Remembering John Hughes On His Birthday

Today would have been the 71st Birthday of John Hughes. Being a part of Generation X, his movies obviously meant a lot to me as a big-haired ’80s teenager & it was very sad when he passed away in 2009.

It’s also Molly Ringwald’s 53rd birthday today. How cool is it that they had the same birthday? Happy Birthday to Molly!

As well as being a great writer, John Hughes also had excellent taste in the music he chose for his films. I recently teamed up with Strange Adventures Music (@StrangeAdvMusic) to create a comprehensive John Hughes playlist. The playlist includes the currently available music from every movie directed, written or produced by Hughes. You can check that out at Apple Music (HERE) or Spotify (HERE). I still listen to that playlist a lot myself.

I also have very fond memories of running a John Hughes Blogathon here in 2014. Thanks again to the many bloggers who participated & helped to review every movie directed or written by Hughes. I thought it was time to again share all the reviews below if you’d like to have a look. And if you love John Hughes too & have a review you’d like me to add to this post as well, feel free to post a link to it in the comments. 🙂

JOHN HUGHES MOVIE REVIEWS:

101 Dalmatians by Fearsome 5 (and family!)

Baby’s Day Out by Film Grimoire

Beethoven by Film Grimoire

The Breakfast Club by The IPC

The Breakfast Club by Cinema Parrot Disco (Me)

The Breakfast Club by A Clockwalker Orange

The Breakfast Club by MIB’s Instant Headache

Career Opportunities by Cinema Parrot Disco (Me)

Curly Sue by MovieRob

Dennis by MovieRob

Drillbit Taylor by Rhetologue’s Movie Logs

Drillbit Taylor by MovieRob

Dutch by MovieRob

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off by Cinema Parrot Disco (Me)

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off by Fast Film Reviews

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off by The Sporadic Chronicles Of A Beginner Blogger

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off by The Dirk Malcolm Alternative

Flubber by MovieRob

The Great Outdoors by Smashing Through Life

The Great Outdoors by Cinema Parrot Disco (Me)

Home Alone by MovieRob

Home Alone 2 by Screenkicker

Home Alone 3 by Ten Stars Or Less

Just Visiting by JJames Reviews

Maid In Manhattan by Cinema Parrot Disco (Me)

Miracle On 34th Street by Where The Wild Things Are

Mr. Mom by JJames Reviews

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation by Cinema Parrot Disco (Me)

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation by Tvor Travels

National Lampoon’s Class Reunion by Brian at Hard Ticket To Home Video

National Lampoon’s European Vacation by Tvor Travels

National Lampoon’s Vacation by The Sporadic Chronicles Of A Beginner Blogger

Only The Lonely by Ten Stars Or Less

Planes, Trains & Automobiles by Film Nerd Blog

Planes, Trains & Automobiles by The Cinematic Frontier

Planes, Trains & Automobiles by The IPC

Pretty In Pink by Cinema Parrot Disco (Me)

Pretty In Pink by Tranquil Dreams

Pretty In Pink by MovieRob

Savage Islands by MovieRob

She’s Having A Baby by Rhetologue’s Movie Logs

She’s Having A Baby by MovieRob

Sixteen Candles by Cinema Parrot Disco (Me)

Sixteen Candles by Where The Wild Things Are

Sixteen Candles by Film Nerd Blog

Sixteen Candles by The IPC

Sixteen Candles by MIB’s Instant Headache

Some Kind Of Wonderful by Silver Screen Serenade

Some Kind Of Wonderful by Cinema Parrot Disco (Me)

Some Kind Of Wonderful by MovieRob

Tajna Nikole Tesle by 501 Must-See Movies Project

Uncle Buck by The IPC

Weird Science – special double review by Cinema Parrot Disco (Me) & Eric of The IPC

Weird Science by What About The Twinkie?

Weird Science by MIB’s Instant Headache

EXTRAS:

My Top Ten John Hughes Movies by Cinema Parrot Disco (Me)

Don’t You Forget About Me (documentary about John Hughes) by Cinema Parrot Disco (Me)

John Hughes Mini-Reviews by Mr Mutant (my hubby)

My Top Ten John Hughes Movies

Been meaning for ages to do my top ten list of movies from 80s teen comedy genius John Hughes. I’ve been thoroughly annoyed (that is, extremely pissed off) ever since hearing a few weeks ago about the plan to remake Weird Science. Honestly, Hollywood, come up with some original ideas instead of destroying one of the best things about my teenage years – John Hughes movies. Just come up with some original ideas overall! Enough with the remakes!!!

Anyway, here are my Top Ten John Hughes movies in order starting with my favorite:

1. The Breakfast Club

2. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

3. Sixteen Candles

4. Weird Science

5. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

6. Pretty In Pink

7. Home Alone

8. Uncle Buck

9. Some Kind Of Wonderful

10. Planes, Trains & Automobiles

And my favorite John Hughes creation: Jake Ryan. Ruined boyfriends for me for life, though. 😉

Project X (2012)

Hmm. Not sure where to start with this review.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m of the age where I grew up with and am a lover of 80s teen movies, especially the John Hughes ones. So I’m probably just too old to enjoy Project X. Through the whole thing I kept thinking to myself “Would I think this was the greatest movie EVER if I was a teenager right now?”. Well, I’m sure I’d like it a bit more but I still don’t think it would be a favorite.

I think it’s fair to say that I do still love teen movies. When they’re actually good… My favorite film of 2012 was The Perks Of Being A Wallflower. Since the year 2000, I also liked Juno, Charlie Bartlett, Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and Scott Pilgrim. Okay – so from that list I obviously don’t go for the ones that are TOO mainstream & vulgar but I have nothing against those if they’re good or at least funny (yes, I like the American Pie movies and, shamefully, Harold & Kumar!). So it’s not because of anything vulgar or the (completely expected) loads of naked titties that made me not able to really get into Project X.

I don’t know where to go with this review now. I think it’s because I find it a lot harder to review “meh” movies than really good or really bad ones. This movie was meh. The characters were bland & I couldn’t relate to a single one of them in any sort of way (the main guy wasn’t too bad but his obnoxious friend was obnoxious in an unfunny and annoying way instead of in an entertaining Stifler way). The “funny” bits weren’t funny (other than maybe the “ball puncher”) and, quite frankly, the vulgar bits probably weren’t vulgar enough. And… This was meant to be a “found footage” film, right? Lol! I think they kept forgetting that they were meant to be filming it in that way.

I’ve spent too long on this. It’s not a really BAD film. I think it would have been much more enjoyable if they’d had better main characters – I think weak characters let the movie down more than anything.

Rating: 6/10

Watch these movies instead – the makers of Project X obviously did:

For a better “destroy dad’s car” movie:

For a better “kick ass flamethrower” movie:

For better “jump off the roof mostly into pools” movies (well, the first more than the second):

For a better drunken “destroy your parents’ house” party movie (the obvious biggest influence on Project X – I kept expecting a missile to come up through the house and for mutant bikers to show up):

For a better “gnome” movie:

But I do want this gnome for my garden…

And, finally, for a better movie of the same name: