Director: Richard Wenk
Starring: Chris Makepeace, Sandy Baron, Robert Rusler, Dedee Pfeiffer, Gedde Watanabe, Grace Jones, Billy Drago, Brad Logan
Score: 7 / 10

I remember watching this years ago in the Alex Cox Moviedrome series.

This review by cupidandpsyce85 for my 31 Days of Horror.

Send me your horror film reviews.

Vamp was apparently written in a weekend, and it shows! This isn’t necessarily an insult to the film, because Richard Wenk’s feature-length debut has a goofy, throwaway charm that really pays off for the most part. This isn’t as good as Fright Night, The Lost Boys or Near Dark, but it’s a very likable blend of horror and comedy. The premise is unbeatable: two students hope to win over a campus by delivering them a stripper for the night, only to realise that their choice of dancer is more likely to want to be paid in blood rather than cash…. Chris Makepeace is a good enough lead, and he’s well matched by 80’s god Robert Rusler as his best mate. Gedde Watanabe may test the patience of some with his wildly over-the-top performance as the dude who comes along for the ride, but i found him quite amusing. The best performances are to be found at the After Dark Club, where Keith, AJ and Duncan visit to find their stripper. Dedee Pfieffer (yep, Michelle’s sister) is a treat as a waitress who may or may not be one of the undead, Sandy Baron is funny as the club’s compere, but best of all is Grace Jones as Katrina, the vamp of all vamps. She’s underused: in fact, she’s barely in the second half of the film at all, but she exudes serious presence, sheer animal sensuality and she does all of this without saying a word. Her striptease might terrify more than titillate, while her seduction of one of the main characters is a terrific scene, the best thing in the film. After the first half hour, the action picks up, with amusing consequences: confrontations with deadly lifts, street punks and vamped-out friends make for lots of fun. The last half hour more or less repeats the same formula, with fairly agreeable results, though the final confrontation could have been a lot scarier.

Wenk effectively captures the seedy atmosphere of a strip joint, populated with drunken misery-guts who can never be traced because they never boast the fact that they’re going to such a place. This is one of the film’s cleverer conceits, and one that means the vampires can drink all they want without fear of being traced. The music is appropriately tacky, synth-led bar room music, quite memorable in places too.

Visually, Vamp is pretty cool stuff. As soon as it gets dark, the film adopts a brilliant colourscheme of pink and green lighting, making for some atmospheric action. It doesn’t look realistic, but who cares? It looks great, and gives Vamp a identity all of its own. It also means that this film belongs to that category of 80’s films that you couldn’t imagine being made in any other decade, though the plot and even the vampiric make-up effects seem to have played an influential part in the making of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s cult bloodsucker favourite From Dusk Till Dawn.

Vamp isn’t a particularly great film as it does run out of steam towards the end, but it has loads of excellent moments, remains exceptionally likable and has enough cool effects, good jokes and fun scares to provide a fine hour and a half’s entertainment.

Previous 31 Days of Horror reviews: Audition, The Fury, Blood Feast, Paranormal Activity, Braindead, Halloween, Friday the 13th Part 2, Martin, Fright Night, Zombieland

VERDICT:
8/10 “Sexy Giiirlfrieeends!“

Might not be the best John Hughes movie of all time, but then again, this is the one that started it all.

Sixteen Candles is about a Sophomore in High School named Samantha Baker whose parents forget about her sixteenth birthday because they’re too caught up in her older sister’s wedding. And like many a sixteen-year-old girl, all she wants is go steady with Jake Ryan – the hunky Senior who’s dating the prom queen and has a secret crush on Samantha – but she thinks he doesn’t even know she exists.

Oh, the drama. That Jake Ryan is such a tease.

It’d been a while since I’d seen this, but after giving it another look for the first time in years the other night I was pleasantly reminded that Sixteen Candles really is one funny movie. This eye-opening experience along with this whole weekly poll jazz is making me want to revisit the entire John Hughes collection because I’m pretty sure I’ll be having the same reaction to Ferris Bueller and Planes, Trains and Automobiles, both of which I haven’t seen in ages. I don’t know, these are the kinds of movies that are worth revisiting every once in a while because they’re always going to ring true no matter what age you are and because they’re just really damn funny.

