What was the best era for popcorn flicks?

**Barkworm** · 02-08-2026, 01:45 PM

I was talking to a buddy about this yesterday and I'd pinpoint it to the late 70s until the early 90s. Sure, there have been some great comic book flicks in the last 25 years but those are all adaptations. Most of the popular films from the late 70s to the early 90s have aged really well and many of them had truly original ideas. Star Wars, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones etc etc. Nowadays, it's just a tragedy of the complete absence of creativity but the downtrend started in the mid-90s.

*CyberCubed* · 02-08-2026, 03:23 PM

Probably mid-80's through the 90's is where all the biggest action movies and comedy movies came out that people still talk about to this day. They were just making one cheesy action movie after another back then, and they were all just fun to watch. Sometimes you just want to see things get blown up, and we got it.

What's weird is they're different than 2000's action movies, a lot of which I find kind of boring. I don't know what it is, but the 80's and 90's movies had the right kind of "action and cheesiness" and comedy all rolled into one that made them fun.

*Andrew NDB* · 02-11-2026, 09:08 PM

Yeah, about 87-1997. For sure.

02-08-2026, 01:45 PM	#1
Barkworm Draconian leftist ruler Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Germany Posts: 6,759	What was the best era for popcorn flicks? I was talking to a buddy about this yesterday and I'd pinpoint it to the late 70s until the early 90s. Sure, there have been some great comic book flicks in the last 25 years but those are all adaptations. Most of the popular films from the late 70s to the early 90s have aged really well and many of them had truly original ideas. Star Wars, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones etc etc. Nowadays, it's just a tragedy of the complete absence of creativity but the downtrend started in the mid-90s. __________________ Make ****, not kill!

02-08-2026, 03:23 PM	#2
CyberCubed Overlord Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 43,887	Probably mid-80's through the 90's is where all the biggest action movies and comedy movies came out that people still talk about to this day. They were just making one cheesy action movie after another back then, and they were all just fun to watch. Sometimes you just want to see things get blown up, and we got it. What's weird is they're different than 2000's action movies, a lot of which I find kind of boring. I don't know what it is, but the 80's and 90's movies had the right kind of "action and cheesiness" and comedy all rolled into one that made them fun.

02-11-2026, 09:08 PM	#3
Andrew NDB Weed Whacker Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Auburn, WA Posts: 34,572	Yeah, about 87-1997. For sure.