This is the second article about my favorite films from a decade of my life. In This article, I focus on 1984 -1993. It’s considered a more pop culture era in film. A lot of these films are some of the most famous films of the 20th century. I remembered having a blast watching most of them as a youngster in my teen years.

1984-Ghostbusters

7.8/10 IMDB 95% Rotten Tomatoes 71% Metacritic

After the members of a team of scientists (Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray) lose their cushy positions at a university in New York City, they decide to become “ghostbusters” to wage a high-tech battle with the supernatural for money. They stumble upon a gateway to another dimension, a doorway that will release evil upon the city. The Ghostbusters must now save New York from complete destruction.

Ghostbusters was a fun film when I was ten years old. It had a fantastic ensemble of comic actors like Dan Ackroyd, Jim Belushi, and Harold Ramos, who starred with Bill Murray in Stripes a couple of years earlier, along with newcomer, at the time, Ernie Hudson. This cast had great chemistry together as the titular Ghostbusters, scientists who became defenders of New York City. Even the supporting cast of Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, and Sigourney Weaver are all fantastic. The visual effects and the many comedic moments made this a must-see for me and my family. You rarely find a film as adventurous and funny as this one was. Ivan Reitman has made an all-time great film with a great song to go along with it. Everybody was singing the “Ghostbusters” song.

Release date: June 1, 1984 (USA)

Director: Ivan Reitman

Music composed by: Elmer Bernstein

Featured song: Ghostbusters

Screenplay: Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Dan Aykroyd, Ivan Reitman

1985-Back to the Future

8.5/10 IMDB 97% Rotten Tomatoes 87% Metacritic

In this 1980s sci-fi classic, small-town California teen Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is thrown back into the ’50s when an experiment by his eccentric scientist friend Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) goes awry. Traveling through time in a modified DeLorean car, Marty encounters young versions of his parents (Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson), and must make sure that they fall in love or he’ll cease to exist. Even more dauntingly, Marty has to return to his own time and save the life of Doc Brown.

Back to the Future created a combination of an old scientist and a smarmy teenage boy who created a way to go back in time using a DeLorean car. Michael J. Fox brought Marty McFly to life brilliantly for my imagination as a young kid. Christopher Lloyd was a man I would have followed to my death had it been that thing I needed to do. This combination was cinematic gold. The supporting cast of Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson as Marty’s parents are both terrific. And once again the music by Huey Lewis and the News helped create a sci-fi vision from exclaimed director Robert Zemekis. This is an all-time classic that never loses its entertainment value or joy

Release date: July 3, 1985 (USA)

Director: Robert Zemeckis

1986-Top Gun

6.9/10 IMDB 58% Rotten Tomatoes 50% Metacritic

The Top Gun Naval Fighter Weapons School is where the best of the best train to refine their elite flying skills. When hotshot fighter pilot Maverick (Tom Cruise) is sent to the school, his reckless attitude and cocky demeanor put him at odds with the other pilots, especially the cool and collected Iceman (Val Kilmer). But Maverick isn’t only competing to be the top fighter pilot, he’s also fighting for the attention of his beautiful flight instructor, Charlotte Blackwood (Kelly McGillis).

Top Gun made Tom Cruise a bonafide star. It created one of the best cinematic experiences of my young life when I saw it for the first time. The flying and dogfighting scenes were impeccable for the time. Tony Scott made me believe in our armed forces. The romantic storyline was very good as well as the feud between Maverick (Tom Cruise) and Iceman (Val Kilmer) The soundtrack of frantic songs was one of my favorites I’ve ever heard. And the brotherhood between Maverick and Goose (Anthony Edwards) was one of the best in cinema history. This is what a summer blockbuster is supposed to be. Tom Cruise proved that by how well the film did at the box office. 

Release date: May 16, 1986 (USA)

Director: Tony Scott

Awards: People’s Choice Award for Favorite Movie

Sequel: Top Gun: Maverick

1987-Predator/Robocop

7.8/10 IMDB 80% Rotten Tomatoes 47% Metacritic

Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a soldier of fortune, is hired by the U.S. government to secretly rescue a group of politicians trapped in Guatemala. But when Dutch and his team, which includes weapons expert Blain (Jesse Ventura) and CIA agent George (Carl Weathers), land in Central America, something is gravely wrong. After finding a string of dead bodies, the crew discovers they are being hunted by a brutal creature with superhuman strength and the ability to disappear into its surroundings.