And the main reason this movies is still good and don’t feel dated 25 years later goes right back to John Hughes himself. I think I mentioned this in my Breakfast Club review, but I can’t think of any other screenwriter that’s ever really managed to capture the voice and mindset of youth and teenage angst in such a witty, Salingerian way as Hughes.

The other reason Sixteen Candles works is the cast. Even though they could all cure cancer and still be remembered as “The Brat Pack”, they’re all freakin’ great here. Molly Ringwald is totally believable as Samantha Baker, the role of “The Geek” is probably the best contribution Anthony Michael-Hall will ever make to this world, the unappreciated Paul Dooley always plays a great Dad (check out Breaking Away if you have no idea who I’m talking about), and if Gedde Watanabe hasn’t legally changed his name to Long Duk Dong by now, he should really get that taken care of.

But these are just a handful of standouts in amidst a cast filled with hilarious, eccentric performances of people we all remember from High School.

The other thing I like about this is that it’s way, way, way less lovey-dovey than Pretty in Pink and is a way, way, way more enjoyable date movie for both the ladies and fellas. Maybe it’s just me, but Pink just didn’t do it for me, and no, Ducky didn’t do it for me either. I know Hughes didn’t direct it, but come on, like everyone doesn’t associate Sixteen Candles with Pretty in Pink.

There’s also a great ’80s soundtrack here, and considering some of the hits of decade, that’s an accomplishment worth noting.

But like I said, it’s still not the best John Hughes movie. You can kind of tell it’s his debut effort as there’s a lot going on at once and the emotional oomph isn’t as prevalent as it is in, say, The Breakfast Club, but whatever, small complaints. This is a classic for good reason. 

So be the good boyfriend and add this sucker to Netflix. Everybody wins with Sixteen Candles.

And thanks, John Hughes. You were the man.

Mulan I

Mulan I este al 36-lea desen animat, produs de Walt Disney Animated Classics in 1998, ce are ca tema legenda chinezeasca a lui Hua Mulan.

Deoarece China a fost invadata de huni, imparatul a dat un ordin de recrutare pentru fiecare familie a Chinei. In familia Fa nu exista decat un singur barbat deoarece succesorul familiei este Mulan, o fata ce trebuie sa devina o gheisa. Dupa ce se face de ras in fata viitorului sau patron si dupa ce afla ca batranul si ranitul sau tata trebuie sa se inroleze, fuge de acasa si intra in armata in locul acestuia. In mica sa “calatorie” este acompaniata de Mushu, un dragon mic ce trebuie sa o faca o eroina pentru a-si recastiga demnitatea printre semenii familiei sale, si de Cri – Kee, greierele sau norocos.

Ajunsa in tabara, Ping, numele de soldat a lui Mulan, nu da dovezi ca se acomodeaza cu ceilalti soldati si atmosfera devine tensionata. Capitanul Li Shang, care este lasat la conducere de tatal sau, face ordine in tabara, punandu-i pe soldati la un antrenament riguros. In dezamagirea pe care o vede, ii cere lui Mulan sa plece acasa, dar aceasta schimba atat ideea capitanului cat si ii ambitioneaza pe soldati, deoarece trece de testul capitanului. Aici Mulan isi face 3 prieteni : Yao, Ling si Chien – Po.

La un moment dat, capitanul primeste o scrisoare de la tatal sau in care acesta ii cere sa se intalneasca cu el la trecatoare. Astfel incepe batalia batalionul lui Mulan. Ajunsi acolo, Mushu din greseala da drumu la un tun in dreptul inamicilor. Soldatii se lupta cu inamicii, iar Mulan da drumul la celalalt tun, astfel creand o avalansa ce cade peste inamici. Destul de ranita, reuseste sa isi salveze capitanul si pe cei 3 camarazi, dar cand ranile ii sunt tratate este descoperita. Dupa ce Mulan si Mushu isi povestesc motivele, trupele chineze se intorc spre casa iar imparatul cere ca Mulan sa fie omorata. Aceasta este salvata de capitan, dar in schimb i se cere sa paraseasca armata. La un moment dat liderul hunilor si cativa inamici scapa si se indreapta spre oras, dar Mulan observa la timp si se hotaraste sa ii urmareasca, astfel anuntandu-l pe capitan.

