Acts of Faith In Love and Life: 80s Teen Movie FanFest

Saturday, December 6, 2008

80s Teen Movie FanFest

Have you noticed the upswing in interest in the teen movies from the mid-late 80's? Just the other day I was flipping past USA or TBS (I forget which one) and caught the tail end of Adventures in Babysitting. This movie starring Elisabeth Shue is about a girl who was stood up by her boyfriend, agrees to watch a bunch of kids and ends up on an....adventure! Lame plot for sure but harmless fun compared to a lot of things that gets passed off as entertainment nowadays.

Here's the opening sequence:

Apparently there's a remake in the works with Miley Cyrus and Raven Simone. Now why can't Hollywood just figure out how to greenlight an original story and leave it alone! A little bit of trivia for the musical theatre buffs out there is that Anthony Rapp played the brother's best friend long before he went on to star as Mark in Rent.

Now as a kid I didn't feel there was much being offered my way as far as entertainment went so it was much easier getting my attention than it would be for kids today. The tween and young adult market is completely oversaturated - with a lot of crap too I might add.

One movie always makes me smile though and I can still watch it and find relevance. Quick - what was the most popular teen movie before Twilight....before Titanic? Why the Breakfast Club of course!

Here's the trailer.

Now I have to note a few things. There was a segment in the movie where Anthony Michael Hall's character did some sort of pre-Ebonics minstrel speak that I find highly offensive that would've been nixed if that movie was released today.

There are other movies that display the casualties of racial road kill as well. Mickey Rooney putting tape on his eyelids and wearing fake teeth to play Asian in Breakfast at Tiffany's is a big black eye (pun intended) on an otherwise classic film.

On a lighter note Molly Ringwald's outfit is totally back in style y'all. The boots and the belt especially.