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Good, but not great. Not blockbuster material- although many many blockbusters aren't all that great either. I wish Labyrinth had done better. I saw Enemy Mine at the theater and I thought it was so-so. i didn't feel like I wasted my money, but that was about it.
The Last Starfighter had an immense impact on me as a child. A poor boy dreaming and being passionate about one thing. Then one day it all pays out and he saves the galaxy. I watched it back then but forgot about it. Until 10 years ago I couldn’t remember the name. I too was gaming like crazy on the C64 and Amiga. Everybody told me to grow up and stop fantasizing. Go do construction work. Let’s just say they were very wrong. Never stop dreaming and give the middlefinger to the nay sayers. No matter who that is. You have one life. Don’t let anyone hold you up.
@@Makoto03 Thank you so much, really appreciate the comment and glad you enjoyed the video 😎 Absolutely agree, Bowie was born to play that role for sure, and the songs hold up so well. I can’t understand the early negative reviews that film received at all!
@@CultureSliceSequel yes; franchise, no. Look how many franchises have become dead horses and gone on to become total duds. I don't see how it could have been successfully expanded, I love this movie, especially Robert Preston!
@@CultureSlice Well, Hollywood drug its heels too long. We've lost most of the cast from the original movie. Norman Snow died 2 years ago, so can't do a Xur follow up from his escape in the first movie. I'm not saying it's impossible, they could pull off a Top gun Maverick type of comeback, but they're taking way too long and they're either losing people or they're getting way too old to continue the story from the first movie.
Oh definitely, the company was dodgy as anything but it wouldn’t have been the same without it. I was thinking about a deep dive video in to the history of Cannon, there must be some incredible stories behind the scenes.
I just watched last star fighter and it was way better than I remembered, seeing the world building unfold as the story progresses is great example of not over doing it but showing enough to keep you interested, it’s a great film, people complained about the cgi 10 years later but I think it holds up to it roots, the cgi is very torn like and the miniatures they work into the effects really sells it, the guy in the hat was a great character and the day in the life of the earth characters felt very grounded for the 80s as I was a kid then and it captures that period perfectly
It's a really really good film, as you say the everyday earth scenes are done really well and draw you in to the story even more. I love the effects too - they are absolutely of their time but they suit the aesthetic and concept nicely. Thanks for commenting!
A really great list - Lucas is a brilliant film that nobody seems to ever talk about and deserved to be a much bigger hit! Thanks for commenting and hope you enjoyed the video 😎
Having lived through the 1980s as an adult, I can tell you that the idea that every successful movie should become a "franchise" until inferior sequels destroyed all interest in the stories was not yet set in stone. Many movies were quite successful in their day with no intention of there ever being sequels e.g. "The Princess Bride" and "The Dark Crystal". The fact that no sequels were made does not mean the films were failures. I rather miss self-contained stories in films. I think the general public too has become bored with prequels/sequels and reboots.
Yes indeed, thankfully not everything got a sequel! Although if The Princess Bride or The Dark Crystal had delivered massive box office in their cinema releases, there definitely would have been a bigger push by the studios to make follow ups... Completely agree on the general increasing indifference to sequels over the decades, although they have always been a part of Hollywood it feels more pronounced in the modern era. Thanks for commenting!
I'm in my 50's and grew up with these films remembering the reports back then of them doing terrible in the Box Office, but love them anyway and have them on DVD, never getting rid of them.
The leadup to and the final battle of Masters of the Universe was fantastic. The timing of the music aligned with Dolph's "I have the powerrrrr", Frank Langrella's fantastic speech. It's like 100x as good as the rest of the movie.
Totally agree - there are really phenomenal moments in the movie, intertwined with very poor ones, it’s such a mixed bag of quality. And Langella’s performance is something else. Thanks for commenting and hope you enjoyed the video! 👍🏻
@@Elnis888 Oh you are very welcome my friend, really glad you enjoyed the video! This was absolutely my childhood too, we were very lucky to have all these amazing films back then. Lots more to come from the channel soon, thanks again 😎
I’m sure in some kind of better reality, Labyrinth and the Last Starfighter were massive box office smashes and all was good with the world. At least they found their audience later. I saw both on video. Rented Starfighter and saw Labyrinth when on holiday with school. It gained a lot of traction on home video it seemed.
I think Labyrinth especially was really made for home viewing, repeated watches, and connecting on it with friends. I know that’s how I ended up loving it…the possibilities of what movies could have happened if it had been a big hit at the time are pretty much endless though.
The amount of money they have made off of digital and physical now is crazy insane. But we never get those numbers. All of these outsell any movie in the last 10 years. Facts
It's a real shame that those figures aren't more accessible - would change the perspective of a lot of movies labelled as "flops" for sure! It's also a shame the second life of video/DVD sales has pretty much completely gone, so many amazing films were able to be made back in the day because that second revenue stream was available...
Love Labyrinth! Just saw The Last Starfighter in August for the 40 year anniversary rerelease. I feel very lucky to have held off on watching it for years to be lucky enough to watch in theaters.
I think what the people who made the He-Man movie forgot about was this: Star Wars was a hit movie, then it was toys. He-Man was hit toys, then it was a movie. That is not a formula conducive to success.
You are very welcome, hope you enjoyed the video 😎 I find Enemy Mine really fascinating as critics didn’t get it, the studio messed up the release, it had this huge budget (for the time)…and then when you actually see the film it’s largely this really thoughtful character study with brilliant performances at the centre of it. Just a totally unique movie for 80s Hollywood.
Great video 😵 I'm 43 now, and a genuine child of the 80s, and I remember all of these fondly ❤️ except... Masters of the Universe 🤣🤣 but I'm biased there😜 that was the VERY first movie I ever saw in cinema, on the big screen, and I was a huge He-man fan back then, I made my father take me to it, and our paltry admission went towards that theater haul😜🤣I was 5, or maybe 6, at that point 😜but the genuine lack of ACTUAL He-man source material burned the crap out of me😜🤣but as for the other 3, underappreciated masterpieces 😘👍 Enemy Mine and Last Starfighter are both within my personal 15 greatest sci-fi films of all time, and Labyrinth.... that can never be remade, not without Bowie😘👍 excellent analysis, and you really brought back some nostalgia 😎👍
Thank you so much for the comment, and really glad you enjoyed the video! 😁 What a first film to see in the cinema 😂 I do totally understand why you might have been disappointed in the film, it needed MUCH more Eternia and less high school gym really - I probably would have felt the same as you! But for some reason I still enjoy it, it’s naff and could be far better but it’s very watchable, Frank Langella’s performance is just outstanding. Thanks again 👍🏻
Enemy Mine is an amazing movie. Was not a blockbuster and don't think it was ever meant to be. Last Starfighter is not forgotten by any stretch of the imagination.
Thanks for your comment - hope you enjoyed the video. I agree on Enemy Mine, it's a really good film. I think the term I used for Enemy Mine was "accidental wannabe blockbuster" - it wasn't intended as one at first, but then with the ballooning budget and delays the studio decided to go all in with an expensive marketing campaign to go with it. In the end, it needed to make blockbuster levels of money in cinemas and never really stood a chance of doing that. The Last Starfighter is definitely not forgotten, none of these films are - but they all didn't perform as well as the box office as the studios had hoped or they perhaps could have.
Labyrinth. I watched it so many times, I can repeat all the words by heart. It would probably be annoying for someone if they watched with me. 😂😂 I was 9 years old when this came out. ❤️
So many timeless classics from a great timeless era. Its ashamed that Hollywood will never recreate or match to this level of creativity today unfortunately
Totally agree - the 70s/80s/90s were a total golden age and it doesn't look like we'll ever come close to matching it any time soon. At least we lived to see them get made in the first place I guess!
