Movies set in the 1980s capturing the era's culture, fashion, music, and spirit.
1980s Nostalgia Movies — 56 entries in the movies category, sortable by Title, Year, Director. Every row is ranked by community votes, giving you a crowd-sourced perspective you won't find on Wikipedia or IMDb.
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During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.
Call Me by Your Name
2017
Luca Guadagnino
8.1
Romance, Drama
Brazil
132
In the summer of 1983, a 17-year-old Elio spends his days in his family's villa in Italy. One day Oliver, a graduate student, arrives to assist Elio's father, a professor of Greco-Roman culture. Soon, Elio and Oliver discover a summer that will alter their lives forever.
Memories of Murder
2003
Bong Joon Ho
8.1
Crime, Drama, Thriller
South Korea
131
A sadistic serial rapist and murderer of young women terrorizes a small province in 1980s South Korea. To prevent further crimes, three increasingly desperate detectives with conflicting methods race against time to unravel the violent mind of the killer in a futile effort to solve the case.
The Wolf of Wall Street
2013
Martin Scorsese
8
Crime, Drama, Comedy
United States of America
180
A New York stockbroker refuses to cooperate in a large securities fraud case involving corruption on Wall Street, corporate banking world and mob infiltration. Based on Jordan Belfort's autobiography.
Bohemian Rhapsody
2018
Bryan Singer
8
Music, Drama
United Kingdom
135
Singer Freddie Mercury, guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and bass guitarist John Deacon take the music world by storm when they form the rock 'n' roll band Queen in 1970. Hit songs become instant classics. When Mercury's increasingly wild lifestyle starts to spiral out of control, Queen ...
A Taxi Driver
2017
Jang Hoon
8
Action, Drama, History
South Korea
138
May, 1980. Man-seob is a taxi driver in Seoul who lives from hand to mouth, raising his young daughter alone. One day, he hears that there is a foreigner who will pay big money for a drive down to Gwangju city. Not knowing that he’s a German journalist with a hidden agenda, Man-seob takes the job.
Dallas Buyers Club
2013
Jean-Marc Vallée
7.9
Drama, History
United States of America
117
Loosely based on the true-life tale of Ron Woodroof, a drug-taking, women-loving, homophobic man who in 1986 was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and given thirty days to live.
Just Mercy
2019
Destin Daniel Cretton
7.9
Drama, Crime, History
United States of America
137
The powerful true story of Harvard-educated lawyer Bryan Stevenson, who goes to Alabama to defend the disenfranchised and wrongly condemned — including Walter McMillian, a man sentenced to death despite evidence proving his innocence. Bryan fights tirelessly for Walter with the system stacked aga...
Sing Street
2016
John Carney
7.9
Romance, Drama, Music, Comedy
Ireland
105
A boy growing up in Dublin during the 1980s escapes his strained family life by starting a band to impress the mysterious girl he likes.
Donnie Darko
2001
Richard Kelly
7.8
Fantasy, Drama, Mystery
United States of America
114
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
Straight Outta Compton
2015
F. Gary Gray
7.8
Drama, Music, History
United Kingdom
147
In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us back to where it all began, Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of ho...
The Breakfast Club
1985
John Hughes
7.7
Comedy, Drama
United States of America
98
Five high school students from different walks of life endure a Saturday detention under a power-hungry principal. The disparate group includes rebel John, princess Claire, outcast Allison, brainy Brian and Andrew, the jock. Each has a chance to tell his or her story, making the others see them a...
The Traitor
2019
Marco Bellocchio
7.7
Drama, Crime, Thriller
Brazil
151
Palermo, Sicily, 1980. Mafia member Tommaso Buscetta decides to move to Brazil with his family fleeing the constant war between the different clans of the criminal organization. But when, after living several misfortunes, he is forced to return to Italy, he makes a bold decision that will change ...
Pride
2014
Matthew Warchus
7.7
Drama, Comedy
France
120
In 1984, a group of LGBT activists decide to raise money to support the National Union of Mineworkers during their lengthy strike. There is only one problem: the Union seems embarrassed to receive their support.
Mysterious Skin
2005
Gregg Araki
7.7
Drama
United States of America
105
A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
1986
John Hughes
7.6
Comedy
United States of America
103
After high school slacker Ferris Bueller successfully fakes an illness in order to skip school for the day, he goes on a series of adventures throughout Chicago with his girlfriend Sloane and best friend Cameron, all the while trying to outwit his wily school principal and fed-up sister.
Billy Elliot
2000
Stephen Daldry
7.6
Drama, Comedy, Music
France
111
County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles ...
Tetris
2023
Jon S. Baird
7.6
Thriller, History, Drama
United Kingdom
118
In 1988, American video game salesman Henk Rogers discovers the video game Tetris. When he sets out to bring the game to the world, he enters a dangerous web of lies and corruption behind the Iron Curtain.
The Hand of God
2021
Paolo Sorrentino
7.5
Drama
Italy
130
In 1980s Naples, Italy, an awkward Italian teen struggling to find his place experiences heartbreak and liberation after he's inadvertently saved from a freak accident by football legend Diego Maradona.
This Is England
2007
Shane Meadows
7.5
Drama, Crime
United Kingdom
101
A story about a troubled boy growing up in England, set in 1983. He comes across a few skinheads on his way home from school, after a fight. They become his new best friends, even like family. Based on experiences of director Shane Meadows.
The Iron Claw
2023
Sean Durkin
7.5
History, Drama
United Kingdom
132
The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. Through tragedy and triumph, under the shadow of their domineering father and coach, the brothers seek larger-than-life immortality on the bigges...
