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Cloakdagger

Cloak & Dagger (1984) | Richard Franklin

Henry Thomas plays Davey, a young San Antonio boy with a vivid imagination and a love o fantasy games.  The lines between fantasy and reality blur when he ends up in possession of a video game cartridge that is the conduit for top secret information wanted by some pretty bad hombres who will kill to […]

Wargames

WarGames (1983) | John Badham

Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy star in this major hit from 1983, one of the first films to break through into the world of hacking and the burgeoning internet, WarGames.  Directed by John Badham, this tells the tale of a teenager who hacks into a database he thinks will allow him to play a not-yet-released […]

Superman4

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) | Sidney J. Furie

Although he had claimed to be done putting on the red cape after SUPERMAN III, Reeve is lured back to make a fourth entry with a different studio from an idea he had written himself to bring back the series to respectability.  Alas, it didn’t quite work out that way in the end. Superman makes […]

Supergirl

Supergirl (1984) | Jeannot Szwarc

Just as Kal-El was sent by his parents to Earth from a dying planet in order to save him, so too did Alexander and Ilya Salkind try to save their dying franchise by trying to spin it off with a new character with Kara, Superman’s cousin, better known as Supergirl!  Things didn’t quite go according […]

Superman3

Superman III (1983) | Richard Lester

Gone is Richard Donner, gone is Gene Hackman, and gone is the epic feel of the SUPERMAN series with SUPERMAN III, in which the creators finally wrest the controls away to make what they’ve been wanting to make all along: comedies!  Richard Lester returns as director, as Superman, once again played by Christopher Reeve, has […]

Superman2

Superman II (1980) | Richard Lester & Richard Donner

A patchwork film that somehow still works great as a piece of entertainment, despite the switch in directors from Richard Donner to Richard Lester a great deal of the way through.  Three power-hungry Kryptonians travel to Earth to dominate it, and the only one who can match them is Superman.  Alas, he’s nowhere to be […]

Superman

Superman (1978) | Richard Donner

The granddaddy of the modern-day superhero flick, 1978’s SUPERMAN put together a truly epic experience befitting a popular hero on the magnitude of Superman. Richard Donner directed DC Comics’ legendary property from his infancy on the planet Krypton all the way to donning the cape and costume to right wrongs wherever he may find them […]

Batman

Batman (1989) | Tim Burton

One of the biggest blockbusters of the 1980s, and of all time, Tim Burton would take the reins of Warner Bros. hugest hit with 1989’s BATMAN, a much more dark and eerie take on the character than any prior screen take to date.  With a tremendous Danny Elfman score, hit singles by Prince, and a […]

Returnswampthing

The Return of Swamp Thing (1989) | Jim Wynorski

Seven years after Wes Craven’s original adaptation of the DC Comics superhero, Jim Wynorski takes a stab by sending the whole thing up as a campy b-movie sci-fi/horror hybrid. Swamp Thing (Dick Durock again) is back as protector of a hot babe in the form of Abigail, portrayed by Razzie Award-winning actress Heather Locklear, to […]

Swampthing

Swamp Thing (1982) | Wes Craven

Wes Craven wrote and directed this adaptation of the DC Comics superhero, once a scientist trying to help humanity, who turns superhuman when he is doused with his own experimental formula to use plants to help humans while in the nearby Louisiana swamp.  Adrienne Barbeau stars as the government agent sent to oversee the lab, […]

Littleshop

Little Shop of Horrors (1986) | Frank Oz

Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s off-Broadway darkly comical stage musical came to life in 1986, directed by Muppet-alum Frank Oz, featuring Rick Moranis, and small roles for Steve Martin, Bill Murray and John Candy.  Ellen Greene co-stars in this story about a 1960s loser who finds success with an exotic plant that makes all his […]

Gijoe

G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987) | Don Jurwich

Rounding out this trio of Hasbro toy-based films put out by Marvel/Sunbow in the mid-1980s, “GI Joe: The Movie” has the dishonorable distinction of being funneled straight to video and subsequently syndicated on television due to the lack of success for the “Transformers” and “My Little Pony” movies at the box office the year before.  […]

Mylittlepony1986

My Little Pony: The Movie (1986) | Mike Joens

Marvel joined with Sunbow to deliver the first of four animated feature films based on Hasbro toys in the 1980s with 1986’s MY LITTLE PONY: THE MOVIE, which took the popular toy line of dolls resembling ponies and other animals (plus a few humans) and pitted them against three dastardly witches who can’t stand their […]

Transoformersthemovie

The Transformers: The Movie (1986) | Nelson Shin

The first of four feature-length ventures between Marvel Productions and Sunbow Entertainment that centered on toys made by Hasbro, THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE would make for an ambitious way to not only sell toys and entertain fans, but also to set for a new course for the animated TV series, in this bridge between the […]

Motuposter

Masters of the Universe (1987) | Gary Goddard

The Cannon Group took a bath with the failure of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE in 1987, a film that had gone over budget and well beyond schedule. The film starts off in the mythical land of Eternia, where the ruthless villain Skeletor (Frank Langella) has managed, with the help of a powerful musical cosmic key, to […]