20 Reasons Why Growing Up in the 80s and Early 90s Was Best Time For Cinema

5. Rob Reiner

It€™s hard to know how Rob Reiner would be seen by a younger generation, in some ways his films WERE the €˜80s. He€™s continued working since the period in question, but back in the €˜80s and early €˜90s Mr Reiner was busy making some of the most important films to an €˜80s generation, and each so different. Now I can€™t claim to have watched the comedic masterpiece that is This is Spinal Tap when just a few years old, but I can claim to have watched what came next (except for The Sure Thing €“ never seen it). In 1986 Reiner released Stand By Me, adapted from Stephen King it€™s part coming-of-age, part hilarious, part warm and sweet, part dark and part adventure. As with many €˜80s movies, Stand By Me didn€™t talk down to its audience, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Will Wheaton and Jerry O€™Connell swear like troopers (if you have a spare few minutes, read the quotes section of IMDb) as they hunt for that dead body whilst avoiding mean old Kiefer Sutherland. Next came everyone€™s favourite movie (might not be true) The Princess Bride in 1987. Even more quotable than Stand By Me, Westley, Inigo Montoya and Buttercup help make up the cast of characters in this peerless film. Fred Savage never got another bedtime story like it. Written by Nora Ephron and directed by Reiner, 1989€™s When Harry Met Sally€ was next. Marrying Woody Allen-esque sensibilities with her own wit and charm, Reiner wisely let Ephron€™s script do the talking. WHMS€ was very much the blueprint for ever other rom-com, good or bad, ever since. Next 1990€™s Misery, again adapted from Stephen King, Reiner helps create one of the scariest onscreen personalities of all time, introducing the world the Kathy Bates€™ Annie Wilkes. Finally, A Few Good Men in 1992, in some ways not the most iconic or of-its-time as the rest of the bunch, but what do I know, I can€™t handle the truth, or something.