Movie Blog

This has been a week from hades, my job requires me to train all new employees in our department, this wouldn't be so bad if while training I wasn't required to also answer questions, consult with techs, act as a go between with other departments, do my boss's job, come home and build train sets, take out trash, pay bills and other various chores. Tonight my feelings got the best of me and when I tried to explain that I would like 5 minutes to do something for me, it was taken as me being selfish and wanting everyone to go to bed. It's been a Monday all week long and it is causing me to hate my job and resent co-workers, not to mention unwanted stress at home. Whew! glad I got that off my chest, on to tonight's movies!

Tonight's topic, top 5 John Hughes movies!
For those of you who don't know, John Hughes is a writer, director, producer of movies. His best period was the 80's, all ten years. His movies played as big a role shaping a generation as anything else. His best movies were aimed at the teen crowd which was right up my alley at the time. The theme was usually something to do with teen doesn't really fit in but desperately wants to and by the end of the movie they do. You either saw yourself, someone you knew or wanted to be someone in all of his movies. I cannot underscore the impact his movies had on my generation. Most of his films took place in the fictional Chicago suburb of Shermer Illinois. This guy was such an impact that he practically inspired Kevin Smith (Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back etc.) to be a director. In fact in the movie mentioned above, Jay and Silent Bob are trying to get to Shermer because "All of the girls there are hot". In the 90's he kind of flamed out making such forgettable movies as Baby's Day Out. Now, onto the list!

Honorable Mentions.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles
This movie starred John Candy and Steve Martin as two guys trying to get home from a business trip during the holidays, their paths keep crossing even though Martin's character can't stand Candy's character, it is funny from start to finish and barely missed the top five.
Favorite Scene - Steve Martin telling the rental car clerk that his car was not in it's spot. Very funny.

Some Kind Of Wonderful - Eric Stoltz, Lea Thomson and Mary Stuart Masterson
This is the typical Hughes movie, Artsy guy from wrong side of the tracks has a crush on Hot, Ultra Popular girl in school, while ignoring that his best friend who happens to be a girl has the hots for him. You're pulling for him to wake up and see that he doesn't really want the shallow hot girl. Does he? Rent it and find out.

Best line in the movie - Stoltz: "You can't judge a book by it's cover"
Masterson:"No, but you can tell how much it's going to cost."

Sixteen Candles - Molly Ringwald
Ringwald was a staple of John Hughes movies, she became part of the "Brat Pack" which was a group of young actors that appeared in most of Hughes movies. In this particular movie, it is her 16th birthday and her parents have forgotten due to the fact that her older sister is marrying a "Big greasy bohunk". She also has a crush on the most popular boy in school who doesn't know who she is AND is having to deal with a freshman geek who has a crush on her. Really I can't say more without giving this away. This was too chick flicky to make the top 5.

Favorite scene - Any of them that involve the foreign exchange student, he stole this movie

5. Weird Science - This was the first movie I ever recorded to VHS, I then watched it so many times that the tape wore out.
Two nerds create a hot girl on a souped up computer, she then does her best to turn them into popular cool kids by putting them in a series of situations designed to increase their confidence. I wanted this movie to happen to me so bad in real life it wasn't even funny. The hot girl is Kelly LeBrock who became famous for the makeup commercial in which she says the line "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful" This one line instantly enraged every 15 - 25 year old female on the planet causing them to scream obscenities at the TV. To this day when this line is played on shows like I Love The 80's, my wife immediately launches her "She was not good looking" campaign. Every guy that remembers that commercial and this movie will tell you every female was wrong. I still have a crush on her.
Favorite Scene - When the two nerds are drunk in a bar...classic.

4. Uncle Buck - John Candy

Candy plays the black sheep uncle who makes his living by betting on, well anything. He has a girlfriend he has been stringing along for years. Finally he is called to babysit the nieces and nephews while their mom and dad are out of town. It results in life lessons for both him and the kids. I wanted to pattern myself after him so that my nephews thought I was cool, but it's kind of hard to be a loser and be cool at the same time.

Favorite scene - When Buck has a parent teacher conference with his niece's elementary school teacher. Again, I wanted this to happen in real life.

3. Pretty in Pink - Molly Ringwald
Ringwald is a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, her dad gave up on life when her mom left him, and she has a knack for creating her own fashion designs. She falls for rich boy from the right side of the tracks and then both of their friends give them flack about dating each other. Ringwalds friend Duckie (Jon Cryer) became a hero of mine and I did my best to dress and act like him for a while, right down to the bolo tie. If those pictures get out I'm ruined...
This movie had a great sound track as did all of Hughes movies.

Favorite line - "Blaine?! That's not a name, it's a major appliance!"

2. Ferris Buellers Day Off - Matthew Broderick
Ferris is a hero to all kids in his school, he can cross all of the imaginary boundaries that kids put between each other, as the secretary says "they all think he's a righteous dude." Ferris decides to take the day off from school to treat his repressed best friend Cameron and Ferris's girlfriend to a day out in Chicago. Meanwhile the rumor has been circulating that Ferris is dying of some horrible unknown disease, the principle and Ferris's sister aren't buying the story and go about on separate paths to bust Ferris. Again, every kid wanted to be Ferris and have a day like this.
You also saw a lot of yourself or your friends in the other cast members, no one ever thought they were Ferris.

1. The Breakfast Club - a cast of many
This was an ensemble cast film, every member of the high school cliques are represented, the jocks, the princess, the nerds, the bad kids and the kids that didn't matter. A group of 5 kids get to spend a Saturday in detention. Over the course of 8 hours they learn that they are not that much different from each other, they all have fears and dreams and if it wasn't for their respective cliques, they maybe could be friends and do become friends for that day. The question is will they still be friends Monday when school life resumes... I very much wanted to be Judd Nelsons character Bender, the bad kid who hung out with other bad kids. In reality I was Brian, a nerd. This movie best represents things that Hughes did that made his movies so original, things like the kids in the didn't use the slang words that were common at the time but used words that became part of every kids vocabulary. Judd Nelson was almost fired from the film for getting a little too into his part and taking on the persona of Bender all of the time. Also look for things like the Most Likely to succeed photos and the license plate of Brian's parents car. Also, Brian's mother was the real life mother of Anthony Michael Hall who played Brian. This movie is considered the ultimate in the Teen Movie Genre and I don't have enough good things to say about it.

Favorite line - "Does Barry Manilow know you raid his wardrobe?"

So there you have it, I guess I could have titled this top 5 Teen movies but Hughes title seemed to fit a little better to me. Have a good weekend.