@@CultureSlice The Labyrinth - The Wizard of Oz The Last Starfighter - Star Wars Masters of the Universe - Star Wars. Again. Enemy mine - whilst I cannot think of a good example of an earlier movie like this one at the moment, the concept of enemies teaming up is not a very unique idea and there must be examples. I guess I could even point to Star Wars again though. I really don't understand some of the things people are always saying about movies that really aren't true. Hollywood has been copying itself like some giant echo chamber since the earliest days of silent film. This isn't some new phenomena that has suddenly appeared since the 70s/80s/90s ended. A truly original idea is a very, very rare thing. This unoriginality thing is not even limited to movies. Tolkien is considered the "father" of fantasy, but it's not like he invented elves or dragons or....Wait. the fellowship going on a quest to take the ring to Mordor is not very different to Sarah going on a quest to Goblin City to rescue her baby brother. And there are plenty of much, much older quest type stories like King Arthur, Robin Hood, Hercules, etc. Another example of things people say that are not true is that computer generated special effects are somehow worse than "practical" effects. I'm sorry, but None of the creatures in these movies look any more real than the creatures in Avatar or Guardians of the Galaxy. The Terminator in T2 looks much more believable than the Arnie puppet doing surgery on itself in the original movie. Oh, and Return of the Jedi, Aliens and T2 are examples of how sequels are not always worse than the original. But lots of movies only get a sequel because some magic happened and they managed to catch lightning in a bottle for the first movie. Expecting them to be able to repeat that same epic level every time really is asking too much of them. It should be enough that the sequel provides some entertainment and allows you to revisit the concepts or characters that you enjoyed the first time around.
@@uzetaab Great take - and lots of interesting points! Totally agree that there is very little TRULY original in terms of ideas, most stories are at the very least influenced by those which have come before them. I don't think the fact something is different levels of derivative precludes it from becoming a timeless classic in itself though, and it felt at times like the 80s especially had at least one timeless classic being released each weekend, and coming at a time of such fascinating technical progression in the industry too. Modern Hollywood's slavish obsession with rebooting movies directly feels quite different. Speaking of technology, you make a really interesting point about the perception of special effects. Clearly, traditional techniques would have no chance of having any hope of creating what can be done with modern-day CGI in most cases, but it would be nice if they were considered as part of the suite of tools at the filmmakers' disposal in some form more often. When done right, there's just something about them that is special. Thanks for watching and commenting 😎👍
@@CultureSlice I want to talk specifically about this comment you made "Modern Hollywood's slavish obsession with rebooting movies directly feels quite different." The 80's and 90's is full of Part 2, 3 and 4 of the same series. Beverly Hills Cop, Lethal Weapon, Indiana Jones, Police Academy, Terminator, Alien, Predator, the list is endless. That really doesn't seem very different to me, except that we view those movies through rose coloured glasses because they are what we grew up on. There's also the fact that Franchises were pretty common back then too. James Bond, Superman, Batman, Blade, National Lampoon, Hanna-Barbera, Disney, and many more. Plenty of movies made back then are actually remakes/reboots of earlier movies or shows such as Bedazzled, Psycho, Poseidon Adventure, Cape Fear, The Addams Family, Flubber, Dr Dolittle, Dracula, King Kong. Also, Hollywood has a long history of this sort of stuff, here are some franchises that are much, much older. The Three Stooges, Abbott and Costello, the Universal monsters such as the Mummy and Invisible Man, Andy Hardy, Sherlock Holmes. These are all something like 80 years old now and are franchises like the Marvel movies from the last 15 years. There were even some crossover movies with Abbott and Costello and the Universal monsters. The only thing that has changed about Hollywood in the last 20 years is our perception of it because we are old enough now to be seeing some of this stuff come around again. At the end of the day, this is just how Hollywood works. When something proves itself to be popular with audiences, Hollywood gives audiences lots more of that until audiences get bored. It hasn't changed. Ever.
@@uzetaab Hi, thanks for your detailed message. I hope you still managed to enjoy the video 👍🏻 There have always been films influenced by works gone before them, with some remakes, and of course the 80s was a time when they attempted to create franchises to milk for as much cash as possible, as I said at the beginning of the video - it was part of what they wanted from potential blockbusters. There’s that famous video with Roger Ebert complaining about there being 14 sequels in a year in the mid-80s. I mean, I’ve covered Police Academy films in detail on the channel 😂 But the stats do lay out that what has happened in more recent years is something larger, or different. If you compare the highest grossing films of years in the 80s or 90s to the 2010s and 2020s, the majority of the movies on the list back then are largely original or first-time, compared to being predominantly sequels or reboots now. There are some back then sure, but almost all of the list is reheats now. It feels like part of the issue is the “death” of the mid-budget movie and the removal of the second wave revenue stream of video/DVD release. A lot of the first time movies we saw in the 80s or 90s would struggle to get made now , or released at least, in the same way they would have back then. And, for me, that feels like a shame. Thanks for your comment 😎
For my money, THE most underrated 80s film that should've been a hit but wasn't.......is Young Sherlock Holmes. I'm not sure why it never caught on. It looks fantastic, the music is superb, the young actors are completely believable and the story is deliciously grim. Wait a minute......deliciously grim? Ah yes, the film was sold as an adventure film in the vein of the Goonies (that came out after) and Indiana Jones; something that would appeal to the whole family. However, it had more in common with Temple of Doom than Raiders and would NEVER be rated PG-13 today. Why? Because you've got people freaking out (and dying) from terrifying hallucinations, cult members sacrificing young girls and one of the main cast of teenagers actually being murdered. Disney, it ain't! And yet, had it been sold as an adventure film for adults, it would certainly have done a lot better. Not great, but better. It most definitely deserved to. If for no other reason that it was the first mainstream film in history to incorporate CGI. And very impressively, too!
Great shout - that is an awesome movie. It did OK I think from memory? It should have been HUGE though. Written by Chris Columbus too after Gremlins. Man...he has had some career.
@@CultureSlice It did OK in Europe. In the US, it was apparently the 46th most "popular" film of 1984. I'm old enough to remember seeing the billboards advertising it, and yet, when I mentioned this incredibly exciting film that had just opened to my friends at the time, nobody seemed to care! Even today, the few people who remember it don't seem to have particularly fond memories of it. Hell, even on Blu-ray, the thing looks awful. They basically dumped a VHS print on the disc and hoped that nobody would notice. It deserves better!
The Henson Company have been talking about it for years and years...I guess if it does happen at least they are involved?! Not that I want it to happen or think that it needs to, at all - just trying to search for the positives!
@@CultureSlice Aside from fearing yet another unsolicited remake...Dark Crystal has much more potential for a sequel or prequel...as the 2019 series proved, unfortunately not renewed.
I can see it now... Jennifer Connely is back as the mother. Her daughter, current trending Disney teen, retreads her general plot line with some fresh new surprises! Timothy Chalomet is the goblin king! Need I say more? OK! The goblins and creatures are now eye-popping CG creations, shoddily made and poorly rendered in a rushed production fraught with reshoots and director changes.
That’s the thing isn’t it, the choice in the cinema in 1984 was absolutely insane! As much as I love The Last Starfighter, it never really stood much of a chance at the time. Thanks for commenting! 😎
I loved Labyrinth. David Bowie has the Goblin King was brilliant don’t forget the soundtrack. I have both The Last Starfighter and Enemy Mine on dvd and take them all out and watch them. I watched Masters of the Universe on the tv.
