Tag Archives: 1980’s

#266- Full Metal Jacket

Quick recap: A young Marine survives boot camp and gets sent to Vietnam where he can truly understand the phrase, ‘war is hell, man.’

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Here’s your friendly reminder of how amazing the Simpsons used to be.

Fun (?) fact: Private Joker’s real name in the film is J.T. Davis, a real soldier who is considered to be the first American casualty of the war.

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My thoughts: The Vietnam War alone is about as hellish as anyone would expect it to be. But just in case we Americans didn’t really ‘get it’ the first time around, a slew of war movies came out to make sure we remembered just how bad that war was: Apocalypse Now, Platoon, The Deer Hunter and so on. All the while Stanley Kubrick was watching us, unimpressed with our claims of horror and empty promises of not letting that happen again. And thus, Full Metal Jacket was born.

Full Metal Jacket is horrifying, but not in the ways I expected. I knew there would be blood and guts because this is war, duh, and I was even prepared to see innocent civilians murdered. But the scenes that stuck with me the most were the conversations the men had about the war. As evidenced by the boot camp sequence, the US wanted killing machines and that’s what they got. It’s much easier to give a man a gun and teach him to shoot than to sit him down and explain why he’s going to war. And this tactic works well, for the most part, until a group is separated from their leader and their leader is murdered and then they have to think for themselves. The juxtaposition of the young sniper dying while the soldiers tried to decide what to do with her followed by the men singing the Mickey Mouse theme song is chilling and affected me more than I expected it to.

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Besides horrific scenes, this movie also had some really funny parts. The opening scene of Sgt. Hartman yelling at his new recruits might be one of my favorite scenes on this list, although it’s also really horrible to watch and I felt bad about laughing. Full Metal Jacket is the kind of movie where, when you laugh, the next thing you say is, ‘oh my god, I can’t believe I laughed at that’.The soundtrack is also great and surprised me that it was used for comedic effect as well. It’s a Kubrick film, after all, so I expect nothing less.

Final review: 5/5 but I don’t know if I could sit through it again.

Up next: Shock Corridor

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#264-Beverly Hills Cop

Quick Recap: Eddie Murphy plays Axel Foley, a Detroit cop looking for answers to his friend’s murder in upscale Beverly Hills. Are there hijinks? Buddy, you won’t BELIEVE the amount of hijinks this movie has.

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HIJINKS

Fun (?) fact: Sylvester Stallone was originally chosen as Axel Foley but dropped out when he couldn’t successfully negotiate what kind of orange juice would be kept in his trailer (according to legend).

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Where there’s Balki, there are hijinks

My thoughts: Is it possible that Beverly Hills Cop is the most 1980s movie ever made? Let’s check the facts:

  • various people casually dressed up as Michael Jackson
  • music is heavily played on a synthesizer
  • a black man puts a banana in a tailpipe and his only consequence is a look of sadness from the two white officers
  • Eddie Murphy

I think if you were to throw in some neon, a few catch phrases and Kenny Loggins this would win.

With 100%  certainty, Eddie Murphy is the reason this movie is so memorable. The plot about a guy looking to find his best friend’s killer is dark but also just general enough to allow Murphy to do his thing. Many of the scenes felt more like I was watching a stand up special than a movie. ( When white people go to a hotel they act like this, but when black people go to a hotel, they do this!) It’s not a bad thing, but it did make the movie seem a little disjointed at times. I also never really bought that Murphy’s character really cared about his friend. They were only together for a few minutes onscreen so I was never really invested in him. Everything just felt like a set up to another joke, which, although they were usually funny and I’ll never turn down a chance to see Judge Reinhold humiliated, the whole schtick gets old.

Nevertheless, it’s a breezy movie and if it was on basic cable on a Saturday afternoon, I would probably sit down to watch it again, if only because of Balki.

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Final review: 3/5

Up next: The Big Lebowski

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#259- Paris, Texas

Quick recap: Travis Henderson (played by Harry Dean Stanton) is a man who has lost everything. With help from his brother, Travis slowly acclimates back into society and hatches a plan to reunite with his son and wife.

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Fun (?) fact: A Scottish band named ‘Texas’ took their name from this movie and a Scottish band named ‘Travis’ took their name from the main character.