Predator was one of a group of films like The Terminator that put Arnold Schwarzenegger on the map. He just became an action star that was on everybody’s lips like Stallone, Ford, and Willis. This film put him into the role of a military man fighting against an alien that nobody knew about and was the best at hunting and used camouflage to hide itself. Along with Schwarzenegger, the cast included Jesse Ventura, Carl Weathers, and Sonny Landham as soldiers of fortune who end up on the wrong side of sight of this creature who hunts for sport. John McTiernan, an action director of this era, captured the public’s attention with great action and fantastic one-liners like “I don’t have time to bleed” from Ventura’s character

Release date: June 12, 1987 (USA)

Director: John McTiernan

7.6/10 IMDB 91% Rotten Tomatoes 70% Metacritic

In a violent, near-apocalyptic Detroit, evil corporation Omni Consumer Products wins a contract from the city government to privatize the police force. To test their crime-eradicating cyborgs, the company leads street cop Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) into an armed confrontation with crime lord Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) so they can use his body to support their untested RoboCop prototype. But when RoboCop learns of the company’s nefarious plans, he turns on his masters.

Peter Weller is fantastic as a cop turned robot-cop (hence Robocop) in a post-apocalyptic Detroit. Paul Verhoeven was a little before his time with this story and film. People have tried to copy this movie for decades but have never been able to come close. Some famous quotes and one-liners from the film have stood the test of time. Even the city of Detroit has gone through its share of hard times, which makes this film more realistic than you’d think. Kurtwood Smith is known for That ‘70s Show but he was a great villain in this sci-fi action movie. The visual effects and miniature work are a little primitive compared to today’s amazing visual effects but it was cool to see this stuff when I was younger. This film is like a time capsule to this age in filmmaking along with a handful of other great films of this era.

Release date: July 17, 1987 (USA)

Director: Paul Verhoeven

1988-Rain Man

8/10 IMDB 89% Rotten Tomatoes 65% Metacritic

When car dealer Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) learns that his estranged father has died, he returns home to Cincinnati, where he discovers that he has an autistic older brother named Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) and that his father’s $3 million fortune is being left to the mental institution in which Raymond lives. Motivated by his father’s money, Charlie checks Raymond out of the facility in order to return with him to Los Angeles. The brothers’ cross-country trip ends up changing both their lives.

Dustin Hoffman has been one of the greatest actors of his generation with roles in The Graduate, Lenny, Kramer vs Kramer, and Tootsie. It took him twenty years to give the performance of his career as Raymond Babbitt, an autistic man who was taken out of his home by his brother Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) who wants to get the money his father left for him at the home he was staying at. This journey changes both men tremendously. Cruise gives a great performance as well playing against type. He has his own agenda, but when he starts to get to know his brother, he learns about caring for another besides himself. Barry Levinson creates this journey which allows this relationship to blossom between these two brothers. It’s a sweet story of love and understanding that anybody watching can’t help but be completely enthralled by. It’s a masterpiece.

Release date: December 12, 1988 (USA)

Director: Barry Levinson

Screenplay: Barry Levinson, Barry Morrow, Ronald Bass

1989-Batman/Born on the Fourth of July

7.5/10 IMDB 73% Rotten Tomatoes 69% Metacritic

Having witnessed his parents’ brutal murder as a child, millionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton) fights crime in Gotham City disguised as Batman, a costumed hero who strikes fear into the hearts of villains. But when a deformed madman who calls himself “The Joker” (Jack Nicholson) seizes control of Gotham’s criminal underworld, Batman must face his most ruthless nemesis ever while protecting both his identity and his love interest, reporter Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger).

Tim Burton creates his own vision for what Batman and his world should look and sound like: a metropolitan-esque Gotham City, a crazy wild and out-there Joker portrayed brilliantly by Jack Nicholson, songs by Prince, a score by Danny Elfman that is fantastic. Michael Keaton, not the obvious pick to play the caped crusader, is incredible as both Batman and his alter ego Bruce Wayne. The production design and color palette of greens and purples are beautiful but they contrast nicely with the blacks that mostly litter this movie. Some fantastic character work by Robert Wohl, Pat Hingle, and Michael Gough is a nice addition to Kim Bassinger, Billy Dee Williams, and Jack Palance. It’s the Batman of my lifetime and I had a blast watching everything for the first time when I was a teenager. 

Release date: June 23, 1989 (USA)

Director: Tim Burton

Music composed by: Prince, Danny Elfman

7.2/10 IMDB 84% Rotten Tomatoes 75% Metacritic

In the mid 1960s, suburban New York teenager Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise) enlists in the Marines, fulfilling what he sees as his patriotic duty. During his second tour in Vietnam, he accidentally kills a fellow soldier during a retreat and later becomes permanently paralyzed in battle. Returning home to an uncaring Veterans Administration bureaucracy and to people on both sides of the political divide who don’t understand what he went through, Kovic becomes an impassioned critic of the war.