Thank you so much for the comment - really appreciate it and very glad you enjoyed the video. UA-cam can be tough at times so comments like this mean a lot! Plenty more to come from the channel for the rest of the year and beyond 😎
@@pdr4206 Thank you very much 😎 The reaction to the videos has been far beyond what I’d have imagined so early, now just have to keep working hard and the rest is in the hands of the UA-cam algo gods from there…👍🏻
MotU was the first time my young mind noticed how budgets affected a movie's storyline and plot. I wondered why we were only in Eternia for something like 5 minutes before the 'action' made its way to an empty high school gym and a music store and realised it's because it's cheaper
But back in September 24, 1977, Seagram based Universal-International (formerly MCA/Universal Pictures) had a very difficult time to co-produced and co-distributed with several other studios such as Sony Pictures Entertainment (Columbia Pictures) - (Winter People, Always, The First Power, Lord of the Flies, Sibling Rivalry, Eve of Destruction, Freejack, Daniel Petrie's Article 99, White Sands among others), Viacom (Paramount Pictures), Disney (Buena Vista Pictures) and Time Warner (Warner Bros.) - (The Choirboys, Stroker Ace, Tank, Sixteen Candles, The Last Starfighter, Made in Heaven among others).
Jim Henson is a Legend he left love in the hearts of of all Gen X kids on through the Muppets or Sesame Street we all watched one we all had one we loved mans a Genuis right up there with Walt & John Lassiter its a shame the current Disney own and are destroying all there legacys
I was truly affected by Labyrinth as a child. It was the perfect blend of scary and adventurous. It didn’t quite age as well for me watching as an adult.
@@tylerthompson1842 I totally understand that take, I guess as an adult your perspective on a lot of things can be different. It really was magic watching it as a kid. Thanks for commenting and hope you enjoyed the video! 😎
Masters of the Universe is such a fun 80s action fantasy. I don't get the hate for it. The practical effects look great and most of the cast are really good too. Especially those playing the villains all give great performances.
@@JurassicRod Agree 💯 with that - it’s a cracking film, despite all its supposed flaws. I ended up regularly just watching the whole thing whilst editing this video, which delayed the process somewhat 😂 Love the visuals and the casting, and Frank Langella is off the charts brilliant.
@@CultureSlice I'm an easy lay for the small town 80s america vibe too. He-man rocking up to a battle in a pink cadillac with Gwildor dressed in drag to fight Skeletors forces at a synth music store tickles my balls.
@@CultureSlice I still enjoyed your video, of course. Thank you making it! I’m of that era and enjoyed the trip down memory lane. It’s just something about puppets/muppets that sort of unsettles me.
@@tomadjarm3302 Thank you, that's very kind! I totally get the puppet thing, I think having David Bowie prancing around with them probably breaks the fourth wall enough for me!
A fine list. I'm particularly impressed with the Last Starfighter's 3D modeling effects. I can't imagine the rudimentary tools available to create things at that time. Enemy Mine. I've always thought it would've been bigger with a cooler looking alien. Something like Nikto from ROTJ maybe, an unimportant background character there. SW had too many cool species. Never conceived they put that mine in there for that reason. What if Cannon actually cared about adapting He-Man instead of the "throw something together, the kids'll love it" approach? It could've changed the fortunes of so many. For a movie I say I don't like, I've sure seen it a lot. It's mostly viewed from a perspective of frustrated confusion.
Thank you 😎 Yeah the visuals in The Last Starfighter are pretty immense for 1984…a really underrated movie I think! As much as I enjoy Masters of the Universe for what it is and the nostalgia, I agree that the potential was massive if handled differently. They should have made a full-on epic in 1985 at the peak of He-Man mania. That Langella performance is still insanely good though!
Labyrinth must have made money by now with all of the cable and then streaming plus all of the toy licensing that still seems to be going strong today.
Oh for sure - it’s difficult to get solid data on video/DVD sales but the second life it had in home media must have been considerable. Just a shame it was seen as such a box office bomb when it was released in cinemas initially.
Another great video from CS. 2k subs is only around the corner with quality content like this. I am gonna have to check out Enemy Mine, as CS has sold me on it. Be good to get a deep dive on Cannon films as they've a history of bombing potential blockbusters (Superman 4 being the most significant) though looking forward to more from this series and the sequels too. The only lost 1980s blockbuster that never was that perplexes me is The Monster Squad which was written by Lethal Weapon's Shane Black. It lost a lot of money, though it's critical reputation has improved over the years. Maybe too many comparisons to the Lost Boys and Goonies didn't help it. But it's great watching where CS is taking this fantastic channel. Hats Off Entertainment are even stealing from him, as they did their own worst ever sequel vid on Caddyshack 2 : coincidence? My loyalty is with CS! Keep up the great videos 😊
John thank you so so much - what a kind message! Glad you enjoyed the video, currently working on number 10 which will be another Sequelpalooza. Hopefully 2k subs is on the way, just need to keep grinding and see where the channel goes from here. Really appreciate the support! You’re right that a rise and fall of Cannon would be interesting, I know they had a lot of disasters but I miss that kind of chaotic fun release schedule, even if the films themselves were often not great at all the behind the scenes was almost always fascinating. Will add it to the list! I really do love Monster Squad, that movie should have been massive. You’re right about The Lost Boys being released a few weeks before impacting it at the time, amongst lots of other things - but the fact that 1987 was a ridiculously good year for Hollywood was a major factor. What a great film though. I haven’t actually noticed the Hats Off video but I do like their stuff…will check it out! I guess video ideas in this niche do often overlap but there’s enough space for a few different voices - which hopefully can include this channel! Thanks again 👍🏻
@@CultureSlicethanks for the reply, really appreciate all your engagement. Great videos by a great content creator. Really looking forward to the next video. I agree with you, Hats Off do some great stuff, but I think you are cornering a unique niche market and love the way you research and put your vids together. Always hoping you get bigger and love the way you communicate with the viewers who comment. I also agree that Cannon was unique (turning Chuck Norris into a major star) and we will never see the likes of them again: selling movies at Cannes on film trailers for movies they hadn't yet made is genius! Again keep up the fantastic vids and not far off 2k subs then who knows what will happen come next year fingers crossed
@@johnlad2198 That is very kind John, hopefully I can build a niche for myself for the longer term but just taking it one video at a time. Always try to respond to comments as well, I love hearing people’s thoughts on these movies and they often put things in a way I wish I had in the video 😂 Appreciate the continued support! Cannon and their like are really missed. It’s a shame everything is so organised and corporate now, we’ll never go back to the days of Cannon sadly but they put out some great - and a lot of terrible - stuff. I’m planning another Rise & Fall of… video but a Cannon one after that would always be great. I bet there are so many crazy stories when you really start digging!
Production trouble aside, one thing that massively went against MOTU movie is that barely anything was recognizable. 44:25 - Which is a good thing they did as the original script also had stuff like heads on pikes! (You can find a page excerpt in "Art of He-Man" book) 47:40 - Weeeeell, nowadays with rock bottom being constantly redefined... it's certainly much better than it came across as at first. BTW, whilst sequel was scrapped, for a while there were plans for a live action TV series (sadly much of details about it remain scarce).
51:40 - Don't hold any hope for that. The movie has been stuck in development hell for 20 years now and since 2009 it was being botched by a studio called Escape Artists (their most recent idea was to have it be a comedy about He-Man who's stuck on Earth, with amnesia, working as an accountant who randomly blurts out "By the power of Grayskull"). Then there's the current brand manager, Rob David, to offer additional problems with his horrible ideas (he's the guy that's actually responsible for fiasco that was Revelation/Revolution (and the crummy CGI show), not Kevin Smith)
I don't think we fully appreciated at the time how good we had it in the 80s and 90s...a lot of the stuff labelled as rubbish at the time has aged better than anyone thought it had any right to!
Oh wow...it does seem like it's been a total mess. I liked Bumblebee so holding out some hope but, yeah, Hollywood doesn't exactly have the best recent record on this type of thing...
