Back to the Past...Dont Screw it Up!!

Back to the Future, is a 1985 film directed by Robert Zemeckis and stars Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. This movie is an all American adventure-comedy film. This movie is about Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) who is accidentally sent into the past by Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and nearly endangers his own future existence.

Marty McFly, a 17-year old high-school senior, is an avid skateboarder and electric guitarist. Marty is invited by his friend Dr. Emmett Brown to witness a demonstration of Doc's latest invention: a time-machine. This time-machine is made from a modified De Lorean sports car, which must reach 88 miles-per-hour in order to travel through time. Following the successful test-run with Dr. Brown’s dog, a group of terrorists open fire on Doc Brown, unloading a ton of bullets into his chest. Marty escapes in the De Lorean; while doing so, he unintentionally travels back in time to the year 1955. While in the year 1955, Marty accidentally interferes with the first meeting of his parents George McFly and Lorraine Baines, and almost erases his whole life. Lorraine falls for Mary and has him her family (Marty’s grandparents), he then heads off to find Doc, and explain to him what happened. Doc is skeptical at first about Marty's account, because in 1955 he is not yet a successful inventor. Marty finally convinces him that he really is from the future. Marty is now stranded in 1955, because he did not bring enough plutonium with him to get him back to the future. With Doc's help, they find a way to send Marty back to the future: using a lightning bolt for power. They rig the De Lorean to channel the lightning into the flux capacitor, sending Marty back to 1985. Before Marty can go back he has to set up is parents to meet again and fall in love. Once he gets them together at the "Enchantment Under the Sea" dance, he is now ready to go BACK TO THE FUTURE!!

This movie was very popular in the 1980’s. Ronald Reagan even mentions it in his state of the union address of 1986, where he said, “Never has there been a more exciting time to be alive, a time of rousing wonder and heroic achievement. As they said in the film Back to the Future, 'Where we're going, we don't need roads.” The hip, upbeat soundtrack, featuring two new songs by Huey Lewis and the News, contributed to the film's popularity. Zemeckis did not initially plan to release sequels. I wish he hadn’t, because this 1st movie was definitely the best.

They Danced All Night Long!!

Dirty Dancing (1987), produced by Emile Ardolino is all about HOT summer love, sex and a woman finding her self through dancing.

We start out with Frances 'Baby' Houseman (Jennifer Gray) giving us a narrative of the summer of 1963 where she is stuck in the Catskills at a summer camp with her parents and sister. All she wants to do is get through another summer and get on with her life and join the Peace Corps. Attempting to make the best of the situation, Baby attends the organized classes, the camp offers, on meringue dancing. That is until she meets Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze), he is a dance instructor at the family camp. Baby’s whole attitude changes once she meets Johnny. This leads to Baby having her father help Penny after her abortion has gone bad and to Johnny and Baby getting into a sexual relationship. With Johnny now in her life, Baby learns the steps to a new dance, a dirty dance, which allows her to discover new strengths and talents in order to define her place in her own rapidly changing world. In the end Baby ends up dancing with Johnny at the “End of the Season” show and Johnny says the #1 line from the movie, "No one puts Baby in the Corner".

This film represents a time when love could blossom in the summer, and also the never-ending story of a girl who grows to be a woman. I think this movies shows a lot about what was going on in the 1980's. It shows woman trying to break out on her own and make her own life, despite what society thinks. It is also one of the first movies, that I can remember, that talk openly about abortions and pre-marital sex. I think that Eleanor Bergstein did a great job bringing these topics to the audience in a tasteful way. I think that Dirty Dancing was a very enjoyable movie to watch and will be watched by many generations to come.

