Childhood Favorites: A Second Look

I have been focusing a lot on sports in the blog but want to change things up. I recently viewed some movies that I always held in high praise because they were special to me when I was a child. Having not seen some of these movies for many years I felt like I was seeing them with new eyes and had some new feelings on these movies.




Major League (1989):
This was always a favorite of mine because it was a sports comedy. On my recent viewing I felt it held up very well. I enjoyed the swearing a tad more when I was a kid because saying fuck was hilarious, and I feel that why it was still funny it wasn't as hilarious as previously remembered. I think I did enjoy more of the scenes with Bob Uecker as the Indians play by play man Harry Doyle.

Now having more insight into baseball, as I watch in more now then I did when I was a kid. I can see the players the movie was making fun of like high priced free agents past there prime (Corbin Bernsen) like Mike Lowell of the Boston Red Sox, young speedsters (Wesley Snipes) like Michael Born of the Houston Astros, pitchers past there prime that rely on junk/craft rather then speed (Chelcie Ross) like Jamie Moyer of the Philadelphia Phillies, young pitchers who only rely on speed and can amass tons of strike outs (Charlie Sheen) like Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals, old catchers that have bum legs but are great team players (Tom Berenger) like Jason Varitek of the Boston Red Sox, and guys who can hit for power but not else (Dennis Haysbert) like Adam Dunn of the Chicago White Sox.



No matter I still think the ending of the movie is great, it holds up really well. I like that the Indians only get into the playoffs with the win and its not the World Series ( I believe that was touched on more in the disappointing sequel). I was happy to learn that many actual major league players watch this movie in the club house and appreciate it. I still think after all these years the movie is hilarious and makes me long to watch a baseball game.

Grade: A-




Back to the Future (1985):
With the 20th anniversary of the movie Back to the Future was getting a lot of press lately. I know Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd appeared together at an award show, Yahoo had a front page story about how Eric Stolz was originally cast and replaced by Fox and that they just released the trilogy on Blu-Ray, I guess all the talk made me want to go back and re-visit the original film.

It has been a few years since I last visited the world of Hill Valley and I must say besides some dated special effects (the fire between Doc and Marty's legs looks pretty bad) the movie is still as awesome as ever. The story once seemed confusing me to as a kid but now I totally get it and all the little jokes.



I was also noticing they say the word shit in the movie more then a few times and I was wondering how much I understood about terrorists shooting Doc Brown and how that seems pretty adult in nature. But besides those few things i just totally enjoyed watching Michael J. Fox at the top of his game back in 1985. Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson, and Thomas F. Wilson give great supporting parts as high schooler and adults. I don't really need to go on, this one is a classic for a reason.

Grade: A


The Goonies (1985) :
Seems like 1985 was a great year for long lasting movies. The Goonies, Back to the Future, The Breakfast Club, and Weird Science were among the movies released that year that I consider to be true modern classic movies. The Goonies is a movie that everyone I know that is 25-35 years old seems to love. I decided it had been a long time since my last viewing so it was high time to watch this one again.

Another movie that I could see easily getting a PG-13 rating today, you have some great humor and I think most people (including myself) love that Goonies doesn't take itself too serious. It really has a child's outlook and I believe that is the reason of it success. You feel like a Goonie when you watch the movie, you just enjoy the adventure just as much as it looks like Mikey, Mouth, Data, Chunk and the rest of the kids do.




Grade: A-