The Movie Journal

  Platoon (1986) “ Somebody once wrote, ‘Hell is the impossibility of reason.’ That’s what this place feels like. Hell.” -Chris Taylor Wow! That exclamation was the first word out of my gaping mouth after sitting through Oliver Stone’s Platoon . Stone’s movie follows in the footsteps of other great Vietnam War films from the era such as The Deer Hunter , Apocalypse Now , and The Killing Fields . Stone’s visceral approach gave the infamous war its most realistic story yet. Of sorts, this film is an autobiography of Stone’s experience in Vietnam. I loved how he gave no clear vision whether the soldiers in the platoon are good or bad. Yes, the main enemy is the Viet Cong. In the end, the soldiers had to face malaria-carrying mosquitoes, unknown swampy terrain that could hide the enemy, and each other. Some of the soldiers lose their sense of what’s right and wrong and could be a danger to one another. Stone made sure his audience is well aware of that sense. The film took years to...

  Hoosiers (1986) Hoosiers is about as predictable as a sports movie can get. It follows the same formula that Hollywood has been doing since the beginning of time: the losing team, the new coach, the obligatory training sequences, the team driving toward its darkest hour before finally heading towards happiness and triumph. Despite the lack of originality, the movie stands out because of its charm, heart, and knowledge that screenwriter Angelo Pizzo and director David Anspaugh interject in their film. The movie understands the role of small-town politics on high school sports; how parents and school councils believe they know more about sports (in this case, basketball) more than anyone else. As a small-town man myself, I agree with how they portrayed the rural, small-town feeling.   This is one of those movies that nearly faded into obscurity. The studio, Orion pretty much just dumped the film and offered little support. It was produced on a tiny budget. Little cash was ...

  The Mission (1986) I must be one of the only people that truly believe The Mission is a great movie. Do not get me wrong as the film got solid reviews and was a big player during awards season, but I do not believe it got the true recognition it deserves. This movie is a passionate, fiery film about religion and imperialism. It comes as no surprise that Roland Joffe is the man behind the camera as he tackled the likewise passionate The Killing Fields . The film expresses some important ideas within the historic background. As an avid student of history, the entire Jesuit history in South America perked interest in me. To me, it comes as no surprise that the film is powerfully directed by Joffe with two outstanding performances from Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons.   The film was written by Robert Bolt. I really liked how Bolt decided to tell this story. The story is mostly told in flashbacks through a series of letters. This could have easily gone astray but Bolt kept ev...

  The Color of Money (1986) The 1980’s was an interesting decade for Martin Scorsese. After beginning the decade with one of his all-time classics, Raging Bull , he spent the rest of the decade experimenting with different styles thus creating a stage in his career that people begin to know as “Minor Scorsese.” Funnily enough, these movies including The Color of Money , is better than most director’s films. This particular film is Scorsese going more mainstream but keeping his techniques from After Hours intact. The dark lighting and colors usage, his use of panning camera angles, and a rock-heavy soundtrack are techniques that you may be familiar with. As for this particular film, it’s the sequel to the 1961 Paul Newman hit The Hustler which is an unlikely tale for Scorsese to tackle. It is a good film, but I consider this the director’s weakest (yep, he still has never made a bad movie.)   I am someone that is not infatuated with the sport of pool. Despite many good cine...

  Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) Francis Ford Coppola’s Peggy Sue Got Married is an interesting movie. If you have read my movie reviews from past films, you would realize I have many of those regarding films directed by Coppola. He is the man at the forefront of advancing cinema with new various stylistic and technological innovations. Most of them push boundaries with varying results. Here, which is shocking at first, is a film that he made just to make a film. He has strong characters and raw emotions and he makes a story out of it. Mostly, it is nothing special. It is your average story about a middle-aged woman trying to find herself by traveling to her younger years-a very similar concept to Back to the Future . The movie is fun and has some clever concepts and dialogue, but do not go thinking it is the same Coppola who directed The Godfather or Apocalypse Now .   Believe it or not, Coppola was actually the third director the studio hired to bring the project to life. ...

  Children of a Lesser God (1986) 1986’s Children of a Lesser God spoke volumes to me. The film’s subject moved me deeply in ways that other subjects do not, mainly because I can relate…to a degree. The film centers around a woman who is deaf. People are surprised when they discover that I am hard of hearing myself and always has been. I understand the struggles of what its like to live in a functional society despite not having perfect hearing skills. For the most part, the film captures what life can be like. It is an extremely well-acted film with instantly believable characters. Some people may find the love story trite, but I found it heartwarming. Even disabled people can still find love!   The idea for the movie came it fruition in 1977 when playwright Mark Medoff wrote the play as a star vehicle for a deaf Broadway actress. The curtain opened in 1980 and the play became a rather big hit on Broadway. Medoff decided to adapt his play into a movie. He changed the stor...

