Tag: 80s

The Thanksgiving I Finally Watch Planes, Trains & Automobiles

A picture of Steve Martin and John Candy in the film Planes, Trains & Automobiles.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Directed by John Hughes
Written by John Hughes

The review:

2020 is the year I finally watch this John Hughes classic film!* I found it to be an amusing road trip in that very 80s way and I was reminded of the humanity John Candy brought to his misfit characters.** While I don’t think this will become a Thanksgiving tradition, this is an enjoyable bit of classic 80s cinema.***

The verdict: Good

Cost: $2.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

  • Uncle Buck
  • Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
  • Mr. Mom

Further sentences:

*In looking at the films he directed, I’m not sure if I’ve seen Weird Science or not, and I know I’ve not seen Curly Sue, but the rest of the filmography bridges my elementary school through my junior high years. Kids were talking about Sixteen Candles in 1984, which was about four years before I was old enough to watch it, and I remember getting dropped off at the theater with my friend Laurie to watch Uncle Buck. (Apparently I already wrote about this in 2010.)
**RIP John Candy
***It was also fun to see the bits in the film I remember people recounting to me over the years. (“You haven’t seen Planes, Trains & Automobiles? There’s this classic scene where…”)

Questions:

  • What’s your favorite John Candy role?
  • What’s your favorite zany road comedy?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

On instruction from John Hughes, Edie McClurg’s role as the St. Louis rental car agent was partially improvised. Hughes told her to simply riff a fake phone conversation with someone about Thanksgiving plans while Steve Martin remains waiting in line staring at her to finish up. McClurg came up with the idea to speak with her sister about who was going to make what adding “You know I can’t cook!” Hughes asked her how she came up with those lines so quickly and she replied that, like his scripts, she just drew it from her own life. McClurg claims to this day that random people ask her to tell them they’re fucked.

(All hail Edie McClurg who will forever be Patty Poole the neighbor in the
television show Valarie/The Hogan Family)

A picture of Edie McClurg in the film Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Other reviews of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles:

  • Sheila Benson, Los Angeles Times
  • Janet Maslin, New York Times (I can’t get a working link, but the excerpt says: Mr. Martin and Mr. Candy are an easy twosome to watch even with marginal material, though, and the film is never worse than slow.)
Orange background with a white frame. Text: Quote: Those aren't pillows! —Planes, Trains, & Automobies. Read the three sentence movie review 3SMReviews.com

The Cotton Club Encore: Ignore the Gangsters

Photo of Gregory Hines in the Cotton Club Encore

The Cotton Club Encore

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Written by William Kennedy and Francis Ford Coppola

The review:

I’ve not seen the original, but this encore version has a not-interesting gangster story interspersed with incredible vocal and dance performances by the entertainers performing at the Cotton Club.* Richard Gere wanders around in dark sun glasses playing his coronet** looking troubled, while meanwhile Gregory Hines has actual problems*** It’s fun to see actors looking young**** but this is a very long movie that has its focus on the wrong thing.

The verdict: Skip

(or watch it and fast forward to the performance scenes)

Cost: $1.99 via Redbox OnDemand
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*That’s right! You can fast forward through all of the gangster plot and just hang out at the Cotton Club.
**Much is made of the fact that Gere is really playing that coronet.
***Making the choice between being a solo act or sticking with his brother; being in love with a woman who makes choices that make it difficult to be in a relationship with her; the fact that he’s underpaid because his artistry can be exploited.
****1984 was kind of a long time ago, it turns out. Gere, Gregory Hines, Diane Lane (very young!) Nicolas Cage (also very young!) Bob Hoskins, and Laurence Fishburne.

Questions:

  • Have you ever watched a film for reasons other than the main plot?
  • What’s your favorite “performances” film?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Laurence Fishburne’s character, Bumpy Rhodes, was based on real-life Harlem gangster Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson. Fishburne would play Bumpy in Hoodlum (1997) 13 years later.

