For 2020 over at World Geekly News, we’ve given ourselves the challenge of watching and writing about 50 of the most iconic movies from the 1980s. For me, rather than just do straight-up reviews, this was an opportunity to write mostly nostalgic pieces. In many of them, I share my memories of seeing those era-defining movies for the first time, as well as a few tidbits of information from behind the scenes. In a few, I have re-evaluated the film from a modern perspective, and on the very odd occasion, I hadn’t seen the film before, so share my thoughts as a newcomer.
My pieces for this series are, in part, inspired by the book Wiffle Lever to Full in which author, radio presenter and all-round jolly good chap Bob Fischer tells the story of his Geek’s Journey, partly through his childhood memories of films and TV shows he loved growing up in the 70s and 80s, and partly through his challenge to attend as many science-fiction and fantasy conventions as he can in one year. Reading that book made me realise that people might actually be interested in my own stories.
You can view the World Geekly News team’s collection of pieces in The 80s Movie Challenge here, but these, below, are the ones written by me:
- 9 To 5 (1980)
- The Blues Brothers (1980)
- The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (Joint article with Louis Thelier)
- Chariots Of Fire (1981)
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
- First Blood (1982)
- E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
- Tootsie (1982)
- This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
- The Terminator (1984) (Joint article with Andee Dee)
- Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
- Ghostbusters (1984)
- Aliens (1986)
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
- Crocodile Dundee (1986)
- Top Gun (1986)
- Robocop (1987)
- Dirty Dancing (1987)
- The Lost Boys (1987)
- Lethal Weapon (1987)
- Big (1988)
- Die Hard (1988)
- A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
- Do The Right Thing (1989) – A special #BlackLivesMatter post
- When Harry Met Sally… (1989)