Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Alien) directs this lavishly mounted fantasy film that’s high on style but low on action. The sets are jaw-dropping, whether it’s the huge, scintillating fairy forest or the fiery underground dungeons of hell. Makeup artist Rob Bottin (The Howling, The Thing) showcases some spectacular Oscar-nominated work. Just look at Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show‘s Dr. Frank-N-Furter) as Darkness, in his head-to-toe prosthetic makeup, red skin, cloven hooves, and immense black horns. It’s one of the most breathtaking achievements in the history of movie makeup.
Writer/director John Hughes had more box office hits than you can shake a stick at, and while many of them were fun and irreverent fare (like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off or Weird Science), one sticks out above the crowd — his crowning achievement: The Breakfast Club. It’s a low-concept, small-scale production — practically a filmed stage play — about five disparate teenagers who suffer Saturday detention together. There’s the jock (Emilio Estevez), the princess (Molly Ringwald), the nerd (Anthony Michael Hall), the bad boy (Judd Nelson), and the weirdo (Ally Sheedy) — all kids who would never spend one minute of time together under any other circumstances. But tossed together in their school library under the watch of their vindictive principal (Paul Gleason), they are forced to get to know one another.
