Blade Runner (1982)

Director Ridley Scott’s movie Blade Runner creates a dark and bleak apocalyptic future highlighting the dirty and overcrowded city of Los Angeles in 2019. Released in 1982 movie had an awesome cast of actors including Harrison Ford, Sean Young, Edward James, Olmos, Darryl Hannah and Rutger Hauer http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/.

Harrison Ford is retired detective Rick Deckard who has been asked to help Chief Bryant, “I need ya, Deck. This is a bad one, the worst yet. I need the old blade runner, I need your magic.” Deckard is asked to hunt and kill four “skin jobs” or Replicants (highly sophisticated robots from NEXUS phase) that have returned to earth where they are illegal.

They have returned to meet their maker at the Tyrell Corporation and increase their lifespan. Ridley Scott touches on the idea that humankind is driven to advance its people, technology and world; even if in the end, it creates its own demise.

The movie was ahead of its time. Even today, we are prompted by the questions:

"What is reality?"

"What does it mean to be human?"

"How does our environment affect us?"
"What is the difference between real memories and artificial memories?"
"What are the moral issues we face in the creation of artificial people?"

It has been 24 years since Blade Runner was released on June 25, 1982. One year to go for its 25-year anniversary re-release. http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/30/film.bladerunner.reut/index.html.
Blade Runner continues to have a strong following in 2006 http://www.brmovie.com/.
While the movie only grossed $26.2 million at the box office, the movie has become a cult classic. I really enjoyed the forward-looking future scenery and think the story and effects still measure up as a good sci-fi flick.

In space no one can hear you scream.....

Alien (1979)

My first time seeing Alien was an interesting experience. I had seen Aliens, and Alien Resurrection, so I had a feeling how it would end. I had heard about the famous “alien exploding out of the stomach”, and I loved the sequels. The original must be good. I was right, the original was very good! Does it hold up over time? Yes, and No. Yes the film holds up as a classic. No, it doesn’t hold up on the horror aspect, only because we are scared by different types of horror now, such as the torture horror of Saw and Hostel.Some rather cool things that I noticed about the film, was that there was pratically no musical score, the scenes that I could remember in which the film had music were minimal. Whenever, Ripley is being chased by the Alien, there is no music. Its also a genre bender as far as combining Sci-Fi, and Horror. Its distinctly an 80’s film, and only noticeable, because of the technology. It is supposed to be a Sci-Fi film, but we have already surpassed most of the computer technology displayed in the film. The only way they could keep track of the Captain of the ship was through a “blip” on a small 4 inch screen. The film is directed by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise), it stars Ian Holm (The Lord of the Rings, The Fifth Element), and Sigourney Weaver (Alien’s Sequels, Ghostbusters). I would recommend it to most people. Anyone who enjoys sci-fi films, and/or horror films should defiantly see it. Those who also enjoy classics would appreciate Alien. Any movie that can spawn 3 direct sequels, and one poorly done spin-off, with another one on the way, must have a good start, this proves to be true.

All you had to do was just follow three rules.....

Gremlins (1984)

All you had to do was follow three simple rules, and you would have had this cute cuddly fuzz ball version of yoda: Don’t have it near bright lights, light will kill it. Don’t get it wet, that causes it to multiply. Don’t feed it after midnight, which causes it to turn into a big, ugly, monster, with sharp teeth that wants to wreck mayhem on everything it sees. Merry Christmas!

That is the plot of this 1984 Christmas film, produced by Steven Spielberg (The Goonies, E.T., and many other blockbuster film.), and written by Chris Columbus (Home Alone and Harry Potter). It is about a boy who receives a special gift from his father, a Mogwai (pronounced mog-why) which he names “Gizmo”, he has three rules to follow, see above. While visiting Billy, our good friend Corey Feldman (The Goonies, and several other child acting films) breaks the second rule, and gets Gizmo wet, causing the first step in a downward spiral leading to the destruction of their town. The film is great, growing up, I loved it! Strangely, watching it now, I realize that it is definitely not a kids film. It stands up overtime, with memorable sequences; 300 Gremlins taking over the movie theater, singing together “High Ho” by the seven dwarves of Snow White, and Christmas music being played while scenes of destruction and chaos fill the screen. It is an 80’s film, that paved the way for dark comedies of our time, like Shawn of the Dead. I would recommend this film for practically everyone. It is not intended to be a scary movie, lots of people that I have talked to are petrified of this film. I would recommend it, especially during the holidays, if you have had enough of the “24-hours of the Christmas Story”, or the constant replays of “It’s a Wonderful Life”.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087363/

TO THE GAME GRID!!!!!