@@Grim2 Escape Artists (formerly known as the Steve Tisch Company) was ran by Emmy Award nominated and Academy Award winning producer Steve Tisch who been producing both television movies and features since Fall 1977. One of the most biggest hits was the Oscar winning "Forrest Gump" (1994).
Oh definitely, great shout - funnily enough one of the video scripts I’m working on is a follow up to this with Legend as the first film on the list. A very flawed movie but Curry’s performance is outstanding.
A lot of 80s movies flopped when they came out but went on to be seen as classics and masterpieces of cinema. Especially when compared with all the wokeness and DEI in modern movies.
It is pretty mad to look at the 80s film that flopped in cinemas, across pretty much all genres - the competition was so tough and classics were being released seemingly every week!
Thankfully it became a stone cold classic over time! Sadly it was almost totally lost in its initial cinema run though, and deserved a far better reception and box office takings.
When I first saw a review of Labyrinth, I realized something; critics are idiots. I never cared what they had to say after that. They act like a movie should reveal the secret of life rather than entertain you for a couple hours.
Sorry, can't help myself, but toward the end "Whether these movies actually need reboots is a matter of conjecture." Actually, no. Whether the movies will actually RECIEVE reboots is a matter of conjecture. Whether they NEED reboots is a matter of OPINION.
Labyrinth, another film in a long legacy that showed how terrible the US landscape was towards actually good films. With its cultural success in the Commonwealth that some people still had taste.
A lot of great 80s films deserved more from their cinema runs - at least they will be remembered forever though! Movies these days don't have the obvious second chance of the VHS/DVD market...
It’s pretty crazy right? Feels like you could have gone to the cinema almost every weekend in the 80s and had a selection of future classics to choose from.
Labyrinth suffered from Jim as a film director. His genius in puppeteering and production design were wasted with his blocking and visual storytelling. My guess is he was too used to working on stage and the mechanical aspects of the puppets made it hard for him and his DP to get shots that helped visually tell the story and also get the most out of his human actors. The lead actors were not experienced at this time and to further handicap them to having scenes where they had to react to puppets made some elements feel very clunky. It seems like a missed opportunity because the production design is so imaginative and if he could find some talented collaborators he might have been able to make a universal masterpiece versus a film with a small cult following.
Really interesting take - thank you for commenting! George Lucas helped Henson with the edit of the movie, if he'd have helped with the production more directly do you think that could have helped? Or would you say he should have handed over the actual direction to someone else?
It did indeed and he was great! You're right he was a recognisable name, but he wasn't really a name that was opening big blockbusters in the mid-80s...though if he was, that's a world I want to have lived in.
Funny that you think these are "lost", I own copies of every single movie on this list......... and as a kid I was lucky enough to see every single one of them in theaters. These movies will be lost once DVDs and Blu-rays become obsolete as a format and tons of movies can't be found on any streaming platform because of rights issues, that's when they will actually be lost.
Thanks for your comment - I too own copies of each of them! Definitely agree on the potential of a whole generation of great movies becoming increasingly obsolete in the streaming age. They were lost blockbusters as they either disappointed or totally bombed on their initial cinema runs. I wish they had all done FAR better at the time, a world where Labyrinth is a Summer blockbuster is quite simply a better one - but I'm very glad they have found an audience, some more than others, in home viewing. Hope you still enjoyed the video, thanks again.
My god, Gene siskel had the ability to make the skin on your body melt away with just a few key strokes. others shout and use profanity to the point they cease to carry their value. he wasn't out to insult. he carried the tools to shatter dreams and he was especially insulted when wannabe's toured mt Olympus without making their mark. imitation got his attention quick and boy would he hunt these offenders down like they were the worst criminal imaginable. he didn't care if they were someone's son. they owed him a good time damn it and they didn't even try,
Video was far too long and why you think we need to know everything about the whys it happened is beyond me, could of been 25- 27, and i wanna know why?
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@@CultureSlice a lot great flicks out there…remember Six Pack? Kenny Rogers?
@@djf2471 Oh yeah that's a fun film!
Labirinth is a story of a child abuse and child molestation
Last Starfighter is so good. The idea of being so good at video games that you get recruited for a secret purpose is an idea still used in stories
Totally agree, The Last Starfighter is awesome. It’s such a simple but genius premise. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Gran Turismo did & was based on a true story. Though I am sure the idea probably came from viewing "The Last Starfighter".
Isn’t that also the plot to Enders game?
Labyrint and Enemy Mine are still very good movies. Classics. ❤👍
Awesome films. Labyrinth in particular just an incredible piece of work.
Enemy mine was my first experience of "Oh, the book was a lot better"
Good, but not great. Not blockbuster material- although many many blockbusters aren't all that great either.
I wish Labyrinth had done better. I saw Enemy Mine at the theater and I thought it was so-so. i didn't feel like I wasted my money, but that was about it.
The Last Starfighter had an immense impact on me as a child. A poor boy dreaming and being passionate about one thing. Then one day it all pays out and he saves the galaxy.
I watched it back then but forgot about it. Until 10 years ago I couldn’t remember the name. I too was gaming like crazy on the C64 and Amiga. Everybody told me to grow up and stop fantasizing. Go do construction work. Let’s just say they were very wrong. Never stop dreaming and give the middlefinger to the nay sayers. No matter who that is. You have one life. Don’t let anyone hold you up.
Very well said! Follow your dreams no matter what 😎 Thanks for commenting and sharing 👍🏻
Soo..whats the end of your story? Did you become a game developer..make millions playing competetive cs:go?
Great video. I loved the Labyrinth. David Bowie was brilliant as the Goblin King and i loved the soundtrack.
@@Makoto03 Thank you so much, really appreciate the comment and glad you enjoyed the video 😎 Absolutely agree, Bowie was born to play that role for sure, and the songs hold up so well. I can’t understand the early negative reviews that film received at all!
I wished the Last Starfighter became a franchise.
Oh definitely, that ending set up a sequel so well too!
@@CultureSliceSequel yes; franchise, no. Look how many franchises have become dead horses and gone on to become total duds. I don't see how it could have been successfully expanded, I love this movie, especially Robert Preston!
@@ghw7192 Yeah that’s a fair warning - but either way would love to have seen a sequel!
@@CultureSlice Well, Hollywood drug its heels too long. We've lost most of the cast from the original movie. Norman Snow died 2 years ago, so can't do a Xur follow up from his escape in the first movie. I'm not saying it's impossible, they could pull off a Top gun Maverick type of comeback, but they're taking way too long and they're either losing people or they're getting way too old to continue the story from the first movie.
Cannon Films was the world's greatest Ponzi scheme masquerading as a movie studio and I love them for it.
Oh definitely, the company was dodgy as anything but it wouldn’t have been the same without it. I was thinking about a deep dive video in to the history of Cannon, there must be some incredible stories behind the scenes.
Masters of the Universe , is a guilty pleasure of mine….Mostly due to Frank Langella as Skeletor and Meg Foster as Evil-Lyn 😍😍😍
100% my friend - I ended up watching the full film quite a few times when I was editing this video largely for these very reasons 😂
I just watched last star fighter and it was way better than I remembered, seeing the world building unfold as the story progresses is great example of not over doing it but showing enough to keep you interested, it’s a great film, people complained about the cgi 10 years later but I think it holds up to it roots, the cgi is very torn like and the miniatures they work into the effects really sells it, the guy in the hat was a great character and the day in the life of the earth characters felt very grounded for the 80s as I was a kid then and it captures that period perfectly
It's a really really good film, as you say the everyday earth scenes are done really well and draw you in to the story even more. I love the effects too - they are absolutely of their time but they suit the aesthetic and concept nicely. Thanks for commenting!
My top five underrated movie from the 80’s!!!
5- SpaceCamp
4- The Last Starfighter
3- Iron Eagle
2- Lucas
1- Moving Violations
A really great list - Lucas is a brilliant film that nobody seems to ever talk about and deserved to be a much bigger hit!
