FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF (1986)

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

High school student Ferris Bueller has a brutal life: attractive girlfriend who likes him, supportive parents who love him, a dead squirrel admiring him outside his bedroom window, a laid back high school where the entire student body thinks that "he's a righteous dude", best friend who lets him drive his dads vintage Ferrari, a nice house in a peaceful neighborhood, a cool stereo with those awesome little lights that move up and down…this motherfucker needs a day off!  So, he fakes being sick and his parents buy it.  Now he has the entire day off.  Fin.

I have many thoughts on Ferris Bueller and his eventful day off.  Everything from he kinda reminds me of a younger version of fictional serial killers Patrick Bateman and Dexter Morgan to Mia Sara would've been great in the previous years FRIGHT NIGHT, but it's probably best if I just keep it simple and say…FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF is a fun film as long as you don't look into it too deeply or take it too serious.

An insane amount of plot holes, quick pace, a post-end credits scene, GODZILLA 1985 and TEEN WOLF playing at the movie theater, wastoids, The Sausage King of Chicago, tons of great Chicago (and Los Angeles) locations, interesting soundtrack, dweebies, a nurse who's concerned about your pluck, ancient electronics, sluts, great cast full of now iconic characters.  In short, FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF is mandatory viewing for anybody interested in 1980's American Cinema. If you don't believe me just take my best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend's word for it.

If you need me, I'm gonna go sunbathe in the backyard while facing away from the Sun and then go pass out at 31 Flavors. Maybe even barf up a lung.

HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX (1993)

The story this time is pretty much RAMBO III where Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen) is now a ripped Buddhist monk/stick fighter in Thailand.  A military Colonel Walters (played by Richard Crenna, who also played Colonel Trautman in RAMBO III) asks Topper to sneak into Iraq and save some POW's.  He initially refuses, but after Walters himself is taken prisoner at the same camp, Topper agrees to go in.  Along the way he runs into his old flame from the first film, Valeria Golino, but by now he's having a fling with a supersexy CIA operative Brenda Bakke.

Part Deux is, of course, directly related to the original HOT SHOTS!, but since they shifted gears away from TOP GUN and parody more on the Rambo franchise it feels really fresh with tons of new material to mine for jokes.  The humor is more absurd, the story broader, Charlie Sheen is probably the funniest he's ever been, Lloyd Bridges is hilarious, even Richard Crenna (who I've never thought of as a comedic actor) was surprisingly funny and the beautiful Brenda Bakke's presence didn't hurt anything...except the tensile strength of my pants in the crotchitoldal area!

As enjoyable as the first film is, I think Part Deux might be just a little bit better.  Just to be sure, I better go rewatch them both.

Part 1 - Hot Shots! (1991)