Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "year-1981"
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1. Joker (2019)
R | 122 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In Gotham City, mentally troubled comedian Arthur Fleck is disregarded and mistreated by society. He then embarks on a downward spiral of revolution and bloody crime. This path brings him face-to-face with his alter-ego: the Joker.
Director: Todd Phillips | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy
Votes: 930,374 | Gross: $335.45M
2. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
PG-13 | 152 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Fearing that the actions of Superman are left unchecked, Batman takes on the Man of Steel, while the world wrestles with what kind of a hero it really needs.
Director: Zack Snyder | Stars: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg
Votes: 624,133 | Gross: $330.36M
3. The Usual Suspects (1995)
R | 106 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A sole survivor tells of the twisty events leading up to a horrific gun battle on a boat, which began when five criminals met at a seemingly random police lineup.
Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Stephen Baldwin
Votes: 988,575 | Gross: $23.34M
4. The Age of Adaline (2015)
PG-13 | 112 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A young woman, born at the turn of the 20th century, is rendered ageless after an accident. After many solitary years, she meets a man who complicates the eternal life she has settled into.
Director: Lee Toland Krieger | Stars: Blake Lively, Michiel Huisman, Harrison Ford, Kathy Baker
Votes: 154,528 | Gross: $42.48M
5. Argo (2012)
R | 120 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller
Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.
Director: Ben Affleck | Stars: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan Arkin
Votes: 571,395 | Gross: $136.03M
6. Predestination (I) (2014)
R | 97 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
For his final assignment, a top temporal agent must pursue the one criminal that has eluded him throughout time. The chase turns into a unique, surprising and mind-bending exploration of love, fate, identity and time travel taboos.
Directors: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, Noah Taylor, Madeleine West
Votes: 251,918 | Gross: $0.07M
7. American Made (2017)
R | 115 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
The story of Barry Seal, an American pilot who became a drug-runner for the CIA in the 1980s in a clandestine operation that would be exposed as the Iran-Contra Affair.
Director: Doug Liman | Stars: Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright, Jesse Plemons
Votes: 158,137 | Gross: $51.34M
8. Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000)
TV-14 | 44 min | Comedy, Drama
A high school mathlete starts hanging out with a group of burnouts while her younger brother navigates his freshman year.
Stars: Linda Cardellini, John Francis Daley, James Franco, Samm Levine
Votes: 128,379
9. Black Mass (2015)
R | 123 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.
Director: Scott Cooper | Stars: Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson, Joel Edgerton
Votes: 167,684 | Gross: $62.58M
10. Pain and Glory (2019)
R | 113 min | Drama
An aging film director suffering from chronic illness and writer's block reflects on his life.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Antonio Banderas, Asier Etxeandia, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Nora Navas
Votes: 48,702
11. Love & Basketball (2000)
PG-13 | 124 min | Drama, Romance, Sport
Monica and Quincy love and play basketball together through many life challenges from childhood to adulthood.
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood | Stars: Sanaa Lathan, Omar Epps, Glenndon Chatman, Jess Willard
Votes: 18,581 | Gross: $27.44M
12. Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Romance
Set on the last day of camp, in the hot summer of 1981, a group of counselors try to complete their unfinished business before the day ends.
Director: David Wain | Stars: Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Michael Showalter, Marguerite Moreau
Votes: 54,008 | Gross: $0.29M
13. A Most Violent Year (2014)
R | 125 min | Action, Crime, Drama
In New York City 1981, an ambitious immigrant fights to protect his business and family during the most dangerous year in the city's history.
Director: J.C. Chandor | Stars: Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, David Oyelowo, Alessandro Nivola
Votes: 66,622 | Gross: $5.74M
14. Hunger (2008)
Not Rated | 96 min | Biography, Drama
Irish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Stuart Graham, Laine Megaw, Brian Milligan, Liam McMahon
Votes: 65,876 | Gross: $0.15M
15. The Old Man & the Gun (2018)
PG-13 | 93 min | Biography, Comedy, Crime
Based on the true story of Forrest Tucker and his audacious escape from San Quentin at the age of 70 to an unprecedented string of heists that confounded authorities and enchanted the public.
