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Critics Club III: Film of the Year 1986

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    Critics Club III: Film of the Year 1986

    Prepare for fall out this year or else Chernobyl fall off!


    1986





    Share your thoughts and memories of film in 1986
    94
    Black Moon Rising
    0%
    0
    The Adventures of the American Rabbit
    0%
    0
    The Clan of the Cave Bears
    0%
    0
    Platoon
    0%
    5
    Iron Eagle
    0%
    1
    Little Shop of Horrors
    0%
    2
    The Best of Times
    0%
    0
    Down and Out in Beverley Hills
    0%
    0
    King Kong Lives
    0%
    0
    Youngblood
    0%
    0
    F/X
    0%
    2
    The Delta Force
    0%
    0
    Three Amigos
    0%
    3
    TerrorVision
    0%
    1
    The Golden Child
    0%
    2
    Parting Glances
    0%
    0
    9 1/2 Weeks
    0%
    0
    The Hitcher
    0%
    1
    Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
    0%
    4
    Salvador
    0%
    0
    An American Tail
    0%
    0
    Highlander
    0%
    5
    Deadly Friend
    0%
    0
    Jumpin' Jack Flash
    0%
    3
    Police Academy 3: Back in Training
    0%
    1
    The Colour of Money
    0%
    3
    The Money Pit
    0%
    1
    Crocodile Dundee
    0%
    2
    Critters
    0%
    1
    Blue Velvet
    0%
    1
    The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
    0%
    0
    Short Circuit
    0%
    3
    Stand By Me
    0%
    3
    Top Gun
    0%
    4
    Crawlspace
    0%
    0
    Cobra
    0%
    1
    Poltergeist II: The Other Side
    0%
    0
    Invaders From Mars
    0%
    0
    Manhunter
    0%
    1
    Raw Deal
    0%
    1
    Ferris Bueller's Day Off
    0%
    3
    The Manhattan Project
    0%
    0
    Mona Lisa
    0%
    0
    The Karate Kid Part II
    0%
    0
    Labyrinth
    0%
    3
    Running Scared
    0%
    0
    Big Trouble in Little China
    0%
    7
    The Great Mouse Detective
    0%
    0
    Psycho III
    0%
    0
    Club Paradise
    0%
    0
    Aliens
    0%
    11
    Haunted Honeymoon
    0%
    0
    The Fly
    0%
    7
    Maximum Overdrive
    0%
    1
    Robotech: The Movie
    0%
    0
    Nothing in Common
    0%
    0
    Flight of the Navigator
    0%
    4
    Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
    0%
    1
    Howard the Duck
    0%
    0
    Transformers: The Movie
    0%
    6

    #2
    Top Gun is clearly the greatest film ever made in this list - it has something for everyone: action, love story, classic dialogue, Kawasaki GPz 900, awesome soundtrack, volleyball, jet aircraft, tragedy, oil, comedy, stern yet humble commanders. It's a movie classic that will remain untarnished even if Top Gun 2 is awful.

    Stupid Aliens spoiling the voting.

    Comment


      #3
      I feel Hot Shots is a better way to watch Top Gun.

      I didn't tick a huge amount this time. I went for Aliens, obviously. And The Fly which is a horror classic now. Star Trek the Voyage Home, which is the most accessible and one of the most entertaining Trek films (and has no bad guy). And also Friday the 13th Part VI, which is my favourite Friday - it turns Jason into an actual zombie and it's a load of fun.

      Comment


        #4
        There's a lot I like in the list though, half of which I ticked. But yeah, Aliens is the king here, a classic example of wanting a sequel that was actually more of the same and never getting it too.

        Comment


          #5
          That's actually a weird list because there are a load of kids films I enjoyed at the time and films I discovered later when I was older.
          Transformers, Labyrinth and Flight of the Navigator being on the former list, Aliens, The Fly and Maximum Overdrive on the latter.

