Has anyone heard about this new movie coming out in March 2011 called "Take Me Home Tonight"? The film is set in 1988 and written by the writers of "That '70s Show". It stars an ensemble cast including Topher Grace, Anna Faris, Michelle Trachtenberg, Dan Fogler, and Demetri Martin.
(great to see Suncoast again and for those of you wondering like me.. Suncoast opened in 1988)
Here's the plot:
Summer is winding down in the San Fernando Valley, and so are the '80s. But on one final night during Labor Day weekend 1988, five friends' lives will intersect at an all-night party as they declare-for the last time before turning a corner into adulthood. MIT alum Matt Franklin (Topher Grace) was poised to make the most of the Me Decade. He should be in a corner office, starting his upward climb to full-fledged yuppie-hood. Instead, the directionless 22-year-old has taken a part-time job behind the counter of a Suncoast video at the local mall. But when Tori Frederking (Teresa Palmer)-the most popular girl from Matt's high school-walks into the store, he decides to take one last swing at greatness. With his twin sister, Wendy (Anna Faris), and their best friend, Barry (Dan Fogler), he rolls out for an epic end-of-summer party. We follow the trio as they say goodbye to the teenage friends and personalities that defined them. As the night wears on, Matt fakes an identity to impress Tori... Wendy faces a proposal from her high school sweetheart, Kyle (Chris Pratt) ... and Barry, having just been fired from his dream job of selling luxury cars, takes a walk on the wild side. --IMDB
Well, I have to admit that I do want to see this movie.. but if you look at the full cast there are a few names that will disappoint you and make you wonder why they would be in an 80's style flick.
The tunes on the trailer are promising, but not in the league of what the new TBS show "Glory Daze" is bringing every week.
Who's interested?
[ 16. December 2010, 09:24: Message edited by: Valley ]
Posts: 7845 | From: Smiling and glancing in awe in the back of a limo | Registered: Mar 2003 | Site Updates: 22
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So who did you think should not be in an 80's style flick? Just curious, I read the entire cast list and I don't even know who 3/4 of the cast are. I know the leads- Topher Grace and Anna Faris, and of course Michael Biehn.
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this looks great. i'll give any movie set in the 80s, a shot.
the movie actually looks decent. i recognize those people in the trailer and i don't mind them at all. i actually like anna faris a lot.
i love the song, 'take me home tonight.'
we still have a suncoast here in the valley. i understand they have closed so many stores, nationwide. i used to shop there a lot, but started buying from amazon.com....suncoast prices are high compared to amazon.
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I'm gonna be a big negative ball of pure downer for this, not because I think it's going to be a bad movie - it might be a perfectly enjoyable movie - but because...
1) Why do they set films in the 80's when there is no reason for doing so? Why not set it now? It doesn't become better because you slap a different year on it.
2) Movies made now but set in the 80's still feel like modern movies, because they contain knowing nods and winks to a hindsight about the decade that 80's movies themselves didn't have. They also have a different 'look' that directors don't seem to be able to capture now (different film stock - no computers for editing, etc).
3) Each decade has 'looks' that seem to go with the people which are more than simply the clothes they wore. People from 'now' dressed like people from 'then' just look like people from now. I don't know why that is, but it just seems to be that way. It's like you can feel that if the girls dropped their undies they would all have shaved their privates. I can't quite put it into words, but I think you get me.
4) I don't give any props to a film for putting songs that are already popular / classics on the soundtrack - I just don't. Most of the great 80's movies we grew up with had modern artists on the soundtrack with original songs that became classics. Even something like Back to the Future - a film which is about (in part) nostalgia for the 50's, managed to give us an 80's (then modern) pop classic hit single. All a movie packed with 80's hits does is remind me how sh!te modern soundtracks are, and makes me want to put on a 'Hits of the 80's' album instead.
5) Sticking with the music theme; why is it that whenever people put together the songs for these movies, a kind of decade-compression takes place where they seem to think that a song from summer '81 sits perfectly well next to a song from summer '87? "It's all 80's, though, right?" WRONG! It only looks that way with hindsight because it's all just 'old stuff' from the 80's. At the time there was a very real difference. Radio stations - and individuals - tend not to keep playing stuff from a couple of years before because it has usually been played to death, so they play new stuff instead. Also, do these people realise that when you listened to the radio in the 80's, you heard a lot of music from the 60's and 70's? The 80's was the decade when the boomer's got nostalgic ('Big Chill', 'Stand by Me') and it immediately followed Lennon's murder, there was a lot of nostalgia and idealising of the 60's and the political passion of that time in the 80's. But no, whenever we watch a movie made by know-nothings from now, it's always the same; cliched 80's fashions (usually at least a year or two out of when the movie is set), and songs from anywhere in the decade back-to-back, on top of that - no references to the past - the 80's (it would seem) was a bubble.