In timp ce China isi sarbatoreste eroii, Mulan incearca sa capteze atentia capitanului si imparatului anuntand ca avea sa fie o ambuscada, dar deoarece este fata, nu este bagata in seama. Cand capitanul este premiat de imparat, inamicii ataca si astfel China este asediata. Mulan si cei trei prieten apara orasul, atragandu-l pe liderul inamic in focul artificiilor, astfel omorandu-l. Ca multumire, Mulan primeste respectul Chinei si sabia inamicului.

In final, Mulan se intoarce acasa, iar capitanul ii devine iubit. Filmul se incheie cu petrecerea lui Mushu, desemnat gardianul al Chinei.

Mulan II

Mulan II este desenul animat produs in 2003, ce ii pune pe cei 2 protagonisti ai lui Mulan I in postura de viitori logodnici, ce au ca misiune escortarea celor 3 fice ale imparatului la viitori lor logodnici.

La o luna dupa ce au salvat China, Mulan si Shang se logodesc. Mushu este incantat la inceput, dar dupa ce afla ca daca Mulan se casatoreste, acesta isi pierde slujba de gardian al Chinei hotarand astfel sa ii desparta.

Intre timp. Imparatul doreste ca cei doi sa le escorteze pe cele 3 fiice ale sale : printesele Mei, Ting – Ting si Su prin China in a-i intalni pe viitorii lor logodnici. Ei trebuie sa ajunga acolo in trei zile pentru ca alianta cu Qui Gong sa aiba loc. Acompaniati de cei trei camarazi : Yao, Ling si Chien – Po, accepta cerinta imparatului.

Datorita interventiei lui Mushu si dorinta printeselor de a se marita cu cine doresc ele, tensiunea calatoriei creste si drumetii nostri se opresc in mijlocul taramului cu banditi. Acestia sunt atacati si in timp ce se bat pe un pod, Mulan afla adevarul de la Mushu, si incearca sa ii zica si lui Shang, in ciuda circumstantelor. Intre timp. pe parcursul filmului, cele trei printese si cei trei camarazi se indragostesc, si astfel alianta este compromisa.

In urma bataliei, Shang cade de pe pod in rau, astfel creeandu-si moartea. Mulan continua misiunea, dar in schimbul casatoriei celor trei printese, alege sa se marite cu unul din cei trei printi, astfel salvand alianta si pe printese. Shang reuseste sa scape, si impreuna cu Mushu anuleaza casatoria.

In final dei doi se casatoresc, si datorita lui Mushu, Shang pastreaza alianta si odata cu venirea revelionului, uneste cele doua temple. Astfel Mushu isi pastreaza slujba si cei trei traiesc fericiti impreuna.

Acest film ne invata despre loialitate, ambitie, datorie, prietenie, incredere, relatii,a face alegeri, casatorii aranjate si gasirea dragostei adevarate.

Vinte e quatro horas na vida de uma mulher em formação. Hughes é o Zweig dos pubescentes, é o Joyce dos espinhentos. Hughes era também um homem fiel. Em seu primeiro filme escala Molly Ringwald e Anthony Michael Hall e com isso passaria os próximos anos escrevendo filmes especialmente para eles, mesmo ambos nem sempre aceitando os gloriosos papéis (é, Cameron Frye foi escrito especialmente para Hall). No mais, Anthony Michael Hall é o senhor do universo e sempre rouba todas as cenas de todos em tudo, não é qualquer moleque que tem tamanha desenvoltura preparando martinis ao som de Frank Sinatra enquanto discorre sobre mulheres.Can I borrow your underpants for ten minutes?

Relax, would you? We have seventy dollars and a pair of girls underpants. We’re safe as kittens.

Girls will do that, Jake. You know? They know that guys are like in perpetual heat, right? They know they shit, and they enjoy pumping us up. It’s pure power politics. I’m telling you. Games, Jake. Silly torturous games. You know how many times I’ve gone without lunch because some bitch borrows my lunch money? Any halfway decent girl can rob me – blind! Because I’m too torked up to say no. It’s heinous, I’m telling you.