          There's a bunch I don't remember seeing:
          Black Moon Rising; The Adventures of the American Rabbit; The Clan of the Cave Bears; The Best of Times; Down and Out in Beverley Hills; King Kong Lives; Youngblood; The Delta Force; Parting Glances; The Hitcher; Salvador; An American Tail; Deadly Friend; The Colour of Money; The Money Pit; Critters; Blue Velvet; The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2; Crawlspace; Poltergeist II: The Other Side; Invaders From Mars; The Manhattan Project; Mona Lisa; Running Scared; The Great Mouse Detective; Psycho III; Club Paradise; Haunted Honeymoon; Robotech: The Movie; Nothing in Common.

          There are a bunch I've seen, but either wasn't impressed or a bit young to fully appreciate them:
          Iron Eagle; Little Shop of Horrors; 9 1/2 Weeks; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; Top Gun; Cobra; Manhunter; Raw Deal; The Karate Kid Part II; Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives; Howard the Duck.

          So the ones on my list are:
          Platoon
          In comparison to Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket, this was a more straightforward story that I enjoyed more at the time, despite getting more from FMJ nowadays. I think it's because it's so quotable and teens love that.

          F/X
          "Murder by illusion"
          Thought this was ace as a kid. Quite a clever idea to have an SFX guy using his skills on the run.
          This wouldn't work these days as an SFX guy would dress in a green morph suit with ping pong balls on it.

          Three Amigos
          I've not seen this in years. Does it still hold up? I think it rests on the leads, rather than the content.
          I think I can still do their Macarenaesque moves.

          TerrorVision
          One of those video nasties that you were scared to watch, but was actually pretty poor when you watch it.
          It's notoriety gets it onto my list.

          The Golden Child
          "Say I, I I I I, want the knife"
          Another film that really clicked when I was younger. How ace was Eddie Murphy in this. Even wearing that ridiculous hat.
          The whole sequence where he has to pass the challenges with a glass of water was brilliant.

          Highlander
          I've never thought this was as ace as its reputation would suggest, but it's definitely a must-see for sci-fi and fantasy fans, happily straddling both genres.

          Jumpin' Jack Flash
          Another crap film that clicked as a kid because of the excellent lead.

          Police Academy 3: Back in Training
          I can't honestly remember which of these this one is. Hasn't Guttenburg left and the secondary actors now become the stars?

          Crocodile Dundee
          This is awful watching with modern eyes. He's a horrible person and a bit of a caveman if this was made today, but at the time, it had some great moments like "That's not a knife..." the hypnotising buffalo thing and climbing across the crowd to his loved one.
          Didn't he marry the lead actress?

          Short Circuit
          Another one that is awkward upon modern rewatching because, as a kid, I had no idea Ben was played by a white guy (Fisher Stevens) in brown face makeup.
          I think it's a shame to take that away, as it's actually a sweet film and the animatronics are amazing, seeing Johnny 5 as a real character.
          I do think this film and the sequel blur into one in my mind, though.

          Stand By Me
          King's "Different Seasons" featured both The Body and Shawshank Redemption and have both made excellent transitions into films. One of the things that struck me with this is the final moments where the narrator explains the fate of the characters. It packs an emotional punch to hear about what happens to the boys we've just spent a couple of hours getting to know. Amazing song too.

          Ferris Bueller's Day Off
          It's okay and has its moments, but another one not as amazing as its reputation would suggest, for me.

          Labyrinth
          This is ace. Anyone seen this recently with their kids? Does it still hold up as I thought it was great, growing up.

          Big Trouble in Little China
          Amazing. Carpenter ahead of the curve, as usual. American audiences didn't click at the time with the American lead being an idiot, overshadowed by his Chinese counterparts.
          Wire-fu yeeeears before Hollywood properly embraced it.
          Endlessly quotable and enjoyable - it's a classic.

          Aliens
          One of my favourite films, despite at time vowing never to see such a scary film.
          It's up there with Die Hard as an example of how action films should be.

          The Fly
          Man, this was so harsh with all the body horror. Arms snapping, teeth falling out, dicks falling off, stomach acid melting hands and people merging all over the shop. Amazing!

          Maximum Overdrive
          This is a less successful King adaptation, but is a blast to watch.
          I still think about it every so often.

