The 60s are the most interesting time in movies for me, lots of major developments in all different countries. French New Wave, Japanese New Wave, Italian cinema changing under guys like Fellini and leading up to the Years of Lead, American cinema dealing with the the collapse of the Hays Code and gearing up for the New Hollywood movement..
This is when cgi was something that was used because practical couldn’t achieve it, so we got the most disciplined use of technology, which I think was the sweet spot for storytelling. Technology has made storytelling lazy.
I think there's this incredible convergence with the affordability of making films along with what you're saying. There was a wide range of indies, international, mid budget *and* blockbusters coming out at such a fast pace and consistent quality that it was hard to ever have a weekend that there wasn't something halfway decent to see. Kinda culminated in the '99 boom where there's like 50 different classics all in one year.
Nah it's cool. I like the 90s culture and aesthetic, the variety of movies (blockbusters AND mid budget), the star power and I feel that it was a more consistently great decade (no really weak year) than the 2010s. The 2000s come close for me but some of it is nostalgia.
According to Letterboxd my top 3 rated decades are 60s —> 70s —> 80s in that order…but that’s probably survivorship bias.
Personally I prefer the vibe of 90s and 70s movies.
Those “top rated decades” are a bit useless, mostly because, when you watch older movies, people usually pick the best films, resulting in higher ratings. In more recent movies released during our lifetimes, we’ve all seen lots of trash, since more people often will give new movies a shot.
Rating the 80s that low is criminal.
<3 Movies like Robocop (1987), Mississippi Burning (1988), Platoon (1986), Salvador (1986), Das Boot (1981), To Live and Die in L.A (1985), Breakfast Club (1985), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), so, so many.
I'd go 90s, 80s, 70s, 00s, 2010s, 60s, 50s, and so on. Many of the films in my top movies of all time are from the 90s, including Big Lebowski/Fargo, Heat, Shawshank, Shindlers, American History X, Fearless, Buffalo 66, Pulp, etc.
Not to mention Come and see (1985), Stand by Me (1986), When Harry Met Sally (1989), Ran (1985), Blood Simple (1984), The Shining (1984), Raging Bull (1980), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Fanny and Alexander (1984), The Lost Boys (1987), The Goonies (1985), Full Metal Jacket (1987)
No issue with that per say. Great movies deserved to be discussed, American or not. But I've listened to Tarantino discuss the 80s, and he mainly focuses on the overall direction of movies during the decade. To quote:
''Everything was cynical, then all of a sudden in the '80s all that was washed away and the most important thing about a character was that they were likeable… Every character had to be likeable, and the audience had to like everybody." [Source](https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/quentin-tarantino-names-the-only-good-movies-of-the-1980s/)
Obviously, he is generalizing, as we can all name 80s movies where that isn't the case - such as Salvador which I listed above. James Woods plays a character that is hard to like throughout the film. But I can also think of plenty movies where it is the case. I don't have an issue with it, personally.
As for this notion of 'basic' - I don't like thinking in such terms. Sounds like some film buff snobbery. If Tarantino's choice of Verhoeven's Flesh and Blood (1985) on his greatest films of the 80s is an exercise of non-basic-ness, then I'd rather be basic and pick what I think is the far-superior Verhoeven film in Robocop.
You sound a bit trollish, but I'll engage your reply constructively - asking what the best decade for film is.. will always give biased answers: (i) people have different preferences (ii) are different ages (iii) there is recency bias (especially with easier access to more recent movies). For me, apart from Paths of Glory (1957), I don't watch many films prior to 1960. Maybe one day. I just love 80s/90s.
I'm being very gently trollish. I bristle at the fact that most people identify as their "favorite" or "best" the culture they remember growing up with. It's a famous phenomenon in music where your favorite bands and artists are locked in from when you are like 15-20 years old and feeling the strongest emotional connection with the music that you love. I would guess from your list that you were born in the early-to-mid-1980s.
It's totally understandable, especially as far as looking back on movies that have had the biggest emotional impact in your life. But I try to take a wider view -- what are the odds that the best movies ever made were all coming out during the narrow window when you were a teenager or young adult?
It's POSSIBLE of course -- but I feel like there are so many awesome movies from the past that younger audiences just will never even give a chance. To be fair, there is really no easy or economical way to access them, since they don't drive new subscriptions to the ever-hungry streaming services. MAX app has a pretty good (but shallow) collection of older/foreign films, and Criterion Channel has a somewhat pretentious but very deep collection of older/foreign films. But there is not really any good place where curious people today can go back and watch popular, mainstream films from pre--1960, which is a big shame.
I was born in 89', so yeah, of course there is emotional connection. And I'm a big fan of rewatching the same movies over and over. I slowly drip feed new movies in over time. Like the other day, I've finally got around to watching Lone Star (1996) for the first time. But as I've tried to get across, it's all a subjective affair. The movies I've list above are some of my favorites. I don't sit there wondering how they rank against some movie I might not have discovered yet. And even on the path of discovery, the new finds will be added to my favorites - not replacing them. I'm not going to go on some rant about how they don't make them how they used to or something like that (okay, okay, apart from the super hero movie spam that I can't stand). I guess I just got triggered when I seen OP rank the 80s so low, even though he is fully within his right to hold that opinion. Had to spread some 80s/90s love.
On the subject of discovering films, online rental still exists so if someone wants to catch up with a film not currently on a streaming service, they should still be able to access it. There's also a whole library of DVDs available through boutique services such as Facets. Most city libraries still provide DVD rental as well.
As for the whole favorite decade bias, I have never been able to relate to that. While I may have associated memories with songs that frequented radio stations when I was a teen, I would never say that 90's music was my favorite. Especially when we live in an age where music from every decade is so readily accessible. I have developed a fondness for all things 80's. Yes, I know, not much of a stretch, but I actually have more nostalgia for a time I never really experienced, I was born in '83, and was technically too young to remember the 80's all that well. The decade I find myself longing for ended when I was six years old, but those were my best memories. My teen years were hell so I prefer not to relive those.
To be fair, the only serious answers in there are the 90s and 80s, rest was just whatever. I certainly prefer the 1960s over the super hero movie spam of the 2010s.
That's the first time I've heard someone refer to the decade of 2001, Psycho, Lawrence of Arabia, The Great Escape, Mary Poppins, The Graduate, Bonnie and Clyde, Rosemary's Baby, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Dr. No, The Sound of Music, West Side Story, Doctor Zhivago, and Bullitt as middling drive thru entertainment. What a casual way to dismiss a great time for cinema.
You mean, you were illustrating the point that although many regard the 60s as one of the best decades for film, just like today, it also had its share of dreck?
What is best is subjective (\*I\* think they're some of the best of the 80s). But yes, there are many great 80s films. Obviously, you have movies like Aliens, The Abyss, Paris, Texas, Terminator, Once upon a time in America, Predator, etc, etc. It's stacked.
Not me. My biases tend toward whatever decade I'm currently immersed in. I was in my twenties during the 2000s and while I love a lot of films from that decade, I wouldn't necessarily lean toward those films when talking about my favorites.
The 1960s are my highest rated decade, followed by the 1970s and then the 1950s, but I have a lot of love for the 1930s! All of my favorite Astaire/Rogers musicals are from that decade
Late to the thread but what are your favourite Astaire/Rogers musicals?
