back when the joker and robin were high school classmates

Tee hee hee.  Heath Ledger and Joseph Gordon Levitt in 10 Things I Hate About You.

back when there were baldwins and there were barneys

In the 90s, some guys were Baldwins, and some guys were Barneys.

In the slang popularized by movies such as Clueless, "Baldwin" is a term girls used to refer to a highly attractive, visually delicious, crush-material male.

back when they were (already cute but) not yet so glamorous: part 1

I know that fashion fads and people's looks change through the years, but there have been some drastic makeovers and metamorphoses that I can't not take note of.

lookie here!

Darla and Alfalfa from The Little Rascals (1994) all grown up.

friday flick fix back to the future

Images from here.

The Hubby and I marathoned the Back To the Future movies a couple of weeks ago when we were experiencing jet lag. We agreed that an 80's sci-fi comedy with the likes of Michael J. Fox makes for good late-night company. ^_^ The last (and first time) we watched the three movies straight was around this time last year; I was supposed to write an entry in time for the 25th anniversary of Back To The Future (1985) in 2010 but some things came up and I hardly had any time for blogging.

So, anyway.

Robert Zemeckis' Back To the Future (starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd) was another one of our Betamax frequents when I was a school-age child. I think it was everybody's go-to Beta tape - can't imagine any '80s kid who never watched it at least once. Personally I'd memorized the details and bits of dialogue from watching it again and again and again.

Love the soundtrack too; Huey Lewis and the News were very hip in those days.

BTF was so flipping cool, with the cute guy dressed in a life-vest and sneakers; the cute girl in grandma's clothes, and the time machine dressed in a luxury car, and all the space-time jargon around the Flux Capacitor. There was an incestuous love-triangle-turned-love-square, but things ended happier ever after for the McFlys.

The DeLorean was a hot piece of automobile in the mid-'80s. It was streamlined (yeah, compared to the staple box-types) and supposedly ultra-modern. Its doors flipped upward like wings instead of opening the usual way, and that was ostentatiously, outrageously wyckid.


Logically, an amped-up DeLorean in a hip movie about time travel raised its popularity.

But it took only a few years for people to realize that those unconventional doors were massively inconvenient, not to mention unnecessary, so it isn't a wonder that we don't see cars like that anymore.


Michael J. Fox was like one of the hugest teen idols outside of the Brat Pack. Though at that time I think he was around a decade to old to be considered a teen, but he looked young and starred in a couple of youth-oriented flicks.

He was the original Teen Wolf (1985), a well-loved '80s classic that has now become another unfortunate victim of re-imagining (The original Teen Wolf was a wholesome comedy, by the way, for you kiddies who think everything you watch nowadays is original).

Something as big and as top-grossing as Back To the Future was sure to have a sequel, specifically since the last shot in the movie was superimposed with a huge TO BE CONTINUED. Back to The Future II (1989) thus came four years after.


Four years felt like a lifetime for a kid like me, but pleased as I was, I was half-surprised producers even bothered to grind out the sequel.

But -- Great Scott! What happened to Jennifer!?

Image from RetroJunk.com

Part II pulled a switcheroo, subtly slipping in a new actress for the same character. The whole last scene of the first movie was the first scene of the second, re-shot exactly as it was but with a different Jennifer. The new blonde who played Marty McFly's old girlfriend was Elizabeth Shue, who was later in Melrose Place, The Saint and Hollow Man.

I don't even remember who the original Jennifer was.

Something I do remember about this second movie was that it was nominated for (or did it actually win?) best visual effects. The particularly impressive scene was the one where Michael J. Fox played an aged Marty McFly, Marty junior and Marty junior's sister, all in one shot. Back then, that was an incredible feat of manual film editing.

Another bit that was so amusing about the second movie were the references to the first. Like for example that part where Marty McFly lies semi-conscious on a bed in the dark, being nursed by his mother. And all the 1955 scenes that make it into the timeline. I'd hate to retell everything here, but if you've seen both movies, you'd know what I mean.

A whole chunk of movie II was set in 2015. Seeing the flick for the first time in the cinema, we all probably thought the moviemakers did an amazing job of extrapolating what would happen thirty years into the future. Well I certainly did, and I even hoped hoverboards, smart homes and self-adjusting clothing really would come around soon.

