80s Movies: A Guide to What's Wrong with Your Parents

80s Movie Guide
  • 3.9 (12)
  • TV & FILM
80s Movies: A Guide to What's Wrong with Your Parents

Film by film, mother-teen daughter movie critics Tara McNamara and Riley Roberts examine what makes movies from the 1980s so amazing and so, so wrong.

  1. 02/28/2021

    PRETTY IN PINK: Why Duckie Couldn't Get the Girl

    Before John Hughes, a movie couldn't be made that was just about who was going to take a girl to prom. But with a high school divided into the haves and the have nots, Hughes was able to make a love story of Romeo and Juliet proportions. The relationshp was bigger than working-class Andie and Yuppie son Blane: there was Duckie, the OG simp. Pretty in Pink (1986) was ahead of its time in celebrating emotional males with feminine energy and highlighting a parentified child dealing with a deeply depressed dad. However, it doesn't go far enough. Film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look back at the teen classic with a modern lens and call out the impact it had on a generation.

    38 min

  2. 01/29/2021

    How the U.S. Capitol Insurrection Can Be Traced Back to RED DAWN

    Wolverines! Red Dawn is one of the few teen action films of the '80s -- and definitely the most influential. It showed that teens were responsible, skilled, and capable enough to save their town and, possibly, the United States. It's a blow 'em up, shoot 'em up, and set them on fire pic. But the intended message never reached its young audience and the result, as hosts Tara McNamara (Gen X) and Riley Roberts (Gen Z) identify, is that the film has continued to inspire in all the wrong ways.

    51 min

  3. 12/04/2020

    THE OUTSIDERS: How a Teen Girl Influenced a Generation of Boys

    The Outsiders (1983) is one of the most popular teen books in the 1980s, and teens couldn't wait to see the movie directed by one of the biggest names in cinema. Featuring a Who's Who of Who Was and Who Would Become Famous -- including Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Diane Lane, Emilio Estevez, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Leif Garrett, and Tom Waits -- it was a film both genders lined up to see in 1983. Not only was this a period piece, written by a then teenage S.E. Hinton in the mid-60s, it also depicts a band of brothers born on the "wrong side of the tracks" -- and Hinton was female. The screenwriter who adapted the book was also a woman, Kathleen Rowell, who went under cover at a high school to be sure the film addressed how teens interacted in the early 1980s. Using a modern lens, film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, examine this Francis Ford Coppola classic with an eye to how a teen girl may have influenced a generation of teen boys on this episode of "'80s Movies: A Guide to What's Wrong with Your Parents." After listening, let us know your opinion on how you believe the film impacted a generation in the comments below or on social media (@80sMovieGuide).

    47 min

  4. 11/13/2020

    BEVERLY HILLS COP: It's all fun & games until cops falsify paperwork

    Beverly Hills Cop was the No. 1 movie in 1984, a year that many consider one of cinema's best. As Detroit police detective Axel Foley (a role originally written for white actors Mickey Rouke and then Sylvester Stallone), Eddie Murphy made headway for black authority figures as lead characters -- a huge step toward positive representation for the black community. Film authorities Tara McNamara (Gen X) and Riley Roberts (Gen Z) look back through a modern lens to evaluate how the comedy classic holds up and how it doesn't.

    20 min

  5. 06/04/2020

    URBAN COWBOY: Love Leaves a Mark

    Urban Cowboy took America from disco to country within weeks, its popularity buoying a desire for all things "country-western" from Wranglers and boots to riding pretend animals.Film authorities Tara McNamara and Riley Roberts look at the film thorugh the modern lens to assess what it tells us about life in 1980 and now.

    25 min

  6. 05/22/2020

    FLETCH: It's All Sarcasm Nowadays

    FLETCH (1985) is Chevy Chase's favorite character - and the favorite of most of Gen X. Film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look at the PG-rated film through a modern lens. While it doesn't carry shockers of bad behavior like other '80s comedies, it's there...just as Irwin M. Fletcher throws away most of the zingers, it's the subtleties that shows how '80s humor influenced a generation.

    17 min

  7. 05/15/2020

    FAME: "Follow Your Dreams" Starts Here

    When director Alan Parker took on a script about the New York High School of the Performing Arts, he intended to make a film that "took a hard look at a subject that had been overly glamorized." As much as he intended to show the sacrifice and pursuit of craft, that's not what audiences took away. Film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look back at the film that gave the world a song that would stick in the minds of dreamers everywhere.

    40 min

  8. 01/31/2020

    Interview: Daniel Waters on the Lasting Impact of HEATHERS

    A lot has happened since JD offed the teen mean girls of Westerburg High and blew himself up: mainly, the world has been blowing itself up and schools are a major target. Hosts Tara McNamara (Gen X) and Riley Roberts (Gen Z) asked if there was a connection and screenwriter Daniel Waters responds to this ("Why wasn't my phone ringing? HEATHERS should get some credit!") as well as answers all our questions about the making of "the movie that turned the '80s into the '90s."  For complete behind the scenes info on '80s movies, go to our site 80sMovieGuide.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @80sMovieGuide

    1h 24m
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Film by film, mother-teen daughter movie critics Tara McNamara and Riley Roberts examine what makes movies from the 1980s so amazing and so, so wrong.

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