Month: January 2018

#805 Eight Men Out (1988)

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Eight Men Out retells the story of 1919 baseball scandal, in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox made a pact with gamblers to intentionally lose the 1919 World Series. Knowing how it all turns out in the end the movie’s angle is to go through the events in the chronological order as they unfolded, with the focus slightly tilted towards outfielder Buck Weaver who would go on trying to prove his innocence for rest of his natural life.

As we go on from a match to another, I can’t help but to think some smarter editing could’ve been used here, snipping off the time from the games and focusing for example on the final trial instead. Still, it was a positive surprise how well the movie was put together and how well it conveys the time period without ever making a big fuss about it, or getting tediously drowsy or stale like so many period pictures tend to come out.

The casting is strong with John Cusack leading as Buck Weaver. As his teammate can be seen young Charlie Sheen, who’d incidentally go on starring in Major League, a hugely successful baseball comedy released the following year.

80s-o-meter: 35%

Total: 72%

#804 Foxes (1980)

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Foxes makes an attempt to document the live of suburban teenagers of the late 70s – early 80s, and as such the movie succeeds. The themes like sex, parties, drugs and the rough transformation to the world of grown ups get handled in a realistic fashion and the movie never takes a condescending tone.

Beneath this the movie is almost void of real depth and substance. Somewhat random scenes come and go and the obvious buildup towards the end made me wish the writer would’ve have some aces hidden up his sleeve. Woefully this is not the case here, and the ultimate tearjerker scene feels downright banal.

There are some high points to the movie though. The movie marks a turning point for Jodie Foster to adult roles and her solid performance makes it pretty obvious she was destined to greatness. Then there’s the soundtrack by Giorgio Moroder, which features Donna Summer’s song ‘On the Radio’ and its many arrangements as a recurring motif. Despite the lack of real depth, the movie does flow through nicely and watching it doesn’t feel tiresome at all.

The movie serves the best as a time vessel for those who lived their youth during the era – or for the fans of Jodie Foster wishing to check out her early work.

80s-o-meter: 55%

Total: 62%

#803 Stroker Ace (1983)

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Towards the 30 minute mark of Stroker Ace Loni Anderson stands outside in the balcony with Burt Reynolds and asks him why does he keep on racing, to which Reynolds sighs and answers hesitantly — “I don’t know – it’s uh, kind of hard to explain”.

The answer would’ve likely been the same had someone asked him why does he keep on doing all these car chase movies.

Reynolds had already totally drained the genre with Smokey and the Bandit and Cannonball Run and their uninspired sequels, and in Stroker Ace he goes on to flogging the dead horse with a movie that manages to be considerably poorer than the previous ones. Once again we see Reynolds playing the slick, wise-cracking yippie ki-yay playboy head over heels in love with himself. It’s an already tired routine that grows even older 5 minutes into the film.

Directed by Reynolds’ long time mate Hal Needham – a stunt man converted to a movie maker – the movie ends with his trademark blooper reel, even which fails to amuse.

80s-o-meter: 58%

Total: 13%

#802 Equalizer 2000 aka Defender 2000 (1987)

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I never quite understood the charm and the huge following behind the Mad Max series. Although the series did spawn one sequel that has at least some good cinematography and a killer soundtrack, the dystopian desert action genre mostly feels really campy and lame – and the time usually hasn’t been too kind on it. The biggest sin of the series still remains that it opened the floodgate of an endless stream of ripoffs, all of which fall pretty much behind even the already lousy original.

Equalizer 2000 takes place in the post-apocalyptic Alaska desert where the baddies drive around in lazily customised cars from the 70s and the 80s. In order to fight against them, a rogue warrior called Slade crafts a machine gun that apparently makes him invincible against gun fire. That’s pretty much the plot here, with rest of the running time filled with extras firing off guns, getting shot and falling to the ground.

Equalizer 2000 is a poor, poor movie with an equally low production value. The movie lags far behind its time and feels completely out of place compared to the movies released in the 1987, and even manages to look and feel more outdated than the original 1979 Mad Max.

Consider this a warning.

80s-o-meter: 16%


Total: 4%

#801 Lady in White (1988)

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An indie spooky story, Lady in White is the kind of underdog movie you’d hope to be really good, but woefully its flaws ultimately outweight the positives.

The movie is much too slow paced and neither the effects or the ghost seem convincing, yet still the movie chooses to showcase both for even minutes at the time. Both the flashback narrative and the 60s social commentary of the racism just don’t seem to fit in with the rest of the movie, and leaving those along some other bits to the cutting room floor would’ve made the viewing a much tighter experience.

Lukas Haas is a natural in the lead role and I really digged the attempt to build a solid ghost story instead of just your typical slasher or a jump scare horror movie.

Although the movie wasn’t the buried treasure I was hoping for, I do recognise the aspects that have made it a favorite to so many so I still recommend people to check it out if the synopsis raises any kind of curiosity.

80s-o-meter: 50%

Total: 60%

#800 Aliens (1986)

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This is how it’s done.

James Cameron’s superb sequel to Ridley Scott’s impeccable 1979 Alien, Aliens picks up the story some sixty years later after the events took place in the first movie. Carrying the obvious weight of being a follow-up to a huge critical and box office triumph, Cameron successfully changed the pacing and all the right elements to bring the movie to the eighties, and makes the sequel his very own; Aliens matches the brilliance of the first movie, but in its own unique way.

There’s a lot to be loved here: Aliens’ roster of characters is well crafted and memorable, but this time around it’s Sigourney Weaver who steals the show with her stellar performance.

The movie is a technical marvel from the era when CGI effects were still unheard of. The universum and creatures are crafted with the best talent available at the time and give or take a few minute details, the vision of the distant future and its first rate execution still hold up well. Much to my surprise that iconic exoskeleton showdown in the end is still flawless, after more than 30 years since the movie was released.

In the time where subpar sequels were the unfortunate plague on the silver screen Cameron not only shows that superb follow-ups are possible, but that they can sometimes even match or surpass the original.

80s-o-meter: 88%

Total: 97%