#nom score
Fame(1981). A chronicle of the lives of several teenagers who attend a New York high school for students gifted in the performing arts.
I enjoyed this so much more than I was expecting to. Yeah, it’s pretty disjointed and frenetic and grittier than it has any right to be, but it really captures both the headrush and the grind of what these kids experience. It’s messy, sure, but it also surprisingly really works. 7.5/10.
Altered States (1980). A psycho-physiologist experiments with drugs and a sensory-deprivation tank and has visions he believes are genetic memories.
Psychedelic and visually rich, this film about a man’s obsession with his own consciousness is a total trip in the best possible way. William Hurt is pretty awesome in the lead role, and he sells even the most ridiculous scenes so well it’s hard to believe it’s his first film. If you’re in the mood for something both bananas and existential, this is worth the watch. 8/10.
Tess(1979). A strong-willed young peasant girl attracts the affection of two men.
I have complicated feelings for Roman Polanski for all the obvious reasons, but this movie, which Polanski credits as a tribute to his late wife, Sharon Tate, who was murdered by the Manson Family a decade earlier, feels like a graceful, heartfelt and authentic eulogy. The cinematography is sublime, and the story about a woman forced to endure a life she didn’t deserve feels especially relevant.
Men are trash, Polanski included, but this movie really is something special. 8.5/10.
Star Trek: the Motion Picture (1979). When an alien spacecraft of enormous power is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk resumes command of the overhauled USS Enterprise in order to intercept it.
I love Star Trek a lot,but this is definitely not the franchise at its best. It’s a fairly generic space opera that never really grounds us in the crew we love, instead frequently sacrificing story for a lot of long, languid shots of space and a main plot that never really finds its footing. Not my favourite installment in the series by any stretch of the imagination, but still, it looks pretty good, and it’s still Star Trek. 6/10.
The Muppet Movie (1979). Kermit and his newfound friends trek across America to find success in Hollywood, but a frog legs merchant is after Kermit.
I don’t think I’ve seen this since I was a kid, so it was pretty delightful to revisit and love it just as much as I rememebered. There’s a reason the muppets have the staying power they do, and this movie is a pretty magical demonstration of why. 8/10.
All That Jazz (1979). Director/choreographer Bob Fosse tells his own life story as he details the sordid career of Joe Gideon, a womanizing, drug-using dancer.
God, the 52nd Academy Awards had a stacked Best Picture category - Kramer vs Kramer, Apocalypse Now, Norma Rae, Breaking Away and this. All that Jazz ultimately lost out to Kramer v Kramer, which is probably understandable, but to me, this really deserved to take it home. It’s rare after all that a movie can feel both this spectacular and this intimate, this personal and yet this accessible.
It just works on every level and I really loved it a lot. 9/10.
The Champ (1979). Billy Flynn is an ex-champion boxer who was KO’d by booze and gambling. When the wealthy, estranged mother of his young son begins trying to lure the boy away from him, Flynn must return to the ring to provide for his child.
I’m a bit of a sucker for a boxing movie. There’s something about the way they tend to allow space for male characters (and actors) to be vulnerable, as if the violence of the sport opens up a sort of personal tenderness. This movie has that in spades with Jon Voight playing a father desperate to stay connected to his son, and he really plays well into Billy’s flaws and needs. The plot does veer into melodrama, but still. It’s pretty good. 7.5/10.
