There are a few decades in film history that have been as scrutinized as the 1980s, but to really understand the decade and its movies, it's going to take a couple of someone's who were there for it the first time around.

Drew McQueenie and Scott Weinberg are ready to review every major film of the decade, one month at a time. The look at what worked then, what endoers now, and how it felt to be there when it all went down. Turn back the calendar with us. It's the 80s all over. I'm gonna have to go back to the hotel.

I'm gonna have to go back to the hotel.

I'm gonna have to go back to the hotel. It's the 80s all over. The Reagan won 49 out of 50 states and basically annihilated Walter Mondale as he was reelected for a second term as president. Also in Washington, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was finally completed. Fact-based TV movies were huge with fatal vision telling the story of the Jeffrey MacDonald Murders, the burning bag giving Fairfoss at some righteous revenge, and the Theresa

Saldana story giving victims of violent attacks a voice. Mr. Rogers donated a sweater to the Smithsonian, Guylah Floor retired. Settie was founded to find proof of extra trust real life, and McDonald's made its 50 billion hamburger. And finally, as a reminder, things do not have to be awful. As the Ethiopian famine crisis heated up, the Soviet Union actually helped deliver American wheat to the starving, because the world's

only ugly if we decided it is.

That's just as true now as it was in November of 1984. Hi, everybody, I'm Drew McQueenie, and as I look at the window right now, there's a beautiful sunset behind the Nakatomi Plaza, and I am excited to record a brand new 80s all over with my co-host, Scott Weinberg. What's up, Scott? Hi, Drew. Welcome back to our podcast. And this was a very interesting month, full of lots of movies, and a couple of them are even good. I feel like what's happening right now with the last four months of 1984, there is so much packed in, and it covers so much ground that every episode right now is like this crazy grab bag of 40 different tones in 20 movies. They're shuffling the deck so that now we know when the four quadrants of the year are, summer is for kids and family. Late year is for adults and Oscar type movies. And so when people break that, it gets weirder because you notice it. Drew, did not know that I was going to bring this up, but we got a re-release. In November of 1984, we got a re-release of Bob Clark's A Christmas Story. This was where the sort of rehab began, because this was that moment where MGM kind of was betting that people were gonna start to really go back and fall for the... And I love that very quickly, people started to really catch on to how special that film was.

And now, a new episode of Dry French Drama

that Scott couldn't get into, starring Junior Queenie as he discusses the film in Sunday in the country. Dad, I'm going to get you a drink.

Oh, yes, with pleasure.

We won't be too late for the train at 18.50.

Dad.

We'll see you later. Oh, yeah, with pleasure. No, we won't be too late for the 38 or 50. Dad. Who knows? Yeah, I like this one a lot. Bertrand Tavernier, I believe is how you say his last name, directed this one. And this is a movie for Old Asman. And it is an Old Asman movie about an Old Asman. And as an Old Asman, I enjoyed it. This is set right at the turn of the century, the last century, a painter who lives in the countryside, some of his children are married, some of them are not, some of them have grandchildren for him, some of them don't. And it's just about one long day, as his family in waves comes to see him in the countryside. The entire film is just family dynamics. Why one sibling is closer to dad than this one or why this sibling comes to see him all the time and this one never does or why this person is sad about what this person said and this person can't please that person. Yeah, it's a lot of family politics and a lot of it I found familiar, but not all that compelling.

I love the fact that it's a painterly film

without a painter, how these people dress

and how they look is as much a part of what they are

and who their character is, as what they say.

I think it's a painter's movie

and it's very visually lush.

I think it's a very pretty film, it's very quiet film.

It is not a film about time healing things.

It's more about how things get fossilized. It hurts just become old hurts. They don't become better. It's not push button at all. I'll give you that. And I do think it is a very good film. It's gorgeous to look at. The performances are great. I just found myself within 45 minutes just asking, get to the point. And now we move to a very important segment.

...