#nom actress
Coal Miner’s Daughter (1981). The fictionalized life of singer Loretta Lynn, a girl who rose from humble beginnings to become a country music star in the 1960s/70s.
This is just such a solid, straight forward bio pic made all the more memorable for Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones’ tremendous performances. Both of them lend real charisma and chemistry to an already good script, that it really has these moments of genuine greatness. It stumbles occasionally, particularly in the way it skirts around some of the darker themes, but there’s so much that’s good here it’s easy to forgive. 8/10.
Resurrection(1980). A woman enters the afterlife briefly after a car crash that kills her husband. But she survives - and finds herself possessing strange powers.
This movie is absolutely bananas, but Ellen Burstyn really is incredible in it. 5/10.
Private Benjamin (1980). A sheltered young high-society woman joins the United States Army on a whim and finds herself in a trickier situation than she ever expected.
Goldie Hawn has charm for days, but even she can’t save this one. 3/10.
Gloria (1980). When a young boy’s family is killed by the mob, their tough neighbor Gloria becomes his reluctant guardian. In possession of a book that the gangsters want, the pair go on the run in New York.
Found family, unhinged women in heels chasing down mobsters, and some great train scenes? (I love movie trains, haha) Parts of this movie felt pretty tailor-made for me, and the parts I loved, I really loved, but it was bogged down by a saggy middle, and a few scenes didn’t quite work. Overall though, this is one of the more compelling late 70s/early 80s thrillers I’ve seen lately. 7.5/10.
The Rose (1978). The tragic life of a self-destructive female rock star who struggles to deal with the constant pressures of her career and the demands of her ruthless business manager.
There are far worse ways to spend two hours than watching Bette Midler chew scenery, and it’s really in that space that this movie - excuse the pun - sings. As a behind the scenes rock musical, it’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect, but Midler really grounds it with her charismatic performance, and she pulls up every actor who works alongside her. 7/10.
