Post by Fatal Rewind on Sept 1, 2008 20:09:47 GMT -5
Like I said to Hansoncutter, I was working on an "entertainment" section of the 80s, but she beat me to the punch with tv shows, so I'm dividing it up now...here's the "movies" section of it...
2/3 of the original Star Wars movies came out in the 80s. Even though many considered it to be the weakest of the trilogy, due to it’s happy ending (although rumors say that George Lucas originally meant for Luke to turn to the dark side of the Force and Leia would have to eventually save him), it still was a helluva spectacle. After all, who could forget the part where Lando said “fighters, coming in!”, which, even though less than 20 seconds long, took TWO DAYS to film. Even though a segment like that might still take the same amount of time to create nowadays, chances are very great that it would not be done with these silly things known as “plastic models” and actual “film”, and it still looks pretty good now. Hell, I recall when I showed it to a friend of mine in the 90s (he had seen the first two movies but not Jedi) and his reaction to that part was still “holy sh*t!”
3/4 of the Raiders of the Lost Ark movies came out too; even though the other two didn’t go for it, the original caused enough controversy with the melting faces scene to create the PG-13 rating later. These movies, among others (WarGames, ushering in the advent of the personal computer, Die Hard near the end of the 80s), coined the term “summer blockbuster”...hard to believe that summer used to be the “sleepy time” of movies prior to the 80s, especially with the late 80s entry of RoboCop, featuring a wicked sense of humor, a (mostly) nightmare future of a near-retarded underclass of society, and a cyborg bent on preserving the law, no matter how much firepower and explosions are needed to accomplish his goal. The low-budget A Nightmare on Elm Street was a surprise hit, as it was very inventive, even despite being made for little money.
There were also a slew of movies with quirky characters (and plots) as well, like 16 Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, and one of the kings of them all, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, combining satire, quirkiness, adventure, and even a musical number or two of what happens when a kid skips school. Another king would be The Princess Bride, although it was never fully realized until years later, due to a lot of people in general not understanding spoof. And probably one of the kings of oddness of them all, director Tim Burton (seemingly coming out of nowhere), acquired his fast rise with the odd Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, his unusual take on Batman (with the futuristic Batmobile alongside some 50s fashions and telephones out of the 60s), and the afterlife (Beetlejuice, wtf?!).
Not everything that stood out granted huge audiences, of course, as the rave reviews (but huge flop) of Casualties of War proved to be (which I guess was due to people not thinking Michael J. Fox in a war drama would work, although his Back to the Future movies did...another standout bunch of movies for the 80s, but Platoon did a lot better). True Believer, which was actually in the Guiness Book of World Records for being one of the most expensive flops of all time, was another hidden treasure (one of my all-time faves) of James Woods and Robert Downey Jr. in a courtroom drama full of suspense and twists (hard to believe the guy in the mental asylum was right all along). Flight of the Navigator was a great family/sci-fi film of a boy who disappeared during the 70s, then suddenly reappeared in the 80s without aging at all, which, despite great reviews, also didn’t do well. Tron was a helluva oddity, being set in a computer with glowing costumes and the advent of C. G. I. effects, and the kid sci-fi friendly E. T. did gigantic numbers as well.
Just a few from my standpoint...
2/3 of the original Star Wars movies came out in the 80s. Even though many considered it to be the weakest of the trilogy, due to it’s happy ending (although rumors say that George Lucas originally meant for Luke to turn to the dark side of the Force and Leia would have to eventually save him), it still was a helluva spectacle. After all, who could forget the part where Lando said “fighters, coming in!”, which, even though less than 20 seconds long, took TWO DAYS to film. Even though a segment like that might still take the same amount of time to create nowadays, chances are very great that it would not be done with these silly things known as “plastic models” and actual “film”, and it still looks pretty good now. Hell, I recall when I showed it to a friend of mine in the 90s (he had seen the first two movies but not Jedi) and his reaction to that part was still “holy sh*t!”
3/4 of the Raiders of the Lost Ark movies came out too; even though the other two didn’t go for it, the original caused enough controversy with the melting faces scene to create the PG-13 rating later. These movies, among others (WarGames, ushering in the advent of the personal computer, Die Hard near the end of the 80s), coined the term “summer blockbuster”...hard to believe that summer used to be the “sleepy time” of movies prior to the 80s, especially with the late 80s entry of RoboCop, featuring a wicked sense of humor, a (mostly) nightmare future of a near-retarded underclass of society, and a cyborg bent on preserving the law, no matter how much firepower and explosions are needed to accomplish his goal. The low-budget A Nightmare on Elm Street was a surprise hit, as it was very inventive, even despite being made for little money.
There were also a slew of movies with quirky characters (and plots) as well, like 16 Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, and one of the kings of them all, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, combining satire, quirkiness, adventure, and even a musical number or two of what happens when a kid skips school. Another king would be The Princess Bride, although it was never fully realized until years later, due to a lot of people in general not understanding spoof. And probably one of the kings of oddness of them all, director Tim Burton (seemingly coming out of nowhere), acquired his fast rise with the odd Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, his unusual take on Batman (with the futuristic Batmobile alongside some 50s fashions and telephones out of the 60s), and the afterlife (Beetlejuice, wtf?!).
Not everything that stood out granted huge audiences, of course, as the rave reviews (but huge flop) of Casualties of War proved to be (which I guess was due to people not thinking Michael J. Fox in a war drama would work, although his Back to the Future movies did...another standout bunch of movies for the 80s, but Platoon did a lot better). True Believer, which was actually in the Guiness Book of World Records for being one of the most expensive flops of all time, was another hidden treasure (one of my all-time faves) of James Woods and Robert Downey Jr. in a courtroom drama full of suspense and twists (hard to believe the guy in the mental asylum was right all along). Flight of the Navigator was a great family/sci-fi film of a boy who disappeared during the 70s, then suddenly reappeared in the 80s without aging at all, which, despite great reviews, also didn’t do well. Tron was a helluva oddity, being set in a computer with glowing costumes and the advent of C. G. I. effects, and the kid sci-fi friendly E. T. did gigantic numbers as well.
Just a few from my standpoint...
