The 80s Club

Back when I started the “Best of the Worst” series, a few of my fellow b5media authors offered up their favorite movies from the 1980’s in addition to their Best of the Worst picks. So today, I’m taking just a minute to feature of a few of the picks which have not been mentioned before. Use it as a little cheat sheet to prepare for your next 80’s movie marathon. ;)

Here they are, in no particular order:

Risky Business
Top Gun
St. Elmo’s Fire
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
The Princess Bride (Special Edition)
Dirty Dancing
Airplane!
The Shining
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Stand By Me

It’s time to wrap up the Harrison Ford poll. I was hoping to make it to at least 20 votes. Ah, well…

Looks like, as far as you guys are concerned, Ford is safe in his role for a good long while, though a few of us wonder how they’re going to make the new film stand up to the Indiana Jones reputation all these years later. It’ll be interesting to see!

We have another pick up from Sheila! Why? Because she likes me, I think. :D Or maybe she’s just a big fan of the 80’s. I’m going with the first thing. Again, you can find her blogging for b5media at Medium Dreams and personally at GetSheila. Check her out; she’s funny AND smart. Crazy, I know….

Here are her thoughts on Aliens:

Aliens. Space, monsters, men in uniform, a strong female protagonist, and let us not forget…that’s right!…Michael Biehn.

Thanks so much, Sheila!

added after comments (from Sheila): I can’t believe I forgot to mention Carrie Henn, the little girl who played Newt and was an excellent screamer. Rumor had it she spent part of her childhood in Atwater, where I grew up, cuz her dad was Air Force.

Next up for our favorite 80’s movie is Laura Bzowy of CFS Squared.

Here are Laura’s thoughts on the movie Roxanne:

How about Roxanne, I think that was a movie made in the 80’s that I loved.
Its definitely the only Steve Martin movie that I have seen, that I actually liked.

And some fun bit of trivia about The Boy Who Could Fly:

I remember liking The Boy Who Could Fly - but I am not sure I would be so into it now. I think we liked it so much is because it was filmed in my home town. We would watch them film EVERYDAY!

It must have been so fun to see a movie being made! Thanks so much for participating, Laura. :)

Bald Man Cory Aldrich of Baldiness and Sheila Livingston of Medium Dreams both picked the Terminator for their favorite 80’s movie. Here are their thoughts.

First up, Cory:

Let’s start with The Terminator. It defined the action genre, and successfully merged it with sci-fi. So many one-liners lines made their way into the pop lexicon. It made a legend out of Arnie. And who would have thunk that Schwarzenegger would one day become “The Governator?”

And Sheila’s thoughts:

Oh, I must second The Terminator. I fell in love with Michael Biehn and wanted to be Linda Hamilton. The latter actually more so in Terminator 2:Judgment Day when she was incredibly buff and strong but, alas, that came out in 1991.

I really wasn’t a Terminator kinda girl, so, as is often the case, I have nothing intelligent or entertaining to add here. ;)

Thanks, Cory and Sheila, for participating!

This week, it’s all about the Best 80’s movies. I’ve asked some of my fellow b5media authors for their picks, and several of them agreed to participate. A few will be featured each day.

We start with Noel Bautista of Unplugged Living. Here are his picks:

Star Wars - I think everybody loves Starwars. Starwars brought Daddys and kids together. It is nice to have this Saga started during daddy’s time and ends when the kids are old enough to watch and appreciate it.

Rocky - the greatest underdog story. This one really pumps some adrenaline everytime I watch it and I feel like I can tackle all sorts of obstacles after seeing this.

Back to the Future - I just love to ride on a time machine someday. That is, if somebody can invent that flux capacitor and can find a way to generate 1.(21)x Gigawatts of electricity to power it :-)

Back to the Future is one of my favorites as well. It was the first movie (only?) that I saw in the movie theater more than one time. I remember seeing it three times at the movies!!! Of course, this was when movies only cost about 1.50 USD. ;)

Thanks so much, Noel, for participating!

We loved Forest Whitaker as the giggling Pfc. Garlick in Good Morning, Vietnam, and were moved by him as Cuffey in the epic drama, North and South. And now, two decades later, Forest Whitaker is honored with the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in The Last King of Scotland.

Congratulations, Forest! We are so proud and excited for you!

By the way, did you see all the 80’s looking dresses on the red carpet? From the big bows, to the metallic brightly colored dresses, to the short in front/long in back gowns, the 80’s seemed alive and well tonight.

I usually don’t catch Medium, for some reason I always forget when it’s on. It’s a pretty good show, but my main motivation for watching it is so that I know what the heck’s going on when I head over to read Sheila’s b5 blog, Medium Dreams, which is about the show. She cracks me up, and it’s a good reason to check her out over there. And I did happen to catch it tonight. :)

What the heck does this have to do with The 80’s Club, you ask? Well, this episode featured one of my favorite 80’s moody/confused/frustrated/angst-filled teens, Cameron from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Alan Ruck was perfect in the role of Cameron, I thought, and cracked me up in Spin City. The promo for next week’s Medium showed a clip with Eric Stoltz. He did star in one of my favorite 80s movies of all time. I take it he’s been a visitor to Patricia Arquette before?

If they keep throwing all my favorite 80’s movies stars in the show I may just become a regular!

And we’re now to our last installment of the Best of the Worst of the 80’s Movies. This submission comes to us from Taxgirl. She picks two movies, starting with Dream a Little Dream.

Dream a Little Dream. It had both Coreys in it so you know it’s bad.

And her thoughts on Rambo:

And you must include Rambo and the sequels. At the time it was filmed, Rambo III was said to be the most violent movie ever. I especially loved how it tried to mirror our political stature at the time (the “save the world from Communism” post Cold War mentality) with each installment, despite the fact that most of those who watched it were hardly seeking political commentary.

She also mentions the upcoming Rambo 4. Stallone’s been busy again!

You can find Taxgirl blogging here and here. Thanks for participating!

Bald Man and I watched Superman Returns tonight. I’m not usually much of a comic book/sci-fi kinda girl, but this one was fun. I do remember watching a few of the late 70s/early 80s Superman movies starring Christopher Reeve as Superman. It was kinda scary how very much the new Superman (Brandon Routh) looked like Christopher Reeve in a few of the scenes.

And, of course, the special effects have come such a long way in a short 20 years. At one point, when Lois and Superman were flying off into the sunset, Bald Man even commented, “Hey, you can’t even see the strings anymore!” :D