Animal House (1978)

AKA: National Lampoon's Animal House

Before Porky's and Revenge of the Nerds, there was the outrageous fraternity comedy known as Animal House, the first film produced by National Lampoon. Taking place in 1962, it follows the exploits of a troublemaking fraternity who challenges the authority of the dean and the competing frat house. The result is pure unadulterated anarchy and cements it the best college comedy of its time. Of particular note is John Belushi as Bluto, who steals every scene that he's in. It's crass and tasteless in a way that movies don't have the guts to be anymore. A product of its time for sure, but one that is immensely revisitable.

5 food fights! out of 5

Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)

Two things strike me about this movie. How much better it holds up than my memory of it, and also how much worse it is compared to the original.

ZAZ exhausted every single airline-related joke the first time around, so they elected not to return for this studio-mandated sequel (as they were busy developing Police Squad! with Leslie Nielsen). Plot-wise, it's exactly the same, except now the plane is a space shuttle and all the passengers are heading to the moon for some reason. Yeah, it's completely stupid. The '80s were wild.

The result is uneven to be sure, but are enough gags crammed in that even when they don't land, it remains partially successful. It just goes to show, not anyone can make these movies funny. It's a case of flying too close to the sun.

2 drinking problems out of 5

Curtains (1983)

I would see the poster for Curtains often in my local VHS Rental store back in the day. I assumed it was some kind of killer-doll flick. I was wrong, it's nothing like that. Instead, it begins as an almost sophisticated thriller that quickly descends into something that's equal parts competent slasher and cheap horror in which things aren't always what they seem.
It involves six actresses invited to a remote location in order to audition for the same role. They all want the part; although some are more determined to land it than others and might even kill for it, literally.
Besides a few excellent scenes (the ice-skating sequence in particular is a definite highlight), the film isn't very good. But the women all give great performances, with the most memorable for me being Samantha Eggar, looking like she just walked off the set of a Katharine Hepburn biopic.

2½ fledglings out of 5