Year: 1984 Director: John Hughes Stars: Molly Ringwald, Justin Henry, Anthony Michael Hall, Gedde Watanabe Rating: PG It might be Chicago’s single most beloved cinematic representation. Trying driving on Lower Wacker Drive without thinking about the Bluesmobile rocketing along and police cars smashing into one another in absurdly spectacular pile-ups. This is just one of those films that completely changes the popular conception of a cityscape-if you go to Chicago, you will start picking out things from The Blues Brothers. Daley Center) and the low (Elwood’s flophouse, numerous low-income neighborhoods) right alongside one another. It doesn’t try to put a shine on the city, though, showing both the high-rent (the Richard J. Indeed, this John Landis classic lovingly shows off a Chicago that no longer exists in several instances, most notably the Maxwell Street Market, Chicago’s great open-air flea market where one could buy just about anything, legal or illegal, and also gave birth to both Chicago blues and the famed Maxwell Street Polish sausage before the city forcibly moved the market to make room for university housing among other things. Year: 1981 Director: John Landis Stars: John Belushi, Dan Aykryod, Carrie Fisher, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, James Brown, Cab Calloway, Henry Gibson, Charles Napier Rating: Rįor an intensely absurd, farcical comedy, The Blues Brothers is so much more sincere than one would ever expect it to be, both in its adoration of classic blues and R&B and the way it captured a moment in the life of the city of Chicago. From fraught duels to wagon trains and cattle stampedes, Silverado is neither revisionist nor original, but it’s terrifically energetic and fun, not to mention beautifully polished in production.
The traditional motifs are all there as a quartet of cowboys treks to the film’s namesake town and helps its citizens fight back against corrupt powers that be. Lawrence Kasdan’s winning homage benefited from a sterling ensemble cast (Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner, Kevin Cline, Danny Glover, Brian Dennehy, John Cleese, Jeff Goldblum, Rosanna Arquette), keen pacing-both in action and humor-and an all-in approach to the classic Western. Year: 1985 Director: Lawrence Kasdan Stars: Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Rosanna Arquette, John Cleese, Kevin Costner, Brian Dennehy, Danny Glover, Jeff Goldblum, Linda Hunt Rating: PG-13 Would that real-life friendships could persist and reflect these ones more often. Gordie Lachance’s (Wil Wheaton) group of friends are the kinds of pals one has as a child: They come from very different worlds, but haven’t yet learned that they’re not supposed to hang out together. Still, it really captures some of the mythological aspects of childhood-the way the junkyard dog’s fearsome reputation can’t possibly stand up to reality, or how friendship can be a source of healing or how friendships change after innocence is lost. Stephen King has referred to Stand By Me as one of the best-adapted films, which is curious, because it’s such a sincere film, hitting only some of the author’s signature themes. Year: 1986 Director: Rob Reiner Stars: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman Rating: R Here are the best movies from the 1980s you can stream on Netflix right now. These films are likely to leave Netflix soon, so enjoy your blockbusters while you can. It’s no surprise that the ’80s movies on Netflix get a lot of attention. It was the age of the numbered sequel, and the drive to make every film bigger and bolder than the previous. Directors such as Spike Lee, Ridley Scott, Rob Reiner, Harold Ramis, Barry Levinson and Ivan Reitman delivered grand adventures, prestige drama and silly comedy that still hold up four decades later. For all the harm that was done in the 1980s, from deregulation to the drug wars, the decade did deliver the age of the blockbuster, and several of its best examples are streaming on Netflix right now.