Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "year-1981"
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1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
PG | 152 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
An orphaned boy enrolls in a school of wizardry, where he learns the truth about himself, his family and the terrible evil that haunts the magical world.
Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Harris
Votes: 856,166 | Gross: $317.58M
2. Joker (I) (2019)
R | 122 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.
Director: Todd Phillips | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy
Votes: 1,489,399 | Gross: $335.45M
3. 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: 203,194 | Gross: $42.48M
4. The Usual Suspects (1995)
R | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The sole survivor of a pier shoot-out tells the story of how a notorious criminal influenced the events that began with five criminals meeting in a seemingly random police lineup.
Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Stephen Baldwin
Votes: 1,145,603 | Gross: $23.34M
5. Griselda (2024)
TV-MA | 55 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Fleeing from Medellín to Miami, Griselda Blanco creates one of the most ruthless cartels in history.
Stars: Sofía Vergara, Alberto Guerra, Juliana Aidén Martinez, Martín Rodríguez
Votes: 37,640
6. Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000)
TV-14 | 45 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: 153,272
7. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
PG-13 | 151 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Batman is manipulated by Lex Luthor to fear Superman. Superman´s existence is meanwhile dividing the world and he is framed for murder during an international crisis. The heroes clash and force the neutral Wonder Woman to reemerge.
Director: Zack Snyder | Stars: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg
Votes: 752,515 | Gross: $330.36M
8. Predestination (I) (2014)
R | 97 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
As his last assignment, a temporal agent is tasked to travel back in time and prevent a bomb attack in New York in 1975. The hunt, however, turns out to be beyond the bounds of possibility.
Directors: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, Noah Taylor, Madeleine West
Votes: 304,748 | Gross: $0.07M
9. Argo (2012)
R | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History
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: 639,180 | Gross: $136.03M
10. 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: 208,243 | Gross: $51.34M
11. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)
R | 112 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Arne Cheyenne Johnson stabs and murders his landlord, claiming to be under demonic possession while Ed and Lorraine Warren investigate the case and try to prove his innocence.
Director: Michael Chaves | Stars: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ruairi O'Connor, Sarah Catherine Hook
Votes: 139,025 | Gross: $65.63M
12. Mysterious Skin (2004)
Unrated | 105 min | Drama
Two pre-adolescent boys both experienced a strange event and later it affects their lives in different ways. One becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous prostitute, while the other retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction.
Director: Gregg Araki | Stars: Brady Corbet, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elisabeth Shue, Chase Ellison
Votes: 76,332 | Gross: $0.70M
13. 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: 192,388 | Gross: $62.58M
14. 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: 77,624 | Gross: $5.74M
15. 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: 60,520 | Gross: $0.29M
16. 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: 24,322 | Gross: $27.44M
17. Empire of Light (2022)
R | 115 min | Drama, Romance
A drama about the power of human connection during turbulent times, set in an English coastal town in the early 1980s.
Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward, Colin Firth, Toby Jones
Votes: 24,166
18. Jungle (I) (2017)
R | 115 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
A group of friends join a guide for a trek into the Bolivian jungle, searching for an Indian village. The men soon realize that the jungle is a difficult place to be.
Director: Greg McLean | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Thomas Kretschmann, Alex Russell, Joel Jackson
Votes: 63,650
19. The Quiet Girl (2022)
PG-13 | 95 min | Drama
In rural Ireland, a quiet, neglected girl is sent away from her dysfunctional family to live with relatives for the summer where she blossoms and learns what it is to be loved.
Director: Colm Bairéad | Stars: Carrie Crowley, Andrew Bennett, Catherine Clinch, Michael Patric
Votes: 22,149
20. Ashes to Ashes (2008–2010)
TV-MA | 1,320 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
After being shot in 2008 while investigating DCI Sam Tyler, DI Alex Drake wakes up in 1981.
Stars: Philip Glenister, Keeley Hawes, Dean Andrews, Marshall Lancaster
Votes: 11,072
21. 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: 22,077 | Gross: $2.96M
22. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
R | 113 min | Biography, Comedy, Crime
An adaptation of the cult memoir of game show impresario Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell), in which he purports to have been a C.I.A. hitman.
Director: George Clooney | Stars: Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, George Clooney, Julia Roberts
Votes: 92,008 | Gross: $16.00M
23. The Haunted Hotel (2023)
TV-MA | 110 min | Horror, Thriller
Raina's life was threatened after she opened the door and entered an unnumbered room in the hotel managed by her sister, Fey. The figure of a woman with white hair and skin also made her presence known.
Director: Guntur Soeharjanto | Stars: Luna Maya, Christian Sugiono, Bianca Hello, Egy Fedly
Votes: 272
24. Breathe (I) (2017)
PG-13 | 118 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The inspiring true love story of Robin and Diana Cavendish, an adventurous couple who refuse to give up in the face of a devastating disease.
