The Top 10 80s Movies We’ve Reviewed… So Far

Before group chats, location sharing and parents tracking your every move, there were free-range kids, questionable plans and the understanding that you should probably come home eventually. Stand by Me plugs straight into that memory. No proton packs. No exploding skyscrapers. Just four boys, a summer that changes everything. one dead body and feelings nobody ordered with their popcorn.

Don saw it in the theater at twelve, kept the poster on his wall and played the soundtrack on repeat. That's some serious Walkman mileage. His 4.75 celebrates storytelling that still holds up, believable chemistry and perfectly placed needle drops. Ken matched him at 4.75, praising the richly developed characters and the rhythm between somber, funny, serious and silly. To the Professor, every scene reveals something that keeps him invested.

Jon's 4.25 came with plenty of love for the casting, natural conversations and emotional honesty. He cared about what was happening inside these kids far more than their destination. The train sequence stretched his belief, but he actually withdrew a complaint about the ending after Don's explanation during the discussion. Alert the media: an opinion changed on this podcast.

That 4.58 average earns the tenth slot. Rob Reiner's film is the mixtape's quiet track that somehow hits hardest. Totally rad friendship movie; totally unfair attack on the tear ducts.

Freddy has the sweater, the attitude and a whole new batch of teenagers who would prefer to fight back. Dream Warriors takes the nightmare playground and cranks it like a bedroom stereo your parents keep threatening to unplug. Shared dreams, individual powers and a killer who treats murder like an audition for the world's worst comedy club? Welcome to the deep end of the '80s.

Don gave it 4.75, loving the characters, music, direction and return of Nancy and her father. He sees the film as a major revival for the series, with Freddy moving from frightening presence to frightening, wisecracking asshole. That's a narrow tightrope, and Robert Englund practically moonwalks across it.

Jon also landed at 4.75. After the rule-breaking detour of Freddy's Revenge, this felt like a proper Elm Street sequel again. He singled out Patricia Arquette's heart and vulnerability and Englund's evolution into the sadistic smartass fans adore. Both Guys wanted more time exploring the Dream Warriors' powers and more opportunities for them to take the fight to Freddy. The complaint is basically: this concept is bitchin'; please give us more of it.

Ken has no official score here, so the 4.75 average uses Don and Jon's ratings. This isn't three-way consensus, and the scorecard doesn't pretend otherwise. It is a gloriously imaginative horror sequel that makes going to bed sound like a spectacularly bogus idea.

Some sequels ease you back into familiar territory. Temple of Doom hands you a cocktail, drops you out of a plane and sends you hurtling toward the world's least reassuring rope bridge. It's dark, loud, gross and absolutely committed to making Indiana Jones have a worse day than you. Grab the safety bar. Spielberg has apparently removed the brakes.

Don gave it a straight-up 5.00. Better story, better villains, better action: this is his favorite Indiana Jones movie, with Raiders following behind. He didn't need a long closing argument. The rest of the episode had already functioned as his campaign speech. Indiana Don has planted his flag, and good luck moving it.

Ken's 4.50 comes with affection for Harrison Ford, John Williams' music and especially Short Round. His reservations concern the excess: the mine-cart antics and mountains of bugs push things a little too far for him. Jon split the difference at 4.75, praising Ford's rugged charm, Kate Capshaw's comic energy, Short Round's appeal and the darker direction that separates this adventure from the others.

At 4.75 overall, the film is pure roller-coaster cinema with a mean streak. The Guys disagree about whether it's the best Indy outing, but there's nothing lukewarm about this ride. If your idea of a gnarly Friday night includes flaming pits and impossible escapes, your rental is ready.

The '80s gave us plenty of action heroes who looked capable of bench-pressing a small car. Die Hard gave us a guy who desperately needed shoes. Bruce Willis' John McClane is bruised, outnumbered and surviving on sarcasm, instinct and lousy luck. Across the building, Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber makes criminal efficiency look alarmingly stylish. Welcome to the party. The dress code is bloodied undershirt.

