Raising Arizona

Raising Arizona, my and many others' introduction to the brilliance of the Coen brothers, tells the story of H.I. McDunnough (Nicolas Cage), a former convict now married to his arresting officer, Edwina (Holly Hunter). Because they are incapable of producing a child of their own, they decide to kidnap a quintuplet of a rich furniture salesman.

Coen brother films are always filled with colorful characters, and this film is no exception. Hi's escaped convict friends, Gale and Evelle Snoats (John Goodman and William Forsythe), try to convince him to return to a life of crime just as he is beginning to start a family. Their introduction in the film is a memorable one, as they emerge from the ground outside prison, covered in mud, screaming at the top of their lungs. No explanation for this is given, but it's still funny. Hi's foreman Glen (Sam McMurray) and his devious kids also pay a visit, which ends when Glen suggests to Hi that they swap wives and Hi breaks his nose, losing his job in the process.

The most memorable scene, however, is Hi's Huggies theft in the grocery store, wearing a pantyhose over his face as a mask. The Coen brothers use a folk tune in which a man yodels nonsense as background to this scene. The result is one of the most unforgettable and funny chase scenes in cinematic history.

Airplane!

Airplane! (1980)

“Airplane!” is an instant classic when it comes to satires. There are few movies that have made me laugh as much as this one. Unlike most satires which spoof off of other movies, “Airplane!” pokes fun at societal issues and the government around its time. It also includes the satire-king, Leslie Nielson, who has starred in many other satires as well.

Basically, “Airplane!” is about the relationship of Ted Striker (Robert Hays), a former military pilot, and Elaine (Julie Hagerty), a flight attendant. However, when the pilots and most of the passengers on board the airplane eat bad fish and get sick, it is up to Ted Striker to fly the plane and land it safely.

What makes this movie so funny is that it takes some of America’s most serious issues and presents them in a way that makes people laugh. So, although the movie is funny, it still has a clear message to society. For example, one of the issues that it pokes fun at is racism, a huge issue that was largely ignored at that time.

I have been watching “Airplane!” since I was a little kid, and it has always been one of my all time favorites, even though I did not understand about 90-100% of the jokes at the time, it was just plain funny in a silly way that made he laugh. When I watch it now, I understand what it makes fun of, and that makes me laugh even more. On the whole, “Airplane!” is a movie that can relate to all ages, which is why I encourage everybody to see it if you have not already.

Scarface

Scarface (1983)

If anyone were to ask me who my favorite gangster character from a movie was, I would say without hesitation: Tony Montana from “Scarface.” When the Cuban refugees were sent down to Miami in the 1970’s by Fidel Castro, there was an outbreak of crime. “Scarface” is a fictional story of one Cuban refugee, Tony Montana (Al Pacino), who works his way to the top by selling cocaine.

The story builds around Montana and his entire journey from rags to riches. It literally begins with him at a Cuban refugee camp, and once he and his main comrade, Manny Ribera (Steven Bauer) escape, they are in desperate need of money. This is where Montana’s long, crazy, and adventurous journey starts. With practically nothing to lose, Montana would rather die than continue to live poor.

The genius of this film comes from the brilliant acting of Pacino. Personally, it is my favorite Pacino film, although the Godfathers I and II come very close. Whenever I watch this film, I just get lost in Pacino’s acting, which makes it a thriller every time. If you enjoy mafia films and don’t mind a bit of violence every now and then, see “Scarface.”

Goodfellas

Goodfellas (1990)

Goodfellas is a well made Mafia film, and one of my true favorites from that genre. It is about a man named Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta) who grows up around mob people in his New York area. It covers a span of about 40-50 years of his life. He begins working for the mob at a young age, and as he matures his way the system through years of work, he becomes known as a Goodfella.

The acting in this movie is superb, as it includes a stellar cast. Along with Ray Liotta as the main character, there is the mob boss Jimmy Conway played by mob-favorite Robert DeNiro who specializes in mob films. Also in the film is Tommy DeVito, played by Joe Pesci. DeVito is ruthless, he doesn't let anyone mess with him or his crew; he is what most guys would refer to as a "badass."

What makes "Goodfellas" a great movie besides its acting and plot is its realistic portrayal of mob-life during the second half of the twentieth century. Also, it is a Martin Scorcese film, so how could it possibly go wrong? If you like the movie "Casino," the odds are that you will probably like "Goodfellas," as both are similar in terms of casting (includes Pesci and DeNiro) and genre. On the whole, "Goodfellas" is a masterpiece in my mind, and I strongly suggest for those who have not seen it to see it.

Commando

David Grosvenor

The film Commando, directed by Mark L. Lester, is an action packed movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as Col. John Matrix and Alyssa Milano as his pre-teenage daughter Jenny Matrix. Arnold plays an ex military agent who is forced out of retirement in order to save his daughter from an evil military group that is holding her captive on a tropical island.

In order to find his daughter’s captives, Arnold is forced to kick an extreme amount of ass from the beginning of the movie until the end. Through his adventures Arnold, a single parent, meets his soon to be love interest Cindy, played by Rae Dawn Chong, in the local mall. After Rae discovers Arnold is looking for his daughter she is more then willing to aid him in his quest to get Jenny back.

