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#indianajonesandthetempleofdoom ★★★+ #84at40 Revisiting this endlessly rewatchable classic on its 40th anniversary. So many embarrassing choices combined with so many wonderfully executed ideas. An unworthy sequel to Raiders?—maybe, but what the hell would be worthy? www.film5000.com/1984/indiana...
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
The 1980s were known for many things, but one of the most prominent characteristics of the decade was its embrace of sequels. Nothing close to the “franchise" or “universe” concepts we endure today...
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May 23, 2024 at 12:47 PM
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#84at40 #BeatStreet ★★ Solid Hollywood melodrama set in emerging world of NYC hip-hop incorporates all aspects of that culture--not just the dancing. Rae Dawn Chong & Guy Davis head up cast blending actors & authentic hip-hop practitioners for a winning combination.
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Beat Street
Unlike Breakin’ and Breakin’ 2, Beat Street was not a simple exploitation film designed to cash in on a hot new trend and make it appealing to the widest, whitest, most family-friendly audience pos...
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July 10, 2024 at 4:41 PM
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#84at40 #Breakin2 ★★ Hastily produced sequel to hastily produced original, cashing in on surprise success of film cashing in on a craze. Breakin' turned out more enjoyable than it would seem to have right to, Breakin' 2 turned out better than the film it followed.
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Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo
Breakin' was one of the last productions Cannon Films released via their MGM/UA distribution deal. Golan & Globus planned to release John Derek's smutty film Bolero, and the potential X-rating ...
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July 10, 2024 at 4:38 PM
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#84at40 #Breakin ★★ Cannon Pictures capitalized on the breakdancing craze of the early '80s with this quicky exploration musical, which may lack any impressive dancing but has a quaint PG-rated charm.
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Breakin'
1984 saw the release of not one, not two, but three films that captured and capitalized on the emerging craze of breakdancing. All these films were made in the wake of the documentary Breakin' 'n' ...
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July 10, 2024 at 4:34 PM
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#84at40 #StreetsOfFire ★★ Walter Hill's "Rock 'n' Roll Fable" is a case of style over substance in which the style never gels. The casting and design are schizophrenic mixes of tones and eras that never come together but are kind of fascinating to look at.
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Streets of Fire
After the team of director/writer Walter Hill, co-writer Larry Gross, and producers Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver scored an unexpectedly huge hit with the Nick Nolte/Eddie Murphy buddy cop comedy...
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July 10, 2024 at 4:33 PM
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#84at40 #Tank ★★+ James Garner is his affable self playing a soon-to-retire U.S. Army Command Sergeant with his own Sherman tank who runs afoul of the corrupt local sheriff in the small Georgia town he and his family are stationed.
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Tank
1984’s other tank movie stars the always enjoyable James Garner as the soon-to-retire U.S. Army Command Sergeant Major Zack Carey. After relocating his wife (Shirley Jones) and son (C. Thomas Howel...
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July 10, 2024 at 4:31 PM
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#84at40 #BestDefense ★ In possibly the worst studio release of 1984, Dudley Moore plays a defense contractor shmuck, and last-minute "Strategic Guest Star" Eddie Murphy is the tank commander who eventually suffers the outcome of Moore's engineering incompetence.
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Best Defense
This was the "other" 1984 movie from the husband and wife writing/producing/directing team of Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck. These two must have gotten this project going solely off being hired by ...
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June 11, 2024 at 3:18 PM
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#84at40 #Reckless ★★★ This sincere and effective romantic drama about high schoolers from opposite sides of the track longing to escape a dying midwest steal town launched many impressive film careers.
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Reckless
Of the many high school movies that were released in 1984, this one has barely survived at all in the collective consciousness. That's kind of surprising because of all the amazing talent that got ...
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April 30, 2024 at 2:05 PM
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#84at40 #Splash ★★★★ The team that would soon become Imagine Films delivered this wonderful romantic comedy fable about a New Yorker who falls in love with a mermaid. Star-making performances by Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah ground the fantasy in genuine emotion.
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Splash
The mid-80s was a time when a few filmmakers made movies in the magical realism genre that almost felt like spiritual throwbacks to comedies of the 1930s and '40s. Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of ...
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April 30, 2024 at 2:05 PM
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#84at40 #BachelorParty ★★+ Tom Hanks gives an excellent performance as a guy about to get married whose buddies attempt to treat him to one last night of debauchery in the low-brow comedy with many solid laughs.
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Bachelor Party
If you want an idea of what Tom Hanks' career could have looked like had he not gotten the lead role in Splash, you need look no further than his other movie from 1984. Hanks plays a flippantly uns...
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April 30, 2024 at 2:04 PM
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#84at40 #Gwendoline ★ Tawny Kitaen, some colorful widescreen cinematography, and plenty of production value elevate Just Jaeckin's tedious T&A bondage adventure comedy.
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The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak
Of the myriad Raiders of the Lost Ark rip-offs, this French T&A bondage adventure comedy does not rank amongst the best. But perky, bubbly star Tawny Kitaen keeps us interested for most of the ...
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April 30, 2024 at 2:03 PM
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#84at40 #Iceman ★★★ A Neanderthal Man frozen in ice for 40,000 years is brought back to life by a group of arctic researchers in this intriguing work of straightforward speculative fiction with a strong cast that features a mesmerizing John Lone in the titular role.
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Iceman
One of the joys of revisiting my favorite year of cinema, 1984, is finally getting around to films that have been on my radar since I was a kid but that I never rented back in the VHS days and neve...
