posted
I don't want to know just what your favorite 80's film is, I'd love to know why it's your favorite!
EG, my favorite is probably Fright Night. There are a few reasons why I love it, firstly, there are vampires. I also think Chris Sarandon is very sexily evil in his role as the bad guy.
I also like it because it successfully combines horror and comedy, something that doesn't always turn out well.
Posts: 3839 | From: Wangaratta, Vic, Australia | Registered: Jun 2004 | Site Updates: 0
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posted
As most people here know, my top 80s movie is Some Kind Of Wonderful.
Why? Whilst it's all subjective, and not the easiest to put into words, I guess it's for the following reasons:
1) The characters are a good mix of the kind of people you saw back then - rich and poor, popular and isolated, attractive and nerdy, a whole bunch of stuff. And the way they were acted was very believable.
2) The storyline hits the right note of hope, humour, friendship, conflict and triumph. More than in other John Hughes movies, where he's either conentrated too much on the conflict (Breakfast Club) or the humour and romance (PiP, Sixteen Candles). Here, for me, he gets the balance right.
3) It's got a character I can associate with directly in Keith. I was very much like him growing up (albeit not as an artist) and the way he handles loads of the situations, in a slightly nwervous but endearing way, is very familiar to me.
4) The soundtrack is great.
5) It's also not one of the high profile movies. I guess anyone can say they like TBC, or Ferris the best - it doesn't take much effort there. Same as all these morons for whom The Shawshank Redemption is "like, the best movie ever..." Sure it's good, but don't be a sheep all your life - think for yourselves!
Posts: 3646 | From: Shermer, IL - where else? | Registered: Mar 2001 | Site Updates: 37
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posted
Planes, Trains and Automobiles is on top because it's the perfect blend of humor and pathos. Everything in it is completely plausible and probably has happened to somebody before. You do feel strongly for both Neal and Del since they both remain sympathetic characters, even when Neal's at wit's end. In today's era when Hollywood is apparently suicidally bent on denigrating fathers as low as they can, Neal is refreshingly better. He knows he's been away too long and wants nothing more than to rectify it and be with his family. As for Del, in many ways I am him. I know exactly what he goes through, wanting to please everyone but sometimes trying too hard. It's easy to see why he was Candy's avowed favorite character; he simply reached into his own experiences to create him. His "you want to hurt me?" soliloquy isn't just on his own behalf, it's for everyone in the entire world who's ever been told they're worthless and no good. Sometimes people pan Hughes as being too sentimental, but if there isn't a strong enough emotional base to a film, it won't work, as today's so-called comedy writers fail to realize, thinking tacking on a supposedly uplifting ending to 100 minutes of sadism makes a film touching. And as for the comedy here, it all works and works perfectly(how many films can say they hit on 2 of every man's worst nightmares? ("Those aren't pillows!" and the cabdriver "helping" Neal up)). The best facet is the great pacing; when Hughes is ready for a joke, he hits us with 4 or 5 right in a row. Just when you think you've seen the best joke (e.g., Del getting his arms pinned down trying to take off his coat and spinning off the interstate), he tops it and then some (the immortal drive between the trucks). If mroe people tried to make a film this way, the world WOULD be a better place.
Posts: 2561 | From: Pennsylvania | Registered: Aug 2004 | Site Updates: 0
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quote:Originally posted by Chris the CandyFanMan: Planes, Trains and Automobiles is on top because it's the perfect blend of humor and pathos. Everything in it is completely plausible and probably has happened to somebody before. You do feel strongly for both Neal and Del since they both remain sympathetic characters, even when Neal's at wit's end. In today's era when Hollywood is apparently suicidally bent on denigrating fathers as low as they can, Neal is refreshingly better. He knows he's been away too long and wants nothing more than to rectify it and be with his family. As for Del, in many ways I am him. I know exactly what he goes through, wanting to please everyone but sometimes trying too hard. It's easy to see why he was Candy's avowed favorite character; he simply reached into his own experiences to create him. His "you want to hurt me?" soliloquy isn't just on his own behalf, it's for everyone in the entire world who's ever been told they're worthless and no good. Sometimes people pan Hughes as being too sentimental, but if there isn't a strong enough emotional base to a film, it won't work, as today's so-called comedy writers fail to realize, thinking tacking on a supposedly uplifting ending to 100 minutes of sadism makes a film touching. And as for the comedy here, it all works and works perfectly(how many films can say they hit on 2 of every man's worst nightmares? ("Those aren't pillows!" and the cabdriver "helping" Neal up)). The best facet is the great pacing; when Hughes is ready for a joke, he hits us with 4 or 5 right in a row. Just when you think you've seen the best joke (e.g., Del getting his arms pinned down trying to take off his coat and spinning off the interstate), he tops it and then some (the immortal drive between the trucks). If mroe people tried to make a film this way, the world WOULD be a better place.
Mate you've summed it up perfectly!!! Posts: 729 | From: Birmingham, England | Registered: Sep 2007 | Site Updates: 0
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pettyfan
Livin' next door to the Klopeks
Member # 2260
posted
The 'Burbs is my favorite because it's just a funny, goofy movie. It's just a movie that you can sit back and laugh at. The characters are all so paranoid it's funny. It's not a movie that requires you to think while you're watching it...you can just kick back and relax.
Posts: 2902 | From: Home Sweet Home | Registered: Jan 2004 | Site Updates: 0
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posted
I second THE BURBS as my all time favorite 80's flick! It is the lesiurely suburban vibe, mixed with the frantic paranoia, born out of boredom, that I think works so well here! All of the main characters are three dimensional, with their own funny quirks, moods and mannerisms.
It is also brilliantly written, every damn line in this movie is quotable, and even though it is pretty out there, it feels believable, and serves the chacters and the movie as a whole. Today, all we get is adolescent gross out humour, and painfully unfunny romantic comedies... where did the intelligent humour go?
I also really like the opening, zooming in on the universal logo, till your right down on the street where the story takes place. This is not just done for cool effect. It invites you, the audience to spy on these people, as they are spying on their neighbours. A sort of micro cosmos through the looking glass.
It is also funny that, the first time I watched this, I was rooting for Ray and his buddies to reveal the weird and mysterious Klopeks, right up till the scene where it looks like they were wrong, and then I felt sorry for the Klopeks, And then it was revealed that they in fact were evil, so I flipped around again. A movie of this genre, that plays with your mind and emotions like that, is pretty rare these days!
Posts: 1278 | From: Denmark,Europe | Registered: Dec 2007 | Site Updates: 3
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