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As with any decade , these masterfully crafted drama were complemented by awful Oscar bait that bomb to plug into with a moviegoing hearing .
Best: Stand By Me (1986)
Adapted from the Stephen King novellaThe Body , Rob Reiner’sStand by Mefollows a radical of four boys in the ‘ 50s as they journey out into the woods to see a corpse they learn about . Along the way , they discover a lot about themselves and each other . By the end , the stiff is the least of anyone ’s concerns .
The four child actors all rehearse together for so long that they became best friends in substantial living , andthat friendly relationship comes through in the ruined product . Stand by Meis the quintessential coming - of - age movie , catch the exemption of youth like none other .
Worst: Cocktail (1988)
One of Tom Cruise ’s bad movies ( and that ’s on a résumé that includesRock of AgesandThe Mummy),Cocktailrevolves around a business enterprise scholarly person who take a job as a bartender to make ends meet .
The movie absurdly glamourize the universe of bartending , while its report and characters are so shallow and barren of artistic core that it ’s mind - benumb .
Best: The Elephant Man (1980)
Worlds aside fromthe music director ’s usual surreal mysteries , but match mighty into his filmography , David Lynch ’s biopic of Joseph Merrick — renamed as John Merrick in the screenplay — tells the grievous true - to - life narrative of a deformed human being who is save from a Victorian " freak show " by a operating surgeon .
Anchored by unbelievable performances by John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins as Merrick and the surgeon , severally , The Elephant Manis a really sinewy film .
Worst: The Blue Lagoon (1980)
When two preteen cousins are strand on a tropic island inThe Blue Lagoon , theater director Randal Kleiser chooses not to focus on their struggle for selection , but ratheron their experiences with pubescence .
As they suppurate and eventually succumb to the intimate stress between them , the movie basically becomesa soft - core grownup pic about baffled nestling . Lord of the Fliesthis ai n’t .
Best: Glory (1989)
There are n’t a lot of mainstream Hollywood movies about the American Civil War , because producerstend to shy away from the thrall earned run average entirely , but it ’s an crucial period filled with stories worth telling , as proven by Edward Zwick’sGlory .
Featuring prima performances by Denzel Washington , Morgan Freeman , andBrooklyn Nine - Nine ’s Andre Braugher , Glorydramatizes the trial and tribulations of the Union Army ’s second African - American regiment .
Worst: The Karate Kid Part III (1989)
MaybeThe Karate Kidcould be stretch along out for one sequel after the original ’s huge succeeder , but it definitely could n’t handle two . The thirdKarate Kidmovie is a boring slog that suffered from behind - the - scenes problems like the sexual love interest being rewritten as a friend after the producer contrive a tiddler .
Rather than expanding on the dynamic partake in by Daniel and Mr. Miyagi , The Karate Kid Part IIIsimply rehashes elements that work from the late two movie .
Best: Ran (1985)
For his third loose photographic film adaptation of a Shakespeare romp , Akira Kurosawa , arguably the greatest filmmaker of all time ( or at the very least , one of the top five ) , convey the storey ofKing Learto feudal Japan and delineate parallels with fable about the daimyō Mōri Motonari and his three son .
Noted for its breathtaking battle episode and the vibrant colors in its costume design , Ranis the variety of cinematic epical thatcan only be made by one of the all - meter best directorsat the height of their magnate .
Worst: Staying Alive (1983)
bear a rarified 0 % approval paygrade on Rotten Tomatoes , remain Aliveis a subsequence toSaturday Night Feverdirected by Sylvester Stallone , and it ’s precisely as secure as it sounds .
Whereas the original film had real depth and bewitch a particular subculture with a degree of authenticity , the sequel is just a shallow string of threadbare dancing sequences .
Best: Raging Bull (1980)
Martin Scorsese madeRaging Bulllike it was go to be his last film , andthe termination is arguably his chef-d’oeuvre . He had no interest group in sports when Robert De Niro bring the life story of pugilist Jake LaMotta to his attention , so he did n’t make it as a sports moving picture ; he made it as a character study ofa man whose jealous rage became his undoing .
Shooting the domestic scene with a minimalist style and pull out all the tricks from the cinematic playbook for the fight scene , Scorsese expertly contrast LaMotta ’s anger in the ring with the anger from his personal trouble .
Worst: Mommie Dearest (1981)
Adapted from Christina Crawford ’s memoir of the same name about her adoptive female parent Joan Crawford , Mommie Dearestwas the 2nd ever “ winner ” of the Worst Picture Razzie and is more than deserving .
The movie paints theWhat Ever Happened to Baby Jane?star as an opprobrious mother , but Faye Dunaway ’s performance as Crawford is so over - the - top thatMommie Dearesthas been described as an unplanned drollery .
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