The 80s - decade of cheesy films! (80s)

Member Name: Jayne

Product:	80s
Date:	12/10/00 (818 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of humour, many so-bad they're good moments

Disadvantages: Some bad actring and some plots are predictable

What can I say about 80s films? The cheesier the better, which'll explain some of the very odd choices on my top ten list. Hope you enjoy laughing at what sad taste I have in 80s films.....

(1) The Goonies - a childhood favourite of mine, it was one of those films that you'd watch over and over again when 6 years old. For those who have yet to see it (and where have you been?) the film focuses around a group of seven kids who go on an exciting adventure for an old pirates treasure, in order to save their homes from being paved over by a developer, whilst foiling the plans of a bunch of criminals. The cast, featuring Sean Astin and 80s king of kids movies Corey Feldman are all excellent, and "The Goonies" sports one of the funniest characters of 80s films, Sloth. Who doesn’t still laugh at the line "Hey you guys!!" as said by Sloth? "The Goonies" is an engaging, hilarious and memorable film that I'd recommend to anyone.

(2) Weird Science - whereas John Hughes' other teen films of the 80s pretty much sucked, "Weird Science" is absolutely amazing! Starring "The Woman In Red"'s Kelly LeBrock, this film oozes with 80s cheese, from the tacky clothes to the flashy cars. The film is about two teenagers, Gary and Wyatt who are hopeless with girls and decide to create their own dream woman, Lisa on their computer (which I'm sure is a ZX Spectrum...hmmmm) My personal favourite scene of this film is when Gary and Wyatt are stuck in the toilet at their own party, never fails to make me laugh. Oh and also when Lisa freezes Wyatt's grandparents in the fridge, hilarious! This film also features Bill -I have the same tone in my voice constantly-Paxton as the bullying elder brother of Wyatt. The plot is predictable, but this just adds to the humour of the film. Oh and its soooooo much better than the dire TV series.

(3) Heathers - dark, creepy, but at the same time really fu
nny, "Heathers" is the best film that both Winona Ryder and Christian Slater have been in. I'm sure many will have seen this film as it is such a classic, but for those who are unfamiliar, "Heathers" focuses on high school cliques, in this case a group of obnoxious, spoilt and bitchy girls all named Heather, who new girl Veronica befriends to murderous consequences, after she falls for local rebel and weirdo J.D. The film, although tragic and dark in parts is a very clever satire on all "in" crowds in America. The film is really funny as well, and I swear you'll look at mineral water in a whole new way after watching this film!

(4) Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure - this is perhaps the only film where Keanu Reeves can actually act, probably because he's playing someone incredibly dumb. The plot features no-brainers Bill and Ted who must perform a presentation based on American history in order to get a decent grade, so when they come across a mysterious telephone box with an even more mysterious looking bloke named Rufus (who turns out to be from the future) in it one night, they must use the box in order to travel through time to pick up some historical figures (e.g. Napoleon and Joan of Arc) in order to help with their presentation. This film is probably the best time-travel themed film ever made, and is also highly comical in parts, particularly the scene where the historical figures cause havoc in a modern day mall, and also when Napoleon becomes hooked on water slides. A must-see for everyone!

(5) Grease 2 - I can hear the cries of "WHAT??" now from all the people who read this, but "Grease 2" has to be the cheesiest film ever made. Which also makes it bloody funny as well! It features Michelle Pfeiffer's debut performance, and she stars as Stephanie, the leader of the pink ladies who British geek Michael falls for. Whereas the first "Grease" had John Travolta in
the cool role and Olivia Newton John in the naive and clueless role, "Grease 2" switches the roles round. I think the plot, writing, acting and songs are all cringingly bad, but they're all so bad they're good! A typical quote from "Grease 2" has Michael "wowing" Stephanie with the er, "original" line "Well actually I think you're pretty terrific", and this is just one of the many corny lines of the film. The worst (but also best as its so bad) song has to be "Who's That Guy" which features Michael disguised as a mysterious biker in order to make Stephanie fall for him, and the song contains possibly the worst line ever in a musical film song "What would they say if they knew it was Michael?". I swear you'll be laughing so hard nothing will make sense anymore, which may explain why I actually like this film. No it does no justice at all to the original "Grease" and I'm surprised Pfeiffer actually had a career after this, but I don’t think I've ever laughed so much at a film because its so bad.

