MOFO 80's Teen Movie Hall of Fame

Oh I'll finish. Just busy with work. Technically on vacation this week but still stuck in office...

5 down though. Akira and Stand by Me on deck.

@Citizen Rules

Thanks for the updates. I'll try to get some of my write-ups done soon. I should have some time on Christmas Eve/Day and New Years Eve/Day because everything around here is closed.

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I'll try to post some notes about some of the movies just in case I don't have time to do full write-ups. (My reviews are usually pretty short anyway.)


Teen Wolf - This isn't a great movie, but it is a fun movie. Michael J. Fox was always fun to watch when he was younger, and this movie is no exception. I think I would have liked this movie more if Scott had tried to hide the fact that he was a werewolf, rather than showing off. There should have been more scenes with Scott and his father, with his father trying to help him through it.

It was kind of annoying that the guy who played the wolf when he was playing basketball was about a foot taller than Michael J. Fox. There must have been someone they could have found who was a good basketball player and closer to his height.

Also, I know this movie was from the 1980s but the surfing on the truck scene was dumb and dangerous. If this movie was released today, I'm sure there would be a lot of kids getting hurt (or killed) trying to copy him. (There was an incident recently where a 15-year old kid car-surfed on an Uber car and he fell off and died. When I heard about it on the news, I immediately thought of this movie and wondered if he watched it.)


Once Bitten - When I watched this, I was surprised when I got about halfway through it and realized that I'd already seen it. (It must have been sometime after seeing Liar, Liar, when I was trying to find more Jim Carrey movies.)

This movie was kind of fun, but a little bit dumb. I think Jim Carrey was the main reason that I liked this movie. He's always fun to watch in these kinds of crazy comedies. The dance scene reminded me a little bit of the dance scene with Danny and Sandy in the first Grease movie, when Cha-Cha pulls Danny away from Sandy.


Akira - This was an interesting movie, but it isn't really my type of movie. The tone of the movie is a little too dark for my taste, and there wasn't much in the movie that I could relate to, so I didn't really connect with anyone or anything in the movie.

I wasn't really sure what was going on when Tetsuo was in the hospital, until I realized that he was having some kind of hallucinations. I think I kind of felt confused through most of the movie, but at least it looked like it was supposed to be a happy ending.

I'm going to try to watch it again before I submit my list because I'm hoping that I'll understand it a little bit more than I did the first time.


Grease 2 - As a fan of musicals, I really wanted to like this movie. And as a fan of the first Grease movie, it was hard to avoid comparing this with the first movie, but I tried to judge it as a stand-alone movie. While I didn't hate this movie, unfortunately there's not much about this movie that I liked either.

Ignoring the fact that the actors are way too old to play teenagers, sadly, most of them aren't very good actors either. There aren't really any likable characters in the movie except for Michael, (Maxwell Caulfield), but he's also kind of a dull character. The story just felt like it's been done 1000 times before, and usually much better. The songs had catchy tunes, but they're not good songs either. (Just because I remember the songs, it doesn't mean that I liked the songs.)

Like I said earlier, I didn't hate this movie, but it wasn't great either.

Crossroads - good licks and entertaining. All I could ask for in a movie
Three O'Clock High - my review is on here somewhere. Loved it
Can't Buy Me Love - also loved it. Very entertaining and stupid.
Lucas - so so. OK moments and a good cast but cloying and awful music "score"
Once Bitten - also so so...ok moments but too silly. Carrey can dance, tho, and he's hilarious when allowed to be in this early role.
Better Off Dead - magnificent film. Strange and highly entertaining. A true classic.
Say Anything - heartfelt and well written film. A cut above the rest in some ways but suffers from too much earthiness, and just misses the mark for me as being truly great. Lovely ending, tho.
Teen Wolf - eh, it was ok. Never cared for it much. Kinda disposable, tbh.
Akira - nah. Labored watch. Not fun. Hate most cartoons as an adult. Sorry.
My Bodyguard - Dated and stuffy with age but not too shabby.
Weird Science (optional movie) - love it. Lots of quotables. Close to me kind of film.
Stand By Me - very good despite a few cloying moments of high emotion. Can't knock it, though. It's a solid classic.

