Greg Romijn: Somebody Likes the 80s!

On Sunday, January 11, 2004, at 03:45 AM, Greg Romijn wrote: Hello Ted... I love your site... It's nice to browse through other movie fan lists... As for me... My top ten would go a little like this... Random order of course...

01- Willow
02- Akira
03- The Blood of Heroes
04- Dune
05- Aliens
06- The Dark Crystal
07- Labyrinth
08- Goonies
09- The Breakfast Club
10- The Lost Boys

First, Greg, I want to say, thanks for writing. Second, I want to say, thanks for your kind words about my site.

Third, I haven't seen Willow or Akira. Is number three The Blood of Heroes (1990) with Rutger Hauer, Delroy Lindo, Vincent D'Onofrio; and written and directed by David Webb Peoples? Haven't seen it. Haven't seen Dune. I've seen little parts of it. Frankly, I'm interested in reading the book, so I don't want to see the movie before I read the book, and I keep putting the book off, because I've got so many books to read. Although it's David Lynch, and for me Lynch is very hit and miss. I think "Twin Peaks" is one of the greatest TV shows of all time; I think Mulholland Drive is like the best film of this century (2000-2004 so far). But I've heard mediocre reviews for Dune.

Aliens is one of the better movies of (what I consider) a bad decade -- the 80s. It's a great mix of sci-fi and horror, Weaver's character is an icon, especially for young women; the rest of the cast is good, most notably Bill Paxton (who's early career is similar to Lee Marvin's early career). I'm not a big fan of director James Cameron, but he's done some interesting work, Titanic not being an example.

Haven't seen The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, or Goonies. Crazy huh? There's a lot of 80s sci-fi fantasy here -- you and my brother should get together to talk about film.

The Breakfast Club may be worthwhile for affecting as many teenagers as it did. In a way it was perhaps, one could say, the Rebel Without a Cause of it's day. But I don't really think it's that good a movie. Too easy. Too cliched.

The Lost Boys is -- well, I could see it again. I kind of liked it at the time, whatever that was over 15 years ago. God, I get old quick. I like Jason Patric and think he can be a fantastic actor -- but really that early promise seems to rarely appear. Including two TV movies and the upcoming The Alamo (2004), Patric has made only 18 films in 19 years. What's that about? Of those, the best are After Dark, My Sweet (1990), Rush (1991), and Geronimo: An American Legend (1993). He gets great support from Bruce Dern in the first, Jennifer Jason Leigh in the second and Robert Duvall in the third. He's also good in Sleepers (1996), Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), and Narc (2002). He was very funny hosting the January 8, 1994 "Saturday Night Live."

Follow-up:

On Saturday, January 17, 2004, at 06:25 AM, Greg Romijn wrote: Hello Ted, thanks for throwing my little list up on your site... And yeah I guess I like the 80's a bit to much... But who doesn't??? LOL... Anyways, here is another list of some of my faves... With short comments... Maybe you could just add this list to my other one for me??? That would be great... And once again thank you for creating a place where people can come and share movie favorites and memories...

Another top 10 list... (How can I have more than 1 top 10 list??? lol...)

01 Short Circuit (1986) - Everyone loves cute robots... Cute robots named Johnny 5... That become alive... lol... I don't care who you are, I know you liked this flick... lol...
02 Solar Babies (1986) - I hope I got the title right? Anyways... A group of teens play a game that resembles the game they played in "Roller Ball" and end up having to fight the evil baddies to save thier alien glowing ball friend... lol... I know it sounds silly, but give it a chance...
03 Battle Royale (2001) - A Japanese Film where children of a grade 9 class are whisked away to kill each other off in a no holds barred Battle Royale... Classic in my eyes...
04 Batman (1989) - Micheal Keaton played the best Batman... Nuff said...
05 Terminator 2 Judgement Day (1991) - When it comes to humans fighting robots from the future, nothing beats T2...
06 Highlander (1986) - I don't know what it is... The swords? The Immortal thing? The heads being chopped off? Either way this movie was a true great and will always be... If you disagree, try checking out all the spinoffs and other things involved in the world of Highlander... Cartoons, 2 tv shows and 4 movies seems successful to me... (excluding part 2, that movie sucked...)
07 Die Hard (1988) - Bruce Willis has got to be one of the coolest cops anyone has every played in movies... As John Mclane he beats down baddies like no other, and does it in style... And quote form the film "Now I have a machine gun... Ho Ho Ho"!!! How classic is that??? lol...
08 Dead Poets Society (1989) - Robin Williams is awesome in this movie about a group of teens dealing with life at a private school...
09 They Live (1988) - What can I say??? Aliens among us and we don't know about it??? Who will save us??? Roddy Piper, thats who... lol... John Capenters best work in my eyes...
10 The Wizard (1989) - Okay so maybe this wasn't a great flick... But when I first saw it at a younger age, Nintendo was all I could think of... And yeah its one of those movies that when you see it on tv, you can't help but watch... At least thats how it is for me...

Thanks for taking the time to read the email and my lists... If you would like to hear more of my faves, just say the word... But if I am being a pest or just plain bugging ya... lol... Never mind...

Thanks for re-writing, Greg... I have not seen Solar Babies, Battle Royale or The Wizard. I'm sorry, but I hated Short Circuit. Batman (1989) was decent; Terminator 2 Judgement Day was quite good, also better than the original. Highlander I don't remember too well -- Connery loses his head in this one, yes? Die Hard is a great -- and highly influential -- 1980s action film. Both sequels aren't bad even. Dead Poets Society is good, and while Robin Williams isn't maybe quite awesome, he is good, and more reigned in. I assume your liking They Live for it's camp value? The fight sequence where one man tries to get his friend to try on his sunglasses, seems to be the entire middle act, and goes on for a half hour. John Carpenter's made good movies (i.e. The Thing), but They Live is awful. Or were you just loling again?