80s Movies: Week 4

Our month-long special look back at some of the greatest movies of the 80s comes to a close, but there's still time for a carousel of the past seven days' cinematic heroes, if you've got a spare fiver burning a hole in your Amazon account...

80s Movies: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

It's the end of the road for this month's 80s movies series... and we're rounding things off with a sequel, which is a little out of character. It's a good one though, as we're ending with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

There are inevitable comparisons between Star Trek and Star Wars. I've always been more of a Trekker - I really don't like Star Wars at all. Sorry about that. But it's worth noting the importance of Wrath of Khan in the history of Star Trek.

Where the first Star Wars trilogy stands as a single entity now - albeit with the benefit of hindsight - the Star Trek movies were never so cohesive. The show and its big-screen spin-offs have always been primarily a series of separate stories, rather than being split into chapters or volumes.

In Star Trek II, however, we have the first in a three-film story arc that remains probably the biggest tale the Star Trek world has ever told without distraction or interruption.

80s Movies: Gremlins (1984)

Gremlins is yet another fine example of a standalone 80s movie. Sure, they made The New Batch in 1990, but that wasn't planned from the outset. Gremlins was never the 'first' film in a franchise (as far as I know) - it was just a one-off, cute comedy-horror movie.

It stars Gizmo, the wide-eyed mogwai who pretty much personifies the concept of Pandora's Box, along with his human friends, Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates, who play Billy and Kate. This is Gizmo's show though, along with the eponymous Gremlins who later emerge - the humans are basically cattle waiting to be slaughtered.

This movie pushes slapstick to its acceptable limits - if it's Christmas and the protagonists are puppets, is it OK to fire an old lady through her own skylight on an overclocked stairlift? The answer, happily, is yes. I was one when Gremlins was released so can't have been more than four or five the first time I watched it on TV. I don't remember ever actually being scared of the Gremlins - but then, I may have been too busy thinking Gizmo was awesome.

80s Movies: Weird Science (1985)

If you watch just one 1985 teen sci-fi movie this year, make it Back to the Future. But if you've had enough of paradoxes and jigowatts and you'd much rather see Kelly LeBrock in her prime, watch Weird Science. She pretty much single-handedly carries this movie in the way that, for example, Liz Hurley doesn't quite manage to do in 2000's Bedazzled.

So much happens in Weird Science that it's hard to know quite what to say about it. This might be one of those movies that you just have to watch - otherwise it's like saying Ferris Bueller's Day Off is about him 'not going to school'. It just doesn't quite encapsulate the full story, does it?

Also, just the briefest of mentions here for Bill Paxton - a muchly undervalued actor who pops up in quite a few of my favourite movies (Twister, in particular) but is often given fairly one-dimensional characters. As Chet in Weird Science, he doesn't exactly buck that trend, but it's still fun to see him playing that numbskull role for which he's become so well known.

80s Movies: Aliens (1986)

Aliens, if you didn't already know, is the 1986 sequel to 1979's Alien. We've largely avoided sequels - and even the first films of franchises - during 80s movies month, with a couple of exceptions. But this one deserves including for a number of very good reasons.

Firstly, it's almost unilaterally agreed that this is the best of the Alien films. Start the old "sequels that were better than the first film" conversation in the pub and Aliens is usually one of the first films to get a mention.

Secondly, it's got some great people in it, most of whom I associate specifically with that decade. Sigourney Weaver has come to be defined by her role as Ellen Ripley (and, of course, also starred in 1984's Ghostbusters). Lance Henriksen delivers a star performance as Bishop. Bill Paxton is... well, Bill Paxton, in that same meathead character he always plays - here it's Pvt Hudson, but it could easily be bonehead Chet from Weird Science or the slightly more well-meaning Bill Harding from Twister.

There's also Paul Reiser - the comedian I know best from My Two Dads and Mad About You. Here he's playing a slightly dubious, whose-side-is-he-on company suit. It's an odd casting choice but, like each of the others in Aliens, it works well.