Soundtrack

*Da série: Este post foi programado, eu não estou aqui!

Sad news appeared on my laptop this morning. John Hughes, the man who gave us The Breakfast Club, Some Kind of Wonderful, Pretty in Pink and so many more classics, died.  I haven’t heard much about him lately, but when I think of those must-see films from my high school years, they were films he wrote. And we can’t forget the Home Alone series.  My DS does a remarkable impression of Macaulay Culkin’s famous aftershave scream from the first film (doesn’t every eight-year-old?).

As a young writer, I dreamed of how I would have my big break.  I would write THE NOVEL that would put me on Oprah and the Today Show.  Then I would be asked to star in the movie adaptation.  The Academy would notice…  Ah, memories.

Anyway, I had another dream.  One of my roommates from college actually encouraged me with this one.  I was going to write the sequel to Sixteen Candles and it was going to be awesome!  Crazy, I know.  I wanted it to show what those characters we loved, the ones we wanted to be, did with their lives.  Did Sam (Molly Ringwald) marry Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling), or did she dump him for Farmer Ted (Anthony Michael Hall)?  Did Geek Girl #1 (Joan Cusack) ever get that neck brace off so she could drink water from a fountain without getting wet?  And what about poor Long Duk Dong?  (I would have loved to have been in the room when they told Gedde Watanabe his character’s name…)

But rather than lamenting the sequel that will never happen, I would like to share one of my all-time favorite scenes from a John Hughes movie.  Oh, how I wanted hair like Lea Thompson!  And you have to love her best line at the end of the movie:

Remember how I said I’d rather be with someone for the wrong reasons than be alone for the right ones. I’d rather be right. It’s gonna feel good to stand on my own.

The girl never gave up the guy before. It was always a contest that she had to win. She never realized that she could be alone and still be OK. A generation of girls followed Amanda’s lead and felt good about it. Thanks, Mr. Hughes.

John Hughes, Director of 80’s Teen Classics, Dies

Shared via AddThis

.an angry vampire with a hang over.i was once described that way as i was wished a happy new year.well i am not here now to wish any one any thing at all.too late to wish you a new year.that much is true.not here to wish you any thing save that you all ready your library cards and log in to your netflix accounts because i think it high time that i account for those moments of my time whiled away on a certain hollywood lawn.eyes fixed on a mausoleum wall where flickers play out projected there.resurrecting dead stars for any one who knows what it means to be a popcorn venus flytrap.or wants to.

.and with that i offer up the marrow of a bone picked clean.what i can now admit was too much meat.and with that i offer up my favourite fangs on film.

.this list should be perused keeping in mind that not all hematophogic creatures are vampires.insects for one.god and governments for seconds.two.too many to mention.there is so much rubbish out there.you know it when you see it and so do i.say no more say you? .when all is sad and done say i.when all is sad and done.and…achtung!

.vampyr directed by carl theodor dreyer.

.the hunger directed by tony scott.

.vamp directed by richard wenk.

.the lost boys directed by joel schumacher.

.the reflecting skin directed by philip ridley.

.dracula directed by francis ford coppola.

.nadja directed by michael almereyda.look out for the vauxhall and i poster nadja walks past.

.blood: the last vampire directed by hiroyuki kitakubo.

.trouble every day directed by claire denis.

.Låt den rätte komma in (let the right one in) directed by tomas alfredson.

.thirst directed by park chan-wook.

]]> http://daughterofbob.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/yay-stereotypes-revisited/ Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:00:41 +0000 daughterofbob http://daughterofbob.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/yay-stereotypes-revisited/

I just listened to a pretty good NPR discussion on positive stereotypes.

Are Positive Stereotypes Racist, Too?

L’Heureux Lewis, assistant professor of sociology and black studies at the City College of New York, said, “…we have to recognize that [positive stereotypes] are gross generalizations. They may have a kernel of truth based on some social reality but ultimately they limit the choices and limit the opportunities and limit the things that people can do.”

In retrospect, I think this is…sort of…what the humor in Yo Teach! is trying to do with the teacher telling the Asian student that she will never be the president, and should instead aim for menial work. However, my problem is that the Asian kid is THAT “Asian kid.”

