REVIEW: ‘Back to School’

What happens when a portly man in his 60s named Thornton Melon enrolls in college to be with his son? What happens when that man is a loutish, impulsive, and outspoken clothing magnate with no academic background but loads of practical life lessons? When that man is played by Rodney Dangerfield, the result is Back to School, the sixth-highest-grossing film of 1986.

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REVIEW: ‘Aliens’

There are many reasons Aliens is an important film. It confirmed James Cameron's status as a blockbuster talent after he had directed The Terminator and cowrote Rambo: First Blood Part II. ("The action is mine," he told the New York Times, "the politics is Stallone's.") It turned Sigourney Weaver into a feminist hero. But what makes it a great and eminently rewatchable movie is that it deftly combines horror, action, and science fiction, showcases jaw-dropping practical effects, and weaves in themes of corporate greed, militarism, and motherhood without being preachy or pretentious. In a decade when it was fun to mock sequels, Aliens reminded filmgoers why the risk was worth it.

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REVIEW: ‘Pretty in Pink’

Pretty in Pink is a fairy tale set in a suburban Chicago high school in the weeks before senior prom. Andie Walsh (Molly Ringwald) grows up on the wrong side of the tracks and doesn't have a stitch to wear. Her date lets her down at first, but she goes to the ball and gets her prince in the end. Her frog, a wealthy beta in a white tux called Blane McDonough, is played by Andrew McCarthy.

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REVIEW: ‘Labyrinth’

Have you ever longed to know The Dark Crystal's strange yet amicable cousin? Jim Henson's 1986 coming-of-age acid trip Labyrinth covers every whimsical and weird base that puppetry can offer. Drawing from sources such as the paradoxical pieces of M.C. Escher and the medieval myth of changelings swapping babies with their own, the David Bowie-embellished journey immediately cemented itself into the weird fantasy hall of fame.

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REVIEW: ‘Coyote vs. Acme’

The new screwball comedy Coyote vs. Acme isn't actually new. It was finished three years ago. And the fact that you can now go see it this weekend at your local movie theater is pretty close to a miracle. I'll get to that in a minute, but first, let me just say that Coyote vs. Acme is pretty close to a miracle in its own right.

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REVIEW: ‘The Name of the Rose’

"Images are the literature of the layman," says the narrator of The Name of the Rose, the book by Umberto Eco. He's explaining the art of churches. The character would have had no idea about movies—his tale takes place in medieval times—but perhaps he'd appreciate the project of bringing a popular novel to the big […]

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REVIEW: ‘Stand By Me’

Among the many gifts of the 1980s was an abundance of coming-of-age dramas and comedies. Today, the genre has nearly disappeared from theaters, but the Reagan era was filled with films depicting the freedom, innocence, and struggles of America's youth. These films provided a window into suburban America and introduced the world to American culture with young actors who became cultural icons.

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REVIEW: 'The End of Oak Street'

The new Anne Hathaway movie, The End of Oak Street, is an exercise in Larry Tate-ism. To explain to those who aren't 147 years old like me, Larry Tate was the advertising executive on the sitcom Bewitched whose opinions would shift drastically depending on what his client would say. When his underling Darrin came up with a slogan, Larry Tate would say, "That's ridiculous." Then the client would say, "I find it intriguing." At which point Larry Tate would respond, "Exactly! A ridiculously intriguing slogan!"

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REVIEW: 'Hannah and Her Sisters'

I did not grow up in a large family—I count among my relations one sibling and a handful of cousins—and certainly not in a blended family: My dear parents were married once, to each other, for 44 years, until my father died in 2010. My mother never remarried. Yet when I recall my childhood and adolescence, I am struck by the sheer clamor that rings in my ears: the talk, the chatter, the ding of kitchen pots and pans, the crash of the backdoor. My father's whistle upon coming home from a business trip; my mother's laugh when she saw something funny on TV. Now, deep into adulthood, I sometimes wonder where all that sound has gone, but I am reminded of it whenever I revisit Woody Allen's 1986 comedy-drama Hannah and Her Sisters, which, among its other attributes, conjures the splendid racket of family life.

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REVIEW: 'Tony'

There is a Canadian director no one has ever heard of, and just in the past three years he has made three of the most interesting and unexpected pictures of our time. His name is Matt Johnson, and the three movies are Blackberry from 2023, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie from 2025, and Tony, just out this weekend. Blackberry, which I thought was the best film of that year, tells the story of Research in Motion, the firm that made the Blackberry mobile device.

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