Tron (1982)

Tron was one of the first films to include computer graphics throughout the entire film. Going back and watching gives you a cool retro feel. It is amazing to see how far we have come.
Tron is a good film, bright colors, action, and a love story. Overtime, the graphics do not stand up to ours of today. Tron revolutionized films. Our films might be very different today if it weren’t for Tron. Starring Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski),
The soundtrack is phenomenal, as it combines orchestra, old-school video game music, and synthesizers. It is totally an 80’s classic, rated PG, and okay for the whole family. The film is about a man, who had all of his video games (which he programmed) stolen. He breaks into the building to try to find proof, he is then sucked into a computer, and embarks on an adventure to save the “game world”. Tron was nominated for two academy awards; Best costume, and Best sound. The plot is a little weak, but the film has its good moments. There is a lot of computer “jargon”, and the programs in the film use a lot of slang words to describe things, very much like Clockwork Orange.The film creates a whole world, cities, people, and relationships. I would recommend this film for someone to watch on a rainy day. It is good if you have nothing to do., but I would not recommend it for everyone. If you are a fan of retro movies, and computer technology, I would suggest that you see it!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084827/

Ferris Bueller meets Dan Brown

A well crafted look at Ferris Bueller.

The real breakfast club

A big thanks to Farmboi for the advice:

They Live (1988)

John Carpenter directed the campy 1988 They Live. Carpenter’s other notable works are: Halloween, Christine and Escape from New York ttp://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/themovies/tl/tl.html.
They Live is a commentary on America’s naivety and numbness to what is happening in the world, city and their neighborhood.

The main character Nada played by wrestler Roddy Piper is befriended by Frank played by Keith David, where they discover a world that is trying to “annihilate the consciousness” http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0096256/. The window to this world is only detectable when you wear Ray Ban knock-off sunglasses. When viewing the world through these glasses you see your environment in black & white with billboards noting commands OBEY, CONSUME, BUY, MARRY AND REPRODUCE, WATCH T.V., CONFORM, NO INDEPENDENT THOUGHT and SUBMIT. The alien creatures disguised as upstanding citizens, have burned-looking face with huge silver eyes.

Nada takes it upon himself to awaken the public consciousness regarding this underground society before they take over the earth. They Live brings us memorable movie quotes from Nada such as, “Life's a bitch, and she's back in heat!” and “I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum.”

Many events happened in 1988 during the Reaganomics era. Such as, how were we to know that in 1988 Saudi-born Osama bin Laden founded al Qaeda, the base, an operational hub for terrorist activities http://timelines.ws/20thcent/1988.HTML and Roseanne was the top ranking network show on television for two seasons.

The movie is an interesting concept and makes us want to question whom our friends & neighbors and fight authority. The special effects are straightforward and work just fine in this movie.

The Hidden (1987)

Jack Sholder directs the 1987 sci-fi move The Hidden. The film stars FBI Agent Lloyd Gallagher played by Kyle Maclachlan, who later stars as Special Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks http://www.lynchnet.com/tp/. Gallagher is teamed up with John Beck played by Michael Nouri of Flashdance (1983) fame.

The basis of this movie is that a parasitic alien moves from one host body to the next. The alien has a penchant for fast cars, like 328 GTS, Ferrari Mondial Cabriolet and loud punk music. The soundtrack featured an alternative collection of music in the 1980’s http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093185/soundtrack featuring The Lords of the New Church, Hunters & Collectors and Concrete Blonde. Gallagher is on the fast track to find the alien since it killed his partner, wife and daughter. Beck thinks that regular folks are committing strange crimes (business man, stripper). Only Gallagher knows about the parasitic alien is inhabiting these seemingly regular folks. However, his new partner Beck catches on and Gallagher gets him up to speed.