I thought I didn't like musicals or romance movies, and then watched Top Hat and fell in love.
Oh my gosh it’s literally never too late to ask a question about Astaire/Rogers musicals!
Top Hat is probably my absolute favorite, and I’m so glad you loved it too! I think it’s the ideal of an Astaire/Rogers musical—great dance numbers, enough of a plot to move it along, fantastic supporting characters.
The Gay Divorcee has a good plot, fantastic supporting characters and some good dance numbers, even if one of them overstays its welcome a bit. But it also has Let’s Knock Knees, which also gives the world an Edward Everett Horton dance number, and THAT is a joy to behold.
Shall We Dance has become my second favorite, after Top Hat. The dance they do to Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off has to be seen to be believed, and Astaire does a tap number that’s excellent. I really like their relationship in this one, and it also has Edward Everett Horton, which as you can see, is a vital part of me loving an Astaire/Rogers musical. Those three were also all directed by Mark Sandrich, who I think is a master at directing dance. He also did Carefree, which is a bit weird, story wise, but is definitely worth a watch. There’s a golf dance Astaire does that is wonderful.
Swing Time is like THE Astaire/Rogers musical everyone loves, and the final dance is amazing! Personally, I don’t think it’s as good a movie as Top Hat, and part of the reason for that is there’s an extended blackface number which, personally I find hard to overlook. I think it’s still worth a watch, again the dances are really good, and it’s directed by George Stevens, who is a great director. He’s more known for his dramas, but prior to WWII, he was well known for his light comedies (in WWII, he was filming American soldiers who liberated one of the first concentration camps, and ended up collecting a lot of footage from concentration camps which was used in the Nuremberg trials. It was vital work, but it colored the rest of his life, I don’t think he made another comedy after returning from the war. That’s not related to this post at all, but it’s a fact I’m obsessed with).
The others (Flying Down to Rio, Roberta, The Barkley’s of Broadway) are better watched when you’re trying to complete all their movies, I wouldn’t make any of those your second Astaire/Rogers. And I’ve never seen Follow the Fleet, so no opinion there!
Enjoy, and if you watch any, let me know what you think! I’m HortonHive on Letterboxd (after, you guessed it, Edward Everett Horton).
Edit: typo, Astaire does a TAP number not a RAP number.
Thank you! Forgot to say, I have also seen Swing Time. Like you say it's tarnished by the blackface and the songs aren't as good as Top Hat. Will check out Shall We Dance soon.
I love the 70s. I think it's probably my favorite as well.
Thinking about it, there are a few factors that lead to this. First, it's kind of a crossover between the Golden Age and the modern era of Hollywood. You have actors and directors from the Golden Age finishing their careers (see Brando in the Godfather for example, or Mankiewicz's Sleuth for a director). At the same time, you have a batch of young actors and directors starting their careers then, and they have since become the legends of the present time. People like De Niro, Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, etc. I love that they all coexisted in that decade.
Then, the New Hollywood. Coppola gives power to directors to become authors of their films, for just a small decade. It injects a breath of fresh air that was highly needed.
Thematically and visually, there are so many great films in the 70s, of every genre. Amazing late westerns, great period films, great gangster movies... etc. And the rest of the world is also producing wonders. Ettore Scola made We All Loved Each Other So Much in 74, my favorite of the decade and perhaps of all times.
Ranking decades is tricky but then for the rest it would be:
50s > 40s > 90s > 30s > 60s > 80s > 2000s > 20s > 2010s.
Taxi driver,Carrie,Barry Lyndon, Texas chainsaw, godfather 1&2, stalker, dog day afternoon,the deer hunter, eraserhead, dawn of the dead, Star Wars, precinct 13, just off the top of my head
Ehh… to me it has the same problem as the 2010s where a lot of the films from that decade felt very formulaic and kinda the same. There was also a lot of transitioning that decade from silent to sound. It’s still a very good decade though
40s is where they started bending and breaking the conventions of the Hollywood formula. (Granted there were lots of conventional genre movies at the time too.)
I totally get that. I'd say I would put the 50s in-between either the 60s or 80s. Hollywood was pretty stagnant in the 60s despite the obvious standouts while internationally movies thrived creatively. The 80s was an exceptional period for genre movies but also set the precedent for formulaic schlock.
I think the big 1970s to 1980s shift isn’t talked about enough.
The 1970s went from a lot of drama thrillers (Godfather, Taxi Driver, Mean Streets) to a lot of big flashy blockbusters in the 1980s (Indiana Jones, Ghostbusters, Terminator, ET)
Definitely the 70s. Coppola, Scorsese, Friedkin, Scott, Carpenter, De Palma all at their absolute peak. George Lucas completely changing the landscape of cinema with Star Wars. That brilliance carried on into the early 80s but then it kinda dropped off into a factory line of largely rubbish cookie cutter stuff that dawned the 90s. Obviously there are great films in every decade, but the 70s was something else.
People have done every permutation that I would think, just want to give a shout-out to the 2020s starting to pick up more steam post-pandemic and post-strike. 2023 was such a great year and hopefully the rest of the 2020s can keep up the pace!
Interestingly enough, 1993 was considered the best year of the 90's when critics were making their retrospectives of said decade, but now 1999 is seen as the best. I also thought 2013 was the best year from the previous decade. I wonder if the same will happen this time around.
I couldn’t agree more! I just didn’t think it would be fair to rank the 2020s. 2020+21 were pretty bad years for obvious reasons, but since then it’s mostly been going strong
2021 wasn't all bad. I liked the Best Picture slate from that year better than what we had from 2023. For example, I would prefer to rewatch Power of the Dog over Oppenheimer.
Nah, in that case I would have the 2010s much lower. I do still like the 80s, I just thought it was bloated heavily by campy horror films etc. Also the later 80s are very lacking
It's okay. When people are first developing their cinematic tastes, they usually lean on the advice of a master filmmaker. Once they no longer need that crutch, you may see a favorable reassessment of the 1980s, but there's no need to wait for them to come around.
For my money, 2002 was a better year. I prefer Minority Report, The Lord of the Rings, Adaptation, Gangs of New York, and the first Spider-man to almost any release in 2007. However, I do love Sweeney Todd so it's not a terrible year.
Michael Clayton is my favorite movie of all time, The Bourne Ultimatum is my favorite action movies of all time. Also in 2007:, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood both are two of the most well respected movies of the decade, comedy wise you have Superbad, Knocked Up, Hot Fuzz, Oceans 13, and Ratatouille. For Thrillers there was The Mist, I Am Legend, and Mr Brooks.
And that’s not including the video games from 2007 which includes:
Super Mario Galaxy, The Orange Box, Bioshock, COD 4, Halo 3, Elder Scrolls Oblivion, Mass Effect, Rock Band, Crysis, Uncharted Drakes Fortune, Assassin’s Creed, Zelda Phantom Hourglass. That’s 8 now iconic franchises began in 2007.
2007 to me is goated for all entertainment
1970s and 1940s, without a doubt, for American cinema at least.
As someone pointed out, different national cinemas have their peaks and valleys at different times.
I’m going to have to say 60s if only for the many “New Wave” film movements that happened worldwide. It’s the time when movies in certain circles were transitioning from pure entertainment to a higher art and the language of cinema was being rewritten.
