That 80s Blog

Favorite Films Featuring John Candy

Follow that Bird, Uncle Buck and Cool Runnings.

I watched Uncle Buck the other night, and I was pleasantly reminded what an amazing actor John Candy was. His extreme facial expressions and perfect comic timing were only matched by the heart and love he expressed in his characters. We all know that John Candy died of a heart attack at the age of 43, but I didn’t know that he’d made a real push to loose weight and improve his health in the last years of his life. He would have done more had he lived, but let’s take a look at some of his best and most enduring movies: Read more about Favorite Films Featuring John Candy

1980's Movies: Top Gun

There might be a Top Gun 2 with Tom Cruise.

I was in high school when Top Gun first came out; one classmate in English class asked the rest of us if we had difficulty understanding the plot line of the movie. None of us had had any trouble understanding the incredibly complicated plot, so we all laughed a little.

I cried during the original Top Gun when Goose died and dreamed of having Tom Cruise and cast singing “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” to me in a bar. (Of course, that was before Tom Cruise became a Scientologist.) The idea of a Top Gun sequel appeals to me on so many levels, so I was exceptionally to learn today that Tom Cruise is in talks to make Top Gun 2.

If Top Gun 2 is made, Tom Cruise will star in the film and the original director, Tony Scott will direct Part 2. None of the details have been worked out yet. There is talk that Tom Cruise would play the part of some sort of flight instructor. Of course, at this stage in the planning process, that is only talk. Tom Cruise still looks young enough that he could play a new recruit.

Friday Night Videos

For those of us who didn't have MTV, Friday Night Videos was our salvation

I had all but forgotten about NBC's late-night music video show "Friday Night Videos" until I watched the intro on YouTube. Hearing the music that played over the introductory credits I was instantly transported back to the early 1980s, sneaking downstairs after my mother had gone to bed so that I could sit on the floor in front of the television and watch, rapt, as the music videos rolled forth.

We were one of many families that did not have cable television in the 1980s. In a household with a single working mother and a latchkey kid, cable TV was a luxury that I only experienced at friends' houses and at my grandmother's house when I visited for the holidays.

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1980's Movies: "Overboard"

The Charm Of Goldie and Kurt Carries the Weak and Tired Amnesia Plot Through

I turned on the TV tonight and found one of my favorite oldies, but goodies: Overboard. The movie has one of the absolute classic themes: woman falls overboard, woman gets amnesia, man who rescues her tells her that she is his wife, tells her that she has what seems like a bajillion little boys, and she sort of falls in love with the entire family. I loved the movie when it first came out and Overboard seems to have held up the test of time, like many 80’s classics.

Video Games from the 1980's

My only regret is that I didn't live through them.

I missed the majority of the 1980’s video game and video consul gaming hysteria, but I was lucky enough that it wasn’t dead by the time I could enjoy it in the 1990’s. I was definitely an indoor kid, and my skin would retain its icy white pallor as I stayed inside playing Super Mario Bros. on my friend’s Nintendo consul in the summertime. I played all the computer game adapted versions (although I’m sure they weren’t the same as they were with the original joystick) and frequented the video consul machines at the local pizza parlors and gaming emporiums.

Why, oh, why wasn’t I born seven years earlier? Read more about Video Games from the 1980's

The good and the bad of '80s dance movies

Good: "Dirty Dancing." Bad: "Flashdance."

Sometimes everybody gets in the mood for a good, old-fashioned dance movie. There’s a plot really just so that dancing can come up as much as possible. There’s dancing really so that the lead actors can reveal their rippling stomachs and taut legs.

But dance movies are probably about the most mindless kind of movies to watch, and that’s what I’m in the mood for right now. Awesomely choreographed, impossibly coordinated group numbers? Yes, please.

Here are two mini-caps of the dancing entertainment in which I partook this weekend: Read more about The good and the bad of '80s dance movies

The AIDS Quilt

Art that changed the world

Despite what us Gen X-ers might have you believe, the 1980s weren't all fun and games and brightly-colored sweaters. Frankie didn't just say "Relax," he also contracted HIV.

It's difficult to explain the full impact of the AIDS Quilt today. For one thing, handicrafts like quilting and knitting have become mainstream and have even been used to make artistic statements. It doesn't seem entirely unusual, at any rate, that a craft like quilting would be used to bring public attention to a deadly disease.

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U2's Albums: From Best to Worst

Are you like me? Do you secretly like U2?

I’m about to reveal one of my deepest and darkest secrets: I like U2. No, I’m not being coy; I’m not secretly trying to tell you that I have a crush on you. I’m trying to say that I like one of the most mainstream bands on the face of the planet.

That said, just because I like U2 doesn’t mean that I like all of their music. I’m more old-school and prefer much of their older music, which seems to be the norm for people of my generation. I came across an article in Slate today which ranks U2’s albums from best to worst. I don’t know if it’s a generational thing or not, but I actually found myself agreeing with many of writer Eric Hynes’ opinions about U2’s music.

Cell Phones of the 80s

Someone on Reddit turned up this 1980s Motorola ad, and it's absolutely wonderful. How much do I love it? Let me count the ways:

1. It's so somber!

Why so serious, Motorola? Somehow, the narrator's ponderous, overly-serious voice only makes the whole thing seem sillier. I suppose they decided that if they wanted to try and convince people of something that seemed as ludicrous as "cell phones will one day take over the world," they had better use the most serious voice-over ever. But in reality, it just makes it seem like an ad for Gray Poupon. Particularly the shots with the classy expensive cars being driven by white-haired white guys dialing their big-ass car phones!

Songs of the 80's: Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car"

Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" got a dusting-off and a surprise boost up the charts earlier this year, thanks to an amazingly talented young man named Michael Collings who blew away the judges in "Britain's Got Talent" with his version of the song. I don't actually know how he did in the competition, I don't watch the show, I just happened to catch the YouTube video of his performance, which is pretty amazing.

Listening to the original song now, as a much older person, what strikes me most about it is how damned sad it is. Everyone's making plans to escape, but no one ever does. The narrator of the song dreams of driving away from her life in someone else's fast car. She doesn't even have a fast car of her own.

"Is it fast enough that we can fly away?" she asks.