Category: 1981

On Golden Pond (1981) Film Review

when life is at its finest…when love is at its fullest…

Rating PG
Length 1h49
Release 12.03.1981
Director Mark Rydell
About After Chelsea leaves Billy, her fiance’s son, with her parents, she returns to find a friendship bloom between Billy and Norman, her father. Shocked, she reassesses her relationship with her father.
Moon: no moon sighting
Where to Watch: ITV X
Trailer:

The Good

The film, much like others adapted from theatre plays, has incredible dialogue. Yes, the visuals are as good, however it would work just as well performed as a radio play.

Katherine Hepburn, Henry and Jane Fonda not only work well individually, but they work off each other and the chemistry, and animosity, billows off the screen.

I have to give this film credit; it really surprised me. I thought I’d predicted the end. I was so certain of it that I was on edge for the entire film. It was only in the last scene did the film show me that I can sometimes be wrong with my predictions.

The relationship between Norman and Billy Ray Jnr is beautiful and heartwarming. From the exchange “I turned 13 two weeks ago”/ “We’re practically twins” I was sold on where this film was going.

The Bad

The set up of the young boy staying with the elderly couple does not feel authentic. Yes, I just go with it and suspend my belief because the film is so good. For me it was only afterwards and reflecting upon it did I feel that it was the last place Chelsea and her fiancee would ask for help; particularly seeing the damage Norman had done to Chelsea and her happiness.

The Ugly

I found myself shouting at the screen at times. Not necessarily the film, but the character of Edith and her dismissal of Chelsea’s experience really hit home and angered me. I think it is a generational thing; for some wives to berate their children and defend their partner’s actions. The film goes so far as to have Edith treat Billy Ray Jnr in the same way. Instead of acknowledging Norman sundowning as part of his declining memory, she makes the issue about Billy Ray taking it too personally.
It won’t bother people who don’t share Chelsea’s experience and the difficulty in healing, however for some it will make for a difficult viewing.

Also, Niagara Falls! I sobbed like a bitch.

Final Thoughts

I absolutely need to watch this again. If for nothing else, to watch without the anticipation of what I was predicting.

Chariots of Fire (1981) Film Review

Rating PG
Length 2h03
Release 30.03.1981
Director Hugh Hudson
About Two men, Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell, race for the gold in the 1924 Olympics. While one runs for his faith, the other participates to leave prejudice behind.
Moon: no moon sighting
Where to Watch: Disney+
Trailer:

The Good

What an incredible film I’ve been sleeping on. It has everything that makes a biopic like this great; a rousing score, dedicated yet flawed leads and an uplifting, tear jerking ending.
Even though it’s a two lead film, there’s an incredible supporting cast who you will be as equally invested in.

The themes explored are powerful. Namely faith, success and the lengths people will go to achieve it, are as organic as the sport presented in this film. Yet, even with the two leads being of the Abrahamic faiths, it does not feel like a religious movie. Merely part of who these two men were and how it inspired, motivated and challenged them.

This film is a whose who of Star Trek and a cast of remarkable talent within English acting. It’s incredible to see these people in an early role and the only problem it raises is trying not to be distracted while you place them.

The Bad

Society in the UK is really quite shit and while it makes for excellent challenges for the leads to overcome, it doesn’t leave a good feeling at the treatment of both Eric and Harold, particularly when a lot of it is directed towards their faith.
The gatekeeping of the Olympics is not a theme isolated to this particular reenactment, which only makes this worse.

The film also presents many men, particularly those in high positions, with antisemitic views. Obviously, it’s a necessary part of the film, and the theme however it does make for a frustrating and infuriating watch.

The Ugly

Oh I cried. It’s weird how success can make you cry more than failure, but I can’t imagine many people would have dry eyes by the final act. For me it’s not about patriotism, but about the success of the individual and the effort they put in.

Final Thoughts

It’s a beautiful, uplifting film that manages to take a look into privileged lives without alienating the audience.

The Evil Dead (1981) Halloween Advent

Rating 18
Length 1h25
Release 17.1.1983
Director Sam Rami
About Five friends travel to a remote cabin in the woods where they play a tape with incantations. This releases the demons which possess them in succession until only one is left fighting for survival.
Moon: Full Moon sighted throughout the film.
Where to Watch: Rented from Prime but is currently on Now Entertainment
Trailer:

Trick

  • The tree rape! Did it really have to be so explicit and gratuitous?! Does it also meant that the Deadening that the group go on to experience starts life as an STI?! Its all rather odd and is almost filmed with a certain, limited, target audience.
  • The Deadening voices, particularly of the women, really start to grate after a while. Particularly the three women, who were already hard to tell apart.