Anyhow... I'm ranting. I'll probably watch this movie, and it may even be really good. By my emotional response to the premise is... 'uuuuugh'.
Posts: 3383 | From: England | Registered: May 2003 | Site Updates: 21
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Logan - I know how you feel about number 3. It's kinda funny that Anna Faris is in this, considering her face is filled with botox and I'm sorry but that look wasn't around in the 80's???
But besides that....I think this looks like a fun movie. Seems to have that classic Some Kind of Wonderful type of love triangle going on.
Posts: 731 | From: Racine, WI | Registered: Dec 2003 | Site Updates: 0
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Valley Dated Julie From 'Valley Girl' (allegedly!)
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logan5 .. you make some valid points.. but my thought is that I rather Hollywood make a new movie set in the 80's than remake a movie that I already enjoy from the 80's.
Nothing new will ever replace my love for 80's movies, but it is fun to watch new movies and why not put a little 80's in them to make it more appealing for us to watch.
PittsburghGirl .. it might be just a rumor, but I heard some folks from a reality show make a cameo in the movie. Hopefully it stays a rumor.
Ronnie.. they had a Suncoast in the mall by my old house in Lexington and they would special order old 80's flicks for me. And yes.. they were more expensive, but they could get movies that nobody else knew existed .. well except maybe you and the other Rewinders here. Several of my friends worked at Camelot Records in the mall, so I almost changed jobs to work there in college. Glad I didn't now, but back then it was the place to work.. like Fast Times At Ridgemont High.
Posts: 7845 | From: Smiling and glancing in awe in the back of a limo | Registered: Mar 2003 | Site Updates: 22
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logan, I feel as though you have read my mind. I've been watching Glory Daze on TBS Ondemand, and I just feel like it could be set in 2010. It doesn't feel completely 80's to me. Adventureland was the worst example of a movie supposed to be set in the 80's. Logan you are right about everything you said.
Posts: 2287 | From: Pittsburgh | Registered: Nov 2008 | Site Updates: 0
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Valley Dated Julie From 'Valley Girl' (allegedly!)
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I guess my point is .. I rather watch "Glory Daze" reference the 80's with incredible 80's tunes than be "Glory Daze 2010" .. which I probably wouldn't watch.
Posts: 7845 | From: Smiling and glancing in awe in the back of a limo | Registered: Mar 2003 | Site Updates: 22
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i too, can see where logan is coming from. but i guess if i were going to make a movie, i would probably use an 80s theme and 80s music. but i would steer clear of using typical, overplayed 80s songs...remember hot tub time machine? i liked the music but the song choices were typical.
i agree with valley, about wanting to see an original movie about the 80s than a remake of another 80s movie.
but i think a lot of movies that are set in a previous time, or trying to capture a certain feel of a decade we've already experienced, don't always do the best job anyway. especially when it comes to the 80s, because movie makers tend to focus too much on the cliches of the 80s period, so then it just ends up looking like they are just making fun of it, more than trying to capture the feel of it. i love the movie the wedding singer, but it doesn't completely feel set in the 80s to me either. the use of michael jackson's jacket, and christine taylor's madonna look felt "typical" to me...like it's placed there for the sake of representing that it's an 80's movie.
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In my book, no one has gotten it right, but P.T. Anderson in Boogie nights!
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Valley Dated Julie From 'Valley Girl' (allegedly!)
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I think we should make our own 80's style movie .. how incredible would that be?
Posts: 7845 | From: Smiling and glancing in awe in the back of a limo | Registered: Mar 2003 | Site Updates: 22
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Woo-hoo! CIVIL WAR! I never expected my post to cause a debate! Nice!
Me and Pittsburghgirl are like the outgunned Confederacy - but we have some sympathy from the border states! This is going to tear the Rewind apart!
In honour of this divisive split, I shall attempt to do a typically *MASSIVE RESPONSE* and reference most peepulz poyntz, thusly...
quote:.. you make some valid points.. but my thought is that I rather Hollywood make a new movie set in the 80's than remake a movie that I already enjoy from the 80's.
If that's the choice (and it probably is), then I would agree with you.
quote:Nothing new will ever replace my love for 80's movies, but it is fun to watch new movies and why not put a little 80's in them to make it more appealing for us to watch.