Watching it again in 2011 - which really isn't that far from 2015 - all the "futurism" seems so ludicrous (but not in a bad way, mind you; it's still a comedy after all). For one thing, today's graphics are no longer so angular. Hover technology is still lightyears from becoming mainstream, and not even NASA's astronauts wear intelligent clothing.

On the plus side, the concept of video-communication is more or less consistent with today's goings on, except that we use the internet now instead of phone lines and Fax machines.

That Retro Cafe scene where Marty taught a couple of kids how to play a video game from the '80s - that's hilarious because it's quite spot-on that the little kids of 2015 would call it a baby's game. Video games today are a far cry from Marty's Lone Gunman, which was already quite advanced in 1985.

One of those kid actors was the young Elijah Wood in his first screen appearance (left) :

From RetroJunk.com

Other notable appearances: Before he was known as the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist, Flea was in the second and third movie as Needles.

Image from RetroJunk.com

Billy Zane of Titanic fame, also then a nobody but already cute, was one of Biff / Griff's henchmen (right, back):



Just as the first installment closed with TO BE CONTINUED, Part II finished with TO BE CONCLUDED, immediately followed by a teaser trailer of the third movie.


Part III came a year after II. For Marty McFly though, all these things took place within the span of a few days.

Marty and Doc continue their adventure in 1885. The DeLorean gets smashed after Marty gets home, Doc constructs a steampunk time machine with a train as a base. Marty develops character and therefore saves his future, and everything ends with a high note.

In my opinion, this is the least spectacular of the trilogy, but it does give some sort of conclusion.

------------------------

At the beginning of this post, I mentioned the Hubby and I had a bit of jet lag. Early June this year, we spent a week in California and one of the places we visited was Universal Studios, where much of Back To The Future was filmed.



On the studio tour, we were shown the set that was once used for the Hill Valley clock tower:

Photo mine

(which was also the courthouse for Liar, Liar and the town square for this period movie)

... and one of the prop DeLoreans:


And that concludes today's trip back to my childhood years. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

friday flick fix: dazed and confused (1993)

Really sorry I can't credit the photos.

I nicked them some time ago.

A huge '70s revival went on back in the 1990's. Bell bottoms and platforms made a comeback, disco music was covered by showbands at clubs and That '70s Show was a top-rating sitcom. Here and there were movies set in the 1970s.

Dazed and Confused was set in 1976. It shows a day in the lives of some high-schoolers - the last day of school to be exact. It doesn't really follow the story of any one of them, but shows bits and pieces about the incoming seniors and incoming freshmen.

It's supposedly rife with '70s cliches - as in, actual people from back then are supposed to be reminded of actual people who were like the characters. I heard that to fully appreciate this flick, you had to be a teenager in 1976. I wasn't even born then yet.

Cliches in a teen movie definitely mean stereotypes, so here we go ...

There were the football-playing, pot-smoking jocks:

At left is the cute one (Jason London), at right is the brawny one.

The nervous incoming freshmen, straight from their last day of middle school:

The queen bee:

A cute Parker Posey in shoulder pads and super-short, ratty denim cutoffs.
A couple of years ago she played Lex Luther's girlfriend Kitty in Superman Returns.

I think it was the fashion for girls in the late '70s to cut their old jeans so short that the pockets stuck out. I once heard a story of how girls used to sew their clothes themselves, and some daring ones made skirts the length of their hand-span.

The nice bitch / popular jock's steady girl:

Joey Lauren Adams. She was in a few other '90s teen movies after this.
Her most recent notable role was as Jennifer Aniston's character's friend in The Break-Up.

A silent, pot-smoking, hippie-chick girlfriend:

She's so gorgeous, you noticed her presence even if she hardly said a thing.
This is model/actress Milla Jovovich, before she was famous. We know her today as Resident Evil action hero Alice.

A soup-brained pothead:

If you're a fan of CSI: Miami, you may recognize Rory Cochrane as Speedle (the agent who died). He was also in 24.

A dumb bully who will be repeating his senior year with the incoming batch:

Recognize this actor?
This is Ben Affleck, in his pre-Good Will Hunting, pre-stardom days.