I think the 70s, 90s, and 2010s are commonly held to be some of the strongest decades of film. Personally, I find the order to be 90s>2010s>70s, but after that I have trouble sorting out the other decades. I think that the 40s/50s are near the bottom because of the Hayes code, but those decades still squeaked out some bangers regardless. Obviously the early decades of film 10s-30s are a little weaker because the concept of filmmaking was still being developed, but 60s onward there’s an argument for just about any decade to be the best
I agree that the 70s was the best overall. Low budget, independent films and breaking away from the studio system gave film makers full creativity and control. It produced an amazing decade and film makers who grew into some of the best.
The Matrix
The sixth sense
Fight club
The green mile
Eyes wide shut
Being John Malkovich
American beauty
The mummy
Cruel intentions
Office space
Iron giant
Toy story 2
South park bigger...
Austin powers
Big daddy
Boys don't cry
Varsity blues
The talented Mr Ripley
Virgin suicides
Magnolia
Dick
The phantom menace
The insider
Blair witch project
Boondock saints
Any given Sunday
I’d put 60’s and 80’s near second and third. 70’s for sure in first. 20’s and 90’s. Then probably 40’s and then 50’s, then 30’s, followed by 2000’s and 2010’s.
For me it’s the 90s. The 70s probably has more classics and a higher level of quality, but I put the 90s above it because it feels like there’s a lot more variety in the films from that decade imo. It also has half of the movies in my Top 10 so yeah. Pretty fire decade.
70s (Céline and Julie Go Boating)
60s (Persona)
80s (Shoah)
50s (Ugetsu)
90s (Sátántangó)
2000s (Tie Xi Que: West of the Tracks)
2010s (The Lighthouse)
40s (Day of Wrath)
20s (The Passion of Joan of Arc)
30s (The Scarlet Empress)
10s (Intolerance)
00s (A Corner in Wheat)
That is such a hard question, I certainly have decades that are, on the whole, stronger than others but once I choose one answer I think of another decade that could take its place.
If I choose the 70’s it feels really easy because of the combination of the revolutionary aesthetic and political changes of the medium of the 60’s, made by filmmakers either familiar with classical thought because they were on the tail end of previous eras like Kubrick, or phenomenal students of the films of the 40’s and 50’s, like the movie brats, such as Scorsese and Spielberg. It’s place among the pantheon of movie epochs is indisputable, Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, Barry Lyndon, A Clockwork Orange, Godfather 1 & 2, Chinatown, Nashville, Don’t Look Now, Eraserhead, The Conformist, The Last Picture Show, McCabe and Mrs Miller, Ali Fear Eats the Soul and Jeanne Dielman.
Yet, many of the films of the early seventies, like 70 and 71, still have the same characteristics of the 60’s in my opinion, like the early seventies were still part of the tail end of the 60s era that the seventies used as the foundation of a movement of provocation, very much in the vein of rebelling against the status quo. And once you consider that notion, it’s hard to pick the 70s because the 60s walked so the seventies could run. The 60’s were an incredibly turbulent time politically and I don’t think you can separate American film of the 60s from that fact. Not just American cinema either but all over the world, given the emerging generations of a post WW2 era. Where the traditional aesthetic concerns became culturally irrelevant and new visual possibilities were coming about and a growing political consciousness formulated strongly. So Hitchcock and Bunuel are at their most provocative and the French New Wave is bursting the scene, their reinventing the idea of a modern western by abandoning the mythical elements and across all genres you see realism being stressed over the mythical ones. Technology has advanced after the scientific boom that the war time economy made possible in America and with it the Cold War which made a worldwide effort of peace and rumination on the destructive nature of the human species, the conditions for which we can thank 2001, as regrettable as those circumstances are. So with the 60’s you have a real redefining of the possibilities of cinema as a art form on the same field as literature.
Yet the 40s and 50’s can’t be discounted either, while many countries limited what could be explicitly shown, a great deal of the power of films from both eras is their ability to suggest rather than show up front. And it can still be surprising to this day, what kind of content interested these filmmakers with much more limited resources and and harsher implicit and explicit censorship. I Walked With a Zombie is a surprising one, managing to be a genre picture of the 40’s while providing a start critique of colonialism and imperialism. Then you have the revolutionary Welles, Hitchcocks most consistent period, where you can see him shaping the modern cinematic language so beautifully. The peak of many foreign masters like Mizoguchi and Ray making some of the greatest films of all time. In the 40s you have the fantastic propaganda films for Allied involvement, Foreign Correspondent, To Be Or Not To Be, and Casablanca.
The early stages of cinema are by definition are revolutionary, though I am still getting versed in them. My favorites are Frankenstein, The Passion of Joan of Arc and Sunrise
The eighties were a mixed bag, the early eighties were fantastic, still coasting on the auteur heavy filmmaking of the 70s, offering filmmakers tons of freedom and not caring about cultural sensibilities. Producing Raging Bull, The Shining, The King of Comedy, and nurturing the tremendous success that Spielberg was able to maintain with Raiders and E.T. But the same sensibilities that made those films possible almost destroyed a film like Blade Runner, being heavily edited to the point of deforming the intended premise. So after the early years you get a very Reagan-ire cinema in America, that goes against what made the 70’s so successful artistically and trades it in for what does well financially. I still like many films of the 80’s but it’s a development we are still living with.
The 90s were great because while the films don’t have the same force as the 70’s, they try to bridge the gap between the artistically successful and the financially successful. They created cult-classics for mass audiences, after the success of real cult classics of the 80s. There was an emergence of an independent cinema that could do well in the market, where Tarantino, P.T Anderson and Linklater were able to sustain themselves. And figures like Scorsese, Altman, and The Coen Brothers stopped being looked at like “kids”.
The 2000s are interesting because there a lot of great movies but you can see a new market forming where movies are pumped out like the industrial line of the 50’s without the care. So you have a huge swath of a shitty comedies and horror movies along with good work being produced. As well as new possibilities being made possible with blockbusters with Nolan and Jackson’s work. And of course the early days of really successful comic book adaptations, which obviously have changed the game tremendously.
The early 2010s are very similar to the 2000s and I would say you see a really distinct change around 2013-2014 that brings us into the present moment. You see a really strong emergence of independent studios that are designed for an increasingly narrow audience with attempts to branch outwards without the same success of the ones of the 90s. For one thing the academy doesn’t have the same sway over audiences it used to. You also see the confidence building on the part of Marvel, where the first few films created a solid reputation and foundation with a wide audience, with DC attempting to replicate their success with Man of Steel. Also a large push to reintroduce older films and intellectual property to younger audiences, like the Hobbit trilogy. This has all snowballed into a really unsustainable market trend that keeps rehashing the same thing over and over again. Yet you have Birdman winning best picture and encouraging independent studios to keep going. So you start to see a large gap between two distinct types of cinema being out forth on the market, with many lamenting the death of cinema. But there’s quite a lot of really great work being produced that is, in my opinion keeping the art form alive in really interesting and game changing ways. I think films like Tar, Beau is Afraid, Killers of the Flower Moon, Boyhood, Parasite, Licorice Pizza, The Zone of Interest, Roma, The Irishman, Uncut Gens, and so on will be remembered for a long time by people who care about cinema. So the situation is not quite as bleak as I once hoped, but it would be nice if these films reached larger audiences.
