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Movies: Popular Movies of 1988

Movies in chronological context: 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1988th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 988th year of the 2nd millennium, the 88th year of the 20th century, and the 9th year of the 1980s decade. 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United States (NSFNET) and Europe (Nordunet) as well as the first Internet-based chat protocol, Internet Relay Chat. The concept of the World Wide Web was first discussed at CERN in 1988. The Soviet Union began its major deconstructing towards a mixed economy at the beginning of 1988 and began its gradual dissolution. The Iron Curtain began to disintegrate in 1988 as Hungary began allowing freer travel to the Western world. The first extrasolar planet, Gamma Cephei Ab (confirmed in 2002) was detected this year and the World Health Organization began its mission to eradicate polio. Global warming also began to emerge as a more significant concern, with climate scientist James Hansen testifying before the U.S. Senate on the issue. ()

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3,899 movies found (page 1/130):

Die Hard(1988)

FSK: 16+ years
| 2h 11min | Action, Thriller
3.9/5 (with 4,953 votes)

NYPD cop John McClane's plan to reconcile with his estranged wife is thrown for a serious loop when, minutes after he arrives at her office, the entire building is overtaken by a group of terrorists. With little help from the LAPD, wisecracking McClane sets out to single-handedly rescue the hostages and bring the bad guys down.

My Neighbor Totoro(1988)

4.0/5 (with 3,615 votes)

Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister seeks help from the spirits to find her.

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Beetlejuice(1988)

FSK: 12+ years
| 1h 32min | Fantasy, Comedy
3.7/5 (with 2,945 votes)

After an untimely death, a newly dead New England couple seek help from a deranged demon exorcist to scare an affluent New York family out of their home.

Rain Man(1988)

FSK: 12+ years
| 2h 14min | Drama
3.9/5 (with 2,853 votes)

When car dealer Charlie Babbitt learns that his estranged father has died, he returns home to Cincinnati, where he discovers that he has a savant older brother named Raymond and that his father's $3 million fortune is being left to the mental institution in which Raymond lives. Motivated by his father's money, Charlie checks Raymond out of the facility in order to return with him to Los Angeles. The brothers' cross-country trip ends up changing both their lives.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit(1988)

FSK: 12+ years
| 1h 44min | Fantasy, Animation, Comedy, Crime
3.8/5 (with 2,498 votes)

'Toon star Roger is worried that his wife Jessica is playing pattycake with someone else, so the studio hires detective Eddie Valiant to snoop on her. But the stakes are quickly raised when Marvin Acme is found dead and Roger is the prime suspect.

Grave of the Fireflies(1988)

1h 29min | Animation, Drama, War
4.2/5 (with 2,281 votes)

In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.

Directed by Isao Takahata

Coming to America(1988)

FSK: 12+ years
| 1h 57min | Comedy, Romance / Love
3.4/5 (with 1,898 votes)

An African prince decides it’s time for him to find a princess... and his mission leads him and his most loyal friend to Queens, New York. In disguise as an impoverished immigrant, the pampered prince quickly finds himself a new job, new friends, new digs, new enemies and lots of trouble.

Cinema Paradiso(1988)

FSK: 12+ years
| 2h 4min | Drama, Romance / Love
4.2/5 (with 1,845 votes)

A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.

Akira(1988)

FSK: 16+ years
| 2h 4min | Animation, Science Fiction, Action
4.0/5 (with 1,769 votes)

A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.

Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo

Big(1988)

FSK: 6+ years
| 1h 44min | Fantasy, Drama, Comedy, Romance / Love, Kids & Family
3.6/5 (with 1,557 votes)

When a young boy makes a wish at a carnival machine to be big—he wakes up the following morning to find that it has been granted and his body has grown older overnight. But he is still the same 13-year-old boy inside. Now he must learn how to cope with the unfamiliar world of grown-ups including getting a job and having his first romantic encounter with a woman.

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!(1988)

FSK: 12+ years
| 1h 26min | Comedy, Crime
3.6/5 (with 1,544 votes)

When the incompetent Lieutenant Frank Drebin seeks the ruthless killer of his partner, he stumbles upon an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.

Rambo III(1988)

FSK: 18+ years
| 1h 42min | Action, Adventure, Thriller, War
3.1/5 (with 1,367 votes)

Combat has taken its toll on Rambo, but he's finally begun to find inner peace in a monastery. When Rambo's friend and mentor Col. Trautman asks for his help on a top secret mission to Afghanistan, Rambo declines but must reconsider when Trautman is captured.

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Child's Play(1988)

FSK: 18+ years
| 1h 27min | Horror
3.3/5 (with 1,351 votes)

A single mother gives her son a beloved doll for his birthday, only to discover that it is possessed by the soul of a serial killer.

They Live(1988)

FSK: 18+ years
| 1h 34min | Science Fiction, Action
3.7/5 (with 1,265 votes)

Nada, a wanderer without meaning in his life, discovers a pair of sunglasses capable of showing the world the way it truly is. As he walks the streets of Los Angeles, Nada notices that both the media and the government are comprised of subliminal messages meant to keep the population subdued, and that most of the social elite are skull-faced aliens bent on world domination. With this shocking discovery, Nada fights to free humanity from the mind-controlling aliens.

The Land Before Time(1988)

FSK: 6+ years
| 1h 9min | Kids & Family, Animation, Adventure
3.6/5 (with 1,126 votes)

An orphaned brontosaurus named Littlefoot sets off in search of the legendary Great Valley. A land of lush vegetation where the dinosaurs can thrive and live in peace. Along the way he meets four other young dinosaurs, each one a different species, and they encounter several obstacles as they learn to work together in order to survive.

Directed by Don Bluth

Twins(1988)

FSK: 12+ years
| 1h 47min | Comedy
3.0/5 (with 955 votes)

Julius and Vincent Benedict are the results of an experiment that would allow for the perfect child. Julius was planned and grows to athletic proportions. Vincent is an accident and is somewhat smaller in stature. Vincent is placed in an orphanage while Julius is taken to a south seas island and raised by philosophers. Vincent becomes the ultimate low life and is about to be killed by loan sharks.

A Fish Called Wanda(1988)

FSK: 16+ years
| 1h 49min | Comedy, Crime
3.6/5 (with 931 votes)

A diamond advocate is attempting to steal a collection of diamonds, yet troubles arise when he realizes that he is not the only one after the diamonds.

Willow(1988)

FSK: 12+ years
| 2h 6min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
3.5/5 (with 886 votes)

The evil Queen Bavmorda hunts the newborn princess Elora Danan, a child prophesied to bring about her downfall. When the royal infant is found by Willow, a timid farmer and aspiring sorcerer, he's entrusted with delivering her from evil.

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers(1988)

FSK: 18+ years
| 1h 28min | Horror, Thriller
3.1/5 (with 824 votes)

The apparently comatose Michael Myers is being transferred from one hospital to another, but he wakes up when the ambulance crew talk about his surviving niece, Jamie. After slaughtering his attendants, Myers sets out to find his one living relative who is, fortunately, being cared for by a kind and resourceful foster sister named Rachel. Meanwhile, the ever-cautious Dr. Loomis remains on the killer's path.

Bloodsport(1988)

FSK: 18+ years
| 1h 32min | Action, Drama
3.5/5 (with 749 votes)

U.S. soldier Frank Dux has come to Hong Kong to be accepted into the Kumite, a highly secret and extremely violent martial arts competition. While trying to gain access into the underground world of clandestine fighters, he also has to avoid military officers who consider him to be AWOL. After enduring a difficult training and beginning a romance with journalist Janice Kent, Frank is given the opportunity to fight. But can he survive?

Mississippi Burning(1988)

FSK: 16+ years
| 2h 8min | Drama, Thriller, Crime, History, Mystery
3.8/5 (with 691 votes)

Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where segregation divides black and white. The younger agent trained in FBI school runs up against the small town ways of his partner, a former sheriff.

