Brats (2024)

Being a child of the '80s, I found myself really invested in this documentary. It's a fly on the wall journey, following actor Andrew McCarthy attempting to reunite with his old colleagues after thirty-some years. It opens up about their uncomfortable relationship with the term "brat pack" (coined in 1985 as a play on "rat pack") which stigmatized many of their careers (although Rob Lowe and Demi Moore escaped relatively unscathed). As an outsider who missed that phenomenon by a few years, I never looked down on the brat pack label. In fact, I purposely sought out all of those films. And after having watched this, I want to go back and see them all again. The 1980s are like comfort food to me. I kind of wish it had been a reunion for all of them, rather than just Andrew's story, but there is some catharsis in following that personal journey. Sad that Molly Ringwald declined and Judd Nelson didn't end up being a part of it, since he seemed to be the one who was most affected by it in older interviews.

3 scathing articles out of 5

Hot Shots! (1991)

Director Jim Abrahams launches a full-scale barrage on Top Gun and other popular films of the era in another high benchmark of the spoof comedy genre. Firing on all cylinders, this is in some ways even funnier and more relentless than Airplane! and The Naked Gun. Charlie Sheen and Lloyd Bridges understood the assignment and completely lean into the buffoonery. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think there may be TOO many jokes; but when the hit rate is this high, you can't really complain. At a breezy 82 minutes, you can watch this movie over and over again, and notice new gags each time. You can't take any part of this film seriously, and that's perfectly fine with me.

4½ Bogies out of 5

PRETTY IN PINK [1986]

Some Kind Of Wonderful's Howard Deutch directs the John Hughes penned Brat Pack teen rom-com Pretty In Pink.
It's a classic in it's genre with all the '80's teen staples, Molly Ringwald, wacky clothing, cool jobs you wish you had, funny nicknames, the lip-synching dance scene, extreme melodrama and questionable moral stances.  Jon Cryer stands out here in probably his best role to date as the lovably nerdy Duckie.  It's jam-packed full of over-baked cliches, cookie cutter characters and the ending is a rushed mess but it manages to charm and endure with it's call back to a simpler time.

3 richies out of 5