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The Shermer High Alumni Association

The Shermer High Alumni Association

by Kristin Harwell, Jeannine Zabriskie, Carole Tribuzzo

Comedy Film Reviews

Valley Girl (1983)

Valley Girl is a 1983 romantic comedy that captures the vibrant culture clash between two distinct Los Angeles teenage worlds. The story follows Julie Richman, a popular, trendsetting Valley Girl from the San Fernando Valley, who grows tired of her arrogant boyfriend and her shallow, conformist social circle. When she meets Randy, a raw, edgy Hollywood punk rocker with a sweet heart, the two share an instant, undeniable connection. As their whirlwind romance blossoms against a backdrop of iconic new wave music, Julie faces intense peer pressure from her judgmental friends to dump him, forcing her to choose between the safety of her social status and the thrill of breaking the mold.

One Crazy Summer (1986)

An aspiring teenage cartoonist goes to Nantucket for the summer and accidentally gets drafted into a high-stakes class war, where the only logical way to save a singer's ancestral home from greedy yacht-club billionaires is by unleashing pure 1980s chaos, a ragtag group of misfits, and Godzilla. This masterpiece of absurdity turns a standard coming-of-age romance into a beautiful disaster of property damage and working-class spite, proving that John Cusack doesn't need smooth words to woo Demi Moore when he can just draw aggressive cartoon rhinoceroses and win a rigged regatta. It is a wonderfully unhinged time capsule where logic takes a vacation, corporate greed is defeated by teenagers, and the power of animated imagination triumphs over cold, hard cash.

Big Trouble In Little China (1986)

Kurt Russell stars as Jack Burton, a big-talking, wisecracking truck driver who's suddenly hurled into a wild adventure even he could never invent. At the root of it all is Lo Pan, a 2,000-year-old evil magician who rules an empire of spirits beneath San Francisco's Chinatown. Doomed to a fleshless existence, he can only be saved by a green-eyed Asian beauty. When the fiancé of Jack's friend is kidnapped by Lo Pan's minions, Jack goes to the rescue. He finds himself dodging demons, grappling with goblins, and facing baffling terrors like the Room of the Upside-Down Hell as he battles his way through the labyrinth of Lo Pan's dark domain. In a nutshell, it’s a little Flash Gordon meets Goonies meets Dark Crystal vibes.

The Dark Crystal (1982)

This week Kristin, Jeannine, and Carole take on Jim Henson's 1982 puppet fantasy The Dark Crystal, a movie plenty of us remember as a cozy childhood favorite and absolutely none of us remembered as being this dark. Kristin walks through the story of Jen and Kira, the last two Gelflings, and the thousand year old crystal that split one race into the gentle Mystics and the monstrous Skeksis. The group gets into how Henson wanted to strip fantasy back down to something closer to the older, stranger versions of fables before Disney smoothed all the edges off them, and there's a real appreciation for what it took to build this world entirely with puppets and practical effects rather than a screen full of CGI. They also dig into the cast of puppeteers behind the creatures, including some familiar names from the Muppets and Star Wars, and compare what critics said about the film back in 1982 to how it plays now. Stick around for a shoutout to the podcast Myths and Legends, which scratches the same itch for anyone who loves hearing the original, unfiltered versions of stories they thought they already knew. Did The Dark Crystal age well? Press play and find out. If you enjoyed this episode, hit follow, leave a review, and share it with your fellow '80s movie lovers.

The Goonies (1985) - Part 1

We have a special guest, and he might be the most qualified one yet! Tommy, a friend of the pod, met Jeannine during her travels to Ireland and is a Goonies EXPERT. This 1985 Spielberg-produced classic follows a group of Astoria, Oregon kids who find a centuries-old pirate map in Mikey's attic and go after One-Eyed Willy's treasure to save their neighborhood from a real estate deal that's about to wipe it out. Part one covers the setup: how the doubloon lines up with Haystack Rock, a real debate over whether the movie's foreclosure plot actually makes sense, and Brand getting stranded on his little sister's training-wheel bike after his tires go flat. Tommy, for the record, refuses to believe anyone would build a country club where this one is supposedly going. We have so much to say, this one is a TWO-PARTER!

Risky Business (1983)

Risky Business Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay, Joe Pantiolano, Curtis Armstrong, and Bronson Pinchot. Distributed by: Warner Bros. Release date: August 5, 1983 Budget: $6.2 million Box office: $63.5 million This week's movie opens with Joel Goodsen (played by Cruise) being left alone for a week by his parents, and what should be a quiet stretch of teenage freedom turns into sinking his dad's Porsche into a lake after hiring a call girl (De Mornay). We talk about Tom Cruise in one of his earliest comedic roles, whether Joel plays as a genuinely good kid caught in a bad situation or something douch-ier (if that's a word). Thanks for joining us at The Shermer High Alumni Association. If you had as much fun as we did, hit follow, leave a review, and share this episode with your fellow '80s movie lovers.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

IT'S OUR 50TH EPISODE!!!! Ferris Bueller's Day Off turns 40 this year, and Kristin, Jeannine, and Carole rewatch John Hughes' love letter to Chicago. They've collectively seen this movie so many times they briefly debated whether rewatching it was even necessary. It was. Is it cringe? Is it Hall of Fame material? Listen this week to find out! #ferrisbueller #matthewbroderick #ferrari #80smovies #genxpod

Space Camp (1986)

SpaceCamp turns 40 this year, and Kristin, Jeannine, and Carole are rewatching the 1986 film that sent five teenagers and one very unprepared flight instructor into actual orbit because a robot had a feelings problem. Jeannine is back from Ireland with thoughts on roundabouts and fizzy water. Kristin attended real Space Camp in 1989, had a boyfriend there, and a Ponderosa manager stole her flight jacket, and she will never be over it. Also: Roger Ebert had a lot to say, Jeannine looked up what actually happens to your body when you run out of oxygen and that Space Camp is still a thing you can do for $800. Did it age well? Would they watch it again?

Footloose (1984)

Footloose turns 42 this year, and Kristin and Carole are recording in person from Olmsted Falls, Ohio, while Jeannine is somewhere in Ireland living her best life. Jeannine would have sung every word of the soundtrack, and they both know it. This week's movie is the 1984 Kevin Bacon classic where rock music and dancing are banned in a small Utah town, a Chicago kid named Ren shows up with a cassette collection and an attitude, and somehow changes everything. They get into Ariel's ongoing death wish, Willard as the Neville Longbottom of Footloose, the council meeting scene that is genuinely good teenage activism, and why the critics in 1984 completely missed what this movie was actually about. Also: Kevin Bacon hates when DJs play Footloose at weddings, and the soundtrack might be in the same conversation as Top Gun. Did it age well? It's a Hall of Fame contender. Check back when Jeannine lands.

Heathers (1988)

Heathers turns 36 this year, and Kristin, Jeannine, and Carole are diving headfirst into one of the darkest, funniest, and most quoted teen movies ever made. A $3 million budget, a five-week box office run that grossed $1.1 million, and somehow a cult classic — go figure. They break down: Veronica's diary The Heathers' color-coded power structure JD's red flags Corn Nuts Why this movie could never be made today The mineral water "evidence" ... and the eternal question of whether Ed McMahon ever had anything to do with Publishers Clearing House. ALSO: Surprise bonus content Did it age well? Not at all. But if it comes on, some of us aren't changing the channel.

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