Those aren’t pillows! (Planes, Trains and Automobiles 1987)

Having Steve Martin and John Candy star in a 1980s John Hughes comedy drama was probably a no brainer. The two have great chemistry together and are present for a series of funny and entertaining mishaps that accompany the pair as they attempt to return home to Chicago. The road trip movie was very much a thing by this point, yet Planes, Trains and Automobiles is definitely one of the best road movie comedies I’ve ever seen.

Another reason this movie works so well is that everyone can see themselves in both of the characters. It’s very easy to be the uptight Neal and the easy going Del, sometimes all in the same day for many people. I relate more to Del if only because I also talk too much and I try to be likable and get along with people most of the time. On my worst days I’m Neal, completely annoyed with everyone and easily ruffled by random troubles that seem to pop up at every turn. This flick sure puts both men through the ringer, which in turn is both funny and melodramatic.

If looks could kill haha

In fact the comedic elements help set up the more serious parts, especially in a poignant hotel scene and a great train station part as well. John Hughes also wisely populates his movie with numerous character actors and even has three people from Ferris Buller’s Day Off making appearances. I had forgotten that Kevin Bacon is in this movie for a brief moment, and Edie McClurg has a scene stealing bit as a rental car agent. This makes the movie even funnier than it has a right to be, although the most hilarious part to me is the wrong way on the highway scene.

Other great moments include a freezing truck ride, the infamous classic “Those aren’t pillows!” bit and Neal’s very profane tirade at the car rental agency. I’ve seen this movie multiple times and it improves every viewing, which is the mark of a great movie. Shame that Martin and Candy never teamed up again, and the closest we’ve gotten to a flick like this may in fact be Wes Anderson’s Bottle Rocket, a movie that also wisely balances comedy and drama equally well.

2019 Movie Log

It’s that time again already. Should I go for 200 movies this year and give up all my sanity and free time? Eh I think 100+ is enough.

January:

1. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018, Ramsey, Persichetti Jr., Rothman)-99, Theater Viewing
2. The Day After Tomorrow (2004, Emmerich)-35, AMC
3. Deep Impact (1998, Leder)-40, AMC
4. Under the Skin (2013, Glazer)-92, Netflix Instant Viewing
5. Crazy Rich Asians (2018, Chu)-93, RedBox
6. Night of the Living Deb (2015, Rankin)-81, Shudder
7. The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972, Pierce)-70, Shudder
8. Vice (2018, McKay)-96, Theater Viewing)
9. The Town (2010, Affleck)-91, AMC
10. Paddington (2015, King)-93, TubiTV
11. Samurai Cop (1991, Shervan)-90, TubiTV
12. Island of the Fishermen (1979, Martino)-65, Shout! TV
13. Mad Ron’s Prevues from Hell (1987, Monaco)-80, Netflix Instant Viewing
14. Enemy (2014, Villeneuve)-95, Netflix Instant Viewing
15. Up the Creek (1984, Butler)-64, Charge TV
16. Night of the Living Dead (1990, Savini)-84, DVD

February:

17. Once Upon a Crime (1992, Levy)-71, This TV
18. Happy Death Day (2017, Landon)-88, RedBox
19. The Favourite (2018, Lanthimos)-96, Theater Viewing
20. Hereditary (2018, Aster)-96, RedBox
21. BlacKkKlansman (2018, Lee)-100, RedBox
22. Bird Box (2018, Bier)-80, Netflix Instant Viewing
23. You Were Never Really Here (2017, Ramsay)-93, RedBox
24. Happy Death Day 2U (2019, Landon)-84, Theater Viewing
25. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019, Mitchell)-91, Theater Viewing

March:

26. Brain Damage (1988, Henenlotter)-90, Shudder
27. Captain Marvel (2019, Fleck, Boden)-86, Theater Viewing
28. Deadbeat At Dawn (1988, Van Bebber)-82, Shudder
29. The Old Man & the Gun (2018, Lowery)-93, RedBox
30. Us (2019, Peele)-100, Theater Viewing
31. Hunt For The Wilderpeople (2016, Waititi)-96, Hulu
32. The Highwaymen (2019, Hancock)-73, Netflix Instant Viewing
33. Annihilation (2018, Garland)-91, Hulu
34. The Meteor Man (1993, Townsend)-70, Comet! TV

April:

35. Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (2019, Burgin)-95, Shudder
36. Deathgasm (2015, Howden)-81, Shudder
37. Pet Sematary (2019, Kolsch, Widmyer)-86, Theater Viewing
38. Meet the Feebles (1989, Jackson)-80, Tubi TV
39. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001, Smith)-85, Netflix Instant Viewing
40. My Bloody Valentine 3-D (2009, Lussier)-30, Netflix Instant Viewing
41. Hardcore Henry (2016, Naishuller)-85, Netflix Instant Viewing
42. Cecil B. DeMented (2000, Waters)-90, Tubi TV

May:

43. Avengers: Endgame (2019, Russo Brothers)-90, Theater Viewing
44. Urufu gai: Moero ôkami-otoko (1975, Yamaguchi)-89, Shudder
45. Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019, Letterman)-91, Theater Viewing
46. Destroy All Monsters (1968, Honda)-86, Tubi TV
47. John Wick: Chapter 3-Parabellum (2019, Stahelski,)-92, Theater Viewing
48. Demon Wind (1990, Moore)-50, Shudder
49. Her (2013, Jonze), Netflix Instant Viewing

June:

50. Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019, Dougherty)-90, Theater Viewing
51. Star Raiders: The Adventures of Saber Raine (2016, Grove)-20, Theater Viewing/RiffTrax
52. Rocketman (2019, Fletcher)-92, Theater Viewing
53. Miami Vice (2006, Mann)-90, Netflix Instant Viewing
54. Zodiac (2007, Fincher)-95, Netflix Instant Viewing
55. The Day the Earth Froze (1959. Ptushko)-35, Netflix Instant Viewing
56. Men In Black: International (2019, Gray)-68, Theater Viewing
57. Aladdin (2019, Ritchie)-81, Theater Viewing

July:

58. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019, Watts)-93, Theater Viewing
59. Child’s Play (2019, Klevberg)-87, Theater Viewing
60. Kill The Irishman (2011, Hensleigh)-80, Netflix Instant Viewing
61. Nightmare at Shadow Woods (1987, Grissmer)-35, Shudder
62. Brooklyn’s Finest (2010, Fuqua)-60, Netflix Instant Viewing
63. Midsommar (2019, Aster)-96, Theater Viewing
64. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019, Tarentino)-97, Theater Viewing

August:

65. Hellfighters (1968, McLaglen)-65, Blu ray
66. The Babysitter (2017, McG)-86, Netflix Instant Viewing
67. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009, Gilliam)-70, Netflix Instant Viewing
68. The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018, Fogel)-75, Hulu

September:

69. Ready Or Not (2019, Bettinelli-Olpin, Gillett)-90, Theater Viewing
70. The Saint (1997, Noyce)-73, Netflix Instant Viewing
71. It Chapter 2 (2019, Muschietti)-90, Theater Viewing
72. Summer of ’84 (2018, Simard, Whissell, Whissell)-82, Shudder
73. The Last Black Man In San Francisco (2019, Talbot)-95, RedBox
74. The Ranger (2018, Wexler)-90, Shudder
75. Get Carter (1971, Hodges)-93, Netflix Instant Viewing

October:

76. Viy (Kropachyov, Yershov)-77, Shudder
77. Under The Shadow (2016, Anvari)-92, Netflix Instant Viewing
78. Twins of Evil (1972, Hough)-81, Shudder
79. Vampire Circus (1972, Young)-78, Shudder
80. Final Exam (1981, Huston)-65, Tubi TV
81. The Love Witch (2016, Biller)-86, Shudder
82. The City of the Dead (1960, Moxey)-84, Tubi TV
83. Charlie’s Angels (2000, McG)-83, Netflix Instant Viewing
84. The Corpse Grinders (1972, Mikels)-40, Tubi TV
85. Cannibal Girls (1973, Reitman)-71, Tubi TV
86. Hell Night (1981, DeSimone)-65, Shudder
87. The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1985, Craven)-20, Shudder
88. Hands of the Ripper (1971, Sasdy)-81, Shudder
89. The Mutilator aka Fall Break (1985, Cooper)-75, Shudder
90. Stage Fright (1987, Soavi)-83, Shudder
91. Thirst (1979, Hardy)-85, Shudder
92. De Lift (1983, Maas)-65, Shudder
93. I Drink Your Blood (1970, Durston)-87, Shudder
94. Kamera o tomeru na! aka One Cut of the Dead (2017, Ueda)-91, Shudder
95. All the Colors of the Dark (1972, Martino)-83, Shudder
96. Demons 2 (1986, Bava)-75, Shudder
97. Der Nachtmahr (2015, Akiz)-55, Shudder
98. You Might Be The Killer (2018, Simmons)-73, Shudder
99. Day of the Animals (1977, Girdler)-60, Shudder
100. The Awakening (2011, Murphy)-75, Shudder
101. Bloody Pit of Horror (1965, Pupillo)-82, Tubi TV
102. Sweet, Sweet Lonely Girl (2016, Calvo)-83, Shudder
103. Mayhem (2017, Lynch)-86, Shudder
104. Zombieland: Double Tap (2019, Fleischer)-85, Theater
105. Jack Frost (1996, Cooney)-65, Shudder
106. Dark Water (2002, Nakata)-88, Shudder
107. Happy Birthday To Me (1981, Thompson)-74, Blu ray

November:

108. The Lighthouse (2019, Eggers)-92, Theater
109. Cleopatra Jones (1973, Starrett)-87, Tubi TV
110. Bride of Re-Animator (1989, Yuzna)-81, Shudder
111. Dolemite (1975, Martin)-76, Tubi TV
112. Joker (2019, Phillips)-93, Theater Viewing
113. King of New York (1990, Ferrara)-95, Pluto TV
114. Midway (2019, Emmerich)-73, Theater Viewing

December:

115. The Hurricane Heist (2018, Cohen)-80, Netflix Instant Viewing
116. Rebel Without a Cause (1955, Ray)-95, Netflix Instant Viewing
117. Who’s That Knocking at My Door (1967, Scorsese)-84, Netflix Instant Viewing
118. Street Trash (1987, Muro)-53, Shudder
119. Hobgoblins (1988, Sloane)-0/94 MST3K episode rating, Netflix Instant Viewing
120. Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003, McG)-40, Netflix Instant Viewing
121. Cop Car (2015, Watts)-88, Netflix Instant Viewing
122. Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987, Harry)-70, Shudder
123. From Paris with Love (2010, Morel)-75, Netflix Instant Viewing
124. The Grinch (2018, Mosier, Cheney)-81, Netflix Instant Viewing
125. 3615 code Pere Noel (1989, Manzor)-83, Shudder
126. The Street Fighter (1974, Ozawa)-85, Tubi TV
127. Matinee (1993, Dante)-90, Blu Ray
128. Jumanji: The Next Level (2019, Kasdan)-85, Theater Viewing
129. She’s Gotta Have It (1986, Lee)-90, Netflix Instant Viewing
130. Some Like It Hot (1959, Wilder)-99, Blu Ray