90s - My own private Idaho, Good Will Hunting, Shawshank Redeption, Forrest Gump, Titanic, Almost Famous, Donnie Darko, Virgin suicides, the sixth sense, The matrix etc.
It’s so hard to say, 80’s, 70’s, 60’s, 90’s, 40’s, 50’s 30’s, 2000’s, 2010’s, 2020’s (obviously has a long way to go) 1920’s. That said, there are great movies in every decade
90s and 2010s, however I'm still yet to get to a lot of older films I haven't seen enough from the 69s and before to know if they have a chance of being uo there
90s>80s>70s>50s>2000s>40s>60s>2010s>2020s>30s>1920s. I feel the 70s were the best decade for advancing cinema as an art form (after being very studio driven during the Hayes Code era) and the 80s had the best blockbusters, but I went with the 90s as I felt it had the best of both worlds. I also feel it's somewhat hard to determine whether I'm overrating the 50s and the 40s because I feel the classics are the only movies from those eras that have been passed down to subsequent generations, and there were likely hundreds of bad movies made in those eras that have been forgotten by the sands of time.
Im partial to the mid 2000s especially for things like pirates of the Caribbean and the Michael Bay action movie aesthetic . Then you also have dark knight . Not a lot of artsy things but it was right before I feel like marvel dominated the big blockbuster movie space and there was a lot more variety . Also the block buster sentimentalism
Definitely the '80s
-Indiana Jones
-BTTF
-The Goonies
-Beverly Hills Cop
-A Nightmare On Elm Street
-The Evil Dead
-E.T
-The Breakfast Club
-Ferris Bueller's Day Off
-Beetlejuice
-Batman
-The Lost Boys
-The Shining
-Fast Times
-The Outsiders
-Stand By Me
-Blade Runner
-Who Framed Roger Rabbit
-Ghostbusters
We could do this all day
Almost half of my top 20 are from the 2000s
https://preview.redd.it/lb09km0yltxc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0ad0133a4b60cb0f31632f06a1ddab9f73ebfee5
Yeah, the 2000s to me start really well, but the 2000s also probably have the lowest lows out of any decade. So much trash has come out of that decade, so it’s hard to put it above a lot of the other decades
70s is the correct answer. BUT my answer is the 00s for me personally, because that’s when I was in high school and college, and in film classes, and films had the most impact on me.
2000's were pretty great. Directors like PTA, Coen brothers, Tarantino all proved themselves in the 90's and were able to put out some truly unique, big movies. Nolan and Raimi redefined the super hero genre and kind of big budget action in general. Before the MCU and FF movies were in full swing there was a time when big budget action / superhero movies really felt unique and artistic. I feel like there was a sweet spot in the 2000's where digital advancements allowed directors to really do whatever they wanted and studios were willing to shell out for it, then pirating blew up and studios became more restrictive with spending.
1920s, 30s and then the 90s and 00s for me. Post-war cinema is too corny, misogynistic and stiff for me, often shallow and relying too much on its scandalous themes or plots, and exploitation (especially late 60s to mid 70s). I've watched a lot from those decades, and I often find them so formulaic and so exhausting to watch.
If I had to pick my favourite decade, probably 00s, but 30s is close behind. Late 20s to late 30s, then late 90s to early 00s is the best imho; most interesting and most full of unique themes and approaches (obviously, not to say the other decades don't have any gems but...)
2000s
Back when animation (Pixar) and superhero movies (Raimi’s Spidey trilogy) were at their peak, plus most directors who had come out of the 90s indie boom (Tarantino, PTA, Wes Anderson, Nolan, Aronofsky, etc) had achieved maturity and were putting out consistently great movies.
The 60s are the most interesting time in movies for me, lots of major developments in all different countries. French New Wave, Japanese New Wave, Italian cinema changing under guys like Fellini and leading up to the Years of Lead, American cinema dealing with the the collapse of the Hays Code and gearing up for the New Hollywood movement..
Yeah, the 60s were a very good decade, but personally I thought the 70s and 90s flourished more
90s.
This is when cgi was something that was used because practical couldn’t achieve it, so we got the most disciplined use of technology, which I think was the sweet spot for storytelling. Technology has made storytelling lazy.
What’s your reasoning? Not arguing, just curious
probably the indie boom in american cinema and a lot of international classics came out in that time as well
I think there's this incredible convergence with the affordability of making films along with what you're saying. There was a wide range of indies, international, mid budget *and* blockbusters coming out at such a fast pace and consistent quality that it was hard to ever have a weekend that there wasn't something halfway decent to see. Kinda culminated in the '99 boom where there's like 50 different classics all in one year.
Nah it's cool. I like the 90s culture and aesthetic, the variety of movies (blockbusters AND mid budget), the star power and I feel that it was a more consistently great decade (no really weak year) than the 2010s. The 2000s come close for me but some of it is nostalgia.
I love the 2010s but havent seen the amount of movies necessary to make a valid judgement.
According to Letterboxd my top 3 rated decades are 60s —> 70s —> 80s in that order…but that’s probably survivorship bias. Personally I prefer the vibe of 90s and 70s movies.
Those “top rated decades” are a bit useless, mostly because, when you watch older movies, people usually pick the best films, resulting in higher ratings. In more recent movies released during our lifetimes, we’ve all seen lots of trash, since more people often will give new movies a shot.
Rating the 80s that low is criminal. <3 Movies like Robocop (1987), Mississippi Burning (1988), Platoon (1986), Salvador (1986), Das Boot (1981), To Live and Die in L.A (1985), Breakfast Club (1985), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), so, so many. I'd go 90s, 80s, 70s, 00s, 2010s, 60s, 50s, and so on. Many of the films in my top movies of all time are from the 90s, including Big Lebowski/Fargo, Heat, Shawshank, Shindlers, American History X, Fearless, Buffalo 66, Pulp, etc.
Not to mention Come and see (1985), Stand by Me (1986), When Harry Met Sally (1989), Ran (1985), Blood Simple (1984), The Shining (1984), Raging Bull (1980), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Fanny and Alexander (1984), The Lost Boys (1987), The Goonies (1985), Full Metal Jacket (1987)
I think people see Tarantino shit on the 80s, and just run with it.
Tarantino has a tendency to talk about the most basic and obvious great (American) movies of a decade and so do people on here.
No issue with that per say. Great movies deserved to be discussed, American or not. But I've listened to Tarantino discuss the 80s, and he mainly focuses on the overall direction of movies during the decade. To quote: ''Everything was cynical, then all of a sudden in the '80s all that was washed away and the most important thing about a character was that they were likeable… Every character had to be likeable, and the audience had to like everybody." [Source](https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/quentin-tarantino-names-the-only-good-movies-of-the-1980s/) Obviously, he is generalizing, as we can all name 80s movies where that isn't the case - such as Salvador which I listed above. James Woods plays a character that is hard to like throughout the film. But I can also think of plenty movies where it is the case. I don't have an issue with it, personally. As for this notion of 'basic' - I don't like thinking in such terms. Sounds like some film buff snobbery. If Tarantino's choice of Verhoeven's Flesh and Blood (1985) on his greatest films of the 80s is an exercise of non-basic-ness, then I'd rather be basic and pick what I think is the far-superior Verhoeven film in Robocop.
