Take Me Back to the 80's

Directed by Bob Clark Released November 18, 1983 Based on the Novel In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash  by Jean Shepherd Screenplay written by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown, & Bob Clark Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB "In the 1940s, a young boy named Ralphie attempts to convince his parents, his teacher and Santa that a Red Ryder BB gun really is the perfect Christmas gift." I know, I know it is a little early for Christmas. But in case you haven't noticed, I write these blogs based on release date, so this is just the one that is next. Let's just call it Christmas in August. Speaking of release date, though, it is actually interesting when they decided to release this movie. If you look, this movie was released in the middle of November. Which seems like a bad idea, but it actually turned out to work in their favor. This movie was a hit when it was released and when Christmas time came around, it was suppose to be out of theaters. But people...

Directed by Paul Brickman Released August 5, 1983 Written by Paul Brickman Within the first ten minutes of this film you get the 80s thrown right in your face. There are so many staples that it almost seems cliché when you watch it in the present day. First, you have the black Ray-Ban sunglasses, that all the cool kid in the 80s had in order for everyone else to know that they were cool. Then you have the endless smoking that the adults seem to not care or not notice their teenagers are doing. The letterman jacket that was worn by the popular guys and wanted by every girl from her boyfriend. Blue jeans, of course. Bikes, because instead of walking places, most people in 80s movies road their bike. Which is ironic because most people don't use bikes anymore, let alone have one handy for a quick getaway. And finally we get the taste of the cheesy techno 80s music used in the background. It is a staple in most 80s movies that there is at least one techno 80s song that is ...

Directed by Adrian Lyne Released April 15, 1983 Screenplay by Thomas Hedley Jr. & Joe Eszterhas Story by Thomas Hedley Jr. Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB "A Pittsburgh woman with two jobs as a welder and an exotic dancer wants to get into ballet school." How do movies normally start? At the beginning, yeah obviously. What I mean is the credits. There are many different ways of doing credits and the style in which they are done have changed over many generations. You have the running credits with just a title graphics and music playing. You have the delayed credits, where you play the opening scene and then go to the title graphic followed by some credits. You have credits that play out as the movie starts, that are hidden at the bottom of the screen. There are hundreds of others, but the one we see in  Flashdance  is the credits that follow the main character. They sort of act as a scene setter. We see what the character does on a daily basis, wher...

Directed by Steven Spielberg Released June 11, 1982 Written by Melissa Mathison Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB "A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape Earth and return to his home world." It is hard these days to name a classic movies without having Steven Spielberg's name on it. He has been credited for a number of classic films and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial  is no exception. In fact, if we rewind two weeks, you will remember I talked about Raiders of the Lost Ark  which was also directed by Spielberg. But it gets more interesting than that. While Spielberg was on set of Raiders of the Lost Ark, most of the script for E.T. was written. This was possible because the film's writer, Melissa Mathison, was dating (then married and divorced) Harrison Ford, the star of Raiders of the Lost Ark.  One thing that I find so interesting to watch in this film is E.T. himself. This movie was created back when CGI and animate...