21. The Thing
Year of Release: 1982
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Horror/Thriller
MPAA Rating: R
Director: John Carpenter
Actors: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, T.K. Carter, Richard A. Dysart, Peter Maloney
Plot: Scientist at a post in the antarctic are puzzeled by a series of events that don't make much sense. They soon realize that there is a shape shifting alien that is the cause of it all.
22. The Goonies
Year of Release: 1985
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy/Adventure
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Richard Donner
Actors: Sean Astin, Corey Feldman, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen, Joe Pantoliano, Anne Ramsey
Plot: A tight-knit neighborhood is threatened to be torn apart when their homes may be sold from underneath them. The neighborhood kids have one last adventure by trying to find a pirates treasure.
23. Ghostbusters
Year of Release: 1984
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy/Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Ivan Reitman
Actors: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson
Plot: A unlikely group of friends, and parapsychology professors, start a business catching ghosts and demons in New York City.
24. Rain Man
Year of Release: 1988
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Barry Levinson
Actors: Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman, Valeria Golino, Gerald R. Molen, Ralph Seymour, Jack Murdock
Plot: After his estranged father dies, a young man finds out he has an autistic older brother and takes him on a cross-country journey that will affect both of them.
25. My Neighbor Totoro ( Tonari no Totoro )
Year of Release: 1988
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/Fantasy
MPAA Rating: G
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Actors: Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning, Evan Sabara, Frank Welker, Timothy Daly, Pat Carroll
Plot: Two young sisters move to the country to be closer to their sick mother. In the forest by their house they discover Totoro, a forest spirit, and the adventure begins.
26. The Elephant Man
Year of Release: 1980
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: David Lynch
Actors: Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, John Standing
Plot: A freak show person is discovered and then taken care of by a surgeon who discovers a personality and very sensitive man.
27. Grave of the Fireflies ( Hotaru no haka )
Year of Release: 1988
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Anime/War
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Isao Takahata
Actors: Rhoda Chrosite, J. Robert Spencer, Veronica Taylor, Amy Jones, Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi
Plot: During WWII, a brother and his young sister are forced to survive on their own after their mother is killed in an air raid and they shun their other relatives.
28. Ran
Year of Release: 1985
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Action/Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Actors: Daisuke Ryu, Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Mieko Harada, Yoshiko Miyazaki
Plot: A lord who is dying, designiates his power to his three sons, two of try and turn against their father.
29. Dead Poets' Society
Year of Release: 1989
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Peter Weir
Actors: Ethan Hawke, Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Josh Charles, Dylan Kussman, Gale Hansen
Plot: A English Teacher convinces his students to love poetry and invites them into a secret club where they can read poetry and express themselves in a manly way.
30. Once Upon a Time in America
Year of Release: 1984
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Crime/Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Sergio Leone
Actors: Robert De Niro, Tuesday Weld, Joe Pesci, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Treat Williams
Plot: Noodles, a Jewish gangster, returns to his stomping grounds where he tries to forget the past and the tragic events that occurred.