Thanks for commenting and hope you enjoyed the video 😎
Totally underrated list of underrated films
Having lived through the 1980s as an adult, I can tell you that the idea that every successful movie should become a "franchise" until inferior sequels destroyed all interest in the stories was not yet set in stone. Many movies were quite successful in their day with no intention of there ever being sequels e.g. "The Princess Bride" and "The Dark Crystal". The fact that no sequels were made does not mean the films were failures. I rather miss self-contained stories in films. I think the general public too has become bored with prequels/sequels and reboots.
Yes indeed, thankfully not everything got a sequel! Although if The Princess Bride or The Dark Crystal had delivered massive box office in their cinema releases, there definitely would have been a bigger push by the studios to make follow ups...
Completely agree on the general increasing indifference to sequels over the decades, although they have always been a part of Hollywood it feels more pronounced in the modern era. Thanks for commenting!
Enemy Mine feels strangely like an adaptation/copy of the movie with Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune. Hell on Pacific.
Definately
I'm in my 50's and grew up with these films remembering the reports back then of them doing terrible in the Box Office, but love them anyway and have them on DVD, never getting rid of them.
Absolutely agree - physical media to keep forever. Thanks for watching the video and commenting! 😎
The leadup to and the final battle of Masters of the Universe was fantastic. The timing of the music aligned with Dolph's "I have the powerrrrr", Frank Langrella's fantastic speech. It's like 100x as good as the rest of the movie.
Totally agree - there are really phenomenal moments in the movie, intertwined with very poor ones, it’s such a mixed bag of quality. And Langella’s performance is something else. Thanks for commenting and hope you enjoyed the video! 👍🏻
God lord, man, you just zoomed in on my childhood! Thanks for the video - great work! :-)
@@Elnis888 Oh you are very welcome my friend, really glad you enjoyed the video! This was absolutely my childhood too, we were very lucky to have all these amazing films back then. Lots more to come from the channel soon, thanks again 😎
I’m sure in some kind of better reality, Labyrinth and the Last Starfighter were massive box office smashes and all was good with the world.
At least they found their audience later. I saw both on video. Rented Starfighter and saw Labyrinth when on holiday with school. It gained a lot of traction on home video it seemed.
I think Labyrinth especially was really made for home viewing, repeated watches, and connecting on it with friends. I know that’s how I ended up loving it…the possibilities of what movies could have happened if it had been a big hit at the time are pretty much endless though.
The amount of money they have made off of digital and physical now is crazy insane. But we never get those numbers. All of these outsell any movie in the last 10 years. Facts
It's a real shame that those figures aren't more accessible - would change the perspective of a lot of movies labelled as "flops" for sure! It's also a shame the second life of video/DVD sales has pretty much completely gone, so many amazing films were able to be made back in the day because that second revenue stream was available...
They should make a direct sequel to Enemy Mine, with Quad reprising his role, raising the alien child he had with Luis.
Agreed, but the Child would be an Adult now yes? Not sure how Dracs age but seem like the mature pretty fast.
Enemy Mine feels strangely like an adaptation/copy of the movie with Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune. Hell on Pacific.
Love Labyrinth! Just saw The Last Starfighter in August for the 40 year anniversary rerelease. I feel very lucky to have held off on watching it for years to be lucky enough to watch in theaters.
Oh wow I bet that was a great experience - we didn't get any 40th anniversary screenings over here in the UK sadly!
I think what the people who made the He-Man movie forgot about was this: Star Wars was a hit movie, then it was toys. He-Man was hit toys, then it was a movie. That is not a formula conducive to success.
Thank you for covering Enemy Mine, one of my favorite movies, also see critics are out of touch even back then as to call Labyrinth a bad movie.
You are very welcome, hope you enjoyed the video 😎 I find Enemy Mine really fascinating as critics didn’t get it, the studio messed up the release, it had this huge budget (for the time)…and then when you actually see the film it’s largely this really thoughtful character study with brilliant performances at the centre of it. Just a totally unique movie for 80s Hollywood.
Enemy Mine become a big hit for Disney in 1985. Which was very successful. Thanks to Disney's board member Brenda Strong.
Great video 😵 I'm 43 now, and a genuine child of the 80s, and I remember all of these fondly ❤️ except... Masters of the Universe 🤣🤣 but I'm biased there😜 that was the VERY first movie I ever saw in cinema, on the big screen, and I was a huge He-man fan back then, I made my father take me to it, and our paltry admission went towards that theater haul😜🤣I was 5, or maybe 6, at that point 😜but the genuine lack of ACTUAL He-man source material burned the crap out of me😜🤣but as for the other 3, underappreciated masterpieces 😘👍 Enemy Mine and Last Starfighter are both within my personal 15 greatest sci-fi films of all time, and Labyrinth.... that can never be remade, not without Bowie😘👍 excellent analysis, and you really brought back some nostalgia 😎👍
Thank you so much for the comment, and really glad you enjoyed the video! 😁 What a first film to see in the cinema 😂 I do totally understand why you might have been disappointed in the film, it needed MUCH more Eternia and less high school gym really - I probably would have felt the same as you! But for some reason I still enjoy it, it’s naff and could be far better but it’s very watchable, Frank Langella’s performance is just outstanding. Thanks again 👍🏻
Enemy Mine is an amazing movie. Was not a blockbuster and don't think it was ever meant to be. Last Starfighter is not forgotten by any stretch of the imagination.
Thanks for your comment - hope you enjoyed the video.
I agree on Enemy Mine, it's a really good film. I think the term I used for Enemy Mine was "accidental wannabe blockbuster" - it wasn't intended as one at first, but then with the ballooning budget and delays the studio decided to go all in with an expensive marketing campaign to go with it. In the end, it needed to make blockbuster levels of money in cinemas and never really stood a chance of doing that.
The Last Starfighter is definitely not forgotten, none of these films are - but they all didn't perform as well as the box office as the studios had hoped or they perhaps could have.
Loved all these movies when watching them on WPIX, WWOR, and WLIG in the 80's.
Really cool memories. WPIX is New York right? I'm in the UK so not totally up on my affiliates!
@@CultureSlice Yes you’re right! Besides renting VHS tapes that was the way to watch.
So Ender's Game is just Last Starfighter?
Labyrinth. I watched it so many times, I can repeat all the words by heart. It would probably be annoying for someone if they watched with me. 😂😂 I was 9 years old when this came out. ❤️
They have Labyrinth singalongs in a cinema in London - I've never been but imagine it's a great night!
Got to love getting an ad that’s 70mns and Is longer than the video Itself
What was the ad for?!
@@CultureSlice was a gospel sermon, just found it odd, no hate just odd
@@darrylflynn1400 Yeah that is strange - wish we had some control over the ads they serve!
So many timeless classics from a great timeless era. Its ashamed that Hollywood will never recreate or match to this level of creativity today unfortunately
Totally agree - the 70s/80s/90s were a total golden age and it doesn't look like we'll ever come close to matching it any time soon. At least we lived to see them get made in the first place I guess!
@@CultureSlice The Labyrinth - The Wizard of Oz
The Last Starfighter - Star Wars
Masters of the Universe - Star Wars. Again.
Enemy mine - whilst I cannot think of a good example of an earlier movie like this one at the moment, the concept of enemies teaming up is not a very unique idea and there must be examples. I guess I could even point to Star Wars again though.
I really don't understand some of the things people are always saying about movies that really aren't true. Hollywood has been copying itself like some giant echo chamber since the earliest days of silent film. This isn't some new phenomena that has suddenly appeared since the 70s/80s/90s ended.