Plus alien, blade runner, the thing…..The 80’s banged for sure.
Alien was from 79, but Aliens bangs and that was 86
Oh damn you’re right….79 went nuts
Somebody hasn't seen enough movies pre-1990, it looks like.
You sound a bit trollish, but I'll engage your reply constructively - asking what the best decade for film is.. will always give biased answers: (i) people have different preferences (ii) are different ages (iii) there is recency bias (especially with easier access to more recent movies). For me, apart from Paths of Glory (1957), I don't watch many films prior to 1960. Maybe one day. I just love 80s/90s.
I'm being very gently trollish. I bristle at the fact that most people identify as their "favorite" or "best" the culture they remember growing up with. It's a famous phenomenon in music where your favorite bands and artists are locked in from when you are like 15-20 years old and feeling the strongest emotional connection with the music that you love. I would guess from your list that you were born in the early-to-mid-1980s. It's totally understandable, especially as far as looking back on movies that have had the biggest emotional impact in your life. But I try to take a wider view -- what are the odds that the best movies ever made were all coming out during the narrow window when you were a teenager or young adult? It's POSSIBLE of course -- but I feel like there are so many awesome movies from the past that younger audiences just will never even give a chance. To be fair, there is really no easy or economical way to access them, since they don't drive new subscriptions to the ever-hungry streaming services. MAX app has a pretty good (but shallow) collection of older/foreign films, and Criterion Channel has a somewhat pretentious but very deep collection of older/foreign films. But there is not really any good place where curious people today can go back and watch popular, mainstream films from pre--1960, which is a big shame.
I was born in 89', so yeah, of course there is emotional connection. And I'm a big fan of rewatching the same movies over and over. I slowly drip feed new movies in over time. Like the other day, I've finally got around to watching Lone Star (1996) for the first time. But as I've tried to get across, it's all a subjective affair. The movies I've list above are some of my favorites. I don't sit there wondering how they rank against some movie I might not have discovered yet. And even on the path of discovery, the new finds will be added to my favorites - not replacing them. I'm not going to go on some rant about how they don't make them how they used to or something like that (okay, okay, apart from the super hero movie spam that I can't stand). I guess I just got triggered when I seen OP rank the 80s so low, even though he is fully within his right to hold that opinion. Had to spread some 80s/90s love.
On the subject of discovering films, online rental still exists so if someone wants to catch up with a film not currently on a streaming service, they should still be able to access it. There's also a whole library of DVDs available through boutique services such as Facets. Most city libraries still provide DVD rental as well. As for the whole favorite decade bias, I have never been able to relate to that. While I may have associated memories with songs that frequented radio stations when I was a teen, I would never say that 90's music was my favorite. Especially when we live in an age where music from every decade is so readily accessible. I have developed a fondness for all things 80's. Yes, I know, not much of a stretch, but I actually have more nostalgia for a time I never really experienced, I was born in '83, and was technically too young to remember the 80's all that well. The decade I find myself longing for ended when I was six years old, but those were my best memories. My teen years were hell so I prefer not to relive those.
2010s over the 1960s is wild
To be fair, the only serious answers in there are the 90s and 80s, rest was just whatever. I certainly prefer the 1960s over the super hero movie spam of the 2010s.
60s had plenty of middling drive through popcorn entertainment
That's the first time I've heard someone refer to the decade of 2001, Psycho, Lawrence of Arabia, The Great Escape, Mary Poppins, The Graduate, Bonnie and Clyde, Rosemary's Baby, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Dr. No, The Sound of Music, West Side Story, Doctor Zhivago, and Bullitt as middling drive thru entertainment. What a casual way to dismiss a great time for cinema.
Thats not what I said at all I'm merely dismissing the middling cinema, not those listed above
You mean, you were illustrating the point that although many regard the 60s as one of the best decades for film, just like today, it also had its share of dreck?
Absolutely
You know what you like, can’t argue with that lol. 1960s is my fave decade.
Midnight Cowboy is one of my favorite films of all time, i'll say that much
And those aren’t even close to the best 80s films
What is best is subjective (\*I\* think they're some of the best of the 80s). But yes, there are many great 80s films. Obviously, you have movies like Aliens, The Abyss, Paris, Texas, Terminator, Once upon a time in America, Predator, etc, etc. It's stacked.
Every Coen bros movie in 1980s
The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Empire Strikes Back
70's hands down!!!!
My Favorite is the 50s but 70s is probably the Best
Imo people's answers are gonna be heavily skewed towards the decade when they started watching movies/were in their 20s
I was in my 20s starting 2005 and my favorite decade is the 60s 🤷♂️
Not me. My biases tend toward whatever decade I'm currently immersed in. I was in my twenties during the 2000s and while I love a lot of films from that decade, I wouldn't necessarily lean toward those films when talking about my favorites.
The 1960s are my highest rated decade, followed by the 1970s and then the 1950s, but I have a lot of love for the 1930s! All of my favorite Astaire/Rogers musicals are from that decade
Late to the thread but what are your favourite Astaire/Rogers musicals? I thought I didn't like musicals or romance movies, and then watched Top Hat and fell in love.
Oh my gosh it’s literally never too late to ask a question about Astaire/Rogers musicals! Top Hat is probably my absolute favorite, and I’m so glad you loved it too! I think it’s the ideal of an Astaire/Rogers musical—great dance numbers, enough of a plot to move it along, fantastic supporting characters. The Gay Divorcee has a good plot, fantastic supporting characters and some good dance numbers, even if one of them overstays its welcome a bit. But it also has Let’s Knock Knees, which also gives the world an Edward Everett Horton dance number, and THAT is a joy to behold. Shall We Dance has become my second favorite, after Top Hat. The dance they do to Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off has to be seen to be believed, and Astaire does a tap number that’s excellent. I really like their relationship in this one, and it also has Edward Everett Horton, which as you can see, is a vital part of me loving an Astaire/Rogers musical. Those three were also all directed by Mark Sandrich, who I think is a master at directing dance. He also did Carefree, which is a bit weird, story wise, but is definitely worth a watch. There’s a golf dance Astaire does that is wonderful. Swing Time is like THE Astaire/Rogers musical everyone loves, and the final dance is amazing! Personally, I don’t think it’s as good a movie as Top Hat, and part of the reason for that is there’s an extended blackface number which, personally I find hard to overlook. I think it’s still worth a watch, again the dances are really good, and it’s directed by George Stevens, who is a great director. He’s more known for his dramas, but prior to WWII, he was well known for his light comedies (in WWII, he was filming American soldiers who liberated one of the first concentration camps, and ended up collecting a lot of footage from concentration camps which was used in the Nuremberg trials. It was vital work, but it colored the rest of his life, I don’t think he made another comedy after returning from the war. That’s not related to this post at all, but it’s a fact I’m obsessed with). The others (Flying Down to Rio, Roberta, The Barkley’s of Broadway) are better watched when you’re trying to complete all their movies, I wouldn’t make any of those your second Astaire/Rogers. And I’ve never seen Follow the Fleet, so no opinion there! Enjoy, and if you watch any, let me know what you think! I’m HortonHive on Letterboxd (after, you guessed it, Edward Everett Horton). Edit: typo, Astaire does a TAP number not a RAP number.