One of the other dudes intent on paddling the freshmen:

After graduating from teen roles, Cole Hauser was later in 2 Fast 2 Furious, Tears of the Sun, and The Break-Up.

A sleazy older guy who won't relinquish his high school glory days:

Matthew McConaughey, with the pedophile mustache.

Apparently male fashion included ultratight pants and ultratight shirts with folded sleeves. Men sometimes stuffed a packet of cigarettes into one of the folded sleeves - see McConaughey above. I remember my uncle used to do that up until the early '80s.

The not-so-popular kids:

Adam Goldberg at left.
You may have noticed him from Friends or Saving Private Ryan.

At right is Anthony Rapp. He's Mark in both the theater and film versions of Rent.

The not-so-popular readhead was played by Marisa Ribisi.
Today she's mostly known as Giovanni Ribisi's twin sister, or Beck's significant other.

And the various background people:

You probably didn't spot her, but that's a chubby Renee Zellweger in an obscure role.

This flick was cool stuff when I was a teenager - I don't remember exactly why though. I recently watched it as an adult and went, What the heck was that all about again? There were funny and/or interesting scenes in there, but as the credits rolled I realized that the whole movie was just a series of funny and/or interesting scenes that don't make up much of a story - which isn't really a bad thing, especially since the movie title includes the words dazed and confused.

friday film fix: full metal jacket (1987)

Image not mine.

This week's re-watch is Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (many thanks to friend J for lending me his collection!) It's one of the best movies ever made, i.m.o.

It's a single film dissected into two parts, a sort of a visual-criticism-through-a-narrative on the experiences of a Marine in the Vietnam war. It's linear all throughout, so it feels so simple through the profundity (Think of it this way: It's like Kubrick baked this great, big cake and served it in little bit-sized pieces at a time, and before we knew it we'd finished off most of the cake).

I first watched it when I was around twelve years old, via Betamax, with my parents (I was kinda surprised my folks let me watch it all the way through without their censorship; it's not the kind of movie kids should see), then saw it again a few years later in my teens. Even if I first viewed it some twenty years ago, I never forgot about it and it remains one of my favorite films ever.

Now I'm not giving credit to my memory, but to Stanley Kubrick's genius. This is the kind of movie that you will never forget. Especially if you watched it as a kid. If you've seen it before, you'd know what I mean. Some of the scenes in there aren't just memorable, but indelible.

Such as:

This scene.
Who would forget This is my Rifle, this is my gun ... ?

And this scene. And the whole happening just before it. Wow.

And this scene. Especially what comes after it.

And this one. WTF, it's a young girl?!

It also has a memorable set of characters, played by an amazing cast. Vincent D'Onofrio was remarkable in there as Pvt. Pyle. R. Lee Ermey was the quintessential Drill Sargeant.

There's also this unforgettable bad**s Marine with an equally unforgettable name, Animal Mother, played by Adam Baldwin - who we would recognize today as Jayne Cobb in Firefly (and Serenity) or John Casey in Chuck.

Adam Baldwin as Animal Mother, 1987

As Jayne Cobb, 2005.

Full Metal Jacket has that quality about it that is the right mix of thought-provoking and slightly disturbing. Even if I've seen it before and knew what was going to happen next, it still made me cringe, smile, jolt and/ or go ohmygosh.

Really good flick. Watch it. If you're at least 15 years of age, I mean.

friday flick fix: can't hardly wait (1998)

I recently went through my in-laws' DVD library hoping to find something I can borrow; I needed some "background entertainment" while making fashion accessories for a buyer. Fortunately, tucked in the top shelf was a backup copy of Can't Hardly Wait (1998).

I've seen this flick before of course, and considered "renting" it - I remembered it to be sufficiently happy and feelgood, with a good amount of noise to keep me awake; simple enough not to pay attention to, but it's not the too-idiotic kind of slapstick. I decided to take it home to play while I worked.

Poster from here.
Directed by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan.
With Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ethan Embry,

Seth Green, Lauren Ambrose, Charlie Korsmo, Peter Facinelli

For all its teen-movie stereotypes, silliness and predictability, it's still fun. I'm glad that it at least didn't have a prom scene.

