Top Gun

Release Year: 1986

Director: Tony Scott

Review: A wildcard navy pilot Maverick(Tom Cruise), is enlisted in Top Gun, where the best of the best go to train.  He has a chip on his shoulder and he isn't about to go along with the authority.  You can pretty much fill in the rest of the plot.  You've got the rival student, Iceman(Val Kilmer), and the pairs heated exchanges as they vie for the Top Gun trophy. The attractive girlfriend who at first rejects his cocky attitude but eventually falls for his kind heart.  The goofy friend who keeps him grounded.   It's all there, it's all been done to death.  That's what I was struck most by.  I don't think there is a single scene that isn't contrived and over done.  There are some good lines, but ultimately its just a carbon copy of countless other renegade films with Tom Cruise stuck in.
Rating: 2/5

The Clan of the Cave Bear

Release Year: 1986

Director: Michael Chapman

Review: I'll give this film credit.  It tried.  It tried really hard.  Based on a popular novel, 'The Clan of the Cave Bear' is a prehistoric drama set at the time when both Neanderthals and Cro-Magnum both walked the Earth.  After a serious earthquake, Ayla (Daryl Hannah), a Cro-Magnum, is orphaned and found by a clan of Neanderthals who take her in.  Never quite feeling like she belonged in the clan, Ayla tries extra hard to fit in, becoming as good as, if not better than any man in the clan.  Despite her obviously superior abilities she is continually brought down by the other members of her clan.

It's a fairly by-the-books, fish out water, type story set in an unusual time period.  There was a lot of care taken to be as authentic as possible, which I appreciate.  The problem is that it takes itself too seriously while at the same time being over the top.  It comes off as corny rather than sincere, and it ends up being a pretty brutal experience.  Just as 'Caveman' had done five years prior, it made the unfortunate mistake of trying to make up a prehistoric language which was a mixture of sign language and grunts.  The problem is, unlike its predecessor, this isn't a comedy.  Every step it takes seemed overdone, overused, and really awkward.  Sorry, I just couldn't take Daryl Hannah running around grunting seriously, and it has nothing solid to fall back on.
Rating: 2/5

Castle in the Sky (Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta)

Release Year: 1986

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Review:  'Castle in the Sky' is a more straight forward adventure than other Miyazaki films.  The frenetic pace from start to finish really works well.  The story of a young, independent, princess who's kingdom is hidden floating of Laputa, fits perfectly into Miyazaki's wheelhouse.  Essentially a chase film, the movie follows Sheeta and her friend Pazu as they try and track down the lost city all while trying to escape both pirates and the government.  Taking queues from several genres, its a fast paced action adventure film which has that special Miyazaki flare.

What Miyazaki does so well is taking familiar constructs and re-imagines them.  Instead of hunting for Atlantis underwater, the goal is Laputa, a floating city.  Instead of pirates on water, there are pirates in the air.  All this allows for a completely fresh feeling adventure that's full of heart.  The connection between Pazu and Sheeta is strong, and keeps you invested in the two's adventure.  Miyzaki isn't one to have shallow character development so every character has a purpose and feels like they contribute something.  No one can be taken at face value, and even those that seem evil have more than one side.  This is what make Miyazaki films so great.  Everything has its place and fits together so well that it really lets the imagination of Miyazaki shine.  This is a fantastically rich film and one that will live up on repeat viewings.
Rating: 4/5

Hannah and Her Sisters

Release Year: 1986

Director: Woody Allen

Review: The heart is a resilient muscle, or so Woody Allen proclaims.  Like so many of his works, 'Hannah and Her Sisters' is a masterful examination of love, life and relationships.  Allen sensationalizes relationships, pushing them to the boarders of morality, in order to test the deepest depths of love.  By focusing on three sisters and the tangle of relationship that they weave, we can examine differences between love, lust, structure and comfort.
 
There is no one better than deconstructing these themes and presenting them in a humorous, witty manner than Allen  By heightening the inner turmoil within his characters he illuminates our own fears, worries, and emotions.  This is Woody Allen at his finest.  A complex love story with enough humor to make an intellectual movie feel light and easily absorbable.  Although the characters might do immoral things, Allen doesn't demonize anyone for their actions, or particularly for their thoughts.  Allowing us to sympathize with even flawed characters allows the audience to focus on the themes and place themselves in the characters shoes to ponder what they would do in their situation rather then simply dismiss them as reprehensible.  This is key in telling a story of this nature.  So many times I'm turned off, not because of the story being told, but because I can't get behind the characters.  

There is the ever present 'Allen' character present in the film.  The neurotic, hopeless, fearful man, who is always seeking his next tragedy.  It's easy to dismiss this as Allen repeating himself, but this character is key to the heart of the themes Allen conveys in his movies.  Life is chaotic, random, and usually awful, but it's the best we have.  In the end we all die.  Is it permissible then to be immoral if it makes us happy in what little time we have?  Its this postmodern philosophy that tie his films together.  The film embodies the best qualities of Woody Allen filmography, and is an achievement not only as a thought provoking film, but also as good entertainment.
Rating: 5/5