No one was overly surprised when this 80’s flick dominated the 1989 Academy Award ceremony. It featured one of America's biggest movie stars showing a little gravitas as a self-absorbed hustler who learns the importance of fa...
Undeniably, the best of the mini-cycle of body-swap comedies from the late eighties, this is the flick that revealed that Tom Hanks was capable of much more than just one-dimensional idiotic comedic roles. His transformation into the floppy walk and wide-eyed enthusiasm of a 13-year-old boy is a masterclass in physical acting. It also proved that Penny Marshall was a bona fide blockbuster movie director and not just the tough-talking and boy-crazy Laverne De Fazio on TV's “Laverne &…
Before "A Different World" came into its own. Before "Higher Learning" and "Dear White People" critiqued the fraught relationship between Black students and white students at predominantly white institutions. And before "grown-ish", there was this '80s flick. Multi-talented Spike Lee’s sophomore feature took a critical look at Historically Black Colleges & Universities (aka HBCUs), revealing their beauty and complexity in a decade where Black …
“Baby Fishmouth.” “I’ll have what she’s having”. The Wagon Wheel Coffee Table. And the elaborate apple pie order that has inspired thousands of elaborate apple pie orders in diners and restaurants everywhere. In the 30 plus y...
Before “Friday Night Lights” there was this often forgotten 80’s flick. It’s not so much a film about the sport of high school football, but the effect of football on its characters. It features solid performances from its yo...
No bikinis. No blankets. No bingo. This awkwardly titled 80’s flick is a bosom-buddy movie about a friendship that was destined to be -- like surf and turf, M&Ms, Laverne and Shirley, Lucy and Ethel, maybe even Cagney and Lac...
If you have seen this heart-warming 80’s baseball fantasy flick, you likely have a strong opinion on it. While some are moved by its fantastical and heartfelt story of personal redemption, others dismiss it as over sentimenta...
Since its release over three decades ago, this 80’s flick has been hailed as a celebration of women . In his original review of the film, Roger Ebert raved about the dialogue and camaraderie of the dynamic ensemble cast. “The...
Praised as a quintessential piece of '80s cinema and highly regarded among the greatest high school movies of all time, the legacy of this 80’s flick had endured due to the film's eclectic cast of teenage archetypes. Writer-d...
In the eighties , the high-concept movie was in vogue. Thanks largely to 70’s blockbusters Jaws and Star Wars , the eighties saw the repackaging of formula for audiences wanting to rekindle the thrills. If the roller coaster ...
The 1980s was a golden era for blockbuster hits, and countless films released during this decade have gone on to become cult-classic films. One '80s movie that has certainly stood the test of time and continues to wax on in c...
A road trip movie, a buddy comedy and teen-angst director du jour, John Hughes’ first attempt at a holiday movie. It’s a classic double-act farce that might not fit that well in the decade it came out in. There are no guns or...
In 1987, a small Connecticut-based direct-to-video company made its first feature film for a true theatrical release. With low expectations from investors due to a female-driven plot amid a testosterone-heavy Summer blockbuster season, this small movie became a word-of-mouth sleeper hit, made a dancing football player turned actor into a bona fide sex symbol movie star, and birthed the worldwide phenomenon called “Dirty Dancing”.
A tender and poignant story of four friends who spend the last weekend of the Summer of 1959 looking for the body of a missing local boy, “Stand By Me” won the hearts of critics and audiences in the Fall of 1986. Starring Wi...