Triple Bill Mini Musings: The Weird, The High, and the Other...

Weird Science:
I caught some flack (in-jest) from some of the folks over on Homepage of the Dead for having not seen John Hughes' bonkers teen-sci-fi-com, and seeing as I'm a big fan of the Hughes catalogue of films, I figured it was about time I caught up with it. Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith play two high school nerds (and social rejects to boot) put 1980s computers, phone-modems, and lax military security to good use as they create - Frankenstein style - the woman of their dreams (Kelly LeBrock). Taking them on a zany journey of self-discovery that involves all sorts of bizarro flights of fancy, it's a bloody entertaining ride. Lessons learnt include standing up to your bullying older brother (played by Bill Paxton) and a gang of bikers (including horror icon Michael Berryman, and Mad Max II's Vernon Wells), to getting the girls (Judie Aronson, and Suzanne Snyder - whom I finally discovered I recognised from Return of the Living Dead Part II). One of the great things about the movies of John Hughes is that the jokes remain fresh and timeless, and the decidedly 1980s look is always a fun time capsule (rather than a dating hindrance), and Weird Science is no different. I'm glad I finally caught up with this dose of teenage male fantasy ... well, PG-13, good-natured level fantasy, anyway!