#1985 films

[cressida-jayoungr]

One Dress a Day Challenge

August: Fantasy & Sci-Fi

Return to Oz / Jean Marsh as Mombi and Sophie Ward as Mombi II

I was lucky enough to grow up in a town whose library had a nearly complete collection of the Oz books, so of course I remembered Princess Langwidere and her collection of heads! It was great to see that onscreen, even though they merged the characters of Langwidere and Mombi.

In the book, she only wore a simple white dress, as changing her head gave her all the variety she wanted. But I think the burgundy-and-plum gown created for the movie by designer Raymond Hughes is gorgeous, with its iridescent patches and art nouveau swirls. A particularly interesting feature is the rack of golden splinters trailing back from the shoulders, almost like they're trying to form into fairy wings but aren't quite complete.

[marthamydearposts]

Michael J. Fox (1985)

[ave09]

everyone should go watch witness (1985)

and i’ll tell you why:

boom, three reasons-now go watch!

okay but all joking aside, it is a wonderful movie and honestly, it beats both star wars and indy imo bc i love the crime drama and love story

[adamwatchesmovies]

Massacre in Dinosaur Valley (1985)

There’s one genre of horror that feels particularly daunting to explore: the “cannibal horror” genre. Its best-known entry, 1980's Cannibal Holocaust is notorious for its real-life footage of animal killings and anyone whose interest is peaked hearing this probably needs psychological help. Then there’s the inherent racism of these stories: the plots almost always concern a group of urban people who encounter savage aboriginals that want nothing more than to butcher, cook and then eat white meat. You're curious why the genre was so prolific but you don’t want to be offended so you pick the most ridiculous-sounding entry of them all: Massacre in Dinosaur Valley. The idea is that when your hapless explorers are getting torn apart by prehistoric reptiles, it will be easy to forget about what’s socially acceptable and just laugh between the “yuck!” scenes.

Deep in the Amazon jungle live the reclusive Aquera Indians: a tribe of cannibals who have little contact with the outside world. Their territory contains the “Dinosaur Valley”, a bone-bed rich with fossils and hidden dangers. Palaeontologist Kevin Hall (Michael Spokiw), Professor Pedro Ibañez (Leonidas Bayer), his daughter Eva (Suzanne Carvalho), fashion models Belinda (Susan Hahn) and Monica (Maria Reis), Vietnam vet John Heinz (Milton Morris) and his wife Betty (Marta Anderson) are flying over the off-limits area when their plane suddenly crashes. The survivors must find a way back to civilization before they become victims of the jungle surrounding them.

Originally shot in Italian, then dubbed in English, no one - on camera or otherwise - gives a good performance. That only matters so much because you’re not here for high art. What you’re here for is the sleaze. You want nudity? Massacre in Dinosaur Valley has it in droves. We get to see the supermodels changing, Eva showering, a gratuitous sex scene that comes out of nowhere, a sadistic lesbian that can’t wait to tear Belinda’s top off and when the ladies get captured by the Aquera Indians (that’s what the movie calls them so I will too), the cannibals promptly rip off their clothes and give them new outfits that barely cover anything. The objective was to find as many ways to show the actresses barring it all - logic or tact be damned. When Eva is shown in the nude (there’s quite a bit of full-frontal nudity), she’s showering with the doors to the bathroom and hotel room wide open so anyone can walk in. When Kevin wanders inside looking for her father, he gets a nice view. He gives her a towel, but she only realizes a stranger provided the helping hand after about 30 seconds. My question is… who did she THINK was helping her dry off? Her father? Gross.

Speaking of gross, how’s the gore? Disappointing, unfortunately. With a title like Massacre in Dinosaur Valley, you expect to see the idiots who stumble into that green inferno getting dismembered, decapitated, flayed alive and otherwise brutalized before getting eaten - either by dinosaurs or racist caricatures. Someone does get eaten but it’s nothing spectacular and isn’t treated as such either, which is a letdown. By my count, there are two massacres in this movie. Too bad it’s not the people you expect that get reduced to deli meat. Most of our ill-fated adventurers bite the dust because of non-cannibal dangers, which you might not think is a big deal. It’s not called Massacre in Cannibal Valley, am I right? Just wait.

The film could essentially be split into three parts, only one of which has anything to do with that titular valley. Part one is a story filled with quicksand, flesh-eating jungle beasts and other clichés. Part two concerns the cannibals. Part three, the white slavers! Between these three hurried plots, fans of bad movies will have some laughs. There’s plenty of questionable behavior spread throughout, the gratuitous nudity is so outlandish it’s hard not to crack a smile, the body count is so extreme it's hilarious, there are plenty of ideas introduced and then dropped and at points, it’s hard to tell if the movie is implying certain things or if the filmmaking and continuity are just THAT BAD. A lot of stuff just happens because writer/director Michele Massimo Tarantini wanted it to happen. Logic had nothing to do with it.