No Matter Where You Go...There You Are

Ok, so I know that this assignment is supposed to be based on movies we are unfamiliar with, but I've decided to take a chance. My reasoning is simple...The majority of people I know or talk to, have never even heard of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension (1984), and I am taking it upon myself to end this insanity.
Buckaroo Banzai(Peter Weller) is the son of a Japanese father and an American mother, he's a brilliant neurosurgeon,physicist, martial arts expert, comic book hero, and rock star. His band, The Hong Kong Cavaliers is a multiracial group who assist Buckaroo in his experiments and crime fighting. The movie begins with the testing of a jet car that Buckaroo and his scientist friend Professor Hikita designed to go through solid rock with their Oscillation Overthruster. Now this type of experiment had been done before, by Dr. Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow) in the 1930s. A malfunction in the experiment caused Lizardo to seemingly go insane, he now believes he is John Warfin an alien exiled from his planet intent on going home. Lazardo hears news of the working Overthruster and breaks out of the mental hospital and chaos ensues.
Of course, there's always a catch. while Buckaroo enlists the help of his neurosurgeon friend Sidney (Jeff Goldblum in his first movie) and meets an interesting woman (Ellen Barkin) named Penny Pretty, Lizardo and his alien cohorts reunite. The action kicks in when it's revealed that Orson Welles original War of the Worlds radio Broadcast was true, and aliens, all of whom are named John, are living in New Jersey. I don't want to give away any more of the plot.
The point is, with it's very satirical premise, campy characters, and intelligent dialogue, Buckaroo Bonzai is a must see cult classic. If you want to see Jeff Golblum dressed as a cowboy, Peter Weller before Robocop, the late great Vincent Schiavelli at his slimey best, and John Lithgow at his wackiest playing an alien then you must SEE THIS MOVIE!

dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=5376

Night Shift

Night Shift starts out showing the quiet life of Chuck Lumley. It’s not just quiet; it’s boring and very predictable. That all changes when he unwilling goes back on night shift at the city morgue and gets a new partner, Bill Blazejowski.

Michael Keaton as Bill Blaze is at his usual high energy, fun-loving kind of guy. He plays the part well. Henry Winkler as Chuck couldn’t be farther from his Fonzie role, but he plays his quiet, staid life wanting character just as well.

Chuck meets Belinda Keaton, played by Shelley Long, when she comes to identify the body of her pimp. Belinda is sure she knows Chuck from someplace, but he says no. They soon discover they are neighbors. When Chuck finds Belinda in the elevator, slightly beat up, he unwittingly changes the course of his life.

After telling Bill of Belinda’s troubles, Bill suggests they become Belinda’s, and her friend’s, pimps. Chuck is against the idea until one night when Belinda calls Chuck for help and Chuck’s fiancée, Charlotte, and his mother make him feel caged in. As usual with these types of movies everything starts off great – the money is coming in, everyone is having fun. But Chuck, who use to work on Wall Street and gave it up because his nerves couldn’t take it, starts to get nervous. He is sure they are going to get caught soon. They do. Bill inadvertently brings the police around, but it ends being the best thing that could have happened because the men who had killed Belinda’s pimp at the beginning of the movie are about to kill Chuck.

Everything falls apart only to come together in the end. Chuck’s fiancée now despises him, which is the best thing that could have happened to him. It leads him to finally admit to Belinda that he does love her.

May the Schwartz Be With You!

Mel Brooks 1987 Space Balls film is a slap stick comedy that brings laughter every time! Brooks makes every effort to “spoof” as many films as he can.

Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) takes out on her wedding with Dot Matrix (voice of Joan Rivers) from Planet Druidia. In her wandering space fly, as she listens through her Lia hair piece head set, she caught by Dark Helmet’s laser beam, but rescued by Lone Starr (bill Pullman) and Barf (John Candy). Lone Starr and Barf are on the run from Pizza – who they owe 1 Million space dollars.

The movie takes viewers on a round about journey to return the Princess to her home planet. There is a space wreck in the desert with a rescue by the little dinks. This Star Wars spoof could not be complete without Yogurt – our Yoga figure. His advice on merchandising is great – also a great spoof on Disney. Of course our film has a little bit of romance as Lone Starr and Princess Vespa marry, but we can’t leave without knowing our friends Dark Helmet, Mr. President and Colonial Sanders all safely landed on Planet of the Apes. This was a perfect ending for a definite sequel – maybe with the Apes??

Brooks does a great job making fun at many movies of this time. The costumes are hilarious and the scenery is gigantic in many ways. I was amazed to see Princess Vespa’s wedding gown become more sexy and slinky as the film transpired. I am not sure this was a needed aspect, but maybe another way Brooks was trying to make fun of our Hollywood movies.

A great find on the Target shelf and a great movie. I am not a slap stick comedy person, but I found myself laughing at certain things to the end of the film.

Great Link:
Photographs - Spaceballs

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice

A quick overview of the movie is as follows. Adam and Barbara Maitlan had everything they ever dreamed of. They had a loving relationship and a quaint house in a quiet New England town and everything was going great for them. One day on the way home fro the hardware store they are in a car accident and are severely injured in a car crash. They manage to walk home, and soon find out that they are now deceased, and so they decide to haunt their own home. Things weren't too bad for the couple until the trendy Deitz family from New York moved in and set about demolishing the house and remodeling based on the bizarre specifications of the neurotic sculptress Delia Deitz and interior designer Otho. The Maitlan's haunting attempts were a catastrophe and things were made worse by Lydia, the Deitz’s manic depressive daughter, who could actually see the ghostly pair. They then decide to hire a deceased "bio-exorcist" named Beetlejuice to scare the family out of the house. Unfortunately, Beetlejuice is more dangerous than they thought, and now they have to save the family that they were trying to kick out. One of the best scenes in the whole movie is the hilarious scenes when Adam and Barbara want the new owners out so they try and scare them by getting them to dance and mime to Dayo. As usual director Tim Burton manages to gather another top notch cast with both Michael Keaton and Catherine O'Hara producing their one of their best roles to date. From seeing Michael Keaton more serious side in "Batman" roles, his character seen here is truly over the top and remarkable. Catherine O'Hara is also scream as the over anxious and valium dependant mother. Burton truley gets you involved in this movie with all of the special effects and music that he uses. This is truly a movie before it's time.

Tiger Warsaw

As Tiger Warsaw starts out you know it’s going to be an emotional movie. The music and the expression on Chuck “Tiger” Warsaw’s face say it all. They show him drive by a house as a woman is talking to her husband and takes out a picture. The family picture includes a husband and wife, son and daughter. The husband and wife, Michael and Frances Warsaw, are talking about their daughter, Paula, but never mention their son who we learn is Tiger.

The details are never fully explained, but we learn that Tiger was a drug user and not only stole from his family and friends, he killed Paula’s fiancé and held his father at bay for a couple of hours, I take it he harassed, possibly assaulted his father during this time. Frances and Paula have a brief conversation leading me to believe there was a possibility that all of this came about because Paula led her father to believe Tiger was going to hurt her, although she knew he was not going to. I was disappointed this never came up again.

Tiger carries the guilt of his past with him. He has come back home because he wants to heal, but no one seems to be willing to give him that chance. I was starting to think this movie was going to end on the same sad note it had started off with, but finally when Frances stands up at Paula’s pre-wedding dinner and gives a short speech about how happy they should all be that her son is not there, Michael finally realizes he does still love his son and has forgiven him.

I am a sucker for a happy ending, so I was not disappointed this movie came through and delivered.

The Untouchables

Sean Connery, Andy Garcia, Kevin Costner and Robert DeNiro - what a cast. Now why didn’t I hear of this movie before?

In the 1930’s, Al Capone ruled Chicago’s underworld. His brutality was well known, as well as his skill at greasing the right palms in order to stay out of jail. He owned the city, and the Feds took notice. Elliot Ness, a federal treasury officer, selects a group of men, including a new police cadet and an old cop, to take down Capone’s men and stop the corruption of Chicago. They never got Capone for the numerous murders and beatings he organized, or for the bribes of city officials. He was nailed on a less glamorous crime - tax evasion. It’s not pretty, but it ended up being enough to put him away for a while.

Kevin Costner takes a lot of crap as an actor. If people watched his performance in this movie, I think they would appreciate his skill. It also helps that Sean Connery is there to give the relationship between Ness and Jim Malone a feeling of depth. Connery is a badass! He fights, he shoots, and he shares his wisdom with Ness. Andy Garcia's character, George Stone, is a cold, loyal, sharpshooter. His slick demeanor worked well with Costner's everyman persona. Robert DeNiro was frighteningly convincing as Capone, and had the same swaggering sneer that the real Capone would have had. The music was well done, the costumes were great. This did not feel like an eighties film. I loved it.

