John Carpenter doesn’t usually do fuzzy, warm and tender. But after The Thing got trounced by E.T. at the box office in ’82, maybe JC wanted to make peace with the idea of a benevolent alien jesus. Starman (1984) is his take on that cosmic messiah archetype – a sci-fi road movie where Jeff Bridges, … Read more
Ah, the summer of ’82. I was nine years old and my entire world revolved around a short, wrinkled alien with a glowing finger. Every conversation led back to E.T., and if you asked me about anything – favourite candy, dream bike, whatever – the answer would somehow involve Reese’s Pieces or a Kuwahara BMX … Read more
Spy games and bonding agents The early-to-mid 80s really were a golden age for kid-led adventure films. Cloak & Dagger (1984) often finds itself overshadowed by the other video-game-adjacent titles like The Last Starfighter or Tron, but the film delivers a deft mix of fantasy espionage and 4 bit nostalgia that feels uniquely its own. … Read more