  Stand by Me (1986) Rob Reiner’s Stand by Me is a wonderful, inspiring coming-of-age drama. Do not expect this film to be like a Disney film as it truly earns its R-rating. But you know, Reiner captures the essence of the teenage spirit. Humans, especially teens, curse all the time. Thankfully, Raynold Gideon’s screenplay is incredibly realistic when it comes to depicting teenage friends with different personalities. I cried, I laughed, and I embraced the film. Although I was not yet born when the film was released, nostalgia hit me like a train. I was reminded of my own childhood and in particular could relate to the movie’s main character, Gordie.   The film was adapted from Stephen King’s novella “The Body.” The film’s title was changed because it felt like the name of a raucous comedy or a horror film from King himself. Rob Reiner came up with the title and it stuck. King himself believed this is the first work of his that was adapted to the screen the right way. Ever...

  Aliens(1986) When Alien was released in 1979, it was a monumental success. The horror film garnered high praise as its often, rightfully so, regarded as one of the best horror films of all time. 20 th Century Fox took a long time to even think about producing a sequel because they felt the first film did not rake in the cash despite the accolades. We should all be saying a prayer of thanks they finally came to their senses because 1986’s Aliens is bigger, better, and more intense. While Alien was a slow-moving film that builds up horror, it is successor is a brutal action/horror hybrid with a soul-sucking last hour due to its intensity. The film focuses more on the terror rather than the horror and it absolutely works. Aliens is one of those rare sequels that is better than the original, and it also happens to be one of my favorite all-time films. One that received the extremely rare perfect score from me.   The film took a long time to get into production. The studio ...

  Big Trouble in Little China (1986) John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China is a campy thrill ride that is bound to please fans of genre B-filmmaking. Yeah, it is not the greatest film of all time, but it is an hour-and-a-half romp with cool king fu moves, an interesting mythical background story, and a wisecracking Kurt Russell. The visual effects and stuntwork are excellent and well-choreographed. The story itself is interesting enough to hold my attention as I love all things fantasy and mysticism, but it could have been better developed. In other words, this is your quintessential summer blockbuster action movie.   Preproduction did not get off to the best start. The original draft of the screenplay was written by first-time screenplay writers Gary Goldman and David Weinstein. Their draft was considered so bad that it was unreadable despite having interesting ideas. 20 th Century Fox hired veteran script doctor W.D Richter to overhaul the script. The original wr...

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.” Ah, wise words from our new young friend, Ferris Bueller. In John Hughes’s 1986 film, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off , all Ferris wants to do is take a day and have fun. That is the most simplistic theme the movie has. You can go deeper, but the main takeaway is that it is okay to have fun. That is a motto I have taken to heart. I really loved the film. People consider The Breakfast Club to be Hughes’s best and most important movie. That’s a fine statement to make, but I would personally rank the film number two behind this particular one. The teen characters are instantly relatable, it has a memorable antagonist for the children, and this is basically a thirty-year-old travel guide for Chicago. Just how Woody Allen creates his movies as love letters for New York, this is applicable for John Hughes. A Chicago love letter!   Like all of his films, Hughes wrote...

Top Gun (1986) Even though 1986’s Top Gun received mixed reviews from critics upon release, it is one of those feel-good movies that is fun, fun, and even more fun. Imagine it is 2010 and you are in the midst of watching a Michael Bay movie. A movie with striking cinematography, expertly crafted action scenes, but middling human character development. Yeah, this film is one of the precursors to Bay-directed movies, but this film definitely works. Some people may complain about the film’s machismo or pro-military stance, but I always been told it is one of those required viewings for any male. It definitely was in my household. Even though the characters are middling and not fully developed, they are really memorable. After all, the film launched Tom Cruise’s Hollywood career. The action sequences, more specifically, the aerial dogfights are incredible. They are expertly shot, and it made you feel like you were a part of the action.   The film received its humble beginning from ...