Massacre in Dinosaur Valley is better shot than you'd think, the plot moves along quickly enough to prevent you from getting bored and it manages to be so incompetent you skip the phase where you’d be offended and go directly to rolling your eyes while chuckling at the pathetic attempts at storytelling. All this SHOULD make for a decent “so bad it’s good” cannibal film… if it weren’t for one glaring flaw. There are no dinosaurs in this movie. None! What a ripoff! (November 5, 2021)

[dersiebentekontinent]

[astolfocinema]

Taipei Story (1985) --------------------- dir. Edward Yang cin. Yang Wei-han cou. Taiwan

[greengableslover]

LEGEND (1985) dir. RIDLEY SCOTT

[zegalba]

Yoshitaka Amano: 'Angel's Egg' (1985)

[rookie-critic]

Fandango (1985, dir. Kevin Reynolds) - review by Rookie-Critic

Fandango was a fun buddy road trip movie. The different set pieces and scenes were mostly funny and and it's pretty cool to see a very young Kevin Costner (in his first major starring role). The first half of the movie meanders quite a bit and I felt it was a little tonally disjointed, but the second half of the movie brings it back in a big way and makes it worth the watch. A good soundtrack didn't hurt, either.

Score: 7/10

Currently only available for rent or purchase through the normal channles (iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, etc.) or on DVD & Blu-ray through the Warner Archive Collection.

[daily80s]

BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)

[cressida-jayoungr]

One Dress a Day Challenge

November: Oscar Winners

A Room with a View / Helena Bonham-Carter as Lucy Honeychurch

Year: 1986

Designer: Jenny Beavan and John Bright

Lucy wears this outfit for a brief scene of tea in the garden. Some of the costumes for this film were vintage pieces, and I wonder if this might be one of them, with the intricate embroidery on the top (does it qualify as a shirtwaist?). I also wonder if it might have been chosen as a nod to the original novel, where the famous kiss in the flower field happens in spring rather than summer, and the flowers are violets rather than poppies.

There's a very good writeup of the costumes in this film here.

[sacredwhores]

John Paizs - Crime Wave (1985)

[adamwatchesmovies]

Guilty Conscience (1985)

When Anthony Hopkins hams it up in films like Transformers: The Last Knight and The Wolfman, you might forget how good of a performer he is. The man's won multiple acting awards. Guilty Conscience has some amusing twists and turns before ending on a “wan wan” note. This 1985 made-for-TV film would be wholly unremarkable despite its entertaining qualities if it weren’t for Hopkins' excellent central performance.

Wealthy criminal defence attorney Arthur Jamison (Anthony Hopkins) has been having affairs for years and his wife, Louise (Blythe Danner) has finally had enough. She wants a divorce - which will cost him big. With his knowledge of the criminal court system, Arthur begins planning his wife's murder.

In many ways, Guilty Conscience feels like a play. The bulk of this story shows Arthur setting up the murder, committing it, and then the whole thing revealing itself to be a fantasy. Then, he deconstructs his crime with the help of his own “devil’s advocate” (also played by Hopkins) to plan a fool-proof scenario. The film is almost entirely set in his living room. The only other significant characters are his wife and his mistress, Jackie Willis (Swoosie Kurtz). This could easily be adapted for the stage except for the awkwardness that would come from Arthur constantly talking to himself from two different sides of the room. This script gives Hopkins a fantastic opportunity to showcase how devious and charismatic he can be. He radiates a sinister intelligence as he casually plans his wife's demise and crafts two wholly different people just by changing his tone of voice and putting on a different outfit.

The film is fun for darkly relatable reasons. Anyone who’s watched enough true-crime shows has thought “those people were amateurs; I bet I could do this murder business better than them”. Not that you’d actually do it, but you think of all the steps you’d take if you did. We’ve all played the game Arthur is playing and since it’s a movie, it’s all perfectly innocent fun.

As amusing as the film is, the cheeky ending is a letdown. There’s a point where it could end and it would be dark but not darker than the rest of the film. Then, it keeps going so we can have a needless twist. Pick one or the other, not both. I also have to criticize the film’s title, which is AW-FUL. “Guilty Conscience”? What guilt? What conscience? You will find neither here, and if the second character Hopkins is playing is Arthur's conscience, it sure does a poor job dissuading him from killing his wife; all it does is say “It wouldn’t work that way, try again”.

There are plenty of fun twists throughout Guilty Conscience. Although there is one too many, this dramatic crime mystery thriller will keep you wondering what’s next and what you would do if you were in this situation. This kind of picture would be a perfect rental or a great bonus movie to include as a bonus in a “Best of Anthony Hopkins” box set. (Full-screen version on VHS, June 17, 2021)

[dersiebentekontinent]

[2001hz]

吸血鬼ハンターD (1985)