Best Films Of 1986
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- DirectorRob ReinerStarsWil WheatonRiver PhoenixCorey FeldmanA writer recounts a childhood journey with his friends to find the body of a missing boy.Is there a better film about childhood friends than this?
9/10 - DirectorWoody AllenStarsMia FarrowDianne WiestMichael CaineBetween two Thanksgivings two years apart, Hannah's husband falls in love with her sister Lee, while her hypochondriac ex-husband rekindles his relationship with her sister Holly.One of Allen's best films. 9/10
- DirectorAlex CoxStarsGary OldmanChloe WebbDavid HaymanThe relationship between Sid Vicious, bassist for British punk group Sex Pistols, and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen is portrayed.Oldman is terrific and the film overall if you can get into British punk type humor, well, it's very funny. It's also a tragic love story at the same time.
It really is a funny thing how unfaithfully history is often recorded and told. While we all refer to bands such as the Sex Pistols as punk bands, and part of the punk movement. None of the bands of that time really even embraced such a label. Most of them in fact outright rejected it and hated it entirely. Now the punk music term is often looked upon as fringe in a cool way. But the term punk was and is actually derogatory. If we look back at even the most recent history of things, the way it is often told by the press, or in the culture at all on a mass scale rarely ever matches up to what actually occurred. It was in fact to me I feel one of the most important things I ever realized in all of my life. History, almost entirely, is very debatable. It's actually a great concept to fully embrace, because once you do, then the NOW becomes ever so much more important than the past.
In reply to a question about the new popularity of the so-called punk movement, Johnny Rotten (AKA John Lydon) said, "Really punk died the moment it began, because in the beginning it really was all about being yourself, being different. When word got out it soon became just a bunch of people who mostly looked and dressed the same." To Rotten it was counter to the whole idea of the real movement to begin with, a movement about being genuine soon became a commercial movement producing more mindless clones. So in this sense, the real movement was never really captured and could not be captured well by popular culture, because at least to some of its main creators, it was a movement that was almost entirely counter to the idea of popularity itself.
8.5/10 - DirectorOliver StoneStarsCharlie SheenTom BerengerWillem DafoeChris Taylor, a neophyte recruit in Vietnam, finds himself caught in a battle of wills between two sergeants, one good and the other evil. A shrewd examination of the brutality of war and the duality of man in conflict.In my view it really is too bad that this film won the Oscar, because the Academy is far too political and self-conscious of its public image to ever have war films as back to back Best Picture winners. Little doubt in my mind that Kubrick would have finally got his Best Picture Oscar for Full Metal the next year had this not won. Instead the Academy just look completely incompetent historically, seeing as how both Hitchcock, nor Kubrick ever won a BP or a Best Director Oscar. Absolutely crazy! Charles Chaplin was really the one who pointed out how ridiculous the American Academy was first. He made a point of it by showing the world that he used his Oscar as a doorstop. Decades and decades later, we still understand why. Nonetheless, Platoon is a very strong film, a great film really, and all who enjoy war films absolutely need to see it! 8.5/10
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJeff GoldblumGeena DavisJohn GetzA brilliant but eccentric scientist begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong.This film is quite great. I'm also a big David Cronenberg fan. He's definitely among the very, very best Canadian filmmakers of all time. 8.5/10
- DirectorClaude BerriStarsYves MontandGérard DepardieuDaniel AuteuilA greedy landowner and his backward nephew conspire to block the only water source for an adjoining property in order to bankrupt the owner and force him to sell.The first part of the French epic is in my view quite hilarious and great. 8.5/10
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsIsabella RosselliniKyle MacLachlanDennis HopperThe discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.Who banned this film? What a joke. If you don't mind twisted crime films, this is a must watch! I'm a huge Lynch fan and this is one of his best films really. Not his best, but it's up there among them. 8.5/10
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsJames WoodsJim BelushiMichael MurphyA burnt-out photojournalist becomes involved in a Central American revolution.Underappreciated in my view. 8.5/10
