#31 — Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman, 1984) Sigourney Weaver is a well-respected actress with three Oscar nominations to her credit for a trio of performances that are wildly diverse. Beyond the official accolades, Weaver can point to fine work in heady, … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Thirty-One
#32 — Body Heat (Lawrence Kasdan, 1981) No genre belongs so decisively and completely to the era of its greatest heyday like film noir. Even westerns, the exemplar of movie genres that evolved from ubiquitous to scarce, still work fine … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Thirty-Two
#33 — Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988) By the time he made Dead Ringers, David Cronenberg was already an established master of depicting the mushy, gristly fallibility of human flesh, and doing so with frightening ingenuity. He’d made heads explode … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Thirty-Three
#34 — The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987) It is a just a fairy tale, of course. By definition, it’s frivolous and inessential; the sort of thing told to a small child to help them drift off to sleep. When this … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Thirty-Four
#35 — Atlantic City (Louis Malle, 1980) I’m always struck by the grand seediness that shapes the film Atlantic City. Louis Malle’s film shows how the once glamorous metropolis of the title is rotting from the inside out: buildings falling … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Thirty-Five
#36 — Prizzi’s Honor (John Huston, 1985) I always think of Prizzi’s Honor of the kind of film that results when old pro cinematic creators settle in and have some fun. I do mean to imply that the film is … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Thirty-Six
#37 — The Little Mermaid (Ron Clements and John Musker, 1989) By most accounts, Disney animation was like a boxer knocked out on his feet, reeling in the ring, obviously done but somehow not quite at the point where it … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Thirty-Seven
#38 — The Elephant Man (David Lynch, 1980) Joseph Merrick was born in Leicester, England in the mid nineteenth century. Malformed from his youngest days by an uncertain ailment–thought for years to be Neurofibromatosis type I–Merrick entered his adulthood as an abused member of a traveling freak show, touted as “The Elephant Man” and paraded about for the horrified amusement of the crowd. Abandoned, Merrick found his way to the care of a surgeon named Frederick Treves, who saw past the swollen features to the man within and endeavored to provide him with a deserved social dignity. With the added … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Thirty-Eight
#39 — Frances (Graeme Clifford, 1982) Jessica Lange is magnificent in Frances. I’ve toyed around with different ways to start this entry–maybe focusing on the real life story of the film’s subject, the abused nineteen-thirties actress Frances Farmer; calling attention to … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Thirty-Nine
#40 — The Accidental Tourist (Lawrence Kasdan, 1988) Life moves at the same speed for everyone. It makes no adjustments for hardship or elation. It marches on with oblivious indifference to individual confusion and worry, allowing for no extra time … Continue reading Top 50 Films of the 80s — Number Forty
Coffee for Two 