The Breakfast Club

Okay...after watching this movie again, I remember why people say this is the best John Hughes movie.

Yeah, it's the best although Weird Science is my favorite. So the story of The Breakfast Club is really the most simple of all plots, five students at a high school spend detention together on a Saturday. But I'll be damned if that's the whole film, because as the movie goes on you learn more about the characters. Hell in my high school we watched this movie as a character study! This is the epitome of a character driven story, because all it focuses on is the teenagers. We learn about the paths of life they all come from and well, really and truly who they are. A brain, a athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. And yet there is so, so much more to these characters than what they identify themselves as. And the more I think about it, I have never said or understood people who say a movie is 'deep', it makes no sense to me but you know, that is this movie! It's a deep movie! Nothing is as it seems in this film, you just think of these people as stereotypes at first but by the end of the movie they are fully, complete three dimensional characters and you love all of them. The story although simple is brilliant, the characters are the heart and soul of the movie, the setting is nice, the music is great, it's just genius! If you could only watch one single John Hughes movie this would be it. I cannot stress how good a movie this truly is. Please for the love of all that is good and wholesome in this world, watch it!

Okay, that's it for this week. Next week, we'll be getting a little more action and typical summer movie tropes but in not so typical movies.

Weird Science

Yeah this is my favorite John Hughes film.

Ah, Weird Science a movie where two young lads create a perfect woman with their computer...and SCIENCE!! And actually while watching this movie again I had a stunning realization, this movie is the prototype of Her. No seriously, it has a woman born of computer technology, has a romantic relationship with somebody, makes sure that their partner has someone with them, and although Weird Science is a comedy and an excellent one at that it still has a lot of emotion and some real heavy hearted stuff. I just love this movie more than any other of John Hughes work, I enjoy the idea of the movie, the characters are hilarious, there is a serious message and it's stated a few times and it really sticks with you, the look of the film is very cool, the humor is very good, and the effects still hold up pretty well. The casting choices are just right, we have Anthony Michael Hall in it and Ilan Michael Smith as two geeks and their chemistry together is what makes the film funny, we have Kelley LeBrock as Lisa their creation and she does kinda steal the show but you still enjoy her nevertheless, Bill Paxton as Chet the very military big brother is friggin' busting my gut funny in this movie he's awesome! The movie is a blast to say the least, I've yet to meet anyone who said they didn't like Weird Science. Every scene you feel belongs like, you really couldn't cut anything out or change the dialogue because it would hurt the movie. But my absolute favorite scene is when they go to this night club and they are the whitest white boys ever but then they cut back and they are like the coolest cats in town, and it's funny as all get out and I can actually relate to that situation, cause I'm as white as it gets but people still say I'm the coolest person to hang out with and it makes me laugh my ass off, cause you wouldn't think that. But, it definitely deserves to be watched because it is a very good film and not too many people know about it, which is kind of a shame! I think you'll really like the movie, so just give it a shot and see what you think.

 Okay, tomorrow you knew we had to review this one. It's John Hughes people, it's inevitable! Everyone says it's his greatest film and if you haven't seen it yet...my God.

Sixteen Candles

Okay I have a serious 80's jones this month, because for the second week we will look at three John Hughes Classics from the 80's.

So Sixteen Candles is a fantastic and insanely good movie from the 80's starring leader of the Brat Pack, Molly Ringwald centering around a teenage girl named Samantha whose family forgets her sixteenth birthday and her subsequent attempts to achieve romance with a high school hunk. Okay I am going to be serious here, I had no admiration or love for this movie until I saw it in it's entirety, and now I consider this one of the best films of the 1980's. It has such charm and heart, and is outrageously funny, with great characters and genius writing by John Hughes. And I hate teen movies except for the ones by John Hughes, I don't know how he does it but he just makes teen movies so damn good! I love this movie, it's not my favorite John Hughes movie but it is easily top three, maybe even top two. I can't fully explain why this film is so great, I urge you to go out and see this movie. It is well worth your time and money. I'm pretty sure every friggin' character in this movie made me have a pretty good laugh. Samantha herself starts out very bratty and very uptight, but you can completely sympathize with her and you really start to like her quick. Anthony Michael Hall plays this outrageous and hilarious geek who is an absolute ass at the beginning of this film, but as the movie goes on you like him more and more until you love him. The soundtrack....oh dear God the soundtrack! Let me tell you something, I have never ever watched a movie where the soundtrack itself makes me laugh my ass off, it's so brilliant and has perfect chosen music. And I'm serious, there is one scene in the movie that makes the whole film worthwhile and really cements it as more than just a teen movie, it's a heart to heart talk and it's very real and all too true and it's the best scene in the movie and my personal favorite scene. I can rave about this movie all day, but I will just let you go and see it for yourself. Give it a watch and see if you adore it just as much as I do.

So next week, we're reviewing my favorite John Hughes film, and it is not gonna be what you expect.

