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 January 25, 1985, and we’re off to see The Falcon and the Snowman, Fandango, and Here Come the Littles.
The Falcon and the Snowman
As ‘based on a true story’ films go, this one will constantly send you to look things up because, for once, reality is truly stranger than fiction.
Christopher Boyce (Timothy Hutton) takes a job in the Black Vault, a facility that all of the U.S. covert operations communiqués pass through. Not long after taking the job he becomes aware of a U.S. operation to depose the Australian Prime Minister. Disillusioned with the U.S., he enlists his childhood best friend, Daulton Lee (Sean Penn), to communicate with the Russian embassy in Mexico and to sell them secrets. The problem is, Daulton is a drug dealer and user, and makes mistake after mistake until it lands both of them in prison.
The film is gripping and infuriating all at once. Not due to the quality of the film, but you just want to smack every one around for being idiots.
A truly interesting tale that has been largely forgotten, but should be seen by more people. Well worth your time.
Fandango
Kevin Costner filmed scenes for The Big Chill as the friend they all gather to celebrate, but his scenes were cut. Fandango feels like him trying to get a do-over of being in a similar story.
It’s 1971, and a group of friends known as The Groovers, are all finally graduating from the University of Texas. On the spur of the moment, they decide to go one last road trip spurred on by their ring leader, Gardner Barnes (Kevin Costner). His rag tag group of friends pile in a car and, of course, run into multiple issues during their trip, but in the end they all come to grips with the fact they have to finally accept their birth into adult life, even if some of them go about it differently than others.
The major issue with Fandango is not one beat of this film feels authentic or natural. The acting is fine, the directing even inspired in moments, but the script – written by Kevin Reynolds whom also directed the film – just feels like it’s trying too hard to be cool. That it just desperately wants you to thinkt hese were the coolest guys to have ever lived.
It is just such a level of ‘try hard’ that it is irritating to watch. These are people they wish they were friends with, but they will never be mistaken for anyone that could actually exist.
Here Come the Littles
I… want someone to explain how this movie happened.
Based on a series of books and an animated series, Here Come the Littles follows a group of little people fearing they are about to lose their home when Henry Bigg has been sent off to live with his evil uncle who plans to demolish the house.
I’ve never read the books. Never watched the animated series, and therein is the problem. I had no idea what was going on. Why do the Littles exist? What are they? Where do they come from? How does this world exist? The movie avoids answering even the most basic of questions, and the entire run time of the film just feels like a bunch of animated series events strung together to feature length.
The movie borders on being unwatchable and, quite frankly, is just horrendously boring.
1985 Movie Reviews will launch on February 1, 2025, with Heavenly Bodies!