Director: David Lowery | Stars: Robert Redford, Casey Affleck, Sissy Spacek, Danny Glover
Votes: 40,406 | Gross: $11.28M
16. Breathe (I) (2017)
PG-13 | 118 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The inspiring true love story of Robin (Andrew Garfield) and Diana Cavendish (Claire Foy), an adventurous couple who refuse to give up in the face of a devastating disease. Their heartwarming celebration of human possibility marks the directorial debut of Andy Serkis.
Director: Andy Serkis | Stars: Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Hugh Bonneville, Ed Speleers
Votes: 18,852 | Gross: $0.49M
17. Private Parts (1997)
R | 109 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
The autobiographical story of Howard Stern, the radio rebel who is now also a TV personality, an author and a movie star.
Director: Betty Thomas | Stars: Howard Stern, Mary McCormack, Robin Quivers, Fred Norris
Votes: 33,887 | Gross: $41.20M
18. Behind The Candelabra (2013)
TV-MA | 118 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A chronicle of the tempestuous six-year romance between megastar singer Liberace and his young lover Scott Thorson.
Director: Steven Soderbergh | Stars: Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Eric Zuckerman
Votes: 40,677
19. Mysterious Skin (2004)
Unrated | 105 min | Drama
A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.
Director: Gregg Araki | Stars: Brady Corbet, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elisabeth Shue, Chase Ellison
Votes: 65,846 | Gross: $0.70M
20. The Traitor (2019)
R | 153 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The real life of Tommaso Buscetta, the so-called "boss of the two worlds," the first mafia informant in Sicily in the 1980s.
Director: Marco Bellocchio | Stars: Pierfrancesco Favino, Luigi Lo Cascio, Fausto Russo Alesi, Maria Fernanda Cândido
Votes: 8,256
21. Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011)
PG | 94 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
The life of a businessman begins to change after he inherits six penguins, and as he transforms his apartment into a winter wonderland, his professional side starts to unravel.
Director: Mark Waters | Stars: Jim Carrey, Carla Gugino, Angela Lansbury, Ophelia Lovibond
Votes: 88,116 | Gross: $68.22M
22. The Normal Heart (2014 TV Movie)
TV-MA | 132 min | Biography, Drama, History
A gay activist attempts to raise H.I.V. and A.I.D.S. awareness during the early 1980s.
Director: Ryan Murphy | Stars: Mark Ruffalo, Jonathan Groff, Frank De Julio, William DeMeritt
Votes: 33,672
23. Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (2015)
TV-MA | 30 min | Comedy
Follows the counselors and campers on their first day at Camp Firewood in the summer of 1981.
Stars: Marguerite Moreau, Zak Orth, Paul Rudd, Michael Showalter
Votes: 22,186
24. 200 Cigarettes (1999)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A collection of twentysomethings try to cope with relationships, loneliness, desire and their individual neuroses.
Director: Risa Bramon Garcia | Stars: Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, Dave Chappelle, Guillermo Díaz
Votes: 14,644 | Gross: $6.85M
25. Wonderland (2003)
R | 104 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In the police investigation of a brutal crime scene, one man was at the center of it all: legendary porn star John Holmes.
Director: James Cox | Stars: Val Kilmer, Lisa Kudrow, Kate Bosworth, Christina Applegate
Votes: 21,261 | Gross: $1.06M
26. Loving Pablo (2017)
R | 123 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A journalist strikes up a romantic relationship with notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar.
Director: Fernando León de Aranoa | Stars: Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard, Julieth Restrepo
Votes: 18,096 | Gross: $0.02M
27. Temple Grandin (2010 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 107 min | Biography, Drama
A biopic of Temple Grandin, an autistic woman who has become one of the top scientists in the humane livestock handling industry.
