The Friday Five - August 31st

Continuing with the Friday Five series, today I will highlight

Five 80’s Films that are a Must See ( Without the Goonies )

1. Raising Arizona
2. The Road Warrior
3. Army of Darkness
4. Enemy Mine
5. Duel

Life changing list?  No, and I’m sure there are five better films out there, but these five just sprang to mind.  If you haven’t seen them, sign up for Netflix, rent them, and then cancel Netflix :P  And yes, I know that two of those movies weren’t even released in the 80’s, so sue me
1. Raising Arizona

The Coen brothers, God’s gracious gift to directing.  Along with Raising Arizona, they’re responsible for Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and a few other epic films.  Raising Arizona  is about an unlikely couple that finds that they can’t have kids.  Can’t have em? Well then, just steal one.

By far one some of the best dialog ever in a movie.

2. The Road Warrior

Mad Max fans will remember this one as the Mad Max with spoken parts, before Tina Turner appeared and ruined the franchise.  Mad Max + Gryocopter pilot + Gas tanker = awesome

3. The Army Of Darkness

Billed as the Evil Dead movie that stopped trying to be serious, it’s one of Sam Raimi’s  best works in my opinion.  Bruce Campbell is by far the best B Movie actor, and the horrid CGI effects and doubles make this movie worth it just for the comedy gold.  “Shop smart, shop S Mart.”

4. Enemy Mine

This movie will always be one of my personal favorites.  Dennis Quaid  stars as Davidge, a starfighter pilot that is shot down by an alien and crash lands on his planet.  The two learn to work together to survive, and even *gasp* attempt to become friends.

It’s a great movie, sci-fi enough to hold my nerd interests, but also ’soft’ enough to pull together a complex and moving storyline.  Also, Louis Gossett Jr plays the alien, and he’s just plain awesome.

5. Duel

Ok, so this movie was released in the early 70’s, but it’s still awesome.  Plus Army of Darkness was released in ‘93, so I had to find something to offset it

Duel is simply about a man being chased down by a semi-truck on the open desert road.  But, at the same time it’s more than that.  The storyline is shot and told by narrative, through the car, with plenty of close-ups on the lead character.  It almost plays out as a metaphorical battle between the commuter and what he views as the unrelenting, maniacal world.

Or, it could just be about a guy getting chased by a semi-truck.

Have a great weekend everyone, I’ll be back on Monday with a new post and announcement about a project I’ve been working on with teh Calvin.