Back To The Future III

I seriously cannot understand why people treat this movie so differently from the other two. It's awesome!

Maybe the reason people treat it so differently is because, it truly is different from the other movies because it's set back in the old west. So the final chapter of this fantastic trilogy has Marty learning that Doc has been sent back to the year 1885 after a lightning storm and now he has to go back further than he has before in time, and save his best friend. Maybe I'm just a sucker for the western vibe this movie has, but I love it! We get to see Hill Valley when it first started out, we get to see the clock tower start, we get to see what Doc has been up to in the old west, it's great. And it is a little sad to see the trilogy end, but it's not at all bad for the characters. Marty gets back home, starts planning his future with his girlfriend, Doc actually falls in love with a teacher back in the old west and they have a family and travel through time, so it really is a bright and happy ending. And the movie is very different from the other films, but in no way does it take away from the experience. It's still Back To The Future and it's a hell of a good sequel. And that is my review of the Back To The Future trilogy. I will see you guys next week.

Back To The Future II

Yes, this movie takes place in the year 2015, and I am still waiting on my hoverboard and flying car!

So Back To The Future II is an incredible sequel to the original. It does nothing but add on to the experience and the greatness of the original, and adds a surprising twist to it all. So the story picks up immediately after Back To The Future when Doc comes back from the year 2015 to warn Marty about some big problems with his kids, so he brings Marty and his girlfriend Jennifer to the year 2015 to right the wrongs of their very own future. But that's only the first problem that pops up, soon well stuff happens due to Marty's greed getting the best of him and a long story short, an alternate timeline of 1985 is created where Biff has turned Hill Valley into Hell on Earth. So Doc and Marty have to travel once again back to 1955 to solve that problem. Now of course, there's a ton more to the story than what I told you, and if you loved the original you're going to love the sequel even more! The characters have even more depth and personality to them, the setting is both interestingly new and familiar old, and the film just adds to the fun factor and also greatly adds to the original film in more ways than one. And we still got one more film to review, some consider it to be the black sheep of the series but I consider it just as good as the other two.

Back To The Future

Okay, I swear to God I didn't plan this. Today is Michael J. Fox's birthday and it just so happens I scheduled my review of Back To The Future on the same day.

So Back To The Future, one of the greatest time travel movies ever made! How does it hold up? Well...incredibly so. I mean yes the movie takes place in the 80's and the 50's but it doesn't at all feel dated, in fact it feels very new. It's kind of difficult to explain how the movie's time frame impacts you, but I would damn near describe it as timeless! It's a film that has aged incredibly well. So what's the story? A kid named Marty McFly is a teenager in the year 1985 and he's friends with a brilliant scientist, Dr. Emmet Brown who one day invents a time machine out of a DeLorean, and through a series of events Marty accidentally travels back to the year 1955. So he has to meet up with his old friend despite the fact he doesn't know Marty yet and help him get back to the future. Now the plot sounds awfully familiar because almost every single time travel movie since this came out has copied the formula, because it works really well. But don't let that deter you from seeing this movie because you've heard of the plot a hundred times. The film is a hell of a lot more than what you expect, and it is a fun and great movie to watch. I just realized this for the first time now that I am properly reviewing it, that 85% of the shots and the dialogue in this movie are very, very important to the plot. There is hardly ever a moment of filler in this movie. Every scene, every word spoken has significance in the grand scheme of things, and not just for this movie but the entire trilogy. The dialogue is interesting and very funny, the characters are great, the settings are very realistic as it is set in two past era's, the performances are the bloodline of this entire franchise and every single one of these people give it their all, and everything about it just works to an amazing degree and I love it! Hell, there are even people that stand by their opinion that Back To The Future is the greatest movie of all time, and I can kinda understand that. Is it my favorite movie of all time? No. But do I understand why people would say that? Absolutely! Bottom line, go out, buy all the Back To The Future movies, marathon them, and judge for yourself if you would like to go back to Back To The Future in the future.

Tune in tomorrow where we examine the fantastic sequel and the impact it has on the year 2015.

Planning Ahead

Okay so I have spent this entire week just planning out my reviews for the next month. Obviously now that it is summer, I have to start reviewing summer movies, whether it be action movies or just movies that you would watch during the summer time. But why stop there? I have also got the first week of reviews planned in July, I have all of October planned out, and at least half of December. So, yeah I've been doing some serious planning. This is what I do in my spare time.

So for the next two weeks we will revisit some fantastic 80's movies, and then the week after that we will be shifting gears to more action movies including one that has the greatest running firefight in the history of film and it's not Hardboiled! And then the first week of July, I thought "What could I do to lead up to the Fourth of July?" and then I thought about a trilogy of action films that are old and yet so new. In October it's going to be pure classic horror, I'm even thinking of reviewing a movie a day in that month, and to cap off the year in December I will review only the greatest fantasy epics of all time.

So I hope to see you all next week, when I take you back to the past.