Up until this point in his career, Tom Cruise was just playing pretty boy characters. He put all that behind him when he chose to play this young American patriot Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise) who believes in his country. He wanted to fight for what he believed in, until all that went out the window when got injured and paralyzed and spent time in an injury ward. Later, when he couldn’t get help from his country, he became disenfranchised by the treatment he received by the Veterans Administration. Cruise gives the performance of his young career. He put everything aside to give a raw and unwavering performance. Oliver Stone has a history with films of this nature, having won the Best Picture Academy Award for Platoon in 1986. A film about the Vietnam War. He doubled down on that film with another great film that wasn’t too sympathetic about the Vietnam War or America. 

Release date: December 20, 1989 (USA)

Director: Oliver Stone

Story by/ Screenplay: Oliver Stone, Ron Kovic

1990-Goodfellas

8.7/10 IMDB 96% Rotten Tomatoes 91% Metacritic

A young man grows up in the mob and works very hard to advance himself through the ranks. He enjoys his life of money and luxury, but is oblivious to the horror that he causes. A drug addiction and a few mistakes ultimately unravel his climb to the top. Based on the book “Wiseguy” by Nicholas Pileggi.

This film is an unflinching look at the world of mobsters and how greed can corrupt. It’s the true story of the Lufthansa airline heist and how these men got rich and greedy — specifically one Henry Hill (Ray Liotta). Even though he wasn’t Italian, he was treated as a member of the family by the boss Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino). He grew up with Tommy Devito and Jimmy Conway, played by frequent collaborators of the director Martin Scorsese, Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro. Based on the novel Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, Goodfellas shows how this lifestyle can absolutely corrupt somebody in Hill’s place. Ray Liotta gives the performance of his lifetime in this role. He shows how drugs and money can ruin someone’s life. His wife, played by Lorraine Bracco, was also very good in the film. I loved the music as well, and one particular scene set to the Chandrel’s “And So I Kissed You” while Henry and Karen were walking through the Copacabana Nightclub was brilliantly shot by Scorsese. There are plenty of famous quotes and moments in this film. It’s one of the best gangster films ever put to screen on  the level of the Godfather films. It’s also one of my favorite films of all time. The cast is incredible and the direction is amazing.

Release date: September 19, 1990 (USA)

Director: Martin Scorsese

Adapted from: Wiseguy

1991-Silence of the Lambs/Terminator 2: Judgment Day

8.6/10 IMDB 95% Rotten Tomatoes 85% Metacritic

Jodie Foster stars as Clarice Starling, a top student at the FBI’s training academy. Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out.

Jodie Foster has been an actress I have followed for years ever since she starred as Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs. She has been a household name and everybody knows her. She was perfectly cast as his southern FBI investigator looking for respect in her own department. This was an era where women were just starting to come into their own as bonafide box office stars. Foster was one of those actresses. She had already won one Academy Award for Best Actress for The Accused, and now she won her second for this film. She starred opposite Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, a murderous cannibal who was arrested for eating his victims. His advice helped Clarice find another killer that was on the loose. He had some great one-liners that became part of the lexicon during that time. Hopkins was great as this character, and he was finally able to be seen by the world as a whole as the great thespian he truly was. This film was a great investigative thriller as well. It kept me on the edge of my seat.

Release date: February 14, 1991 (USA)

Director: Jonathan Demme

8.3/10 IMDB 93% Rotten Tomatoes 75% Metacritic

In this sequel set eleven years after “The Terminator,” young John Connor (Edward Furlong), the key to civilization’s victory over a future robot uprising, is the target of the shape-shifting T-1000 (Robert Patrick), a Terminator sent from the future to kill him. Another Terminator, the revamped T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger), has been sent back to protect the boy. As John and his mother (Linda Hamilton) go on the run with the T-800, the boy forms an unexpected bond with the robot.