- DirectorJohn McNaughtonStarsMichael RookerTracy ArnoldTom TowlesArriving in Chicago, Henry moves in with ex-con acquaintance Otis and starts schooling him in the ways of the serial killer.Has there ever been such a realistic feel in a serial killer film? Probably not! This is definitely a low budget standout. 8.5/10
- DirectorJames CameronStarsSigourney WeaverMichael BiehnCarrie HennDecades after surviving the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is sent out to re-establish contact with a terraforming colony but finds herself battling the Alien Queen and her offspring.Personally I get the more surprise element of the original, but I've always slightly leaned to this sequel as the better overall film actually. 8.5/10
- DirectorTony ScottStarsTom CruiseTim RobbinsKelly McGillisAs students at the United States Navy's elite fighter weapons school compete to be best in the class, one daring young pilot learns a few things from a civilian instructor that are not taught in the classroom.Saw this in it's original theatre run with my Dad. Awesome on the big screen! 8/10
- DirectorJohn HughesStarsMatthew BroderickAlan RuckMia SaraA popular high school student, admired by his peers, decides to take a day off from school and goes to extreme lengths to pull it off, to the chagrin of his Dean, who'll do anything to stop him.Loved this film as a kid, and it's still quite great. 8/10
- DirectorDavid AnspaughStarsGene HackmanBarbara HersheyDennis HopperA coach with a checkered past and a local drunk train a small-town high school basketball team to become a top contender for the state championship in 1950s Indiana.8/10
- DirectorTim HunterStarsCrispin GloverKeanu ReevesIone SkyeA high school slacker commits a shocking act and proceeds to let his friends in on the secret. However, the friends' reaction is almost as ambiguous and perplexing as the crime itself.A strong film! 7.5/10
- DirectorJames FoleyStarsSean PennChristopher WalkenMary Stuart MastersonReunited with his career criminal father, tough teen Brad thinks he's found his ticket to an exciting life of crime, only to find out he's wrong.Forgotten by too many film lovers I'd say. 7.5/10
- StarsMark HarmonFrederic ForrestGeorge GrizzardThe story of serial killer, Ted Bundy.Still to this day in 2020, the best film on Bundy. 7.5/10
- DirectorMichael MannStarsWilliam PetersenKim GreistJoan AllenFormer FBI profiler Will Graham returns to service to pursue a deranged serial killer dubbed "the Tooth Fairy" by the media.Easily the second best film in the Hannibal series. 7.5/10
- DirectorRon HowardStarsMichael KeatonGedde WatanabeGeorge WendtWhen a Japanese automobile company buys an American plant, the American liaison must mediate the clash of work attitudes between the foreign management and native labor.Probably Ron Howard's most undeservedly underappreciated film. 7.5/10
- DirectorEmilio EstevezStarsEmilio EstevezDemi MooreTom SkerrittUnable to find work after a past felony, graduate John Wisdom and his girlfriend embark on a cross-country bank-robbing spree in order to aid American farmers.It starts out feeling a little cheesy really, but it gets good and thought provoking too. Emilio directs. 7.5/10
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsPaul NewmanTom CruiseMary Elizabeth MastrantonioFast Eddie Felson teaches a cocky but immensely talented protégé the ropes of pool hustling, which in turn inspires him to make an unlikely comeback.Not nearly one of Scorsese's best, but it is still a very good film.
- DirectorJohn LandisStarsSteve MartinChevy ChaseMartin ShortThree actors accept an invitation to a Mexican village to perform their onscreen bandit fighter roles, unaware that it is the real thing.Wacky fun! 7.5/10
- DirectorEric LaneuvilleStarsDenzel WashingtonLynn WhitfieldAkosua BusiaHe risked it all to make the grade.7.5/10
- DirectorPaul MazurskyStarsNick NolteBette MidlerRichard DreyfussA rich but troubled family find their lives altered by the arrival of a vagrant who tries to drown himself in their swimming pool.7/10
- DirectorTom DeSimoneStarsLinda CarolWendy O. WilliamsPat AstA new group of girls arrives at Pridemore Juvenile Facility, where the brutal warden plays favoritism with a few, and treats the rest like animals. But one girl is not taking this horrible treatment lying down.7/10
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsRichard GereJulie ChristieGene HackmanAfter a close friend drops out of politics, a political consultant helping to find a replacement finds a web of corruption and deceit as well.7/10
- DirectorAlan MetterStarsRodney DangerfieldSally KellermanBurt YoungTo help his discouraged son get through college, a funloving and obnoxious rich businessman decides to enter the school as a student himself.7/10
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsMarie RivièreMaría Luisa GarcíaVincent GauthierIt's July, and Delphine has nowhere to go for the summer. She feels very bored and "empty", but this won't last; one day she accidently meets someone who seems to be totally made for her...
