Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1984 was an exciting year for films giving us a lot of films that would go on to be beloved favorites and cult classics. Imagine a world where This is Spinal Tap and Repo Man hit theaters on the same day. That is the world of 1984.
We’re going to pick and choose which movies we hit, but right now the list stands at nearly three dozen.
Yes, we’re insane, but 1984 was that great of a year for film.
The articles will come out on the same day the films hit theaters in 1984 so that it is their true 35th anniversaries. All films are also watched again for the purposes of these reviews and are not being done from memory.
This time around it’s July 20, 1984 (The day I turned 13-years-old…), and we’re off to see The Neverending Story and Revenge of the Nerds.
The Neverending Story
This may be the most controversial thing I will ever say on this site: I’ve never cared for The Neverending Story.
Put down the torches and pitchforks for a minute.
This isn’t to say I dislike it, I’m just very indifferent to it. I probably haven’t watched it since 1984, so I was actually excited to give it another go this week, and… yeah, I still just don’t care.
I think if I had to put my finger on it it would be that you can tell things are missing. A lot of things happen just to happen without any sort of connecting tissue to get you from point A to point B. It’s as if they sat down and went, “this movie has to be 90 minutes, get us to the end as quickly as possible.” And then they just cut anything they felt like remotely slowed the film in some way.
It’s a fine movie. I can see why kids like it, but it is just too threadbare for my tastes.
… and could someone please explain to me Bastian’s mother’s name was, “Moon Child?” I would really love to know that one because it made no freakin’ sense.
Revenge of the Nerds
The first half of Revenge of the Nerds is fun, and charming. I thought as it went along, “Oh yay, I’m going to finally truly like a comedy in this project!”
… and then we get to the multiple sexual assaults and racist moments.
At the carnival, Lewis (Robert Carradine) puts on a mask to impersonate Stan (Ted McGinley). He then follows Betty (Julie Montgomery) into the Fun House and they go on to have sex. When he finally unmasks post sexual intercourse, she’s… charmed? And she quickly breaks up with Stan because she’s “in love with a nerd.”
I honestly couldn’t get around this logically. 1984 or 2019, this was sexual assault, and it was just too over the top to even remotely recommend this movie to anyone. It’s unfortunate because, as I said, the first half of the movie is actually pretty fun.
1984 Movie Reviews will return on July 27 with Purple Rain!
Fun Jug Media, LLC (operating TheNerdy.com) has affiliate partnerships with various companies. These do not at any time have any influence on the editorial content of The Nerdy. Fun Jug Media LLC may earn a commission from these links.
