Runaway Train-1985

Runaway Train stars Jon Voight as Oscar 'Manny' Manheim. He is a prison legend and hero to all inmates at an Alaskan State Prison. Also starring is 
Eric Roberts (Star 80, Pope of Greenwich Village, Coca cola Kid) as Buck McGeehy, an excitable, lovable, dependable prison boxer. Finally, John P. Ryan (Breathless, The Right Stuff, Simon and Simon), plays Warden Ranken.

Manny is  hardened criminal doing hard time in a prison that is loosely run. For the past few years, the warden has had his cell door welded shut. He is a hero and legend to a population who knows the warden is totally unjust in his treatment of this righteous prison dude. 

McGeehy is a prison boxing champ and "Manny groupie who will do anything he can for his hero. This includes helping him escape.

They head out into the frozen Alaskan interior seeking freedom. They think they've found it on a runaway train. Throughout the journey old 70's stars make appearances  and new 80's stars are born as the story develops and the cast appears.

The actual trailer should run this way. "In a world where Rebecca De Mornay, is a plain Jane, Jon Voight is a buff tough guy, and Eric Roberts can beat up Danny Trejo..." and end it there. This movie is surreal in that respect, beating all these stars' stereo typed roles.

Runaway Train is a must see 80's movie. It's got the music, the prison hype and riots, the comedy relief, and Nintendo and Commodore 64 type computers we've come to know and love. 

It is rated R for gnarly language and tons of it.

Weekend At Bernie's-1989

Weekend at Bernie's is super gnarly, snarky, caper that should be watched every Saturday to wash away the strains of the working week. Andrew McCarthy (Mannequin, St. Elmo's Fire, Less than Zero, Pretty in Pink) and  Jonathan Silverman (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Give Me a Break) star as underachieving yuppies Larry Wilson and Richard Parker. That is until one fateful Sunday they discover a 2 million dollar mistake and they see their potential meteoric ride to the top. They can't wait until Monday to tell their boss, Bernie Lomax (Terry Kiser).

Bernie seems happy with the revelation and vows to reward the boys with a vacation at his place in New York/Jersey beaches. Well, Bernie has more dastardly plans. Apparently they have discovered some Bernie fraud. Not to be discovered and done in, Bernie reports to his mob cohorts and plans to have the boys killed. Of course some great 80's twists transpire and Bernie ends up on the chopping block for some acts of indiscretion against his mob boss' girl.

The witty wise cracking Wilson and straight laced Parker give this movie some well-deserved depth. The boys think Bernie died of natural causes, the mob think their hit on Bernie went bad, party goers thinks Bernie is just wasted and just plain chilling out. Parker’s love interest Gwen Saunders (Catherine Mary Stewart, Night of the Comet), thinks Parker is nuts as he tries to explain that Bernie is actually dead. It’s mayhem.

The straight panned Bernie is a dead man, but the boy's antics give him appearances of life. Kiser is the winner here playing this character with body language, dead pan facial expression, dead man hijinks, and that water skiing scene. No, this is not a ghost story, but the story of a stone cold dead man.

Weekend at Bernie's is an 80's throw back. Imagine a world of people smoking whenever and wherever they want, suit jackets and ties with shorts, big telephones, French cut bikinis, Champaign, caviar, and coke and you've just conjured an 80s movie.

How will it pan out? You’ll just have to find out by watching Weekend at Bernie's

Hot Pursuit-1987

John Cusack (Sixteen Candles, The Sure Thing, Better off Dead, Say Anything) stars as Dan Bartleet, a college student deeply in love with his girlfriend, Lori Cronenberg, played by Wendy Gazelle. All he has to do is pass his chemistry exam and he's off to sail the Caribbean with her and her family.

True the the 80's sexual tension and frustration plots, this young man isn't going anywhere. He doesn't get the grade he needs and kisses his girlfriend goodbye as she sets off without him. It is truly heartbreaking. Until...

The 80's twist of dangling a gnarly carrot right in front of your eyes, the professor has a heart and helps Dan pass the exam. Dan is stoked and with a passing grade he sets off a bit late to join the Caribbean fun, but Wendy totally doesn't know.

Through a series of adventures Dan catches up to, but narrowly misses finding his dream girl at beautiful spots along the way. Ganja, Rastafarian, crusty sailors, pirates, hijackers, and Mexican jailers, set the stage for this sunburned comedy.

Keep your eyes open for appearances by a young Ben Stiller, totally unrecognizable, but totally worth experiencing. Also stars Robert Loggia, Jerry Stiller, and Keith David, who do well carrying this movie and giving it a gnarly character depth.

Music is covered by Level 42 with Lessons in Love.
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Say Anything-1989

Say Anything stars John Cusack (The Sure Thing, Better Off Dead, One Crazy Summer, Sixteen Candles), as Lloyd Dobler. This movie is most remembered for Lloyd holding up his ginormous boom box. But that comes later. Lloyd is a slacker, making his way through high school and in love with an uptown girl. Ione Skye plays Diane Court, that beautiful uptown girl; a princess raised by her widower father and being groomed for some gnarly success. Slowly but surely Lloyd's love and passion develop as does his efforts to win Diane over.

