The Movie Forums Top 100 of All-Time Refresh: Countdown

They mentioned in the commentary Kashmir was the only one they could get the rights to.

I bet you're listening to Foghat this very second.

No foghat, I'm afraid. I do have a Black Oak Arkansas somewhere though.

I always thought this was an accurate way of showing how Damone had no idea what he was talking about.

Zeppelin never released singles from their albums.

Akira

This had always been, for the longest time, THE go-to film for Japanese Animation whenever someone wanted to explore such films.
Even though, as a tyke I saw a few Americanized animated TV shows like Speed Racer and Kimba; The White Lion, when this came out, it was pretty mind-blowing when it came to animation. At that time in the 80s, this was the next generation of Japanese artwork and still comes up in conversations when talking about Anime.
Also, this is on a VERY small list of films that I will select Dubbed instead of Subtitles. Another, coincidentally as the same person doing the voice for Kei also does Faye, in Cowboy Bebop.

But, enough of that.

Opening up with an incredible fight on motorcycles through the streets of Tokyo, we hit the ground running in this action/sci-fi of a futuristic city (2019) and the clash of these delinquents and a genetic experiment that is accidentally unleashed on one of them.
Bouncing from the corrupt scientists, to the Military attempts to contain it all, to Radicals looking to rebel the system and expose the secret of said experiment, to the psychic children who are the most recent subjects of it, the pacing moves quickly. And at first, may seem a little confusing. Especially as we move toward the final act and the grandiose battle as the experiment takes over the young gang member, Tetsuo.

Interspersed throughout the swearing, violence and psychic battling we do have, at it's core, the need for finding one's self that is a strong aspect of being a teenager. Albeit set in a science fiction/Militant existence. But still, very much there.

Been TOO LONG since the last time I saw this excellent animation.

Toy Story

You are a strange little man. And you have my pity

Pixar definitely made a name for itself right out of the box. TOY box that is. I say, I say ---

Sorry, went totally Foghorn Leghorn there for a second.

Ahem.
For their debut film, this animation company set the bar, and then, as we all know, continued to raise said bar. Placing us into the world of our toys and their sociological problems such as laser envy and evil kids hell bent on torturing their toys.
Filled with countless inside jokes and scenarios with top notch voice actors, Toy Story is and was a solid foundation of a budding animation studio.
While I haven't mentioned it with others, there was also a secondary note that opened all our eyes to PIxar with the opening cartoon, Geri's Game,

That gave us a glimpse even further into what Pixar would be offering up.

Dazed and Confused

[repeated line]
Slater: Shotgun!

During the 80's Teen Movie Hall of Fame I never actually felt any nostalgia for when I was a teenager while watching them. Just nostalgia for those films and watching them, back then.
But this, this brought up all kinds of memories of those dazes.
Probably because this is set on the Last Day of School and the first day of Summer vacation in 1976. At that time I was in 6th grade, in '79: a freshman in high school and a senior in '82, and our class were the final puffs off a nearly dead roach of that life before MTV became a thing, the drive-in burger joints were already becoming things of history and people started congregating in malls.
Suffice to say, I have more connections to the high-schoolers in this film; how they acted, the music they enjoyed, the way they dressed, than the MTV crowd that came afterwards.
So, when I previously stated I had lived this film and had no need to watch it, it was exactly it. Which is in no way a negative thing, having now watched it and enjoyed both it and all the memories that came flooding back with it. It was quite the beautiful thing seeing so many characters and personas that clicked regarding people I hung and partied with, back then.

The only confusion I had and it sort of put me out of the movie, was when I realized that this wasn't the senior class (like a lot of high school films normally focus on) but the junior class and that, on the last day of school they began hazing the graduating 8th graders before they even made it out of the parking lot of school.
I have no recollection of such things.
Seniors hazed freshman from the first day of school in September. Not back in June.
I even asked my older siblings about it. One brother who did graduate in '76 and one sister who graduated in '73 never heard of it. Only one sister who graduated in '70 said there was a little bit of it as summer vacation started. So. . . who knows.
But I do recollect how the hazing was the beginning of a lot of partying, so, like so many other scenarios in this film, that rung very true.

All in all, a very pleasant experience that shook loose so, so many cobwebs bringing back all kinds of memories triggering both smiles and some tears. All out of joy.
How beautiful is that?