Take Me Back to the 80'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 Tony Scott Released May 16th, 1986 Written by Jim Cash, Jack Epps, Jr., Ehud Yonay, &Warren Skaaren Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB "As students at the United States Navy's elite fighter weapons school compete to be the best in the class, one daring young pilot learns a few things from a civilian instructors that are not taught in the classroom." Let's see if I remember how to do this. It has been awhile since my last blog.  Well for starters, as I have pointed out in many of my other blogs, a movie starts from the second the opening credits begin. Even though they are just opening credits, this is the time to get amerced in the world of the movie. So if a movie is not setting you up with the credits then they are not doing their job of getting you ready for the film and getting you, the viewer, into the right mindset for the film. With that said, Tony Scott made a great choice for the opening credit scene. The music used was s...

Directed by Rick Rosenthal Released October 30, 1981 Written by John Carpenter & Debra Hill Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB "While Sheriff Brackett and Dr. Loomis hunt for Michael Myers, a traumatized Laurie is rushed to hospital, and the serial killer is not far behind her." In celebration of Halloween this week, I decided to break the order of my movies and go with a festive 80s movie. Now you might be wondering, why I am starting with Halloween II instead of the original Halloween?  Well the original was actually made in 1978, so I couldn't put it in this blog. Therefore, I went straight to the sequel for this week's blog. So for those of you who didn't see the original, you might be a little confused on this movie. What I loved about this sequel is that it really does start right where the first movie ended. Not just moving on in hopes that you remembered what happened in the first, but it actually takes the last five or so minutes...

Directed by Steven Spielberg Released February 7, 1986 Screenplay written by Menno Meyjes Novel written by Alice Walker Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB "A black Southern women struggles to find her identity after suffering abuse from her father and others over four decades." I bet many of you are surprised to see this movie on the blog. It is not the same style and genre as a lot of the movies on this blog, but you know what it does have in common with those movies? This movie was made in the 80s, therefore I am going to talk about it! Now, not only does this movie portray a very hard part of history, but it also covers a lot of dark and disturbing subject matter. With that said, it is important for the creators of the movie to do their research on the history of this time period. Everything from the sets, to costumes, music, and most importantly the language. This is the part that stuck out to me the most in this movie, the way the characters all t...

Directed by Martha Coolidge Released August 7, 1985 Screenplay written by Neal Isreal & Pat Proft Story written by Neal Isreal, Pat Proft, & PJ Torokvei Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB "Teenage geniuses deal with their abilities while developing a high-powered laser for a university project. When their professor intends to turn their work into a military weapon, they decide to ruin his plans." We are back again with another science based 80s movie, for the second week in a row. No I did not plan this. This movie, I originally didn't think I was going to like. When I say that, it is because the first time I watched the movie, I wasn't in the best environment. The first time I saw this movie, I was a junior in high school in physics class. To put it nicely, I absolutely hated that class and physics in general. So, going into this movie, I had the bad memories of physics come back to me. But after watching the movie again, it actually...

Directed by John Hughes Released August 2, 1985 Written by John Hughes Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB "Two high school nerds attempt to create the perfect woman, but she turns out to be more than that." Welcome to another edition of John Hughes owned the movie industry in the 80s. It seems like I can't go more than a few weeks without bringing up his name.  In this classic, we see a lot of the staples of the 80s that I have discussed before. With that being said, a lot of what I am going to talk about is more about the story lines/situations in the movie. Before we get into those story lines, can we just acknowledge for a moment those horrible gym clothes. I have known for a long time that back in the 70s and 80s short-shorts on guys was a norm, but it is still an unusual sight to see. Could they have made those any tighter or shorter? Present day, you put girls in those kinds of outfits, let alone guys, you would be in some serious trouble...