Porky's

Porky’s (1982) is essentially a 1980’s American Pie, paving the way for that genre along with Animal House and others. The story is told through the eyes of high school boys, filled with testosterone and slight perversion. It is filled with the boys peeking into the girl’s locker room shower (as featured in the movie poster), going to the strip club Porky’s, and playing pranks on each other. While the humor is extremely juvenile and raunchy, the film is quite entertaining, especially if you are a teen. My favorite part is when Pee Wee, an extremely horny virgin boy, goes out on a date a little over ambitiously, already wearing a condom upon arrival. Also, more sexual humor includes the boys encounter with “Cherry Forever” a stripper, and a gym teacher out to find the culprit by hiring a sketch artist to draw a penis. On of the boy’s then jokingly remarks, “Have you seen this prick?” I truly believe that this film strongly influences films of today, and had a major impact on the teen sex film genre. It is not distinctly 80’s, as the subject matter of teen sexuality and confusion transcends the decades. I stated earlier, I would recommend this movie to teens (especially boys) but however not to adults. Adults seem to not appreciate this type humor. For example, I wouldn’t recommend this movie to my grandmother. So as long as your not watching with your parents, grandmother, or anyone over the age of 30, this is a classic 80’s movie which is an absolute essential for any American Pie fan.

Batman(1989)

Tim Burton’s 1989 film Batman will always be looked at as the start to an era of films. Since Burton’s film in 1989, four films about the dark night have come out with another on the way. Batman is centered on Bruce Wayne, a wealthy businessman and alter character Batman, a dark crusader who fights crime in the hellish city of Gotham. Actor Michael Keaton plays batman. Batman’s main enemy is the psychopathic clown The Joker, played by Jack Nicholson. Bruce Wayne and Batman’s main love interest in the film is Vicki Vale, a reporter/photographer who comes to Gotham City to find out more about the mystery that is Batman. The story takes us on a true adventure, giving us the feeling that we are actually right inside a comic book. The film however is not your average action film; it is rather dark and gothic. Batman is a true thrill ride and a film that inspired the string of superhero movies that we see making a popular genre today. The Washington Post said that batman is “Dark, haunting and poetic. Tim Burton’s Batman is a magnificent living comic book. From its opening shots, as the camera descends into the grim teeming streets of Gotham City, the movie fixes you in it’s gravitational pull.” This quote gives a good summarization of the film. The film shows little to no elements from the 1980’s, with amazing special effects and all star acting, I would recommend Batman to anyone who wants to watch a truly amazing film.

A Fish Called Wanda

A Fish Called Wanda is a 1988 classic dark comedy featuring Jamie Lee Curtis, John Cleese and Kevin Kline. Wanda (Curtis) is a sexually empowered woman (to say the least) with a lust for wealth, specifically diamonds. She plans to steal a large diamond from a London museum along with her boyfriend Otto (Kline) and two others. When plans go awry, each of the four begin a downfall of backstabbing in attempt to get the diamond for themselves. My favorite part is when Wanda and Otto need to talk their way out of a sticky situation when the lawyer’s wife comes home while Wanda is seducing him. In another hilarious part, Wanda continues her seduction with this lawyer at luxurious flat. This, however, is also interrupted, this time by an entire family walking in the door. The film stands up over time because it has you laughing out loud at the absurdity of the extremely well developed characters. Also, it is somewhat distinctly 80’s because it has a more modern view on women in society, having a sexually empowered female as the main character. Wanda is a woman who gets what she wants however necessary, including using men through seduction. You find yourself rooting for Wanda and other characters, even though they are not exactly moral people by any standard. I would recommend this movie to any comedy fan, and would actually go as far to say I would guarantee you would laugh. Also, who doesn’t love watching people try to pull off a heist? This is an 80’s film not to be missed.

The Fox and the Hound

“Forever is a long, long time, and time has a way of changing things.”

This is the touching story of a hunting dog and its friend who is supposed to be his enemy. A fox, Todd, and a hound, Copper, become friends, not knowing that they are supposed to be mortal enemies. They meet as young pups and their friendship simply expands as they grow older. That is until Copper realizes that his job, what he has been raised to do is to kill Todd. Copper tells Todd that their relationship is over and he and his fellow hounds chase the fox. Todd escapes while one of Copper’s friends is injured. From then on Copper swears to get revenge on the fox. After running hiding and moving around there is a showdown between the hunter, his hounds and the fox. During their chase the hounds disturb a bear, however, despite now being enemies Todd turns back and saves his former friend. The fox and the hound then go their separate ways, but knowing their friendship is intact.

This is probably one of Disney’s most under-rated movies. It is a story of friendship and persevering through the even the hardest times with those friends help. In this movie two things that were bred and told to be enemies survive because they went against the norms and were friends. I would recommend this for people watching movies with a young audience.

