Kurt Pankau Dot Com

 My Misspent Youth In Films... Spaceballs Directed by: Mel Brookes Starring: Mel Brooks, John Candy, Rick Moranis Released: June 24, 1987 A star-pilot for hire and his trusty sidekick must come to the rescue of a princess and save Planet Druidia from the clutches of the evil Spaceballs. What I Thought Then We didn't own this, but we had friends who did, and whenever we visited, it was a must-watch. One of my favorite comedies. What I Think Now ... Look... I mean... Just... Parody is hard, right? When people talk about satirical films, they always mention Airplane!  for the way it skewers the airport-disaster movie genre. But what people don't realize is that Airplane!  isn't really a parody of airport-disaster movies so much as it's a remake of one particularly schlocky airport-disaster movie with jokes added. (For more on that, I would point you towards this youtube video .) That gives it a remarkable sense of focus, which allows it to feel universal, even though it...

My Misspent Youth In Films... Bride of Boogedy Directed by: Oz Scott Starring: Richard Masur, Mimi Kennedy, Tammy Lauren Released: April 12, 1987 A family with a great love for practical jokes is haunted by the family ghost Mr. Boogedy. What I Thought Then We taped this off The Disney Sunday Movie  and watched it often. It's a feature-length sequel to a short film called Mr. Boogedy  that we also watched quite a bit, although I definitely preferred the sequel. I didn't retain the plot, but a handful of jokes stayed with me. "It's Jack the Ripper--and Mrs.  Ripper!" I remember it fondly enough that I looked for it explicitly when Disney+ announced some of the legacy titles they would be featuring. What I Think Now It's still pretty fun. Richard Masur is Carlton Davis and his family runs a store selling novelties and gags. In Mr. Boogedy , the family moves to a new house in New England to start a branch there, only to learn that their house is haunted by an old ...

My Misspent Youth In Films... Little Shop of Horrors Directed by: Frank Oz Starring: Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia Released: December 19, 1986 A nerdy florist finds his chance for success and romance with the help of a giant man-eating plant who demands to be fed. Mannequin Directed by: Michael Gottlieb Starring: Andrew McCarthy, Kim Cattrall, Estelle Getty Released: February 13, 1987 A young artist, searching for his vocation, makes a mannequin so perfect he falls in love with it. Finding the mannequin in a store window, he gets a job there and his creation comes to life. What I Thought Then We owned a copy of Little Shop  and watched it incessantly, and Mannequin  was a regular rental. These were both fun movies with sing-along-able music, over-the-top supernatural plots, slapstick comedy, and big--dare I say campy ?--performances. What I Think Now Wow. Here are two movies whose plots revolve around the premise that you can save a store by putting something re...

My Misspent Youth In Films... Babes In Toyland Directed by: Clive Donner Starring: Drew Barrymore, Richard Mulligan, Eileen Brennan Released: December 19, 1986 A young girl wakes up in the realm of Toyland, where she teams up with her family and friends to overthrow the evil villain, Barnaby. What I Thought Then This was a movie my sister always wanted to watch--although I definitely enjoyed it as well. It's mostly individual lines that stick out to me in this: "My jeep has four-wheel drive!"; "Christmas time is snow time, and in no time it will be Christmas again."; "That's the way the cookie factory crumbles--haha, little joke." What I Think Now It's not the worst thing I've seen in the last year... but I did watch Cats in the last year. So this was a TV movie based very loosely on a 1903 operetta that keeps none of the original music, plot, characters, or anything but the title as far as I could tell. This version is about how Barnaby B...

 My Misspent Youth In Films... Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Directed by: Leonard Nimoy Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley Released: November 26, 1986 To save Earth from an alien probe, Admiral James T. Kirk and his fugitive crew go back in time to San Francisco in 1986 to retrieve the only beings who can communicate with it: humpback whales. What I Thought Then I grew up on Star Trek , mostly early TNG  and reruns of TAS . Not T O S , mind you, but T A S ,  The Animated Series . For a long time, this was the most watchable Star Trek  movie to me, since 1 is boring, 2 was a little too intense for me, and 3 was confusing and also not good. And don't even get me started on 5. This one was fun and had a great message, so it got a lot of play, especially on long car trips. What I Think Now This movie holds up surprisingly well. It functions as a capper to the arc that started with Wrath Of Khan . After defeating Khan, Kirk--now an Admiral--had diso...

My Misspent Youth In Films... An American Tail Directed by: Don Bluth Starring: Dom DeLuise, Christopher Plummer, Erica Yohn Released: November 21, 1986 While emigrating to the United States, a young Russian mouse gets separated from his family and must relocate them while trying to survive in a new country. What I Thought Then The details of this movie didn't stick with me, although I know I watched it a lot. I loved some of the music, things like Never Say Never  and There Are No Cats In America . I also remember it being incredibly sad. What I Think Now The reason it didn't stick with me is that this film is a mess. At the heart of it, there's a really moving narrative about Russian Jews fleeing oppression from Cossacks and finding America less welcoming than they'd been led to understand. But very little of that actually bleeds out of the background into the main narrative. I spent most of my life not realizing that Fievel and his family were Jewish. And that's ...

My Misspent Youth In Films... Flight Of The Navigator Directed by: Randal Kleiser Starring: Joey Cramer, Paul Reubens, Cliff De Young Released: August 1, 1986 In 1978, a boy travels 8 years into the future and has an adventure with an intelligent, wisecracking alien ship. The Transformers: The Movie Directed by: Nelson Shin Starring: Orson Welles, Robert Stack, Leonard Nimoy Released: August 8, 1986 The Autobots must stop a colossal planet consuming robot who goes after the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. At the same time, they must defend themselves against an all-out attack from the Decepticons. What I Thought Then These were two of my absolute favorite childhood movies that I watched again and again and they came out a week apart! Flight Of The Navigator  was dark and just a little bit scary, but ultimately a lot of fun. The Transformers: The Movie  was one of the most talked about films of my elementary school playground. It was a cartoon--that had a dirty word in it! As wel...