I was searching for a word that would sum up exactly why I have a problem with them, and after thinking it out for a bit, the best I could do was to say that they seem... "ersatz". Does that make sense?
quote:Logan - I know how you feel about number 3. It's kinda funny that Anna Faris is in this, considering her face is filled with botox and I'm sorry but that look wasn't around in the 80's???
This is true. It's details like that they seem to miss when 'dressing' for the decade. They also seem to forget that women in the 80's had full eyebrows. Something that was more-or-less outlawed from the 90's to today. I hear that full brows are coming back, and as someone that never minded a full brow, all I can say is... bring it on!
quote:logan, I feel as though you have read my mind. I've been watching Glory Daze on TBS Ondemand, and I just feel like it could be set in 2010. It doesn't feel completely 80's to me. Adventureland was the worst example of a movie supposed to be set in the 80's. Logan you are right about everything you said.
You and me - standing alone! Islands in the stream! Nice to know I'm not the only one that feels like this.
quote:I guess my point is .. I rather watch "Glory Daze" reference the 80's with incredible 80's tunes than be "Glory Daze 2010" .. which I probably wouldn't watch.
I see what you're saying, and I agree. But I think that in some ways, we are still seeing a 2010 Glory Daze... if you know what I mean.
quote:i too, can see where logan is coming from. but i guess if i were going to make a movie, i would probably use an 80s theme and 80s music. but i would steer clear of using typical, overplayed 80s songs...remember hot tub time machine? i liked the music but the song choices were typical.
I still haven't seen that. I'll bump it to the top of the watch list.
quote:i agree with valley, about wanting to see an original movie about the 80s than a remake of another 80s movie. but i think a lot of movies that are set in a previous time, or trying to capture a certain feel of a decade we've already experienced, don't always do the best job anyway. especially when it comes to the 80s, because movie makers tend to focus too much on the cliches of the 80s period, so then it just ends up looking like they are just making fun of it, more than trying to capture the feel of it. i love the movie the wedding singer, but it doesn't completely feel set in the 80s to me either. the use of michael jackson's jacket, and christine taylor's madonna look felt "typical" to me...like it's placed there for the sake of representing that it's an 80's movie.
Very diplomatic... and very true.
quote:In my book, no one has gotten it right, but P.T. Anderson in Boogie nights!
Funny, I was actually going to reference 'Boogie Nights' as a good 'relive the past' movie. I also think that films like 'Stand by Me' do a good job - though I have no experience of the era. I think serious movies generally tend to treat the era's in which they're set with more respect, rather than just wallowing in pop-culture references to wink at the audience.
quote:I think we should make our own 80's style movie .. how incredible would that be?
It would be the... Best. Movie. Ever.
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Helen_S
Hiding behind the shower curtain.....
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Prediction: This movie will not be worth the amount of words written about it in this thread.
But Take Me Home Tonight is one of the best 80s songs ever, so I'm happy that this movie will get some younger people into good music.
Posts: 929 | From: Deb to Tone | Registered: Dec 2004 | Site Updates: 37
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quote:Originally posted by Helen_S: Originally posted by logan5: Woo-hoo! CIVIL WAR! I never expected my post to cause a debate! Nice!
Helen! That long piece of wood is far too high! Good guess, though!
Really; I just expected some "I see what you mean... I'm still looking forward to it" responses. All I needed was one to form an Axis... a Confederacy! REVOLUTION!
quote:But Take Me Home Tonight is one of the best 80s songs ever, so I'm happy that this movie will get some younger people into good music.
This is true. I think that the state of modern music and the internet is already helping to do that, though Posts: 3383 | From: England | Registered: May 2003 | Site Updates: 21
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Helen_S
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Islands in the stream- lmao Logan! I don't mean to be negative about Glory Daze. I do like the show cuz it brings back warm and fuzzy memories of my college days. I just don't get a completely 80's feel when I'm watching it though. I'll probably just rent Take Me Home Tonight when it is released on dvd. I'll wait to hear reviews from other Rewinders.
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Ralph Macchio just stated that he was gonna to the "Take Me Home Tonight" premiere tonight after a good first day of DWTS practice.
Anyone going to give this movie a chance?
Posts: 7845 | From: Smiling and glancing in awe in the back of a limo | Registered: Mar 2003 | Site Updates: 22
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Saw this movie today! While it is by no means a perfect movie, I have to say that I enjoyed every minute of it and it had enough "80's flavoring" in it to keep me more than satisfied.