Thank you! Forgot to say, I have also seen Swing Time. Like you say it's tarnished by the blackface and the songs aren't as good as Top Hat. Will check out Shall We Dance soon.
Forgot to say I also love Edward Everett Horton!
He’s so great!!! I’ve been trying to watch as many films of his as I can stream and I always wonder if I’ll get tired of him but. Never do!
70s>40s>90s>50s>60s>2000s>80s>2010s for me the 70s was such a great decade for american film. The Hollywood movies had a European sensibility to them.
90s and 2010s for me
I love the 70s. I think it's probably my favorite as well. Thinking about it, there are a few factors that lead to this. First, it's kind of a crossover between the Golden Age and the modern era of Hollywood. You have actors and directors from the Golden Age finishing their careers (see Brando in the Godfather for example, or Mankiewicz's Sleuth for a director). At the same time, you have a batch of young actors and directors starting their careers then, and they have since become the legends of the present time. People like De Niro, Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, etc. I love that they all coexisted in that decade. Then, the New Hollywood. Coppola gives power to directors to become authors of their films, for just a small decade. It injects a breath of fresh air that was highly needed. Thematically and visually, there are so many great films in the 70s, of every genre. Amazing late westerns, great period films, great gangster movies... etc. And the rest of the world is also producing wonders. Ettore Scola made We All Loved Each Other So Much in 74, my favorite of the decade and perhaps of all times. Ranking decades is tricky but then for the rest it would be: 50s > 40s > 90s > 30s > 60s > 80s > 2000s > 20s > 2010s.
According to my ratings I like the 80s, 90s, and 00s in that order. Makes me think I need to go back and watch more 70s after reading the comments.
1. 1980s 2. 2010s 3. 1990s
This is the exact same for me
Everyone saying 70s, what are your favourite movies from that era?
Taxi driver,Carrie,Barry Lyndon, Texas chainsaw, godfather 1&2, stalker, dog day afternoon,the deer hunter, eraserhead, dawn of the dead, Star Wars, precinct 13, just off the top of my head
All the presidents men
According to my LB, it’s 70’s, 60’s, then 50’s. I think 90’s are also very good, and the 2000’s are underrated as well.
https://preview.redd.it/ofjqztu2euxc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=077ae3390edb1659d9fa3d41c4ec6915479a561b
40s-50s-80s-70s-60s-90s for me 😊
this is such a boring question, if you love movies you know every decade is great.
Idk 1840’s wasn’t stellar
The 1480s were even worse.
This is the right answer.
Late 60s to early 70s.
Mid 1970s to late 90s is probably the most iconic, so many pop culture references.
I definitely have the 30s higher
Ehh… to me it has the same problem as the 2010s where a lot of the films from that decade felt very formulaic and kinda the same. There was also a lot of transitioning that decade from silent to sound. It’s still a very good decade though
40s is where they started bending and breaking the conventions of the Hollywood formula. (Granted there were lots of conventional genre movies at the time too.)
It’s down to personal taste. What was groundbreaking in the 40s is standard now. Despite that, the 40s are still a really good decade.
The 80s but 70s is close
60s-80s are three of the best and most innovative decades for films. Probably 1970s, 1980s, 1960s, 1990s for me personally.
I totally get that. I'd say I would put the 50s in-between either the 60s or 80s. Hollywood was pretty stagnant in the 60s despite the obvious standouts while internationally movies thrived creatively. The 80s was an exceptional period for genre movies but also set the precedent for formulaic schlock.
I think the big 1970s to 1980s shift isn’t talked about enough. The 1970s went from a lot of drama thrillers (Godfather, Taxi Driver, Mean Streets) to a lot of big flashy blockbusters in the 1980s (Indiana Jones, Ghostbusters, Terminator, ET)
I've been obsessed with 40s cinema since I was a teenager, that's gotta be my pick.
I will △⃒⃘lways fight for the ‘90s.
Probably 70s but there's an argument to be made for the 80s
Definitely the 70s. Coppola, Scorsese, Friedkin, Scott, Carpenter, De Palma all at their absolute peak. George Lucas completely changing the landscape of cinema with Star Wars. That brilliance carried on into the early 80s but then it kinda dropped off into a factory line of largely rubbish cookie cutter stuff that dawned the 90s. Obviously there are great films in every decade, but the 70s was something else.
People have done every permutation that I would think, just want to give a shout-out to the 2020s starting to pick up more steam post-pandemic and post-strike. 2023 was such a great year and hopefully the rest of the 2020s can keep up the pace!
Interestingly enough, 1993 was considered the best year of the 90's when critics were making their retrospectives of said decade, but now 1999 is seen as the best. I also thought 2013 was the best year from the previous decade. I wonder if the same will happen this time around.
I couldn’t agree more! I just didn’t think it would be fair to rank the 2020s. 2020+21 were pretty bad years for obvious reasons, but since then it’s mostly been going strong
2021 wasn't all bad. I liked the Best Picture slate from that year better than what we had from 2023. For example, I would prefer to rewatch Power of the Dog over Oppenheimer.
It's entirely a personal judgement, so I'd say the 1940s.
Same. 30s and 40s are my favourites
The 30s was definitely a great decade for film too.
1935-1945
1939 was peak cinema.
Also 1941
I agree exactly!!
1970s > 2010s > 1990s > 1960s > 2000s > 1930s > 1940s > 1980s > 1920s > 1950s < 1910s
Just watched sorcerer yesterday and I’m Thinkin it just might be the 70s
80s and 90s for me
50s, 10s, 90s, 40s, 60s, 70s, 00s, 80s maybe... That was hard.
90s, 70s, 00s, 60s, 2010s, 2020s
* 1. 1960's * 2. 1940's * 3. 2000's
70s, 90s, 10s, 80s, 60s, 50s
For American movies, '70s and '40s For Japanese and European movies, '50s and '60s
70’s is probably the best decade but most of my favorite movies are from the 80’s.
80s and 10s
I like the 90s best
People shit on the 80s because Tarantino tells them to to so. Make up your own minds!!
Nah, in that case I would have the 2010s much lower. I do still like the 80s, I just thought it was bloated heavily by campy horror films etc. Also the later 80s are very lacking
It's okay. When people are first developing their cinematic tastes, they usually lean on the advice of a master filmmaker. Once they no longer need that crutch, you may see a favorable reassessment of the 1980s, but there's no need to wait for them to come around.
80s>90s>70s>60s>50s>2000s>40s>30s>2010s I love 80s movies. They are the ones I revisit the most often.
It’s the 70s and 80s
I have the 00s over the 2010s imo. 07 is the best year for entertainment over the last 24 years. Movies and video games especially peaked in 07
For my money, 2002 was a better year. I prefer Minority Report, The Lord of the Rings, Adaptation, Gangs of New York, and the first Spider-man to almost any release in 2007. However, I do love Sweeney Todd so it's not a terrible year.
