1983: Movies Sorted By Tier

Submitted by stooky on Wed, 06/16/2004 - 10:18
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  • Great
  • A Christmas Story
  • Fanny And Alexander
  • Local Hero
  • Never Cry Wolf
  • Testament
  • Twice Upon A Time
  • Videodrome
  • The Year Of Living Dangerously
  • Very Good
  • Bad Boys
  • The Big Chill
  • The Evil Dead
  • The Dead Zone
  • Educating Rita
  • Return Of The Jedi
  • Risky Business
  • Tender Mercies
  • Under Fire
  • Zelig
  • Good
  • Confidentially Yours
  • Le Dernier Combat
  • **In the future an apocalypse has shrouded the world in deserts of ash with bits of buildings and cities poking through the desolation. The inhabitants have been left voiceless due to a strange change in the oxygen that restricts their vocal chords. The human race has degraded by their fate, clinging together in groups hoping for survival and bent on annihilation of anyone else. A lone man, cultured and intelligent, strives to eke out a life on the edges of this ruined society. He creates a small plane and goes in search of humanity, eventually crash landing in a decomposing township.

    The Last Battle

    is essentially a modern silent film in which ambient noise is present but human speech has been lost in time. The characters communicate through grunts, hand signals and acts of aggression. Besson manages a certain bizarre realism that’s convincing even on a low budget and he’s able to create an air of fragility and sadness that’s riveting. His characters are less finely detailed and considerably less believable, but he manages to balance that hindrance with the constant tension of the fast moving plot. The violence runs in wild tangents, abruptly intersecting moments of fragile, sometimes comedic introspection creating a feeling of upheaval that might not have been intentional, but benefits each scene by creating a constant feeling of suspense and malevolence. The Last Battle is an enigmatic film that’s both disappointing and dazzling, never fully realizing it’s potential yet it constantly defies expectations with unusual plot developments; which creates an entertaining, if extremely strange, film experience.
  • The Dresser
  • The Grey Fox
  • Mickey's Christmas Carol
  • Monty Python's Meaning Of Life
  • The Right Stuff
  • Scarface
  • Silkwood
  • Strange Brew
  • Terms Of Endearment
  • Trading Places
  • WarGames
  • Guilty Pleasures
  • Brainstorm
  • Flashdance
  • Spacehunter
  • Average
  • Bill Cosby: Himself
  • Blue Thunder
  • Cross Creek
  • Fire And Ice
  • Gorky Park
  • The King Of Comedy
  • Liquid Sky
  • The Man With Two Brains
  • National Lampoon's Vacation
  • Octopussy
  • Rumble Fish
  • Seperate Tables
  • Something Wicked This Way Comes
  • Star 80
  • Sting II
  • The Thorn Birds (TV)
  • Valley Girl
  • Without A Trace
  • Dissapointing
  • Cujo
  • Mr. Mom
  • One Deadly Summer
  • Psycho 2
  • Sudden Impact
  • Twilight Zone: The Movie
  • Uncommon Valour
  • Warriors Of The Wasteland
  • Yor, The Hunter from The Future
  • Cellar Dwellers
  • The Black Stallion Returns
  • Cheech And Chong Still Smokin
  • Curse Of The Pink Panther
  • House Of The Long Shadows
  • The Hunger
  • **Beautiful gothic imagery alone cannot make a film watchable. I'm not sure anyone advised Tony Scott before he made this "super-dud", but someone should have because the limpid storytelling is unbearable. Not that things start off badly, on the contrary, The Bauhaus sing Bela Lugosi's dead while badly edited pastiche introduces us to the only good aspect of the entire film, David Bowie. When he kicks it the film takes a drastic dive into hazy lesbianism and bad acting, which involves Susan Sarandon's maniacally bulging eyes. It all culminates in the horendous apex
    Spoiler: Highlight to view
    where Deneuve's gariatric love cronies come back for a little old timey sex and cause our vampiress to fall off a banister and then decay for no apparent reason.
    The mind boggles at how people didn't think this movie a comedy. I can see the add campaign now "A movie that merges soft-core porn atosmphere with everything obtuse that'll have 'em rolling in the aisles."
  • Porky's 2: The Next Day
  • Revenge Of The Ninja
  • She
  • Suburbia
  • To Be Or Not To Be
  • Wavelength
  • The Big Stink
  • Jaws 3
  • Scalps
  • **When the daring attempts at reinventing lighting (scenes cut together that are obviously shot during the night and then the day play as a whole) are dashed by the by such small quibbles as time and space you can enjoy other gems. One such nugget can only be explained through a typed rendition of the scene: Man with feather in hair runs fast across vista--cut to hatchet swinging (unfortunately said hatchet is all wobbly and bending way out of shape) towards a head that is off-screen--*scream*--Hair flies through the screen (the problem here is that it really, really looks like a wig, there's no blood on it and it looks like it's being tossed). Probably the first run-by-scalping ever put to film. Bravo.
  • Superman III
  • Xtro
  • Unfortunately Haven’t Seen
  • The Ballad Of Narayama
  • Betrayal
  • An Englishman Abroad
  • Entre Nous
  • L'Argent
  • Nostalghia
  • The Professional: Golgo 13
  • Reuben, Reuben
  • The Revolt Of Job
  • Sans Soleil
  • Streamers
  • Utu
Cloned From: 
1984: Movies Sorted By Tier
bertie07/17/2004

I hadn't realised that Testament and The Day After, two worthwhile movies about nuclear war, were released in the same year. Testament is much superior, but, as I said, TDA is worthwhile.

Local Hero and Zelig - two generally underappreciated comedies.

Yes, The Dead Zone is one of the best movies based on a Stephen King novel (helped significantly by the presence of Christopher Walken). The recent tv series ran out of steam as soon as it ran out of King's plot.

I submit that The Right Stuff is better than merely good. Give it a second viewing, you'll see what I mean.

stooky07/17/2004

If my mind hasn't deserted me, I'm pretty sure The Day After was a television movie (one that I wanna see) and Testament was a motion picture. This could account for the difference in quality. I wasn't expecting The Day After to be as good but I was hoping it was worthwhile, and your comments have made me a happy little fella.

Local Hero is so deadpan it confuses people. I've heard comments ranging from "Was that supposed to be about something" to "I don't get it, wasn't more supposed to be happening."

And I have to admit, "Zelig", although brilliant is just really freakin' wierd. It's a 2 hour news update like they used to have in the 40's in cinema houses, it's actually quite shocking.

The Dead Zone definately is one of the finest, probably because Cronenberg stripped down the story to it's core. That streamlining of a rather complicated book gives the film a sizzling pace, even without much action. But I have to admit "Delores Claiborne" is my favorite. Walken's outstanding, as is Herbert Lom (who knew).

Watched one episode of the TV series and prognosticated said loss of hot hair, so I stopped watching.

I've been meaning to watch "The Right Stuff" again but I'm waiting for a DVD copy. I watched it years ago on a tiny 15 inch TV and I've always wondered whether that was the reason.

I'm suprised noone asked about "Twice Upon A Time", have you seen it?

Tallyho

:?)