Directed by Geneviève Robert | Starring Lea Thompson, Victoria Jackson, and a beach full of STD metaphors If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to trap two sitcom side characters inside a 90-minute PSA about herpes with a laugh track, Casual Sex? is here to answer that question—and then keep awkwardly answering it … Read More “Casual Sex? (1988): All the Awkward, None of the Orgasm” »
Directed by Howard Deutch | Written by John Hughes | Starring Eric Stoltz, Mary Stuart Masterson, Lea Thompson, and a pair of diamond earrings more emotionally grounded than half the cast Some Kind of Wonderful is the dark horse of the John Hughes Brat Pack canon—the one that trades country clubs and cheerleaders for garages, … Read More “Some Kind of Wonderful (1987): John Hughes Goes Emo and the Earrings Save the Day” »
Directed by Willard Huyck | Produced by George Lucas | Starring Lea Thompson, Tim Robbins, Jeffrey Jones, and a wisecracking duck in a bathrobe Some movies are masterpieces. Some are disasters. And then there’s Howard the Duck, a film that crash-landed somewhere between cult classic and career-ending PR crisis. It waddled into theaters in 1986 … Read More “Howard the Duck (1986): Fowl Play in Cleveland—So Bad It’s Quackingly Watchable” »
Directed by James Kenelm Clarke | Written by James Kenelm Clarke | Starring Chris Lemmon, Jean Simmons, Lea Thompson There are movies that make you laugh.There are movies that make you think.And then there’s Going Undercover, a movie that makes you question who approved this script, why Lea Thompson is here, and whether the title … Read More “Going Undercover (1985): A Brilliant Disaster Starring the Worst P.I. Since Inspector Clouseau Got a Concussion” »
Directed by Robert Zemeckis | Written by Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale | Starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and a shocking lack of adult supervision Back to the Future is often hailed as a perfect movie—tight script, iconic performances, and that good old-fashioned Reagan-era optimism wrapped in a flux capacitor. … Read More “Back to the Future (1985): A DeLorean-Fueled Oedipal Crisis Disguised as a Family Film” »
Directed by Art Linson | Written by Cameron Crowe | Starring Chris Penn, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, Eric Stoltz, Lea Thompson, Jenny Wright, Rick Moranis Imagine if Fast Times at Ridgemont High got hit in the head with a surfboard and forgot why it was cool. That’s The Wild Life—a movie that desperately wants to be edgy, … Read More “The Wild Life (1984): The Mild Life, Brought to You by Discount Cameron Crowe” »
Directed by John Milius | Starring Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Jennifer Grey, and a whole lot of machine guns If America ever had a collective cold war nightmare after eating a gas station burrito at 2 a.m., it would look a lot like Red Dawn. This 1984 action-pocalypse is pure, … Read More “Red Dawn (1984): The Most Patriotic Fever Dream Ever Filmed” »
All the Right Moves (1983): All the Wrong EverythingDirected by Michael Chapman | Starring Tom Cruise, Craig T. Nelson, Lea Thompson Let’s get this out of the way: All the Right Moves is not about dance, karate, or any remotely interesting moves. It’s about football—high school football, no less. And not the kind of football … Read More “All the Right Moves (1983) : All the Wrong Everything” »
Directed by Joe Alves | Starring Dennis Quaid, Bess Armstrong, Louis Gossett Jr., and a shark rendered in pure shame There’s bad sequels, and then there’s Jaws 3-D—a movie so creatively bankrupt it doesn’t even deserve the dignity of a colon. This is the film that took one of the greatest cinematic thrillers of all … Read More “Jaws 3-D (1983): The Shark That Jumped the Shark—In Three Dimensions of Suck” »
Directed by Pat Proft | Starring Leslie Nielsen, Kelly LeBrock, Michael York, Richard Crenna If Wrongfully Accused were a person, it would be the drunk uncle at Thanksgiving who tries to retell The Fugitive using sock puppets and fart jokes. And everyone just politely sips their wine, waiting for it to end. This movie is … Read More “Wrongfully Accused (1998): A Crime Against Comedy” »
