March 3, 1985
Shauna: Every Man’s Fantasy (1985) ***
Seriously weird porn documentary allegedly paying an homage to Shauna Grant, a porn star who committed suicide, but actually insulting her repeatedly.
February 2, 1985
Agnes Of God (1985) **
Anne Bancroft gives a superb performance as a Mother Superior in a Quebec convent where a young nun (Meg Tilly) has strangled her newborn baby.
A View To A Kill (1985) **
A fairly memorable Bond villain (Christopher Walken) and some spectacular stunts fail to redeem this otherwise boring and uneven movie. Roger Moore's last, and worst, 007 film.
January 1, 1985
Crimewave (1985) *
This is a very lousy film, even though it was written by the Coen Brothers and directed by Sam Raimi.
December 12, 1984
Top 10 Films of 1984
1. ''The Terminator'' (James Cameron, USA)
5. "Broadway Danny Rose" (Woody Allen, USA)
6. "Stranger Than Paradise" (Jim Jarmusch, USA)
7. ''Once Upon A Time In America'' (Sergio Leone, USA)
9. "A Passage To India" (David Lean, UK)
10. "Romancing The Stone" (Robert Zemeckis, USA)
Other great films:
The Karate Kid
Kids From Shaolin (China)
1. "J'ai faim j'ai froid" (Chantal Akerman, France)
2. "Le Voleur vit en enfer" (Robert Morin, Lorraine Dufour, Canada)
3. "Recollections Of Pavlovsk" (Irina Kalinina, Soviet Union)
Other great shorts:
After Hours (Australia)
The Painted Door (Canada)
Top 3 Music Videos:
1. "You Might Think" (Jeff Stein, The Cars)
2. "Hello Again" (Andy Warhol, The Cars)
Top Commercial:
"1984" (Ridley Scott, Apple)
Other great commercials:
Morning In America
TV Top 3:
1. "Miami Vice: Brother's Keeper" (Thomas Carter, NBC)
2. "Miami Vice: Calderone's Return" (Richard A. Colla, Paul Michael Glaser, NBC)
3. "Family Ties: 4 Rms Ocn Vu" (Lee Shallat, NBC)
Other great TV shows:
Cartoon Top 3:
1. "Jumping" (Osamu Tezuka, Japan)
2. "Charade" (Jon Minnis, Canada)
3. "Doctor DeSoto" (Michael, Sporn, USA)
Other great cartoons:
Anijam
Bitz Butz (Israel)
Blackberry Subway Jam (Canada)
Gravity (Hungary)
Hopla Badigeonneurs (Soviet Union)
2. ''Amadeus'' (Milos Forman, USA)
3. "Paris, Texas" (Wim Wenders, USA)
4. "The Wannsee Conference" (Heinz Schirk, Germany)
5. "Broadway Danny Rose" (Woody Allen, USA)
6. "Stranger Than Paradise" (Jim Jarmusch, USA)
7. ''Once Upon A Time In America'' (Sergio Leone, USA)
8. "The Killing Fields" (Roland Joffe, USA)
9. "A Passage To India" (David Lean, UK)
10. "Romancing The Stone" (Robert Zemeckis, USA)
Other great films:
After The Rehearsal (Sweden)
All Of MeThe Annunciation (Hungary)
Histoire d'O. Chapitre 2 (France)
The Home And The World (India)
Indiana Jones And The Temple Of DoomThe Karate Kid
Kids From Shaolin (China)
Les Nuits de la pleine lune (France)
Thais (Poland)
That Was Rock
Wheels On Meals (Hong Kong)
Widziadlo (Poland)
2. "Body Double" (Brian De Palma, Columbia)
Widziadlo (Poland)
Top 10 Guilty Pleasures of 1984:
1. "Blame It On Rio" (Stanley Donen, 20th Century-Fox)
4. "La Femme publique" (Andrzej Zulawski, France)
Short Top 3:
1. "J'ai faim j'ai froid" (Chantal Akerman, France)
2. "Le Voleur vit en enfer" (Robert Morin, Lorraine Dufour, Canada)
3. "Recollections Of Pavlovsk" (Irina Kalinina, Soviet Union)
Other great shorts:
After Hours (Australia)
The Painted Door (Canada)
Top 3 Music Videos:
1. "You Might Think" (Jeff Stein, The Cars)
2. "Hello Again" (Andy Warhol, The Cars)
3. "Stranger In Town" (Steve Barron, Toto)
Top Commercial:
"1984" (Ridley Scott, Apple)
Other great commercials:
Morning In America
TV Top 3:
1. "Miami Vice: Brother's Keeper" (Thomas Carter, NBC)
2. "Miami Vice: Calderone's Return" (Richard A. Colla, Paul Michael Glaser, NBC)
3. "Family Ties: 4 Rms Ocn Vu" (Lee Shallat, NBC)
Other great TV shows:
07 zglos sie 4 (Poland)
Yes Minister: Party Games (UK)Cartoon Top 3:
1. "Jumping" (Osamu Tezuka, Japan)
2. "Charade" (Jon Minnis, Canada)
3. "Doctor DeSoto" (Michael, Sporn, USA)
Other great cartoons:
Anijam
Bitz Butz (Israel)
Blackberry Subway Jam (Canada)
Gravity (Hungary)
Hopla Badigeonneurs (Soviet Union)
Moa Moa (Italy)