A truly original idea is a very, very rare thing. This unoriginality thing is not even limited to movies. Tolkien is considered the "father" of fantasy, but it's not like he invented elves or dragons or....Wait. the fellowship going on a quest to take the ring to Mordor is not very different to Sarah going on a quest to Goblin City to rescue her baby brother. And there are plenty of much, much older quest type stories like King Arthur, Robin Hood, Hercules, etc.
Another example of things people say that are not true is that computer generated special effects are somehow worse than "practical" effects. I'm sorry, but None of the creatures in these movies look any more real than the creatures in Avatar or Guardians of the Galaxy. The Terminator in T2 looks much more believable than the Arnie puppet doing surgery on itself in the original movie.
Oh, and Return of the Jedi, Aliens and T2 are examples of how sequels are not always worse than the original. But lots of movies only get a sequel because some magic happened and they managed to catch lightning in a bottle for the first movie. Expecting them to be able to repeat that same epic level every time really is asking too much of them. It should be enough that the sequel provides some entertainment and allows you to revisit the concepts or characters that you enjoyed the first time around.
@@uzetaab Great take - and lots of interesting points! Totally agree that there is very little TRULY original in terms of ideas, most stories are at the very least influenced by those which have come before them.
I don't think the fact something is different levels of derivative precludes it from becoming a timeless classic in itself though, and it felt at times like the 80s especially had at least one timeless classic being released each weekend, and coming at a time of such fascinating technical progression in the industry too. Modern Hollywood's slavish obsession with rebooting movies directly feels quite different.
Speaking of technology, you make a really interesting point about the perception of special effects. Clearly, traditional techniques would have no chance of having any hope of creating what can be done with modern-day CGI in most cases, but it would be nice if they were considered as part of the suite of tools at the filmmakers' disposal in some form more often. When done right, there's just something about them that is special.
Thanks for watching and commenting
😎👍
@@CultureSlice I want to talk specifically about this comment you made "Modern Hollywood's slavish obsession with rebooting movies directly feels quite different."
The 80's and 90's is full of Part 2, 3 and 4 of the same series. Beverly Hills Cop, Lethal Weapon, Indiana Jones, Police Academy, Terminator, Alien, Predator, the list is endless. That really doesn't seem very different to me, except that we view those movies through rose coloured glasses because they are what we grew up on.
There's also the fact that Franchises were pretty common back then too. James Bond, Superman, Batman, Blade, National Lampoon, Hanna-Barbera, Disney, and many more.
Plenty of movies made back then are actually remakes/reboots of earlier movies or shows such as Bedazzled, Psycho, Poseidon Adventure, Cape Fear, The Addams Family, Flubber, Dr Dolittle, Dracula, King Kong.
Also, Hollywood has a long history of this sort of stuff, here are some franchises that are much, much older. The Three Stooges, Abbott and Costello, the Universal monsters such as the Mummy and Invisible Man, Andy Hardy, Sherlock Holmes. These are all something like 80 years old now and are franchises like the Marvel movies from the last 15 years. There were even some crossover movies with Abbott and Costello and the Universal monsters.
The only thing that has changed about Hollywood in the last 20 years is our perception of it because we are old enough now to be seeing some of this stuff come around again.
At the end of the day, this is just how Hollywood works. When something proves itself to be popular with audiences, Hollywood gives audiences lots more of that until audiences get bored. It hasn't changed. Ever.
@@uzetaab Hi, thanks for your detailed message. I hope you still managed to enjoy the video 👍🏻
There have always been films influenced by works gone before them, with some remakes, and of course the 80s was a time when they attempted to create franchises to milk for as much cash as possible, as I said at the beginning of the video - it was part of what they wanted from potential blockbusters. There’s that famous video with Roger Ebert complaining about there being 14 sequels in a year in the mid-80s. I mean, I’ve covered Police Academy films in detail on the channel 😂
But the stats do lay out that what has happened in more recent years is something larger, or different. If you compare the highest grossing films of years in the 80s or 90s to the 2010s and 2020s, the majority of the movies on the list back then are largely original or first-time, compared to being predominantly sequels or reboots now. There are some back then sure, but almost all of the list is reheats now. It feels like part of the issue is the “death” of the mid-budget movie and the removal of the second wave revenue stream of video/DVD release. A lot of the first time movies we saw in the 80s or 90s would struggle to get made now , or released at least, in the same way they would have back then. And, for me, that feels like a shame.
Thanks for your comment 😎
I loved Enemy mine was a good movie ❤my mom and I watched it together and that’s when I new I was a sci fi nerd 🤓
For my money, THE most underrated 80s film that should've been a hit but wasn't.......is Young Sherlock Holmes.
I'm not sure why it never caught on. It looks fantastic, the music is superb, the young actors are completely believable and the story is deliciously grim.
Wait a minute......deliciously grim? Ah yes, the film was sold as an adventure film in the vein of the Goonies (that came out after) and Indiana Jones;
something that would appeal to the whole family. However, it had more in common with Temple of Doom than Raiders and would NEVER be rated PG-13 today.
Why? Because you've got people freaking out (and dying) from terrifying hallucinations, cult members sacrificing young girls and one of the main cast of teenagers
actually being murdered. Disney, it ain't! And yet, had it been sold as an adventure film for adults, it would certainly have done a lot better. Not great, but better.
It most definitely deserved to. If for no other reason that it was the first mainstream film in history to incorporate CGI. And very impressively, too!
Great shout - that is an awesome movie. It did OK I think from memory? It should have been HUGE though. Written by Chris Columbus too after Gremlins. Man...he has had some career.
@@CultureSlice It did OK in Europe. In the US, it was apparently the 46th most "popular" film of 1984. I'm old enough to remember seeing the billboards advertising it, and yet, when I mentioned this incredibly exciting film that had just opened to my friends at the time, nobody seemed to care! Even today, the few people who remember it don't seem to have particularly fond memories of it.
Hell, even on Blu-ray, the thing looks awful. They basically dumped a VHS print on the disc and hoped that nobody would notice.
It deserves better!
You got me interested. I'll have to check it out.
I sincerely hope they never make a sequel or remake of Labyrinth.
For the love of any deity!
The Henson Company have been talking about it for years and years...I guess if it does happen at least they are involved?! Not that I want it to happen or think that it needs to, at all - just trying to search for the positives!
@@CultureSlice Aside from fearing yet another unsolicited remake...Dark Crystal has much more potential for a sequel or prequel...as the 2019 series proved, unfortunately not renewed.
I can see it now... Jennifer Connely is back as the mother. Her daughter, current trending Disney teen, retreads her general plot line with some fresh new surprises! Timothy Chalomet is the goblin king! Need I say more? OK! The goblins and creatures are now eye-popping CG creations, shoddily made and poorly rendered in a rushed production fraught with reshoots and director changes.
@@shanester1832 That actually could happen, couldn't it? A law needs to be brought in to make a fully CGI Labyrinth illegal...
I grew up loving every one of these movies!
Me too! 😎 In a better world, they would all have been much bigger hits in cinemas.
"Well done, sir!"👏👏👏
Thank you for commenting 😎
The last Starfighter I 1st watched on tv in the 80s.
I do like this movie.
When it came out I watched Ghostbusters at the cinema.
That’s the thing isn’t it, the choice in the cinema in 1984 was absolutely insane! As much as I love The Last Starfighter, it never really stood much of a chance at the time. Thanks for commenting! 😎
I loved Enemy Mine when it came out. I even bought the VHS, haven't updated it though...
I hadn't watched it for quite a few years but it holds up really well!
I loved Labyrinth. David Bowie has the Goblin King was brilliant don’t forget the soundtrack. I have both The Last Starfighter and Enemy Mine on dvd and take them all out and watch them. I watched Masters of the Universe on the tv.
Yep Labyrinth is a really special film, Bowie had some misses as a film star but in the Goblin King he found his perfect role. Thanks for commenting!
I very much liked Ememy Mine. It was a great story in the best sci fi tradition!
