This is topic Could an 80s movie be pulled off today? in forum « 80's Movies at iRewind Talk.


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Posted by Jessie the Sunflower Goddess (Member # 1877) on :
 
I was reading the topic about 80s movies that offend you and it struck me. Could a raunchy movie with all T&A, lack of storyline, and lack of quality acting survive in today's market?

Could you imagine if a movie like H.O.T.S. was made today. I mean made exactly the way that it was made in the 80s. Same hair, surroundings, just like it was in the 80s. I don't mean like all of the raunchy National Lampoons stuff that has been made in recent years. Would you watch something like that?
 
Posted by Devolution (Member # 1731) on :
 
Devolution here,

It could be made, but I think it really needs to come out of nowhere. Honestly, if Old School had a little more Nudity and a little less star power, it would be right there.

No?

We are DEVO
 
Posted by Sam 'The Made Man' Hain (Member # 3150) on :
 
The 80s need their period piece movie. In the 70s they made American Graffiti which was set in the 50s. In the 90s they made Dazed and Confused which was set in the 70s. The 80s need a movie to be made about it which is more a reflection of the time period instead of Fast Times... which was a movie about the 80s made in the 80s.

Instead of making it over a whole school year like Fast Times..they need to do like American Graffiti & Dazed and Confused did and make all the action take place over a 24 hour or less time frame
and Confused did and
 
Posted by Nick (Member # 404) on :
 
For a long time I've pondered this question and I think the answer is... YES [Smile]

BUT... [Frown]

I'm not sure about T&A... But a "Dirty Dancing" or "Can't buy me love" would make it I'm sure. As Devo says, it would have to come out of nowhere...

And I think it would have to be privately funded with no studio execs/accountants dabbling with it until all the right "feeling" was gone [Frown]
 
Posted by Riptide (Member # 457) on :
 
Yeah we need a definitive period piece on the 80's. Donnie Darko and the Wedding singer aren't going to cut it.

I wouldn't mind an 80's setting style movie coming out from a different perspective. Rather than the SoCal/Midwest HS experience, I wouldn't mind it being set in early-mid 80's dole queue England, set around the Smiths or something.

With the recent rash of movies like House Bunny or something, I'm starting to think that the execs think feminism never happened.
 
Posted by Valley (Member # 1322) on :
 
An 80's movie that is true to itself would struggle in today's movie environment. I think Nick has the right idea, but in the end it I doubt any Studio is gonna try it.

Did anyone enjoy the movie "13 Going On 30"?
 
Posted by 80'sRocked (Member # 6979) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Valley:

Did anyone enjoy the movie "13 Going On 30"?

If that's the one with Garner, I thought it was OK.
 
Posted by ISIS (Member # 1780) on :
 
Well...the Wedding Singer wasn't that long ago...and it was set in the 80's.

Those American Pie movies are sort of along the lines of Porky's...they are raunchy....I never watched any of them past the first one, and that one was so awful....I don't think they compare though at all-because the actors stink.

what makes the 80s movies good are the people in them...and the writing...and the spontaneous of it all...people were actually good at acting-and they didn't have to be academy award winners...now any person can get on Tv in a reality show...and they think they are an actor...

My son was saying how awful looking the cartoon version of Star Wars looks...the one out now called...Clone Wars.....

they need to just hang it up.

I honestly think the kind of movies that we liked...could be made now....but people have been ruined on movies-they can't grasp a movie that isn't filled with guns and violence...and action sequences after action sequences, and CGI...and really really loud background music, and explosions...I said this before...but look at every new movie out...and your going to find a tractor trailer scene where a tractor trailer blows up, or wrecks.....nothing is original....I believe it could be....but the wrong people are making movies...

how come no one can make a movie like Ode to Billy Joe- that was set in the 40's (I am pretty sure)-and it was really in the 70's when it was made....what about the Waltons and Little House on the Prairie and Grizzly Adams-those were all set in other decades....but it worked....they could make a really cool TV show again set in the 50's, and it could be awesome, but they don't do it.

If Mischief could be made in the 80's....then why couldn't that same movie be done now....exactly the same...when what would it matter...when we don't live in that time period now?

My mom was watching the movie The Notebook...last night...and all I could think of...was how bad the props and settings were, and how low budget the signs in the windows were and the way they made stuff have that antique look-everything looked like it was made to look old, but brand new....which actually is a style right now. It looked like such a phoney stage set. That's why I can't stand new movies...they lack the look of it being for real.
 
