Tag Archives: 1980s

10 Amazing ’80s Directors Who Lost Their Mojo in the ’90s

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

It’s not always easy for directors to make the transition from one decade to the next. For every Steven Spielberg there are several Francis Ford Coppolas. Filmgoers’ expectations change, technology improves, and the industry moves in a new direction. If … Continue reading →

Posted in Random Stuff | Tagged 1980s, 1990s, action movies, comedy, directors, films, fun, funny, humor, john badham, john carpenter, john g avildsen, john hughes, john landis, john mctiernan, jokes, lawrence kasdan, mel brooks, movie review, movies, movies based on books, puns, richard donner, roland joffe, science fiction, sequels, star wars, superman | 11 Comments

Bad Movies with Great Music: Explorers

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

What were the makers of Explorers thinking? Few movies have such lofty aspirations and yet such disastrous outcomes as this one. Explorers feels sort of like E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial or Super 8 except without the compelling stories of those films. … Continue reading →

Posted in Bad Movies with Great Music | Tagged 1980s, comedy, films, humor, movie review, movies, music, parody, science fiction, soundtrack | 7 Comments

Pleasant Surprises: Ernest Goes to Camp

Posted on June 17, 2014 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Ernest Goes to Camp perfectly captures childhood in a way I’ve never seen another film pull off. I loved this movie as a kid because it spoke to me on a very personal level. That might sound strange because it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Pleasant Surprises | Tagged 1980s, childhood, children films, comedy, ernest goes to camp, films, funny, humor, movie review, movies | 1 Comment

The Empire Strikes Back Is a Perfectly Symmetrical Film

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Anakin Skywalker was prophesied to bring balance to the Force, and it looks like he did in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. This film, which many hail as the best of the original trilogy, is an example of … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinematic Chiasmus | Tagged 1980s, action movies, chiasmus, films, fun, george lucas, movie review, movies, science fiction, sequels, star wars | 57 Comments

1990: The Year of Failed Film Franchises

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

As far as I can tell, 1990 had more series-destroying sequels than any year before or since. And most of these sequels to popular films didn’t exactly go out on a high note, like, say, Return of the King. Most … Continue reading →

Posted in Random Stuff | Tagged 1980s, 1990s, action movies, back to the future, comedy, eddie murphy, films, funny, gremlins, humor, movie review, movies, predator, robocop, rocky, science fiction, sequels, the godfather | Leave a comment

RoboCop (1987) Is an Almost Perfectly Symmetrical Film

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

The Old Testament is full of examples of chiasmus, which is a figure of speech used in ancient times to emphasize balance. It lists a bunch of ideas or things and then repeats each of them in reverse order. It’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinematic Chiasmus | Tagged 1980s, action movies, chiasmus, films, history, movie review, movies, robocop, science fiction | 170 Comments

Predator Is Surprisingly Deep for an Action Movie

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Happy April Fools’ Day. I’m only half-joking when I say that the 1987 classic Predator is surprisingly deep for an action movie. It’s not exactly the kind of movie you watch hoping for a lot of subtext to analyze. Predator … Continue reading →

Posted in Random Stuff | Tagged 1980s, action movies, arnold schwarzenegger, films, funny, holiday, humor, movie review, movies, predator, puns, science fiction, terminator | 16 Comments

The Best 3 Back-to-Back Years for American Comedy Films

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

I love a good comedy. Sometimes a few great comedies come out in a single year, like 1994, 1974, 1963, and so on. But rarely do we see a three-year stretch full of seemingly nonstop comedy gems. So I would … Continue reading →

Posted in Random Stuff | Tagged 1980s, action movies, comedy, films, funny, humor, movies | 3 Comments

Movie Matchups: Santa Claus: The Movie vs. Superman: The Movie

Posted on December 24, 2013 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer

Oh, those crazy Salkinds. If you’re not a Superman fan you probably don’t have a clue who Ilya and Alexander Salkind are. Back in the ‘70s and early ‘80s they had huge aspirations for the U.S. film industry. They wanted … Continue reading →