1985 - 1989

by Dragonfly777 | created - 16 Aug 2015 | updated - 27 Aug 2015 | Public

Some movies I've seen and liked that were released between 1985 and 1989.

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1. After Hours (I) (1985)

R | 97 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama

89 Metascore

An ordinary word processor has the worst night of his life after he agrees to visit a girl in Soho he met that evening at a coffee shop.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, Verna Bloom, Tommy Chong

Votes: 81,423 | Gross: $10.60M

2. Agnes of God (1985)

PG-13 | 98 min | Drama, Mystery

52 Metascore

When a naive novice nun is discovered with a dead newborn in her convent quarters, a court-appointed psychiatrist investigates her case.

Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Jane Fonda, Anne Bancroft, Meg Tilly, Anne Pitoniak

Votes: 8,051 | Gross: $25.63M

3. Brazil (1985)

R | 132 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller

84 Metascore

A bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.

Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond

Votes: 211,243 | Gross: $9.93M

In creating this list, I've noticed how very few dystopian themed movies there were in the past as compared to now and the more recent past. This movies remains one of the best.

4. Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)

PG-13 | 104 min | Comedy, Drama

71 Metascore

A bored New Jersey suburban housewife's fascination with a free-spirited woman she has read about in the personal columns leads to her being mistaken for the woman herself.

Director: Susan Seidelman | Stars: Rosanna Arquette, Madonna, Aidan Quinn, Mark Blum

Votes: 26,076 | Gross: $27.40M

5. Dreamchild (1985)

PG | 94 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama

Ian Holm is children's author Lewis Carroll in this poignant fantasy-drama set in 1930s New York and populated by the fabulous special effects creatures of Muppet master Jim Henson.

Director: Gavin Millar | Stars: Coral Browne, Ian Holm, Peter Gallagher, Caris Corfman

Votes: 1,750 | Gross: $1.22M

6. The Emerald Forest (1985)

R | 114 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

After the son of engineer Bill Markham is abducted by an aboriginal tribe on the edge of the rain forest, the engineer spends the next 10 years searching for him.

Director: John Boorman | Stars: Powers Boothe, Meg Foster, Yara Vaneau, William Rodriguez

Votes: 10,998 | Gross: $24.47M

7. Enemy Mine (1985)

PG-13 | 108 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

59 Metascore

During a long space war, the lives of two wounded enemies become dependent on their ability to forgive and to trust.

Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett Jr., Brion James, Richard Marcus

Votes: 51,435 | Gross: $4.27M

8. Fandango (1985)

PG | 91 min | Comedy, Drama

Five college buddies from the University of Texas circa 1971 embark on a final road trip odyssey across the Mexican border before facing up to uncertain futures, in Vietnam and otherwise.

Director: Kevin Reynolds | Stars: Kevin Costner, Judd Nelson, Sam Robards, Chuck Bush

Votes: 8,739 | Gross: $0.09M

9. Hail Mary (1985)

Not Rated | 72 min | Drama

A college student gets pregnant without having intercourse, affecting people close and unrelated to her in different ways.

Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Myriem Roussel, Thierry Rode, Philippe Lacoste, Manon Andersen

Votes: 3,731

10. Lost in America (1985)

R | 91 min | Comedy

78 Metascore

A husband and wife in their 30s decide to quit their jobs, live as free spirits and cruise America in a Winnebago.

Director: Albert Brooks | Stars: Albert Brooks, Julie Hagerty, Sylvia Farrel, Tina Kincaid

Votes: 10,205 | Gross: $10.18M

11. My Life as a Dog (1985)

Unrated | 101 min | Drama, Comedy

82 Metascore

In the late '50s, young Ingemar learns a lot about life and himself when he is sent away from his sick mother to live with his aunt and uncle in a town full of eccentrics.

Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Anton Glanzelius, Tomas von Brömssen, Anki Lidén, Melinda Kinnaman

Votes: 22,538 | Gross: $8.35M

12. Pale Rider (1985)

R | 115 min | Drama, Western

61 Metascore

A mysterious preacher protects a humble prospector village from a greedy mining company trying to encroach on their land.

Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgress, Sydney Penny

Votes: 64,706 | Gross: $41.41M

13. Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)

PG | 91 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family

47 Metascore

When eccentric man-child Pee-wee Herman gets his beloved bike stolen in broad daylight, he sets out across the U.S. on the adventure of his life.

Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Paul Reubens, Elizabeth Daily, Mark Holton, Diane Salinger

Votes: 59,101 | Gross: $40.90M

14. Re-Animator (1985)

Unrated | 84 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi

73 Metascore

After an odd new medical student arrives on campus, a dedicated local and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue.

Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale

Votes: 71,518 | Gross: $2.02M

15. A Room with a View (1985)

Not Rated | 117 min | Drama, Romance

83 Metascore

Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) shares a brief romance with George Emerson in Florence. Yet as she tries to move on with her life and look for marriage elsewhere, can she truly forget the events of that summer?

Director: James Ivory | Stars: Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, Denholm Elliott, Julian Sands

Votes: 47,878 | Gross: $20.97M

16. Tampopo (1985)

Not Rated | 114 min | Comedy

87 Metascore

A truck driver stops at a small family-run noodle shop and decides to help its fledgling business. The story is intertwined with various vignettes about the relationship of love and food.

Director: Jûzô Itami | Stars: Ken Watanabe, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, Koji Yakusho

Votes: 22,572 | Gross: $0.22M

17. Witness (1985)

R | 112 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller

76 Metascore

While protecting an Amish boy - who is the sole witness to a brutal murder - and his mother, a detective is forced to seek refuge within their community when his own life is threatened.

Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Lukas Haas, Josef Sommer

Votes: 104,673 | Gross: $68.71M

18. Betty Blue (1986)

Unrated | 119 min | Drama, Romance

56 Metascore

A lackadaisical handyman and aspiring novelist tries to support his younger girlfriend as she slowly succumbs to madness.

Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix | Stars: Jean-Hugues Anglade, Béatrice Dalle, Gérard Darmon, Consuelo De Haviland

Votes: 23,346 | Gross: $2.00M

19. Blue Velvet (1986)

R | 120 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

75 Metascore

The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.

Director: David Lynch | Stars: Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern

Votes: 215,750 | Gross: $8.55M

20. The Color of Money (1986)

R | 119 min | Drama, Sport

77 Metascore

Fast Eddie Felson teaches a cocky but immensely talented protégé the ropes of pool hustling, which in turn inspires him to make an unlikely comeback.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Helen Shaver

Votes: 93,276 | Gross: $52.29M

21. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

PG-13 | 103 min | Comedy

61 Metascore

A popular high school student, admired by his peers, decides to take a day off from school and goes to extreme lengths to pull it off, to the chagrin of his Dean, who'll do anything to stop him.

Director: John Hughes | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, Jeffrey Jones

Votes: 386,529 | Gross: $70.14M

22. The Fly (1986)

R | 96 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi

81 Metascore

A brilliant but eccentric scientist begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong.

Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz, Joy Boushel

Votes: 201,969 | Gross: $40.46M

23. Gothic (1986)

R | 87 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror

The Shelleys visit Lord Byron and compete to write a horror story.

Director: Ken Russell | Stars: Gabriel Byrne, Julian Sands, Natasha Richardson, Myriam Cyr

Votes: 8,865 | Gross: $0.92M

24. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

PG-13 | 107 min | Comedy, Drama

90 Metascore

Between two Thanksgivings two years apart, Hannah's husband falls in love with her sister Lee, while her hypochondriac ex-husband rekindles his relationship with her sister Holly.

Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Mia Farrow, Dianne Wiest, Michael Caine, Barbara Hershey

Votes: 76,790 | Gross: $40.08M

25. Jean de Florette (1986)

PG | 120 min | Comedy, Drama

A greedy landowner and his backward nephew conspire to block the only water source for an adjoining property in order to bankrupt the owner and force him to sell.

Director: Claude Berri | Stars: Yves Montand, Gérard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil, Elisabeth Depardieu

Votes: 27,545 | Gross: $4.94M

26. The Mission (1986)

PG | 125 min | Adventure, Drama, History

55 Metascore

Eighteenth-century Spanish Jesuits try to protect a remote South American tribe in danger of falling under the rule of pro-slavery Portugal.

Director: Roland Joffé | Stars: Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons, Ray McAnally, Aidan Quinn

Votes: 65,700 | Gross: $17.22M

27. The Money Pit (1986)

PG | 91 min | Comedy

49 Metascore

A young couple struggles to repair a hopelessly dilapidated house.

Director: Richard Benjamin | Stars: Tom Hanks, Shelley Long, Alexander Godunov, Maureen Stapleton

Votes: 62,247 | Gross: $37.50M

28. Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)

PG-13 | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

75 Metascore

Peggy Sue faints at a high school reunion. When she wakes up, she finds herself in her own past, just before she finished school.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Kathleen Turner, Nicolas Cage, Barry Miller, Catherine Hicks

Votes: 40,827 | Gross: $41.38M

29. Platoon (1986)

R | 120 min | Drama, War

92 Metascore

Chris Taylor, a neophyte recruit in Vietnam, finds himself caught in a battle of wills between two sergeants, one good and the other evil. A shrewd examination of the brutality of war and the duality of man in conflict.

Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Keith David

Votes: 439,612 | Gross: $138.53M

30. River's Edge (1986)

R | 99 min | Crime, Drama

73 Metascore

A high school slacker commits a shocking act and proceeds to let his friends in on the secret. However, the friends' reaction is almost as ambiguous and perplexing as the crime itself.

Director: Tim Hunter | Stars: Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye, Daniel Roebuck

Votes: 20,696 | Gross: $4.60M

31. Something Wild (1986)

R | 114 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance

73 Metascore

A free-spirited woman "kidnaps" a yuppie for a weekend of adventure. But the fun quickly takes a dangerous turn when her ex-convict husband shows up.

Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, George 'Red' Schwartz, Leib Lensky

Votes: 21,092 | Gross: $8.36M

32. Stand by Me (1986)

R | 89 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama

75 Metascore

A writer recounts a childhood journey with his friends to find the body of a missing boy.

Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell

Votes: 441,711 | Gross: $52.29M

33. True Stories (1986)

PG | 89 min | Comedy, Musical

67 Metascore

A small but growing Texas town, filled with strange and musical characters, celebrates its sesquicentennial and converge on a local parade and talent show.

Director: David Byrne | Stars: David Byrne, John Goodman, Annie McEnroe, Jo Harvey Allen

Votes: 7,497 | Gross: $2.55M

34. 84 Charing Cross Road (1987)

PG | 100 min | Biography, Drama, Romance

True story of a transatlantic business correspondence about used books that developed into a close friendship.

Director: David Hugh Jones | Stars: Anne Bancroft, Anthony Hopkins, Judi Dench, Jean De Baer

Votes: 11,227 | Gross: $1.08M

35. Angel Heart (1987)

X | 113 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

61 Metascore

A private investigator is hired by a man who calls himself Louis Cyphre to track down a singer named Johnny Favorite. But the investigation takes an unexpected and somber turn.

Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet, Charlotte Rampling

Votes: 95,835 | Gross: $17.19M

36. Goodbye, Children (1987)

PG | 104 min | Drama, War

88 Metascore

A French boarding school run by priests seems to be a haven from World War II until a new student arrives. Occupying the next bed in the dormitory to the top student in his class, the two young boys begin to form a bond.

Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejtö, Francine Racette, Stanislas Carré de Malberg

Votes: 36,124 | Gross: $4.54M

37. Babette's Feast (1987)

G | 103 min | Drama

78 Metascore

During the late 19th century, a strict religious community in a Danish village takes in a French refugee from the Franco-Prussian War as a servant to the late pastor's daughters.

Director: Gabriel Axel | Stars: Stéphane Audran, Bodil Kjer, Birgitte Federspiel, Jarl Kulle

Votes: 22,042 | Gross: $4.40M

38. Barfly (1987)

R | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

70 Metascore

Based on the life of successful poet Charles Bukowski and his exploits in Hollywood during the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

Director: Barbet Schroeder | Stars: Mickey Rourke, Faye Dunaway, Alice Krige, Jack Nance

Votes: 21,983 | Gross: $3.22M

39. Broadcast News (1987)

R | 133 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

84 Metascore

Take two rival television reporters: one handsome, one talented, both male. Add one producer, female. Mix well, and watch the sparks fly.

Director: James L. Brooks | Stars: William Hurt, Albert Brooks, Holly Hunter, Robert Prosky

Votes: 34,124 | Gross: $51.25M

40. Evil Dead II (1987)

R | 84 min | Comedy, Horror

72 Metascore

Ash Williams, the lone survivor of an earlier onslaught of flesh-possessing spirits, holes up in a cabin with a group of strangers while the demons continue their attack.

Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks, Kassie Wesley DePaiva

Votes: 181,957 | Gross: $5.92M

Wow. just... WOW.

41. Fatal Attraction (1987)

R | 119 min | Drama, Thriller

67 Metascore

A married man's one-night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his family.

Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Anne Archer, Ellen Latzen

Votes: 97,116 | Gross: $156.65M

42. Full Metal Jacket (1987)

R | 116 min | Drama, War

78 Metascore

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Baldwin

Votes: 790,548 | Gross: $46.36M

43. The Last Emperor (1987)

PG-13 | 163 min | Biography, Drama, History

76 Metascore

Bernardo Bertolucci's Oscar-winning dramatisation of the life story of China's last emperor, Pu Yi.

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci | Stars: John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole, Ruocheng Ying

Votes: 111,528 | Gross: $43.98M

44. The Last of England (1987)

Unrated | 92 min | Drama, Fantasy

The artist's personal commentary on the decline of his country in a language closer to poetry than prose. A dark meditation on London under Thatcher.

Director: Derek Jarman | Stars: Tilda Swinton, Spencer Leigh, 'Spring' Mark Adley, Gerrard McArthur

Votes: 1,491

45. Near Dark (1987)

R | 94 min | Horror

78 Metascore

A small-town farmer's son reluctantly joins a traveling group of vampires after he is bitten by a beautiful drifter.

Director: Kathryn Bigelow | Stars: Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton

Votes: 44,755 | Gross: $3.37M

46. The Princess Bride (1987)

PG | 98 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family

78 Metascore

A bedridden boy's grandfather reads him the story of a farmboy-turned-pirate who encounters numerous obstacles, enemies and allies in his quest to be reunited with his true love.

Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Robin Wright, Chris Sarandon

Votes: 451,010 | Gross: $30.86M

47. Raising Arizona (1987)

PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy, Crime

69 Metascore

When a childless couple--an ex-con and an ex-cop--decide to help themselves to one of another family's quintuplets, their lives become more complicated than they anticipated.

Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, Trey Wilson, John Goodman

Votes: 150,383 | Gross: $22.85M

48. Swimming to Cambodia (1987)

R | 85 min | Comedy, Drama

68 Metascore

Spalding Gray discusses his participation in the film The Killing Fields (1984) and the background story about the troubles of Cambodia.

Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Spalding Gray, Sam Waterston, Ira Wheeler

Votes: 2,378 | Gross: $1.09M

49. Wings of Desire (1987)

PG-13 | 128 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance

79 Metascore

An angel tires of his purely ethereal life of merely overseeing the human activity of Berlin's residents, and longs for the tangible joys of physical existence when he falls in love with a mortal.

Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander, Curt Bois

Votes: 77,042 | Gross: $3.33M

50. Withnail & I (1987)

R | 107 min | Comedy, Drama

84 Metascore

In 1969, two substance-abusing, unemployed actors retreat to the countryside for a holiday that proves disastrous.

Director: Bruce Robinson | Stars: Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann, Richard Griffiths, Ralph Brown

Votes: 47,902 | Gross: $1.54M

51. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)

PG | 126 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy

69 Metascore

An account of Baron Munchausen's supposed travels and fantastical experiences across late 18th-century Europe with his band of misfits.

Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: John Neville, Eric Idle, Sarah Polley, Oliver Reed

Votes: 56,876 | Gross: $8.08M

52. Alice (1988)

Not Rated | 86 min | Animation, Adventure, Fantasy

A surrealistic revision of Alice in Wonderland.

Director: Jan Svankmajer | Stars: Kristýna Kohoutová, Camilla Power

Votes: 13,988

53. Beetlejuice (1988)

PG | 92 min | Comedy, Fantasy

71 Metascore

The spirits of a deceased couple are harassed by an unbearable family that has moved into their home, and hire a malicious spirit to drive them out.

Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Annie McEnroe

Votes: 340,188 | Gross: $73.71M

54. Big Time (1988)

PG | 87 min | Documentary, Music

Bringing his unique sense of humor to this bizarre and original piece of moviemaking, Tom Waits takes the audience through a musical journey with his jazzy, quirky, bluesy tunes presented as you would never, ever, ever expect.

Director: Chris Blum | Stars: Tom Waits, Michael L. Blair, Ralph Carney, Greg Cohen

Votes: 902 | Gross: $0.15M

55. Camille Claudel (1988)

R | 175 min | Biography, Drama, History

Camille Claude impresses already-famous sculptor Auguste Rodin. He hires her as an assistant, but soon Camille begins to sculpt for herself and she also becomes his mistress. But after a while, she would like to get out of his shadow.

Director: Bruno Nuytten | Stars: Isabelle Adjani, Gérard Depardieu, Madeleine Robinson, Laurent Grévill

Votes: 7,396 | Gross: $0.20M

56. Cinema Paradiso (1988)

R | 174 min | Drama, Romance

80 Metascore

A filmmaker recalls his childhood when falling in love with the pictures at the cinema of his home village and forms a deep friendship with the cinema's projectionist.

Director: Giuseppe Tornatore | Stars: Philippe Noiret, Enzo Cannavale, Antonella Attili, Isa Danieli

Votes: 282,960 | Gross: $11.99M

57. Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

R | 119 min | Drama, Romance

74 Metascore

A scheming widow and her manipulative ex-lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman.

Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Swoosie Kurtz

Votes: 75,156 | Gross: $34.70M

58. Die Hard (1988)

R | 132 min | Action, Thriller

72 Metascore

A New York City police officer tries to save his estranged wife and several others taken hostage by terrorists during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.

Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson

Votes: 945,728 | Gross: $83.01M

59. A Fish Called Wanda (1988)

R | 108 min | Comedy, Crime

80 Metascore

In London, four very different people team up on a jewel heist, then try to double-cross one another for the loot, complicated by their efforts to fool a very proper barrister.

Directors: Charles Crichton, John Cleese | Stars: John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin

Votes: 153,934 | Gross: $63.49M

60. Frantic (1988)

R | 120 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

66 Metascore

In a hotel room in Paris, a doctor comes out of the shower and finds that his wife has disappeared. He soon finds himself caught up in a world of intrigue, espionage, gangsters, drugs and murder.

Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Harrison Ford, Betty Buckley, Emmanuelle Seigner, Djiby Soumare

Votes: 57,814 | Gross: $17.64M

61. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

R | 164 min | Drama

80 Metascore

The life of Jesus Christ, his journey through life as he faces the struggles all humans do, and his final temptation on the cross.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey, Paul Greco

Votes: 63,140 | Gross: $7.63M

62. Mississippi Burning (1988)

R | 128 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

65 Metascore

Two F.B.I. Agents with wildly different styles arrive in Mississippi to investigate the disappearance of some civil rights activists.

Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand, Brad Dourif

Votes: 111,063 | Gross: $34.60M

63. My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

G | 86 min | Animation, Comedy, Family

86 Metascore

When two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby.

Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Hitoshi Takagi, Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi

Votes: 380,367 | Gross: $1.11M

64. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)

PG-13 | 85 min | Comedy, Crime

76 Metascore

Incompetent police Detective Frank Drebin must foil an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.

Director: David Zucker | Stars: Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, O.J. Simpson, Ricardo Montalban

Votes: 185,017 | Gross: $78.76M

Loved the one season of Police Squad on the tele... had to see this. More "Airplane" style humor, which was smartly silly and unlike American comedy in general.

65. Tales from the Gimli Hospital (1988)

72 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

71 Metascore

While their mother is dying in the modern Gimli, Manitoba hospital, two young children are told a tale by their Icelandic grandmother about Einar the Lonely, his friend Gunnar, and the angelic Snjofridur in a Gimli of old.

Director: Guy Maddin | Stars: Kyle McCulloch, Michael Gottli, Angela Heck, Margaret Anne MacLeod

Votes: 1,462

66. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)

R | 171 min | Drama, Romance

73 Metascore

Central Europe, 1968: A Czech doctor with an active sex life meets a woman who wants monogamy, and then the Soviet invasion further disrupts their lives.

Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, Derek de Lint

Votes: 38,648 | Gross: $10.01M

67. The Vanishing (1988)

Not Rated | 107 min | Mystery, Thriller

Rex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation. They stop at a busy service station and Saskia is abducted. After three years and no sign of Saskia, Rex begins receiving letters from the abductor.

Director: George Sluizer | Stars: Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Gene Bervoets, Johanna ter Steege, Gwen Eckhaus

Votes: 44,232

Fantastic, hit two of my greatest fears... randomly having a loved one just disappear and well, more would be a spoiler, but if you've seen it, you know. If you haven't and like psychological terror and dread, see it.

68. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)

R | 88 min | Comedy, Drama

85 Metascore

A television actress encounters a variety of eccentric characters after embarking on a journey to discover why her lover abruptly left her.

Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Julieta Serrano, Rossy de Palma

Votes: 46,467 | Gross: $7.18M

69. Tapeheads (1988)

R | 93 min | Comedy, Music

A couple of creative losers accidently become big shots in the video music industry.

Director: Bill Fishman | Stars: John Cusack, Tim Robbins, Mary Crosby, Clu Gulager

Votes: 4,357 | Gross: $0.34M

70. Batman (1989)

PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Adventure

69 Metascore

The Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being Jack Napier, a criminal who becomes the clownishly homicidal Joker.

Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl

Votes: 404,321 | Gross: $251.19M

This did not suck.

71. Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

R | 145 min | Biography, Drama, War

75 Metascore

The biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought.

Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Tom Cruise, Bryan Larkin, Raymond J. Barry, Caroline Kava

Votes: 115,979 | Gross: $70.00M

72. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)

NC-17 | 124 min | Crime, Drama

62 Metascore

At Le Hollandais gourmet restaurant, every night is filled with opulence, decadence and gluttony. But when the cook, a thief, his wife and her lover all come together, they unleash a shocking torrent of sex, food, murder and revenge.

