’80s Movies: A Guide to What’s Wrong with Your Parents podcast
Beverly Hills Cop was the No. 1 movie in 1984, a year that many consider one of cinema’s best. As Detroit police detective Axel Foley (a role originally written for white actors Mickey Rouke and then Sylvester Stallone), Eddie Murphy made headway for black authority figures as lead characters — a huge step toward positive…
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Listen and subscribe on iTunes and Stitcher. Top Gun is an iconic ’80s action classic, a blockbuster that’s beloved, and a Tony Scott treasure that has been selected for preservation by the the National Film Registry becomes of its significance. And while it’s a great film, the hypermasculinity sent some suffocating messages to ’80s boys.…
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American Film Institute lists Airplane! (1980) as one of the Top 10 Funniest Movies of All Time, and any Gen X’r would agree with that. Gen Z, not so much. In this episode, 19-year-old Riley Roberts explains why the David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams classic comedy isn’t funny to her generation, and explains…
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Police Academy (1984) was both a product and ahead of its time. Film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, examine the ensemble comedy through the modern lens to identify how it actually overcomes stereotypes while still falling into the same old traps when it comes to portraying women.
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Based on the popular Parker Brothers game for kid 8 and up, Clue is a shocker of a family film: nearly all of its characters are defined by their sexual transgressions. In this episode of “’80s Movies: A Guide to What’s Wrong with Your Parents” podcast, film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts,…
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Weird Science (1985) marks the halfway point in John Hughes’ domination of the teen film in the ’80s. The film seems to be trying to put a stop to films where women were only seen as sex objects, but he misses the mark. In this teen sex comedy, two horny high schoolers Frankenbuild the “perfect woman”… to…
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’80s Movies: A Guide to What’s Wrong with Your Parents podcast examines the impact of FLASHDANCE (1983).
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The summer of 1980, movie critics and audiences were aghast that teen icon Brooke Shields was once again being depicted as the ultimate object of sexual desire in The Blue Lagoon. Despite the criticism, director Randal Kleiser’s follow up to Grease was a box office smash. The young model-actress’ prepubescent virginal sexuality was a constant…
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Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future (1985) is perhaps the ultimate ’80s movie: it’s so ’80s yet so timeless — and its so disturbing, in retrospect. In the “’80s Movies: A Guide to What’s Wrong with Your Parents” podcast, Tara McNamara (Gen X) and Riley Roberts (Gen Z) look back at what makes the Michael…
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The ’70s and early ’80s saw a decrease in police-involved deaths, but starting in 1988, use of lethal force was on the rise. What happened? Lethal Weapon. On this episode of “’80s Movies: A Guide to What’s Wrong with Your Parents,” Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look back at how one bad-ass blockbuster proved to police…
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