But, there was one problem. The Foley art. Good god it was horrid. I have the special edition of the movie, and I thought perhaps the transfer was bad. The sound of a chain that Malone carries rumbles like thunder every time he handles it. The shoes, echoing like gunfire through the alleyways of Chicago, do nothing for a scene where they should be sneaking. The gunshots sounded realistic-ish, but they were loud, so there wasn’t a whole lot to screw up there. I was very very distracted by the flaws with the sound. If they fixed it, toned down the chains, and clicking guns, and loud shoes, then maybe I could recommend this to everyone.

I think I know why I haven’t heard about this music before. Beyond a stellar cast, an authentic period piece, and moving music- the Foley art kills this movie. So very sad.

Do you have anything here besides Mexican food?

The Three Amigos is a spoof of Hollywood itself. Directed by John Landis who has also done such classic films as, Coming to America, An American Werewolf in London, and Animal House. This film is great because of its three main characters: Lucky Day (Steve Martin), Dusty Bottoms (Chevy Chase) and Ned Nederlander (Martin Short).

The Three Amigos are silent film stars who have just been dropped by their film studio. They receive a telegram inviting them to come to a small village in Mexico to meet with El Guapo. Thinking this is a paid appearance the trio gladly accept the invitation. But, once there, they learn that El Guapo is a nasty bandit who has been harassing the town. The Three Amigos then decide that they will save the town and become the REAL Three Amigos!

First off, this film instantly makes you think Mel Brooks but not as silly. There are some silly moments such as the Three Amigos salute or when Ned tries his hand at a joke that the others just don't get, "It's a mail plane, didn't you see its little balls?" but for the most part the film is pretty standard. For myself, the best moments of the the film are the great song and dance numbers. Watching My Little Buttercup, performed in a very rough and tough cantina is hysterical. There is also a touching cowboy melody that even the desert animals can't resist enjoying. Nor can you resist laughing at the whole scene.

The chemistry that Martin, Chase, and Short have is somewhat strong. You instantly fall in love with these unknowing heroes. These actors were and are wonderfully intelligent and artistic comedians. This film showcases this in song and dance numbers as well as the friendship that the three share. But there are some negative points to this film as well. One being the fact that the viewer doesn't know enough about these three characters. There is not enough build-up and time invested into why they are where they are in the beginning of the film. Another thing that is disturbing is the underuse of Chevy Chase. His perfomance is somewhat subdued in an otherwise wonderful opportunity to shine. Martin seems to take the lead and Short follows along blindly.

If you can get past the shortcomings of the film it really does make for a entertaining hour and a half. The film does have some great scenes such as the hilarious singing bush and the invisible swordsman. But over all the Three Amigos is reaching for that Blazing Saddle but doesn't quite get up there.

A Good British Comedy That Wasn't Made By Monty Python!

Withnail and I (1987) stars Richard E. Grant (Withnail) and Paul McGann (Marwood or I) as two unemployed actors who live as flatmates in England. Rather than having a plot or a story, the film relies on dialogue to follow the the two men on a journey of friendship, discovery, and seperation in 1969. Writer director Bruce Robbins used his own past to create the odd characters that appear on screen. Withnail, based on a now decieced friend of Robbins, is an alcoholic with big dreams, but no ambition to fulfill them. His character passes the time with alcohol and vists from the local drug dealer Danny (Ralph Brown). Marwood as narrator spends the majority of the film as Withnail's sidekick while constantly making observations about his friend and his situation. While Marwood waits to hear about an audition, the two decide to go on holiday to the countryside, so they visit Withnails flamboyant Uncle Monty (Richard Griffiths). With Withnail's promise of a rendevous with Marwood, Monty allows them to use his cabin. Absolutley nothing goes right on their vacation. It rains the whole time, a poucher stalks them, they don't have any food, and they have absolutely no survival skills. Their friendship shifts when Monty surprises them at the cottage, and becomes extremely aggressive toward Marwood. Marwood then takes control of the relationship. When they return home, Marwood finds out that he got the lead role from his audition, while withnail goes straight for a drink.
Withnail and I shows two men at the end of their friendship, one moves on while the other refuses to grow. The dialogus is superb and a bit off kilter, with memorable characters who are not over the top, but seem to be exaggerated personalities.
A bit of trivia: Richard Griffiths who plays Monty is Uncle Vernon in the Harry Potter movies
Richard E. Grant went from this incredible performance to appearing in the Spice Girls movie.



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094336/quotes