Director: Peter Greenaway | Stars: Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren, Alan Howard

Votes: 41,751 | Gross: $7.72M

73. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)

PG-13 | 104 min | Comedy, Drama

77 Metascore

An ophthalmologist's mistress threatens to reveal their affair to his wife while a married documentary filmmaker is infatuated with another woman.

Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Martin Landau, Woody Allen, Bill Bernstein, Claire Bloom

Votes: 60,800 | Gross: $18.25M

Hard to pick a favorite Woody Allen film, but I'll pick this one, today.

74. Dead Poets Society (1989)

PG | 128 min | Comedy, Drama

79 Metascore

Maverick teacher John Keating returns in 1959 to the prestigious New England boys' boarding school where he was once a star student, using poetry to embolden his pupils to new heights of self-expression.

Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles

Votes: 546,179 | Gross: $95.86M

Some real "cringe" moments, but some moments of wow.

75. The Decalogue (1989–1990)

TV-MA | 60 min | Drama

100 Metascore

Ten television drama films, each one based on one of the Ten Commandments.

Stars: Artur Barcis, Olgierd Lukaszewicz, Olaf Lubaszenko, Aleksander Bardini

Votes: 27,882 | Gross: $0.10M

76. Do the Right Thing (1989)

R | 120 min | Comedy, Drama

93 Metascore

On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.

Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson

Votes: 112,435 | Gross: $27.55M

Fight the power!

77. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)

R | 101 min | Crime, Drama

82 Metascore

A pharmacy-robbing dope fiend and his crew pop pills and evade the law.

Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, James Le Gros, Heather Graham

Votes: 40,633 | Gross: $4.73M

One of my all time favorites.

78. Great Balls of Fire! (1989)

PG-13 | 108 min | Biography, Drama, Music

49 Metascore

The life and career of wildly controversial rock 'n' roll star Jerry Lee Lewis.

Director: Jim McBride | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Winona Ryder, John Doe, Stephen Tobolowsky

Votes: 18,890 | Gross: $13.74M

79. Heathers (1988)

R | 103 min | Comedy, Crime

72 Metascore

At Westerburg High where cliques rule, jocks dominate and all the popular girls are named Heather, it's going to take a Veronica and mysterious new kid to give teen angst a body count.

Director: Michael Lehmann | Stars: Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk

Votes: 115,887 | Gross: $1.11M

Likely wouldn't be made today... smart teen black comedy with a sharp edge.

80. How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)

R | 90 min | Comedy, Fantasy

A cynical advertising exec has a block at work leading to a meltdown. He's hilariously out of control. Getting a big, talking boil on his shoulder doesn't help.

Director: Bruce Robinson | Stars: Richard E. Grant, Rachel Ward, Richard Wilson, Jacqueline Tong

Votes: 6,629 | Gross: $0.42M

81. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

G | 103 min | Animation, Family, Fantasy

85 Metascore

A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.

Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Kappei Yamaguchi

Votes: 165,567

82. Lonesome Dove (1989)

TV-14 | 96 min | Adventure, Drama, Western

Two former Texas Rangers renew their spirit of adventure as they and several other residents of a small Texas town join a cattle drive to the Montana Territory.

Stars: Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Danny Glover, Diane Lane

Votes: 25,917

Very well done.

83. Mystery Train (1989)

R | 110 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama

80 Metascore

Three stories are connected by a Memphis hotel and the spirit of Elvis Presley.

Director: Jim Jarmusch | Stars: Masatoshi Nagase, Yûki Kudô, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Cinqué Lee

Votes: 30,833 | Gross: $0.37M

Jiffy Squid?

84. Parenthood (1989)

PG-13 | 124 min | Comedy, Drama

82 Metascore

Four Buckman siblings attempt to raise their children - each in their own different style - and deal with the joys and sorrows that the process brings.

Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Dianne Wiest, Jason Robards

Votes: 54,894 | Gross: $100.05M

85. Roger & Me (1989)

R | 91 min | Documentary

70 Metascore

After General Motors closes its factory in Flint, Michigan, eliminating 35,000 jobs, filmmaker Michael Moore undertakes a quixotic quest to interview General Motors' chairman, Roger B. Smith.

Director: Michael Moore | Stars: Michael Moore, Roger B. Smith, Rhonda Britton, Fred Ross

Votes: 27,514 | Gross: $6.71M

86. Santa Sangre (1989)

NC-17 | 123 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller

A former circus artist escapes from a mental hospital to rejoin his armless mother - the leader of a strange religious cult - and is forced to enact brutal murders in her name as he becomes "her arms".

Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky | Stars: Axel Jodorowsky, Blanca Guerra, Guy Stockwell, Thelma Tixou

Votes: 23,331

87. Say Anything (1989)

PG-13 | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

86 Metascore

A noble underachiever and a beautiful valedictorian fall in love the summer before she goes off to college.

Director: Cameron Crowe | Stars: John Cusack, Ione Skye, John Mahoney, Lili Taylor

Votes: 95,945 | Gross: $20.78M

88. Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)

R | 100 min | Drama

86 Metascore

A sexually repressed woman's husband is having an affair with her sister. The arrival of a visitor with a rather unusual fetish changes everything.

Director: Steven Soderbergh | Stars: James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallagher, Laura San Giacomo

Votes: 59,466 | Gross: $24.74M

89. Sweetie (1989)

R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama

81 Metascore

An introspective young woman's life is upturned by the arrival of her maladjusted sister.

Director: Jane Campion | Stars: Geneviève Lemon, Karen Colston, Tom Lycos, Jon Darling

Votes: 5,379 | Gross: $0.94M

Jane Campion is the bomb.

90. Vampire's Kiss (1988)

R | 103 min | Comedy, Crime, Fantasy

30 Metascore

After an encounter with a neck-biter, a publishing executive thinks that he's turning into a vampire.

Director: Robert Bierman | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Maria Conchita Alonso, Jennifer Beals, Elizabeth Ashley

Votes: 20,914 | Gross: $0.73M

Nicolas Cage has performed some over-the-top whacked out roles, but none rise (or sink) to the level of hilarious absurdity he delivers in this oddball film. I'm a vampire! Get through the slow, fairly normal beginning bits, and then hold on for the fall down the rabbit hole.

91. The War of the Roses (1989)

R | 116 min | Comedy, Romance

80 Metascore

A married couple tries everything to drive each other out of the house in a vicious divorce battle.

Director: Danny DeVito | Stars: Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito, Marianne Sägebrecht

Votes: 57,381 | Gross: $86.89M

"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" mixed with "The Money Pit." Love this one.

92. New York Stories (1989)

PG | 124 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

A middle-aged artist obsessed with his pretty young assistant, a precocious 12-year-old living in a hotel, and a neurotic lawyer with a possessive mother make up three Gotham tales.

Directors: Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese | Stars: Woody Allen, Nick Nolte, Rosanna Arquette, Marvin Chatinover

Votes: 19,741 | Gross: $10.76M

Worth it for Woody Allen's bit, with the big Jewish mother in the sky.

93. Henry V (1989)

PG-13 | 137 min | Biography, Drama, History

83 Metascore

In the midst of the Hundred Years War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France in 1415.

Director: Kenneth Branagh | Stars: Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Simon Shepherd, James Larkin

Votes: 31,657 | Gross: $10.16M

94. Twister (1989)

PG-13 | 93 min | Comedy, Drama

65 Metascore

Delusional and spoiled Maureen and her eccentric brother Howdy decide to track down and meet their estranged mother, all while the drama of dysfunctional relationships, disastrous weather conditions and a dark family secret ensue.

Director: Michael Almereyda | Stars: Harry Dean Stanton, Suzy Amis, Crispin Glover, Dylan McDermott

Votes: 2,270



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