Director: Mick Jackson | Stars: Claire Danes, Julia Ormond, David Strathairn, Catherine O'Hara
Votes: 27,487
28. Tenebrae (1982)
R | 101 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
An American writer in Rome is stalked by a serial killer bent on harassing him while killing all people associated with his work on his latest book.
Director: Dario Argento | Stars: Anthony Franciosa, Giuliano Gemma, John Saxon, Daria Nicolodi
Votes: 20,507
29. Basquiat (1996)
R | 107 min | Biography, Drama
The brief life of Jean Michel Basquiat, a world renowned New York street artist struggling with fame, drugs and his identity.
Director: Julian Schnabel | Stars: Jeffrey Wright, Michael Wincott, Benicio Del Toro, Claire Forlani
Votes: 19,499 | Gross: $2.96M
30. Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017)
R | 105 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A romance sparks between a young actor and a Hollywood leading lady.
Director: Paul McGuigan | Stars: Annette Bening, Jamie Bell, Kenneth Cranham, Julie Walters
Votes: 8,647 | Gross: $1.03M
31. RBG (2018)
PG | 98 min | Documentary, Biography
The exceptional life and career of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who has developed a breathtaking legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon.
Directors: Julie Cohen, Betsy West | Stars: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Ann Kittner, Harryette Helsel, Stephen Wiesenfeld
Votes: 12,447 | Gross: $14.02M
32. God Help the Girl (2014)
Unrated | 112 min | Drama, Music, Romance
As Eve begins writing songs as a way to sort through some emotional problems, she meets James and Cassie, two musicians each at crossroads of their own.
Director: Stuart Murdoch | Stars: Emily Browning, Olly Alexander, Hannah Murray, Pierre Boulanger
Votes: 8,495 | Gross: $0.10M
33. The Final Terror (1983)
R | 82 min | Horror
A group of rangers go camping on unfamiliar forest grounds. All's well until the group members start getting killed by a cunning killer in the woods.
Director: Andrew Davis | Stars: John Friedrich, Adrian Zmed, Ernest Harden Jr., Lewis Smith
Votes: 2,626
34. Day of Resurrection (1980)
PG | 108 min | Adventure, Drama, Horror
After a virus devastates the global human population, survivors in Antarctica desperately try to find a cure and save the human race.
Director: Kinji Fukasaku | Stars: Masao Kusakari, Tsunehiko Watase, Isao Natsuyagi, Shin'ichi Chiba
Votes: 2,280
35. Kill Your Friends (2015)
Not Rated | 103 min | Comedy, Crime, Music
An A&R man working at the height of the Britpop music craze goes to extremes in order to find his next hit.
Director: Owen Harris | Stars: Nicholas Hoult, Thomas Conroy, James Corden, Georgia King
Votes: 8,951
36. Bandit Queen (1994)
R | 119 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of the bandit queen Phoolan Devi who was sent to prison in 1983 and got free in 1994.
Director: Shekhar Kapur | Stars: Seema Biswas, Nirmal Pandey, Rajesh Vivek, Raghuvir Yadav
Votes: 4,392 | Gross: $0.40M
37. Mao's Last Dancer (2009)
PG | 117 min | Biography, Drama, Music
In Maoist China, a boy is taken from his family and trained to become a dancer, but everything he knows is challenged when he is chosen to attend a ballet summer school in Houston, Texas.
Director: Bruce Beresford | Stars: Chi Cao, Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlan, Penne Hackforth-Jones
Votes: 7,400 | Gross: $4.81M
38. The Connection (2014)
R | 135 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A French police magistrate spends years trying to take down one of the country's most powerful drug rings.
Director: Cédric Jimenez | Stars: Jean Dujardin, Gilles Lellouche, Céline Sallette, Mélanie Doutey
Votes: 9,886
39. Happy (2012)
Not Rated | 76 min | Documentary, Drama, Family
Happy takes us on a journey from the swamps of Louisiana to the slums of Kolkata in search of what really makes people happy.