Big - 1988

A 13 year old kid named Josh goes to school, has a best friend and a crush in his suburban dream childhood. After being humiliated by a carny in front of the girl he likes and her sideways ponytail, he mopes off into the distance where he encounters the Zoltair machine. Unplugged, it's eyes alit in a red glow, it's mouth opens and closes like a fish desperate for water on its gills, the Zoltair offers young Josh the chance to make a wish. "I wanna be big".

The next morning young Josh awakes to find he is quite big. Something closing in on 40. Also he has become Tom Hanks. He runs off to the city of New York after his mom flips out about Tom Hanks breaking into her house and stealing her child.

Tom Hanks and Billy, his child friend, try to find the Zoltair machine and also get Tom Hanks a job while they wait the 6 weeks for the city to supply them the location. Tom Hanks shoots up the ranks of a toy company, and some woman named Susan falls in love him and lets him touch her tit, which officially makes this 13 year old man-child more sexually experienced than me. The boss loves Josh's toy ideas, his rival coworkers become jealous of him, and Susan becomes his girlfriend. But then Josh decides he wants to be a kid again and so Susan drives him to a Zoltair machine and he goes and makes a wish and while he walks away he shrinks back into a 13 year old in a man's suit and then Susan cries and it's really creepy because she's like 40 and he's like 13 and she still clearly loves him. Then he goes in his house and his mom starts yelling, the end.

This movie has cute moments and really obvious color symbolism but for the most part is just a really bad kids movie with the fuck word in it which strikes me as odd because this movie is rated PG. It doesn't have any moral really because no matter how awesome Tom Hanks life becomes he just wants to be a kid again which is stupid because he has, like, an awesome life, and because the most convincing argument the filmmaker can make for him wanting to go back is Tom Hanks watching some kids get their picture taken and playing stickball.

Also it's a really creepy movie. Elizabeth Perkins is in love with a 13 year old. He has sex with her. Maybe that just weird to me I don't know.

I like watching this movie but it really is just awful.

The Karate Kid is a 1984 John G. Avildsen film starring Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita. It is a martial arts movie and an "underdog" story much in the model of a previous Avildsen smash, the 1976 boxing picture Rocky.

Danny LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) is desperately eager to learn karate because bullies are tormenting him at his new high school. Unfortunately, these bullies happen to be students at the local dojo, where the philosophy is “strike hard, strike fast, no mercy.” Mr. Miyagi, Danny’s kindly neighbor, agrees to teach the boy karate himself after witnessing a particularly brutal episode of harassment. The elderly Japanese handyman convinces the dojo to leave Danny alone until the upcoming karate tournament, where they will settle their differences once and for all.
Throughout the movie Danny is constantly being challenged whether it be by himself or karate students who bully him. Once he meets Mr. Miyagi, he immediately begins to learn valuable life lessons such as discipline, respect, and courage. This movie is all about conquering your fears and how conquering fears can be a truly rewarding experience. This is a great movie for kids of all ages to watch, as they will learn that anything is possible with the right attitude and dedication. There are no dull moments in this movie. The film is balanced with funny and emotional scenes. This movie will definitely leave you with a good feeling inside.

Look Who's Talking

Look Who’s Talking debuted in 1989, it starred Kristie Alley, John Travolta, and had the voice talents of Bruce Willis. One of the most fascinating things about this movie is the opening scene in which the audience watches the sperm travel through the woman’s body and finally to the egg which it fertilizes, interestingly enough the sperm and the egg each have voices and the audience can hear the sperm’s determination to make it and the egg’s attempted protests. All this leads to a pregnant Kristie Alley, playing Molly, who’s boyfriend does not react very well to the news of her pregnancy and winds up going back to his wife. Molly is left to deal with her pregnancy alone, until the day she goes into labor. To get to the hospital she hires a cab, driven by James (John Travolta), who freaks out when he realizes his client is in labor and drives like a madman (even by NY standards) to get her to the hospital quickly; once there he is mistaken for the father and is quickly pushed into the delivery room, where Mikey is born. Later James call on Molly at her apartment as she forgot her purse in his cab, and he leaves as Mikey’s new babysitter. After a lot of strange circumstances including Molly getting back together with her ex, dumping him after he is not acting like a good father to Mikey, Mikey and James bonding, Molly’s parents pressuring her to get married, flight lessons, and James using Molly’s address to get his father into a nursing home the movie culminates in toddler Mikey high jacking a car with a breadstick at the nursing home. After that Molly and James realize, through their common love for Mikey, that they truly belong together and Mikey finally gets his perfect family . . . or at least until his sister is born in the sequel.

What makes this movie truly special, and more than your average romantic comedy, is that the audience can hear Mikey (and all the other babies) talk, even though the adults in the film can’t. The movie is truly from his perspective as he gives us witty commentary as to what the baby’s point of view on the events in the film, including begging to be put back in after birth. Mikey fails to understand why his mother calls a stranger his father when James is the one he hangs around all the time, he jokes, he’s sarcastic, and he gives the audience an innocent point of view on the romantic plight of his mother and his frustration at her inability to understand him. Look Who’s Talking is truly a fun movie to watch and is (in my opinion) one of the best films made. It’s a unique movie that has spanned a couple of sequels; Look Who’s Talking Too (in which Mikey gets a sister), and Look Who’s Talking Now (Mikey and his sister get dogs).

