Goats, gripes, and grasping for greatness

If you were to host an "80's Movie Night," what kind would you host? Action-Adventure? Comedy? Kids? Dance? And what would be your top offerings, or your preferred line-up? Would you put any Disney or cartoon flicks (Heavy Metal) in there?

For example, if I were to host an Action movie night, I would put out Die Hard, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Terminator, Lethal Weapon. For an 80's Kids night, I would put out Karate Kid, Goonies, Neverending Story, Labyrinth. Dance night would be Fame, Flashdance, Dirty Dancing, Footloose. Somewhere in there I'd have to have Action/Comedy for Romancing the Stone and Airplane! I'm not sure where I'd put Top Gun or Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but they would have to be in there somewhere.

Pick a theme, and tell me your movies! Comments are open.

( Collapse )

We saw Gladiator, Prince of Thieves Robin Hood (Ridley Scott, director*) tonight. It was good; I had a good time watching it. And, fortunately or unfortunately, it was almost everything the reviews said it was, except for not funny. I thought it had plenty of levity at the right moments, just not ha-ha funny. I think I saw Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan, Braveheart, First Knight, Three Musketeers... It didn't take every trope from the list, but there were quite a few. (Let's be sure that the hero rides a white horse into the final battle, and the bad guy is on a black - and the bad guys are all in black too! - shall we?)

Things I liked (without too many spoilers):
+ Lady Marion - assuredly not a maid! - establishes a strong character and sticks with it from beginning to end. Ditto Friar Tuck.
+ Kevin Durand gets to play along side Crowe again, but this time he's a good guy.
+ King Richard was different than most versions I've read or seen. He rated... neutral... as a character, in the end.
+ King John was a slightly more nuanced character than the typical depiction of a spoiled brat with no idea of statehood.
+ This version of the Robin Hood story introduced both the concept of the Masons and the Magna Carta into the popular movie-going conversation... I hope (but I'm not holding my breath) that a lot of kids ask what the heck was going on with that set of scenes.

More randomly, Will Scarlet was a hockey player in Mystery, Alaska. (Yes, I had to look it up, but I knew he looked familiar!) ( Collapse )

*Ridley Scott directed Gladiator. You'll notice very familiar camera action with the fight scenes.