Other reviews of The Cotton Club:

Text: You've got about as much style as a bowl of turnips. —The Cotton Club Encore. Read the three sentence movie review: 3SMReviews.com

Do the Right Thing: Getting to Know a Block

A picture from the movie Do the Right Thing

Do the Right Thing

Directed by Spike Lee
Written by Spike Lee

The review:

Spike Lee spends a lot of time letting us get to know the residents of a neighborhood block* which, by the time the big thing happens at the 90-minute mark your feeling are stronger than they would have been if the big thing happened fifteen minutes in. Aside from the tactics of the police** much of this movie felt very familiar 31 years later. The main players all turn in great performances*** and despite the fact I watched this on a not-hot day, that increasing tension of heat and city was aptly recreated.

The verdict: Good

Cost: Possibly free through one of the services? I cannot recall.
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*This feature was what sunk the film for me when I first attempted to watch it in the late 90s. It’s a very slow film. It was so slow that I gave up and watched something else, or perhaps took a nap.
**Then: going in swinging with their billy clubs. Now: drawing a gun and shooting.
***You know who isn’t good at acting though? Joie Lee. Rosie Perez is also a little raw. (Though she’s great in the dance sequence that opens the film!)

Questions:

  • Mookie’s big action after the terrible action. What do you think?
  • Tell me your favorite character or characters. (Mine were the three guys (Robin Harris, Paul Benjamin, Frankie Faison) sitting in front of the red wall, though the Mayor was great too.)

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The opening sequence, which featured the song “Fight The Power”, was written especially for the movie. Rosie Perez dancing to the song took eight hours to film.

Other reviews of Do the Right Thing:

Quote from Do the Right Thing: Today's temperature's gonna rise up over 100 degress, so there's a Jheri curl alert! That's right, Jheri curl alert.

Purple Rain: Excellent Musical Performances

(not great everything else)

Purple Rain

The review:

I’m thankful that Albert Magnoli’s Purple Rain exists, not because of the acting (not good) or the plot (mostly terrible), but because I never got to be a young person watching an ascendant Prince play at a small club in Minneapolis and if it weren’t for this movie, I wouldn’t ever have that opportunity. This is a movie where women are easily discarded objects* and with a main character who, even though we see what demons are driving him, isn’t likable,** and the plot had me drifting off to sleep more than once. But when Prince gets on stage, every synapse snapped to attention.***

The verdict: Skip

(Or watch only for the performances)

Cost: free from the Multnomah County Library
Where watched: at home

Consider watching instead:

Further sentences:

*Example: a woman asks a man where he was last night and the man has another man throw her into a dumpster.
**As noted, he is not a good actor. He is particularly bad at kissing while acting, which just looked gross.
***Good lord, could that man perform. Morris Day and the Time were great too.

Questions:

  • Is it worth watching a terrible movie for the performances when only 25% of the movie is performances?
  • Have you seen Prince in anything good?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

An early, simpler version of the unpronounceable symbol that Prince changed his name to during his dispute with Warner Bros. Records is painted on the side of his motorcycle’s gas tank. It also appears on a wall of the overpass he rides under during “When Doves Cry.”

Purple Rain

Heartburn Starts With a Happy Marriage

Heartburn

The review:

Mike Nichols gives us a happy marriage that suddenly slams on its breaks in Heartburn.* I’m not a fan of Jack Nicholson** and was surprised to find him a chilled-out, easier-to-watch dude who nicely offset Meryl Streep’s performance, plus I enjoyed that darling red-headed baby.*** This is full of great lines and a great selection of 1986-era clothing, plus Kevin Spacey’s first film role, and various 80s-style ridiculous situations.

