Tom Cruise Rewind

It's a shame that Risky Business is primarily known for Tom Cruise dancing around in his underwear. That scene alone is not representative of the entire film, and yet, many people tend to judge this film as if it were another mediocre teen sex comedy from the 80s. The truth is that Risky Business is much deeper than that -- and is perhaps the most intelligent film in the genre.

There isn't much to say about Losin' It outside of what could be expected based off its poster and title. It's another straight-forward 80s teen sex comedy, only this time so stale that the offensiveness of the standard misogyny and racism found in movies like this can't override how humdrum this film really is.

The Outsiders is peculiar, in that its biggest weakness is what also makes it so memorably charming. That is, of course, that the novel of the same name is very obviously the product of a 16-year-old girl. Even with heavyweight names like Francis Ford Coppola attached to the movie, the film remains a faithful adaptation of the novel and therefore isn't any more or less complex in its portrayal of the Greasers, its poor main characters, and the Socs, the rich rival gang.

The key to understanding Taps lies in its name. It differs from the title of the novel that serves as its source material, and perhaps for good reason: while both follow the general premise of a group of military cadets fighting to keep their school open, Devery Freeman's  Father Sky serves as more of a psychological investigation behind the cadets' reasoning and their parents' opposition, while Taps purely focuses on the cadets. This may be a result of the fact that the film rights were purchased before Father Sky was published. However, nitpicking over similarities and differences doesn't mean too much when Taps provides a subdued analysis of its own on military culture within the United States.

In 1979, Scott Spencer published his book Endless Love , a novel about 17-year-old David Axelrod and his dangerous obsession with his girlfriend, Jade. Two years later, a film adaptation of the same name came out and disastrously missed the point of its source material. While this is no strange feat in Hollywood, it's difficult to point fingers on who, exactly, is to blame for claiming that David really was in love Jade and vice versa when the novel goes so far to explain that this isn't the case, as there doesn't seem to be much information widely available regarding the production of the film. Part of me feels that it's more likely the fault of studio meddling; after all, the popular love ballad of the same name gained this film its only Academy Award and Golden Globe. And I don't believe that the screenwriter nor director were completely oblivious to the symbolism present in the novel, given an early scene in the film where David and Jade dress similarly to ...