Jon gave it 4.50, praising the vulnerability that makes McClane believable and a formula other action films kept borrowing. He couldn't picture another actor doing what Willis does here. Ken went full cinematic gold at 5.00: McClane and Gruber are an iconic rivalry, the lines are endlessly repeatable and the film remains an eager rewatch. The Professor also lands firmly in the yes-it's-a-Christmas-movie camp.

Don's 4.75 carries serious rental-store history. He described Die Hard as a comfort watch from childhood and estimated he'd seen it more than 200 times. He loves the wit, momentum, charisma and towering villain, though a few slower stretches keep it just shy of perfection. At that viewing count, the man has practically earned a parking space at Nakatomi Plaza.

A 4.75 average places it seventh in this decade-wide countdown. The scale is contained, the stakes feel personal and every narrow escape costs McClane something. Big hair was optional in 1988. A villain this good and a hero this stubborn? Mandatory.

One cop has a family, responsibilities and rapidly declining patience. The other seems determined to turn every assignment into an insurance claim. Lethal Weapon pairs them up and discovers that a spectacularly mismatched friendship can power more than gunfights. Beneath the mullet-era mayhem, there's grief, redemption and a lonely man finding a reason to stick around.

Don and Ken both delivered 5.00. Don's connection reaches back to a birthday-season rental in 1987, and he praises the pacing, casting, soundtrack and unbeatable Riggs–Murtaugh chemistry. Ken loves the score, Gary Busey's unsettling energy and the emotional journey that leads Riggs toward the Murtaugh family. These guys aren't just swapping one-liners; they're giving each other something worth surviving for.

Jon admires the leads, the jokes and the friendship, but arrives with a notebook full of questions about handcuffs, travel times and police procedure. Somebody had to bring homework to the action-movie sleepover. His original episode verdict is more critical than the current 4.50 listed in our database; the scorecard here uses that current rating. His appreciation for the duo comes through even when the plot mechanics drive him up the wall.

The current 4.83 average earns sixth place. It's a buddy-cop classic with a bruised heart underneath the wisecracks, and its Christmas setting only makes the chaos more festive. Radical partnership. Extremely questionable workplace safety.

Four guys start a business, their equipment looks deeply unlicensed and New York gets the world's most inconvenient marshmallow problem. Ghostbusters makes the supernatural feel like another awful shift at work. The brilliance is how seriously everyone treats the absurd machinery while Bill Murray treats practically everything like a chance to be a smartass.

Jon gave it 5.00, praising a cast whose individual comic rhythms fit together beautifully: Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson and Rick Moranis. The same scenes still make him laugh, and he couldn't name a moment he wanted done differently. This is premium Friday-night rental material, except returning the tape would be a personal hardship.

Don's 4.75 comes from jokes that still land after a thousand encounters. He'll stop channel-surfing when it appears, though a few other favorites might win his ultimate rewatch contest. Ken also gives 4.75, enjoying the dialogue and delivery while questioning the abrupt ending and some of Venkman's behavior. His original inclination was 4.50; the discussion actually talked him upward. Proof that our endless arguing occasionally has measurable results.

The 4.83 average puts it fifth among our '80s picks. It's a hangout comedy, a supernatural adventure and a reminder that a great ensemble can make even equipment maintenance entertaining. Bring your best deadpan delivery. Leave the proton-pack repair bill for somebody else.

James Cameron looked at a terrifying creature and apparently decided the logical sequel was more creatures, bigger guns and a roomful of Marines about to learn a very unpleasant lesson. Aliens is the blockbuster equivalent of turning the volume knob until it snaps off. Somehow, the emotional center stays rock solid: Sigourney Weaver's Ripley and the little girl she refuses to abandon.

Jon gives it an emphatic 5.00 and calls it the greatest sci-fi horror film ever made. He loves the mixture of scares, gore, drama, comedy and pure badassery. Weaver owns the screen, Bill Paxton supplies perfectly timed panic and Paul Reiser makes corporate self-interest wonderfully punchable. This is a film Jon actively seeks out, rather than merely catching when it's on.