80s Movies: Fatal Attraction (1987)

Fatal Attraction wins its place in our 80s movies run-down not by being good (although it's not all that bad...) but for one very good reason. We might not all go around saying "Great Scott!" when we're surprised, or dropping "I ain't lost ma heed!" and "Them's ma rightful propertah!" into conversation, but everybody - everybody - knows what a bunny boiler is.

Admittedly, not everyone may have seen the movie or really know the derivation of the phrase, but that doesn't detract from the fact that this film was a history-maker. It looks a little dated now, but the performances are as strong as they ever were, and it has that kind of harrowing nature that seems to be sorely lacking from most modern-day movies.

It's interesting to think that this gritty psychodrama was released in the same year as Mannequin (see yesterday's review) - all too often the 80s gets 'flattened' into one genre or other, but people seem to neglect the fact that this was an entire decade of movie-making, music, fashion and culture, with all the complexity you might expect to come from that.

80s Movies: Mannequin (1987)

Mannequin stars Andrew McCarthy as Jonathan Switcher - and Kim Cattrall as Emmy, the eponymous mannequin. She can only come alive in the presence of Switcher, meaning her more outlandish behaviours get blamed on him.

In a sense this movie is like having the highest-maintenance girlfriend of your life - you feel like you're going crazy, nobody else can see what it's like, and you get blamed for all the weird things she decides to do when nobody's looking.

There are plenty of montages, the most brilliantly dated 80s soundtrack of them all, and of course Starship's Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now to tie it all together in the end. For that song alone it deserves its place in history.

Mannequin is one of my favourite movies of all time, even though I know it's fundamentally terrible. That doesn't really matter - it's like expecting Clueless to be Pan's Labyrinth or something. However bad Mannequin may be, it's impossible to hate it - it's just too upbeat.

80s Movies: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

The fact that Raiders of the Lost Ark doesn't begin with the words "Indiana Jones and the..." is the first sign that yes, this was the first one. Never one to start slowly, Indy ploughed straight into treasure-hunting by looking for the Ark of the Covenant, in which the Ten Commandments were reputedly stored. Not only that, but he actually finds it and it's surrounded by Nazis - and it's not even time for World War II yet. It's a strangely fun adventurous romp through classic treasure-hunting scenery, given the slightly sinister undertones that are hard to escape when your main villains are pre-war Nazis.

Harrison Ford is Indiana Jones, in the role that will probably define his career for a long, long time to come. And he's great, let's be honest. He's mild-mannered enough to be believable as an archaeology professor, but square-jawed enough to become an all-action hero with relative ease. The fact that he can switch effortlessly from one persona to the other - even halfway through a scene - is testament to the strength of the character, to Ford's acting credentials, and to the quality of the film as a whole.

80s Movies: Week 3

We've had another great week here on Popsiculture recalling some fond childhood memories, and rediscovering a few old classics for our 80s movies month. Here's the round up from week three, and again they are all available on DVD for under a fiver at Amazon.

80s Movies: Highlander (1986)

Highlander is a fine example of not just film-making, but legend-making. In a single movie it created a world that has become easily recognisable from a single image (Sean Connery atop a ruined castle; Christopher Lambert surrounded by lightning) or line ("There can be only one."). As a story, it spawned a franchise including the greatest number of straight-to-TV movies that I can easily bring to mind. There always seems to be a MacLeod running around decapitating immortals on one satellite channel or another.

Christopher Lambert is great in this movie. I think it's fair to call it a career-defining role for him. Sean Connery plays a pretty important part, given that his actual appearances throughout the film are relatively few in the grander scale of the storyline. The two of them easily dominate the film, in the best possible way, with the kind of friendship that only a shared burden - that of the immortals - and an off-screen camaraderie could produce.