Legend (1986) I am a sucker for any fantasy movie. I can even be drawn in to watch the horrible ones and still find some joy. So, when I discovered that the visionary director behind Alien and Blade Runner directed a fantasy film reminiscent of the tales of King Arthur and Lord of the Rings , I made it my mission to seek the film out. There are multiple versions of the film, so I am reviewing the American version which came out in 1986. The production design and the makeup are true works of art and the visual eye candy really stands out. That said, I wish I could have said the same thing about the story itself. The performances are fine, but the script is mediocre. Thankfully this is a Ridley Scott film, or I am afraid this film would have been utter dreck. There are multiple versions of the movie. As I said, the American version was released in April 1986 to unflattering reviews. Trivia fact time! The film was released in the UK in 1985 with a slightly longer version. The f...

Gung Ho (1986) Ron Howard’s Gung Ho sounded like a promising film. It is a movie about a culture and economical clash; about a Japanese firm taking over a small-town Pennsylvania auto factory. The man who directed Splash and Cocoon reteaming with Michael Keaton? Yeah, that really sounds promising. The only thing this movie needed…was a competent script. The script, which was written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, was horrendous. The portrayal of the Japanese was stereotypical and one-dimensional. In reality, the Japanese were insulted. Yes, they are extremely hard workers, but nothing to the extent depicted here. In fact, the Japanese use this film to show their workers how not to behave. Is that not ironic or what? When Howard signed up to direct the film, maybe there should have been a clause where he needed to rewrite the screenplay. It really is not a good one. In addition to the portrayal of Japanese management, the American assembly line workers are one-note. George W...

Pretty in Pink (1986) Yep, another teen romance from John Hughes featuring members of the Brat Pack! In terms of teen romances and comedies, John Hughes ruled the 1980’s. Unlike other films, he did not direct it but was rather the soul and mind. He produced and wrote the script with newcomer Howard Deutch taking over directorial duties. Like most of his scripts, Hughes’s Pretty in Pink is a very sweet film. Anyone who was once 16 could relate to the film as it authentically tackles class/social division within a school background. Like any of his films, Hughes made his characters relatable whether you like them or not. I genuinely thought this film is sweet and I enjoyed it very much, but there are some issues. As I said, the script itself is sweet. Hughes took his story from a tale that is old as the beginning of time. We have seen this story play itself out countless numbers of time. The poor girl falling for the rich guy who has snobbish friends. And the poor girl does not...

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) Along with Annie Hall , Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters ranks among the writer-director’s best films. The movie manages to be complex and nuanced without going overboard. It is not a comedy, but there are big laughs within the family dynamics. In a sense, you could also view the film as a near-tragedy. The film is viewed through the eyes of Woody Allen’s character, Mickey. Mickey is one of those characters who is hypochondriac or a person who believes he has some unchecked major disease and is about to die. He wants a sense of belonging within the web of characters. That alone makes the film have tragic moments. The film on a whole works because of Allen’s sprawling, but tight (if that makes sense) narrative that interweaves dozens of characters within one another. It’s funny, sad, poignant, and emotional. Woody Allen originally imagined the film to be a simple one about a husband falling in love with his wife’s sister. Then he started gett...

F/X (1986) What does F/X mean? No, it is not a complicated math equation. It is actually a short abbreviation for special effects which are obviously used in film and television, such as 1986’s F/X . This is a film that is the product of its time. It is an 80’s flick with slick action sequences and your usual action movie shootouts. Unlike many action flicks, this is actually an adept psychological thriller that will pull strings and confuse your mind if you are not paying attention. There are so many twists that it is hard to keep count which will cause some haywire. Ironically enough, the film is not laden with special effects. Instead, Academy Award winner John Stears was able to integrate them into the characters and the plot. The film was written by two novice writers, a documentarian named Robert Megginson and actor Gregory Fleeman. The original plan for the script was to be made into a low-budget television movie. When the producers read the script, they decided it would...

Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986) Paul Mazursky’s Down and Out in Beverly Hills definitely had reason to pique my interest. I enjoyed Mazursky’s previous drama Moscow on the Hudson which was a thematically important story. He tackled a different but still relevant theme regarding poor vs. rich ageless debate. He is working with a trio of great actors in Nick Nolte, Bette Midler, and Richard Dreyfuss. He is tackling this film as a drama and the topic is bound for a few laughs. Plus, there is Little Richard! Annnnnnd he is going to contribute to the soundtrack? As one of the well-known films to greet 1986, it is bound to be decent, right? Well…uh…let’s discuss. When the dog is funnier than the human characters, you know you are in trouble. The Whiteman family’s dog, Mike is the movie’s MVP. That adorable creature had me laughing every single time he showed up. If the movie was about him, I might have been okay. Instead, Paul Mazursky’s script focused on some extremely unlik...