When I think of the '90s, I think of good cheer and optimism, in sharp contrast to the decades before and after.
And I miss raves. Nothing angsty about raves. “Peace, Pot, and Microdot!” A good age!
my list is simple: either the very best in that decade or (if it’s too much to ask of a decade), the one most watched.
1930s gone with the wind
1940s cassablanca
1950s singing in the rain
1960s the graduate
1970s the godfather 1
1980s ET the extraterrestial
1990s titanic
2000s harry potter and the sorcerer’s stone
A big, big, big part of 80s movies was the idea of teenagers’ high school experience being considered a worthy topic for exploring in movies. In that way, I would definitely agree that The Breakfast Club is the most '80s movie. The idea of Top Gun being “the most '80s '80s movie” would never occur to me. I feel like the movies, in order to fit this spot, need to encapsulate something that most people of the time period understood and could relate to. Fighter pilots are about the furthest thing possible from that.
ETA: Another big hallmark of '80s movies, which hadn’t really been explored before, was the exploration of family issues and dynamics; for that reason, E.T., as stated above, is another good candidate for “most '80s movie.” The movie was not really about an alien. It was about a family.
in my list, i would say the 50s was the most emblazoned decade with singing in the rain. it was about the golden age of hollywood (and how it was slowly deteriorating all the way to the present.)
1990 to 2010 is a bit difficult because all i can think of about those two decades is the rise of youth. titanic is a love story and little else. i would think the harry potter anthology dominated the screens during the 2000s.