Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1985 was an exciting year for films giving us a lot of films that would go on to be beloved favorites and cult classics. It was also the start to a major shift in cultural and societal norms, and some of those still reverberate to this day.
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We’re going to pick and choose which movies we hit, but right now the list stands at nearly four dozen.
Yes, we’re insane, but 1985 was that great of a year for film.
The articles will come out – in most cases – on the same day the films hit theaters in 1984 so that it is their true 40th anniversary. All films are also watched again for the purposes of these reviews and are not being done from memory. In some cases, it truly will be the first time we’ve seen them.
This time around, it’s Aug. 9, 1985, and we’re off to see Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Pray for Death, Real Genius, and Summer Rental.
Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart
I went into this film completely blind and walked away absolutely marveled by it.
A Chinese immigrant widow heads into the new lunar new year with a fear it is her last year due to what a fortune teller told her years ago. It gives her an opportunity to hopefully move her children along i their own lives.
I had never even heard of this movie before it came up on the list release and had no clue what to expect from it. The fact this got a summer release is the most startling thing about it.
It’s a quiet, thoughtful film that not only tells the story of a family, but also the stories of immigrants and some of what their experience is like.
There’s no explosions. I’m not sure anyone even raised their voice, it’s just a sweet slice of life about a subset of the American culture.
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure
I hadn’t watched this film in years, and boy did I walk away with a different impression of it.
Pee-wee’s bike is stolen, setting off a wild road trip where Pee-wee learns absolutely nothing, but everyone around him instead learns from him.
Watching this film as a teen in the 1980s, it was just a silly, fun movie. Watching it as an adult 40 years later, I couldn’t believe how I never stopped smiling. Everything about this film is charming without ever crossing the line into being too much.
You can’t walk away from this film without wishing we could all be a little bit more like Pee-wee. It’s a touchstone of the decade, and just an overall really fun movie.
Pray for Death
Oh good, it’s another ninja movie. At least this one had nothing to do with a caucasian somehow becoming the best ninja ever.
Akira Saito (Sho Kosugi) finally listens to his America-born wife, and agrees to move them and their two children to the U.S. to start their own business. What they don’t know is part of the building they buy is being used by criminals and they get wrapped up with some angry criminals who will stop at nothing to get what they want.
The film wasn’t the worst ninja movie of the decade, or even close, because it actually had some decent acting. Kosugi delivers some fine acting throughout, but as we build to the climax is when things go off the rails… especially involving a kid and his bike.
If you feel the need to watch a ninja film from the 80s, I would say go with this one as it isn’t completely horrible.
Real Genius
I don’t think it’s possible for me to ever get tired of this film… even though I now recognize some abuse issues with it.
15-year-old Mitch Taylor (Gabriel Jarret) has been accepted into Pacific Tech University where he will work for Professor Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton) on a laser project that is secretly a new weapon system for the CIA. Once there, Mitch meets another member of the team, Chris Knight (Val Kilmer), considered to be one of the 10 greatest minds in the country, if a little bit of a loose cannon. Along the way, they learn what the project is for, and then it’s time to take their revenge for the abuse of their brains.
I love this movie. I would confidently say I quote it at least once a week if not more.
That being said, I never really noticed until this viewing all the consent issues with Mitch. And there are a lot of them. Especially when you realize Sherry (Patti D’Arbanville) has been wanting to sleep with him ‘for years.’
Yeah, the 80s really didn’t know what to do with teenage boys.
Despite all of this, I will never stop loving this movie.
Summer Rental
John Candy was an amazing talent, but it rarely seemed like anyone knew how to use those talents.
Overworked air traffic controller Jack Chester (John Candy) is forced to take some time off and moves to a beach house for the summer. Seeing as this is a 1980s comedy, you can imagine the issues that arise along the way from misunderstandings to a war with a local rich guy.
Summer Rental really isn’t a bad film, it’s just very generic and uninspired. There is nothing that happens in this film that surprises you, but Candy was always worth watching.
This film is very much a lean back film and just let it play. It won’t change your life, but you won’t walk away angry you watched it, either.
1985 Movie Reviews will return on Aug. 16, 2025, with American Flyers, The Bride, The Return of the Living Dead, Volunteers, and Year of the Dragon.
