1980’s

[6] On a continental flight from Los Angeles to Chicago, everyone who ate the fish dinner becomes gravely ill, including the entire cockpit crew. It’s up to a traumatized war pilot (Robert Hays) and a bumbling ground team (including Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges) to bring the imperiled flight to a safe landing. That’s the scenario behind this goofy comedy from writer/directors Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, …

[6] A group of teens crash a boat on a small island where they’re terrorized by a deformed giant, the product of a rape whose isolationist mother taught him to fear the outside world. Humongous borrows heavily from Friday the 13th and other horror touchstones, but director Paul Lynch (Prom Night) manages to make the storytelling feel somewhat fresh through surprisingly good staging and camera …

[8] William Hurt (Oscar-winner for Kiss of the Spider Woman) stars in this adaptation of Anne Tyler’s novel about a travel guide writer whose marriage crumbles after the death of his son. While recovering from a broken leg at the home of his sister and two brothers, he develops a relationship with an odd dog trainer, played by Geena Davis (The Fly). As he begins …

[7] The five tenants of an old building in New York are threatened by a land developer demolishing buildings all around them. Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy star as an elderly couple trying to keep the building’s storefront cafĂ© in business. Elizabeth Pena plays an expectant mother, Frank McRae plays a mute boxer-turned-handyman, and Dennis Boutsikaris plays a struggling artist. Just when all these characters …

[4] Christopher Atkins (The Blue Lagoon) and Lesley Ann Warren (Clue) star in this incredibly unfocused drama about a young community college teacher who enters into an affair with a handsome student failing her class. The tawdriness begins when she catches the student stripping at an all male-revue. He gives her a lap-dance and it’s all downhill from there. In curious subplots, we see the …

[5] Jason Voorhees is back, and this time he’s stabbing in three dimensions. For the third installment of the Friday the 13th franchise, Paramount Pictures added the gimmick of 3D to attract young horror fans. But even if you don’t watch it in 3D, all the pitchforks, arrows, yo-yos, and eyeballs that pop toward the camera lens still have their cheesy charm. The story’s not …

[5] Writer/director Savage Steve Holland reteams with John Cusack for another absurd comedy in the vein of Better Off Dead. This time, Cusack heads to Nantucket island after graduating from high school. Once there, he and his friends come to the aid of a struggling singer (Demi Moore) whose family home is targeted by a nefarious land developer. One Crazy Summer lacks the high concept …

[7] Kathleen Turner stars as a divorcee-to-be who passes out at her twenty-five-year high school reunion. When she wakes up, she’s transported back to 1960 in the body of her teenaged self. Unsure how she got there or if she’ll ever get back, she takes the opportunity to live her life differently while cherishing the things she took for granted. But will she still marry …

[7] Sissy Spacek took home the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Loretta Lynn in this dramatization of the country singer’s rags to riches story. Tommy Lee Jones co-stars as her husband ‘Mooney’, who encouraged her to pick up the guitar, sing, and produce records. Their relationship, warts and all, is the heart of the film. It’s tested through poverty, young marriage, several children, …

[4] Martin Sheen (Badlands) stars in this dark thriller about a black magic cult practicing child sacrifices in New York City. Sheen’s a single father and police therapist who gets drawn into the case when a police officer (Jimmy Smits) become the prime suspect. The truth turns out to be more disturbing, especially when the cult targets Sheen’s own son (Harley Cross). To be fair, …

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