After an extreme car chase, a fight with an ex-green beret and a stop by the local sporting good store for numerous guns and rocket launchers, the two partners are ready to bombard the military group that is holding Arnold’s daughter. In order to get to the island Arnold and Rae are forced to steal a sea plane which just happens to be completely filled with fuel with the keys inside. Shortly after arriving on the island Arnold literally takes down an army of hired warriors and tears into the main building where his daughter is being held. At this point Arnold is confronted by his arch nemesis and has to do battle in order to get out with his daughter alive.

This movie is by far one of the funniest action movies I have ever seen. Arnold is pretty much invincible, has super human strength, and doesn’t ever really have a scene where he strings more then two lines together at a time. With Arnold’s superior acting skills and super human strength there couldn’t be a better character to fit the description of John Matrix. The movie is basically an hour and a half long of Arnold shooting and beating up people. If you like shoot em up kinds of movies there’s no better movie then this one.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088944/

St. Elmo's Fire

Lets look at the cast list:
Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe
Judd Nelson, and Demi Moore

Judd Nelson.. look at him now!! what happened? from the big 80's film, The Breakfast
Club..

He's playing a much different character in this film...Certainly a lot different than the young rebel, John Bender. Alec Newbary, played by Nelson, is the hero of a group of seven friends fresh out of college without the slightest clue what to do next. Everyone looks up to Alec because he seems to be one of the few with some sense of direction in his life. He wears a suit to work everyday, and he's working for a politician, following his four year focus. He defines the success and the direction that all the recent graduates are looking to achieve.

Many people begin to believe that Kevin McCarthy's character, Kevin Dolenz, is gay because he has not slept with anyone in years. He is quiet and refined.

Rob Lowe's character, Billy Hicks, is a talented musician living the dream. He switches from job to job with ease and he gets to perform and hang out at the bar every night.

Demi Moore's character is Jules, a girl who is strikingly beautiful with a power over many men, including her boss. She can manipulate with her sexuality and she brags about her sexual experience.

Leslie Hunter is the long time girlfriend of Alec with everything she could ever want. She is working on the new appartment and tinkering with the idea of marriage to Alec, who relentlessly presses the question.

Kirby Keger (Emilio Estevez) is in love and he's happy about it.

In reality, they are all facing a great amount of problems. They are not happy about with their lives and they are all extremely troubled. Life after college is not easy; the euphoria of college is over. Their lives are taking a new turn, and they are forced to make big time decisions and changes to direct themselves properly.

Alec is completely unfaithful to his girlfriend, Leslie. He tells his friend, Kevin that he had sex with a woman at a clothing store and he seems to think marriage is the only way he can stop cheating. Not only is his love life a mess, so is his loyalty to the Democratic party. The president of the Democratic Students of Georgetown for four years quickly joins a Republican politician's party. Why? More money.

Kevin is not gay, and he is not in love with Alec (as accused by Jules.) Kevin is in love with Leslie, his best friend's girl.

Leslie finds out that Alec is cheating by bluffing an accusation. Alec responds heatedly, "What did Kevin tell you?" Their relationship is ruined and Leslie is kicked out of his appartment. She later sleeps with Kevin.

Billy cannot keep a job or a relationship. Jobless and without direction, he is a bit of a nobody out of college, and his nostalgia for the love he once had is evident by his return to his old frat.

Jules has a list of problems, drug and alcohol related. She is fired by her boss. Her attempted suicide brings the friends back together.

St Elmo's Fire is an ok film. The music is pretty classic. The characters are very 80's.

Labyrinth

David Grosvenor

The film Labyrinth, directed by Jim Henson (maker of the Muppets), is a children’s film created in 1986. The film Labyrinth stars David Bowie as the mischievous goblin king, and Jennifer Connelly as Sarah, a young spoiled teenager with a great imagination. Sarah, the main character, in an impulsive decision, wishes her baby brother to be taken by the goblins to their realm. Sarah, not meaning what she wished for, has to recover her baby brother from the goblin king before 13 hours is up. Sarah is forced to go through a labyrinth of situations to get to the kings layer in the middle of the maze.

Eventually Sarah is able to find her way to the castle with the help from some puppet friends she met on her way through the labyrinth. Sarah, after going through the goblin city prior to the castle, is able to defeat the Goblin King at his own game and save her brother from a permanent stay within the goblin realm.

The film Labyrinth is a movie like no other. The combination of David Bowie’s singing and Jennifer’s crazy character makes the movie more of a joke then anything else. From the first scene you can see that Jennifer’s character, Sarah, is selfish and crazy when she yells at her parents for not caring for her when they have done absolutely nothing to her. Not only is Sarah’s a little out there the other main character, the Goblin King, is constantly singing and hanging out with puppets.

