’80s Movies: A Guide to What’s Wrong with Your Parents podcast
Before John Hughes, a movie couldn’t be made that was just about who was going to take a girl to prom. But with a high school divided into the haves and have nots, Hughes was able to make a love story of Romeo and Juliet proportions. The relationshp was bigger than working-class Andie and Yuppie son Blane:…
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When you’re looking to explain the 1980s, look to Risky Business. Teens were attracted to the Paul Brickman comedy by the music video featuring Tom Cruise dancing in his underpants. Running constantly on MTV, teens watched and rewatched the “Old Time Rock n’ Roll” music video and its resonant clips of a line of beautiful prostitutes walking into Joel’s house,…
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Modern Problems (1981) is the weirdest, off the rails, PG-rated Christmas hit. It’s biggest problem was turning a raunchy mature R-film into a PG one so that it could be released on Christmas Day. Families flocked to to the theater to see a story about an air traffic controller with jealousy issues with scenes featuring a male ballet…
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Pour yourself a cup of ambition, it’s the 40th Anniversary of 9 to 5! Wonderfully executed as a broad office buddy comedy, 9 to 5 made a definitive impact in creating empathy and understanding for women in the workplace. Film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look back at the 1980…
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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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