I think that the more common complaint about Asian American portrayal in the media these days is that the Asian characters are always either imported from Asia (and thus, Asian, not Asian American), or they are specifically ethnic Asian American characters. There are very few (though their numbers are growing*) simply “American” or “normal” characters that happen to be Asian American.

If you missed it earlier, check out this wonderful NPR piece:

Long Duk Dong: Last of the Hollywood Stereotypes?

It features founders of Giant Robot magazine, Martin Wong and Eric Nakamura, as well as Gedde Watanabe himself, the actor behind Long Duk Dong.

And here’s Adrian Tomine’s take on it (also on the NPR page):

—

*Here’s a short(hand) list of some characters that just so happen to be Asian American. Some aren’t the greatest actors, characters, or parts, but hey, “The Donger” set our standards pretty low, and anything is better.

John Cho and Kal Penn as Harold and Kumar in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle

I remember that when this first came out, “grownups” from my Chinese church were recommending that we go see this. “Finally!” they said, “A movie featuring two Asian protagonists in a non-stereotypical way!” I don’t think they realized that the main reason they aren’t stereotypical is because well…they’re in a stoner flick.

In any case, Cho is widely recognized a big groundbreaker for Asian men in the media, especially beginning with his work in Better Luck Tomorrow.

Not my favorite film, but certainly noteworthy as an Asian-Am film.

On to more recent stuff, Daniel Henney plays a pretty swell Agent Zero in the latest X-Men: Origins film.

Zero is a pretty slick character with some nice gun-handling skills, though he’s a bit of a d-bag and is pretty much William Stryker’s lackey. At least he makes it look good!

Aaron Yoo: I want him to be my best friend.

Yoo plays a really great best friend to Shia LaBeouf’s character in Disturbia.

Of course, he’s usually stuck as a supporting actor. Kind of like James Franco. He’s always stuck being the backup man: Pineapple Express, Milk, Spider-Man. Some actors never really catch a break.

As for actresses….this one’s a tough one. In my opinion, Asian American women have it the hardest getting into non-specifically-Asian roles in movies.

Well…here’s a shoddy list:

Maggie Q sort of gets the short end of the straw in Die Hard 4, and is pretty much the serious lady on the wrong side who gets owned by her prickish evil lover. And then by Bruce Willis. But who wouldn’t get owned by Bruce Willis?

At least she has a good sense of humor about it:

She was also in MI:3 and a bunch of Hong Kong films, where she got her start.

Hmmm..a bit like Henney, who also started in Korean films/dramas.

So…I guess for some of these newer stars, they’re following the ol’ Imported from Asia path, though in Asia, they’re imported from America.

Ah, Asia-America.

Friday night was the Hollywood premiere of my new movie “Not Forgotten” at the Mann’s Chinese and let me tell ya, it rocked! We had an awesome audience, great food and drinks at the after party at The Grill, and best of all, the movie played to packed houses all weekend long. Yay!

No official word on what that means for future distribution plans, but according to the fine folks at BoxOfficeMojo.com, “Not Forgotten” did manage to beat the pants off heavy-hitters like “17 Again”, “Hannah Montana” and even “Wolverine” (again!) on a per screen average, so, I’d say we kicked ass!

Also, I just found out that we will be moving to the Mann Beverly Center 13 on Friday, so, if you missed us last week at the Chinese, check us out this weekend at the Beverly Center by clicking here.

In the meantime, back to the premiere! After mingling with the cast and crew in the lobby, I walked the press line outside the theatre for a few pics and then Christine and I headed upstairs to our sweet-ass leather seats in the VIP section. Yep, I said leather seats, amigos. Honestly, I didn’t even know the Mann’s had a VIP section, but it was awesome.

The funniest thing was that Christine and I — who have both seen the movie a gazillion times — were completely freaked out by the kidnapping stuff this time around. I know it sounds crazy, but we both kept looking at each other like: “Should we call home just to make sure Greta wasn’t taken by Santa Muerte?” Wow, I guess that’s what being a parent is all about, huh? Weird…

Without giving too much away, all I can say is that if any of that spooky shit ever happens to my daughter…I might just go “mental” too. Yikes!

Immediately following the screening there was a super cool party just around the corner at the swanky Hollywood Grill. In keeping with the Tex-Mex setting of the movie, the food was all Mexican — right down to the never-ending bottles of Corona with lime! — and though the chicken tostadas were kinda weird, the carne asada was out-of-this-world fantastic. My brother, Ryan, and I went back for that like, three times. Awesome!

Of course, the company was even better. Although neither Simon Baker or Paz Vega could make the premiere — she’s eight-and-a-half months pregnant and lives in Spain, and Simon is supposedly filming a movie in Australia, although he appeared on both “Regis & Kelly” and “Jimmy Fallon” on Monday night, so, who knows? — the rest of mi buen amigos from the supporting cast were there in spades and we had a blast.

And though there were several cool celebrity sightings — Marion Ross from “Happy Days” came with her son, Jim Meskimen, who is the nicest guy in the world, even if he plays a child molester in our movie! — my favorite had to be Oscar-nominee and 70’s icon, Karen Black.

Miss Black was supposed to appear in an AFI student film of mine, “The Lone Star Letters”, way back in the day and I had always wanted to meet her in person. So, when I saw her noshing on tacos near the bar, I stumbled over. Being the geek that I am, I started with: “Are you Karen Black?” Lame…I know, but I was completely starstruck.

She was beyond cool and of course had no memory of my nerdy student film or why she couldn’t appear in it, but really, who cared at that point…I mean, I was talking about my movie with Karen-freaking-Black, how cool and totally Hollywood is that? Crazy!

Anyway, we all stayed way too late and drank and ate way too much, but, wow, what a party! Thanks to everyone who came to the premiere to party down with us and most of all to those of you who went out and actually paid to see “Not Forgotten” on it’s opening weekend in Los Angeles. My Aunt Linda and Uncle George actually drove down from the Fresno area to see the movie on Sunday afternoon. Wow!

So, thanks again for all the “Not Forgotten” love, amigos. You guys rock!!

Gung Ho – Added to Collection Archive
Hunt Stevenson works for a large car manufacturer that has just been bought out by a Japanese firm. Suddenly finding himself having to justify his own job, he’s forced to choose between redundancy or the seemingly inhuman Japanese work ethic that the new owners have brought with them.

Soundtrack Listing:
“DON’T GET ME WRONG” (WMG Pulled)
Performed by The Pretenders

“COMING HOME”
Performed by Thomas Newman

“HEADING TO WORK”
Performed by Thomas Newman

“TUFF ENUFF“
Performed by The Fabulous Thunderbirds

“BASEBALL BOOGIE“
Performed by Thomas Newman

“FAMILY STRESS”
Performed by Thomas Newman

“WORKING HARD”
Performed by Thomas Newman

“CAN’T WAIT ANOTHER MINUTE“
By Sue Sheridan and Paul Chiten

“RUNNING FOR IT”
Performed by Thomas Newman

“WE’RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT”
Performed by Twisted Sister

“TALKING IN THE PARK”
Performed by Thomas Newman

“BUILDING CARS”
Performed by Thomas Newman

“BREAKIN’ THE ICE“
Performed by Martha Wash

“COUNTING CARS“
Performed by Thomas Newman

“WORKING CLASS MAN“
Performed by Jimmy Barnes

The official “Not Forgotten” trailer has been around for a couple of weeks now, but here, at long last is the 30-second TV commercial that is currently running in Austin, TX and will start airing in Los Angeles any minute. So, if you live in either of these areas, keep your eyes peeled, amigos.

And if you don’t live in either of those areas, here is the latest juicy, R-rated clip from “Not Forgotten”. Enjoy!

Casey Kasem, Frank Welker, Mindy Cohn, Grey DeLisle, Kelly Hu, Kevin Michael Richardson, Sab Shimono, George Takei, Gedde Watanabe, Keone Young, Brian Cox

The team visits Japan when Daphne participates in a fighting championship. There they find themselves against the mystery of the Black Samurai who seeks to return to life and take revenge. They will travel in various places in order to solve it and as always they succeed.

The story of Scooby Doo and his friends is the same over and over again, yet I cannot stop liking it. It is like watching something new and the fun is all the same.