17th HoF is done. This is my next focus.

One of the best bully movies of the 80's, even if the reason for the fight is a little ridiculous. I don't know why I watched this movie years ago, it had to have been recommended to me by someone here, but I did and I liked it then, I like it now.

Jerry makes the mistake of interrupting Buddy in the men's room and touching him. Buddy, a certified psycho tells Jerry that he needs to work off some aggression and tells Jerry that they're going to fight t 3:00.

Richard Tyson always reminded me of Val Kilmer and he does so here even more. You might notice Casey Siemaszko as the bully wearing 3D glasses in Back to the Future. He was also in another nomination for this HoF, Stand By Me....as another bully. This movie came out the year I was born.

The best parts of the film are the scenes building up to the fight. A movie about a fight after school done right is this, a movie done wrong is Fist Fight.

I feel like this movie hits those 80's quintessential check marks and it FEELS like it belongs on this list of nominations. I had a good time watching this.

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@MovieGal





Three O'Clock High

I guess I should have known from the beginning.
It was gonna be one of those days.

Ya know, it's almost tempting put a big pointing sign to @TheUsualSuspect's review and simply state, "Yeah, what he said,"
Because he does pretty much nail it on watching this.

I saw this once, when it came out and had no idea until reading Usual's review and looking up the character to realize it's the guy who plays Charlie in Young Guns.

I found myself thinking of that role and the final shootout and that character standing up and facing off against Kelly when 3:00 came around.

Like Usual, I agree that this does hit all the key notes of a solid 80's flick and while I didn't care all that much for it way back when, I actually did, quite a bit, this time around.
The pacing was good and all the little incidents in each class that kept referring to the coming fight; such as the film about the cricket getting eaten by the type of scorpion, to the English class with the teacher reciting the bloody death of Hector at Achilles' hands with subtle glee were very nice touches that counter balanced Jerry's attempts at avoiding the inevitable.

Along with a few very cool cameos throughout the teaching staff this was a very fun 80's Teen flick to watch.
NICE call, @Joel!!

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just finished My Bodyguard, will have a write up in the next day or so

I still ahve a few to watch/rewatch and then ill get more elaborate write ups done. Sorry, been a few shifts in the day to day over here.

Cool to see some love for 3 o clock high!

i need to rewatch crossroads..i went off of memory for my blurb about it. Also, the ones i didnt like still deserve more reasoning/explanation - seems only fair, so ill get on that, too - once time allows. Hopefully i can make the deadline, but if it comes down to the wire, ill cram it as usual lol

I am going to try keep at this, sorry for being a bit slow. I did watch Better Off Dead a bit back but I never got round to reviewing it so I will watch it again in due course. I am looking forward to watching the rest of these.

@MovieGal






My Bodyguard

Actually had a bit of a rough time watching this. It felt a lot like an After School Special than a film. The sappy factor seemed a little too high for me; which I really shouldn't take as any kind of gauge considering the specialty of this HoF with a great realm of sappy and silly premises and executions. But, sadly, it did.

Like many others, the highlight was Ruth Gordon

with a zest for life and a disregard for proper behavior, she seems like a wild card in this film of being bullied/extorted and buying the services of the school maniac. Whom Baldwin actually did a good job at as the silent, brooding high schooler with hardships and a terrible past.

While I do enjoy Matt Dillon, he did seem more of a weasel and a coward than a leader of a group of extortionists and bullies who were all horrible caricatures, rather than any kind of threat or menace. Though, in retrospect, Dillon's character WOULD be hard pressed to rule over anyone but these posing wannabe cool guys/bullies.
Which, could be the aspect that sort of brought this film down for me. Since Baldwin, Gordon, and even the bought off brawler that Dillon brings to the table were all enjoyable aspects and characters.