Gallagher has strange reactions to apparently normal things. He gets drunk on one bottle of beer and has difficulty using silverware. This is when you get the feeling that Gallagher is not from this earth, besides the bizarre gun he carries. You don’t want to miss Gallagher giving Beck ‘the breath of life’.

The special effects in this movie are a bit cheesy to modern standards. Every gunshot seems to reverberate with the same loudness and echo, regardless of the room they are in or the weapon that is being used. Movie stayed interesting with car chases and explosions too.

Wouldn't you like to be popular???

Can't Buy Me Love
(1987)

Patrick Dempsey and Amanda Peterson

Before Grey's Anatomy or Loverboy Patrick Dempsey was just a high school dork paying his way to popularity. However, we haven't seen much of Amanda Peterson since this movie, excluding the made for TV movie about life as a Playboy centerfold, Posing: Inspired by Three Real Stories.

Can't Buy Me Love is romantic comedy about a senior geek, Ronald Miller, who pays the head cheerleader, Cindy Mancini to pretend to date him, just so he can be popular.

The movie shares the same theme as Heathers, because it addresses teen angst and high school clicks. Cindy also treats popularity like a job, except she is refreshingly down to earth, smart, and well rounded. Plus, it ends with a more realistic and empowering perspective than Heathers.

This movie is does an excellent job of exploring high school society through dialogue:

Ronald Miller: We do have a lot of great memories but be honest....Wouldn't you like to be popular?
Kenneth Wurman: And have to be in a clique....no.
Ronald Miller: What happened to us? We were all friends in elementary.
Kenneth Wurman: That's because we were all forced to be in the same room together. But, hey, Junior high, high school. Forget it. Jocks became Jocks. Cheerleaders became cheerleaders. We became us. I like us.
Ronald Miller: I just think it would be more fun to party with those guys our senior year...go to the games...
Kenneth Wurman: We go to ALL the games.
Ronald Miller: We sit in the visiting section Kenneth....at our own school.

To top it off, this movie is can't-hold-back-my-tears funny with lines like,

Cindy Mancini: Guys, take a look at forehead... do you see a sign that says information?
and
Cindy Mancini: Iris? Oh yeah, she's a big conquest. She's given more rides than Greyhound!

This movie really works because the theme is timeless, but it's presented with such a comedic spin that you can watch it again and again; much in the same vein as Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Weird Science.

All in the Family

Charley Partanna (Jack Nicholson) has a little problem--he's in love with a hit woman (Kathleen Turner) who has gone against his employers, the Prizzi family. Charley's not what you would call one of those "wiseguy" mobsters. In fact, all of the "goodfellas" in this movie are none too wise.

It's all about the honor of the family, Prizzi's Honor. In this almost farcical look at organized crime, cops are paid, hits are arranged, even daughters are disowned to protect the family. The fact that Don Corrado Prizzi (William Hickey) can barely draw a breath on his own doesn't seem to matter.

Maerose Prizzi's (Anjelica Huston in a role that won her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar) honor is also in question. Shunned by her father for disgracing him after being thrown over by Charley, she sets out after him with a vengeance.

The fun is in the little details. Whether it be planning a hit during dinner like it was a family vacation or rewarding service to the family with a spanky set of golf clubs, keep your eyes open for the subtle humor.

It is also nice to see a film portray the women as being more intelligent than the men. Believe me, these aren't just broads or bimbos. They more than hold their own against the men. They are the driving force behind much of the film's action.

Everyone shines in the roles they have been given. Even Nicholson, who I usually don't much care for, is endearing here. But Huston almost single-handedly walks away with the picture. Her seduction of Charley is not to be missed. (So let's do it. Right here. On the Oriental. With all the lights on.) Genius!

The plot gets more and more complicated as the film goes along, so make sure to pay attention. You'll be glad you did.