Sixteen Candles – Added to Collection Archive
Samantha’s life is going downhill fast. The fifteen-year-old has a crush on the most popular boy in school, and the geekiest boy in school has a crush on her. Her sister’s getting married, and with all the excitement the rest of her family forgets her birthday! Add all this to a pair of horrendously embarrassing grandparents, a foreign exchange student named Long Duc Dong, and we have the makings of a hilarious journey into young womanhood.

Soundtrack Listing:
“Snowballed”
Performed by AC/DC

“Today I Met the Boy I’m Gonna Marry”
Performed by Darlene Love

“Love of the Common People“
Performed by Paul Young

“Kajagoogoo“
(Main Title Song)
Performed by Kajagoogoo

“Happy Birthday“
Performed by Altered Images

“Kazooed on Klassics”
Performed by The Temple City Kazoo Orchestra

“Dragnet”
Performed by Ray Anthony and His Orchestra

“Rumours in the Air”
Performed by Night Ranger

“Peter Gunn”
Performed by Ray Anthony and His Orchestra

“True“
Performed by Spandau Ballet

“Wild Sex in the Working Class”
Performed by Oingo Boingo

“Little Bitch”
Performed by The Specials

“Growing Pains“
Performed by Tim Finn

“When It Started to Begin“
Performed by Nick Heyward

“Lenny“
Performed by Stevie Ray Vaughan

“Whistle Down the Wind”
Performed by Nick Heyward

“Ring Me Up“
Performed by The Divinyls

“Love Theme”
From The Godfather (1972)
Conducted by Carlo Savina

“Turning Japanese”
Performed by The Vapors

“Rev-Up”
Performed by The Revillos

“Farmer John”
Performed by The Premiers

“Hang Up the Phone“
Performed by Annie Golden

“Gloria”
Performed by Patti Smith

“New York, New York”
Performed by Frank Sinatra

“Young Guns“
Performed by Wham! (as Wham)

“Geek Boogie”
(Instrumental)
Music by Ira Newborn and the Geeks

“Rebel Yell“
Performed by Billy Idol

“Lohengrin Wedding March”
Performed by The Bavarian Staatsoper Munich Chorus and Orchestra

“Young Americans“
Performed by David Bowie

“If You Were Here“
Performed by The Thompson Twins

“Sixteen Candles“
Performed by The Stray Cats

Clinton: ‘Where is my jet?”

Nakagawa: “Jet? Jet? Vroossshhhhhhh, zoooooommmm, splassshhhh. Lake. Big lake. Hahahahahahahahahahah!”

Makes one wish Molly Ringwald had been appointed Secretary of State.

while John Hughes should go straight to hell for releasing Macaulay Culkin on an unsuspecting world,  this scene from ‘Sixteen Candles’ still cracks me up (it was on TV yesterday, thus the flashback). Even if Hughes, by casting a Japanese actor as a Chinese exchange student and using some pretty bad pidgin English dialogue, showed that he thinks all Asians look alike.

‘The Breakfast Club” was still pretentious crap, though . . .

In the 1980s you would be hard-pressed to find somebody who did not watch the movie Sixteen Candles. It starred Molly Ringwald, one of the biggest teen stars of the decade, and was written and directed by 80s icon John Hughes.

But one of the lasting legacies of Sixteen Candles isn’t the story of Samantha Baker, who trudged through her 16th birthday without a cake or congratulations from her parents, but rather, the legend of Long Duk Dong, played by Japanese American actor Gedde Watanabe.

Dong, a foreign-exchange student who ends up staying with the Bakers, is part of a long tradition of Hollywood stereotypes of Asian Americans: He tries to use his fork and spoon like a pair of chopsticks, is puzzled by quiche and spews one-lined gems like, “Oh, Sexy Girlfriend” and “What’s happenin’, hot stuff?”

In this interesting National Public Radio article, entitled “Long Duk Dong: Last of the Hollywood Stereotypes?” writer Alison MacAdam delves into the impact Watanabe’s character had on the 80s, particularly how high school bullies stopped calling Asian Americans “Bruce Lee” and simply referred to them as “Donger.”

