Review: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

       After watching this movie and some careful deliberation, I came to the conclusion that Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is a grown-up version of The Breakfast Club. This may seem like an easy comparison because both films were directed by John Hughes, but there is more than a shared director that binds these two films together. On the surface, the films share a similar concept. A group of very different people forced together by circumstances. caused by both their own doing as well as an outside authority, and through their time together they learn valuable life lessons from each other. The group in Automobiles is only two people while there are five main characters in Breakfast Club, but the premise is roughly the same. These films are also similar because they are both considered 80s classics, and while both are considered comedies, the laughs are relatively sparse and separated by moments of melancholy and introspection. If you liked The Breakfast Club, and are looking for a similar movie now that you're out of your awkward, angsty teenage years, check out Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

Review: Brewster's Millions

     The 1980s were a time when materialism reigned supreme. Madonna sang about being a material girl, and yuppies were on the rise. The materialism of the 1980s is reflected in many of the films from that decade. The most notable is Oliver Stone's Wall Street, but there are a slew of movies whose premise revolves around the idea that money will solve all of your problems, not matter what those problems may be. Risky Business, Coming to America, Trading Places, Rain Man, and Scarface are all other examples of films focused on acquiring money to solve problems, rather than focusing on more human aspects of life like love and friendship. Brewster's Millions is just such a film; ostensibly, the film begins by trying to illustrate the evils of money and the ways it can destroy a person's life, but almost immediately after the scene that establishes this idea, the movie abandons it entirely and falls into another tired, though hilarious, tale about a man chasing a fortune.

Review: Cool Runnings

     Memory is a funny thing, especially when it comes to movies. Films you watched so many years ago that you loved so much seem like classic films. And then you watch them again for the first time in years and your more mature mind is able to notice all of the glaring plot holes and inconsistencies that your younger mind didn't care about. Such is the case with Cool Runnings. Who doesn't remember, as a child, watching this delightful Disney comedy about an unlikely Jamaican bobsled team? We laughed giddily at the silly songs, and the lucky egg, not caring about the impossibility of putting together an Olympic qualifying bobsled team in less than three months.