The Nice Guys is a fun romp through the ’70s, and if you find yourself wanting to experience some other blast-from-the-past movies, look no further than this list of best period movies.
This year will provide us with more than just The Nice Guys if we want a trip down memory lane. (And if you haven’t seen our review, make sure you check it out.) We’ve already seen Hail, Caesar!, which takes place in the 1950s, and Apocalypse is right around the corner as it hits theaters on May 27, taking place in 1983.
We can also look forward to a beautiful 1920s setting from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a mustache-riddled 1980s era film in Everybody Wants Some, and a trip all the way back to the 15th Century with Assassin’s Creed.
Others make hints at their literary origins, though the time in which they take place is not nearly as important as the rest of the story. Alice Through the Looking Glass, for example, may be set in Victorian England, if only briefly, but the real focus is on a fantastical world outside of time. In much the same way, The Legend of Tarzan and The BFG take place in the past, though perhaps the exact year is never known.
If you’re looking for some other movies to transport you to another era, we’ve got you covered. We scrolled through the top 25 movies of each year between 2015 and 2011 according to Rotten Tomatoes and picked out all the major films that have taken place in the 1980s or earlier. In some cases, like Selma, the time period is very much a focus of the film, while in others, like Days of Future Past, it is a story which could be told at any time, as long as it’s given a few tweaks.
2015
‘Selma’ (1960s)
Synopsis: A chronicle of Martin Luther King’s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965.
‘Brooklyn’ (1950s)
An Irish immigrant lands in 1950s Brooklyn, where she quickly falls into a romance with a local. When her past catches up with her, however, she must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within.
‘Carol’ (1950s)
Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara) spots the beautiful, elegant Carol (Cate Blanchett) perusing the doll displays in a 1950s Manhattan department store. The two women develop a fast bond that becomes a love with complicated consequences.
2014
‘Mr. Turner’ (mid-1800s)
Eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner (Timothy Spall) lives his last 25 years with gusto and secretly becomes involved with a seaside landlady, while his faithful housekeeper (Dorothy Atkinson) bears an unrequited love for him.
‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ (1930s)
The adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous hotel from the fictional Republic of Zubrowka between the first and second World Wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend.
‘X-Men Days of Future Past’ (1973)
The X-Men send Wolverine to the past in a desperate effort to change history and prevent an event that results in doom for both humans and mutants.
‘Ida’ (1960s)
Anna, a young novitiate nun in 1960s Poland, is on the verge of taking her vows when she discovers a dark family secret dating back to the years of the Nazi occupation.
2013
’12 Years a Slave’ (1840s)
In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.
‘Dallas Buyers Club’ (1985)
In 1985 Dallas, electrician and hustler Ron Woodroof works around the system to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is diagnosed with the disease.
‘American Hustle’ (1978)
A con man, Irving Rosenfeld, along with his seductive partner Sydney Prosser, is forced to work for a wild FBI agent, Richie DiMaso, who pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia.
‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ (1961)
A week in the life of a young singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961.
2012
‘Argo’ (1980)
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.
‘Moonrise Kingdom’ (1965)
A pair of young lovers flee their New England town, which causes a local search party to fan out to find them.
‘Lincoln’ (1860s)
As the Civil War continues to rage, America’s president struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on the decision to emancipate the slaves.
2011
‘The Artist’ (1930s)
A silent movie star meets a young dancer, but the arrival of talking pictures sends their careers in opposite directions.
‘Hugo’ (1930s)
An orphan who lives in the walls of a train station is wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.
‘Midnight in Paris’ (1920s)
While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée’s family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s everyday at midnight.
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