Lloyd's major obstacle is Mr. Court. The overprotective loser father is played spectacularly by John Mahoney of Frasier fame. Mr. Court wants nothing but the best for his princess and parries each of Lloyds love thrusts in an effort to keep them apart. His major coup is getting Diane focused on attending some hoity toity school in London. Thinking it the best for everyone Diane takes a chill pill and slows the  developing relationship with Lloyd.

Just a warning, this movie has some totally bogus father daughter moments that leave the viewer feeling like hurling,  but if you can get past these rare but weird moments, you'll find a great movie.

Will Lloyd give up his dreams of being with the girl he loves? Find out in Say Anything.

Better Off Dead

Better Off Dead stars John Cusack (Class, Sixteen Candles, The Sure Thing, Say Anything)  in one of his first breakout and most defining of roles. He carries the movie for sure. Cusack plays Lane Meyer, a hopeless romantic whose girl trades him in for a better model, with a nicer car and who is a better skier. He does everything within his power to win his girl back. For his efforts, he gets a worse job, his crappy car gets crappier, and his ex-girls boyfriend appears even more winning; all which solidifies his ex's decision to leave him.

Better Off Dead is another movie I saw back in 1985 while living in Germany compliments of the US Army. You never know when you see a movie, whether or not it will become a cult classic or not. That's the case with Better Of Dead. However, I wasn't so sure back when I first saw it. At the time I thought the kid screaming "I want my two dollars", was detracting from the movie. However, 29 years later, it is one of the parts that definitely defines this movie. Another famous scene includes Lane's mother, Jenny Meyer (Kim Darby),and her introduction of the evening meal. Here she serves the foreign exchange student (Diane Franklin), "franch fries, franch dressing and franch bread".

You never really know what will happen with the cast of an 80's movie. I also thought we might see more of the totally hot Franklin who plays the french student, but that was not the case. Though she looked great and did an awesome job, it seems she didn't make too many more movies. A quick internet search still proves she's still got it and she has released a few shorts. Hopefully she'll be resurrected for future movies.

Surprisingly David Ogden Stiers (MASH), breaks free from his Major Charles Emerson Winchester III role. He plays a bitchin' California dad who tries to hold it together with his very strange wife, suicidal teen and rocket scientist pre-teen.

Will Lane get the girl back? Will he beat the champion skier?

Find out in Better Off Dead.

Night of the Creeps

Night of the creeps starts of strong. This totally gnarly movie begins in a 50's setting, then cuts to the 80s. It has to because that's when the aliens land.

Ray Cameron (Tom Atkins Lethal Weapon and other detective roles) is a cop with a mission. Poor Ray's girlfriend just broke up with him and he is not quite over her. Ray is a police officer on patrol when he finds his girlfriend parking with another guy at the local hangout. Jilted, he walks off to continue his duties.

While all the college kids are making out, a spaceship crashes nearby. All the kids see it and run to the crash site. The date finds the crash site and is infected by zombie slugs. 

Meanwhile, Ray's girlfriend stays in the car. She is then murdered by a known ax killer. Ray gets there, but too late. His girlfriend has already been dismembered and he empties his gun into the killer.

30 years later, at the same college, a cryogenic body thaws. The slug escapes and begins infecting the students. One by one the zombie virus spreads to every resident and pet. 

The foul mouthed, tough as nails Ray is called into action. He recognizes both the danger and his girlfriend's killer who has mysteriously come to life. 

Can he stop the spread of zombies? 
Will the college return to it's formal glory? 
Will he ever stop dreaming about his dead girlfriend? 

Find out in Night of the Creeps

Big Trouble in Little China

In Big Trouble in Little China Kurt Russell (Overboard and Escape From New York) plays Jack Burton owner and operator of the Pork Express trucking company. Guess what Jack is hauling in that 18 wheeler. The awesome thing about it is the company only has one truck and one employee. To pass the endless hours and continuous time on the road, this dude keeps himself busy broadcasting his thoughts on the CB radio. Kind of a gnarly early version of blogging. “You know what Jack Burton always says,” seems to be his lead in to all discussions.

Jack has a buddy in Chinatown, Wang Chi played by Dennis Dun. They gamble, drink and tell stories to one another. At the end of one night of binging, Wang tells him he needs a favor. So, off they go to the airport to pick up his buddy’s fiancé,  Miaou Yin  (played by Suzee Pai) fresh off the plane from China. What better way to impress her than to pick her up in the totally tubular Pork Express.

Woah dudes! Some bitchin triad bad asses suddenly burst into the airport with guns blazing and knives glimmering in a total pre-911 moment airport showdown. With no police in sight, they kidnap Miaou, with Jack and Wang in hot pursuit.

The chase takes the duo back to Chinatown where they gather more team members including the ever Gracie Law played by the ever effervescent Kim Cattrall (Porky's), Jack’s new love interest. They slowly gather team members and head down to the underground into an almost mythical world of Chinese black magic and straw hatted thugs. These Chinese dudes, Thunder, Lightning and Rain keep it real with old school fighting and magic.

Jack is the hero, but he is second in fighting to his buddy, Wang. This cat knows how to engage and ends up responsible for most of the 42 dead in the finally body count. But, is it enough to rescue both Miaou and Jack’s love interest, . Can they rescue their women and prevent a 2000 year old creep from becoming human again through a totally bogus wedding to Miau AND Gracie?

Catch it all in Big Trouble in Little China.

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