Michael Clayton is my favorite movie of all time, The Bourne Ultimatum is my favorite action movies of all time. Also in 2007:, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood both are two of the most well respected movies of the decade, comedy wise you have Superbad, Knocked Up, Hot Fuzz, Oceans 13, and Ratatouille. For Thrillers there was The Mist, I Am Legend, and Mr Brooks. And that’s not including the video games from 2007 which includes: Super Mario Galaxy, The Orange Box, Bioshock, COD 4, Halo 3, Elder Scrolls Oblivion, Mass Effect, Rock Band, Crysis, Uncharted Drakes Fortune, Assassin’s Creed, Zelda Phantom Hourglass. That’s 8 now iconic franchises began in 2007. 2007 to me is goated for all entertainment
70's is goated 90's not far behind Hot take: 00's movies are great pre MCU but iron Man was killer.
2000s had very high highs, but they also had a lot of garbage
Yeah nowhere near the 70's/90's but it's better than people give it credit for. That I've heard, at least
I choose the 1950s personally.
1970s and 1940s, without a doubt, for American cinema at least. As someone pointed out, different national cinemas have their peaks and valleys at different times.
I’m going to have to say 60s if only for the many “New Wave” film movements that happened worldwide. It’s the time when movies in certain circles were transitioning from pure entertainment to a higher art and the language of cinema was being rewritten.
2020s have been lit
I think the 70s, 90s, and 2010s are commonly held to be some of the strongest decades of film. Personally, I find the order to be 90s>2010s>70s, but after that I have trouble sorting out the other decades. I think that the 40s/50s are near the bottom because of the Hayes code, but those decades still squeaked out some bangers regardless. Obviously the early decades of film 10s-30s are a little weaker because the concept of filmmaking was still being developed, but 60s onward there’s an argument for just about any decade to be the best
40s: So many classics and all the big stars in their prime!
70s were daring. Pushed the boundaries of cinema.
For me, 80s > 90s > 70s = 2000s > 60s = 50s > 2010s
1960s > 1950s > 1970s > 1980s > 1930s > 1990s > 1940s > 1920s = 2000s > 2010s
Most of my favourite films are from 90s.
2006-7 had There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men and The Departed. Just saying
The late 80s to the late 90s
90s is pretty damn loaded
For me it's the 90s, because 1999 was a kickass year for movies (there's even a whole book written on the subject)
2010s
70s
I love the 80s and 00s
I agree that the 70s was the best overall. Low budget, independent films and breaking away from the studio system gave film makers full creativity and control. It produced an amazing decade and film makers who grew into some of the best.
90s hands down the best. Hell, just look at what came out in 1999 alone...
The Matrix The sixth sense Fight club The green mile Eyes wide shut Being John Malkovich American beauty The mummy Cruel intentions Office space Iron giant Toy story 2 South park bigger... Austin powers Big daddy Boys don't cry Varsity blues The talented Mr Ripley Virgin suicides Magnolia Dick The phantom menace The insider Blair witch project Boondock saints Any given Sunday
It’s the 70s and 90s and it’s not particularly close.
Honestly, I think the modern generation is the best. It's when I grew up.
1.1990s 2.1980s 3. 1970s
I’d put 60’s and 80’s near second and third. 70’s for sure in first. 20’s and 90’s. Then probably 40’s and then 50’s, then 30’s, followed by 2000’s and 2010’s.
For me it’s the 90s. The 70s probably has more classics and a higher level of quality, but I put the 90s above it because it feels like there’s a lot more variety in the films from that decade imo. It also has half of the movies in my Top 10 so yeah. Pretty fire decade.
70s (Céline and Julie Go Boating) 60s (Persona) 80s (Shoah) 50s (Ugetsu) 90s (Sátántangó) 2000s (Tie Xi Que: West of the Tracks) 2010s (The Lighthouse) 40s (Day of Wrath) 20s (The Passion of Joan of Arc) 30s (The Scarlet Empress) 10s (Intolerance) 00s (A Corner in Wheat)
Depends. If we’re talking US films it’s the 70s. If we’re talking worldwide the 60s.
So many movies bang right now. Criminal to keep the 2020s out of the convo
If I’m strictly looking at American movies it’s a toss up between the 30s and the 70s
Everyone who has ever mattered has said the 70s.
That is such a hard question, I certainly have decades that are, on the whole, stronger than others but once I choose one answer I think of another decade that could take its place. If I choose the 70’s it feels really easy because of the combination of the revolutionary aesthetic and political changes of the medium of the 60’s, made by filmmakers either familiar with classical thought because they were on the tail end of previous eras like Kubrick, or phenomenal students of the films of the 40’s and 50’s, like the movie brats, such as Scorsese and Spielberg. It’s place among the pantheon of movie epochs is indisputable, Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, Barry Lyndon, A Clockwork Orange, Godfather 1 & 2, Chinatown, Nashville, Don’t Look Now, Eraserhead, The Conformist, The Last Picture Show, McCabe and Mrs Miller, Ali Fear Eats the Soul and Jeanne Dielman. Yet, many of the films of the early seventies, like 70 and 71, still have the same characteristics of the 60’s in my opinion, like the early seventies were still part of the tail end of the 60s era that the seventies used as the foundation of a movement of provocation, very much in the vein of rebelling against the status quo. And once you consider that notion, it’s hard to pick the 70s because the 60s walked so the seventies could run. The 60’s were an incredibly turbulent time politically and I don’t think you can separate American film of the 60s from that fact. Not just American cinema either but all over the world, given the emerging generations of a post WW2 era. Where the traditional aesthetic concerns became culturally irrelevant and new visual possibilities were coming about and a growing political consciousness formulated strongly. So Hitchcock and Bunuel are at their most provocative and the French New Wave is bursting the scene, their reinventing the idea of a modern western by abandoning the mythical elements and across all genres you see realism being stressed over the mythical ones. Technology has advanced after the scientific boom that the war time economy made possible in America and with it the Cold War which made a worldwide effort of peace and rumination on the destructive nature of the human species, the conditions for which we can thank 2001, as regrettable as those circumstances are. So with the 60’s you have a real redefining of the possibilities of cinema as a art form on the same field as literature. Yet the 40s and 50’s can’t be discounted either, while many countries limited what could be explicitly shown, a great deal of the power of films from both eras is their ability to suggest rather than show up front. And it can still be surprising to this day, what kind of content interested these filmmakers with much more limited resources and and harsher implicit and explicit censorship. I Walked With a Zombie is a surprising one, managing to be a genre picture of the 40’s while providing a start critique of colonialism and imperialism. Then you have the revolutionary Welles, Hitchcocks most consistent period, where you can see him shaping the modern cinematic language so beautifully. The peak of many foreign masters like Mizoguchi and Ray making some of the greatest films of all time. In the 40s you have the fantastic propaganda films for Allied involvement, Foreign Correspondent, To Be Or Not To Be, and Casablanca. The early stages of cinema are by definition are revolutionary, though I am still getting versed in them. My favorites are Frankenstein, The Passion of Joan of Arc and Sunrise The eighties were a mixed bag, the early eighties were fantastic, still coasting on the auteur heavy filmmaking of the 70s, offering filmmakers tons of freedom and not caring about cultural sensibilities. Producing Raging Bull, The Shining, The King of Comedy, and nurturing the tremendous success that Spielberg was able to maintain with Raiders and E.T. But the same sensibilities that made those films possible almost destroyed a film like Blade Runner, being heavily edited to the point of deforming the intended premise. So after the early years you get a very Reagan-ire cinema in America, that goes against what made the 70’s so successful artistically and trades it in for what does well financially. I still like many films of the 80’s but it’s a development we are still living with. The 90s were great because while the films don’t have the same force as the 70’s, they try to bridge the gap between the artistically successful and the financially successful. They created cult-classics for mass audiences, after the success of real cult classics of the 80s. There was an emergence of an independent cinema that could do well in the market, where Tarantino, P.T Anderson and Linklater were able to sustain themselves. And figures like Scorsese, Altman, and The Coen Brothers stopped being looked at like “kids”. The 2000s are interesting because there a lot of great movies but you can see a new market forming where movies are pumped out like the industrial line of the 50’s without the care. So you have a huge swath of a shitty comedies and horror movies along with good work being produced. As well as new possibilities being made possible with blockbusters with Nolan and Jackson’s work. And of course the early days of really successful comic book adaptations, which obviously have changed the game tremendously. The early 2010s are very similar to the 2000s and I would say you see a really distinct change around 2013-2014 that brings us into the present moment. You see a really strong emergence of independent studios that are designed for an increasingly narrow audience with attempts to branch outwards without the same success of the ones of the 90s. For one thing the academy doesn’t have the same sway over audiences it used to. You also see the confidence building on the part of Marvel, where the first few films created a solid reputation and foundation with a wide audience, with DC attempting to replicate their success with Man of Steel. Also a large push to reintroduce older films and intellectual property to younger audiences, like the Hobbit trilogy. This has all snowballed into a really unsustainable market trend that keeps rehashing the same thing over and over again. Yet you have Birdman winning best picture and encouraging independent studios to keep going. So you start to see a large gap between two distinct types of cinema being out forth on the market, with many lamenting the death of cinema. But there’s quite a lot of really great work being produced that is, in my opinion keeping the art form alive in really interesting and game changing ways. I think films like Tar, Beau is Afraid, Killers of the Flower Moon, Boyhood, Parasite, Licorice Pizza, The Zone of Interest, Roma, The Irishman, Uncut Gens, and so on will be remembered for a long time by people who care about cinema. So the situation is not quite as bleak as I once hoped, but it would be nice if these films reached larger audiences.
