Are you like me and just a little too young to have experienced firsthand some of the retro pop culture you’ve grown to love? Then I’ve got five films to help take you back to the 70s and 80s, that weren’t made during that time. These films are like me—not quite retro.
First, we have It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019), which deliver a one-two punch of horror and nostalgia. This film adaptation of Stephen King’s It moves the setting up to the late 1980s and mid-2010s, modernizing the original story just a bit, but still leaning into the nostalgia of childhood, friendship, and conquering childhood trauma.
Next up is 2011’s Super 8, written and directed by J. J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg. Set in 1979, a group of kids while making a Super 8 movie accidentally record a train crash and get footage that they shouldn’t have seen. It’s a wonderful send-up of horror and sci-fi directors, like Spielberg, George Romero, John Carpenter, and Alfred Hitchcock, while also being a poignant exploration of grief.
If you need something to lighten the mood after the scariness of the It films and Super 8, you’ll enjoy 1998’s The Wedding Singer! The tagline for the film is “He’s going to party like it’s 1985!” and boy, does he ever. Wonderfully silly and surprisingly sincere and romantic, The Wedding Singer is a lot of fun from start to finish. Grab your Aqua Net and enjoy this fun rom-com with the person who wants to grow old with you.
Our final selection for our Not Quite Retro movie night is the 2021 Paul Thomas Anderson film, Licorice Pizza. While met with some initial controversy, this is a multi-award nominated and winning film from the writer and director that brought you Magnolia and Boogie Nights. Set in 1973, Licorice Pizza watches our leads, Alana Kane (played by Alana Haim) and Gary Valentine (played by Cooper Hoffman), grow up, figure out life, and fall in love. It’s a mythology of early 70s San Fernando Valley legends with an amazing soundtrack, a cast stacked with phenomenal actors, and the band HAIM, as well as their parents. Make a martini, or maybe just grab two cokes, and enjoy the feel-good comedy that is Licorice Pizza.
We hope our selections this week take you back to a time in history that you may or may not have experienced firsthand. If you did, do these films accurately capture that time period? Which films do you think capture it best? Thanks for joining us on this trip back to the 70s and 80s in this episode of the Video Store Podcast.
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