          Flight of the Navigator
          "Take me a mile away from here!"
          Another great feel-good film for kids.

          Transformers: The Movie
          Didn't get it first time around, but seen it recently and really enjoyed it, despite killing off loads of my fave character and shoe-horning in new ones that didn't transform into Earth vehicles, which stopped them being "robots in disguise".

          Fave film from the list is easily Aliens, but Big Trouble isn't far behind.

          Comment


            #6
            I'll look at this properly later, but this year does contain the most overrated film of all time - Top Gun. It's just bad!

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by wakka View Post
              I'll look at this properly later, but this year does contain the most overrated film of all time - Top Gun. It's just bad!
              BLASPHEMY!

              Comment


                #8
                Throughout most of my adult life my fave would have been Aliens, but Stand By Me resonates more now ...

                Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post
                One of the things that struck me with this is the final moments where the narrator explains the fate of the characters. It packs an emotional punch to hear about what happens to the boys we've just spent a couple of hours getting to know.
                ... totally this. The 'Jesus, does anybody?' line gets me every time. Amazing film.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Transformers the movie

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post

                    There's a bunch I don't remember seeing:
                    Black Moon Rising; The Adventures of the American Rabbit; The Clan of the Cave Bears; The Best of Times; Down and Out in Beverley Hills; King Kong Lives; Youngblood; The Delta Force; Parting Glances; The Hitcher; Salvador; An American Tail; Deadly Friend; The Colour of Money; The Money Pit; Critters; Blue Velvet; The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2; Crawlspace; Poltergeist II: The Other Side; Invaders From Mars; The Manhattan Project; Mona Lisa; Running Scared; The Great Mouse Detective; Psycho III; Club Paradise; Haunted Honeymoon; Robotech: The Movie; Nothing in Common.
                    I haven't seen Black Moon Rising but it seems like one to catch up on as it's another John Carpenter entry. I've seen The Hitcher but it was so long ago that everything but the ending is a bit of a haze, another one I feel where Rutger Haeur is the hook that keeps the viewer engaged. An American Tail is probably the only real Don Bluth animated film that fully holds together, possibly due to Spielbergs involvement. I recall The Money Pit being okay, it's very much your typical 80's era Hanks comedy. Haunted Honeymoon is another I'd like to see again having not seen it for an insane amount of time. Much of it remains vague but it was very much Wilder's project. He wrote it, starred in it and directed it and was married to Radner at the time as well. It was panned and quite possibly is awful but at the same time seems exactly the kind of film simply to watch Wilder go all out.


                    Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post
                    There are a bunch I've seen, but either wasn't impressed or a bit young to fully appreciate them:
                    Iron Eagle; Little Shop of Horrors; 9 1/2 Weeks; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; Top Gun; Cobra; Manhunter; Raw Deal; The Karate Kid Part II; Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives; Howard the Duck.
                    I can watch them and enjoy them to a certain level but yeah Star Trek IV, Cobra, Karate Kid II and Top Gun are all on the weak end of the scale despite being recognisable names or even appreciated by others. Little Shop of Horrors though, it's an awkward one in some ways but I have fond memories of that one.

                    Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post
                    Three Amigos
                    I've not seen this in years. Does it still hold up? I think it rests on the leads, rather than the content.
                    I think I can still do their Macarenaesque moves.
                    If I'm being completely honest, no, not really. Like you say, the material isn't the best and it's the leads that carry it pretty much the entire way but the last time I saw it I still enjoyed it pretty much exactly for that reason. This scene is still gold though:






                    Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post
                    Jumpin' Jack Flash
                    Another crap film that clicked as a kid because of the excellent lead.
                    Another one I've got a big soft spot for, I feel like I saw this quite a lot as a kid for some reason which is an odd one for a child to have watched more than once but it's another where Whoopie carries this. Despite it almost entirely only having his voice it's still the very first thing that comes to my mind anytime I see Jonathan Price appear in something.