Oliver & Company(1988)

FSK: 0+ years
| 1h 17min | Animation, Comedy, Kids & Family
3.4/5 (with 687 votes)

This animated take on Oliver Twist re-imagines Oliver as an adorable orphaned kitten who struggles to survive in New York City and falls in with a band of canine criminals led by an evil human. First, Oliver meets Dodger, a carefree mutt with street savoir faire. But when Oliver meets wealthy Jenny on one of the gang's thieving missions, his life changes forever.

Directed by George Scribner

Scrooged(1988)

FSK: 12+ years
| 1h 41min | Fantasy, Comedy, Drama
3.4/5 (with 640 votes)

Frank Cross is a wildly successful television executive whose cold ambition and curmudgeonly nature has driven away the love of his life. But after firing staff member Eliot Loudermilk on Christmas Eve, Frank is visited by a series of ghosts who give him a chance to re-evaluate his actions and right the wrongs of his past.

The Big Blue(1988)

FSK: 12+ years
| 2h 48min | Adventure, Drama, Romance / Love
3.7/5 (with 633 votes)

Two men answer the call of the ocean in this romantic fantasy-adventure. Jacques and Enzo are a pair of friends who have been close since childhood, and who share a passion for the dangerous sport of free diving. Professional diver Jacques opted to follow in the footsteps of his father, who died at sea when Jacques was a boy; to the bewilderment of scientists, Jacques harbors a remarkable ability to adjust his heart rate and breathing pattern in the water, so that his vital signs more closely resemble that of dolphins than men. As Enzo persuades a reluctant Jacques to compete against him in a free diving contest -- determining who can dive deeper and longer without scuba gear -- Jacques meets Johana, a beautiful insurance investigator from America, and he finds that he must choose between his love for her and his love of the sea.

Cocktail(1988)

FSK: 16+ years
| 1h 44min | Romance / Love, Drama, Comedy
3.0/5 (with 624 votes)

After being discharged from the Army, Brian Flanagan moves back to Queens and takes a job in a bar run by Doug Coughlin, who teaches Brian the fine art of bar-tending. Brian quickly becomes a patron favorite with his flashy drink-mixing style, and Brian adopts his mentor's cynical philosophy on life and goes for the money.

Red Heat(1988)

FSK: 18+ years
| 1h 44min | Action, Crime
3.1/5 (with 619 votes)

A tough Russian policeman is forced to partner up with a cocky Chicago police detective when he is sent to Chicago to apprehend a Georgian drug lord who killed his partner and fled the country.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master(1988)

FSK: 18+ years
| 1h 34min | Horror, Thriller
2.9/5 (with 576 votes)

Dream demon Freddy Krueger is resurrected from his apparent demise, and rapidly tracks down and kills the remainder of the Elm Street kids. However, Kristen, who can draw others into her dreams, wills her special ability to her friend Alice. Alice soon realizes that Freddy is taking advantage of that unknown power to pull a new group of children into his foul domain.

Hellbound: Hellraiser II(1988)

FSK: 18+ years
| 1h 37min | Horror, Thriller
3.2/5 (with 496 votes)

Doctor Channard is sent a new patient, a girl warning of the terrible creatures that have destroyed her family, Cenobites who offer the most intense sensations of pleasure and pain. But Channard has been searching for the doorway to Hell for years, and Kirsty must follow him to save her father and witness the power struggles among the newly damned.

Dangerous Liaisons(1988)

FSK: 16+ years
| 1h 59min | Drama, Romance / Love
3.7/5 (with 486 votes)

In 18th century France, Marquise de Merteuil asks her ex-lover Vicomte de Valmont to seduce the future wife of another ex-lover of hers in return for one last night with her. Yet things don’t go as planned.

Crocodile Dundee II(1988)

FSK: 12+ years
| 1h 50min | Adventure, Comedy
2.9/5 (with 473 votes)

Australian outback expert protects his New York love from gangsters who've followed her down under.

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