wickedrum

I can't remember if I've seen Cowboys and Aliens

PhoenixRising

I saw it. It's pretty good.

wickedrum

I know that now!

PhoenixRising

I'm glad.

wickedrum

I just needed to peek into it to remember

PhoenixRising

I only saw Frantic once, but it did remind me of Hitchcock movies. I normally don't like Polanski's work, except for Chinatown.

sum1

Frantic was pretty good. Cowboys and Aliens was tolerable.

PhoenixRising

Frantic was an 80s movie. Of course it was good.

sum1

Plenty of '80s movies were crap. A lot of the movies I enjoyed then I'd probably hate now.

wickedrum

most 80s movies tend to be slow

PhoenixRising

sum1

Grow up already, Alex.

PhoenixRising

The 80s rule!

sum1

Not everything in them was great. Learn to see things with a little balance and nuance.

PhoenixRising

Cute.

I never said that the 80s or any other decade was perfect, sum1. But there is a measurable difference between them that can determine that one was better than the other. Do you think anyone in the 1950s was waxing nostalgic about the Depression era 1930s, when people were lining up for blocks to get milk, bread, and cheese? Or living in makeshift huts and tents in city parks, or jumping off of buildings after having lost everything in the stock market crash? Hell no.

A lot of people in the 1990s were nostalgic for the 1970s, and so was I, but I also knew that the 70s had a lot of problems and that the reason we were nostalgic for 70s pop culture was because the pop culture of that time was an escape from the real world problems, like the energy crisis, the gasoline shortage, the high unemployment and inflation, the high crime rates, the Iran Hostage Crisis, and the general post-Vietnam/Watergate malaise.

By 1979 a majority of Americans felt that the next five years would be worse than the previous five years. So the 1980s, by comparison, were a big improvement over the 1970s. The economy was strong again, the mood in the country was better, jobs were growing, the GDP was up, and people felt optimistic again. That's why Reagan won a 49 state landslide reelection in 1984 and declared that it was "morning in America" again. That mood was reflected in the pop-culture of the time, which was influenced by MTV, Spielberg movies, and New Wave music and heavy metal. Now, when I compare that to the hellscape that is the post-9/11 apocalyptic 21st century, yeah... the 1980s are a lot better.