Kuukausi: heinäkuu 2021

#1535 Best Friends (1982)

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Since the first time I’ve seen this poster, it has been amusing me to no end to how Goldie Hawn looks just dying inside having been forced to nibble Burt Reynolds’ ear.

In real life they were apparently friends though, and Best Friends was a passion project for them that they wanted to do at some point. This is a romantic comedy of a couple that despite the mutual love get hesitantly married in a modest, small chapel, go see the relatives, get fed up with them and finally with each other and split up.

Best Friends is a pretty tame comedy with no laugh out loud moments, and the theme of suffocating relatives has been executed in a better way in many other films, all of which Meet the Parents (2000) being probably the most well known one.

80s-o-meter: 83%

Total: 43%

#1534 Slam Dance (1987)

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Tom Hulce’s movies of the 80s seem to range from great to kind of crappy. After his 1978 break through role in Animal House he started the new decade strongly with Those Lips, Those Eyes, won the critics over with Amadeus, followed by disappointing Echo Park, playing the support role in the highly popular Parenthood before wrapping the decade up in Black Rainbow, another slight disappointment.

While Slam Dance never had a chance of becoming a great movie, this story of an artist framed for a murder of a woman could’ve turned out an OK thriller, but it’s either the story by Don Keith Opper that’s too convoluted, or then it’s the director Wayne Wang who fails to translate it to the silver screen in an understandable manner.

Slam Dance is a messy film where nothing is quite real or convincing. Many of the elements here don’t quite seem to mix in well to the idea of Slam Dance trying to be an erotic thriller, and the sub plot of her ex-wife walking in to the scene just the wrong moment again and again gets old before the midpoint of the movie.

80s-o-meter: 85%

Total: 41%

#1533 Porky’s Revenge (1985)

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The third installation of the Porky’s series does one thing right: it restores Chuck Mitchell to the silver screen as the antagonist, now running a sleazy river boat for booze hounds looking forward to seeing some hooters.

Porky’s Revenge also introduces other sub plots like shot gun wedding, state champion basketball match, and a raunchy relationship between the teachers, all of which alone work better than the play motif in its predecessor.

Couple this with a revenge plot that introduces just the right amount of excitement towards the finale, and Porky’s Revenge not only manages to match the first installation of the series, but actually makes for a better movie overall!

80s-o-meter: 55%

Total: 65%

#1532 Porky’s II: The Next Day (1983)

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What do Halloween and Porky’s series have in common? Well, they both have sequels that pick up the story from the very minute the original one left off.

Propelled no doubt with the runaway success of the first movie, Porky’s II: The Next Day revolves around the students trying to put on a play, with Reverend Flavel trying to shut them down.

There’s limited fun to be had with the movie poking fun of some redneck KKK organisation, but other than that, The Next Day is one really tame and lame show compared to the original.

80s-o-meter: 51%

Total: 41%

#1531 Porky’s (1981)

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A Canadian sex comedy about 1950s High School teenagers was a huge success upon its 1981 release – and interestingly perhaps more American than many of its similar USA releases.

Most of the elements typical to the sub genre are there, and don’t provide much more than what you’ve used to with other similar titles of the era. But where Porky’s gets interesting is when the boys travel across the border to a strip club owned by Porky (aptly named Porky’s), get conned, humiliated and driven out of the state. The plotting and eventual revenge against this tub of lard is by far the best aspect of the movie, making it interesting to watch until the end. Chuck Mitchell really makes on despicable antagonist here!

Porky’s would go on to spawn two sequels, Porky’s II: The Next Day and Porky’s Revenge, released in 1983 and 1985, respectively.

80s-o-meter: 51%

Total: 60%

#1530 Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (1981)

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There is one good scene in Chu Chu and the Philly Flash that almost redeems it from its other shortcomings. It’s when the characters finally drop their masks and share the unfortunate life events that landed them where they are now; at the very end of the food chain. Their falling in love is perfectly clumsy and awkward – and perfectly in character.

The rest of the movie does not reach the same standards. Mostly shot in cheap looking studio set the silly story with silly goons going after a silly MacGuffin of a secret government plan.

Alan Arkin is always a pleasure to behold on the silver screen and the hobo character he creates here feels many ways more substantial and complex than the movie itself.

80s-o-meter: 80%

Total: 58%

#1529 The Burning Bed (1984)

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One of the most hard to watch movies I’ve seen to date, The Burning Bed is a gruesome depiction of a domestic abuse downward spiral.

Being based on actual events, the movie does a terrific job in putting into concrete how the abuse starts in small, almost innocent baby steps that are easy to put aside. It also depicts exceptionally well the manipulative side as the abuser always finds a justification and forgiveness for their acts.

This is one of the rare cases where it doesn’t make much sense mentioning the made-for-TV origin of the movie was it easily bests the vast majority of theatrical dramas in its genre. Farrah Fawcett’s performance is flawless, and my hat is off to Paul Le Mat for his courage of accepting such a role. The events of the movie cut so deep that I might never look him the same way again.

80s-o-meter: 54%

Total: 92%

#1528 Angel III: The Final Chapter (1988)

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Angel III: The Final Chapter takes again a step to wrong direction and feels in most ways far less insignificant than the previous two installations, missing the roughness around the edges seen in the first part, and the value adding ideas seen in Avenging Angel.

In fact, with the lead actor once again downgraded to another actress, Angel III: The Final Chapter feels almost a separate movie in the series. While the lead Mitzi Kapture alone isn’t to be blamed for the shortcomings of The Final Chapter, it really did not help that she is previously known to me only from Silk Stalkings, a ridiculously cheap and plastic 90s TV-series that plagued the Finnish late night TV for years.

Despite its title, the series did not end up with The Final Chapter, with one more unworthy sequel released in 1994.

80s-o-meter: 91%

Total: 42%

#1527 Avenging Angel (1985)

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A sequel to the Angel, Avenging Angel picks up the story a few later after the events of its predecessor, with the heroine now off the streets and working as a lawyer. I found the setup interesting and the whole Angel character now much stronger: instead of being just a gun happy lolita on a revenge spree, she is well spoken, confident and intelligent. This coupled with her background and her street knowhow makes for an interesting character that at best writes itself.

Playing Molly (’Angel’) Stewart this time around is the gorgeous Betsy Russell who fits the role perfectly, and would be my pick of all the Angel actors. The tone of the movie is lighter than with its predecessor, and it introduces some actual comedic elements and segments I wasn’t completely sure were the series needed, but I didn’t mind them much either.

As a completely average (in a good way) 80s action comedy, Avenging Angel is by far the strongest and most entertaining movie of the series.

80s-o-meter: 90%

Total: 72%

#1526 Angel (1984)

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Angel, an exploitative, sleazy movie of a teen grade-A student gone prostitute ends up something of bore.

The first part of the (mostly unrelated) four Angel movies that were released in 1984 (this one), 1985 (Avenging Angel), 1988 (Angel III: The Final Chapter), plus one more attempt to milk the weak franchise, released in 1994.

Angel is mostly passable, but nothing really substantial enough to stick with the viewer for longer. The only really interesting part of the movie is its eccentric supporting cast, as well as the depiction of the 80s street life. The exploitation angle is strong in the marketing, but the end result is a bit tame.

80s-o-meter: 68%

Total: 58%