Posted by gordongecko (Member # 4685) on :
 
Wedding singer was 80's movie but I feel like what would be great is one about 80's high school. And I agree, a 24 hour span for the movie would be great. I love Dazed and Confused. Maybe they could do it about the last day of summer, or the first day of school. I just see so much opportunity, comedy, and drama that could come along with this.
 
Posted by xchazx (Member # 7158) on :
 
i have a 78 page story detailing my freshman year in college in 1988/89. it is without a doubt the best year of my life. i've always hoped to turn it into a screenplay and have it be one of those teen comedy/dramas. i've already got the soundtrack picked out, now i just have to get going on that script.
 
Posted by journey (Member # 7316) on :
 
The kids today all have ADD when it comes to movies. Everything has to be hyper-kinetic and ultra-violent just to keep their attention. I tried watching The Mist with my younger sister the other day (she's 20, just for the record), and she kept complaining about how boring it was...how nothing happened and it was all talking. To me it was a pretty active movie with lots of things happening and a tense claustrophobic atmosphere. I can't imagine what she'd think of The English Patient or Lawrence of Arabia. Her and her friends only like stupid overblown action movies like The Transporter or Transformers or dumb comedies with Will Ferrell. The entire generation of directors that came up in the late '90s, who are basically shaping the industry now, all came out of music video directing, so that should explain a lot. Everything's all flash and style and vulgarity now days. All that's great, but it should be in service to a well-developed story and appealing performances, not in total opposition to it.
 
Posted by ISIS (Member # 1780) on :
 
Journey-that's the best thing I have heard anyone say about what is happening today with movies...you summed it up perfectly.
 
Posted by jdocster (Member # 5752) on :
 
Can't be done!

The 80s had a "definite" feel to it. That time-period is gone "fur sure". The funky sounding sound tracks, the way we dressed, hairstyles, music, the innocence factor (think cold war/Reagan years in the US), the filming style, directing style, acceptable bad acting, camera angles used, the feeling of the "me" generation... Pre-computer dominance etc...

Nope, it's gone... [Smile]
 
Posted by kevdugp73 (Member # 5978) on :
 
I think Napolean Dynamite kinda pulls it off...I love that movie.
 
Posted by StevenHW (Member # 509) on :
 
"200 Cigarettes", which came out nearly 10 years ago, took place in New Year's Eve in 1981, and still could've been made back in the 80's.

My main problem with that movie, is that made no point at all.
 
Posted by journey (Member # 7316) on :
 
I'd settle for a movie with a good synthesizer score at this point...

I think the last movie I saw that really captured the '80s vibe was probably The Girl Next Door. It borrowed very liberally from Risky Business, though, so I can't really award it a lot of points on the originality scale. Besides that, I think Napoleon Dynamite and Superbad were pretty close.
 
Posted by journey (Member # 7316) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Sam 'The Made Man' Hain:
The 80s need their period piece movie. In the 70s they made American Graffiti which was set in the 50s. In the 90s they made Dazed and Confused which was set in the 70s. The 80s need a movie to be made about it which is more a reflection of the time period instead of Fast Times... which was a movie about the 80s made in the 80s.

Instead of making it over a whole school year like Fast Times..they need to do like American Graffiti & Dazed and Confused did and make all the action take place over a 24 hour or less time frame
and Confused did and

Can't Hardly Wait takes place over the course of a 24-hour period. Of course, it doesn't qualify as a period piece since it takes place in the same time that it was made. I really hope the choices for 'The Great '80s Period Film' don't end up being between The Wedding Singer, 200 Cigarettes and Totally Awesome.
 
Posted by Devolution (Member # 1731) on :
 
Devolution here,

When I think about an 80's movie, it doesn't have to be a movie that takes place in the 80's, but it has to have a the things that make a movie very 80's.

Quality Characters,
A love story,
A bad guy,
Some amount of sex,
A realization,
and a great soundtrack.

Mean Girls in an "80's movie" which is why I really like it.

Movies that are dated in the 80's need another 10 years to gain appreciation due to overload.

We are DEVO
 
Posted by Valley (Member # 1322) on :
 
Devo,

The Tina Fey screenplay that became "Mean Girls" is a modern classic that teens of today will see as defining in the years to come.

quote:
Originally posted by xchazx:
i have a 78 page story detailing my freshman year in college in 1988/89. it is without a doubt the best year of my life. i've always hoped to turn it into a screenplay and have it be one of those teen comedy/dramas. i've already got the soundtrack picked out, now i just have to get going on that script.

Keep the dream xchazx, everything goes in cycles and the 80's is making another comeback. Plus you have documented your high school years, that will be priceless as you get older in my opinion. [Cool]
 


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