August 7, 2009

• john hughes!  awwwww, man.  that sucks.  i mean i won’t say that his previously living form was doing anything for me lately that his death brought a sudden end to.  but i have to show at least some affection for possibly the only person in movie history that wrote movies about teenagers that didn’t talk down to said teenagers.  as a teenager in the 80s, i totally appreciated that.  plus, i’m not sure a single filmmaker captured the 80s, at least my 80s, like john hughes did. 

  i think i’ve done this before, but for nostalgia’s sake i’m going to run through my list of favorite john hughes films in descending order of preference.

  
  1.  Some Kind of Wonderful – hughes wrote but did not direct this.  such a sweet story, with detestable villains, a princess in waiting, and a kick ass awesome soundtrack. 
  most memorable scene: Keith and Watts fighting in the club when Watts ends it with “the only thing i care about in this world are me, my drums…  and you.”  the song Turn to the Sky was playing in the background.  great song.

  
  2.  The Breakfast Club – all you young bucks out there, watch and learn.  this is our 1980s (minus people of color). 
  most memorable scene: it’s hard to pick one scene since so many characters were given equal weight and had different great moments, but one definite memorable scene for me was Ally Sheedy emptying out her bag and mashing all these different bits of weirdness between two pieces of bread and eating it for lunch while everyone else watched in horror.

  
  3.  Sixteen Candles – this movie gave us Long Duck Dong and permanently unraveled any cultural and social good for the Asian American community that one thousand Bruce Lees could have accomplished.  but still, i have to love this cute story about the “diamond in the rough” getting what she wants.
  most memorable scene: i think this is pretty predictable.  the wedding. Sam is standing alone at the top of the church stairs.  If You Were Here by the Thompson Twins is playing when the limo pulls away to reveal…  Jake and his Porsche waiting for her.  to this day i’m not sure which of those two the girls wanted more.  between Risky Business and this movie, Porsche seems to have become the symbol of style and success for people in my generation. 

  
  4.  Pretty in Pink – there seems to be a very minor stink about Andy (molly ringwald) ending up with Blane (andrew mccarthy).  i say fuck that noise.  for starters, she didn’t want Ducky.  and in the end if Andy doesn’t pick Blane then there’s really no heroic sacrifice that Ducky must endure, which, imo, was one of the only redeeming qualities about that annoying guy.  he sucked it up, stfu, and let her get what she wanted. 
  most memorable scene: i can’t remember.  this is the one i’ve seen the least.  i remember little bits like her making a dress pattern and making her own prom dress, or the record store owner shooting staples at a shoplifter but those don’t really count, right?  i remember the icky feeling of james spader being a complete douchebag.  i dunno.  what’s your most memorable scene from this?

  
  5.  Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – did you know that location they used for Cameron’s house just went up for sale?  it also includes the glass house that the ferrari was in.  i also read an interesting piece somewhere hypothesizing that the whole movie was actually Cameron’s imagination.
  most memorable scene:  Rooney on the phone talking shit to Cameron, who is pretending to be Sloane’s dad, because he suspects that Cameron is actually Ferris.  until Ferris actually calls on the other line and Rooney realizes his grave mistake and has to run around trying to kiss Cameron’s ass.  goodness.  that wasn’t explained very well.  well if you didn’t understand, i’ll take it that you never saw the film, and i have no time to explain elementary stuff to a commie bastard like yourself. 

  • 9:58 am
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