There's really nothing that can be said about the 1980's that hasn't already been said. In short, it was a fun, vapid, poppy, shallow, optimistic, and overwhelmingly materialistic decade that was reflected in both popular consumer and popular entertainment products.
Yes, the 1980's, forgoing the leaps and bounds of artistry discovered by the filmmakers of the 1970's, saw movies become "products" that were being released by major corporations just like clothing lines, cassette players, or (neon) headbands.
The best American movies of the 1980's either unabashedly celebrated these notions and gave us great entertainment, or completely fought against the norms and pushed ahead towards greater discoveries. It is only natural that such a surface-driven decade would ignore some of the best of the best of the films released within it.
