Chopping Mall

Chopping Mall (1986)

Directed by Jim Wynorski

Screenplay by Jim Wynorski & Steve Mitchell

Stars: Kelli Maroney, Tony O'Dell, Russell Todd, Karrie Emerson, Barbara Crampton, Nick Segal, John Terlesky, and Suzee Slater

I have heard people talking about this movie. I went into it completely cold. Holy shitballs. The movie is not good, but I love the schlock.

The Park Plaza 2000 Shopping Center has implemented a security system to have curb theft after hours. On the same night the system was supposed to launch a freak lightning storm blows out the transformer that controls the Protector 101 Series Robot makes them into Killbots.

A bunch of young mall employees have the brilliant idea of having an after hours sex party at the furniture store the guys work. Human meets machine.

I love cheesy horror movies. This is my jam. Does the story make sense? Hell, no. Why does a mall need robots? Get security guards. Why are are you hanging out after hours at the mall? You're gonna use the place that you work at to have have sex? With other people in the room? Sure.

The movie is the definition of turn off your brain and enjoy the ride. I want to reiterate. This is not a good movie, but I have a shit eating grin on my face.

Rating: 7/10

Top Gun

Top Gun (1986)

Directed by Tony Scott

Screenplay by Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr & Warren Skaaren 

Based on the article, "Top Guns" by Ehud Yonay 

Stars: Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer, Tom Skerritt, Michael Ironside, Tim Robbins and Meg Ryan 

With the sequel coming out in theaters, I knew that I had to see the movie that started it all. This movie is two hour dick measuring contest.

Set in the world of fighter pilots, the story is centered around Maverick (Cruise), a cocky reckless pilot that tries to go aginst the rules to be the best pilot that he could be. You have the sausage fest around with Goose (Edwards), Iceman (Kilmer), Merlin (Robbins) and others at Top Gun, an elite flight school for the top 1% of pilots. There is the token love interest of the story, Charlie (McGinnis) that has to fall for the main guy for some reason.

In my personal opinion, I do not like the archetype of Maverick, a young brash guy that is stubborn, acts like a petulant child when things don go his way. I'm not saying that Maverick is the villain of the movie. I was not rooting for him as a character. This hyper-masculine man that gets the girl, does away with authority and gets away with his antics.

Iceman was portrayed as the "villain" of the movie. I don't think he is. He saw what I saw. Maverick was on the verge of self-destruction if he doesn't get his act together. He was the voice of reason.

Hearing "Take My Breath Away" and "Danger Zone" takes you back to the 80s. I love that aspect of it. I did not get the suddenness of the romance between Maverick and Charlie. Who were the pilots fighting? The Russians? I don't know.

It's a guy movie. Cool. It's not my thing.

Rating: 6.5/10

Platoon

Platoon (1986)

Written and directed by Oliver Stone

Stars: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Keith David, Forest Whitaker, Francesco Quinn, Mark Moses, Kevin Dillion, Johnny Depp and John C. McGinley

Currently #144 of the Top 250 Films of All Time on IMDb (as of this posting)

Platoon is one of those movies that should be seen and studied by any film buff. I had this movie in my DVR for the longest time without seeing it. I thought it was time to see the film. I'm glad I did. The movie was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning four including Best Picture and Best Director. I think that the movie should have won more. I want to shower this movie with more awards.

To rinse the taste of the previous movie out of my mind, this movie is not the typical Vietnam War movie. Based on some director Oliver Stone's own experiences in the war, the film follow Bravo Company in Cambodia. Most of the attention is shown on Chris Taylor (Sheen), a grunt that volunteered to go into the service after dropping out of college. He gets ragged on by his fellow soldiers. They are counting the days until they leave. There is trouble within Bravo Company between the asshole Sgt. Barnes (Berenger) and the level headed Sgt. Elias (Dafoe) that might endanger them from the Vietcong.

I have seen a lot of Vietnam War movies. Some are good and some are bad. This movie is a thing of beauty. I have never been so engrossed in a story before. I cared for the characters. I wanted them to survive the countless clashes that they have with the Vietcong. I was happy that Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger were nominated for Best Supporting Actor for their work. They were fantastic in the film. They lost out to Michael Caine. He must have been an acting clinic in that movie to trump these two.

It was weird to see Forest Whitaker pop up, Kevin Dillon from Entourage, Mark Moses from Desperate Housewives and Johnny Depp in a bit role as a translator.

There was one thing that bothered me about this movie is the sound. The sound of the gunfire were very muddled in my opinion. The movie won the Oscar for Best Sound. I guess by 1986 standards, it was good. I thought it was muffled gunfire. That was my only gripe with this movie.

My Rating