80s

Walk Like a Man

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Walk Like A Man. Metro Goldwyn Mayer 1987.

Before watching the movie:

The closer I look at this movie, the lower my expectations sink. Howie Mandel playing a dog-man, Christopher Lloyd playing his slimy brother… I was never clear on when Howie Mandel was a big deal. He had something going for him that let him make Bobby’s World (which I watched as a kid and enjoyed), then disappeared for a long time and resurfaced as the “remember him?” host of Deal or No Deal. Additionally, while I’ve seen Christopher Lloyd play villains before, I don’t expect to enjoy this particular kind of role on him.

Since I only heard about it through an automatically-generated recommendation, it must not be terribly memorable.

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Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

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Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Paramount Pictures 1987.

Before watching the movie:

I saw a little of this movie over a year ago, but I mainly remember a rant Steve Martin delivers. I certainly don’t remember as much in general as a DVD blurb could tell me, but essentially Steve Martin has to cross the country with planes snowed out, and faces a million irritations, many from John Candy, a traveler going the same way.

Maybe I do know as much as the blurb after all.

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Highlander

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Highlander.Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment 1986.

Before watching the movie:

While I know the basics of the Highlander series, I’ve never seen the television series or movies. I know the fact that there are movies plural is bad, but this is the good one.

I guess the plot is just a bad Immortal hunting a good Immortal, which as I understand it is pretty much the television show boiled down into a one-installment plot.

Sean Connery mentors the centuries-old main character, because he needs training for some reason.

It sounds like an excellent example of modern fantasy or magical realism, depending on how much the Immortals’ magic is involved.

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Puss in Boots

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Puss In Boots. Golan-Globus Productions 1988.

Before watching the movie:

Welcome to Yesterday’s Movies’ Holiday Gift Guide for Adults Who Always Get The Wrong Thing. There are less than ten shopping days to disappoint a young person close to you this Christmas, and if you’re looking for a movie that’s sure to get a reaction, you could do worse (better?) than the 1988 Puss In Boots.

I have never heard of this film before I found it, but if your kid was expecting Ant0nio Banderas’s feisty CG kitty in some kind of adventure involving Humpty Dumpty before Puss ever met Shrek (I haven’t seen it… yet), this is guaranteed to cause some sort of emotional setback. This movie features Christopher Walken as the voice of the cat in Live Action musical telling of the original Puss in Boots story. There’s potential there, but also so much room to fall short.

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The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood

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The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood. Charles Fries Productions 1984.

Before watching the movie:

The concept sounds like fun. A goofy take on Robin Hood, no competence to be found with anyone, Robin needing to take out loans to support a rebellion. There are also some pretty big name stars involved.

The concept sounds like it could be funnier than Men In Tights, but I’m not seeing very promising reviews, and there’s the fact that I never heard of it and it all looks very cheap. We’ll see how this goes.

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Footloose

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Footloose. Paramount Pictures 1984.

Before watching the movie:

This is another notable classic that I never got around to seeing before. I’ve been a fan of the title song ever since it was used in a 90s commercial for half a dozen Paramount movies at once, but that’s not necessarily enough to expect the others to live up to.

On the other hand, the classic status, notability of Kevin Bacon, and possibly the fact that they remade it (if it’s as good as they say it shouldn’t have needed to be remade, but that’s not an argument producers hear).

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This Is Spinal Tap

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This is Spinal Tap. Spinal Tap Productions 1984.

Before watching the movie:

Mockumentaries tend to be great or mediocre. CSA: The Confederate States of America was disappointing, but mostly because I didn’t expect the direction it took, and it had a much stronger message than I imagined. As a comedy, especially one that is a cult favorite over 25 years later, I expect good things from This is Spinal Tap.

I’m not much into heavy metal, but the point is satire, so it should be pretty good. Also there are a lot of big names and big non-names (you may not recognize the name Harry Shearer, but he’s one of the core actors on The Simpsons), so a lot of star power and star talent.

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To Be Or Not To Be

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To Be Or Not To Be. Brooksfilms 1983.

Before watching the movie:

Mel Brooks. Nazis. Shakespeare. Sounds like a lot of fun. My concern creeps in with the facts that this is a remake of a 40s film and has been described as less satirical than his best. When I think of Mel Brooks without satire, I think of Dracula: Dead and Loving It, which (as I said on Twitter) relied too much on physical comedy.

Useless fact time: as you can find out from any other reference on this film, it’s the only time Mel Brooks acted in the same movie with his wife Anne Bancroft. Much like that Wall Street is notable for featuring Martin Sheen and Charlie Sheen as father and son (and Michael Douglas as the inspiration to all the authors of the economic recession), it’s an interesting fact that doesn’t mean much but takes up space.

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The Fly

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The Fly. Brooksfilms 1986.

Before watching the movie:

Oh. Another horror film. Even though I’m not fond of horror. I’m more interested in this because it seems more like “creepy sci-fi” than horror, though. It’s hard to even place a good handle on what “horror” is, and that’s probably because I never get as scared as I’m told I’m supposed to by horror.

It occurs to me that Jeff Goldblum is an odd choice for horror. I thought for a while that he’d actually be rather good as a victim protagonist, but then he still has to act as the human/fly monster as well. So, it should be good to see him act out of type?

I really hope I get a good, safe scare out of this. But then, can a scare really be safe and still scary?

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