Comments on: 1982 was a vintage year for summer blockbusters

By: The Gaf

The Gaf — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 21:22:00 +0000

STOP BLAMING THE JEWS!

It’s Khan, not Kahn.

By: B E Pratt

B E Pratt — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 02:10:00 +0000

The Alamo fucking rocks!!! There is no better theater in the galaxy. And when is Quentin coming back? We are due for another of his fests :-D

By: Buddy Bradley

Buddy Bradley — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 22:53:00 +0000

Those are all fine films, but my favorite from that period was Time Bandits (1981). I never get tired of watching it.

From a completely non-nostalgic point of view, movies really were better back then because smaller budget films from independent studios could still get wide distribution. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe that’s the case today. I don’t think Time Bandits (which was a bit hit) could get made today on a decent budget and get on even 1,000 screens.

I don’t know when this period ended, but I still remember sex lies and videotape (1989) getting wide distribution. Not many small budget/independent films since then have broken through to the mainstream. Even Blair Witch Project, for all its hype, was shown in art house-type cinemas.

By: Sparg

Sparg — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 16:04:00 +0000

Ah, The Thing. Last movie I saw before going to basic training. I took my girlfriend to a nice, Italian restaurant for dinner, then to see this film. I wish I had not had the linguini before seeing the scene in the dog pen.

By: Woody Smith

Woody Smith — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 23:57:00 +0000

Am I really the only living person who minded the fact that the movie POLTERGEIST contains no poltergeists whatsoever? The filmmakers stopped the action and took time out to carefully explain to you the difference between a ghost and a poltergeist, to make SURE you knew they’d deliberately mistitled their film–and nobody minded the bait-and-switch! I still don’t get it. I paid my money to see people terrified by a real, plausible, well-documented (if little-understood) phenomenon–and instead I got a movie about people terrified by cartoon bullshit. I was pissed off–why wasn’t anyone else? And why are we even talking about a ghost story in a discussion of classic science fiction movies? The only thing science fictional about POLTERGEIST was the title, and it was a flat lie.

By: penguinchris

penguinchris — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 22:15:00 +0000

Not that there’s anything wrong with the original – it’s actually pretty great (and haunted my young mind for years when I saw it as a kid on tv) – but The Thing is one of the few remakes that is better than the original (and The Thing also haunted my young mind for years a few years after I saw the original when I caught just part of it on TV).

By: jimh

jimh — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 21:42:00 +0000

True enough. But if I only listened to what the critics said, I’d have missed some of my favorite films. And watched a lot of crap, too.

By: Derek C. F. Pegritz

Derek C. F. Pegritz — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 18:39:00 +0000

I was a tyke of nine. I begged my mom to take me to see Blade Runner and The Thing, but for *some* reason she wouldn’t take me to see Blade Runner…but she had no problem taking me to see The Thing. It was so gruesome it almost made her sick. :) Me? I just LOVED IT! I became instantly obsessed with the film, and now own all manner of memorabilia related to it. Talk about influencing an impressionable young mind!

By: vickytnz

vickytnz — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 18:25:00 +0000

“Look at this year’s sci-fi films. Then back to 1982. Now look at this year. Now back to 1982. Sadly, this year isn’t 1982….”

By: welcomeabored

welcomeabored — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 17:38:00 +0000

Tiptoeing around what you may mean by ‘watchable’… I would say both ‘The Last Starfighter’ (1984) and ‘Serenity’ (2005) were influenced by the vision of ‘Star Wars’; I consider those two films “watchable”. (I loved Robert Preston!) But Bladerunner was the more influential film — ‘The Fifth Element’ and ‘Gattaca’ to a name two films.

Also, though it was a sad story, visually ‘A.I.’ pretty much blew me away, as well as ‘I, Robot’. In terms of our vision of the future including our physical emergence with robots, and/or being aided by robots as separate entities, I think we’re seeing the vision of both Star Wars and Bladerunner.

By: unit_1421

unit_1421 — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 16:17:00 +0000

Jeff Bridges was clearly asleep on his feet, figuring this is just a dopey kids movie, so he phones in his performance, as does David Warner. It’s just a bad movie.

