What's Streaming from 1985?

by Nathaniel R

Most streaming platforms don't have great search capabilities. As we've long complained, they're much better for casual viewers who'll watch whatever is curated for them than devoted cinephiles who often give themselves projects (I know I'm not the only one!) to watch a certain set of films of some ilk, year, awards race of yesteryear or from some filmography. Since 1985 is our "year of the month" -- the Smackdown is just one week away! (have you voted yet?) -- I thought we'd play our streaming screengrab roulette game (wherever the scroll bar lands we take that photo - no searching for cool images or key scenes) with film titles from 1985 that are streaming currently on one of the major services. These weren't super easy to look up but here's what I found on Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. 

Will any of these random screengrabs inspire you to watch a movie? Please do speak out about anything related to any of these movies in the comments. It's more fun when you we're not just typing into the abyss.

Okay, ready here we go...

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OTD: Madonna Mania and a Dangerous Release Date

On this day (Sept 2nd) in showbiz-related history...

31 BC Cleopatra loses the Battle of Actium to Octavian's troops in the final war of the Roman Republic. Liz is very upset but it turns out Dick is still alive and he leaves his men to drown to catch up with her and work on his thigh tan! Not great, Bob.

Madonna mania, September 1st movie releases and more after the jump...

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One Film, One New York

Have you heard about NYC's fun new free arts event? On September 13th they'll be playing one famous shot-in-and taking-place-in New York film, chosen by the public, all over the city in all five boroughs, at the public screening outdoor venues and in some theaters. The five options are The Wedding Banquet (1993), On the Town (1949), Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), New York New York (1977) or Crooklyn (1994) and were selected by the film critics of the New York Times. You can vote on which one here but the best thing about it is whichever film wins, the public wins because they're all good films.

Where would your vote go? I'm still trying to decide on mine. I'm only sad that this date is during the Toronto International Film Festival so I'll have to miss it. *cries*

Colonel Stewart, Margo Channing, Jay Gatsby, and a Cuckoo's Nest

As previously noted March 25th and today, March 29th, are the most common days on which to hold Oscar ceremonies. Both dates have seen five Oscar nights in the Academy's 89 year history. But those Oscar anniversaries aren't the only thing worth celebrating today.

On this day in showbiz history...

Colonel James Stewart in 1945

1889 Oscar winner Warner Baxter (In Old Arizona, 42nd Street) born in Columbus Ohio
1919 Oscar winner Eileen Heckart (Butterflies are Free, The Bad Seed) ALSO born in Columbus Ohio. C'mon Columbus! You go with your Oscar winners.
1945 Jimmy Stewart becomes a colonel in the US Air Force during World War II... 

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Beauty vs Beast: Here Come The Bridesmaids

Jason from MNPP here -- you want to know something shocking? Alright "shocking" might be me overexaggerating (thank you for that new word, Ryan Lochte) but I was shocked anyway - I have never done an edition of "Beauty vs Beast" for Bridesmaids. Doesn't that seem absolutely impossible? I went back and forth through the archives myself a couple of times to make sure but it's true. I couldn't believe it - I saw it was Kristen Wiig's 43rd birthday today and I thought to myself, "Well maybe there's something besides Bridesmaids that I can do, since obviously I'd have done Bridesmaids by now," but nope, no, haven't, kuh-rrrrrrazy!

So let's! I've seen this movie so many times at this point (if it is on cable, and it is always on cable, I will stop my life and I will watch it) that I managed this entire post without having to cheat and look up things to jog my memory. It's already a modern classic, at just over 5 years old. But where do our loyalties lay when it comes down between these two troublesome girlfriends...

PREVIOUSLY For the Material Girl's birthday we Desperately Sought the answer to "Does anyone appreciate her acting ability?" and speaking of shocker, we do! She grooved into a 2/3rds win over Rosanna Arquette. Said Mike in Canada (and now you know!):

"I'm can't bring myself to vote against either of these fantastic women, so I'll conscientiously abstain, and just wait a week to find out how much Madonna won by."