1989
Our Back to the Future series is over. We’ve covered all three parts of the franchise. So what did we think of them? Why does the first hold up so much better than the other two? How would we rank them? Tune in!
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We continue our journey backward and forward in time with Marty McFly and Doc Brown, this time in the 1989 sequel BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II. How does it stand up as the middle film in a trilogy? Does it get too convoluted? How about the wackiness running rampant? And what’s this business with Marty reacting so strongly when called a ‘chicken’? Tune in for that and more!
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This series is over. We’ve covered Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Valley Girl, Johnny Dangerously, Real Genius, Look Who’s Talking, and National Lampoon’s European Vacation. So what did we think of Amy Heckerling and Martha Coolidge and what they brought to the table?
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Fifth of five in our ‘80s Comedy with Coolidge & Heckerling’ series. Amy Heckerling returns to personal filmmaking but does it in a broad romantic comedy. We close out the series with a conversation about her most successful film.
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What’s the better Vietnam film in Oliver Stone’s career – _Platoon_ or _Born on the Fourth of July_? How well does Tom Cruise work in the lead role, especially at this point in his career? And how does this film show the culmination of everything Stone’s learned to tell the filmic stories he wants to tell over the course of the 80s? Tune in to this week’s show to hear us answer these questions and more!
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Is it clear that Spike Lee has something to say with this film? How does the camerawork and production design work to enhance this world? Is this film still relevant in today’s society?
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Leonard Nimoy had directed two Star Trek films so naturally, William Shatner wanted to give it a go. He even had a great concept for a story – the crew of the Enterprise go on a quest to find God. Unfortunately, with a writers strike hitting Hollywood at the time, with an effects company that couldn’t deliver, and with a studio demanding as much humor as they could cram into the script, Shatner’s vision was muddled and became what many consider to be the worst of the original cast films in the franchise. But is it really that bad? Is it possible to get past the terrible humor and find a compelling story?
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When the extended trailer for James Cameron’s 1989 undersea scifi spectacular, “The Abyss,” was released, it set the stage for an epic film that promised to deliver “Aliens” underwater. When the film was released, it received good reviews and earned its money back, but wasn’t what people expected. But 3 years later, Cameron was able to return to it and release an extended version with nearly 30 minutes of new material, including an extended ending. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we continue our Original SciFi series with “The Abyss.”
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In 1989, Cameron Crowe made his directorial debut with what many consider to be one of his best films, “Say Anything…” It wasn’t one of the top films at the box office that year, but it certainly found its audience since then and is still hailed by many to be one of the great romantic films out there. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we talk about Crowe’s first film.
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Driving Miss Daisy was a perfect story choice for Richard D. Zanuck to produce. Sure, it was difficult to get made but for a film that only cost $7.5 million dollars to produce, it raked in over $100 million at the domestic box office, putting it in the top 10 of the year with the likes of Batman and Lethal Weapon 2. Topping that off, it led Zanuck, along with his wife, Lili Fini Zanuck, to win the Best Picture award at the Oscars.
But this 1989 film, which deals with prejudice and friendship in the relationship between an old Jewish woman in the south and her African American driver, stands out for many people as a perfect example of what’s wrong with the Oscars because it came out the same year as Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, a film that deals with race relations in a much more intense and direct way, and what many feel should have won the Best Picture award.
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