Search for 1986

A marriage between the creative talents of David Mamet and Edward Zwick might seem to be an unlikely union but, in the case of 1986 feature About Last Night..., it is surprisingly effective. Zwick, best known for the emotional resonance he brings ...

Perhaps the best single word to describe James Cameron's Aliens is relentless. Tautly paced and expertly directed, this roller coaster ride of a motion picture offers a little bit of everything, all wrapped up in a tidy science fiction/action pack...

For Rodney Dangerfield, the stand-up comedian whose catchphrase was “I don’t get no respect,” Back to School provided an opportunity to get more than his share of praise and adulation. The crowd-pleasing comedy grossed $91M, making it th...

Big Trouble in Little China was released at a time when John Carpenter’s white-hot career had begun a downward trajectory. His third feature starring Kurt Russell, Big Trouble matched the action-adventure elements of Escape from New York wit...

Blue Velvet is David Lynch in peak form, and represents (to date) his most accomplished motion picture. It is a work of fascinating scope and power that rivals any of the most subversive films to reach the screens during the '80s. For Lynch, the ...

Castle in the Sky is the third feature film by the Japanese grandmaster of animation, Hayao Miyazaki, and the first movie released by Studio Ghibli. Despite being successful in Japan and cementing Miyazaki’s reputation in the worldwide anim...

The Color of Money is a good movie, but perhaps not a good sequel. In revisiting the shady, obsessive world of former pool shark Fast Eddie Felson (Paul Newman), Martin Scorsese provides us with a character so different from the one found in Rober...

The success of Paul Hogan's Crocodile Dundee in America is about as unlikely as the success of the title character on the streets of New York City. Nevertheless, in part because of Hogan's winning smile and in part because of his unpretentious sty...

If any film is deserving of the term "re-imagination" as opposed to "remake," it's David Cronenberg's 1986 The Fly. Based loosely on the short story by George Lengelaan and its 1958 film adaptation, this movie uses the premise but jettisons everyt...