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April 17, 2024 at 12:56 PM
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#84at40 #UpTheCreek ★ One of the less creative attempts at copying the slobs-vs-snobs ethos of Animal House and Caddyshack stars two vets from the Delta House and one from Porky's but borrows its best stuff from Race For Your Life Charlie Brown.
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Up the Creek
Reliving my favorite year of cinema, 1984, there are many films I have been quick to praise for their innovations and defend against those who weren't alive at the time and can only see them throug...
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April 17, 2024 at 12:53 PM
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#84at40 #MoscowOnTheHudson ★★★ Robin Williams gives a touching, understated, humanist performance as a Moscow circus musician who defects while on tour in NYC in Paul Mazursky's sweet, wistful, somewhat languid, romantic drama.
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Moscow on the Hudson
In 1984, the touching, understated, humanist performance Robin Williams gives in this sweet movie was unexpected. It wouldn’t take long for us to learn that the manically energetic stand-up would g...
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April 17, 2024 at 12:49 PM
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#84at40 #RomancingTheStone ★★★★ Screenwriter Diane Thomas, producer/star Michael Douglas, director Robert Zemeckis, and radiant lead Kathleen Turner are pitch-perfect in this gem of a film that brought a fresh perspective and light touch to the action/adventure genre www.film5000.com/1984/romanci...
Romancing the Stone
One of the most enjoyable movies of my 1984 revisit is Romancing The Stone, which was not anticipated as being any kind of blockbuster when it was released forty years ago and was not all that well...
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April 1, 2024 at 5:55 PM
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#84at40 #GreystokeTheLegendOfTarzanLordofTheApes ★★★ Big-budget highbrow telling of Burroughs' oft-filmed pulp story about a manchild raised by apes is brought to life by Hudson, Alcott, Coates, a solid cast of actors in period garb and amazing Rick Baker ape suites. www.film5000.com/1984/greysto...
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
Greystoke was one of 1984’s most notorious releases. It wasn't one of the year's biggest bombs nor one of the year's most critically lambasted pictures; it was simply the film with the most negativ...
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April 1, 2024 at 5:53 PM
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#84at40 #AgainstAllOdds ★★+ Gorgeous actors and beautiful locations can't quite compensate for inert screenwriting in Taylor Hackford's in-premise-only remake of Jacques Tourneur and Daniel Mainwaring’s untouchably iconic Out of the Past.
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Against All Odds
Remember when film crews actually went on location to film scenes in exotic places? It made the escapist, armchair tourism aspects of going to the movies so much more enjoyable. One of the most bea...
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April 1, 2024 at 5:50 PM
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#84at40 #ElNotre ★★★★ Gregory Nava & Anna Thomas' stunning melodrama is still the quintessential film about migrants journeying from an unsafe homeland to follow the dream of getting to America only to discover the "promised land" holds a different set of challenges.
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El Norte
Of all the films I plan to run for my celebration of 1984, El Norte has, unfortunately, aged the least. This independently produced drama by husband and wife filmmakers Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas...
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April 1, 2024 at 5:49 PM
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#84at40 #RacingWithTheMoon ★★★ Stellar performances by young stars Penn, McGovern, and Cage elevate Richard Benjamin's fine period drama, which feels like the authentic memories of a 60-year-old writer but, in fact, comes courtesy of 24-year-old Steve Kloves penning his first produced sec script.
Racing with the Moon
This evocative coming-of-age period piece stars two of the best up-and-coming young actors of the early 1980s who would go on to become two of the biggest names in movies for decades to come—Sean...
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March 25, 2024 at 1:44 PM
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#84at40 #PoliceAcademy ★★★ Second-tier slobs-vs-snobs comedy in the vein of Animal House, Caddyshack, and Stripes that nevertheless delivers an abundance of genuine laughs and is far more entertaining and progressive than many might presume.
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Police Academy
This is a fitting film to launch my '84@40 series revisiting the films of 1984 on (or close to) their 40th anniversaries because Police Academy is a quintessential ‘84 release. It also, in many way...
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March 25, 2024 at 1:43 PM
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#84at40 #TheLoveless ★★ Horney as hell, though not especially offensive, Peter Markle's soft-core Animal House On The Slopes is utterly devoid of humor but features a winning cast and LOTS of impressive downhill footage courtesy of sports photographer Warren Miller.
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Hot Dog ...The Movie
Producer Edward S. Feldman is no dummy. He followed up the runaway success of this low-brow teen sex comedy with films like Witness, The Explorers, and The Truman Show. Hot Dog began life as a quic...
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March 25, 2024 at 1:41 PM
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#84at40 #TheLoveless ★★ The debut feature of director Kathryn Bigelow and star Willem Dafoe is part homage to '60s biker pictures, part nihilistic deconstruction of '50s nostalgia, but mostly an exercise in style over substance.
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The Loveless
Whether you see it as a homage to 1960s biker exploitation pictures, a nihilistic deconstruction of 1950s nostalgia, or just an exercise in style over substance, The Loveless is most notable as the...
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March 25, 2024 at 1:40 PM
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#84at40 #Angel ★★+ As wholesome and genuine as any exploration picture about a necrophiliac serial killer targeting hookers on Hollywood Blavard can be. Donna Wilkes leads a solid cast that includes Dick Shawn in his only non-caricature performance.
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Angel
1984's first major release has one of the most notorious posters and tag lines of the decade. A split-screen with back-to-back images of its star, twenty-five-year-old Donna Wilkes, looking about 1...
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March 25, 2024 at 1:39 PM
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#84at40 Launching my look back on my favorite year of movies - 1984
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Films of 1984
<p>Reliving my favorite year of cinema on its 40th anniversary</p>
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March 25, 2024 at 1:37 PM