Critics Club III: Film of the Year 1980

[Neon Ignition]

If you were born in the 80's, the 80's! The decade of ultimate bad fashion arrives with three main developments moving forward. The first is that I think this won't be the last Critics Club, we seem to have hit a system that works here and though we'll have likely exhausted film after this incarnation there are possibilities moving forward. The second is that the decade finals may work better with everyone being able to choose from multiple films so that may be tried out at the next occasion and lastly, for the 1980's we'll be doing 3 years per week to ensure we're done in time for Xmas then taking a break before we move on a decade.

Without further ado...

1980



Vote for your best movies of 1980 and share your thoughts on this year in film

[Neon Ignition]

... this is getting so hard to fit all the films into one poll

[Mayhem]

Seeing it in the list reminds me, Mad Max was 1979, surely not?

[Neon Ignition]

From what I can gather it's a 1979 film but because of it being an Australian release it took till 1980 to get released in the states

[Atticus]

Few choice picks to be had though The Shining is my number one.

[Dogg Thang]

As soon as I vote and then go to write a post, I realise I missed The Shining which is one of the best movies on the list. Nuts! Anyway, yeah, The Shining is a brilliant piece of filmmaking and is pretty amazing in just about every way. As well as that, The Fog and Mad Max are two classics that I still love to this day. Superman II is the best Superman, obvs. And Empire is the best Star Wars, obvs.

So that's a strong year. But the best of the bunch? The one film that always tops my best of lists and battles with Alien for the movie that I think is probably the best movie ever made? That's Airplane! I never tire of that movie and I think it is the peak of comedy. It's a superb film. Only learned just a few days from [MENTION=10111]QualityChimp[/MENTION] that's it's not just an Airport parody but in fact is based on a movie much older.

[Asura]

Surprised to see no votes for Caligula. Now that we exist in an era where its erotic content can be viewed in context without most people being prudish or just laughing at it, I think it's a good, but harrowing epic.

That being said it has many different cuts; I just know the one that I have is pretty good.

[Dogg Thang]

Yeah, it might depend on the cut but I think the official cuts of Caligula are all pretty terrible in that they are a grand epic intercut with fairly cringeworthy naughty scenes. They just don't fit and it turns what could have been a powerful film into something ridiculous. And yet it's far from a film you're going to crack one off to so I have no idea what they were really aiming for.

[vanpeebles]

Battle Beyond the Stars was great fun, with a cracking George Peppard cameo.

[Atticus]

As soon as I vote and then go to write a post, I realise I missed The Shining which is one of the best movies on the list. Nuts!

Can you not unvote and vote again?

[Dogg Thang]

Battle Beyond the Stars was great fun, with a cracking George Peppard cameo.

Yeah, it's fun. I knew the director well for many years before his death. He was a fun guy with a lot of stories, or at least he was when I knew him. There is a documentary called Non Alien about his internment in the US when he was a kid and it's a really sad story but he rarely talked about it (or at least when I knew him). Very interesting watch. I was organising a local screening of Battle Beyond the Stars with a Q&A and it got put off and put off and then he took ill and that was the end of that. It's a big regret that I didn't sort it sooner.

Thanks [MENTION=4034]Atticus[/MENTION] - I didn't know I could do that. Sorted now!

[vanpeebles]

Yeah, it's fun. I knew the director well for many years before his death. He was a fun guy with a lot of stories, or at least he was when I knew him. There is a documentary called Non Alien about his internment in the US when he was a kid and it's a really sad story but he rarely talked about it (or at least when I knew him). Very interesting watch. I was organising a local screening of Battle Beyond the Stars with a Q&A and it got put off and put off and then he took ill and that was the end of that. It's a big regret that I didn't sort it sooner.

Thanks @Atticus - I didn't know I could do that. Sorted now!

He did some good stuff, producer on the cockfighter too.

[Dogg Thang]

He did some good stuff, producer on the cockfighter too.

That's Roger Corman, who also produced Battle Beyond the Stars. The director was Jimmy Murakami, who also directed the animated film When the Wind Blows.

[MartyG]

Battle Beyond the Stars clearly the best film on the list by a massive margin

Also not ticking Mad Max, it was a 1979 release in the UK and I'm voting from the UK

[Finsbury Girl]

Finally a Cheech and Chong movie

Some goodies in there Mad Max (natch), Blues Bros, Next Movie.

I remember as a young kid waiting patiently for Empire, had an awesome Luke on Dagobah poster on my wall. I was hyped to the max.

EDIT: how could I forget Caddyshack! Some great comedies in this list.