The verdict: Good

Cost: Free via Kanopy, the library’s streaming service.
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*I was under the mistaken impression that this movie was all divorce, all the time, but it begins with with the couple meeting at a wedding.
**”Are you watching The Shining?” the boyfriend asked as he caught a glimpse of Nicholson on the screen.”
“Nope,” I replied, “I’m watching a movie with the cutest baby ever!”
***Later in the film, looking at the way Meryl Streep was looking at that baby, I thought, “Is that Meryl Streep’s baby?” And it was. That’s Mamie Gummer.

Questions:

  • Knowing that this was based on the Nora Ephron/Carl Bernstein marriage, what do you think about Bernstein being a ladies’ man/lech?
  • Have you read this book?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

In Everything Is Copy (2015), Jacob Bernstein’s documentary about his mother Nora Ephron’s life and career, he reveals that contentious negotiations over the movie adaptation of her novel Heartburn extended his parents’ divorce for several years longer than most divorces take. Eventually, their divorce agreement included a stipulation that the movie was not allowed to depict the “Mark Forman” (Carl Bernstein) character as anything but a good, loving, and conscientious father (whatever his failings as a faithful husband were), and Mike Nichols had to be named as a legal signatory to the divorce.

Random bit of me trivia:

The Carly Simon song featured on this soundtrack “Coming Around Again” was played ad infinitum on the radio station my parents listened to.

Heartburn

Out of context, this quote sounds dirty. Jack Nicholson was talking about some food that Meryl Streep had cooked.

Stop Making Sense is Phenomenal

Stop Making Sense

The review:

For most of my life, the Talking Heads have been ever present* and so I never prioritized Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense. This was a mistake, because from the first time David Byrne walks on stage this concert documentary is riveting. It’s fun to watch the set be built through the concert, it’s fun to watch the band slowly trickle in, it’s fun to watch the choreography,** and it breathed life into some very well-worn songs and made me hear them in a new way.***

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $2.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

  • Homecoming
  • 20 Feet From Stardom
  • The Wrecking Crew
  • Some Kind of Monster
  • The Last Waltz
  • (As in the Miss Americana review this is an aspirational list here. I’ve not seen any of them.)

Further sentences:

*I wouldn’t be surprised if the magic of the internet overlords told me I’d heard some part of “Once in a Lifetime” at least weekly since 1984.
**Which seemed very Jazzercise-esque at times.
***That said, I would have preferred a few more long shots and fewer closeups, because that choreography gets lost, though I have read that the closeups were very innovative at the time. I also love how the crew all came on stage to take a bow at the end. And! No encores in 1984!

Questions:

  • What’s your favorite concert documentary?
  • Could you like a concert doc of a band/musician/genre you didn’t like?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

David Byrne’s staggering during the latter part of “Psycho Killer” was directly inspired by Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding (1951) during the song “I Left My Hat In Haiti.”

(I have just watched the clip of this and did not find anything that looked like David Byrne’s staggering.)

Other reviews:

Stop Making Sense

Starman is Fun to Watch 36 Years Later

Starman

The review:

Jeff Bridges is a revelation in John Carpenter’s Starman—full of ticks and a dawning sense of his human self.* Karen Allen is also key to this film because her varying facial expressions lead the audience to accept the alien. The film includes a great combo of early digital and practical effects and was a good choice for a Valentine’s Day viewing.**

The verdict: Good

Cost: $2.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home with the boyfriend

Consider also watching:

Further sentences

*I forget how amazing he is as an actor, because I feel like he’s been playing shades of the Dude for years.
**I was thinking what a lovely little love story this was until the boyfriend (who also counsels domestic violence offenders) started pointing out all the controlling behaviors: “How come when I kidnap someone at gunpoint and make them drive me to a different state it’s a felony? Etc. Etc. Etc. It cracked me up.

Questions:

  • What’s your favorite human/alien movie?
  • Kidnapping. When is it okay?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Actor Jeff Bridges studied ornithology and the behavior of birds to prepare for his role as an alien in human form for this movie. Bridges particularly used the sudden jerky head movements, among other nuances and mannerisms, of birds for his Starman character.

Other reviews:

Starman