Very much agreed - also quite unique in the context of the kind of sci fi films being made at the time. Thanks for watching! 😎
very good video. your background information sets your channel apart from the rest. pleasure to watch.
Thank you so much for the comment - really appreciate it and very glad you enjoyed the video. UA-cam can be tough at times so comments like this mean a lot! Plenty more to come from the channel for the rest of the year and beyond 😎
@@CultureSlice can imagine. the amount of work you put into these must be enormous and you deserve the subs and the praise.
@@pdr4206 Thank you very much 😎 The reaction to the videos has been far beyond what I’d have imagined so early, now just have to keep working hard and the rest is in the hands of the UA-cam algo gods from there…👍🏻
MotU was the first time my young mind noticed how budgets affected a movie's storyline and plot. I wondered why we were only in Eternia for something like 5 minutes before the 'action' made its way to an empty high school gym and a music store and realised it's because it's cheaper
Very true 😂 It was so strange as a kid that barely any of the film actually took place on Eternia!
I used to watch The Last Starfighter tape all the time.
Me too - such a good film!
One would have had a very difficult time convincing me and my friends in 1984 that the Last Starfighter was a flop!
I know! One of the coolest films of the 80s, should have been a HUGE hit.
@@CultureSlice "Sure Does" - a classic quote from 1933's Broken Dreams.
But back in September 24, 1977, Seagram based Universal-International (formerly MCA/Universal Pictures) had a very difficult time to
co-produced and co-distributed with several other studios such as Sony Pictures Entertainment (Columbia Pictures) - (Winter People,
Always, The First Power, Lord of the Flies, Sibling Rivalry, Eve of Destruction, Freejack, Daniel Petrie's Article 99, White Sands among others), Viacom (Paramount Pictures), Disney (Buena Vista Pictures) and Time Warner (Warner Bros.) - (The Choirboys, Stroker Ace, Tank,
Sixteen Candles, The Last Starfighter, Made in Heaven among others).
No Buckaroo Banzai? Still one of the best and most underrated movie of the 80s.
Great shout - would be a perfect choice for another video in the series! That film deserved A LOT more when it was released.
By definition a flop cannot be a blockbuster
Jim Henson is a Legend he left love in the hearts of of all Gen X kids on through the Muppets or Sesame Street we all watched one we all had one we loved mans a Genuis right up there with Walt & John Lassiter its a shame the current Disney own and are destroying all there legacys
Could not agree more on Henson - he is one of the true greats of our time.
Labriynth will forever be embedded in my childhood memories, loved this movie, and enemy mine
@@aaroncampos4654 Me too - will live with me forever! 😎
I was truly affected by Labyrinth as a child. It was the perfect blend of scary and adventurous. It didn’t quite age as well for me watching as an adult.
@@tylerthompson1842 I totally understand that take, I guess as an adult your perspective on a lot of things can be different. It really was magic watching it as a kid. Thanks for commenting and hope you enjoyed the video! 😎
My parents didn’t like it but all the teens love it, but we have the money. Also in my country there was a better received than in USA.
Masters of the Universe is such a fun 80s action fantasy. I don't get the hate for it. The practical effects look great and most of the cast are really good too. Especially those playing the villains all give great performances.
@@JurassicRod Agree 💯 with that - it’s a cracking film, despite all its supposed flaws. I ended up regularly just watching the whole thing whilst editing this video, which delayed the process somewhat 😂 Love the visuals and the casting, and Frank Langella is off the charts brilliant.
@@CultureSlice I'm an easy lay for the small town 80s america vibe too. He-man rocking up to a battle in a pink cadillac with Gwildor dressed in drag to fight Skeletors forces at a synth music store tickles my balls.
Maybe the cartoon version of Masters of the Universe is better, do not think we need a reboot !!!
All of these are brilliant however I must admit I didn't watch all at cinema at time. But all are ace.
Completely agree - great films and a wonderful time for cinema! Thanks for watching and commenting 😎
The only good things about Ghostbusters is the theme song and Stay Puft.
Puppets freak me out, man. Nightmare fuel.
I can definitely see that! The Labyrinth horror edit would be something else. 😂
@@CultureSlice I still enjoyed your video, of course. Thank you making it! I’m of that era and enjoyed the trip down memory lane. It’s just something about puppets/muppets that sort of unsettles me.
@@tomadjarm3302 Thank you, that's very kind! I totally get the puppet thing, I think having David Bowie prancing around with them probably breaks the fourth wall enough for me!
A fine list.
I'm particularly impressed with the Last Starfighter's 3D modeling effects. I can't imagine the rudimentary tools available to create things at that time.
Enemy Mine. I've always thought it would've been bigger with a cooler looking alien. Something like Nikto from ROTJ maybe, an unimportant background character there. SW had too many cool species. Never conceived they put that mine in there for that reason.
What if Cannon actually cared about adapting He-Man instead of the "throw something together, the kids'll love it" approach? It could've changed the fortunes of so many. For a movie I say I don't like, I've sure seen it a lot. It's mostly viewed from a perspective of frustrated confusion.
Thank you 😎
Yeah the visuals in The Last Starfighter are pretty immense for 1984…a really underrated movie I think!
As much as I enjoy Masters of the Universe for what it is and the nostalgia, I agree that the potential was massive if handled differently. They should have made a full-on epic in 1985 at the peak of He-Man mania. That Langella performance is still insanely good though!
Labyrinth must have made money by now with all of the cable and then streaming plus all of the toy licensing that still seems to be going strong today.
Oh for sure - it’s difficult to get solid data on video/DVD sales but the second life it had in home media must have been considerable. Just a shame it was seen as such a box office bomb when it was released in cinemas initially.
With it's domestic and foreign box office together It surpassed it's budget by millions. Video would definitely have been profit.
Thankfully, labyrinth has a bunch of spinoffs, including a manga prequel!
Yes indeed!
Another great video from CS. 2k subs is only around the corner with quality content like this. I am gonna have to check out Enemy Mine, as CS has sold me on it. Be good to get a deep dive on Cannon films as they've a history of bombing potential blockbusters (Superman 4 being the most significant) though looking forward to more from this series and the sequels too. The only lost 1980s blockbuster that never was that perplexes me is The Monster Squad which was written by Lethal Weapon's Shane Black. It lost a lot of money, though it's critical reputation has improved over the years. Maybe too many comparisons to the Lost Boys and Goonies didn't help it. But it's great watching where CS is taking this fantastic channel. Hats Off Entertainment are even stealing from him, as they did their own worst ever sequel vid on Caddyshack 2 : coincidence? My loyalty is with CS! Keep up the great videos 😊
John thank you so so much - what a kind message! Glad you enjoyed the video, currently working on number 10 which will be another Sequelpalooza. Hopefully 2k subs is on the way, just need to keep grinding and see where the channel goes from here. Really appreciate the support!
You’re right that a rise and fall of Cannon would be interesting, I know they had a lot of disasters but I miss that kind of chaotic fun release schedule, even if the films themselves were often not great at all the behind the scenes was almost always fascinating. Will add it to the list!
I really do love Monster Squad, that movie should have been massive. You’re right about The Lost Boys being released a few weeks before impacting it at the time, amongst lots of other things - but the fact that 1987 was a ridiculously good year for Hollywood was a major factor. What a great film though.
