The Little Mermaid

I think The Little Mermaid (1989) is one of the monsters of Disney cinema. Before there was Pixar, Disney had a really good run of films from about 1989 to 1994. This was the beginning of that run.

The story follows Ariel who is the mermaid daughter of the king of the sea. She finds her life boring and wishes to experience what it would be like to human and walk on land for a while. To do this she asks for help from the sea witch Ursula who changes her into a human for a short time. The only catch is that if she cannot find true love during that time, she will forever become a twisted slave in Ursula's collection. The story is a simple fairytale that is well executed and brought to life in an extraordinary way on screen. My only real complaint about the movie is that it felt very rushed. Everything happens so fast as though if they made the movie longer than 80 minutes everything would fall apart.

This is a great classic Disney film that will live on even if the company decides to scrap their 2D animation studio again. (8.8/10)

This Is Spinal Tap

I feel like I missed out on the joke when I saw This Is Spinal Tap (1984) a couple of years ago. I had been reading online that it was one of the funniest movies ever made and I was excited to finally get to see it. I have to say, I was really disappointed.

I think that on paper the movie is comedy gold. I remember reading some of the lines from the movie and cracking up laughing by picturing how the scenes would play out. Upon watching the movie, however, the way the actors played the parts and the way the movie was set up really didn't allow the jokes to roll in a way that tickled my funny bone. I understood what was going on, but I wasn't there with them in the way I needed to be to end up laughing as hard as a lot of other people did. It was disappointing, because the movie could have really worked had I felt a bigger connection with anything that was happening on screen.

Maybe a re-make would be a good idea for this one, though I know fans of this movie would probably kill me for suggesting such a thing. (5.0/10)

Ghostbusters

I may be a little biased in this review because I've loved Ghostbusters (1984) ever since I was a little kid. Back then it was so cool to see all the ghosts and ghouls flying around New York City, but as I grew older I began to comprehend the storyline of the movie and it eventually became one of my all-time favorites.

I can't talk about this movie without gushing about the opening sequence. I can think of very few movies that suck you in the way Ghostbusters does. By winding through a spooky library basement only to find a terrifying floating librarian - the movie sets itself up well for both the scares and laughs to come. My only real problem with the movie (looking back in it years later) is that they decided to use claymation in some scenes that really aren't necessary and sort of lose the real-world feeling of some of the out-of-this-world special effects.

Other than that small complaint, I love the film and will always keep it near the top of my list of favorite comedies. (9.0/10)

Polyester

My first time watching Polyester (1981) was not that long ago. Being a big John Waters fan after viewing Pink Flamingos, Serial Mom, A Dirty Shame, etc. I wanted to see one of his lesser known films. What I got was confirmation that even with only the most basic necessities needed to make a film, Waters still creates an enjoyable movie.

The story itself is highly dramatic and over-the-top. The main character, Francine Fishpaw as played by Divine, is married to the owner of a porn theater who wants nothing more than to embarrass and put down his wife. Her kids are a mile on the wrong side of the tracks, and her only friend in the world is a mentally retarded rich woman named Cuddles. The story progresses where Francine thinks she's found a way out of her horrible life, only to discover it's all been a set-up. Waters presents the whole movie in a way where I kept laughing from one scene to the next.

I would put this in my top 5 John Waters films, a great comedy any way you look at it. (8.1/10)