Ken matches that 5.00. He loves watching the Marines' swagger collide with an enemy their superior firepower can't simply solve. Ripley's bond with Newt gives the roller-coaster tension a human core, and he puts her at the top of his movie-heroines list. Don's 4.75 is barely less enthusiastic: he calls it an endurance movie that keeps restarting just when you think it's over, although the extra queen showdown holds him back from perfection.

At 4.92, Aliens is tied with Raiders and takes fourth in this countdown. Big '80s spectacle, unforgettable characters and nerves shredded like an overplayed cassette. Game over for the idea that sequels have to play it safe.

A fedora. A whip. A boulder with absolutely no respect for personal space. Raiders of the Lost Ark starts like a Saturday matinee on rocket fuel and keeps finding new ways to make archaeology look like the coolest, least insurable career on Earth. Harrison Ford can sell a heroic silhouette and an exhausted 'are you kidding me?' look in the same breath.

Jon called the movie magic and praised the cast's chemistry, the shadows, the framing and the small visual choices that make a shot memorable. His affection goes well beyond the couch: he talked about wearing the outfit at conventions and carrying the golden idol. That's not casual fandom. That's a wardrobe commitment.

Don celebrated Ford's casting, the flow and the soundtrack, describing a film that changed his life and remains watchable at any point. Ken was even less interested in compromise. In the original rating discussion, the Professor gave it five and promptly told the other two off for falling short. Nobody was escaping that classroom without a lecture on cinematic gold.

Our current scorecard puts Raiders at 4.92, tied with Aliens and listed third in the countdown. The episode's original scores differ from today's database, but the enthusiasm is unmistakable. This is adventure filmmaking with swagger, wit and the kind of opening that makes you forget you were only going to watch five minutes. Excellent decision, dude. Cancel your plans.

The decade had barely started when The Empire Strikes Back decided the heroes could lose, the romance could get complicated and the family news could be catastrophically awkward. Hoth, Dagobah and Cloud City expand the galaxy while the characters spend most of the movie discovering that victory is not a subscription service. Talk about a bogus day at work, Luke.

All three Guys give it 5.00. Ken praises the characters, music, emotional heart and Yoda, seeing beauty in every part of the film. Don's closing verdict is gloriously economical: his favorite Star Wars movie, cinematic gold, discussion over. After an episode of enthusiasm, he doesn't need another trench run around the point.

Jon loves the way the sequel expands the universe without retracing the first film. He praises the emotional layers from Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams' conflicted charm as Lando and the heart Frank Oz brings to Yoda. Most of all, he values the risky ending: vulnerability and uncertainty make the characters matter more and leave you desperate for the next chapter.

Its perfect average ties Back to the Future; second place simply follows the order in our leaderboard. This isn't a lesser five. It's a blockbuster that grows up without losing its imagination, and a reminder that the most triumphant cinematic experience doesn't always end with a victory parade. Most excellent sequel. Extremely rough family reunion.

Fire up the DeLorean and put the volume somewhere your neighbors will complain about. Back to the Future takes science fiction, teenage panic, family drama, romance and a clock-tower deadline and somehow makes the whole contraption run like a Swiss watch. It's the '80s sending a love letter to the '50s while accidentally inventing everybody's favorite time-travel argument.

Jon's 5.00 isn't blind nostalgia. He discusses elements that sit awkwardly today, especially Biff's assault on Lorraine and the lack of consequences afterward, along with effects that show their age. Yet the inventive story, production design, music and Michael J. Fox–Christopher Lloyd partnership still deliver the excitement he remembers from his first viewing. The flaws don't erase the feeling.

Ken gives another 5.00 for the stellar cast, iconic theme, tight storytelling, camerawork and editing. Don goes into the rewatch looking for a reason to withhold perfection and still can't find one. Story, music and execution click together. Three Guys agree completely. Somebody check whether we've disrupted the space-time continuum.

At 5.00, Back to the Future takes the number-one position in this countdown, sharing the top score with Empire. It's funny, fast, heartfelt and built for another spin every time the credits end. Plenty of movies from the decade deserve a rewind. This one makes us want to rewind the decade. Totally worth the late fee.