I haven’t actually noticed the Hats Off video but I do like their stuff…will check it out! I guess video ideas in this niche do often overlap but there’s enough space for a few different voices - which hopefully can include this channel! Thanks again 👍🏻
@@CultureSlicethanks for the reply, really appreciate all your engagement. Great videos by a great content creator. Really looking forward to the next video. I agree with you, Hats Off do some great stuff, but I think you are cornering a unique niche market and love the way you research and put your vids together. Always hoping you get bigger and love the way you communicate with the viewers who comment. I also agree that Cannon was unique (turning Chuck Norris into a major star) and we will never see the likes of them again: selling movies at Cannes on film trailers for movies they hadn't yet made is genius! Again keep up the fantastic vids and not far off 2k subs then who knows what will happen come next year fingers crossed
@@johnlad2198 That is very kind John, hopefully I can build a niche for myself for the longer term but just taking it one video at a time. Always try to respond to comments as well, I love hearing people’s thoughts on these movies and they often put things in a way I wish I had in the video 😂 Appreciate the continued support!
Cannon and their like are really missed. It’s a shame everything is so organised and corporate now, we’ll never go back to the days of Cannon sadly but they put out some great - and a lot of terrible - stuff. I’m planning another Rise & Fall of… video but a Cannon one after that would always be great. I bet there are so many crazy stories when you really start digging!
Production trouble aside, one thing that massively went against MOTU movie is that barely anything was recognizable.
44:25 - Which is a good thing they did as the original script also had stuff like heads on pikes! (You can find a page excerpt in "Art of He-Man" book)
47:40 - Weeeeell, nowadays with rock bottom being constantly redefined... it's certainly much better than it came across as at first.
BTW, whilst sequel was scrapped, for a while there were plans for a live action TV series (sadly much of details about it remain scarce).
51:40 - Don't hold any hope for that. The movie has been stuck in development hell for 20 years now and since 2009 it was being botched by a studio called Escape Artists (their most recent idea was to have it be a comedy about He-Man who's stuck on Earth, with amnesia, working as an accountant who randomly blurts out "By the power of Grayskull"). Then there's the current brand manager, Rob David, to offer additional problems with his horrible ideas (he's the guy that's actually responsible for fiasco that was Revelation/Revolution (and the crummy CGI show), not Kevin Smith)
I don't think we fully appreciated at the time how good we had it in the 80s and 90s...a lot of the stuff labelled as rubbish at the time has aged better than anyone thought it had any right to!
Oh wow...it does seem like it's been a total mess. I liked Bumblebee so holding out some hope but, yeah, Hollywood doesn't exactly have the best recent record on this type of thing...
@@Grim2 Escape Artists (formerly known as the Steve Tisch Company) was ran by Emmy Award nominated and Academy Award winning producer Steve Tisch who been producing both television movies and features since Fall 1977. One of the most biggest hits was the Oscar winning "Forrest Gump" (1994).
You want a Lost blockbuster of the 80s? Look to Legend. Tim Curry at his early prime.
Oh definitely, great shout - funnily enough one of the video scripts I’m working on is a follow up to this with Legend as the first film on the list. A very flawed movie but Curry’s performance is outstanding.
A lot of 80s movies flopped when they came out but went on to be seen as classics and masterpieces of cinema. Especially when compared with all the wokeness and DEI in modern movies.
It is pretty mad to look at the 80s film that flopped in cinemas, across pretty much all genres - the competition was so tough and classics were being released seemingly every week!
Labyrinth isn't lost. It's a classic
Thankfully it became a stone cold classic over time! Sadly it was almost totally lost in its initial cinema run though, and deserved a far better reception and box office takings.
When I first saw a review of Labyrinth, I realized something; critics are idiots. I never cared what they had to say after that. They act like a movie should reveal the secret of life rather than entertain you for a couple hours.
When I read the Siskel review of Labyrinth I was pretty floored - it genuinely felt like he had seen a totally different film!
Sorry, can't help myself, but toward the end
"Whether these movies actually need reboots is a matter of conjecture."
Actually, no. Whether the movies will actually RECIEVE reboots is a matter of conjecture.
Whether they NEED reboots is a matter of OPINION.
Labyrinth, another film in a long legacy that showed how terrible the US landscape was towards actually good films. With its cultural success in the Commonwealth that some people still had taste.
A lot of great 80s films deserved more from their cinema runs - at least they will be remembered forever though! Movies these days don't have the obvious second chance of the VHS/DVD market...
Regarding the last starfighter, why not felay the release , Crazy for a small film!!!
How insane is that top 10 from December 1985 at 33:12? I think Enemy Mine is the only movie on that list I don't remember.
It’s pretty crazy right? Feels like you could have gone to the cinema almost every weekend in the 80s and had a selection of future classics to choose from.
Garbage Pail Kids should get a proper reboot
There's definitely a way it could really work!
Labyrinth suffered from Jim as a film director. His genius in puppeteering and production design were wasted with his blocking and visual storytelling. My guess is he was too used to working on stage and the mechanical aspects of the puppets made it hard for him and his DP to get shots that helped visually tell the story and also get the most out of his human actors. The lead actors were not experienced at this time and to further handicap them to having scenes where they had to react to puppets made some elements feel very clunky. It seems like a missed opportunity because the production design is so imaginative and if he could find some talented collaborators he might have been able to make a universal masterpiece versus a film with a small cult following.
Really interesting take - thank you for commenting! George Lucas helped Henson with the edit of the movie, if he'd have helped with the production more directly do you think that could have helped? Or would you say he should have handed over the actual direction to someone else?
You say lost like someone who has never watched a film
How can you say that "The Last Starfighter" had no major stars? It had Robert Preston. He was the Motherf@#!$& Music Man!
It did indeed and he was great! You're right he was a recognisable name, but he wasn't really a name that was opening big blockbusters in the mid-80s...though if he was, that's a world I want to have lived in.
Funny that you think these are "lost", I own copies of every single movie on this list......... and as a kid I was lucky enough to see every single one of them in theaters. These movies will be lost once DVDs and Blu-rays become obsolete as a format and tons of movies can't be found on any streaming platform because of rights issues, that's when they will actually be lost.
Thanks for your comment - I too own copies of each of them! Definitely agree on the potential of a whole generation of great movies becoming increasingly obsolete in the streaming age.
They were lost blockbusters as they either disappointed or totally bombed on their initial cinema runs. I wish they had all done FAR better at the time, a world where Labyrinth is a Summer blockbuster is quite simply a better one - but I'm very glad they have found an audience, some more than others, in home viewing. Hope you still enjoyed the video, thanks again.
My god, Gene siskel had the ability to make the skin on your body melt away with just a few key strokes. others shout and use profanity to the point they cease to carry their value. he wasn't out to insult. he carried the tools to shatter dreams and he was especially insulted when wannabe's toured mt Olympus without making their mark. imitation got his attention quick and boy would he hunt these offenders down like they were the worst criminal imaginable. he didn't care if they were someone's son. they owed him a good time damn it and they didn't even try,
Beautifully put!
No mention of Meg Foster in Masters?
In hindsight she deserved a mention by name - she is great too!
@@CultureSlice for her eyes if nothing else - hypnotic
Benjamin Spicy, is that you??
Sadly not...I wish my name was that cool though!
Video was far too long and why you think we need to know everything about the whys it happened is beyond me, could of been 25- 27, and i wanna know why?
Thanks for your comment, appreciate you watching and writing a reply 👍🏻
Real Steel was pretty much Rock Em Sock Em Robots.
@@laneneely1077 Good point - sounds like Rock Em Sock Em Robots will be Real Steel with added Vin Diesel!
@@CultureSlice this video made me look for these movies on physical media.
Brits need to learn where to put syllable emphasis with words.
Thanks for the feedback, will try to do that in future! All the best.
It was and is all propaganda. You just didn't notice
Why do people still listen to critic's it's 2024 for fks sake ...
The only critics I trust are real people on UA-cam. The professional critics are all shills - paid by the studios to give positive reviews.
I loved Enemy mine was a good movie ❤my mom and I watched it together and that’s when I new I was a sci fi nerd 🤓
That’s a great memory to have attached to the movie 😎 Thanks for the comment and hope you enjoyed the video 👍🏻