By: chgoliz

chgoliz — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 15:08:00 +0000

You didn’t like sci-fi in your 30′s?

By: chgoliz

chgoliz — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 15:05:00 +0000

Thank heavens I was living in Europe at the time. Missed everything. Never even wore leg warmers.

Although I did have a lot of big shoulder pads in my work clothes. How conveniently I forgot about that until now. /runs screaming from the room

By: oasisob1

oasisob1 — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 15:02:00 +0000

“know”.

By: Carol Waller

Carol Waller — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 14:36:00 +0000

Ditto the review of Blade Runner. And gee, waiting lightsyears for Trek II? Really? Did we have to wait parsecs too?

By: Just_Ok

Just_Ok — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 14:24:00 +0000

SpaceBalls!

By: zotlerg

zotlerg — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 13:35:00 +0000

Critics hated Blade Runner, most giving it ~2 out of 10. They still don’t like it but feel obliged to give it a higher score because of its massive influence on film and computer game culture.

By: Frederik

Frederik — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:07:00 +0000

The past seems better because you only remember the good and forget the bad. Lets not forget that Blade Runner flopped and that Tron is really more of a novelty then an actually good movie. It hasn’t aged well at all. And The Thing was a remake.

By: Scurra

Scurra — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 10:48:00 +0000

And, as William Goldman notes (in Adventures in the Screen Trade), Gunga Din. Not to mention Goodbye Mr Chips, although someone has indeed mentioned it. Definitely a good year (apart from that little business with Germany.)

By: euansmith

euansmith — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 10:48:00 +0000

“They’re heeeeere….”

I watched Plotergeist II first and so was expecting more of the same chills and humour when I finally got around to watching the first film… scared the pants of me…

By: euansmith

euansmith — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 10:44:00 +0000

AWOOOOOGA! AWOOOOOGA! Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Inbound! Brace for impact! AWOOOOOGA! AWOOOOOGA!

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 10:29:00 +0000

1940 wasn’t quite as great, but Rebecca, The Grapes Of Wrath, The Philadelphia Story and The Great Dictator are nothing to sneeze at, either. Then you fast forward a decade or three, and dodgy films like The Greatest Show On Earth and Oliver! were winning Best Picture Oscars.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 10:17:00 +0000

I was just projecting my own fantasies. Back then, I had a two-tone Mohawk and outfits that Michael Jackson would have rejected for being over the top.

By: Scott Elyard

Scott Elyard — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 09:53:00 +0000

1982 wasn’t bad, I must admit. Plus, just a year before came Clash of the Titans, which stuck with me my entire life as the only Harryhausen film I was able to see in the theater.

By: eldritch

eldritch — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 09:22:00 +0000

No, no! A purple mullet and an asymmetrical suit with shoulder pads!

By: daev

daev — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 09:04:00 +0000

I graduated high school that year. Went to see them all. Things actually were better then…

/age bias, I’ll be in the corner if anyone needs me…

By: Ashen Victor

Ashen Victor — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 08:25:00 +0000

I was one year old when all those movies came.
I totally soiled my pants.
I still soil them when I see one of those.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 07:48:00 +0000

I wouldn’t consider Star Wars to be influential. Blade Runner was a huge influence on the vision of the future in many other films, although BR itself is derivative of Metropolis. I don’t really see other filmmakers creating films that are influenced by Star Wars, at least not watchable films. Popularity isn’t the same as influence.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 07:42:00 +0000

Admit it. You’d really like to have an asymmetrical mullet and a purple suit with shoulder pads.

By: yupgiboy

yupgiboy — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 07:14:00 +0000

Blade Runner is the most influential science fiction movie in history? How about STAR WARS, METROPOLIS or 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY, just to name three? Furthermore, “influential” and “better than” are two completely different animals; the former being fact based and the latter, opinion based. Personally, I’ve never made it through BLADE RUNNER. I’ve tried several times since 1982, but I always become completely uninterested about 20 minutes in. Such a dreary film.