(6) The Secret of My Success - Starring Michael J.Fox in one of his most humorous roles yet, "The Secret Of My Success" is about a young bloke named Brantley who arrives from the countryside into New York in order to push his way up into an executive position at his uncles firm. His position in the firm at first is at the bottom of the ladder, so he pretends to be an exec. and surprisingly gets away with it until the end. Oh and he also sleeps with his aunt along the way, whilst falling for a fellow exec. This film is largely underrated, its very funny with Michael J.Fox delivering a very comical performance. One of the funniest lines in the film is, when accidentally bumping into his uncle (who is unaware of his secret charade as an exec) who questions his nephew as to why he’s wearing a suit, Brantley replies "I went to a funeral. I
t was a friend. He died. We buried him", it sounds much more funnier in the film anyway. Also keep an eye out for the scene where Brantley has to deal with the very erm, "noisy and energetic" next door neighbours, tis a very funny scene!

(7) The Labyrinth - Way better than the previous Jim Henson film "The Dark Crystal", "The Labyrinth" is another childhood favourite of mine. The basic gist involves a teenage girl, obsessed with fairytales and who gets fed up of her baby step brother one night wishes for him to be taken away to the Goblin City. However when this wish comes true, she must go on a roller coaster of a search to find her brother, by entering the Labyrinth itself and making friends with a few odd creatures along the way. It's quite a magical film, but is more funny nowadays when you look at what the hell David Bowie is wearing in the film. I mean, David Bowie in leggings??? Not a pretty site, but very funny all the same. Again the film is tremendously cheesy, but great for people of all ages nevertheless. Oh and check out Bowies mullet as well, it even beats Pat Sharps.

(8) Ferris Buellers Day Off - a true classic, I'm sure everyone’s seen this film already, but basically its about a teenager who takes a day off to go to New York with his girlfriend and best friend. Also contains the best tips for faking an illness and sagging the day off from school. Very funny, especially when Ferris' disturbed arch enemy, his head principal pries around the house only to be met with a number of misfortunes. All in all a great film.

(9) The Worst Witch - more of a TV movie I think, but this is yet another childhood favourite of mine. Its based on the books by Jill Murphy, about a young witch who is hopeless at magic. The film stars Fairuza Balk, who is probably best known for "The Craft", but is much younger in this film. Again the film is terribly corny, the most tackiest moment
being the Grand Wizard (played by Tim Curry) performing a song about Halloween which contains the lines "Anything can happen on Halloween/Has anyone seen my tambourine", this song literally had me crying with laughter. Oh and theres some really dodgy "special" effects to accompany the song, which makes the graphics in the film "Tron" look like the most spectacular thing ever. Still, a good film though.

(10) Scrooged - My personal favourite Christmas film, "Sgrooged" is unsurprisingly based on Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". Starring Bill Murray as scrooge Frank Cross, the film is about the main character's plan to run a live adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" on Christmas Eve. Coming from an unhappy childhood, Frank seriously lacks Christmas spirit, and is visited by three ghosts who eventually show him how he must change. The film, although slightly sentimental at the end is very funny, with Murray providing one of his best performances yet, along with the twisted ghosts who "help" him along the way. The film also features that guy with the weird voice from the "Police Academy" films as the hilarious ex-colleague of Murray's who is determined to get his revenge on his boss for sacking him. A highly amusing film.

Well, thats my top ten films of the 80s, hope you enjoyed it. Near misses from the list include:
Ghostbusters 1 and 2
Back To The Future and Back To The Future 2
Coming To America
The Lost Boys
A Fish Called Wanda (which, on looking back now I really should have put in)
Temple of Doom (purely because the little chinese boy from "The Goonies" is in it)
Withnail and I (I saw this recently and it just narrowly misses making it onto my list)

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