Treat

  • The Super-8 feel really gives such a retro, intimate and indie vibe to the whole film. Its a refreshing change to see a film with rough edges and no Hollywood budget.
  • The story is simple, yet effective. There’s no twists or complications. It’s the ideal length and is, or was, a self contained story with no sights on setting up a sequel.
  • Bruce Campbell is awesome as Ash in his original form. To see the horror unfold around him while he comes to the realisation of the things he has to do, is something else.

Final Thoughts

I can see why this film was banned in places around the world, and it isn’t necessarily something I’ll watch again, but it is a must watch for any horror fans.

Halloween II (1981) Halloween Advent

Rating 18
Length 1h32
Release 26.4.2012
Director Rick Rosenthal
About Myers, a horrific murderer, spends 15 years in an insane asylum after terrorising the people in his small hometown on the eve of a Halloween. As soon as he gets out, he hunts down his sister.
Moon: no moon sighting
Where to Watch: Netflix
Trailer:

Trick

  • The opening is rather clunky and almost feels like I’ve missed a scene or two. I understand it starts off directly after the first film, but I think that puts this film at a disadvantage because of the first being resolved.
  • The tone of the film is off. It has the Horror elements, but there’s also lines of dialogue and the way they’re delivered, that will reduce most viewers to fits of giggles. The biggest laugh is when a Michael Myers is hit by a police car. The sequence, I’m sure, is meant to be shocking. It most definitely isn’t.
  • Michael Myers has a whole new silhouette. They must not have been able to get the original guy back, and it shows. It’s hard to not notice and it really takes you out of the film.
  • The time of day is really unclear. In some scenes it appears at if it’s at least gone midnight, in others it appears like its not even past 7pm. Add to that, the fact that the hospital Laurie is taken to is unusually empty for a peak evening, the film just feels disjointed.

Treat

  • The new theme remix is cool.
  • Some of the deaths are messy and genius, particularly the one in the hot tub.

Final Thoughts

To make this work, it really needed to go the way of Alien/Aliens and not sit in this middle ground of a tonal shift. Because the original is so good, it was never going to match it, so it needed to offer something completely different.

American Werewolf in London (1981)

Rating: X/18

Length: 1Hr 37

Release: 8.11.1981

About: David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne), two American college students, are backpacking through Britain when a large wolf attacks them. David survives with a bite, but Jack is brutally killed. As David heals in the hospital, he’s plagued by violent nightmares of his mutilated friend, who warns David that he is becoming a werewolf. When David discovers the horrible truth, he contemplates committing suicide before the next full moon causes him to transform from man to murderous beast.

Treat

  • The visual transformation of David is mind-blowing and a work of art even now. It’s aged incredibly well and looks so much better than any CGI transformation Hollywood can provide today. It’s still the best transformation I’ve ever seen. Thanks to David Naughton’s acting, I believe it’s painful.
  • This is a film that has a perfect balance of character, relationship and plot. I love the relationship between David and Jack and I’m actually a little sad that we lose that relationship so early on. I know Griffin Dunne continues to play Jack, but there’s a dynamic shift.
  • Speaking of Jack, he has a transformation of his own and it’s amazing. Visually it’s gruesome and may cause you to flinch but it’s expertly done to gain that response.
  • I have, of late, become rather disenchanted by movie love, however this Florence Nightingale effect is actually well plotted and delivered. Their relationship is quite possibly one of the most believable from a supernatural movie perspective.
  • The opening sequence that utilises the Western’s ‘stranger walking into a saloon’ to great effect. I’m not sure all films could pull it off, but racks up the tension.
  • I could go through this film frame by frame, I love it so much. Instead I’m going to end on the dream sequences because it’s the one time where I’ve appreciated the dream fake out. The imagery is rather odd and random; I find that it’s something films forget about when it comes to dreams.

Trick

  • I’m struggling to be critical of Werewolf. It a film that has aged really well, both in terms of story and effects.
  • There perhaps is an element of gratuitous nudity (the porno theatre) but then I feel as if I’m censoring to my own tastes. At the end of the day, the movie was going to gain an X rating, so it could do what it wants.

Final Thoughts

An incredibly fun, yet gory movie that will have Londoners begging for those days. It’s a werewolf movie snout and tails above the rest.