Spaceballs (1987)

Daft and sometimes very funny parody of Star Wars, written and directed by Mel Brooks. The humour is so silly that it’s difficult to resist. For example, Rick Moranis plays the Darth Vader character, but he’s so weedy that anything he does seems utterly ridiculous. There are parodies of Princess Leia (Daphne Zuniga as Princess Vespa), Han Solo (Bill Pullman as the Winnebago-driving Lone Starr), Chewbacca (John Candy as the half-man half-dog Barf) and C-3PO (Joan Rivers voicing he droid Dot Matrix). Mel Brooks himself plays the Emperor Palpatine-influenced President Skroob and the Yoda-like Yogurt. There are also references to Star Trek, Alien and Planet of the Apes. 

It’s extremely self-referential and post-modern. At one point the characters have to watch Spaceballs itself to find out what happens next. 

The "story" is largely irrelevant. You just wait for the gags – some of them so basic and obvious that they can’t fail.

The Sure Thing (1985)

Sweet teen romance directed by Rob Reiner.

Classmates Walter “Gib” Gibson (John Cusack) and Alison Bradbury (Daphne Zuniga) take a road trip from their New England college to Los Angeles. Gib (spontaneous but sloppy) is being fixed up with a “sure thing” – a girl who will definitely sleep with him – while Alison (a super-organised but stuffy academic) is meeting her extremely dull boyfriend. But the trip doesn’t go to plan and inevitably the bickering pair end up falling for each other, despite or because of all their differences.

It’s a fairly dialogue-heavy story, which is to be applauded, with lots of funny moments. Both of the leads are easy to like. It’s much smarter than teen films such as Pretty in Pink or St. Elmo’s Fire, and there’s something genuinely endearing about their stumbling relationship. It works as a road movie, too, although we don’t see enough of America as they cross it.

It’s a nice touch that you see a film poster for Reiner’s own This Is Spinal Tap in someone’s bedroom.