1980s Movie Mt. Rushmore Part III: Kenny Loggins
By Michael Nazarewycz This is the third 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 and Part II: The Brat Pack. The movie soundtrack was born in the 1930s, became popular with the musicals of the 1950s, and produced two supernovas in the 1970s: Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Grease (1978). But only the 1980s could take the conventional...
1980s Movie Mt. Rushmore Part II: The Brat Pack
By Michael Nazarewycz This is the second 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. I wanted a tidy list. I wanted four individual people. I wanted a nice Mt. Rushmore graphic. But how could I? Mention 1980s movies to most people – 80s devotees or not – and a high percentage of them surely will think of the Brat Pack. And that’s why I couldn’t pick...
1980s Movie Mt. Rushmore Part I: John Hughes
By Michael Nazarewycz This is the first of a 4-part series that will look at those people most influential on movies in the 1980s. In the eight-year span between 1982 and 1989, John Hughes wrote, directed, and/or produced 16 movies. Of those, the titles of 14 are still easily recognizable today, even by casual fans of ‘80s films. And of those 14, at least three (The Breakfast Club; Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; Christmas Vacation) are...
Vision Quest, 1985
By Alexi Lalas At 15, wrestling was not my thing. Singlets and those lace-up shoes that looked like ballet shoes seemed like a silly way to spend two hours of my then-still-short life. However, pretty girls and rock music were an easy sell. Definitely worth $6.50 at the Showcase Cinemas in Pontiac, Michigan, a few miles from where I grew up. But Vision Quest, even two and a half decades later, is about a lot more than pretty girls and...
Extreme Makeovers: 80s Style
by Julie Anderson Who doesn’t love a dramatic, life-altering makeover? From these awesome 80s makeovers, we learned that we didn’t have to, like, learn stuff and change on the INSIDE. Changing our APPEARANCE was the only requirement for a huge burst of personal improvement. Turns out that a crimping iron, lots of Maybelline makeup, and the removal of a layer of clothing or two were really all it took to go from drab to...
The Wizard (1989)
By James Porter For kids who grew up in the 80s, one incredibly popular pastime was playing Nintendo. Having revitalized the US gaming market in 1985 with the NES, Nintendo had cemented itself as the new face of gaming with titles like Super Mario Bros., Ninja Gaiden, Castlevania, and The Legend of Zelda. Such enormous popularity of course resulted in LOADS of merchandise – action figures, masks, bed sheets, even breakfast cereal....
Dirty Dancing, 1987
Want to make a grown woman melt? Mention this movie. It works on so many levels: as an allegory about growing up, as a song and dance movie, as a love story. And Patrick Swayze as Johnny? All muscle and sparkling eyes and tough-but-tender sneer? Say it with me: “Nobody puts Baby in a corner!” This 1987 film follows Frances “Baby” Houseman (Jennifer Grey) during a pivotal summer in the 1960s. Baby and her family go to the Catskills for...
Top Gun (1986)
Tom Cruise in top form. There’s really no other way to say it. This 1986 movie is a bright, beautifully shot story about Maverick (Cruise), a pilot whose father’s legacy weighs heavily on him. Maverick’s father, also a pilot, was killed in combat along with other men. Many of his fellow pilots still think it was his fault. Once Maverick is recruited to join the Top Gun Naval Flying School, his fellow pilots won’t let his father’s past...
What do Quarterbacks & Molly Ringwald Have to do with Your Love Life?
By Bill Torgerson Twitter, Facebook, WordPress Author of the novel, Love on the Big Screen Assistant Professor Institute For Writing Studies St. John’s University New York There’s an old question that goes something like this: does art imitate life or does life imitate art? In other words, did John Hughes notice that women often sat in the bleachers pining for the high school quarterback, and so he wrote his film Sixteen Candles, or...
Terms of Endearment, 1983
This film just may be the ultimate tear-jerker, even nearly thirty years after it was released. There have been other films with sad endings—plenty of them—but the secret to this film’s power just might be its perfect portrayal of messy reality. The film follows Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine, who won an Oscar for the role) and her daughter, Emma (Debra Winger) throughout a three-decade span. That’s pretty much Emma’s whole...
Fave Fun Movies of the 1980s
Ah, movie going in the 80s. We had VHS tapes (or maybe your family, like mine, had a Betamax player for a while) and we had HBO, but there was nothing like going to see first run movies at the theater. My friend Gail and I would each get a huge icy cup of Sprite and a serving of nachos (with a cup of heated “cheese” sauce and extra jalapenos) and then kick back and watch the big stars on the big screen. The ideal watch-with-friends...
When Harry Met Sally, 1989
What a moment in time this film marks. Meg Ryan’s first “Meg Ryan” role (as in the cute-as-a-button, cheery, romantic sweetheart role she played again and again in the 90s, not that there’s anything wrong with that), and arguably Billy Crystal’s only successful “leading man” role. Billy Crystal as a cinematic romantic lead? It’s impossible to understand, even while watching this 1989 film, and yet, he pulls it off. Admirably. The...
Q, The Winged Serpent, 1982
By James Porter For some reason or another, whenever a giant monster appears in America, it’s always got to attack New York City. Think about it, King Kong went on a rampage through it in 1933, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms attacked it in 1953, Roland mmerich’s Godzilla ravaged it in 1998, and Cloverfield finally brought it down in 2008. One thing’s for certain, there have been a lot of monster movies set in New...
Bad Taste, 1987
By James Porter When you think of Peter Jackson, which of his movies immediately comes to mind? Of course, it’s the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the King Kong remake. However, while they may be his most famous works, and what made him the big media name he is today, they weren’t his first ever films. What you may not know is that Peter Jackson got his start in films in 1976, and made his cinematic debut in 1987 with a...
The Land Before Time, 1988
By James Porter Don Bluth. The name alone brings to mind many an animated classic, especially in the 80s, when he made some of his most memorable works of art. Of course, when thinking of his work, both All Dogs Go to Heaven and An American Tale spring immediately to mind. Both are timeless classics of course and worthy of their positions in cinematic history. However, for me, it’s different. For me, there is only one Bluth...
