Best Depiction of the 1980s in Recent Film
by alioth4 | created - 28 Jan 2014 | updated - 28 Jan 2014 | PublicWhich of these films made 2000 or later depict the 1980s the best? Discuss here
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1. Adventureland (2009)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In the summer of 1987, a college graduate takes a 'nowhere' job at his local amusement park, only to find it's the perfect course to get him prepared for the real world.
Director: Greg Mottola | Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Martin Starr
Votes: 168,717 | Gross: $16.03M
2. American Psycho (2000)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.
Director: Mary Harron | Stars: Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage
Votes: 714,837 | Gross: $15.07M
3. Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)
R | 110 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Despite being under heavy sedation, a young woman tries to make her way out of the Arboria Institute, a secluded, quasifuturistic commune.
Director: Panos Cosmatos | Stars: Eva Bourne, Michael J Rogers, Scott Hylands, Rondel Reynoldson
Votes: 16,896 | Gross: $0.06M
4. Big Miracle (2012)
PG | 107 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
In small-town Alaska, a news reporter recruits his Greenpeace-volunteer ex-girlfriend on a campaign to save a family of gray whales trapped by rapidly-forming ice in the Arctic Circle.
Director: Ken Kwapis | Stars: Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, John Pingayak, Ahmaogak Sweeney
Votes: 20,510 | Gross: $20.11M
5. Billy Elliot (2000)
R | 110 min | Drama, Music
A talented young boy becomes torn between his unexpected love of dance and the disintegration of his family.
Director: Stephen Daldry | Stars: Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Jean Heywood, Jamie Draven
Votes: 142,569 | Gross: $22.00M
6. Boy (I) (2010)
Not Rated | 87 min | Comedy, Drama
Boy, an 11-year-old child and devout Michael Jackson fan who lives on the east coast of New Zealand in 1984, gets a chance to know his absentee criminal father, who has returned to find a bag of money he buried years ago.
Director: Taika Waititi | Stars: James Rolleston, Te Aho Eketone-Whitu, Taika Waititi, Moerangi Tihore
Votes: 29,511 | Gross: $0.26M
7. Buffalo Soldiers (2001)
R | 98 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A criminal subculture operates among U.S. soldiers stationed in West Germany just before the fall of the Berlin wall.
Director: Gregor Jordan | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Anna Paquin, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn
Votes: 25,554 | Gross: $0.35M
8. Cargo 200 (2007)
89 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A young woman is taken hostage by a police officer gone mad.
Director: Aleksey Balabanov | Stars: Agniya Kuznetsova, Aleksey Poluyan, Leonid Gromov, Aleksey Serebryakov
Votes: 11,369
9. Dirty Girl (2010)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Drama
It's 1987 and Danielle, the high-school 'Dirty Girl', is running away. With her is chubby, gay Clarke, a bag of flour called Joa and a Walkman full of glorious '80s tunes.
Director: Abe Sylvia | Stars: Juno Temple, Jeremy Dozier, Milla Jovovich, Zach Lasry
Votes: 11,338 | Gross: $0.05M
10. Donnie Darko (2001)
R | 113 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
Director: Richard Kelly | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne
Votes: 849,762 | Gross: $1.48M
11. Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003)
PG-13 | 85 min | Comedy
Set back in the 80s when Harry met Lloyd in high school where they cross paths with a mean principal and a bunch of other outcasts much like themselves.
Director: Troy Miller | Stars: Derek Richardson, Eric Christian Olsen, Eugene Levy, Timothy Stack
Votes: 42,393 | Gross: $26.28M
12. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)
Not Rated | 113 min | Drama
A woman assists her friend in arranging an illegal abortion in 1980s Romania.
Director: Cristian Mungiu | Stars: Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov, Alexandru Potocean
Votes: 63,279 | Gross: $1.19M
13. Friday Night Lights (2004)
PG-13 | 118 min | Action, Drama, Sport
Based on H.G. Bissinger's book, which profiled the economically depressed town of Odessa, Texas and their heroic high school football team, The Permian High Panthers.
Director: Peter Berg | Stars: Billy Bob Thornton, Jay Hernandez, Derek Luke, Lucas Black
Votes: 66,833 | Gross: $61.26M
14. The Frozen Ground (2013)
R | 105 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
An Alaska State Trooper partners with a young woman who escaped the clutches of serial killer Robert Hansen to bring the murderer to justice. Based on actual events.
Director: Scott Walker | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Vanessa Hudgens, John Cusack, Dean Norris
Votes: 67,278
15. Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
A malfunctioning time machine at a ski resort takes a man back to 1986 with his two friends and nephew, where they must relive a fateful night and not change anything to make sure the nephew is born.
Director: Steve Pink | Stars: John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke
Votes: 186,403 | Gross: $50.29M
16. Hysterical Blindness (2002 TV Movie)
TV-MA | 99 min | Drama
Two friends lament their unhappy single lives while searching for Mr. Right in 1980s New Jersey.
Director: Mira Nair | Stars: Uma Thurman, Juliette Lewis, Gena Rowlands, Justin Chambers
Votes: 3,395
17. Let the Right One In (2008)
R | 114 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Oskar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl.
