My Favorite Vacation – European Vacation
Now don’t get mad at me right off the bat; the original Vacation movie starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Anthony Michael Hall and Dana Barron as the Griswold family is great. Fantastic. Amazing. Super funny. But, if you asked me which was my favorite of the National Lampoon Vacation series (besides the classic Christmas Vacation, which I put in its own category under...
A Most Excellent Movie – Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
With the school year coming to an end, my mind races toward a few typical end-of-school-year events. Sure, there’s prom, senior skip day, the anticipation of summer vacation and . . . oh yeah . . . graduation. There’s also that big project you need to get done before the end of the year! That one where you need to go back in time in a phone booth, gather a bunch of historical figures to get up in front of your school in a rock star...
Why Summer Rental is the Quintessential 80s Summer Movie
We had free HBO last weekend and as usual we recorded (or “taped” as I like to say…) a bunch of movies so we’re all stocked up for a while. I’ll finally see Dallas Buyers Club, that great/weird documentary on Scientology, and the Melissa McCarthy/Sandra Bullock cop movie. As my husband and I were scrolling through the guide filling up our hungry DVR something special caught my eye. “Ooooh Summer Rental! Record Summer Rental! I...
My Hero: Mr. Mom
Before he played Birdman and before his signature role as the caped crusader in Tim Burton’s Batman, Michael Keaton played a different kind of hero in the 1983 hit comedy, Mr. Mom. In addition to Keaton, Mr. Mom featured an amazing 80s cast including Teri Garr, Martin Mull, Jeffrey Tambor, and Ann Jillian. During the mid-80s the movie was an HBO staple for my brother and me; we watched Mr. Mom on a loop, and we loved it. When Michael...
Back to School, 1986
Yes, it’s that time of year again. When I think of back to school, I think of the following things: 1) Big yellow school busses, the sound of the bell ringing, and autumn leaves crunching underneath my feet, 2) My own childhood and how excited I got about back to school shopping and planning my first day of school outfit, and 3) A totally realistic 1986 comedy starring Rodney Dangerfield. This movie came on AMC the other night...
Summer School – The Movie (1987)
By Lori Ferraro There were several movies that I saw in the movie theatre more than once in the 80s because I loved them (Pretty in Pink) because it had cute boys (Top Gun) or because it was funny . . . Summer School was one of the funny ones. This totally underrated, silly, teenage comedy gem from 1987 stars a foxy Mark Harmon, Kirstie Alley and Courtney Thorne-Smith waaay before she grew up and moved to Melrose Place. Mark Harmon...
Netflix Sends Some 80s Love
May 5, 2014 May 1st saw the addition of some great 80s cinema to the streaming catalog on Netflix, including 1987’s “Adventures in Babysitting” (don’t bother denying how much you loved that movie) and 1983’s “The Big Chill.” I wasn’t old enough to appreciate “The Big Chill” in 1983, but now that I am middle-aged myself, it may be time for a re-watch. What’s even more exciting is the addition of not one, not two, but three...
The Video Store
Oh, please . . . say it ain’t so . . . yet another thing from my childhood doomed to the 80s graveyard? Not my awesome, big, boxy VHS tapes! I’m not ready for VHS to RIP just yet. Beta, sure, I’m fine with Beta . . . but not my tapes. My first two jobs ever were at video stores so I feel a real affinity toward VHS tapes. From the giant cardboard boxes displayed on the shelves, to the clear plastic boxes I would snap the tapes into for...
The Hunger, 1983
A film commentary by Romy Shiller, PhD ABOUT: The Hunger is a 1983 British romantic horror film directed by Tony Scott. It is the story of a love triangle between a doctor who specializes in sleep and aging research and a vampire couple. The film is a loose adaptation of the 1981 novel of the same name by Whitley Strieber, with a screenplay by Ivan Davis and Michael Thomas. This film stars David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve and Susan...
Christmas Vacation, 1989
By Ryan Zimmerman There’s one word that instantly brings to mind the joys and holiday spirit we all look forward to each Christmas season. Just one word personifies family, fun and feasts. That word isn’t “Santa” or “gifts” or “snow.” That word my friends, is “Griswold.” In National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, released on December 1, 1989, mistake-prone patriarch Clark W. Griswold throws caution (and previous family disasters aside)...
Terror Train (1980)
By James Porter “The boys and girls of Sigma Phi, some will live, some will die.” I’ll let you in on a little something—I like trains. I grew up watching Thomas the Tank Engine, I’ve owned three model train sets in my lifetime (one of which I still have the locomotive displayed on my desk), and I’m looking to volunteer at the local railroad museum. So, movies with trains call to me, regardless of the quality. Terror...
Be Kind Rewind: Back to the Future Double Feature
By Michael Nazarewycz Polish Up That Stainless Steel! Very few people dominated both the big and small screens in the 1980s the way Michael J. Fox did. After small parts and just-misses, the Canadian actor landed the role of young Republican Alex P. Keaton on TV’s Family Ties in 1982. By 1985, the show was the #2 rated comedy in the in US (Behind only The Cosby Show), thanks mostly to Fox’s likeability. That likeability translated...
Manhunter (1986)
By Michael Nazarewycz FBI-man Jack Crawford (Dennis Farina) has a problem. Two Georgia families in two Georgia cities have been brutally murdered. He knows that the two crimes are connected, based on the killer’s modus operandi, and the clincher is that the killings are happening based on the lunar cycle, which leaves Jack only three weeks before the next full moon and before the killer, dubbed “The Tooth Fairy” because of his...
1980s Movie Mt. Rushmore Part IV: The Slashers
By Michael Nazarewycz This is the fourth article of a 4-part series that will look at those people most influential on movies in the 1980s. Click here to read Part I: John Hughes, Part II: The Brat Pack and Part III: Kenny Loggins. The slasher film as we know it today was not born in the 1980s, but rather in 1974 with director Bob Clark’s Black Christmas. (Yes, the same Bob Clark who brought us such ’80s gems as...
Streaming the 80s with Netflix
March 27, 2014 For fellow subscribers to Netflix’s streaming service, awesome 80s movie and TV entertainment is just a click away. So make it an old school movie night at home. Pop some popcorn, grab a Tab (or a wine cooler), and escape back to the 80s. Here are our top picks of available 80s streaming, including comedy, romance, documentary, horror, and TV. Keep in mind that Netflix changes out their instant catalog regularly so if...
