Welcome to this sixth instalment of The Watchers' Feelgood Films, where the three of us discuss films that might help cheer you in these trying times.
As you'll know if you watched our Moviemind Lockdown Special, our next Special is going to be one of our "decades" chats (where the three of us discuss our favourite films of a given decade). This next chat- which will be released next week- takes us up to the 1980s. It was lovely spending time together, reminiscing about the movies that made us into film fans, and highlighting some of our favourites.
So, we therefore thought, as a prelude (or a taster) to this chat, we'd also look at three of our 1980s "Feelgood" movies. So here we go...
Rhys recommends...
Cocoon (1985)
Dir: Ron Howard
Starring: Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn, Brian Dennehy, Jack Gilford, Maureen Stapleton, Steve Guttenberg, and Jessica Tandy
From the opening shot of a young boy using a telescope to look up to the stars, to shots of the universe and then dolphins singing to the visitors to our world, you know this is a very rare special film: a film where the aliens have not come to conquer or to destroy. This is where the film starts and what follows if a truly masterful piece of film story telling.
Ron Howard directs and you can tell: tender, heartfelt and beautiful. The films main cast of characters are all senior citizens who all live in a retirement village - which is hardly ever seen in film, even still today. Within the first few scenes, we see the characters going about their daily lives and suddenly we see a person dying and nursing staff rush to help, but within the same frame are another two nurses drinking water- casual, but daily assurance for the young and all too much of a reminder of where our cast of characters are in life.
The films centres around the characters at the retirement village and a local boat owner, Jack. 10,000 years ago Atlantis sinks and aliens are left there; now their people return to get them home safe. The aliens rent a house next door to the retirement village and the two worlds collide...
The cast is insane: Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Brian Dennehy and Steve Guttenburg. Ameche received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role of Art Selwyn.
The film is poetic, beautiful and asks the questions: what is life, how do we live, and what is important to us in life. It also is a load of fun and feel good in droves.
If you’ve not seen it- shame on you! I massively recommend you check out this classic, and if you love it as much as I do, then watch Cocoon: The Return.
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Matt recommends...
The Goonies (1985)
Dir: Richard Donner
Starring: Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Corey Feldman, Jeff Cohen, Ke Huy Quan, Martha Plimpton, John Matuszak, Robert Davi, Joe Pantoliano, and Anne Ramsey
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the greatest treasure hunt in the history of cinema!
Richard Donner’s The Goonies is such a great film because, in these safe bet, Marvel and DC-saturated times, you will never see the likes of it again. Few of today’s directors would have the luxury to film on the sets that J. Michael Riva came up with, the scale and the imagination is ridiculous.
The Goonies is one of those rare family-friendly films in the sense that it has an enormous child cast and none of them even start to grate (yes, the female cast provide the screams and go stumbling into trouble, but hey, this is the eighties!). You have classic characters that survive endless re-watches: the scene-stealing Chunk (Jeff Cohen), James Bond in the making, Data (Ke Huy Quan) with his chatterbox teeth on a rope, and the lewd, rude, riotous Mouth (Cory Feldman) to name just a few.
Most films are lucky to have one quotable line, Chris Columbus’s script has dozens. “Hey you guys!” might be the most over quoted dialogue in any film ever, but let’s not forget Brand (Josh Brolin, a.k.a. Thanos) threatening Mikey with, “I’m going to hit you so hard that when you wake up, your clothes will be out of style!”. Or Mouth’s best line, when Chunk breaks Mrs Walsh’s statue of Michelangelo’s David, Mikey yelling, “Oh my God, that’s my mom’s favourite piece!” and Mouth retorts, “You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t”.
You can’t blame Chunk for reeling off each and every one of his sins (“And I never felt so bad in my entire life!”) when the Fratellis interrogate him, Mama Fratelli (the late Anne Ramsey) is the stuff of nightmares. Mama Fratelli could have been a camp, over-the-top panto villain. Ramsey knew that children enjoy being scared and gives us a frightening antagonist straight out of one of Roald Dahl’s stories.
The hair and the costumes are dated, but The Goonies is as stylish and emotional as any of today’s family films.
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Tez recommends...
Elvira: Mistress Of The Dark (1988)
Dir: James Signorelli
Starring: Cassandra Peterson, W. Morgan Sheppard, Daniel Greene, Susan Kellermann, Jeff Conaway, and Edie McClurg
When horror hostess with the most-est Elvira is left a bequest from her late great-aunt Morgana, she must travel to the small town of Fallwell, Massachusetts, where her outrageous persona is very much at odds with the conservative, uptight townsfolk. Inheriting Morgana's rundown mansion, her poodle (now nicknamed Gonk after a punk makeover), and Morgana's old recipe book, Elvira begins to settle into her new life. But sinister forces in the town threaten her very existence- and that's not just the puritanical town council...
Hilarious, trashy, and unapologetically camp, the film- much like its utterly captivating lead- never takes itself too seriously. The script is chockfull of saucy quips and one-liners (one of my favourites being Elvira's response to being asked if she wants a Virgin Mary: "Maybe, but, ah... I'll have a couple of drinks first") and there's fantastic support by W. Morgan Sheppard as Elvira's scheming great uncle Vincent Talbot and Edie McClurg as the fabulously-named Chastity Pariah, town busybody whose unhinged rant about Elvira contains some of the best euphemisms for someone you consider to be "easy"; I particularly like "one-woman Sodom and Gomorrah"
You'll be on Elvira's side from start to finish as she battles intolerance, bigotry, hatred, and an eventual attempt to burn her at the stake, all in the pursuit of her goals. The end is a pure punch-the-air moment. Not as child-friendly as some of the other entries on the list, but well worth a watch if you've never seen it. And as Elvira says as she signs off her show.... unpleasant dreams...
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Our previous "decades" chats can be found by clicking the links below:
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