#1525 Made in Heaven (1987)

Made in Heaven is a movie narrated in two acts: in the first act we see the protagonist as a young boy heading off to California, getting killed in an accident, ending up in heaven and falling in love with another soul.

In the second act they both have been born again, unaware of their previous lives and mutual time together in heaven, and the thrill the movie offers to the viewers is of course the hope of their life lines somehow intertwining, perhaps leading them to find each other once again.

I have to admit I found the movie incredibly dull and slow paced for most of its running time, but the final events did admittedly get to me to the extend of turning the overall experience quite positive. Clearly this concept of soul mates has something special going for it, only if the endless taxiing before final payoff of a takeoff was crafted just a bit more exciting.

80s-o-meter: 55%

Total: 61%

#1524 Oxford Blues (1984)

A British movie, sure – but with Rob Lowe and Ally Sherry (of The Breakfast Club fame) flown to the cold and drafty England. Aaand that where most of the good news end.

The rest of the film is exactly what you’d expect from a title from UK, and it’s only Lowe’s natural movie star quality that keeps movie afloat, and only barely so as he is mostly focused just on looking all cutesy. The manuscript that doesn’t give him anything more to work with is partly to blame here, as pretty much all of the characters in the script come across unlikable and mostly obnoxious.

Oxford Blues is a weak drama, topped with a layer of romantic comedy devoid of laughs and chemistry. It’s strongest suite is in the sports, but even there it fails to sell the idea in a convincing manner.

80s-o-meter: 45%

Total: 19%

#1523 The Creature Wasn’t Nice aka Spaceship aka Naked Space (1981)

The Creature Wasn’t Nice is one of those movies that never should have been made. Trying to poke fun out of space monster movies, the whole show is amateurish to the maximum (partly by design, though), and pretty much 100% percent of all the humour misses its target.

It’s a well known fact that Leslie Nielsen had to skip Airplace II: The Sequel – a far superior early 80s space comedy – due to his commitment to the Police Squad, but one can’t but to wonder how he got involved in this turd of a movie.

Released at first under the titles The Creature Wasn’t Nice as well as Spaceship, the movie saw another home video release as Naked Space after the vast success of the Naked Gun movies –– naturally with Nielsen’s face promoted over other content in the various VHS covers.

80s-o-meter: 60%

Total: 3%

#1522 State Park aka National Park aka Heavy Metal Summer (1988)

The crew behind State Park knows very well that laid back summer camps are a great setting for 80s comedies.

And within this setting the movie delivers. The summery campsite atmosphere is very enjoyable and the roster of quirky characters suit the movie perfectly.

An US-Canadian-UK co-production shot mostly in Québec, Canada, the movie makes a perfect impression of a Northern America lakeside and it hit a spot for me watching this thing on a summer night while suffering of a horrid flu that prevented me from enjoying the outside.

And for that it deserves its top rating.

80s-o-meter: 92%

Total: 83%