Monday, June 30, 2014

1985: A Special Year At The Cinema

It's hard to believe 1985 was nearly 30 years ago. I can remember it as vividly as yesterday. Many, many awesome movies were released that year. I look at the movies thus far released this year and in 1985 and I see such a huge difference I'm quality and originality. It seems like many of those 85 films were classics, trendsetters and must-haves.

Director-wise, it seemed Stephen Spielberg, Robert Zemekis and John Hughes were the big winners. Actor wise, that nod goes to Michael J. Fox,,Sylvester Stallone, and the "brat pack", including Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy. You had the classics such as Back to the Future (the highest grossing film of the year), and Teen Wolf, both starting Fox. You also had The Goonies, The Color Purple, and the two John Hughes's classics, The Breakfast Club and Weird Science.

Sequels were of course part of the year and seemed to be better then. Rocky IV came at an important time, during the US's Cold War with Russia. There was also Rambo (First Blood Part II), both movies starring Stallone..There were also sequels of horror tales Nightmare On Elm Street and Friday the 13th. Comedies such as Police Academy, National Lampoon's Vacation and Porkys also were given encores during this illustrious year.

Other movies of note that released were Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird,  St. Elmo's Fire, Mad Max, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Cocoon, Out Of Africa (which won Best Picture), Brewster's Millions, Commando, Krush Groove, and The Last Dragon.

It is without question this particular year raised the bar in cinema and really put actors, writers and directors on notice. This was also around the time movie rentals became popular, meaning you could rent or buy a movie on VHS and watch it over and over.

The times had changed, and nearly 30 years later, the industry evolves. It is watered down by lack of creativity, over saturation of acting jobs, and big name actors turning down major roles. Here's to 1985, one of the great years where actors truly loved to act and showed their passion well.

What was your favorite movie from 1985?  Did I omit a movie from this year that you enjoyed?

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