Band Name of the Day

09/10/04’s illustrious band:

Movie Review

Brought to you by the cinematic pearls of the 1980s.

Earlier this week, Sister-san and Iron Chef Jeff sent me a promotional offer from Netflix, the online movie rental agency: a one-month free trial membership. The weather is getting cooler, which means I’m growing more inclined to spend leisure time indoors, so I signed up. I expect my first delivery -- commercial-free episodes of my beloved X-Files -- in the next couple days.

Meanwhile, I’ve been browsing Netflix’s extensive database just to see what they’ve got. You can search by movie title, by actors’ names, by genre -- or by decade. Hmm. I gave the 1980s a click yesterday, and it was like taking a tour of my adolescence. Here’s what some of the offerings (in no particular order) reminded me of:

The Indiana Jones series: the genesis of my continuing crush on Harrison Ford and my weakness for brainy, hatted gents in leather jackets.
The Simpsons Season 1. Whoa, has it really been on that long?
Stand By Me. This adaptation of the Stephen King novella The Body starred several 80s icons: Corey Feldman before he became a laughingstock, Kiefer Sutherland before he became ubiquitous, River Phoenix before he died, and Wil Wheaton before he oozed Velveeta dork grease all over Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The Back to the Future movies. Best sci-fi ever! Or at least some of the most fun. Key ingredients: time travel, a souped-up car, and Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd essentially playing themselves. Loved it. Still do.
Star Trek: The Next Generation. Trek, man! ‘Nuff said.
Amadeus. My high school friends and I watched this Mozart biopic because we figured it was the intellectual thing to do. Turns out the only thing we really dug about Amadeus was the ridiculous Falco song by the same name.
Dead Poets Society. Starring Robin Williams as the English teacher we all wished we’d had, or that all of us nerds wanted to be. Actually, I was fortunate enough to have several English teachers every bit as good as Williams’s Dr. Keating. Thanks, Ham, Pang, Mrs. Bray, and Dr. Wolfe!
Die Hard. Starring Bruce Willis post-Moonlighting. I loved him from that series and still prefer him in comic roles, but his action guys are fun to watch, too.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. We all wished we were brash enough to play hooky as boldly as Matthew Broderick did. Living in a town small enough that everyone knew us, and our cars, we could only dream of singing and dancing our way anonymously down the street in a purloined speedster. But dream we did!
The Terminator. More time travel, more action, more Ah-nold.
The Lethal Weapon movies. Who could resist Mel Gibson’s scruffy, wisecracking charm? Extra points to this series for eventually casting Jet Li in its fourth installment.
Airplane! This schtick-heavy disaster movie parody, unfortunately, whet my appetite for clever satire, and I’m still hungry.
Top Gun. All-time favorite “VCR party” fare, along with Mountain Dew, Doritos, and Lisa’s famous taco dip. A VCR party was a new thing in the 80s, a movie fest in someone’s basement that ended in a sleepover for the girls and panty raid threats from the boys.
Ghostbusters. Funny stupid and stupid funny, with just enough of the supernatural in it. Are you the Keymaster?
War Games. Another nerd movie, this one involving a talking computer!
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Best Trek movie ever!!! Except for that part about Spock dying, of course. But don’t worry, he gets over it.
Beverly Hills Cop. Another party favorite, thanks to Eddie Murphy’s nutty antics and profane vocabulary. We played the theme music in band or jazz band one year. Didn’t everybody?

. . . I could go on. And I shall! See tomorrow’s blog for the rest of the list.

Today around the world: September 10 is El Queso Grande’s birthday. Feliz cumpleanos! It’s also Gibraltar National Day in Gibraltar, of all places.

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