Ultimate 80s Blogathon Conclusion

Hey there, dear readers!

Here we are at last, the end of our cinematic journey through the 1980s.  My lovely co-host, Kim, and I didn’t know what kind of participation to expect when we were organizing this blogathon.  The number of bloggers who joined in was astounding and blew away our expectations. In case you missed any of the entries, here they all are in one convenient location:

Serendipitous Anachronisms – Pretty in Pink

Movie Movie Blog Blog – Beetlejuice

Wolffians Classics Movie Digest – Splash

Michelle, Books and Movies Addict – Pretty in Pink

Steve Says… – Stand By Me

Tranquil Dreams – The Breakfast Club (Kickoff)

Drew’s Movie Reviews – Top Gun (Kickoff)

Prime Six Blogs – 80s War Film Series

Movie Reviews 101 – Child’s Play

Confessions of a Geek Mind – Trading Places

That Moment In – Krull

Ramblings of a Cinephile – Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

Slip/Through Movies – Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Movie Reviews 101 – Critters

Starry Traveler’s Road – An American Tail

Elena Square Eyes – Crocodile Dundee

MovieRob – Labyrinth

The Sporadic Chronicles of a Beginner Blogger – Lethal Weapon

Back to the Viewer – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Flick Chicks – National Lampoon’s Vacation and Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Carly Hearts Movies – The Hunger

Pfeiffer Pfilms and Meg Movies – Innerspace and Tequila Sunrise

Life of This City Girl – When Harry Met Sally

Cinema Schminema – Return to Oz

Tranquil Dreams – 80s Dance Movies Triple Feature (Wrap-Up)

Drew’s Movie Reviews – Airplane! (Wrap-Up)

Film and TV 101 – Ten 1980s Faves (Encore)

Look at that list! So many awesome bloggers joined in.  And such a wide range of films chosen, too.  We were expecting some of the big action stars, like Schwarzenegger, Stallone or Bruce Willis, maybe some Back to the Future or Indiana Jones or Blade Runner. But all of you reached to far corners of the 80s for your selections and it couldn’t be more exciting.  However, one thing is for certain: John Hughes was a big part of the 80s. Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off all got some love, with Pretty in Pink being reviewed twice.  Now before I go on, here are a few words from Kim:

Wow! Four weeks went by like a blink of an eye.  Ultimate 80s blogathon was a mega success. Its definitely a great way to start my first blogathon.  There is no doubt that the best part of this blogathon was all the incredible participants that joined up and contributed their choices and pieces.  The turnout took our breath away.  The choices were truly surprising to us, especially when a lot of the popular choices didn’t seem to make the cut.  Everyone had very unique choices and now, I have a ton of 80s movie I know I need to catch up with.   This could get all sappy and emotional on my end (although I’m probably getting all sentimental and missing it) so I’m going to cut straight to the chase and say THANK YOU! A HUGE THANK YOU to all the participants, everyone who dropped by liked and/or shared their thoughts and of course, my fantastic co-host! 😉

Aww, Kim, you’re gonna make blush.  😛 To echo Kim: Thank you!  Thank you to all the participants, thank you to all the commenters and likers, and thank you anyone who read the entries.  One of my favorite things about being a blogger is interacting with other bloggers.  As I said before, the amount of bloggers who sent in reviews was almost overwhelming, so I had such a blast working with everyone. And I can’t say enough about my co-host.  She is laid back and so much fun to work with.  Thank you Kim for joining me on this odyssey. 🙂

One last time, thank you to all the participants and readers! You’ve made all the time spent putting this together well worth it.

Cheers!

Ultimate 80s Blogathon Wrap-Up: Airplane! (1980)

I have had such a blast hosting the Ultimate 80s Blogathon with Kim.  Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.  Earlier today, Kim wrote her blogathon wrap-up and now it is my turn.  For my wrap-up of the blogathon, I am reviewing what is hands down one of the best comedies of all time: Airplane!.

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Synopsis
Ted Striker (Robert Hays) boards an airplane hoping to convince his girlfriend, Elaine (Julie Hagerty), to not leave him. While in the air, many of the passengers and crew get sick and it falls to Striker, an ex-fighter pilot who has become afraid of flying, to land the airplane safely.