Paradise (Canada)
Question de forme (Canada)
Romeo And Juliet (Yugoslavia)
Weak films of 1984:
L'Amour a mort (France)
Question de forme (Canada)
Romeo And Juliet (Yugoslavia)
Weak films of 1984:
L'Amour a mort (France)
The Element Of Crime (Denmark)
Little Drummer Girl
Pengkhianatan G30S-PKI (Indonesia)
Places In The Heart
Project A (Hong Kong)
Repo Man
Little Drummer Girl
Pengkhianatan G30S-PKI (Indonesia)
Places In The Heart
Project A (Hong Kong)
Repo Man
Revenge Of The Nerds
Sixteen Candles
Sonatine (Canada)
Supergirl
Weak shorts:
A Girl's Own Story (Australia)
Weak cartoons:
Etienne et Sara (Canada)
Lights Before Dawn (Hungary)
Le Metro
Observational Hazard
Rectangle et rectangles (Canada)
Sigmund (Italy)
Sixteen Candles
Sonatine (Canada)
Supergirl
Weak shorts:
A Girl's Own Story (Australia)
Weak cartoons:
Etienne et Sara (Canada)
Lights Before Dawn (Hungary)
Le Metro
Observational Hazard
Rectangle et rectangles (Canada)
Sigmund (Italy)
Weak TV shows:
November 11, 1984
The Terminator (1984) *****
This 1984 film marks the birth of an entirely new film genre - the action movie. Before ''The Terminator'', there were adventure films (like ''Raiders of the Lost Ark''), there were science-fiction flicks (like ''Star Wars''), there were horror movies (like ''Jaws'') and there were police dramas (like ''The French Connection''). But then Canadian-born filmmaker James Cameron had the bright idea of combining all those genres into one single film, and bingo - a whole new type of movie has been created. ''The Terminator'' has the action set pieces of an adventure film, the high-tech special effects of a science-fiction flick, the shocking thrills of a horror movie and the exciting car chases of a police drama. There are even touches of humour. The immortal Arnold Schwarzenegger's line, ''I'll be back'' is actually a hilarious and elaborate gag. Reversing the typical action-sequence structure (where the hero usually delivers a punch line after performing a daring stunt), here the the quip is the set-up, and the action scene - Arnie coming right back, fully armed and riding a pickup-truck into a police station - becomes the punch line. Stylistically, the film is a masterpiece. Cameron's direction is dazzling. The noirish cinematography gives the movie a distinct, dark and forbidding look, which became quite familiar by the late 1980's, but was quite innovative at the time (just look at the difference in the visual look of 1978's ''Superman'' and the 1989's ''Batman'' to see how the superhero films have evolved due to Terminator's influence). The rapid-fire editing has also set a new pace for Hollywood movies from then on, making older action/adventure films look sluggish by comparison. The bone-rushing violence, the unrelenting suspense, the spectacular chases and action sequences, and a bleak vision of a post-apocalyptic future - all contribute to the excitement and the thrills. And there is even some sexual titillation thrown in for good measure. The plot is simple, but effective - an evil cyborg (Arnold Schwarzenegger) from a post-nuclear future, is sent to the past (1984's Lost Angeles) to kill a young girl (Linda Hamilton) who will become the mother of a future resistance leader. A resistance fighter (Michael Biehn) is also send to the past to protect her. Once this premise is introduced, the film doesn't waste any time on parallel subplots or narrative complications - it becomes one, long, exciting and relentless chase sequence that never stops.
October 10, 1984
The Wannsee Conference (1984) ****
A precise, real-time (exactly 85 minutes - the length of the actual event) reenactment of the infamous Wannsee Conference in January 1942, when leading Nazi officials gathered to discuss the implementation of the Holocaust.
Stranger Than Paradise (1984) ****
While clearly inspired by Wim Wenders' road movies (especially "Alice In The Cities"), it's still a completely original and superbly directed little film.
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