Simon's Movie Reviews

I thoroughly enjoy cult movies as well as movies that colour outside the lines and Hal Ashby’s Harold and Maude (1971) checks off those two boxes with a big fat checkmark. Like many cult movies it was a commercial failure when first released, which is not too surprising considering it is a comedy that deals with death, suicide and a romantic relationship between an 18-year-old man and a 79-year-old woman. Despite the grim subject matter it is an often funny, and yes, romantic movie. Unlike cult films like The Rocky Horror Picture Show I don’t think there are any midnight showings of Harold and Maude so it took me a while to even hear about it. I first read about it in Empire magazine and the premise definitely struck me as unique. You can easily pitch a movie about superheroes, spies, or romance, but how do you sell a movie about a senior citizen who steals police motorcycles and a young man who fakes elaborate suicides? Thanks to good old Netflix I managed to finally see it a...

Top Gun (1986) is pure 1980s American gun-ho patriotism as well as an unofficial recruitment ad for that country’s air force. It features Tom Cruise in the nascent stages of his career as the world’s biggest movie star, U.S pilots flipping off those pesky Russians in the air, and the chart-topping single by Kenny Loggins, Danger Zone . Many aspects of this movie are now dated, but on first viewing it is hard not to be pulled in by the adrenaline-pumping ride. For many people this movie was a defining moment in pop culture, leading viewers to either adopt the nickname “Goose” or “Maverick,” or go a step further and actually join the air force. That was not the case for me since I was born the same year Top Gun came out, and I don’t think I was ever its specific target audience anyway. When I think of Anthony Edwards I don’t think of him flying fighter jets, I think of him operating on patients as Doctor Greene on E.R . However over the years I kept seeing the cultural influence o...