Dork Hero: Lea Thompson

    Lea Thompson was so, so very important to the development of my young brain.  She hit the scene in 1983 with Jaws 3 (which, I saw in the theaters, and even as a boy of 7 thought was stupid), then followed that up with Red Dawn, Back to the Future, SpaceCamp, and Howard the Duck.  That was all it took.  Sure, she came back for Back to the Future II and III, but that initial wave of films was magic.  Though I was never as in to Red Dawn as my friends, the others were all staples of my childhood.  And when we got a VCR in ‘86, they were go-to films.  To this day, Howard the Duck is among my favorites.  Thompson was just the right mix of 80s cool and naïve nerd, just on the cute side of hot, and she radiated hopeful energy.

Five Favorite Lea Thompson Films:
5.  SpaceCamp
4.  Red Dawn
3.  Back to the Future II
2.  Back to the Future
1.  Howard the Duck

-Matt

A Fistful of Bands! (Matt’s Picks)

    Movies have had a long tradition of musical storytelling, featuring countless made-up bands and musical performers.  There are great amateurs, like Ron Burgundy (Anchorman) and his jazz flute, and mysterious has-been crooners, like Johnny Favorite (Angel Heart).  There are even giant-faced Elvis wannabes like Tom (Eegah).  What follows is a list of a few of my favorites.


Cherry Bomb (Howard the Duck): You don’t have to be Baby Face & Mr. Zits to appreciate this punk-pop group led by cute as a button Beverly (Lea Thompson).  They sing about struggling to make it in the big world, and how much fun it is to hang with a duck.  What’s not to love?

Josie and the Pussycats:  These girls have plenty of history and their ‘animated’ presence was always welcome.  Battling against the evils of corporate music, they produced some mildly catchy pop songs.  But more importantly, they gave Rosario Dawson and early job.

Mok (Rock & Rule):  Super-scientist, illusionist, musical mastermind.  Mok doesn’t stop at Lovecraftian meddling in the fabric of reality when it comes to putting on a mind blowing show.

Wyld Stallyns (Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure):  Two young heroes who bring peace and enlightenment to the future.  Ted “Theodor” Logan and Bill S. Preston, Esquire must travel through a Campbell-like Hero’s journey to take their place as architects of the future.  And they do, in fact, rock hard enough to change the world.

Ellen Aim and the Attackers (Streets of Fire):  Her passion for brooding (and possibly mentally challenged) Tom Cody gets her into trouble with pasty faced Raven Shaddock, the leader of a local biker gang.  But when it comes down to it, she embraces the 80s philosophy, ‘if you just rock hard enough, you can do anything.’  The epic finale will bring down even the sturdiest of houses.

-Matt

Showing my band pride.