Big Movies

The Big 80's - The Big Movies: Under the highly successful banner of The Big 80's series, Rhino Records and VH1 again joined forces to put together a collection of the most ground-breaking music of the Molly Ringwald generation in 1998 called The Big 80's - The Big Movies. It was a time of pink lipgloss, checkered cars, spiky hair, and skinny ties, but what will remain in our minds forever -- and will never go out of style -- is the music. The Big 80's - The Big Movies will be available at retail on CD/cassette for a suggested list price.

Teen Big Movies of the '80s brought new life to the soundtrack. Now as opposed to the usual Marilyn and Alan Bergman-penned snoozers, these movie songs personified the spirit of unforgettable characters full of spunk, punk and angst. Landmark '80s films such as The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Beuller's Day Off, and Less Than Zero made stars out of Jon Cryer, Matthew Broderick, Andrew McCarthy, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Anthony Michael Hall. While some stars from this era in film have faded, the music continues to shine brightly. VH1: The Big 80's - The Big Movies gathers 16 classic show-stoppers that had you humming all the way home from theaters and then spilled over into your daily routines.

Who didn't have the barely intelligible lyrics of "Oh Yeah," by Yello stuck in their head for days? And how many dozens of high school proms wound down to "Don't You (Forget about Me)," by Simple Minds? Such The Big 80's - The Big Movies songs as "Pretty in Pink" by The Psychedelic Furs, "If You Were Here" by the Thompson Twins, "If You Leave" by Orchestral Maneuvers In The Dark, and "Hazy Shade Of Winter" by The Bangles changed film music forever.

With the above information in mind, we have seen that for some people Big Movies means Big Movies, movies which are big or movies whose duration is longer. Some of the industry’s Big Movies are discussed below:

The Postman is amongst one of the Long Movies its duration is almost 170 mins. Looks like it's official: Kevin Costner's The Postman is the longest sci-fi movie ever! Not even the Special Edition versions of other movies come close! However, considering the long running time and the quality of the end product one can probably read David Brin's post-apocalyptic novel of the same name (on which the movie is supposedly based) in the same time it takes to view the movie. 

Solaris is one of the Big Movies and its duration is 165 mins. Never one to rush things, famed director Andrei Tarkovsky was probably the last person who would ever have supplied us with a short snappy 90 minutes action type movie. But those with extreme patience would ultimately be rewarded by this definitive art house film with subtitles often described as the Russian version of 2001: A Space Odyssey . . . just make sure you don't see it at some obscure university film society (their seats usually resemble torture devices designed by Joseph Mengele).

The Abyss (Special Edition) - 164 mins. If you think that it's only European directors and Kevin Costner who makes very Long Movies - then think again! "Mainstream" Hollywood director James Cameron is well-known for his Big Movies, not to mention his even lengthier so-called "special edition" versions of his Big Movies usually released afterwards on video and laser disc. This particular version of The Abyss clocks in at a whopping 164 minutes as compared to the theatrical version which ran for an already longer than usual 140 minutes. James Cameron? His latest movie was the three-hour long Titanic hit.

Until the End of the World - 158 mins is also one of the Big Movies. The chances are that German director Wim Wenders would probably be better remembered for superior efforts such as Paris, Texas and Wings of Desire (recently remade by the yanks as City of Angels with Nicholas Cage/Meg Ryan - heresy!). While this apocalyptic flick starts off promisingly enough it soon degenerates into a meandering and aimless affair or maybe that was just the wooden chairs he was sitting on talking.

Aliens (Special Edition) also comes in Big Movies category with 154 mins duration. To be truthful some of the scenes included in this director's cut should have stayed on the cutting room floor where it belongs! But whether you watch this version or the original cinematic cut (which clocked in at 137 minutes) it remains a rollercoaster ride - your bum won't be hurting but the forearms of your partner will be bruised!

In Big Movies “Strange Days” - 145 mins Maybe it's contagious: this set at the end of the millennium action flick was directed by James Cameron's ex-ex-wife Kathryn (Point Break) Bigelow! Anyway, a version that was six minutes shorter was shown outside the States but that didn't get rid of the film's unlikely Sleepless In Seattle type happy ending. Still worth slugging through though.