rewrite this title POLL: Which Era Had The Best Movies?

Chris

Here at JoBlo, we’ve always had a deep love for retro movies. In fact, we even run YouTube channels dedicated entirely to that era. Those are the decades many of us grew up in, so yeah—we might be a little biased.

But it got us thinking: which era actually had the best movies?

That’s not an easy question to answer.

I’m a classic Hollywood buff myself. My TCM subscription is sacred (same goes for the Criterion Channel), and I’ll happily throw on something from the Golden Age—anything pre-1967. For me, Bonnie & Clyde marks the start of “modern” Hollywood.

That said, I’ve got a huge soft spot for the 80s. It’s the decade I grew up in, and honestly, those movies still hold up incredibly well. Think Ghostbusters, Raiders of the Lost Ark, RoboCop, Batman—these aren’t just nostalgic favorites, they’re still defining blockbusters. You could easily argue the 80s perfected the blockbuster formula.

Then you’ve got the 90s, which delivered massive crowd-pleasers while also ushering in the indie boom. It’s the decade that gave us Pulp Fiction and reshaped what mainstream audiences were willing to embrace.

The 2000s deserve some love too—especially the back half of the decade, when audiences seemed more open than ever. You could have superhero movies and adult dramas coexisting in the same box office top 10.

For me, things really started to shift in the 2010s, when IP and franchises began to dominate theaters. It’s easy to say that’s when movies declined—but that’s not entirely fair. A lot of those franchise films were great… at least before things started to feel a little repetitive.

The 2020s, meanwhile, have had a rough go of it. Between the pandemic and the SAG-AFTRA/WGA strikes, the industry has taken some major hits—and it still feels like it’s recovering.

But enough about what I think.

We want to hear from you. Which decade had the best movies? Take the poll and let us know.

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