Disclaimer: I was 5 (and a half) in 1980 and 14 (and a half) when we rang in the new year in 1990. That stated, get comfortable, because there’s a lot of ground to cover when it comes to 80s flicks.
I watched a fully rounded metric buttload (2.205 times larger than a SAE buttload) of movies as a kid, and as stated above, the 80s encompassed more than half of my childhood. Therefore, it’s understandable that I have a lot to say about my beloved childhood films, and even more obvious is the fact that I love to share those experiences with my kids.
Simply put, I watch a LOT of 80s movies with my children, often several nights each week. When we first started, I wasn’t sure how they would take them. After all, if my father had ever sat down to watch a movie with me during the 80s and busted out some black and white movie from the early 1950s, then, well, no offense to classic movie lovers, but that’s a hard pass. With that in mind, when I offered to watch my faves with my two youngest children, I feared they would view them with similar disdain.
Boy, was I wrong and glad to be so. Movie nights featuring films from the 80s are my kids’ favorites, so I’m offering an essential lineup of films to watch with kids, and in doing so, I am including three items for each film: 1) Quick quote (first one that came to my mind), 2) My take on the significance of the film, and 3) My kids’ reactions to the movies where applicable. I’ve also included links to IMDB.com for each movie in case you want to learn more about them. I briefly entertained the idea of putting age recommendations on when to watch them for the first time, but then I realized how the comments section would ignite once other parents realized how terrible an influence I apparently have on my own children.
Continue reading “89 Essential 80s Movies to Watch as a Family”
Josh Misner, PhD 