Anthony Lane reviews “The Future Was Now,” by Chris Nashawaty, which argues for the epochal importance of eight movies released in the summer of 1982, including “E.T.,” “Blade Runner,” “The Thing,” “Poltergeist,” and entries in the “Mad Max” and “Star Trek” franchises.
Other people, with higher minds, will recall the hefty happenings of that year. Israel invaded Lebanon. Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. Yuri Andropov succeeded Leonid Brezhnev as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. One barrel of laughs after another. Unaccountably, events of such magnitude hold no appeal for the author Chris Nashawaty, despite the fact that his new book, “The Future Was Now” , is devoted to 1982.
“It was only the fact of my genetically engineered intellect that allowed us to survive,” he explains, keeping a majestically straight face under the wig of a superannuated rock god. My favorite passage in “The Future Was Now” concerns Barry Diller, the head of Paramount, who inveighs against the movie’s title. “Nobody knows what the word wrath is,” he cries, wrathfully. Try telling that to John Steinbeck. If Diller had his way, we’d all be reading “The Grapes of Being Totally Pissed.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Marin County Sheriff identifies body found in 1982 Muir Woods cold caseMarin County authorities have positively identified the body of a man who was found in the Muir Woods National Monument over four decades ago.
Read more »
Marin coroner’s office ID’s man whose remains were found in Muir Woods in 1982DNA evidence and genealogy research helped investigators identify Sigvard Svensson of San Francisco, a Swedish immigrant who was born in 1908.
Read more »
The brutal killing of a Detroit man in 1982 inspires decades of Asian American activism nationwideIn 1982, Chinese American Vincent Chin was beaten to death with a baseball bat by two white Detroiters, who received no jail time.
Read more »
The brutal killing of a Detroit man in 1982 inspires decades of Asian American activism nationwideIn 1982, Chinese American Vincent Chin was beaten to death with a baseball bat by two white Detroiters, who received no jail time.
Read more »
The brutal killing of a Detroit man in 1982 inspires decades of Asian American activism nationwideIn 1982, Chinese American Vincent Chin was beaten to death with a baseball bat by two white Detroiters, who received no jail time.
Read more »
The brutal killing of a Detroit man in 1982 inspires decades of Asian American activism nationwideIn 1982, Chinese American Vincent Chin was beaten to death with a baseball bat by two white Detroiters, who received no jail time. His story inspired a generation of activists who united across ethnic and cultural lines and still holds resonance for Asian Americans today.
Read more »