Director: Andy Serkis | Stars: Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Hugh Bonneville, Ed Speleers
Votes: 24,678 | Gross: $0.49M
25. Hunger (2008)
Not Rated | 96 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Irish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham, Stuart Graham, Laine Megaw
Votes: 73,556 | Gross: $0.15M
26. 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: 32,581
27. 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: 49,612 | Gross: $11.28M
28. Pain and Glory (2019)
R | 113 min | Drama
A film director reflects on the choices he's made in life as the past and present come crashing down around him.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Antonio Banderas, Asier Etxeandia, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Nora Navas
Votes: 63,120
29. Blue Bayou (2021)
R | 117 min | Drama
As a Korean-American man raised in the Louisiana bayou works hard to make a life for his family, he must confront the ghosts of his past as he discovers that he could be deported from the only country he has ever called home.
Director: Justin Chon | Stars: Justin Chon, Alicia Vikander, Mark O'Brien, Linh-Dan Pham
Votes: 10,463
30. Tenebrae (1982)
R | 101 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
An American novelist visiting Rome to promote his latest book is stalked and harassed by an obsessed fan who is committing a string of murders that appear to be tributes to his work.
Director: Dario Argento | Stars: Anthony Franciosa, Giuliano Gemma, John Saxon, Daria Nicolodi
Votes: 27,431
31. Uproar (2023)
PG-13 | 110 min | Drama
A 17 year-old student is forced to get off the fence he has actively sat on all his life to stand up for himself, his whanau (family) and his future in this heartwarming story of identity.
Directors: Paul Middleditch, Hamish Bennett | Stars: Minnie Driver, Rhys Darby, Julian Dennison, Craig Hall
Votes: 697
32. Satan's Slaves (2017)
Not Rated | 107 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
After dying from a strange illness that she suffered for 3 years, a mother returns home to pick up her children.
Director: Joko Anwar | Stars: Tara Basro, Bront Palarae, Dimas Aditya, Endy Arfian
Votes: 11,241
33. 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: 25,207
34. 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: 105,645 | Gross: $68.22M
35. 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: 23,300 | Gross: $1.06M
36. 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: 39,202 | Gross: $41.20M
37. 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: 45,398
38. The Normal Heart (2014 TV Movie)
TV-MA | 132 min | Biography, Drama, History
In the early 1980s, the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York led to an emergence of homosexual activists. With support from the medical community, they try to raise awareness about the disease.
Director: Ryan Murphy | Stars: Mark Ruffalo, Jonathan Groff, Frank De Julio, William DeMeritt
Votes: 37,795
39. Champions (1984)
PG | 106 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A British steeple chase jockey who, in the late 1970s, was diagnosed with cancer. Rather than succumb to the disease, however, Bob stages a miraculous recovery and goes on to win the 1981 Grand National steeplechase on the horse Aldaniti.
Director: John Irvin | Stars: John Hurt, Gregory Jones, Mick Dillon, Ann Bell
Votes: 749 | Gross: $0.17M
40. 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: 22,408 | Gross: $0.02M
41. And the Band Played On (1993 TV Movie)
PG | 141 min | Drama, History
The story of the discovery of the AIDS epidemic, and the political infighting of the scientific community hampering the early fight with it.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode | Stars: Matthew Modine, Alan Alda, Patrick Bauchau, Nathalie Baye
Votes: 11,008
42. Marley (2012)
PG-13 | 144 min | Documentary, Biography, Music
A documentary on the life, music, and legacy of Bob Marley.
Director: Kevin Macdonald | Stars: Bob Marley, Ziggy Marley, Rita Marley, Jimmy Cliff
Votes: 14,493 | Gross: $1.41M
43. Tin & Tina (2023)
119 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
After a tragic miscarriage, Lola and her husband Adolfo adopt Tin and Tina, a lovely brother and sister with an ultra-catholic education that makes them interpret Holy Bible verbatim.
Director: Rubin Stein | Stars: Milena Smit, Jaime Lorente, Carlos González Morollón, Anastasia Russo
Votes: 7,119
44. Madman (1981)
R | 88 min | Horror, Thriller
A legendary psychopathic murderer stalks a summer camp.
Director: Joe Giannone | Stars: Gaylen Ross, Tony Nunziata, Harriet Bass, Seth Jones
Votes: 6,740
45. 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 Diaz
Votes: 16,344 | Gross: $6.85M
46. The Devil on Trial (2023)
TV-MA | 81 min | Documentary, Crime, Horror
Using reenactments and home videos, this dark documentary investigates the apparent possession of a young boy and the brutal murder that followed.
Director: Chris Holt | Stars: Carlo Adamo, Hannah Mae Beatty, David Glatzel, Debbie Glatzel
Votes: 3,717
47. The Final Terror (1983)
R | 84 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: 3,744
48. The Beast of War (1988)
R | 111 min | Adventure, Drama, War
A Soviet tank and its warring crew become separated from their patrol and lost in an Afghan valley with a group of vengeance-seeking rebels on their tracks.
Director: Kevin Reynolds | Stars: George Dzundza, Jason Patric, Steven Bauer, Stephen Baldwin
Votes: 10,685 | Gross: $0.16M
49. Longtime Companion (1989)
R | 96 min | Drama, Romance
The emergence and devastation of the AIDS epidemic is chronicled in the lives of several gay men living during the 1980s.
Director: Norman René | Stars: Stephen Caffrey, Patrick Cassidy, Brian Cousins, Bruce Davison
Votes: 6,133 | Gross: $4.61M
50. 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: 10,731 | Gross: $1.03M