This film was directed by Joe Johnston and it stars Rick Moranis.
The absurd tale revolves around a nutty scientist & dad named Wayne Szalinski who is working on a machine to miniaturize objects. When his two kids plus their two neighboring friends wander into his lab, Wayne inadvertently shrinks the four of them. The kids then go through a series of crazy adventures that have to with them being so small. There were some pretty cool effects in the movie that really made me feel like I was as small as they were. Killer bees attack, a lawn mower almost runs them over, ants are gigantic, and the son almost drowns in a giant bowl of cereal. It was fun to see all the objects that look humongous from their point of view. The story has plenty of adventure and danger as the tiny kids brave the perils of the jungle, which is actually their lawn. I was never bored in this movie because once the kids were shrunken they were constantly facing a new adventure. I also liked the sense of camaraderie and teamwork between the kids.

Although this film is pretty cheesy, it is definitely fun to watch. The special effects are pretty cool but their not incredible. I definitely would recommend this movie to anyone who hasn’t seen it. I think it’s a movie that one you see it once you probably don’t need to watch again. The acting was not bad and the goofy dad was entertaining to watch. It’s definitely a great movie to watch with the family. I would stick two the original, the sequels are not as good.

Earth Girls Are Easy (1989)

"An out-of-this-world, down-to-earth comedy adventure."

This kooky comedy directed by Julien Temple, and written by Julie Brown and Charlie Coffey, stars Geena Davis as Valerie, writer Julie Brown as Candy, and Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey, and Damon Wayans as Mac, Wiploc, and Zeebo the aliens.

The film revolves around the life of Valerie Gail (Geena Davis) and her best friend Candy Pink (Julie Brown) and their "Valley Girl" lifestyle in California, including Valerie's job as a manicurist at the "Curl Up and Dye." In an attempt to make her fiancee more excited about their wedding, Valerie gets a makeover into a bleach-blonde, that proves to be futile when she walks in on her financee with another woman, causing them to break up.

Soon after this, Valerie is laying out by her pool, and suddenly a spaceship shaped like a blow-dryer crashes into it containing three furry aliens named Mac, Wiploc, and Zeebo. She and Candy decide to give the aliens a makeover, and when they shave all their fur off, they actually end up becoming three really hot guys, but three really hot guys that know absolutely nothing about how to act on Earth.

In order for the aliens to return home, Valerie's pool must be drained, which will take about a day, and until then, Valerie is in charge of taking care of the aliens. To kill time, Valerie and Candy take the aliens out to a nightclub called Deca Dance. In the meantime, a romance sparks between Valerie and Mac, and Wiploc and Zeebo almost get killed by Valerie's ex-fiancee and accidently rob a liquor store.

Like most fairy-tale stories, everything turns out for the best, and Valerie and Mac end up riding off in his blow-dryer shaped spaceship at the end of the movie. This one's a little "out there," but it's fun and I would definitely recommend it.

Fast Times At Ridgemont High

Fast Times At Ridgemont High, is the ultimate teen movie. It is the most stereotypical depiction of teens in high school. All in all, the movie seems to dumb down teenagers, yet all teens can relate at the same time. Stacy Hamilton, is your typical high school freshman. She is "curious" about sex being she is a virgin. She is involved in the typical "Hit it and quit it" scenario with the home stereo salesman. He sleeps with her, and then dumps her. But atleast she has Mark Ratner, who is in her biology class, and asks her out. On their date, she seems to move a little too fast for him, seeing as he is not as experienced, and he chickens out. Way to go Mark. But let's move on to Spicoli. Typical screwup. He drinks beer, smokes, and takes out friend, Charles Jefferson's Camaro for a ride. And what do you know, he wrecks it. What will he do to fix it? Graffiti it and blame on the rivals of course! Jefferson's anger is released during that night's football game, and off goes the quarterback on a stretcher.

Spicoli's antics continue in class with Mr. Hand. Over the year he annoys the teacher to the point where he is in danger of failing. As he grins vacantly, orders pizza in class, and generally drives his teacher, Mr. Hand, nuts with his heavy-duty stupidity.

Not much more can be said about Spicoli, so back to Stacy. She finally discovers sex and winds up getting pregnant the second time out. The guilty party, hustler Mike Damone, welshes on her by refusing to pay half the cost of an abortion. How embarrassing, her brother has to take her, and like a good friend, Linda spreads rumors about Mike's manhood. Perfect revenge.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High is a classic. Each character conveys a different stereotype of high school kids. Spicoli is friends with everyone. Stacy is a innocent turned slutty girl. Brad is the older brother looking after his sexified younger sister. Mark is the nerdy guy who in the end gets the girl. I recommend everyone who has yet to watch this classic film, to get on that immediately. You will not be disappointed.