                    Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post
                    Labyrinth
                    This is ace. Anyone seen this recently with their kids? Does it still hold up as I thought it was great, growing up.
                    Ours are too young I think, it's not so much the content but more the pacing that would put them off. I feel like at least half my appreciation of Bowie comes from this film alone.

                    Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post
                    Police Academy 3: Back in Training
                    I can't honestly remember which of these this one is. Hasn't Guttenburg left and the secondary actors now become the stars?
                    Guttenburg was still in this one (4 was his last) but from this point they geared the films towards being family targeted so the humour got dumbed down. This one got bad reviews but I always loved it due to one factor and that's Bobcat now being a trainee and terrorising his roommate.



                    Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post
                    Crocodile Dundee
                    This is awful watching with modern eyes. He's a horrible person and a bit of a caveman if this was made today, but at the time, it had some great moments like "That's not a knife..." the hypnotising buffalo thing and climbing across the crowd to his loved one.
                    Didn't he marry the lead actress?
                    Yep, they divorced at some point later though. We saw some of this on TV the other night and it's so distracting as to how little acting Paul Hogan is actually doing, ironically it's a terrible advert for Australia


                    Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post
                    Short Circuit
                    Another one that is awkward upon modern rewatching because, as a kid, I had no idea Ben was played by a white guy (Fisher Stevens) in brown face makeup.
                    I think it's a shame to take that away, as it's actually a sweet film and the animatronics are amazing, seeing Johnny 5 as a real character.
                    I do think this film and the sequel blur into one in my mind, though.
                    I know, it's a painful factor of this and the sequel. That aspect aside though I like this film and loved the second one as a kid, it killed Child-Me that they never got the third film together. Though Wall-e very much ripped the character off to a fair extent it showed that the concept still works well and I'd happily see a revival of this one.



                    Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post
                    Flight of the Navigator
                    "Take me a mile away from here!"
                    Another great feel-good film for kids.
                    I remember enjoying this as a kid but I'm very hazy on it these days, I remember lots of silver in it but I need to revisit this one.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Great post, thanks!
                      You've helped me fill in a few blanks there.
                      I was pretty sure it was Police Academy 2 where Bobcat is the bad guy, then 3 he joins the academy, which was a great idea, such a crazy character and he's bizarrely likeable!

                      Mediocre: Iron Eagle; Little Shop of Horrors; 9 1/2 Weeks; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; Top Gun; Cobra; Manhunter; Raw Deal; The Karate Kid Part II; Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives and Howard the Duck are all worth seeing, but weren't worth a tick in the poll, for me.

                      I've wanted to watch Bad Moon Rising for a while - isn't it a Carpenter story featuring a futuristic car starring Tommy Lee Jones and Sarah Connor (without Googling!)?

                      I want to show my son the Star Wars films, but I'm painfully aware that he's going to get more enjoyment from Phantom Menace's jumped up toy commercial, rather than the plodding of A New Hope.
                      Likewise, films I loved as a kid don't always engage modern young audiences as much, used to minions farting, but also I think our memories cloud how good some of these films are.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post
                        I want to show my son the Star Wars films, but I'm painfully aware that he's going to get more enjoyment from Phantom Menace's jumped up toy commercial, rather than the plodding of A New Hope.
                        You can't blame him. Any kid would go wild for council scenes debating the gripping trade taxation plotlines.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Without googling I want to say yes but I think all my knowledge of it comes from a reference from watching a Carpenter retrospective relating to the Halloween films. I don't think I'd heard of it before then.

                          I've got a raft of films I want the kids to see but, and then may well catch them before I can show them, I've held stuff back because it'd be a shame for them not to see them at an age where they carry some of that first time viewing impact. I think we've lost that already with Ghostbusters but I'm keeping Indy etc secret from them

                          Comment


                            #14

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Aaaargghhh! How do I choose between Transformers: The Movie and Highlander? Both have amazing soundtracks and nonsensical plots but are great entertainment. I still enjoy watching them both to this day.
                              Think I'll pick Highlander as the theme of a basically immortal guy who loses everyone he's ever loved is more up my street.
                              Still have to wonder if Arcee is the only female Autobot and why she is a she?

                              Comment

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