Take Me Back to the 80's

Directed by Spike Lee Released July 21, 1989 Written by Spike Lee Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB "On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence." I remember when I first watched this movie over four years ago. I was in my freshman year at college and I had to take a film appreciation course (technically I had the choice between music, art, and film appreciation and obviously film was what I wanted, duh). This was the first movie that we had to watch for the class and discuss. Now I don't remember much from that discussion, but here are the things that crossed my mind this second time around. First of all, it is easy for me to draw a parallel to the central theme of this film to what I see in my own city right now. When the heat comes out, so does everyone's intolerance, big mouths, and violence. It has never been a s...

Directed by Stephen Herek Released February 17, 1989 Written by Chris Matheson & Ed Solomon Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB "Two seemingly dumb teens set off on a quest to prepare the ultimate historical presentation with the help of a time machine." So the easiest way to explain this film is to just watch this honest trailer. There we go, blog done. That's all you need to know. Well the trailer is pretty accurate in terms of the kind of movie this is. In simple terms, it is a typical "dude" film. Not in terms of it being two guys together, but in the stereotyping and characterization of the high school slacker/dumb/surfer/stoner/band guy. Where the word dude is used more than actual words out of the character's mouth. It is the type of film that needs very little brain power and a lot of reliance on jokes based on stupidity. Now that isn't me saying that the film is necessarily stupid, I just mean in terms of joke...

Directed by Cameron Crowe Released April 14th, 1989 Written by Cameron Crowe Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB "A noble underachiever and a beautiful valedictorian fall in love the summer before she goes off to college." Okay, I am going to admit, I think this is one of the most overrated 80s movies. People seem to remember this movie for the simple fact of the iconic boombox scene. But I bet most people don't even remember the name of this movie or the plot, they just remember the boombox scene and automatically remember it as a great movie. Well it's not! Let's start off with the iconic boombox scene. Seems like a fair place to start.   First of all, this scene is so anti-climatic! It had potential to be great and iconic, but it fell so flat. Using the song that they made love to for the first time, yes. Coming to her house to prove that he cares about her and wants to be with her, yes. But what was accomplished? Nothing. She jus...

Directed by John Hughes Released August 18, 1989 Written by John Hughes Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB "Bachelor and all round slob, Buck, babysits his brother's rebellious teenage daughter and her cute younger brother and sister." What is there is say about this movie? I guess the best thing to say is it is clearly a character based movie. It is not the story, the sets, the action, or anything like that. This movie was clearly made based on a character and his life.  Uncle Buck is the uncle that we all wish we had and that we wish we didn't have. Played by the genius John Candy (I already praised him in my Spaceballs  blog), he is a special kind of person. He is clearly a mess, both as a person and his life in general. He doesn't have a real job, his relationship is well awkward, and his own brother doesn't really trust him. Buck seems like the slacker kid in school who some how found a way to con his way through life without being b...