James Cameron had changed the way visual effects were used in films with The Abyss and that technology was used to great effect with the T-8000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, brilliantly portrayed by Robert Patrick. Arnold Schwarzenneger as the Terminator and Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor were both back in the sequel, but Edward Furlong was brought in as John Connor to tie this film together with the original. The action scenes were incredible and the visual effects were groundbreaking for the time. ILM would later break everyone’s minds with the visual effects in Jurassic Park. The story and character development were a key part of why this film surpassed the original. With all the famous quotes by Schwartsenegger added, this movie was a huge hit with audiences all over the world, including this then-seventeen-year-old

Release date: July 3, 1991 (USA)

Director: James Cameron

1992-Unforgiven

8.2/10 IMDB 96% Rotten Tomatoes 85% Metacritic

When prostitute Delilah Fitzgerald (Anna Thomson) is disfigured by a pair of cowboys in Big Whiskey, Wyoming, her fellow brothel workers post a reward for their murder, much to the displeasure of sheriff Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman), who doesn’t allow vigilantism in his town. Two groups of gunfighters, one led by aging former bandit William Munny (Clint Eastwood), the other by the florid English Bob (Richard Harris), come to collect the reward, clashing with each other and the sheriff.

I have always been a fan of Westerns ever since I could watch movies on my television set at home. The films of Clint Eastwood were some of my favorites: Pale Rider, High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josey Wales, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Unforgiven had — at the time — taken the Western genre and turned it on its head. Eastwood flipped the switch with the protagonist and the antagonist. He turned the supposed good guy in Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman) into the bad guy and made William Money (Clint Eastwood) killer of women and children into the good guy by having him avenge his good friend Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) who was hanged on the top of the town saloon. This was so different from any Western I had ever seen. It was one of the best cinema-going experiences of my lifetime. The entire cast was brilliant and the cinematography along with the script and direction from Eastwood were impeccable. This is easily one of my favorite movies I’ve ever watched. It’s an incredible film no matter how films are judged. It’s an absolute masterpiece of filmmaking.

Release date: August 7, 1992 (USA)

Director: Clint Eastwood

1993-Jurassic Park/Schindler’s List

8.2/10 IMDB 91% Rotten Tomatoes 88% JustWatch

Steven Spielberg’s second film of 1993 — well the first based on the release date — was Jurassic Park, based on the popular book by Michael Crichton of the same name. As mentioned before, ILM completely revolutionized visual effects with the T-8000 and now they blew their own work out of the water with how they designed and brought the dinosaurs to life in this film. They looked so real at the time. Along with the visual effects, Spielberg assembled an amazing cast of great actors to play all the roles in the film from Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, and Sam Neill to Samuel L Jackson. All of them were great in the movie. This film was a ground breaker for summer blockbusters like Jaws was eighteen years before. Spielberg had another huge hit on his hands working with Universal Studios once again. Creating another enduring franchise that would go on and on for almost twenty years. The humor, action, and visual effects were on par with any movie ever and the entertainment value was off of the chart.

In Steven Spielberg’s massive blockbuster, paleontologists Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) are among a select group chosen to tour an island theme park populated by dinosaurs created from prehistoric DNA. While the park’s mastermind, billionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), assures everyone that the facility is safe, they find out otherwise when various ferocious predators break free and go on the hunt.

Release date: June 11, 1993 (USA)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Screenplay: Michael Crichton, David Koepp

9/10 IMDB 98% Rotten Tomatoes 94% Metacritic

Businessman Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) arrives in Krakow in 1939, ready to make his fortune from World War II, which has just started. After joining the Nazi party primarily for political expediency, he staffs his factory with Jewish workers for similarly pragmatic reasons. When the SS begins exterminating Jews in the Krakow ghetto, Schindler arranges to have his workers protected to keep his factory in operation, but soon realizes that in so doing, he is also saving innocent lives.

As a kid growing up, I wanted to learn about history and one of the things I was fascinated by was WWII and how all the Jews were persecuted and captured, and put into concentration camps. Schindler’s List brought out a lot of emotions for me as a young man. I had always felt I had been mistreated in my life, but my life is nothing like what this entire race of people went through. Liam Neeson as Oscar Schindler was a guy who realized he could help by saving as many of these people as he could, but still at the end cried because he wished he could do more for this race of people. Ralph Fiennes at the time was an actor I hadn’t heard of but was incredible as Amon Goeth. He was as evil as any character in any movie I had ever seen in before. He was evil personified, ranking up there with Darth Vader. Oscar Winner Ben Kingsley was again brilliant as Itzhak Stern, the bookkeeper of Schindler’s and a friend who helped him save so many lives. The cinematography was some of the best I had ever seen at the time. The black and white with splashes of color was amazing. It’s one of the best-looking films ever from what I have seen. Steven Spielberg was famous for doing more popcorn films in the ‘70s and ‘80s, but this one was more personal for him. It’s an absolute masterpiece.

Release date: February 4, 1994 (USA)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Music composed by: John Williams