In fact, friendship plays a recurring theme throughout the film - given the seemingly solitary nature of being immortal, MacLeod manages to befriend a number of his counterparts, which leaves me wondering how the plot might have unfolded if they were the only ones left (given that "there can be only one"...).

80s Movies: Airplane! (1980)

It's possibly the single greatest compliment to Airplane! that I actually almost began writing about 1983's National Lampoon's Vacation, then realised there was a much better, much sillier movie to mention instead. Then again, depending on your opinion of Chevy Chase et al, you might not see that as much of a compliment at all.

In its own right, though, Airplane! is a pastiche of old disaster movies that has stood the test of time. The vast majority of its jokes are good proper silliness, rather than political or social commentaries tied too closely to the early 1980s, making it, if not 'fresh', then at least as enjoyable to watch now as it ever was.

Airplane! is probably the first place many people around my age saw Leslie Nielsen - and I think you can tell if that's the case. Older people will happily bring out that nugget of trivia that he used to be a 'straight' actor before he did the rubber-faced comedy, while younger film fans will probably know him more as Lieutenant Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun.

80s Movies: Flight of the Navigator (1986)

Today's 80s movie is genuinely one of my all-time favourites, despite the fact that I still don't think I fully understand what happens in it. Joey Cramer stars as 12-year-old David Scott Freeman in one of the most believable alien abduction storylines ever made. I mean, of course it doesn't have you thinking they actually hired some aliens to come make the film with them - but it's very easy to suspend disbelief and go along with this one, which makes for a smooth ride.

As for understanding Flight of the Navigator: it's set in 1978. But the first thing that happens is that David travels eight years into the future, to 1986 (which is actually the present, in terms of when the film was made). Only he hasn't travelled into the future really - he's just forgotten the eight years in between, which he lived through. But they wouldn't have seemed like eight years to him anyway; they'd have seemed like only a few minutes, perhaps, as he spent the time travelling faster than light speed to the planet of Phaelon and back.

For a kids' film, it's a pretty convoluted plotline involving aliens, time travel, relativity, genetics, astrometric starcharts, spacecraft with the morphing abilities of the T-1000, and Sarah Jessica Parker. It's not easy to grasp - and it's the 80s, so the military show up in force - but it's a lot of fun and the peril is low even on the zero-to-mild scale.

80s Movies: Ghostbusters (1984)

Ghostbusters was a real 80s franchise, originating in the mind of Dan Aykroyd around 1982 it spawned two live action films, an animated series, a number one single, numerous video games and all manner of other merchandise which bestrode the decade. I'm sure I had a Slimer lunchbox, which doesn't sound very sanitary or appetizing when you think about it. The franchise declined somewhat in the 90s but looks to be coming back soon with a third movie currently in pre-production.

We're looking at the 1984 original today though, the one that kicked it all off. Allied to the great concept (basically a supernatural 4th emergency service), the movie benefits from a brilliantly funny script from Akroyd and co-star Harold Ramis, and a stand-out performance by the always hilarious Bill Murray.

80s Movies: Honey, I Shrunk The Kids (1989)

I won't lie - the end of the 80s was a tragic event in my life. I was 7, and just starting a bigger school, which was really the start of feeling like a social pariah. Harsh times for a little person. Luckily for me, I hadn't been shrunk to a microscopic size and hurled into the jungle of my own back yard, like the young cast of Honey, I Shrunk The Kids.

Parents Rick Moranis and Marcia Strassman as Wayne and Diane Szalinski play a central role, holding things together in the big world, but the real action is with the little people in what is, at its core, a fairly epic adventure movie. Let's take a moment to appreciate the four child stars: Robert Oliveri (Nick Szalinski), Amy O'Neill (Amy Szalinski), Jared Rushton (Ron Thompson) and Thomas Wilson Brown (Russ Thompson).

80s Movies: D.A.R.Y.L. (1985)

Of all the 80s movies we've covered so far, I'm gonna guess this is the one you're most likely to have never heard of. D.A.R.Y.L. is one of those that somehow slips under the radar, but it fits into the pattern of other classics from the decade, by being basically about family relationships, but with the added bonus that one of the characters is a robot.

