Movies of your youth that have aged poorly

The idea for a thread came when I recently Tivoed GOONIES off HDNet Movies. I'm pretty sure I hadn't seen it since its theatrical release, so I was pretty fired up to watch it after all these years, remembering that I thought it was awesome at age 9.

Hugely disappointing. Sean Astin keeps calling One Eyed Willy's treasure "the rich stuff"....WTF? The action (such as it is) took absolutely forever to get going (close to 45 minutes I think). The sequences on the pirate ship are just comically bad. There are some great homages to the 80s though...the shorts-over-sweatpants look, Mustang GT 5.0 convertibles, excellent hair.

I'm viewing it through an adult lens, sure....but some movies of my childhood still kick ass. This one just hasn't stood up well to time.

Anyone else? I'm receptive to being branded a heretic, by the way.

LADYHAWKE. I thought it was so cool when I was a kid...the dude's a wolf, the lady's a hawk. But they can't be together because their schedules don't match up. Rutger Hauer shooting stuff with a crossbow, rampant medievalism... But I somehow forgot than Matthew Broadrick runs around the whole movie with a bowl cut and there's a Tangerine Dream score. And that it plays like the kind of quasi-fantasy romance novels I used to check out to old ladies when I worked at the library.

SECRET OF NIMH...I still like it, but I remember it being really dark and sinister when I was a kid and when I saw it in the theater, the parents let out an audible, collective gasp when that rat said "damn". Now it's really pretty tame, pretty standard cartoon for the period.

SUPERGIRL.


Wait, were they supposed to be good back then, too?

How did THE LEGEND OF BILLIE JEAN age for you Ken, since you seem to be the Helen Slater authority around here? Do you still cry when they steal that kid's scooter?

There are too many recent movies that I haven't gotten around to seeing yet, so I rarely watch the old stuff again. But I did see Logan's Run again last year, and it now looks very dated. They might as well have shown a disco in that city. Still a decent movie, though.

I've been thinkig of watching Logan's Run again, was just talking about this last Friday. I'm trying to locate a copy but one of my concerns was exactly this, how has it aged?

The hairstyles are very '70s, and the overall hedonistic lifestyle of the domed city reminds me of the Me Decade. And the special effects are pre-Star Wars, so not very impressive. Otherwise, it is still a good science-fiction movie.

The Goonies doesn't hold up? What the hell?
When compared to the PC shit that passes for kids films these days it's better than ever!

Lets count the awesomeness:

- Mild sweraring throughout - wouldn't get away with it today!
- Gluing David's dick on upside down - fucking classic.
- Mouth posing as a drug dealer talking about cocain and shit - you'd never see that today!
- Chunk gets picked on through the whole film yet there is no lame scene where the other kids appologise to him.
- Criminals point their guns (and swords) at kids.
- Dead bodies with bullet holes.
- A torture scene involving a kid - that would cop an R rating these days!

Man goonies is a fucking classic - a 'family' film that doesn't pander to the audience. A film like that simply would not be released now. Apart from that it had great characters, took it's time and is possibly one of the best 'group of friends on an adventure' coming of age stories ever filmed, only one I can think of that may compare is Stand By Me.

How the fuck can you say it doesn't stand up. I think it's even BETTER when viewed through an adult lens since you pick up the subtext and themes you missed when you were a kid who was just interested in the adventure (Who framed roger rabbit is similar in this regard.)

You've sold me on Goonies, I am finally willing to give it a try. But I hated Roger Rabbit so badly. And I'm a big fan of Warners Brothers cartoons. But Roger Rabbit was lame and super-annoying. P-p-p-pluh-leeze!

Michael Barnes wrote:

How did THE LEGEND OF BILLIE JEAN age for you Ken

All I know is, the kid is not my son.



Michael Jackson jokes--TIMELY!

I'm going to have to agree, Goonies is still a quality film.

Transformers: The Movie no longer has the touch.

Michael Barnes wrote:

SECRET OF NIMH...I still like it, but I remember it being really dark and sinister when I was a kid and when I saw it in the theater, the parents let out an audible, collective gasp when that rat said "damn". Now it's really pretty tame, pretty standard cartoon for the period.

The movie was pretty good (had among other people, Dom Deluise in it), but the book was much better. The book has aged much better too.

--Mike L.

Shellhead wrote:

You've sold me on Goonies, I am finally willing to give it a try. But I hated Roger Rabbit so badly. And I'm a big fan of Warners Brothers cartoons. But Roger Rabbit was lame and super-annoying. P-p-p-pluh-leeze!

You are dead to me.

Excalliber was a good movie when I was a kid but it just does not stand the test of time. I'll glasly watch it anytime but it is really outdated.