It's the little details that really kept my interest the whole time. The high school that the main characters went to is called Shermer, the Suncoast video store is filled with 80's movie posters and a million 80's VHS tapes (It was fun trying to figure out what movies were on the shelves), it even had a VW Rabbit Convertible just like Cindy Mancini's in it. But the real star of the movie is the soundtrack. Has some of the 80's staples we hear all the time like "Come On Eileen," "What You Need," and "Hungry Like the Wolf," but I was very impressed when I heard "Fanatic" from the Valley Girl Soundtrack! That was definitely unexpected.
The plot is pretty run of the mill...reminded me a bit of Say Anything, 16 Candles, with a little bit of Can't Hardly Wait thrown in. If it wasn't set in the 80's, I don't know if I would've quite liked it as much as I did, but I'm not going to over-analyze it. Being able to sit in a movie theater for almost 2 hours and get an 80's sensory overload is enough for me Posts: 731 | From: Racine, WI | Registered: Dec 2003 | Site Updates: 0
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Also, the cast appeared in a music video for a cover of the song "Don't You Want Me Baby." Has lots of 80's movie references....check it out Don't You Want Me Baby Music VideoPosts: 731 | From: Racine, WI | Registered: Dec 2003 | Site Updates: 0
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I saw it Friday, I really enjoyed it, the car stealing scene with NWA was choice! As the years fly by I find myself enjoying these nostalgia trips, in my opinion not as good as Adventureland,but still worth seeing. It will bring you back for a couple of hours.
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Valley Dated Julie From 'Valley Girl' (allegedly!)
Member # 1322
So I've been waiting awhile to post about "Take Me Home Tonight" because Ronnie and I had an agreement that we would wait until we both had a chance to see it before commenting about it.
I just want to say upfront that the story was cute and definitely predictable.. but I still thought it was an excellent movie. I'm not going to get into too many details, but I totally want everyone to give this movie an 80's inspired chance.
The tunes were mostly of the fairly popular 80's variety.. but I know Ronnie had to smile when "Walking In LA" by Missing Persons started playing. Of course, I did the same thing when "The Fanatic" that was also used in the movie "Valley Girl" started to play. And everyone knows that I'm a Yaz(oo -those ohs are for Logan) fan .. hearing "Situation" was just awesome. One more.. "Doot-Doot" by Freur seems to be the song of choice for looking back at a love interest in the 80's lately, but it still worked perfectly in this movie.
As Veronica mentioned:
"It's the little details that really kept my interest the whole time. The high school that the main characters went to is called Shermer, the Suncoast video store is filled with 80's movie posters and a million 80's VHS tapes (It was fun trying to figure out what movies were on the shelves), it even had a VW Rabbit Convertible just like Cindy Mancini's in it. But the real star of the movie is the soundtrack. Has some of the 80's staples we hear all the time like "Come On Eileen," "What You Need," and "Hungry Like the Wolf," but I was very impressed when I heard "Fanatic" from the Valley Girl Soundtrack! That was definitely unexpected. "
And it truly is the little details like all the 80's style to the opening credits that really make "Take Me Home Tonight" so much fun to watch!
I was a Suncoast Motion Picture movie buff for years, but with the influx of technology .. it seemed to slip away. But after watching this flick, I decided it was time to take me home tonight at the mall:
Is it sad that I envy the college student flirting with customers that looked like he was right out of the movie?
Wow.. It looks like Barry knocked the racks over again .. because this brilliant flick was obviously in the wrong section!!
Back to the movie.. I thought Toper Grace and Teresa Palmer were great together.. my fav parts were the awkward conversation before they danced and the trampoline "doubledog truth or dare" scene.
I heard that "Take Me Home Tonight" was on the shelf for close to 4 years due to the cocaine storyline. And to be honest, the movie has tanked at the box office.. but does that surprise us that a movie that does a decent job of presenting a cute love story would get rejected by today's audiences?
btw, anyone up for a dance-off?
[ 16. March 2011, 12:13: Message edited by: Valley ]
Posts: 7845 | From: Smiling and glancing in awe in the back of a limo | Registered: Mar 2003 | Site Updates: 22
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Just watched this last week. So far this is the best movie I've seen set in the '80s. I still haven't seen Hot Tub Time Machine or Wet Hot American Summer yet though. Great movie IMO though.
I will post my opinions more on this by the end of the week, later guys.
What is Glory Daze about? And what year was Adventureland set in?
[ 12. July 2011, 20:12: Message edited by: Anthony33 ]
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