Review
I am honestly surprised no one chose Airplane! as their pick for the blogathon. This commonly tops many “best of” comedy lists. And for good reason. Every joke and gag lands perfectly, even after at least a dozen and a half viewings later. My friends and I are constantly spitting quotes from this film. Airplane! blends quick-fire jokes with hilarious visual gags. I wanted to include a favorite quote section in this review but it is really hard to come up with a favorite quote from the film because there are so many great ones to choose from. I’ve always known Leslie Nielsen as a comedic actor but apparently that wasn’t the case at all before Airplane!. This movie completely changed his on-screen persona. He nails every line with his deadpan delivery. The two leads, Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty, play perfectly off each other. There are a slew of cameos, many of which went over my head since I am removed from that era of Hollywood, but that doesn’t matter because they still hit their mark. The whole time writing this review I had to stop regularly because I keep laughing just by thinking about this movie.

I thought Airplane! was GREAT :-D. Airplane! is slapstick at its finest. Every joke is on point and every visual gag is sure to make your sides split. It’s incredible that a spoof written over thirty-five years ago can still garner as many laughs as it does and still constantly gain new fans. That’s the definition of timeless.

Also check out my review for Airplane II: The Sequel.

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Jim Abrahams – Director / Writer
David Zucker – Director / Writer
Jerry Zucker – Director / Writer
Elmer Bernstein – Composer

Robert Hays – Ted Striker
Julie Hagerty – Elaine
Leslie Nielsen – Dr. Rumack
Lorna Patterson – Randy
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – Murdock
Lloyd Bridges – McCroskey
Peter Graves – Captain Oveur
Robert Stack – Kramer
Stephen Stucker – Johnny
Robert Stack – Rex Kramer
Barbra Billingsley – Jive Lady
Otto – Himself

Return to Oz by Cinema Schminema – Ultimate 80s Blogathon

The final guest review for the Ultimate 80s Blogathon comes from Misty of Cinema Schminema with her review of Return to Oz. Go have a look! Stop by tomorrow for Kim’s and my final reviews.

Tranquil Dreams

Our last guest to join us for the Ultimate 80s Blogathon is none other that the lovely Misty from Cinema Schminema.  Misty is possibly one of my earliest blogging friends after I started jumping into the movie reviews world.  She posts creative and fun reviews on a lot of low budget movies and a lot of B-horror.  I’d be lying if she didn’t introduce me to what Asylum is and found the joy and tolerance in watching some of those features. Remember to head on over and check her site out. 🙂

Let’s pass it over to her with her choice, Return to Oz!

Return to Oz (1985)

The year was 1987 and I was but a wee slip of a thing who had a thing for dark fantasy films (at least those in the kids’ section of the video store – do you guys remember video stores??). I…

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When Harry Met Sally by Life of This City Girl – Ultimate 80s Blogathon

Welcome to the penultimate review from our guests for the Ultimate 80s Blogathon! Today, Natasha from Life of This City Girl takes a look at the romantic comedy classic When Harry Met Sally.  Natasha writes reviews for all kinds of movies and TV series, as well as participates in the blindspot series and 100 Happy Days, plus much more. There is a lot going on at her site so go give it a look if you don’t follow her already.  But for now, let’s look at her thoughts on When Harry Met Sally.

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Plot: Harry and Sally have known each other for years, and are very good friends, but they fear sex would ruin the friendship

Rating: 8.5/10

Goodness! I am so happy that Kim and Drew got this idea – it made me actually sit down and watch this movie, something that I’ve been meaning to get to for ages. I am so glad that I did. I had an absolutely fantastic time. I’m going to confess that I deviated just a tiny bit from the rules here (sorry guys!) and watched this for the first time for the blogathon. But what a great idea from myself if I say so – the modesty! – because When Harry Met Sally is going to go into my ever changing list of romantic comedies that are very worth watching.

Let’s first say this – When Harry Met Sally is so very 80s. The hairstyles, the absolutely horrendous clothing. It was obviously a time when female independence was associated with dressing really ugly, and I am very happy that we are now in a time where you can be independent and dress in nice clothes. Meg Ryan’s hair though. It gave me such life. I do wish we could still be okay with walking around with bed hair every day without caring. It would have been so amazing!

The dialogue is witty and sharp. That counts really in the favour of any film, and here it is no different. Billy Crystal is Harry, the slightly cynical man who starts out with questionable morals but as age works its’ magic he too becomes a grown-up and slightly scarred by life. Meg, as you’ve correctly guessed, is Sally, the OTT girl who should be really annoying but still remains charming (got to love the rom-coms for that!) They naturally start out hating each other and after the expected friendship drama strikes through impetuous hormones and the two realize they love each other.