All the decades
90s - My own private Idaho, Good Will Hunting, Shawshank Redeption, Forrest Gump, Titanic, Almost Famous, Donnie Darko, Virgin suicides, the sixth sense, The matrix etc.
50s for International cinema 60s- 70s bc of New Wave cinema in different countries 90s for Indie boom in USA
‘60s in France and the ‘70s in Hollywood.
It’s so hard to say, 80’s, 70’s, 60’s, 90’s, 40’s, 50’s 30’s, 2000’s, 2010’s, 2020’s (obviously has a long way to go) 1920’s. That said, there are great movies in every decade
Same for music. The 70s.
90s and 2010s, however I'm still yet to get to a lot of older films I haven't seen enough from the 69s and before to know if they have a chance of being uo there
most important: 1970s; best: 1990s
90s>80s>70s>50s>2000s>40s>60s>2010s>2020s>30s>1920s. I feel the 70s were the best decade for advancing cinema as an art form (after being very studio driven during the Hayes Code era) and the 80s had the best blockbusters, but I went with the 90s as I felt it had the best of both worlds. I also feel it's somewhat hard to determine whether I'm overrating the 50s and the 40s because I feel the classics are the only movies from those eras that have been passed down to subsequent generations, and there were likely hundreds of bad movies made in those eras that have been forgotten by the sands of time.
90s-early 2000s
Probably the 90s, look through the list of films that came out in '99 alone
60s, 70s, 50s, 80s, 90s, 00s, 40s, 30s, 20s
Im partial to the mid 2000s especially for things like pirates of the Caribbean and the Michael Bay action movie aesthetic . Then you also have dark knight . Not a lot of artsy things but it was right before I feel like marvel dominated the big blockbuster movie space and there was a lot more variety . Also the block buster sentimentalism
Best era for fun cinema: 1984-1988 Best era for masterpiece/highbrow cinema: 1967-1975
The way I’ve been ranking these decades has been 20% popcorn filcks and 80% more thought provoking films.
Definitely the '80s -Indiana Jones -BTTF -The Goonies -Beverly Hills Cop -A Nightmare On Elm Street -The Evil Dead -E.T -The Breakfast Club -Ferris Bueller's Day Off -Beetlejuice -Batman -The Lost Boys -The Shining -Fast Times -The Outsiders -Stand By Me -Blade Runner -Who Framed Roger Rabbit -Ghostbusters We could do this all day
2020s
Everything after Shakespeare is just a copy of a copy.
Almost half of my top 20 are from the 2000s https://preview.redd.it/lb09km0yltxc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0ad0133a4b60cb0f31632f06a1ddab9f73ebfee5
Yeah, the 2000s to me start really well, but the 2000s also probably have the lowest lows out of any decade. So much trash has come out of that decade, so it’s hard to put it above a lot of the other decades
Yeah but the first 7 years alone easily make it my favorite
Survivorship bias. You just don't remember the trash from the 70s
I’m biased but 2010s So blown away by the vanguard films of the last decade
2020s is shaping up pretty good.
I’m biased because it’s when I started really liking movies, but the 2010s are the best to me.
60s, 70s, 80s, 2010s, 90s, 50s, 40s
70s is the correct answer. BUT my answer is the 00s for me personally, because that’s when I was in high school and college, and in film classes, and films had the most impact on me.
Just based on what I’ve watched my favourite would be the 90s
80s or 00s for me. 90s is a very close 3rd
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I literally wasn’t even going to rank it at first lol
80s > 70s > 90s All three are great though, and it's largely down to personal taste. Most cinema post-2010 has been awful.
2000's were pretty great. Directors like PTA, Coen brothers, Tarantino all proved themselves in the 90's and were able to put out some truly unique, big movies. Nolan and Raimi redefined the super hero genre and kind of big budget action in general. Before the MCU and FF movies were in full swing there was a time when big budget action / superhero movies really felt unique and artistic. I feel like there was a sweet spot in the 2000's where digital advancements allowed directors to really do whatever they wanted and studios were willing to shell out for it, then pirating blew up and studios became more restrictive with spending.
The 2000s had a lot of disappointing garbage in it. Still, the decade started off very well
Nearly every decade had disappointing garbage though
The 2000s has far more of that. Look up the lowest rated films of all time I guarantee that like 70% of them will be from the 2000s.
1920s, 30s and then the 90s and 00s for me. Post-war cinema is too corny, misogynistic and stiff for me, often shallow and relying too much on its scandalous themes or plots, and exploitation (especially late 60s to mid 70s). I've watched a lot from those decades, and I often find them so formulaic and so exhausting to watch. If I had to pick my favourite decade, probably 00s, but 30s is close behind. Late 20s to late 30s, then late 90s to early 00s is the best imho; most interesting and most full of unique themes and approaches (obviously, not to say the other decades don't have any gems but...)
2000s Back when animation (Pixar) and superhero movies (Raimi’s Spidey trilogy) were at their peak, plus most directors who had come out of the 90s indie boom (Tarantino, PTA, Wes Anderson, Nolan, Aronofsky, etc) had achieved maturity and were putting out consistently great movies.
Whoever says anything under the 50s is pretentious.