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...

Directed by Ivan Reitman Released June 26, 1981 Written by Len Blum, Daniel Goldberg, & Harold Ramis Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB "Two friends who are dissatisfied with their jobs decide to join the army for a bit of fun." We are back with another Bill Murray movie. Didn't take too long to find another one because Bill was one of the staples of the 80s, especially for 80s comedies. You know who else is an 80s comedian staple? John Candy! Which we find him in this film as well. Alright, let's get right down to it.  A-tten-tion! The first thing that should be talked about is the genre that is military movies. This has been popular over many decades because there is always a new war or a new type of military to showcase. Also, Americans tend to be drawn to violence, so military movies are a given in the U.S. What's different about this one, though, is that it is making fun of the U.S. Army. Often, when you see military movies, they...

Directed by Steven Spielberg Released June 12, 1981 Story by George Lucas & Philip Kaufman Screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB "In 1936, archeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before Adolf Hitler's Nazis can obtain its awesome powers." One of the first things that I find really interesting about this movie is the title. I didn't realize this until I went on IMDB to get some info, but this movie is only called Raiders of the Lost Ark . If you Google it or look on IMDB that is all it says (even though the movie posters say Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark). I find this really interesting because the other four movies have Indiana Jones in the title. I wonder why the first movie in this franchise wanted to be known only by the Raiders of the Lost Ark? You would think as the first movie of a franchise that they would want the character's...

Directed by Harold Ramis Released July 25, 1980 Written by Brian Doyle-Murray, Harold Ramis, & Douglas Kenney Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB "An exclusive golf course has to deal with a brash new member and a destructive dancing gopher." So, after watching this movie for a second time, it wasn't as bad as I remembered it being. Yes, it still has some cheesy humor in it, but it does have a decent storyline and jokes that are not ,horrible. While I probably won't watch this movie in my spare time, it is not the worst that I have seen. The first thing that struck me in this movie is the whole idea of college. Back in the 80s, it wasn't a given, like it is today, that everyone goes to college. While a vast majority of people did, it wasn't as big of a requirement as it is now-a-days to have a college degree in order to have a successful job. On top of that, Danny says that college is $8,000 a year! A year! As a recent college graduate...