- DirectorPeter HyamsStarsGregory HinesBilly CrystalSteven BauerTwo street-wise Chicago cops have to shake off some rust after returning from a Key West vacation to pursue a drug dealer who nearly killed them in the past.7/10
- DirectorJim AbrahamsDavid ZuckerJerry ZuckerStarsBette MidlerDanny DeVitoJudge ReinholdA couple cheated by a vile businessman kidnaps his wife in retaliation, not knowing that their enemy is delighted that they did.7/10
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsClint EastwoodMarsha MasonEverett McGillHard-nosed, hard-living Marine Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway clashes with his superiors and his ex-wife as he takes command of a spoiled recon platoon with a bad attitude.
- DirectorClaude BerriStarsYves MontandEmmanuelle BéartDaniel AuteuilA beautiful but shy shepherdess plots vengeance on the men whose greedy conspiracy to acquire her father's land caused his death years earlier.The second part of the French epic is good, but not nearly as good as part one in my view.
- DirectorPenny MarshallStarsWhoopi GoldbergStephen CollinsJohn WoodAn American computer wiz who works at a New York bank is suddenly thrust into the world of international espionage after she inadvertently receives a coded message from a British spy.7/10
- DirectorCharles Martin SmithStarsMarc PriceTony FieldsLisa OrgoliniA bullied teenage boy is devastated after the death of his heavy metal idol, Sammi Curr. But as Halloween night approaches, he discovers that he may be the only one who can stop Sammi from making a Satanic comeback from beyond the grave.For me, a guilty pleasure. 7/10
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsKurt RussellKim CattrallDennis DunA rough-and-tumble trucker and his side kick face off with an ancient sorcerer in a supernatural battle beneath Chinatown.7/10
- DirectorRoger SpottiswoodeStarsRobin WilliamsKurt RussellPamela ReedA small-town loser determines to have one more shot at the big time by winning a football game.6.5/10
- DirectorJim HensonStarsDavid BowieJennifer ConnellyToby FroudSixteen-year-old Sarah must solve a labyrinth to rescue her baby brother when he is taken by the Goblin King.6.5/10
- DirectorRobert MandelStarsBryan BrownBrian DennehyDiane VenoraA movie special effects man is hired to fake a real-life mob killing for a witness protection plan, but finds his own life in danger.6.5/10
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsHarrison FordHelen MirrenRiver PhoenixAn inventor spurns his city life and moves his family into the jungles of Central America to make a utopia.6.5/10
- DirectorMark L. LesterStarsJohn CandyMeg RyanEugene LevyA fired cop and useless lawyer sign up as security guards and find they've joined a corrupt union.
- DirectorLinda FefermanStarsJennifer ConnellyByron ThamesMaddie CormanWhen her father goes out of town, beautiful A-student Natalie lets best friends Jeff and Polly move in. Separately and together, the trio of young teens learn much about life, love, and growing up.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsRoy ScheiderAnn-MargretVanityA secret fling between a man and his mistress leads to blackmail and murder.
- DirectorHal NeedhamStarsBart ConnerLori LoughlinBill AllenThe story of one young man, Cru Jones, who has the intensity and desire to win a BMX race called Helltrack.
- DirectorSerge GainsbourgStarsSerge GainsbourgCharlotte GainsbourgRoland BertinStan, screeplay writer, had his time of glory in Hollywood. Today, alcoholic with a certain envy for suicide, his only link to life is his daughter, Charlotte.6/10
- DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsJeff DanielsMelanie GriffithGeorge 'Red' SchwartzA free-spirited woman "kidnaps" a yuppie for a weekend of adventure. But the fun quickly takes a dangerous turn when her ex-convict husband shows up.6/10
- DirectorRoland JofféStarsRobert De NiroJeremy IronsRay McAnallyEighteenth-century Spanish Jesuits try to protect a remote South American tribe in danger of falling under the rule of pro-slavery Portugal.6/10