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THE CLUSTER," FEBRUARY 27, 1990-PAGE 7
Entertainment
The Ten Best Movies of the Eighties
By MARK H. ROSEN ding it). I do however urge you lo harassing his friend), who travels (8). Do The Right 7hmg-Kudos sighlful film that examines hitman
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Weil here it is, as promised. I
have worked very hard trying to
come up with ten movies that were
not only personal favorites, but
films that epitomized the eighties.
The following ten films are a com
bination of popular box-office suc
cess stories as well as box-office
obscurities. According to many
other critics. Raging Bull was the
best film of the eighties. One of
which is that I found other Martin
Scorsese works that were better.
One film that 1 debated including
was Scorsese’s Last Temptation of
Christ. In the end I decided that iti
controversial reception warranted
only a minor recommendation (1
have just grown weary from defen-
see it for yourself before condem
ning it. As for the ten films includ
ed, my personal criterior includes
each film’s impact and how it
dutifully represents a decade that
will be remembered for a movie-
star president, yuppies, and Steven
Spielberg. Included here are the
first five films, starting at the bot
tom and moving up to the best at
number one. Because of spatial
limitations, films numbered five to
one will be presented in the next
edition of the Cluster.
(10) After Hours-This is Martin
Scorsese's painfully tunny story
about a nerd, played by Griffin
Dunne (the dead guy in American
Werewolf in London who keeps
Lunatics On Parade:
They Might Be Giants
By RHETT THOMAS
If it’s one thing I remember
about my high-school pal, Lionel
Lowry, it is his fascination with all
things strange and unusual. For
him, silliness is a virtu re. Many
people in high-school regarded him
as an oddball (I guess I was, too),
but he would come back at them
saying that it’s all in the way one
views reality.
It came as no surprise to me a
few years ago that it was Lionel
who discovered They Might Be
Giants, a group he has promoted
ever since. He viewed their style of
crazed, non-catcgoncally inane,
and ultimately revolutionary music
as prophetic, much in the same way
many view Bob Dylan. Bruce
Springsteen, or (God forbid) Billy
Joel. Songs like “Shoehorn with
Teeth” and “Don’t Let’s Sun”
touched a nerve in his crazy soul
that mystified even his best friends.
To most, They Might Be Giants is
incredulous and often im
penetrable. How could anyone be
so devote to a group that is so pur
posely weird?
Well, on the surface of things,
maybe there is more madness to
They Might Be Giants than most
casual listeners can handle. On
their new album Flood, for in
stance. the breadth of instruments
used encompasses the accordion,
the kazoo, the bagpipes, and
various electonic noises. This is not
your father's rock-and-roll band!
When Particle Man jumps in the
water, is he in the water or his the
water in him? If you must know the
answer. I suggest you buy this new
album!
The song “Your Racist Friend”
is a song we can all relate to: “It's
about time I leave the party/Cause
I’m sick of listening to you/ And
your racist friend.” They Might Be
Giants' strength is in crystallizing
basic human truths, whether
obscure or not. and tranferring
them to strange, three-minute
Residents-like songs.
The lyrical matter is mere
developed than in previous albums,
but it’s still straight from left field.
The song “Birdhouse In Your
Soul” is a quirky ode lo that thing
in your soul that says “I’m your
only friend, but not your only
friend...” What that thing is exact
ly isn't quite clear, but that is for
you to judge. "Particle Man”
poses an interesting question:
Flood is not for people mat think
everything is to be taken serious
ly. Those people should stick with
Phil Collins. Rather, this album is
for people who think life is essen
tially weird, and the only way to
figure It out is to be weird
themselves. Like my pal, Lionel.
I’m sure when I head home for
spnng break. I’ll wind up driving
downtown with him, his radio
blasting “Hearing Aid”, and
everything will start to make sense
once again.
down to the SoHo district of New
York Late one night just to spend
time with a girl that eventually
turns out to be the worst night of
his life. Scorsese’s black comedy
just presents the big city art scene
in the most eccentric way. The ti
tle dccribes the hours after mid
night until dawn when the living
dead artists prey. Dunne’s yuppie
computer processor clashes with
these people like oil and water. The
film is full of weird people and in
teresting conclusions. Watching
Dunne just trying to get the hell out
of this nether-world is worth it
alone. Cameos include Cheech and
Chong, Teri Garr, and Bronson
Pine hot. This film is a good com
panion piece to Dunne’s Me and
Him. a film about a guy whose
penis stilts talking to him. (1985)
(9) Who Framed Roger Rabbit-
What a great way to end the
eighties! This film just illustrated
the painstaking future of special ef
fects. In 1977. we all thought Star
Wars was the ultimate in special ef
fects; now we just notice the clunky
models. Roger Rabbit was the
epitome of how animation could be
included with liyc action without
disturbing the flow of the film.
Roger has become Disney's
M.ckcy Mouse of the next century.
Bob Hoskins, who played gumshoe
Eddie Valiant, has found an au
dience outside of his British reper
toire. The movie brings back the
gumshoe flicks reminiscent of the
thirties. The only difference is that
cartoonland exists as well as the
painted characters we have all
come to know and love. Everyone
from Bugs Bunny to Chilly Willy
makes an appearance. Scenes like
Donald Duck and Daffy Duck bat
tling it out on the stage arc
priceless. On a legal note, the
Warner Bros, characters (Bugs
Bunny, Elmer Fudd etc.) were en
titled to exactly the same amount
of time the Disney characters got,
as a result, many of the two
studio’s characters arc paired up.
(1988).
Camp Concharty Girl Scout Camp
On Beautiful Pine Mountain, Georgia
is now hiring for the summer of 1990
Positions Available Include: ,
Camp Director
Program Director
Waterfrong Staff
(WSI’s & Lifeguards)
Camp Counselors
Nature, Sports, Crafts, Dance, Horsing
And Theater Specialists
Contact: Concharty Council of Girl Scouts, Inc.
1344 - 13th Avenue
Columbus, GA 31901
Phone: (404) 327-2646
T
to Spike Lee for having the chutz
pah to stand up to our day to day
racism with this film. A latter
eighties statement, Db The Right
Thing challenges its audience to
decide how we must treat this
medieval sickness. Before it’s
shocking ending, Lee does allow
for many chuckles with his "slice-
of-life" scenes of the Bcdford-Stuy
section of Brooklyn. Characters
with names like Radio Rahccm,
Swcctdick Willy, Mookie, and Da
Mayer fill the screen epitomizing
real-life characters. Lee has an in
ventive style that I believe will
permeate the movie business and
become the norm. As for the close-
minded, wimpy Academy members
who shunned this masterpiece at
the 1989 Oscars. I wish they’d stuff
their ballots where the (1989).
(7) Wings Of Desire-Win
Wcndcr’s haunting masterpiece is,
shamefully, the only foreign film
on my list. However, Wings of
Desire did mak£ almost every
movie critic’s lift of the eighties
best, and deservedly so. Wcndcr’s
film is the story of two angels and
how they perceive life around them
in West Berlin. They listen to our
thoughts and think about what it
would be like to be human. Bruno
Gantz is one angel who becomes
infatuated with a circus trapeze ar
tist. This is a very literate and in
life as well as the after life. Peter
Falk has an interesting, yet
unusual, cameo as himself while he
is filming a television show in West
Berlin. One of the angels finds th<5
actor fascinating and decides to
listen in on his thoughts. According
to TV Mo\ies. the film was inspired
by some Rainer Maria Rilke
poems. Wings of Desire is truly an
unforgettable, moving film ex
perience. (1988/WcsiGcrman).
(b)Platoon-Even though there
were films depicting Vietnam way
before Platoon. Writer-Director
Oliver Stone hit the right chord in
1986. People know Vietnam ex
isted, but Stone showed his au
dience the horrors firsthand.
Charlie Sheen’s character would
enter the war as an innocent, but he
would exit as a man. The war
becomes microcosmic when two
Sergeants fight over the control of
the platoon’s destiny. Tom
Bcrengcr and William Dafoe play
their respective bad and good
Sergeants effectively. Adagio for
Strings plays well next to classics
such as Otis Redding's ‘‘Sittin’ on
the Dock of the Bay” in
establishing an overall mood for the
times. The film hit many
Americans, as well as Veterans,
emotionally and as a result Vietnam
was a hot topic again. Now that we
Continued on page 8
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