1980’s

[8] Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton star in this stage musical adaptation (based on a true story) about a bordello madam and a county sheriff who fight a tabloid television reporter’s campaign to close a legendary Texas whorehouse called the Chicken Ranch. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a bawdy good time, with charming performances from Parton and Reynolds, fun musical numbers, and comic …

[3] Rival breakdancing teams the Delivery Boys and the Devil Dogs plan to compete under the Brooklyn Bridge, but on the day of the show, three of the Boys are missing in action. Turns out the leader of the Dogs has tricked their pizza parlor boss into sending them on sticky assignments. One boy is held captive by a lusty rich girl, another becomes a …

[5] A young ski champion (Patrick Houser) picks up a hitchhiking runaway (Tracy Smith) on his way to a competition where the two fall in love and participate in pranks with the rival Austrian team. It’d be easy to dismiss Hot Dog as just another teen sex comedy, and while it certainly delivers more than its fair share of boobs, sex, and beautiful bods, it’s …

[5] Nicolas Cage stars as a publishing executive who thinks he’s becoming a vampire. To his credit, he was bitten by a vampire (Flashdance‘s Jennifer Beals)… or did he imagine that? Either way, Cage begins wearing dark shades, avoiding sunlight, sleeping under an overturned leather couch, eating cockroaches, and devouring pigeons. And if you think he’s hard on the cockroaches and pigeons, wait til you …

[4] Ten years before he picked up Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, Richard Gere played a ho himself in American Gigolo. As a male ‘chauffeur’, Gere’s plenty pretty to look at, aided by an array of Armani suits and moody cinematography by John Bailey. He even gives us a sustained full-frontal shot. But the fantasy fulfillment element of American Gigolo quickly dissolves into a tedious, …

[5] C. Thomas Howell (The Hitcher) headlines this politically incorrect comedy about a teen who overdoses on tanning pills to appear black, so he can win a full scholarship to Harvard law school. While hiding his identity from a love interest (Rae Dawn Chong) and a professor (James Earl Jones) who comes to think highly of him, Howell’s character experiences racism first-hand and comes to …

[7] A filthy rich, alcoholic man-boy is threatened with disinheritance if he doesn’t immediately marry a well-to-do woman his family has approved for him. Trouble is, the flyboy suddenly finds himself infatuated with a lower-class shoplifter. Will true love triumph over the all-mighty dollar? Arthur, written and directed by Steve Gordon, is a welcome, class-oriented throwback to screwball comedies of the ’30s and ’40s. It’s …

[7] After a confrontation with bullies leads to attempted rape and gunfire, Helen Slater (Supergirl) hits the road with her brother (Christian Slater) and a pair of friends (Yeardley Smith and Martha Gehman). They dodge the police and profess their innocence to the press while Slater tries to find a way to resolve the escalating conflict before someone gets hurt. In the meantime, word-of-mouth and …

[6] Lillian Gish and Bette Davis play aged sisters living in an old house on the coast of Maine. The sisters are civil, but disagreements light up over the subject of change. Gish’s character still has a lust for life and welcomes new neighbors and new ideas, while Davis’ character, blind and in need of care, resents visitors and change. The sisters contemplate whether or …

[7] Writer/director Richard Lowenstein takes us inside the lives of a Melbourne punk band called Dogs in Space, living in a run-down house full of misfits, pissing off their neighbors with their late-night partying, and doing hard drugs between gigs. There’s not much by way of structured narrative here — but Lowenstein succeeds in creating a memorable, voyeuristic look into a subculture that’s equal parts …

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