American Psycho
2000
Mary Harron
7.4
Thriller, Drama, Crime
Canada
102
A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.
The Dirt
2019
Jeff Tremaine
7.4
Drama, Music, Comedy
United States of America
108
The story of Mötley Crüe and their rise from the Sunset Strip club scene of the early 1980s to superstardom.
Bad Education
2004
Pedro Almodóvar
7.4
Drama, Crime
Spain
105
When an old friend brings filmmaker Enrique Goded a semi-autobiographical script chronicling their adolescence, Enrique is forced to relive his youth spent at a Catholic boarding school.
Argo
2012
Ben Affleck
7.3
Drama, Thriller
United Kingdom
120
As the Iranian revolution reaches a boiling point, a CIA 'exfiltration' specialist concocts a risky plan to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador.
Air
2023
Ben Affleck
7.3
Drama, History
United States of America
112
Discover the game-changing partnership between a then undiscovered Michael Jordan and Nike's fledgling basketball division which revolutionized the world of sports and culture with the Air Jordan brand.
Minari
2021
Lee Isaac Chung
7.3
Drama
United States of America
115
A Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the challenges of this new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
Precious
2009
Lee Daniels
7.3
Drama
United States of America
110
In Harlem in 1987, Claireece "Precious" Jones is a 16-year-old African American girl born into a life no one would want. She's pregnant for the second time by her absent father, and at home she must wait hand and foot on her mother, an angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School...
Big Trouble in Little China
1986
John Carpenter
7.2
Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Adventure
United States of America
100
Truck driver Jack Burton gets embroiled in a supernatural battle when his best friend Wang Chi's green-eyed fiancée is kidnapped by henchmen of the sorcerer Lo Pan, who must marry a girl with green eyes in order to return to the human realm.
Monster
2003
Patty Jenkins
7.2
Crime, Drama
United States of America
109
In 1989, prostitute Aileen Wuornos befriends and enters a relationship with a young woman named Selby. Determined to straighten out her life, Aileen's limited education lands her back on the corner. She's raped by a trick, who she kills. A string of murder and robbery follows that ultimately lead...
Eddie the Eagle
2016
Dexter Fletcher
7.2
Comedy, Drama, History, Adventure
United Kingdom
106
The feel-good story of Michael 'Eddie' Edwards, an unlikely but courageous British ski-jumper who never stopped believing in himself—even as an entire nation was counting him out. With the help of a rebellious and charismatic coach, Eddie takes on the establishment and wins the hearts of sports f...
Wall Street
1987
Oliver Stone
7.2
Crime, Drama
United States of America
126
A young and impatient stockbroker is willing to do anything to get to the top, including trading on illegal inside information taken through a ruthless and greedy corporate raider, whom takes the youth under his wing.
Hunger
2008
Steve McQueen
7.2
Drama, History
Ireland
96
The story of Bobby Sands, the IRA member who led the 1981 hunger strike during The Troubles in which Irish Republican prisoners tried to win political status.
The Lost Boys
1987
Joel Schumacher
7.1
Horror, Comedy, Thriller, Drama, Romance
United States of America
97
When an unsuspecting town newcomer is drawn to local blood fiends, the Frog brothers and other unlikely heroes gear up to rescue him.
Bones and All
2022
Luca Guadagnino
7
Horror, Romance, Drama
Italy
131
Abandoned by her father, a young woman embarks on a thousand-mile odyssey through the backroads of America where she meets a disenfranchised drifter. But despite their best efforts, all roads lead back to their terrifying pasts and to a final stand that will determine whether their love can survi...
American Made
2017
Doug Liman
6.9
Action, Comedy, Crime, Drama
United States of America
115
The true story of pilot Barry Seal, who transported contraband for the CIA and the Medellin cartel in the 1980s.
Summer of 84
2018
Yoann-Karl Whissell
6.9
Drama, Horror, Mystery
Canada
106
After suspecting that their police officer neighbor is a serial killer, a group of teenage friends spend their summer spying on him and gathering evidence, but as they get closer to discovering the truth, things get dangerous.
Borg vs McEnroe
2017
Janus Metz
6.9
Drama, History
Finland
108
The Swedish Björn Borg and the American John McEnroe, the best tennis players in the world, maintain a legendary duel during the 1980 Wimbledon tournament.
The Squid and the Whale
2005
Noah Baumbach
6.9
Comedy, Drama
United States of America
81
Based on the true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother, The Squid and the Whale tells the touching story of two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.
Let Me In
2010
Matt Reeves
6.8
Drama, Horror, Mystery
Sweden
116
A bullied young boy befriends a young female vampire who lives in secrecy with her guardian. A remake of the movie “Let The Right One In” which was an adaptation of a book.
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Frequently asked questions
How is the 1980s Nostalgia Movies list ranked?
The 1980s Nostalgia Movies list is ranked by community votes. Every visitor can pick one option over another in head-to-head matchups, and the running totals determine the order you see. No editors or algorithms — just real people voting.
How many entries are in this 1980s Nostalgia Movies dataset?
This dataset contains 56 entries, each with multiple sortable, filterable columns. The full table is visible on this page and can be downloaded as a CSV, JSON, or Excel file.
Can I download the 1980s Nostalgia Movies data?
Yes. The download buttons at the top of the page give you the full 56-row dataset as CSV, JSON, or Excel. Use of the data is permitted under a Creative Commons Attribution license — credit dtbse.com when you republish.
