There are so many good 80s movies. So many.

This post is for the @cinetv "Iconic 80s Movies" contest. See here.

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We have all of the 80s action hero movies. Terminator 1, Commando, Predator, Rambo 1-3. Arguably 1 has more of a 70s tone, but 2 and 3 were pure 80s. Of the Rocky movies, we had part 3 which just oozed 80s, and part 4 which wasn't far off.

We had Back to the Future which is to many people the quintessential 80s movie. That kind of straddled line between adventure and comedy and sci-fi, it hit all those.

The first generation of SNL stars were finding their groove. We had all those great comedies. Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, Caddyshack, the first three National Lampoon's Vacation movies. The frequently reoccurring SNL guest star, Steve Martin, also hit his groove, giving us Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Three Amigos, The Man With Two Brains, and more. Mel Brooks gave us Spaceballs.

Of course, we had all of the teenage movies with the Brat Pack, the most famous and popular of which was and is probably Breakfast Club. In fact, I think there was recently a poll in the Gen X subreddit, about what was the number one 80s movie, and I think Breakfast Club won that by a large margin. And of course, John Cusack gave us Better Off Dead, One Crazy Summer, and the iconic 80s image in Say Anything....

Well, I could go on and on. I was there in the 80s and I know them all. We could go on and on and any of these could be called the best movie. I would support any argument for any of these movies.

But to me, as a younger 80s kid (born in 78), the genre that impacted me the most, were the kids' adventure movies. Maybe you can see where I'm going with this. @raymondspeaks may have already guessed my pick. Scratch that—you all will know my pick because I'll include it in the post title. Ah well. Surprise ruined. Spoilers!

Now of course probably to many people ET would be on top of this list. Others would say Stand By Me. And there's many others we can go through. To me there were three that always stuck out in my mind.

• There was Explorers. You know, Explorers was a fantastic movie. It had the misfortune of being released right alongside Back to the Future so it failed at the theaters, but it was discovered and gained a large audience on VHS. It was River Phoenix's first role. I mean, it was goofy as hell if you think about it, but to a kid it was an amazing adventure.

  

• There was The Never Ending Story. The first film only followed the first half of the book, but few of us kids had read the book at the time so we had no idea what we were missing. It did an amazing job. To this day I will hear people around my age say random references to this film.

  

But to me, the movie that jumped out most of all, the one that endlessly inspired me, the one that was and remains one of my favorites of all time is none other than the greatest kid's adventure of all time: The Goonies.

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Goonies had it all. Goonies had comedy. Goonies has romance. Goonies has kids getting the best of witless crooks. And best of all, Goonies had a great adventure.

Best of all: they were my age. When I watched the Goonies, these kids could be my peers. I could be there with Mikey as he matched wits with One-Eyed Willy.

I followed them along on their hijinks at the beginning at the house, found the treasure map and decided to follow it, going into the Fratelli brothers hideout and escaping into the mines underground. I was on the edge of my seat as they navigated the underground passages, avoiding the booby traps, in search of the treasure.

I loved this movie so much. And I still love it. More than anything, when I think 80s movie, it's Goonies I picture. So for me that's my pick.

I showed it to my oldest not long ago. He loved it just as much as I did. He's still at the age that I think that movie really works for him. The kids are all his age, he doesn't really notice the bad effects, just the adventure pulls him in just like it did for me all those years ago.

One interesting thing about that is when I was a kid Data was my favorite character. I always loved his gadgets. Of course, he was also in Indiana Jones in The Temple of Doom. And his presence was probably one of the reasons that was my favorite Indiana Jones movie and remains my favorite Indiana Jones movie.

Anyway, when my son watched it, Data was also the character he liked best too. Now, my son is Japanese-American, so maybe he saw more of himself in the character because of his Asian face, I don't know. But it's interesting that he picked my favorite character as his own.

If you are too young to have seen Goonies, I can't recommend the movie enough. Go rent it now!

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.

Posted using CineTV