Why does this work so well? If you throw in a witty dialogue, two actors who are both attractive and have chemistry and manage to tell a story without whining on and on about it, you generally have a great chance of making a movie that is worth watching. When Harry Met Sally has all of this and a real feel-good factor to it. It asks the valid question of whether men and women can actually be platonic friends (I believe they can!) and while the movie eventually points out that it leads to marriage, which is dramatic to say the very least and certainly not what I think, I loved the theme and the execution of it. If you haven’t managed to see this yet, I suggest that you try it out. Totally worth the watch!

Thanks Kim and Drew! This is such a good idea and was such fun doing it 🙂

Meg and Michelle 80s Double Feature by Pfeiffer Pfilms and Meg Movies – Ultimate 80s Blogathon

Paul, from Pfeiffer Pfilms and Meg Movies, takes a look at two of his favorite movies starring his two favorite actresses. Go check it out!

Tranquil Dreams

We’re in the 4th and final week of Ultimate 80s Blogathon! Time just flies when you’re having a great time. Next up to kick off the final week is Paul S over at Pfeiffer Pfilms and Meg Movies. I’ve never met anyone quite as knowledgeable as him when it comes to Meg Ryan and Michelle Pfeiffer.  These two ladies happen to be also two of my favorite actresses.  Its no surprise it is through one of the reviews of possibly a Meg movie that met Paul and knew about his fantastic site. If you want to read about movies and roles and performances of these two outstanding actresses, you can’t go wrong with heading over to Pfeiffer Pfilms and Meg Movies. Paul will be hosting the Meg and Michelle’s March Blogathon.  You can find the details HERE.

The 1980s. The carefree days of my youth and a decade that spawned…

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The Hunger (1983) by Carly Hearts Movies – Ultimate 80s Blogathon

1983, Directed by Tony Scott

Written by Ivan Davis and Michael Thomas (screenplay); Whitley Strieber (novel)

Starring: Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon

The Egyptian vampire lady Miriam subsists upon the blood of her lovers. In return the guys or girls don’t age… until Miriam has enough of them. Unfortunately that’s currently the case with John, so his life expectancy is below 24 hours. Desperately he seeks help from the famous Dr. Sarah Roberts. She doesn’t really believe his story, but becomes curious and contacts Miriam … and gets caught in her ban, too.

The entertainment world suffered a tremendous loss with the recent passing of David Bowie, and should you be reading my review of one of his seedier, lesser-known 80s exploits as a way to honor the late rocker?

Of course not. You should watch Labyrinth or The Prestige or The Last Temptation of Christ or listen to one of the dozens of amazing tunes he put out over the course of his storied career, and THEN come back and read my review of The Hunger, vampire erotica before vampire erotica were a thing.

To say this movie is weird is a disservice to the word “weird.” The Hunger, directorial debut of one Tony Scott, must be seen to be believed. 90 minutes of Bauhaus, hot steamy shower sex, David Bowie transforming into old bag à la Little Big Man, lesbian vampire sex, a soundtrack of mostly synths, blood, and zombie heads from Spencer Gifts, in that order.

Egyptian vampire lady Miriam is played by certainly the most Middle Eastern of actresses, Catherine Deneuve. Her food source/lover, John (Bowie) is dying, and needs to find a new person to feed off of. Enter Dr. Sarah Roberts (Sarandon), a doctor studying rapid aging. She doesn’t believe John’s problem at first, but then meets Miriam. That’s when sparks fly and they get into a strange (and bloody) love affair.

f you are expecting outlandish sexual perversities and grossness like you’d find in Caligula, you might be disappointed, but there is amazing chemistry and a really dark, sweaty atmosphere that fits both sexiness and scariness.

Why does it belong in an 80s blogathon, you ask? Do I even have to answer that? Everything about this screams 80s. I think it belongs here because most people do not know about this hidden 80s-gasm. In reality, maybe I wanted to shake things up a little and leave Ferris Bueller and the Breakfast Club for another person to tackle.

Do I love it or hate it? I don’t know. I may need to watch it a second time.

1h 37 minutes, Rated R

Distributed by: MGM/UA