Director: Tomas Alfredson | Stars: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl
Votes: 226,714 | Gross: $2.12M
18. The Lives of Others (2006)
R | 137 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | Stars: Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur
Votes: 410,327 | Gross: $11.29M
19. Miracle (2004)
PG | 135 min | Biography, Drama, History
The true story of Herb Brooks, the player-turned-coach who led the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team to victory over the seemingly invincible Soviet squad.
Director: Gavin O'Connor | Stars: Kurt Russell, Patricia Clarkson, Nathan West, Noah Emmerich
Votes: 58,876 | Gross: $64.38M
20. No (I) (2012)
R | 118 min | Drama, History
An advertising executive comes up with a campaign to defeat Augusto Pinochet in Chile's 1988 referendum.
Director: Pablo Larraín | Stars: Gael García Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers, Luis Gnecco
Votes: 26,211 | Gross: $2.34M
21. Precious (II) (2009)
R | 110 min | Drama
In New York City's Harlem circa 1987, an overweight, abused, illiterate teen who is pregnant with her second child is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that she can re-route her life in a better direction.
Director: Lee Daniels | Stars: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey
Votes: 116,214 | Gross: $47.57M
22. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
PG-13 | 117 min | Biography, Drama
A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career
Director: Gabriele Muccino | Stars: Will Smith, Thandiwe Newton, Jaden Smith, Brian Howe
Votes: 560,465 | Gross: $163.57M
23. Rock of Ages (2012)
PG-13 | 123 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
A small-town girl and a city boy meet on the Sunset Strip while pursuing their Hollywood dreams.
Director: Adam Shankman | Stars: Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin
Votes: 81,651 | Gross: $38.52M
24. Skateland (2010)
PG-13 | 96 min | Drama
In the early 1980s, in small-town Texas, dramatic events force a 19-year-old skating rink manager to look at his life in a very new way.
Director: Anthony Burns | Stars: Shiloh Fernandez, Ashley Greene, Heath Freeman, Brett Cullen
Votes: 2,281 | Gross: $0.01M
25. Son of Rambow (2007)
PG-13 | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
During a long English summer in the early 1980s, two schoolboys from differing backgrounds set out to make a film inspired by First Blood (1982).
Director: Garth Jennings | Stars: Bill Milner, Will Poulter, Jessica Hynes, Anna Wing
Votes: 32,966 | Gross: $1.78M
26. The Squid and the Whale (2005)
R | 81 min | Comedy, Drama
Follows two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.
Director: Noah Baumbach | Stars: Owen Kline, Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg
Votes: 90,403 | Gross: $7.36M
27. Starter for 10 (2006)
PG-13 | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Set in 1985, working-class student Brian Jackson (McAvoy) navigates his first year at Bristol University.
Director: Tom Vaughan | Stars: James McAvoy, Alice Eve, Rebecca Hall, Joseph Friend
Votes: 25,072 | Gross: $0.21M
28. Take Me Home Tonight (2011)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Four years after graduation, an awkward high school genius uses his sister's boyfriend's Labor Day party as the perfect opportunity to make his move on his high school crush.
Director: Michael Dowse | Stars: Topher Grace, Anna Faris, Dan Fogler, Teresa Palmer
Votes: 55,226 | Gross: $6.92M
29. This Is England (2006)
Not Rated | 101 min | Crime, Drama
A young boy becomes friends with a gang of skinheads. Friends soon become like family, and relationships will be pushed to the very limit.
Director: Shane Meadows | Stars: Thomas Turgoose, Stephen Graham, Jo Hartley, Andrew Shim
Votes: 128,700 | Gross: $0.33M
30. Waking the Dead (2000)
R | 105 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A congressional candidate questions his sanity after seeing the love of his life, presumed dead, suddenly emerge.
Director: Keith Gordon | Stars: Billy Crudup, Bill Haugland, Nelson Landrieu, Ivonne Coll
Votes: 7,613 | Gross: $0.33M
31. We Own the Night (2007)
R | 117 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A New York City nightclub manager tries to save his brother and father from Russian Mafia hitmen.
Director: James Gray | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Danny Hoch
Votes: 92,937 | Gross: $28.56M
32. Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Romance
Set on the last day of camp, in the hot summer of 1981, a group of counselors try to complete their unfinished business before the day ends.
Director: David Wain | Stars: Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Michael Showalter, Marguerite Moreau
Votes: 60,499 | Gross: $0.29M
33. The Witnesses (2007)
Not Rated | 112 min | Drama, Romance
Paris, 1984: A group of friends contend with the first outbreak of the AIDS epidemic.
Director: André Téchiné | Stars: Michel Blanc, Emmanuelle Béart, Sami Bouajila, Julie Depardieu
Votes: 2,843 | Gross: $0.08M
34. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
R | 180 min | Biography, Comedy, Crime
Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stock-broker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey
Votes: 1,582,134 | Gross: $116.90M
35. Wonderland (2003)
R | 104 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In the police investigation of a brutal crime scene, one man was at the center of it all: legendary porn star John Holmes.
Director: James Cox | Stars: Val Kilmer, Lisa Kudrow, Kate Bosworth, Christina Applegate
Votes: 23,288 | Gross: $1.06M
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