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My thoughts: Oh my god, I want to go to West Texas. I say that a lot, but this time I’m super serious, you guys. Watching Paris, Texas brought about this wanderlust that I haven’t felt in a long time- like, since a week ago. Will it actually make me load the car and set out on an adventure? Probably not, until the next time I watch something beautiful and then I’ll start the process all over again.

So, yeah, this film is perfect to just stare at. In the least pretentious way I can put this, every scene is a masterpiece. Every conversation, every person staring off into the distance, every lingering hug felt Important and Meaningful, even when maybe it wasn’t. This is one of those movies I could see myself putting on when I’ve had a bad day and just want something pretty to take my mind off of things. According to the IMDb trivia section, Kurt Cobain and Elliot Smith considered this movie to be their favorite and I can totally see why.

That’s not to say I was enamored with the plot, though. My biggest issue is the treatment with the 8 year old, Hunter. I get that Travis wanted his family back and it’s great that at the end he realized that this wasn’t the way to go about it, but who the hell leaves their kid by himself in the middle of Houston?? Now, I live in Houston and I think it’s a wonderful place, but that’s just crazy. No amount of well intentioned hipster self-discovery is going to change that. The director wanted me to identify with the protagonist but Realistic Me just couldn’t see past what Travis was doing to that little boy. And believe me, I teared up when Hunter reunited with his mom but what if she didn’t want to see him? It’s like, ‘ I know you left your kid 4 years ago because you couldn’t handle parenting and now you work in a strip club in Houston, but surprise! Here’s your kid again and I’m going to disappear for you to figure it out all over again!’ What an ending.

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Final review: 3/5

Up next: Rashomon

 

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#257-She’s Gotta have It

Quick recap: Nola Darling is perfectly happy dating 3 guys at the same time but the guys turn it into a competition to be her boyfriend.

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Nola and Jamie

Fun (?) fact: The film was shot in 12 days and because of the tight budget. There were no retakes.

SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT, Tracy Camilla Johns, Spike Lee, 1986

Nola and Mars

My thoughts: She’s Gotta Have It is my first Spike Lee film and I’m so glad I started with it. I expected some sort of comedic romance story about a girl having to choose between three guys but thank god it went so much deeper than that. For starters, it’s directed in the style of a documentary, although it’s never clear who is filming everyone’s confessions. Combined with a no name cast (besides Spike Lee), the whole saga seemed real and got me invested in the characters. She’s Gotta Have It is also wonderfully progressive, which is even more amazing considering it was made in 1986.

So, Nola is dating 3 guys- Jamie (sensitive jazzy guy), Mars (funny cool guy) and Greer (narcissist). The guys all know about each other, so it’s not like she is being deceitful in anyway. She is also upfront about wanting everything to be casual, going so far as to reprimand any of the guys who mistakenly say they are in love with her. Jamie, however, flat out asks her to make a choice about settling down and this ruins everything. I love how opposite this is compared to other rom-coms. Settling down makes Nola miserable and unhappy. She just wants to be herself and not tied down to anyone. Society still has an issue with this point so I’m kind of astounded by Spike Lee’s stance.

Despite all the evidence, a part of me wanted Nola to ‘settle down’ and choose Jamie. He was the obvious choice, of course: bringing her groceries when she was sick,staging an elaborate dance sequence for her birthday and helping to clean up after the Thanksgiving meal. He is your typical ‘nice guy’. He’s the kind of guy that sits around, not being able to fathom how come he doesn’t have girls falling at his feet because he is such a ‘nice guy’. Which is a dangerous thing to think about, because it breeds resentment and you know what resentment breeds, kids! That’s right, the Dark Side. Which Jamie manifests one evening by coming over and raping Nola. It’s horrible and ugly and utterly realistic because it makes her rethink her life and and decide he is the one she wants after all.

As I was about to write off this movie, it ends with Nola confessing to the camera that she in fact broke it off with Jamie soon after because she realized he wanted her to be something she wasn’t. I loved how nonchalant she was about the realization and how it drove home the point that she is who she is and there is nothing wrong with it. Perfection.

Final review: 5/5.

Up next: The Bridge on the River Kwai

 

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