1984 Capsule Reviews

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
rating: ****
review: The follow-up to fan favorite Wrath of Khan is, to my mind, better, with a greater emphasis on the characters who make it matter, better understanding of their psychology, and the risks they're willing to take.  The only problem is that Christopher Lloyd, while at that point arguably the best actor to play a Klingon, is no Ricardo Montalban.

Ghostbusters
rating: ****
review: Bill Murray in his first iconic starring role, with a lot of stuff working around him that kind of took on a life of its own, which oddly makes it easy to forget that this is a Bill Murray film, and therefore mutes its impact.

The Terminator
rating: ****
review: More apocalyptic than the Mad Max movies and more inevitable in its ending, which may actually explain its appeal, and why in 2015 both franchises had new installments, and the popular results went the other way.  This was a good way to kick off the story.  But the next one's better.

The Neverending Story
rating: ****
review: So many fantasy films of the decade try to compete, but this is the one that gets what kids actually wanted to see.

Amadeus
rating: ****
review: Not until Shakespeare in Love did Hollywood (and the Oscars) figure out again that history can be incredibly charming.

Romancing the Stone
rating: ***
review: The very beginning of the movies took on Indiana Jones with their own satisfying, if less iconic, takes.

The Muppets Take Manhattan
rating: ***
review: All of the Muppets movies start to blend together at a certain point.  But they're all amusing to fans.

The Last Starfighter
rating: ***
review: Honestly, if they'd left out the framing story of the kid being really good at a video game, this would age a lot better.

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai
rating: ***
review: Honestly, how could this not develop a cult following?  But it's just so gonzo that it was doomed to translate poorly otherwise.  Like Last Starfighter, a version of Star Wars as understood and/or interpreted by others.

Dune
rating: ***
review: This was kind of someone realizing that Star Wars kind of did exist before 1977, but in a story that just plain isn't as good.

The Karate Kid
rating: ***
review: Very much of its time, when the public in general was finally catching up with the late Bruce Lee...

Splash
rating: ***
review: A true fish-out-of-water tale featuring the young Tom Hanks before anyone realized what to do with him (incredibly, fish-out-of-water became his trademark, but this movie literally about that didn't even realize it).

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
rating: ***
review: Pretty good, in a generic Indiana Jones kind of way.

Revenge of the Nerds
rating: **
review: People who don't want to like popular things rag on The Big Bang Theory all the time by claiming it patronizes more than celebrates nerds.  But that's...kind of what this popular thing did.  And no one particularly points that out...

Supergirl
rating: **
review: The biggest crime this movie commits is that it has Peter O'Toole in it, and I can't for the life of me remember him in it.  Darned if that's not reason enough to watch it again, but still...