Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1982 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 1982 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 1982 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 November 12, 1982, and we’re off to see The Last Unicorn and Still of the Night!
Quick side note: Since we launched this series this year, we’ve discovered that Vintage Video Podcast is doing the exact same project with two differences: First, it’s audio (naturally), and second, they are doing every major film. We’ve listened to numerous episodes and it’s fun checking off their thoughts against my own. Check them out over at Vintage Video Podcast.
The Last Unicorn
This is one of those movies I’ve heard about from years. Everyone I’ve ever spoken to sings its praises of how amazing it is and acts as if it’s the best thing ever.
It’s… fine?
A female unicorn sets off on an adventure to discover if she is truly the last unicorn in the world. She follows clues to where she finally discovers that she is indeed not the last, but that is only the beginning of a whole new set of issues for her.
I went in knowing nothing about the story and it was perfectly serviceable, but nothing spectacular. I do applaud the film’s character design, and while the animation isn’t the smoothest out there, it’s enjoyable in its own little quirky way. But having seen who knows how many animated films over the years, it’s not particularly memorable and not one I ever see myself returning to. It’s a fine watch, but don’t expect it to really stick with you past the end credits.
Still of the Night
Still of the Night is another one of those instances where you have a great cast with Roy Schieder, Meryl Streep, and Jessica Tandy, and it’s well shot, and then we’re left with a silly plot and script.
Schieder plays Dr. Sam Rice, a therapist who recently had a patient murdered. The police quickly pull him into the mystery, as does his mistress played by Streep. What follows is your typical story of a doctor violating just about every bit of medical ethics you can think of.
And as you would suspect, Schieder starts to fall for Streep within seconds of meeting her and then just continues to risk his career for her.
I never mind a good mystery, but to me that means the story should give you some sort of idea of what the eventual resolution is going to be. But when you do get to the big reveal there is was exactly zero chance you were ever going to figure it out. What ‘clues’ we had been given were in a dream that was wildly open to interpretation.
In short, ti’s a well acted and nice looking movie, just try to ignore the actual story such as it is.
1982 Movie Reviews will return on Dec. 8 with 48 Hrs., Gandhi, and The Verdict!
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