The 80s are Making a Comeback! Sort of...

I don't know about you but it's easy for me to get a little nostalgic this time of the year. For my family, the holidays mean getting out all our favorite Christmas movies from the years gone by: A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, Scrooged, The Ref and so many more.  These movies have held up as true classics over the years.  Not a lot of movies, especially ones from the 80s, have held up so well.

So my question is, do the movies we loved as kids hold up over time?  How does, ugh, 20+ years treat a film that we put on a pedestal?  Does Top Gun hold up?  Nope. Sorry.  The Princess Bride? Yes.  Hell yes.  With much trepidation I decided to revisit a few movies from my past.  And to be honest, I chose these because I own most of them on DVD (two still on VHS) but haven't watched them in a very long time.

So here's what I'm going to watch over the next few days:
The Last Starfighter
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
Henson Double Feature: Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal
RomCom Double Feature*: Mystic Pizza and Can't Buy Me Love

I'm more than a little nervous to re-watch movies that have meant so much to me.  Could a movie that I loved as a child be changed forever as an adult?  It didn't happen with Ladyhawke so it doesn't have to happen.  Ladyhawke suffers from a ton a problems (the soundtrack and Broderick's accent are just two) but the story and movie as a whole still held up years later. I'm confident that most of that list are going to hold up.  I would be less confident to watch Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo.  I need that to stay perfect in my memory and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't stay that way.

I should probably explain my mention of Top Gun.  It was the first time I was disheartened by a movie that I loved.  Don't get me wrong, it's still a classic but seeing it as an adult changed it forever for me.  I saw the flaws I never saw as a child.  The dialogue is cheesy and the homoerotic undertones were less undertone-y.  I watched it with a friend who had, surprisingly, never seen it before.  Towards the end of the screening it my friend was stunned that such a cheesy movie could be so loved by so many.  I was saddened and felt like, as a kid, I had been duped.  The action is still incredible and no one can compare to Anthony Edwards but I don't know if I could ever really sit through it again.  On the flip side, there are movies that I think I knew were bad when I was a kid but I still love them now.  Flash Gordon is one of those.  It's awful but I always knew it was awful.  If it's ever on TV, I will watch it.  No question about it.

So I'm off on my quest to rediscover movies from my childhood.  What are the movies you still love but maybe are a little scared to watch now because it might change for you?







*Added so I wasn't only watching sci fi movies (apparently I haven't changed much since I was a kid).