Baumer's Top 100 films you have probably heard of but more than likely haven't seen. #1: Cute Clever Mischievous, but don't feed them after midnight!

[Jack Nevada]

This is one 80's ass list.

[baumer]

There's lots of 90s stuff coming up

[Plain Old Tele]

2 hours ago, Baumer said:

I honestly don't know anyone who has seen Angel Heart that didn't love it.  It was imo, easily the best film of 1987.

 

*raises hand*

 

 

I mean, I didn't love it, but I did like it. So don't kill me.

[ProtoMan]

I need to check out Angel Heart again. I watched it as a kid on home video and did not understand it much at all at the time. Probably will enjoy it much more now.

 

I was a huge fan of Lisa Bonet from the Cosby Show/Different World and remember the controversy with Bill Cosby not being cool with a "Cosby kid" doing nudity. Interesting how things turned out.

[baumer]

I guess love is a strong word @Telemachos

 

I don't know anyone who has disliked it. But I also know it's definitely not a film for all tastes. It's definitely a little bit slow and very talkative and it definitely makes you use your brain a little bit. I don't know if today's generation which seems to have a ADD would be able to watch it. It takes its time getting into the story and that would probably put people off LOL

[baumer]

Number 82

Wanted Dead or Alive (1987)

Directed by Gary Sherman

Starring Rutger Hauer, Gene Simmons, Robert Guilleaume

Box office:  7.5 million

"There's a $15,000 bonus, if he can still talk"

 

Rutger Hauer stars as Nick Randall, a bounty hunter, ex-CIA, called into a case to capture(..dead, preferably alive)a wanted terrorist, Malak Al Rahim(..played by Gene Simmons, an undeniably good heavy)whose Arab organization is bombing selected locations across Los Angeles. When Malak kills Randall's girlfriend and cop buddy(..a boat bombing intended for him), it gets personal.

The premise is pretty much a by-the-numbers actioner, a skilled hunter after a dangerous terrorist and his dedicated followers while the CIA often look foolish in their attempts to capture their quarry themselves. The real fun for me, being a Rutger Hauer fan, is seeing the man do his thing..he's perfect for a role such as this, a specialist at hunting down and securing the dregs and lowlifes of society, dangerous criminals the police have a hard time capturing, often earning a wealthy pay day in the process. Simmons, while limited to a small number of scene, is quite effective as a cold-blooded Islamic extremist who bombs a theater full of innocent people(..leaving behind his hand print on the window of a phone booth, teasing the authorities)just to make a point..a chilling moment shows Malak greeting a little girl who was walking into the theater with her parents. Robert Guillaume is a CIA officer, Walker, who lures Randall into taking the job of nabbing Malak, helping him along the way with certain information to assist in the search. William Russ, in a thankless role, ably portrays Randall's best friend Sergeant Danny Quintz..his tragic fate, in an effort to help out his pal, certainly amps the frequency, adding extra motivation for Randall to take out the Arab scumbags. Jerry Hardin has the stereotypical role of incompetent CIA leader, Lipton, needing the help of others to catch the bad guys..how he uses Randall as bait in an attempt to get to Malak bares extra emphasis on the joy of seeing him fail at his job. There's always a tug-of-war between Walker and Lipton, over the treatment of Randall.

The real fun is watching Randall evading Lipton's men on the street while also successfully uncovering Malak's operation through the various underlings who work for him. Randall is indeed a role tailor-made for Hauer, whose effortless cool and charisma transcends the rather so-so material. Pretty predictable outcome, but satisfying conclusion as Randall gets his revenge and then some. Pretty violent, with lots of people getting shot.  Wanted Dead or Alive is a very little seen film.  I hope because of this list, you find a way to see it.  

 

 

 

 

[baumer]

Number 81 

High Fidelity (2000)

Directed by Stephen Frears

Starring John Cusack, Jack Black, Tim Robbins, Todd Louiso

Box office:  47 mill WW

"Sometimes I got so bored of trying to touch her breast that I would try to touch her between her legs. It was like trying to borrow a dollar, getting turned down, and asking for 50 grand instead."

 

High Fidelity just had a really entertaining story, and it was extremely well acted by everyone involved. This is what I have come up with in my mission to find out what it was about High Fidelity that made me like it so much. Sure, there's not a whole lot to the story – a guy gets dumped and goes back and recounts his relationships and break-ups with his top five girlfriends, but it was presented in such a clever way that it made bland material a lot of fun. 

One of the things that was really good about High Fidelity was the way the `top five girlfriends' premise was complemented by Rob Gordon (Cusack) and his music geek friends coming up with countless top five lists. Top five dream jobs, top five first songs on music albums, top five this, top five that. Anyone who is into top five lists or top ten lists will probably love High Fidelity just for that small part of it. Speaking of Gordon's music geek friends, the person who really stole the show was Jack Black, as Barry, one of Gordon's employees at the record store that he owns in the film. Keep in mind, this was before anyone knew anything about Jack Black.  There's a scene near the end where he belts out a tune and shocks everyone, including the audience, at how amazing his voice is.  Then there is the hilarious music discussion scenes that take place in the record store are probably the best scenes in the film, and Black steals nearly every one of them. 

Almost as amusing as Black was Todd Louiso, playing the part of Dick, another employee at Gordon's record store. Dick is a very soft-spoken music fanatic who is probably so entertaining because we've known someone like him. In fact, that's what is so appealing about Gordon and Barry, too. They are a cross-section of music fans in the urban world and they provide many more laughs because of their familiarity. 