The scenes within the film, from the first shot within the labyrinth to the last, put you into a well crafted puppet land that came straight out of the mind of Jim Henson. The movie has become a colt classic which has helped it to stick around since 1986. If you’re looking for a movie that you can have a good laugh at this is definitely a film worth looking into.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091369/

Back to the Future

David Grosvenor

The film Back to the Future, directed by Robert Zemekis in 1985, is a story of a young teenage boy by the name of Marty McFly, played by Michael J. Fox. Marty is a teenager in high school who, in his spare time, has sparked a friendship with a crazy scientist named Doc Brown, played by Christopher Lloyd. One day Doc asks Marty to help him in one of his experiments. Marty not realizing the significance of Doc’s findings agrees to meet his friend in a parking lot later that night. Little does Marty know that his friend Doc has gotten himself in a little trouble with a terrorist organization.

After a scuffle with the terrorist Doc is murdered and Marty is forced to drive away in the DeLorean time machine which was the reason why the Doc was so excited in the first place. Marty goes back in time to the 1950’s where Doc is still alive and his parents are in high school. When Marty finally arrives in the past the time machine crashes into the side of a barn and is no longer in commission. In order to save Doc from his untimely death Marty is forced to search out the Doc of the past to fix the car and go back into the future.

By being in the past Marty has threatened his own existence. By running into his mother as a teenager she instantly falls in love with her own son and by doing so ruins her chances of falling for Marty’s father. Marty, in order to stay alive, must somehow get his parents to fall in love before he can leave back to the future.

This film is by far one of my favorite films of the 80’s. The casting for this film could not have been better with the combination of Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. The story line is ingenious and quite simply it is a fun movie to watch. If you haven’t seen this movie before I suggest renting it as soon as possible and watching repeatedly until the day it has to be returned. Along with the two other Back to the Future movies this is one of the greatest trilogies of all time.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/

Batman

David Grosvenor

The film Batman, directed by Tim Burton in 1989, is a classic comic book movie and one of the first of its kind. The film is about a man by the name of Bruce Wayne, played by Michael Keaton, who after his family was murdered right before his eyes when he was eight vowed to fight evil. Bruce, by inheriting his father’s money and business, is able to fund his alternate identity as Batman.

Batman’s arch rival the joker, played by Jack Nicholson, is wreaking havoc in the city of Gotham once more with the help of his gang of misfits. The joker has created a diabolical plan that will affect the whole city if Batman doesn’t do anything about it. The joker has created a chemical that will instantly kill a human and leave a disturbingly happy face on its victims. The joker plans on killing innocent lives by having a parade within the streets and releasing the gas onto the populated area. Not knowing that the joker is evil, people begin to be attracted by the scene and the free money that gang is throwing out from the floats.

With the help of Bruce’s love interest Vicky Vale, played by Kim Basinger, Batman is able to stop the joker, who was also the small time criminal that killed his parents, and save the city from certain doom.

Unlike new age comic book movies this film is very different. Tim Burton, who is a well respected director, could not have done a better job with this film. Out of all the movies based on comic book superheroes this one is ranked among the best. The only problem that I saw with the film was the casting of Batman. Although Michael Keaton is a good actor he just didn’t seem to fit the role of the bad ass superhero. Overall the movie is fun to watch and if you like comic books this is a movie you can’t miss.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096895/

Dirty Dancing (1987)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092890/

It is funny to think that Annie and Dirty Dancing were made only made five years apart because Dirty Dancing obviously had a much larger bugdet. Dirty Dancing is definitely a chick flick because it involves a lot of dancing, girl drama, and studly Patrick Swayze. It is a film that teenage girls dragged their boyfriends to or made them watch over and over again. The film epitomizes every teenage girls fantasy because who wouldn't want to be dancing with sweaty bad boy Patrick Swayze all day long?

Dirty Dancing is set in the Catskill mountains starring Jennifer Grey (Baby) and Patrick Swayze (Johnny). Baby is a character of low self-esteem who has basically been living in a bubble her entire life and whose parents baby her to no end. She has always enjoyed dancing but has not been very good at it or at least she does not have enough confidence to think so. One night while Baby is with her family at the ballroom dance, she sees a Latin dance demonstration by Johnny and his partner Penny. As soon as she sees this performance, she is in awe and interested in learning to dance. When Penny his dance partner needs to get an abortion and cannot dance, Baby immediately tries to fill her position. Since Johnny works for the resort and Baby's parents were strict, they had to keep this a secret. While Johnny teaches Baby dance moves, he gets frustrated with her a lot, but at the same time romance starts to develop and sparks fly between the two. When Baby's dad finds out she is seeing Johnny he flips out and insists she never see him again. When Johnny is accused of stealing money from the resort. Baby stands up for him but he eventually gets fired for having an affair with a guest. In the final scene Johnny returns to the resort targets baby in the corner in the famous line saying, "nobody puts baby in the corner." The two get up on the stage and perform. In the end, Baby's parents are proud and look at her as more than just a child.

Even though it does manage to be your typical 80's fairy tale it still shows a struggle, that exists between the working class and the upper class which makes it easy for viewers to relate to. In addition to this, with the good music and dance moves it gets the audience excited. I know that after I saw the movie I wanted to learn how to dance like Baby. While all women love this movie, men often despise it since it since it is like a Star Wars for girls.

I truly believe this is one of the greatest 80's dance movies made and recommend it highly to all teenage girls or any boys that have a fetish for Patrick Swayze and dancing.