Can't hardly believe that this movie was released over a decade ago; for some reason it looks rather fresh. The clothes weren't even too '90s.

But of course the mere appearance of Jennifer Love Hewitt as the dreamgirl Amanda Beckett makes the movie dated (likable choice for the role, BTW).

In the late '90s Hewitt became a teen queen for her work in Party of Five and the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise. She even had an album back then and a rumored boob job.

Anyway.

I loved the geeks in Can't Hardly Wait, particularly the overachieving and vengeful William Lichter (Charlie Korsmo) who became top dog for one night (Trivia: Did you know he was the kid in Hook?). But There's just something about them nerds and their plot that is too reminiscent of John Hughes' Sixteen Candles (1984).

Re-watching this flick, I recognized a lot of extras who had significant roles in other late '90s teen movies - Sean Patrick Thomas (Save The Last Dance), Donald Faison (Clueless), Breckin Meyer (Clueless), Channon Roe (Girl), Clea Duvall (She's All That), Tamala Jones.

A not-yet-famous Selma Blair and Jaime Pressly were in there too for a few minutes each.




Already-famous-then Melissa Joan Hart (a.k.a. Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Jerry O'Connel and Jenna Elfman (of Dharma and Greg) had cameos.

Can't Hardly Wait isn't film at its best; I would even agree with anyone who'd say it's a poorly-made movie (note: cliches, stereotypes, predictable outcome, corny dialogues, flat characters, focus problems, continuity problems, sloppy ending et al). But it's one heck of a fun ride back to 1998.

These days we still get to see a lot of Jeniffer Love Hewitt in The Ghost Whisperer and a flop movie here and there, though I kinda think she's too cute for non-teen roles. Keeping everyone up-to-date with the public's interest in her lady parts, she became the first celebrity advocate of vajazzling.



Seth Green, who played "the wannabe" Kenny Fisher (the annoyance who thinks he's Afro-American) has since been spotted in the Austin Powers movies and The Italian Job. He's also one of the geniuses behind Robot Chicken, and the voice of Family Guy's Griffin.




Lauren Ambrose who was "the best friend" Denise Fleming as later seen in the HBO series Six Feet Under (2001).




Good for Peter Facinelli - formerly "the jock" Mike Dexter - he has a series of movies lined up as Dr. Carlisle Cullen in the Twilight Saga.




I also noticed that one of Mike Dexter's goofy henchmen was Freddy Rodriguez, who happens to be Wray in the 2007 Grindhouse movies.




I have no idea what Ethan Embry has been in lately.

back when mayim (and blossom) was real popular

Sue to Will: Seriously, you wear more vests than the cast of Blossom.
[Glee Season 2 Episode 2, September 2010]

Yeah, I'm a Gleek too , so sue me. Anway. Since I heard that comment made by Sue on the episode from a few weeks ago, I wondered about what ever happened to Mayim Bialik. But just a bit more of TV watching answered my curiosity.

My other current fixations is CBS' Big Bang Theory - a hilarious sitcom featuring four lovable geeks. Anyway, there's a new recurring role in the person of Amy Farah Fowler, Dr. Sheldon Cooper's not-girlfriend. She's not a very likeable character but she has this whole humorous dynamic with Sheldon that works.


I wondered for a while about that actress - who she is, how the casters found her and why they chose her. She appeared rather trite next to Jim Parsons' Sheldon, and she wasn't very visually appealing, if you know what I mean. As the end credits filed out, I read that Amy Farah Fowler was/is played by Mayim Bialik.

It took me less than a second to recognize that name. Aside from the fact that it's a very unique and incredibly memorable name, it used to be somewhat huge in the early '90s.


For a time, Blossom was a TV hit. I understand she was supposed to be adorable, but I didn't get why. I never became interested enough in her or her show though, so I don't really have a lot of fond memories about. But I do know that Mayim Bialik's well-loved television persona was guilty of setting that obnoxious-hat trend, particularly the hat-with-ridiculously-big-sunflower trend. That sunflower-hat fad eventually spawned sunflower everything - clothing, bags, accessories and stuff. It wasn't funny at that time, but it looks terribly ludicrous now.

So there. Mayim. I never found her cute, but she didn't age too well. Her fashion seems to be stuck in the '90s too.