I do remember enjoying this when it came out back in the day, but it does seem like the poser bullies sort of brought it down for me.
Still, pretty happy to do a revisit.

Grease 2

I wasn't into the first Grease film and, having finally seen this one, I am afraid, it was a hard time watching it and keeping the rolling eyes to a continual loop. Even as much as I love Pfeiffer, I wasn't so much rolling my eyes, but sympathizing and telling her not to worry, she'll be singing far better tunes in The Fabulous Baker Brothers and so forth. Even for songs like "Cool Rider", it wasn't enough to get past the rest of this film.

While it was fun to see Eve Arden and some of the secondary roles weren't too bad, the two lead men (boys) kept the eye rolling in full gear.

I do believe this is the very first CR nomination I've ever disliked and I DO apologize, CR and will keep it very short.

I only have Teen Wolf left and I'm holding off on Lucas and Can't Buy Me Love to see if @Smudge and @Velvet is going to finish this.

When is the deadline for this HoF?

First time seeing this film, it fits perfectly for this 80's Teen HoF.

Ronald is a typical high school nerd, but he wants to change that. He's been mowing lawns for cash and saved up enough money to buy a telescope. When the girl he likes ruins her mom's dress, he decides to use that money instead to 'rent' her. So now she's able to buy a new dress, in return all she has to do is pretend to go out with him. This will make him more popular. In doing so, she actually starts to like the little guy, but the popularity he's been receiving has clouded his mind and he becomes obsessed with it. Ignoring the signs that she actually likes him, they "break-up" and he goes from zero to hero. How long can he keep this "charade" up before people find out that he's just a nerd trying to be cool? How long will the secret of renting the popular girl stay hidden?

In many films like this (there are many) it's obvious what the trajectory the character and actions will take. I've seen countless films where the nerd will leave his nerd friends behind for more recognition. When that goes away and he tries to crawl back...how many people take him back? Usually all of them. It was nice to see some real emotional conflict here when Ronald tries to crawl back to his friend in the arcade. I would have liked to have seen a bit more resolution to that relationship towards the end. The speech at the end would indicate that they possibly patched things up, but I felt like we deserved a more concrete answer there.

Patrick Dempsey does a good job playing the nerd trying to be cool. When he first shows up after the break-up, I had a good laugh at his clothing style. The fact that everyone else loves it made it even funnier. The film definitely shows how zombie like people are. It still is relevant today. People are willing to ignore the obvious when things become "cool". High school kids are sheep, they follow the flock.

When the film was over, I read up on it, as I normally do. Such a sad story for the lead actress Amanda Peterson. She was 15 when she did this movie, Dempsey was 20. Her parents revealed that she was raped at this age. With the current #MeToo state of Hollywood, it's not hard to imagine it was someone in power on this set. After such a traumatic event, she spun out of control and was on numerous drugs throughout the rest of her life. She died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 43. Sad.

Can't Buy Me Love was remade years later as Love Don't Cost A Thing, starring Nick Cannon. Never seen it, don't intend do.

No worries my friend...I was just happy I had a reason to watch it again. I do love that movie, just for sappy fun

Good question, I don't know MovieGal has not posted on this HoF for awhile, though she did post on the Mofie's Prep thread just the other day. @MovieGal when is the deadline?

got a couple of films that I love for the sappy silliness of them.

And I do remember there being talk of it ending around January 15 tentatively

@edarsenal @Joel @gbgoodies @Rhys @Sedai @Siddon @TheUsualSuspect @SmudgeEFC1985 @Velvet and @ynwtf

I will give until the end of January. That way people who still want to finish can. I will check back once in a while. @Citizen Rules, can you send me an update of films watched for everyone. Those who have none, unless you pm me... You will be disqualified. Its not fair to everyone who has watched a few to those who have not,