My favorite movies of the '80s
Two Fridays ago, I had a hot date to the movies. She was my ex-girlfriend and we watched Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part I. (Breaking Dawn is following the Harry Potter template of cutting one book into two movies.) My former girlfriend is now my wife and so, as a dutiful husband, I had to endure two hours of vampire-werewolf-human love triangle dialogue or, in legal terms, cruel and inhuman punishment. As with other forms of torture, I had to use the powers of my mind to distract me from the cruel pain of inane dialogue that essentially was, “I love you, Bella,” in differing iterations. In order to survive my ordeal, I thought of what movies I’d rather be watching, which made me think of my top 10 favorite movies of the ‘80s:
1. Fright Night. Now this is good vampire movie! The great thing about this film was that it broke away from the campy and gothic tone of the “Hammer” vampire movies of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee and gave the vampire a modern sensibility. It was both intentionally scary and funny, unlike the Twilight movies, which are only incidentally funny due to bad acting and worse makeup. Roddy McDowell as “Peter Vincent,” a combo of horror staples Peter Cushing and Vincent Price, was excellent as the bumbling, cowardly, and ultimately heroic vampire slayer. Great character actors like Chris Sarandon made the movie immensely watchable, again unlike some vampire films that I know.
2. The Rocky movies. Ta-da-dan! Dan-dan-dan! The eye of the tiger! This is the original people’s champ, Rooocky Balboooaa!!! Can you believe that the first Rocky won an Oscar as best picture in 1976? And that it was written by Sylvester Stallone? While the succeeding Rocky flicks weren’t as critically successful as the first no Best Supporting Actor awards for Mr. T, sadly they were undoubtedly fun and inspiring.
3. Superman II. I liked the first one better but critics give the second one even better reviews. Clark Kent was the perfect hero for the ‘80s, a time when right and wrong, good and evil, as shown by the discourse on democracy versus communism during this Cold War era, was so clear. So Superman was plainly good, without the angst or the self-doubt of the more current Batman, a.k.a. the Dark Knight or the sly irony of the modern Iron-Man. While Superman may seem bland, even boring to contemporary sensibilities, at the time of the film’s release, he was the epitome of heroism and expressed the idea that perhaps all of us are heroes in disguise and that when the great challenge arises, we too will shed our cloak of mediocrity and rise to the heroic. What I took from the movie was that Superman’s true greatness didn’t come from his superpowers but rather from his basic human goodness and decency.
4. Ghostbusters. Who ya gonna call? What do you get when you mix a convoluted story, unbelievable premise, and the most unattractive leading men in American cinema? A fun, blockbuster hit! At the time, the special effects were cutting edge and kudos to director Ivan Reitman the movie magic didn’t detract but rather added to the comedy. Harold Ramis, Dan Ackroyd, and Bill Murray, SNL alums, were at the top of their game and made the movie a fun and turn-off-your-brain-for-two-hours-and-just-enjoy-it experience.
5. Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. Live long and prosper! As a kid who grew up on the Star Trek series, both the live and animated versions, seeing the crew of the enterprise make the bold leap from the small to the big screen was a treat. What made this film even better than the first Star Trek movie (1979) was that it wasn’t so much about the special effects in hindsight some of the effects do seem lame when viewed thorough contemporary eyes but rather the characters, like Spock, Kirk and Bones, whom we’ve grown to love. This character-driven movie, unlike the special effects-driven first Trekkie movie, played to what fans loved about the original TV series: great stories and friendships that made Star Trek much more than a mere sci-fi series but rather a modern vision or aspiration for the future of humanity; a future where racism and detrimental nationalism had been defeated and with man turning his sights to new frontiers, ready to boldly go where no man or TV show had gone before.
6. The Empire Strikes Back. My favorite of the entire Star Wars franchise. Great pacing, top-notch special effects, great story, and no Jar Jar Binks. What more could a teenager ask for? Some claim that Empire is the best blockbuster movie of all time and I’m inclined to agree. You can watch this film over and over again and your judgment will remain the same that it’s a well-made, well-executed film, with great action, special effects, a powerful storyline and, in my view, one of the best cliffhanger endings of all time. It is much darker and hence more mature than the first Star Wars and is so much the better for it. The plans to release the Star Wars movies in 3D to a whole new generation of moviegoers is something I’m looking forward to. I’m sure my sons will love Star Wars as much as I did.
7. Little Mermaid. Okay. You’re thinking: What? A girly film? What is a male teenager doing watching cartoons? But that was exactly the point. This small film, a true sleeper hit, revitalized Disney and made people watch animated films again. I remember watching it with my older brother, Ysh, at SM North EDSA Annex. We both had extremely low expectations, but we still liked cartoons, so we decided to give it a try. Looking back, I’m glad I watched it on the big screen, particularly because it presaged movies like The Beauty and the Beast, The Incredibles, Toy Story and Up and showed that animation can make great cinema.
8. The Terminator. Ah-nold is now more remembered for his affair with his latina housekeeper, care of TMZ and their ilk. However, let’s not forget that he gave us a fair share of great cinematic experiences. Aside from Terminator he did great action flicks like Total Recall, Running Man and Predator, among many others. Sure he did clunkers like Jingle All the Way and Junior but, on balance, he will be remembered as one of the movie greats, regardless of how the tabloids and the paparazzi present him today.
9. Coming to America. Hardcore fans of Eddie Murphy knew him to be raunchy, rowdy and prone to expletives, particularly in his standup routines. Thus many were surprised to see him play a romantic lead, as a kind-hearted, idealistic, African prince. A few critics couldn’t wrap their mind around Murphy’s 360-degree character change from playing his usual wise-cracking cop or ex-con but most who watched the film thought, not only was Murphy believable, but this was a good, quality film. 
10. Raiders of the Lost Ark. The first of the series and, to my mind, one of the best. My personal favorite was The Last Crusade, particularly because of Sean Connery as Indiana’s dad. Raider’s is just plain fun, which is how I like my movies. It’s fun but it isn’t stupid since in the midst of all the car chases and explosions, Spielberg is making a scathing commentary on the evils of the Nazi empire and the dangers of the unmitigated lust for power. It is amazing that, 27 years later, Harrison Ford would return for a final Indiana Jones installment. Well, Ford, very much like Jones, is the human equivalent of Wile E. Coyote, virtually indestructible, with Professor Jones surviving the attacks of giant spiders and Nazis alike.
As you can tell from my list of favorite movies, I’m not an art-house movie kind of guy I like my movies big, with things exploding or with aliens or monsters; in short, cinema, for me, should be fun. From the earliest stirrings of theater, even with the Greeks staging the plays of Sophocles, theater always involved a suspension and disbelief and escapism. Sure, I want to learn lessons and be empowered or inspired by movies but I, more often than not, just want to have sit back and enjoy the cinematic ride.
So when a blockbuster movie is both well-made and “believable,” then you’ll find me very happy. But not while watching Breaking Dawn. My suspension of disbelief shatters under the oppressive weight of the movie’s premise that a perfect and immortal vampire, basically a human god who can choose any woman in the entire world will fall, head over heels, for an emo high school chick. Okay, maybe it isn’t so farfetched if we agree that love does conquer all and love can make you do stupid things such as watching Breaking Dawn with my wife.
