Movie History: Journey Back To 1984
Where the blockbusters of today were born
I have been following Aaron Aradillas and Matt Zoller Seitz's video features detailing what they refer to as "A Tale of Two Summers," which re-examines summer movies released in 1984 and 1989 and putting them in context of the politics and popular culture that surrounded their release and tries to show how they eventually led to the entertainment that dominates today.
The series is featured at L Magazine as well as being posted at The House Next Door (keep your eyes on that site, it's a good one) and Parts 1 and 2, covering 1984, are both online. The following parts 3-5 will be looking at the summer of 1989.
With these two parts the boys take a look at Reagan, Ghostbusters, MTV, soundtracks, Risky Business, Sixteen Candles, Purple Rain, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Red Dawn, Gremlins, Steven Spielberg and the advent of the PG-13 rating,
They aren't short, but if you are any kind of fan of the '80s you should enjoy both quite a bit. I am looking forward to the three-part look at the summer of 1989, which involves films such as Batman, Do the Right Thing, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Ghostbusters II, When Harry Met Sally…, Turner & Hooch, The Abyss, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, The Karate Kid Part III, License to Kill, Weekend at Bernie's and Dead Poets Society. I have no idea what films they will be focusing on, but I am anxious to give it a watch.
RSS Feed
| 11 comments so far 
news feeds