The Blues Brothers (1980)

Rotten Tomatoes: 72%

Box Office: 115.2 million USD

My Rating: 5.5/10

Description: After Jake Blues (John Belushi) is released from prison, he and his brother Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) find out that the orphanage where they were raised owes five thousand dollars in property taxes, and will be forced to close if they don't pay up. The brothers decide to put their old band back together to raise enough money to save the orphanage, but first, they must track down all their old bandmates. During their journey, they meet up with old friends and make several sworn enemies.

My Thoughts: If you ever need a reminder that a lot of America did cocaine in the 80's, this movie will do just that. I'm still not entirely sure what I was watching. It's definitely entertaining, but you'll get bored quickly unless you understand the music references. It's important to remember that a lot of the secondary characters weren't played by actual actors; with the exception of the Mystery Woman (Carrie Fisher) and the selection of wildly famous musicians from the 20th century, most of them were played by musicians from Saturday Night Live. And oh, boy, was that ever obvious! Most of the songs are incredible, and there are some scenes that are so insane they can only be described as hilarious. My favourite part is when Carrie Fisher's character is sitting in a salon called Curl Up & Dye while painting her own nails bright red and flipping through a book on how to operate a flamethrower. It's so bizarre that you won't know if you're watching a real movie or a game of Mad Libs being acted out. In short, the film isn't my thing, but I'd say go for it if you want to watch a weird movie that doesn't make you think very hard.

Best Line: "I hate Illinois Nazis."