathan Demme)
7. BLOOD SIMPLE (Joel Coen)
8. FULL MOON IN PARIS (Eric Rohmer)
9. GHOSTBUSTERS (Ivan Reitman)
10. TOP SECRET! (ZAZ)

Honorable Mention: AMADEUS (Forman; BODY DOUBLE (De Palma); EIGHT DIAGRAM POLE FIGHER (Liu); GREMLINS (Dante); THE KILLING FIELD (Joffé); ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA (Leone); REPO MAN (Cox); STREETWISE (Bell); A SUNDAY IN THE COUNTRY (Tavernier); THE TERMINATOR (Cameron); THIS IS SPINAL TAP (Reiner)

Notable Shorts: SELF CONTROL (Friedkin)

Most Overrated: None

1983
1. TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (James L. Brooks)
2. THE FOURTH MAN (Paul Verhoeven)
3. THE DEAD ZONE (David Cronenberg)
4. L'ARGENT (Robert Bresson)
5. PAULINE AT THE BEACH (Eric Rohmer)
6. BABY IT'S YOU (John Sayles)
7. CONFIDENTIALLY YOURS (Francois Truffaut)
8. EL SUR (Victor Erice)
9. DUEL TO THE DEATH (Ching Siu-Tung)
10. RISKY BUSINESS (Paul Brickman)

Honorable Mention: BAD BOYS (Rosenthal); BETRAYAL (Jones); THE RIGHT STUFF (Kaufman); TENDER MERCIES (Beresford)

Notable Shorts: BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE (Byrne & Haywoos); COME ON EILEEN (Julian Temple)

Most Overrated: None

1982
1. FANNY AND ALEXANDER (Ingmar Bergman)
2. THE THING (John Carpenter)
3. 48 HRS. (Walter Hill)
4. TENEBRE (Dario Argento)
5. MADE IN BRITAIN (Alan Clarke)
6. MOONLIGHTING (Jerzy Skolimowski)
7. BURDEN OF DREAMS (Les Blank)
8. DINER (Barry Levinson)
9. THE KING OF COMEDY (Martin Scorsese)
10. COME BACK TO THE FIVE AND DIME, JIMMY DEAN, JIMMY DEAN (Robert Altman)


Honorable Mention: AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN (Taylor Hackford); THE EVIL DEAD (Raimi); THE GREY FOX (Borsos); NEXT OF KIN (Williams); PINK FLOYD'S THE WALL (Parker); POLTERGEIST (Hooper); ROARING FIRE (Suzuki); SMITHEREENS (Seidelman); TOOTSIE (Pollack); VICE SQUAD (Sherman); THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP (Roy Hill)

Notable Shorts: None

Most Overrated: None

1981
1. THE AVIATOR'S WIFE (Eric Rohmer)
2. MAD MAX 2: THE ROAD WARRIOR (George Miller)
3. CUTTER'S WAY (Ivan Passer)
4. THIEF (Michael Mann)
5. BODY HEAT (Lawrence Kasden)
6. BLOW OUT (Brian De Palma)
7. MS. 45 (Abel Ferrara)
8. SOUTHERN COMFORT (Walter Hill)
9. MODERN ROMANCE (Albert Brooks)
10. SCANNERS (David Cronenberg)

Honorable Mention: ...ALL THE MARBLES (Aldrich); DAS BOOT (Peterson); GREGORY'S GIRL (Forsyth); LE PONT DU NORD (Rivette); MUR MURS (Varda); MY DINNER WITH ANDRE (Malle); PIXOTE (Babenco); REDS (Beatty); STRIPES (Reitman); THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR (Truffaut)

Notable Shorts: UNDER PRESSURE (Mallet)

1980
1. KAGEMUSHA (Akira Kurosawa)
2. THE STUNT MAN (Richard Rush)
3. THE SHINING (Stanley Kubrick)
4. MON ONCLE D'AMÉRIQUE (Alain Resnais)
5. RAGING BULL (Martin Scorsese)
6. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (Irvin Kershner)
7. AIRPLANE! (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker & Jerry Zucker)
8. THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY (John Mackenzie)
9. USED CARS (Robert Zemeckis)
10. THE CHANGELING (Peter Medak)

Honorable Mention: ALTERED STATES (Russell); ATLANTIC CITY (Malle); BAD TIMING: A SENSUAL OBSESSION (Roeg); THE BIG RED ONE: RECONSTRUCTED CUT (Fuller); CRUISING (Friedkin); DRESSED TO KILL (De Palma); THE LONG RIDERS (Hill); THE NINTH CONFIGURATION (Blatty); ORDINARY PEOPLE (Redford); STARDUST MEMORIES (Allen)

Notable Shorts: ASHES TO ASHES (Mallet & Bowie); WERNER HERZOG EATS HIS SHOE (Blank)

Most Overrated: CADDYSHACK (Ramis)