Cinema Memoir #19

Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise
(July 10th, 1987)

Revenge of the Nerds was one of those movies I watched constantly when I was younger. It's the epidemy of underdog stories and, because I always felt like an outcast, it was strangely motivational. What can I say - I'm an optimist.

Nerds II didn't have quite the same effect on me. It's not nearly as terrible as the two sequels that followed (I couldn't even make it through those), but it's not even close to the original.

It was a lot of fun seeing this movie during another boy's night out with my brother and father. That was the last one of those we had as far as I can remember.

(Image from moviegoods.com)

Cinema Memoir #15

Over The Top (February 13th, 1987)

Another underdog story, and a fairly original concept - well the arm wrestling I mean - the story was pretty cookie cutter I guess. I do remember wanting to see this movie because of the trailer. A great movie for age 7, but I'm sure my mom (who took me to see most movies pre 13) could have done without Over The Top.

I remember really digging the scene where Sly's son arm wrestled some bully kid for money and won. The only thing better than an underdog is a kid underdog.

(Image from impawards.com)

Cinema Memoir #11

The Karate Kid, Part II
(June 20th, 1986)

I just remember really looking forward to this movie. I was 6, practically a ninja in my own mind, and I was a huge fan of the first Karate Kid.

I love the first two Karate Kid movies - nothing beats a good, old fashioned underdog story, but I swear Ralph Macchio was on coke in Karate Kid III.

This movie still kicks ass, and of course I'm still in love with Kumiko. Every time I drink hot tea I think of her.

(Image from impawards.com)

Cinema Memoir #7

Rocky IV (November 27th, 1985)

I watched this movie with my dad and brother; a boy's night out because my mom was hosting a baby shower.

This movie doesn't stand up so well today. It's an hour and a half of musical montage and Rocky's speech at the end kinda misses it's mark. But none of that really matters to a 5 year old. All I knew was that Rocky kicked that juiced up Russian's ass.

One of the redeeming aspects of this movie is the scene where Apollo Creed gets killed. This was one of those terrible yet wonderful movie experiences. I knew it wasn't real but the shock of seeing Apollo's body twitching on the mat was pretty poignant.

(Image from impawards.com)