But while those insults have faded, Watanabe, who is originally from Ogden, Utah and whose mother was interned during World War II, still can’t escape the wrath of Dong.

Says Watanabe:

“But probably most people know me as Long Duk Dong,” he confesses, “which is still hard for me to say.”

. . .

“I was working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and I was accosted a couple of times by a couple of women who were just really irate and angry. They asked, ‘How could you do a role like that?’ But it’s funny, too, because at the same time I laugh at the character. It’s an odd animal.”"

Ah, John Hughes. The man behind The Breakfast Club, She’s Having a Baby, and other slice of life films about adolescence, coming of age, or general human situations started his directing career with 1984’s classic coming of age comedy Sixteen Candles. The movie that would turn Molly Ringwald into a household name was a movie that focused on what teens across America worried about: acceptance, love, and high school. With loads of similar films in the 80s, Sixteen Candles might be the most critically acclaimed for its charm and for its general lack of raunchiness.

The tagline reads “It’s the time of your life that may last a lifetime.” Hughes tries to capture the venerable idea that high school seems to last evermore. Today, that idea seems more ubiquitous than ever as kids scuttle up the social ladder right through high school with worry and angst. Many still live in a “high school” world, too, as a trip down memory lane would point towards. Reputation is an important issue among many people, so the themes in films like Sixteen Candles have a common appeal. As long as humans fight to be noticed (or not to be noticed), movies will always survey the meaning behind it.

Ringwald stars as Samantha Baker and the movie begins as she wakes up on her sixteenth birthday. Ginny (Blanche Baker), Samantha’s sister, is taking all of the attention off of Samantha due to her imminent wedding and the birthday is forgotten about. Samantha heads to school, struggling with the idea that her parents forgot the most significant day of her life, and is incessantly plagued both by her ongoing fascination with Jake Ryan (Michael Shoeffling) and the advances of The Geek (Anthony Michael Hall). The film moves through the day as Samantha tries to get Jake to notice her and tries to fend off the advances of The Geek.

The supporting cast is very enjoyable. Paul Dooley is great as Samantha’s father, providing some clever balance to the film’s bedlam and participating in one of the most crucial scenes in a father-daughter talk. Gedde Watanabe as Long Duk Dong pretty much exists for a little racially-tinged comic relief, but he’s pleasant nevertheless. The grandparents, as played by Edward Andrews, Billie Bird, Carole Cook, and Max Showalter, fit the stereotypes nicely and give Ringwald a lot to play with. The opening sequence with Samantha and her grandparents is a riotous example of the chemistry the cast has.

Sixteen Candles does begin to falter slightly towards its climax and does seem shaky in some moments, but it is a good film overall. Hughes treats the teen comedy with esteem and demonstrates a capacity to listen to the characters. Instead of using teens as a gratuitous setup for bawdy behaviour and comic generalizations, Hughes sets up a dreadful situation in the forgetting of a girl’s sixteenth birthday and takes things logically from there. One great example of this ability to listen is in the scene in which The Geek and Samantha have a discussion in the car in the auto shop at school. Once The Geek gets over his sex-crazed dogma, the pair starts to truly have a conversation about life, fear, and the need for friends. It’s a moment that would often be overlooked in other teen films.

Ringwald is the model centerpiece for the story, too. She provides terrific reactions and delivers her lines exactly how they should be delivered. She’s a teen, not an actress, and it’s important that this comes across on the screen. In a day and age where teens in movies are played by performers in their late-20s to early-30s, it’s invigorating to see a classic in which the performances resound with precision and attention to detail. Ringwald was actually 16 during the making of the film, so that helps a great deal in capturing the energy required. She was a natural and has since gone on to become one of the most renowned “teen” actresses.

Sixteen Candles works because it produces enough lovability and sincerity per square inch of comedy that it matches the subtle balance required to make a teen comedy work. Instead of providing wall-to-wall nudity and mechanical sex jokes involving characters with no prudence or profundity, Hughes’ film delivers an honest story centered around dialogue that reflects how teens actually talk and a plot that focuses in on how they think. It’s a film with feeling and that’s worth an awful lot in the teen comedy genre.

8/10

Trailer (the trailer does cut off near the end, so I’m looking for a better one):