Cinematix Problematix

And today, we’re talking about  the 1983 classic Trading Places , which tells the tale of The extremely wealthy Wall Street executives Duke brothers who decide to place a friendly bet to see if nature beats nurture. They take the star employee at their financial firm,  Louis Winthorpe III, and try to see if a destitute Black man, Billy Ray Valentine, can effectively take his place and le...

Today, we’re talking about the ICONIC 1984 film Purple Rain , which stars the legendary rock/pop/soul artist Prince . It tells the story of an incredibly cocky-yet-talented young Minneapolis artist with a standing residency at the popular club First Avenue, but who is also the product of a violent household. He has a long-standing rivalry with Morris Day’s The Time, and falls in love with a s...

Today, we’re talking about the controversial 1986 film Soul Man , directed by Steve Miner. It tells the story of Mark Watson who is an affluent UCLA student who gets into Harvard Law School. The only problem is his father decides to not fund his education so that he can learn some responsibility. He tries to get loans, but can’t because his credit sucks. But then his friend tells him about a schol...

Today, we’re talking about the 1984 comedy Revenge of the Nerds directed by Jeff Kanew, which follows horny freshman nerds Lewis and Gilbert as they get into college, only to be bullied by the cool, jocular members of the Alpha Beta fraternity. In response to their humiliation and their sudden lack of housing at the hands of the Alpha Beta frat bullies, they not only form their own fraternity born...

Today, we’re talking about the 1984 John Hughes classic Sixteen Candles, which is about a girl who turns sweet 16 only to have her quirky family entirely forget it on the eve of her sister’s wedding. It all takes place in the span of 24 hours where we get to witness teen longing, horniness, general slapstick hijinks, and a TON of dialogue and plot points that would NEVER pass muster today. The fil...