A number of well-known actors also played relatively small roles in High Fidelity, such as Catherine Zeta-Jones, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Joan Cusack, and, of course, Tim Robbins as the antagonistic ‘new boyfriend.' One of the really good things about High Fidelity is that it eventually delivers a good message about stepping up and actually doing something with your life. It warns of the dangers of getting too comfortable doing one thing, and of giving in to the temptation of hopping from relationship to brief relationship. At the end, Rob begins to realize the mistakes that he made in his relationship with Laura, and these are mistakes that I think a lot of people have made and continue to make. 

High Fidelity is just good comedy. It's fun, it's entertaining, and above all, it's refreshing because of it's relative originality. There are plenty of memorable scenes in the film, many because of their sheer, if illogical, hilarity. Some of the customers who come into the record store are treated much worse than they would ever be treated in real life, but the laughs are delivered. Don't miss this one.

 

Interesting stuff:  John Cusack and Tim Robbins had previously worked together on the Sure Thing (1985), TapeHeads (1988) and in Cradle Will Rock (1999), although Robbins was uncredited as a voice recording. Robbins also worked with Jack Black on Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny (2006).

 

 

 

 

[TalismanRing]

Rutger Hauer was kind of like the Neeson of his era - a first class actor enormously elevating B and C grade action flicks.  Alas for him he didn't get the fame and $20m per film Neeson now does.  He should have received better roles though especially after Bladerunner.   It's a shame his relationship with Verhoven fell apart and he didn't get to do Robocop or other films together.

[baumer]

Wanted Dead or Alive has two awesome things going for it. Ruther Hauer is awesome and the script has a lot of great one liners 

[baumer]

Coming up:

 

The original Stupendous tits goes full frontal in a 1985 movie about high school infatuation in the 50s.

[baumer]

@CJohn you will like the next one.

@75live curios if you've seen this next one. 

[75Live]

31 minutes ago, Baumer said:

@CJohn you will like the next one.

@75live curios if you've seen this next one. 

 

I'm now really curious myself 

[baumer]

I will be home in about 20 minutes and I will get the movie posted before I go back to my afternoon shift.

[baumer]

Jami Gertz plays a nerd lol

[75Live]

2 hours ago, Baumer said:

Coming up:

 

The original Stupendous tits goes full frontal in a 1985 movie about high school infatuation in the 50s.

 

8 minutes ago, Baumer said:

Jami Gertz plays a nerd lol

 

Ok I think i can guess the movie, but I don't think I have seen it so you got me again  

 

edit - actually I take that back, I may have seen it  lol

 

Edited July 20, 2016 by 75live

[baumer]

GTFO

 

You've seen it @75live lol

[75Live]

2 minutes ago, Baumer said:

GTFO

 

You've seen it @75live lol

 

if it's the film I think it is, I just caught a quick clip and it vaguely looks familair unless I am confusing the scenes I saw with another flick  lol 

[baumer]

Number 80

Mischief (1985)

Directed by: Mel Damski

Starring:  Doug McKeon, Kelly Preston, Jami Gertz, Terry O'Quinn

Box office:  8.6 million

"Got kicked out of school.  I fucked three chicks"

 

The 80's were great for many things when it came to films. It spawned the Indy films, it created Rambo and some of the campier horror films made their way to our screens. But what it also gave birth to was the teen comedy. I'm sure that we all remember films like Porky's and Fasttimes and the John Hughes era, but what we may forget are small films like this one that were gone from the theater faster than The Neon Demon. But the 80's also gave birth to video and it is here that I was lucky enough to see many of these hidden comedies. Films like Secret Admirer, Wild Life and Mischief are films that may be 25-30 years old but they are so much fun and so much of my youth that I hope this list will prompt some of the younger members here to find these kinds of films and give them a shot.   As it stands, Mischief is one those films that got a good laugh and it was rented and watched repeatedly.

Mischief is the story of a guy named Johnathin who is sort of a nerd. He is not really picked on the way that the nerds are in Revenge of the Nerds but still he is clearly not the most popular guy in school. He of course has a crush on the most beautiful girl in school named Marilyn McCauley, played by then hottie and still smokin, John Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston. Before Preston became domesticated and made the occasional film here and there in the 90's, she was a teenage boys pin-up girl as she was in this and Secret Admirer and was very liberal in showing us her assets. Mischief sees her do the full monty.  

 

Johnathan then meets the new kid on the block and he is your typical 50's greaser and a bad ass. His name is Eugene and he is played extremely well by Chris Nash. He and Johnathan develop a close friendship and Eugene decides that he is going to teach Johnathan how to be cool and get the girl. It is here that the film takes off. Most of the comedy ensues from Eugene teaching John what to do and how to do it. There is one particularly funny scene where John and Eugene are shooting some hoops and Eugene tells John why he is here.

" Got kicked out of school. "

" Why? "

" Fucked three chicks. " Eugene says, as if he was telling John that skipped school too many times.

" REALLY??!!! " Johnathan replies, literally in awe.

Eugene and Johnathan are obviously complete opposites and seeing Eugene take Johnathin under his wing is the funniest part of the film. As we watch John go through his transformation we laugh along with him. We feel embarrasment for him as he awkwardly begins to build up his confidence. Mischief isn't as side splittingly funny as Porky's or Fasttimes but it is a great addition to the 80's teenage comedy fest. If all you really know about raunchy teenage comedy is American Pie, then you should check out where it's roots are. Mischief is one of the films that it may have taken after. I realize that the aging of this film may turn some young people off this one but it really is a sweet comedy and it is one that has been forgotten about for too long. It's got a terrific script and a really good soundtrack as it belts out 50's hits like Blueberry Hill, Hound Dog and many others.  

 

 

 

[baumer]

For you @CJohn and @SchumacherFTW and @75live

[75Live]

yep that's' the movie and I do remember the star wars opening but I can't say I remember enough of the film so I guess that counts as not seeing it