Apart from that slightly fantastical premise, it's another heartwarming family film and not an especially predictable storyline, so if you've never seen it - or even heard of it - it's worth looking out for.

Special mention goes to Mary Beth Hurt for being as adorable an 80s movie mum as you could ever hope to find - there was definitely a trend for slightly angular-featured, generally nice-seeming female co-stars back then (think Sarah Jessica Parker in Flight of the Navigator) and to be honest, it's a golden age I miss dearly.

80s Movies: Dirty Dancing (1987)

For a movie built so strongly around the concept of "the time of your life", Dirty Dancing doesn't really make so much of either its holiday park setting, or any particularly enjoyable experiences for the cast. Jennifer Grey as Frances 'Baby' Houseman goes through the kind of adolescent traumas you might expect wherever you were - and at 17, there's a bit of a question mark hanging over the whole friendship with Patrick Swayze's character, dance teacher Johnny Castle.

That aside though, I think any of us could empathise with at least part of the movie - whether you're a girl (or boy) wishing for that swept-off-your-feet first romance, a concerned parent who actually sympathises with the adults in the film, or someone who can relate to the bit-parts and the seemingly futile nature of their existence, going through the motions of this holiday park hell.

80s Movies: Week 2

We're through Week 2 of our 80s movies series now, so here's the second of our round-ups, giving you a spinny, visual representation of some of the greatest movies ever made (in the 80s). Go on, give it a spin - you know you want to. It'll feel good, I promise.

80s Movies: Clue (1985)

If you haven't seen Clue, buy it now and watch it three times. You'll need to if you're hoping to catch up with the quick-talking, double-dealing and backwards logic of a film that lives entirely within the world of the board game of the same name (or, for us Brits, Cluedo).

The film apparently didn't do so well with the critics - but then, it is very silly, and critics tend to prefer the beautifully shot stuff over the well-written, finely acted humour. With a remake apparently in the works for 2013, it's obviously weathered the test of time well so far.

I only just found out why the game's called Cluedo in the UK - it's based on Ludo, which I probably should have realised - but the name was changed to Clue for the US release as Ludo's not so well known there (unlike the very similar game Parcheesi).

80s Movies: The Terminator (1984)

The Terminator is yet another great 80s sci-fi movie - this time it's not aliens or computer-generated worlds, but psychotic androids from the future. The Terminator franchise has proved to be something of a roadmap for cutting-edge special effects since 1984, with the first movie making use of stop motion, 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day being all about the CGI morphing of Robert Patrick's T-1000, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) featuring 'digital actors' including a fully computer-generated Arnold Schwarzenegger, and finally the 2009 back-to-basics Terminator Salvation, which still found time to copy and paste a young Arnie from the 1984 film directly into a scene or two.

However, it is the earlier films in this franchise that remain easily the best - The Terminator does look a bit old in parts, I'll admit that, but it's really not doing so bad. While it seems like such an iconic storyline, I can't help but be amused at Wikipedia's suggestion that Kyle "come with me if you want to live" Reese was almost given a robotic dog as a companion. Maybe it's just me, but I can't help but think of K9 from Doctor Who. "Are we at the brink of the nuclear apocalypse?" "Affirmative, master."

80s Movies: TRON (1982)

TRON didn't really need a sequel - the first film was so iconic that it still stands the test of time. A blend of live action, CGI and Disney animation gives it a look all of its own and has helped to make sure that, although it looks very 1980s, TRON doesn't look dated - it just looks like that's when it was set.

Having mentioned the sequel, though, it's probably worth pointing out that TRON: Legacy has a fairly similar storyline, look, sound and feel to the original, yet that's just fine. Any Jeff Bridges is good, and any return to the TRON universe is welcome here. I just really hope some people who've never seen TRON are inspired to give it a go, having seen the 2010 version.