Corona | Coming Attractions

No particular order:

Platoon
Fletch
Full Metal Jacket
Ghostbusters
Blade Runner
Aliens
Ruthless People
E.T.
Wall Street

Blue Velvet
Raging Bull
The Shining
The Goonies
Empire Strikes Back

All of those movies are racist. I love Iron Man!

You seem to be asking for two different things. On the one hand, you want five (or more) movies we consider to be the best of the eighties movies we would deem "rewatchable" (though for me, some of the movies I've liked best have been movies I haven't felt compelled to rewatch). On the other, you want five recommendations for movies you likely haven't seen. (That's what it seems like you're asking to me, anyway.) The two don't have to be mutually exclusive, but the likelihood of our five most rewatchable movies being movies you have already seen is high, since most of us were children of the eighties, and as a result of this are going to find higher rewatch value in movies we saw as children (which movies are most likely movies meant for family viewing). My guess is that what you really want is a checklist of eighties movies. I'll list some movies I've liked either as a child or adult. Many of the movies from the eighties I consider to have high rewatch value have either already been mentioned, or would probably be considered standards of eighties cinema by anyone who was a child for any of it. Most of these are popular enough that they don't really need my recommendation. Then there are some movies I used to like. I no longer care all that much for them, but I will watch them if they are on, despite no longer caring all that much for them. I won't bother differentiating the ones I still like from the ones I used to like. I'll start with the ones I watched over and over as a kid (warning: all lists are subject to additions):

Empire Strikes Back
Ghostbusters
E.T.
Back to the Future
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Secret of NIMH
Fletch
Used Cars
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Rocky III
Dark Crystal
Labyrinth
Monster Squad
Pee Wee's Big Adventure
The Blues Brothers
Spaceballs
Transformers: The Movie
UHF
Nightmare on Elm Street
Big Trouble in Little China
The Great Mouse Detective
Raiders of the Lost Ark
National Lampoon's Vacation
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Airplane!
Time Bandits
This Is Spinal Tap
The Shining
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
Goonies
Conan the Barbarian
Die Hard
Willow
The NeverEnding Story
Annie
Clash of the Titans
*batteries not included
The Man with Two Brains
Stripes
Beetlejuice
Stand by Me
Batman
Big
Innerspace
Cocoon
Beverly Hills Cop
The Untouchables
Fright Night
Gremlins
Predator
Superman II
The Lost Boys
Lost in America
The Princess Bride

(I know you asked for no animated entries, but I would feel as though I were dishonoring them if I didn't include them alongside the live-action movies.)

The movies above are all movies a large number of people still seem to care for. There are a number of movies I either still consider or once considered to be rewatchable that I'm guessing you wouldn't care all that much for (simply because most people don't seem to care for them--at least as far as I can tell from having waded into the bitter sinkhole that is Internet Popular Opinion. Some of them are seen to have some kitsch value, I guess; others are seen as boring, or are plain disliked), such as:

The Legend of the Lone Ranger
The Black Stallion Returns
Ishtar
Popeye
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
Spacehunter
Lady in White
Swamp Thing
Xanadu
Return to Oz
Cat's Eye
The Last Starfighter
Beast Master
Pet Sematary
Vamp
Flash Gordon
Zapped!
Enemy Mine
Breakin'
Romancing the Stone
Krush Groove
The Stuff
The Man from Snowy River
Cannibal Holocaust
Disorderlies
The Boy Who Could Fly
Garbage Pail Kids
Tango and Cash
The Peanut Butter Solution
Heaven's Gate

Finally, there are the movies I either like or liked but that might not be considered to have high rewatch value (though I feel some of them definitely do):

True Stories
The Long Riders
Repo Man
Ragtime
Dune
Reds
Fire and Ice
The Thin Blue Line
Sherman's March
Broadcast News
Das Boot
Ran
Fitzcarraldo
Brazil
Akira
The Elephant Man
Excalibur
Paris, Texas
Once Upon a Time in America
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Raging Bull
Blood Simple
Down by Law
Blade Runner
My Dinner with Andre
Amadeus

* * *

I don't know what you would consider worthwhile or not worthwhile, really (beyond seeing your list of five), and I don't know what you've seen or haven't seen. Treat the above as one giant list.

Whatchu got 'gainst animation, by the way?

NO MORE EDITS!!

But that's what I do! It's all I know!

Edit:

I made an edit.

And I'm telling you to stop. I'm telling you to stop being you. Be less you and more not you.

Fair enough Goiter. I was kind of vague in my original post, but I think I was looking for two things at once. Maybe I should have asked for ones that are both great AND rewatchable? I dunno. I'm mostly just after some great 80s movies. I wasn't even alive for half the decade, y'know.

But I see your point. Born On The 4th of July was a great movie, but I can't see myself rewatching it a helluva lot.

80s movies had bad graphics. I like movies with real actors, like Iron Man.

Dear Goiter,

What the fuck was that shit.

Sincerely,

Gus

That said, I was at first somewhat confused by the OP, insofar as I wondered whether Adam really meant "Movies that could only exist in the nineteen-eighties." (Read: National Lampoon's Vacation, etc.)

I decided that it was probably just movies that were released 1980 - 1989, and chose thusly.

Actually, I guess there's no more "Eighties Film" than Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It would have been a better example than Vacation.

Gotta go watch some sort of cartoon w/ the boy and eat popcorn, but I liked Firestarter, Dreamscape, Looker, and The Thing. Oh, They Call me Bruce? and They Still Call me Bruce.

I hate 80s movies. They are faked and unrealistic and the acting is maked of wood.

Anything.

Why only 5? Because The Man don't want me to have 10!

Aliens
Excalibur
Lethal Weapon
The Fugitive
Day of the Dead

Strider wrote:

<joke mode="dalty">Anything.</joke>

Fixed.

Enemy Mine is one of my favourites. I think it is about time the Last Starfighter either got a sequel or a remake. The Kodan Armada must return!

The Swollen Goi... wrote:

Fixed.

You mean there was more to this thread than the initial instructions in the title? Crap.

Daltons chin dimple wrote:

Enemy Mine is one of my favourites. I think it is about time the Last Starfighter either got a sequel or a remake. The Kodan Armada must return!

It has its moments, but the kid annoys me. I prefer Hell in the Pacific.

Hell in The Pacific contains approximately 100% less Louis Gossett Jr.

True. At the same time, though, It contains considerably more Mifune and Marvin.

Swings / roundabouts!

Jaws III also contains 100% more Louis Gossett Jr. I fear my argument may be collapsing around me.

Don't forget his turn in the only skull-less-chested Punisher movie.

That said, he's pretty great in Diggstown.

An Officer and a Gentlemen = Top banana.

Iron Eagle III - Not so much.

Way to keep it short and sweet, Goiter. :)

Bull Durham (can't turn it off when I see it's on)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Ghostbusters ("When someone asks if you're a god, say YES!!")
Steel Magnolias (maybe 1990?)
Terms of Endearment (Always good for a cry...."Give my daughter the shot!!!!!)
The Breakfast Club (Still wish I could get Molly Ringwald's boots)
Sixteen Candles ("My brother paid a buck to see your underwear.""
Stripes (which seems to be on every weekend)

There are so many more but those were the first I could come up with.