20 Best Songs of the 80s – #12
My father used to confuse Men at Work with The Village People. His argument, which admittedly makes a lot of sense, was that a group made up of men dressed in the garb of various occupations — including a construction worker — should almost certainly be named Men at Work. Still, the thought of a gay-themed disco concept band being confused for Australian rockers is pretty funny.
20 Best Songs of the 80s – #12
I’m not proud of this, but I have a vivid memory of the first time I heard of Bruce Springsteen. It was in the early 80s, probably around the time Born in the U.S.A. was released. A DJ mentioned that Bruce Springsteen had a new album coming out and I thought to myself… “Ha! That guy totally said Rick Springfield’s name wrong.”
Yes, my musical knowledge was limited for a 12-year-old boy.
The year in movies so far has been quite solid. We’ve had an instant Pixar classic, the thrilling reinvention of a beloved series, a thought-provoking sci-fi thriller, a charming showcase for the industry’s finest actor and one of the most inventive romantic comedies I’ve seen in years — and that’s just my top five.
But if the lineup of movies yet to come comes close to living up to its promise, we ain’t seen nothing yet. The list that follows is a veritable roll call of my favorite directors (only Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Spielberg and Alfonso Cuaron seem to have taken the year off), with a few Jason Bateman appearances to boot.
Here are the ten films I’m most looking forward to, in order, followed by an alphabetical list of runners-up:
20 Best Songs of the 80s – #13
Fine Young Cannibals isn’t a one-hit wonder, but a one-album wonder. Several songs off their 1988 album The Raw and the Cooked charted, including #1 positions for today’s song and the jaunty ‘Good Thing.’ The album also featured such gems as ‘Don’t Look Back,’ ‘Ever Fallen in Love,’ ‘I’m Not the Man I Used to Be’ and ‘As Hard As It Is.’
District 9 is full of contradictions.
It’s an often horrific science fiction film with uncomfortably funny scenes that would feel right at place in The Office. It’s an allegory about ethnic strife and prejudice that contains some borderline offensive racial stereotypes. It’s a B movie on a shoestring budget (by Hollywood standards) boasting special effects that rival those in films costing 10 times as much.
But the central contradiction is that a film made up of the parts of so many other movies winds up such a surprisingly original achievement.