Director: Roko Belic | Stars: Marci Shimoff, Ed Diener, Richard Davidson, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Votes: 3,191
40. Madman (1981)
R | 88 min | Horror, Thriller
A legendary psychopathic murderer stalks a summer camp.
Director: Joe Giannone | Stars: Gaylen Ross, Tony Fish, Harriet Bass, Seth Jones
Votes: 5,092
41. The King of the Kickboxers (1990)
R | 99 min | Action, Crime, Sport
A cop goes undercover in Thailand to avenge his brother's death in this martial arts film.
Director: Lucas Lowe | Stars: Loren Avedon, Richard Jaeckel, Don Stroud, Billy Blanks
Votes: 1,508
42. The Dorm That Dripped Blood (1982)
R | 88 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Four college students are stalked by an unknown assailant while staying on campus over the Christmas holidays to help clear out a dormitory which is to be demolished.
Directors: Stephen Carpenter, Jeffrey Obrow | Stars: Laurie Lapinski, Stephen Sachs, David Snow, Pamela Holland
Votes: 1,837
43. Wacko (1982)
PG | 90 min | Comedy, Horror
Thirteen years after the "Lawnmower Killer" killed her sister, high school student Mary Graves and obsessed detective Dick Harbinger are on the lookout for the killer to reappear during the annual Halloween Pumpkin Prom.
Director: Greydon Clark | Stars: Joe Don Baker, Stella Stevens, George Kennedy, Julia Duffy
Votes: 951
44. The Song (I) (2014)
PG-13 | 116 min | Drama, Music, Romance
An aspiring singer-songwriter's life and marriage suffer when the song he writes for his wife propels him to stardom.
Director: Richard Ramsey | Stars: Alan Powell, Ali Faulkner, Caitlin Nicol-Thomas, Danny Vinson
Votes: 2,093 | Gross: $1.01M
45. K-9 and Company: A Girl's Best Friend (1981 TV Movie)
50 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi
One time companion of the Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith returns to Earth and carries on with her journalist career. Now, in 1981, she has managed to rebuild her career and has come, a matter of ... See full summary »
Director: John Black | Stars: Elisabeth Sladen, John Leeson, Bill Fraser, Ian Sears
Votes: 505
46. The Year I Became a Liar (2009)
Not Rated | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Filmmaker Ricardo Trogi recalls the events surrounding his family moving to a new neighborhood when he was 11 years old.
Director: Ricardo Trogi | Stars: Jean-Carl Boucher, Claudio Colangelo, Sandrine Bisson, Gabriel Maillé
Votes: 1,610
47. The Terry Fox Story (1983 TV Movie)
96 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
The true story about the Canadian cancer amputee hero who decided to run across Canada on only one leg to raise money for cancer research.
Director: Ralph L. Thomas | Stars: Eric Fryer, Robert Duvall, Chris Makepeace, Rosalind Chao
Votes: 566
48. Fracchia la belva umana (1981)
99 min | Comedy, Family
The world's greatest criminal and the world greatest loser share the same face... now they'll share the same life!
Director: Neri Parenti | Stars: Paolo Villaggio, Lino Banfi, Anna Mazzamauro, Francesco Salvi
Votes: 1,550
49. El calentito (2005)
Not Rated | 90 min | Comedy, Music
A posh girl introduces to a women punk band, having their first concert on a crucial event: 23F's coup d'etat.
Director: Chus Gutiérrez | Stars: Verónica Sánchez, Macarena Gómez, Juan Sanz, Ruth Díaz
Votes: 525
50. Espion, lève-toi (1982)
98 min | Drama, Thriller
Sébastien Grenier,a secret agent eliminates all his rivals in order to decipher who has killed some of his associates.
Director: Yves Boisset | Stars: Lino Ventura, Michel Piccoli, Bruno Cremer, Bernard Fresson
Votes: 828