1984

One of my favorite years for movie releases because it had many classic and memorable films, including:


Ghostbusters
A sci-fi comedy about three eccentric New York City parapsychologists. After they are fired from a university, they start their own business investigating and capturing ghosts. One of my all time favs. By far the film I've seen the most often, as a kid I recorded it once the movie was broadcast on television and played that VHS tape till there was nothing left of it.



Gremlins
Of course this scared me as a kid, but loved it too, you can't beat that mohawk! This horror-comedy film was directed by Joe Dante. It is about a young man who receives a strange creature named Gizmo as a pet, which then spawns other creatures who transform into small, destructive monsters.



The Karate Kid
Who doesn't remember this one? It became a trilogy, but the first ones are usually the best, this is no exception. It fulfills every kids bully-vanquishing fantasies. he film's awesome tagline was: He taught him the secret to karate lies in the mind and heart. Not in the hands.



Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom
I preferred 1 & 3 of the series, but this one is pretty good too. This film is darker in tone than its predecessor, it was always intended to be a horror movie as well as a remake of elements of Gunga Din (1939). The original title was "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Death." Like the first, it starred Harrison Ford as Jones, was directed by Steven Spielberg and based on an original story by George Lucas.


The Terminator
Featuring former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger in what would become his best-known role, and also starred Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn. Directed by James Cameron, who was only 27 years old at the time. An android has been transported back in time from 2029 to May 12, 1984 to assassinate a woman named Sarah Connor. My favorite one of the trilogy.



Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Everyone prefers The Wrath of Khan, as do I, but this one is a close second for me, it picks up where Star Trek 2 left off, I thought Christopher Lloyd did a great Klingon. Interesting Nerd Trivia: The destruction of the Enterprise had to be done twice, since the initial destruction sequence - which ended in a warp core breach rather than the saucer exploding and the remainder burning up in the Genesis planet's atmosphere - was deemed to have too little emotional impact, and also appeared to be too similar to the ending of Return of the Jedi.


Firestarter
Drew Barrymore's first gig. It's one of those movies I remember being better as a kid, but it still holds up pretty good. Charlie McGee, a young girl with pyrokinesis — the ability to create fire with the power of her mind, along with other psychic powers. She was born with her pyrokinetic talent due to her parents' involvement in an experimental drug trial in college. The drug left Charlie's father, Andy, with a mind-control power which he calls "the push", and her mother, Vicki, with limited telekinetic and mild telepathic abilities. However, their powers are weak in comparison to their daughter's talent. There's nothing like experimental drugs in the 60s to turn your new born daughter into a mutant I say.



This is Spinal Tap
Rob Reiner's mockumentary.
This is an old classic, I only learned to appreciate it a few years ago when I saw it again. It has been called one of the funniest movies ever made by many people over the years, I tend to agree. The film was accompanied by an album of the same name. In the years since the film was made the actors who portrayed the band members have played concerts and released music, blurring the line between fact and fiction.


A Nightmare On Elm Street
One of Johnny Depp's first gigs in film, scared the crap out of me, Freddy that is, not Johnny. By 1984, the slasher genre was wearing thin. Halloween bombed out with number 3, and Friday the 13th was falling into the dreadful mix of completely cliché horror. Without A Nightmare on Elm Street, that could have been it for the slasher film. With it, however, the genre was brought off the respirator for another 10 years when Craven did it again with Scream, but I digress. Wes Craven delivers a very original, creative, and well played out horror film that has the perfect level of plot, fright, gore, and imagination.


1984
Based on George Orwell's fantastic 1948 novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four". This is probably one of the most, if not THE most, masterful transitions from book to movie I have ever seen. filmed, appropriately enough, not only during the actual YEAR of 1984, but also during the exact same short span of months that the story took place in. Easily, its most impressive aspect was its phenomenal attention to detail.


Honorable mention: Two other favorites of mine, Goonies and Back To The Future came out soon later in '85.