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Versusyours (757 KP) rated Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads in TV

Nov 5, 2019

Clever writing (2 more)

Relatable characters

Social history

Some fashion!! (0 more)

A snapshot of changing social attitudes and relationships in Britain during the 1970s

A continuation of the earlier series The Likely Lads sees the changes in outlooks on life during the early 1970s and the world that is changing around them. Terry returns from the Army with a lack of a world view and a divorced whilst Bob is engaged and has entered the property ladder with lesuire activities and tastes to match. The two friends are both searching for answers about how they fit into a world that is moving to fast, does Bob want the life he is working towards? Is a Terry happy to be stuck in his ways and be skeptical of any change? The episodes are well written and show the way in which young people at the time were struggling to move away from the way there parents lived their lives and the changes that were a result of a more permissive society. The problems of the 1970s are still in essence the same worries that we still see today and the dynamics between the 2 main characters are played so well due to the clever writing and the continuing storyline that runs through the 2 seasons.

A great slice of British life from the period that has aged well due to the human elements of the relationships and the lack of understanding of the path that life is taking you on.

Kudos

Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated After Hours (1985) in Movies

Mar 5, 2020

After Hours (1985)

1985 | Comedy, Mystery

8.0

(4 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Scorsese's direction (2 more)

The quirky cameos

Griffin Dunne

Bad 80s music (0 more)

This is one of my absolute all time guilty secret films. Except guilty secret is wrong, because it is too good to be guilty. Perhaps it's better to say one of the most under-rated and under-seen films of the 80s. Forgotten by many and unknown by many more. When listing the best of Scorsese it is easy to overlook this lighter work, dismissing it as a diversion from his main oeuvre, but that is a shame...

Set over the course of one crazy night on New York, where everything goes wrong and spirals into one weird encounter after another, it is an allegory for lost direction and anxiety in a confusing time; chasing the rat race, money, dreams and love, only to fall down a never-ending rabbit hole. Watching the cameo appearances come and go is like doing an 80s B-movie checklist. Griffin Dunne himself has drifted into obscurity now - not that he was ever huge - and this remains the one thing he will perhaps always be known for.

I wonder if it would make any sense at all to anyone who can't remember the 80s first hand? For me it screams nostalgia for that time: the epitome of music, fashion and movie style back then. I recommend it in an unlikely double bill with Desperately Seeking Susan. Trust me.