I've seen Sixteen Candles and Weird Science countless times. These were staples of my youth. They both include a hilarious performance by Anthony Michael Hall, who is perfect as the geek. Weird Science is John's take on Frankenstein, two geeks create the ultimate woman, since they can't get dates of their own. Sixteen Candles is probably John's best over-all film. Starring Molly Ringwald, it's her sweet sixteenth, but no one seems to remember. Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Matthew Broderick creates on iconic figure, the ultimate high school hero, it's the story of his greatest school day. Breakfast Club, the most serious of John's films. He's really trying to send the message that it's ok to be you, no matter who you are. Hall again plays the geek, Ringwald the prom queen, Emilo Estivez is the jock, Ally Sheedy is the weirdo, and of course in his greatest role, Judd Nelson is the criminal.

Also often thrown into the mix with these films is Pretty in Pink. This is John's first produced, but not directed film (start of his downfall?), he also wrote the screenplay. So it has that feel, but is techinically not one of his films. It's well worth watching though. These films pretty much set the standard for what the teen comedy should be. Most of these standards still appear in todays teen comedies. But I find it hard to believe that this run of films will ever be duplicated.

John also created three other great 80's comedies. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles being the best of the bunch. Steve Martin and John Candy are hilarious as the mis-matched duo, who no matter what they do, just can't seem to get home to Chicago for Thanksgiving. In She's Having a Baby, John explores what newlyweds go through with house buying, career finding, and of course having a baby. This is also John's most surreal film, he expirements quite a bit with dream sequences, a dance number involving lawnmowers, and even one really brief Terry Gilliam type moment when Kevin Bacon's office walls start closing in. With Uncle Buck you can see the start of John's insperation slipping. This is a pretty funny film with John Candy, as the ultimate bachlelor, forced into babysitting his brother's kids. But the magic of his earliest films is almost gone.

The 90's rolled around and the man instantly lost all his talent. He wrote and produced the monster hit Home Alone. Since then he's only directed one crap movie, Curly Sue, and produced endless sequels and rip-offs of Home Alone. (Aka, ultimate crap like Baby's Day Out.) Though John still writes and produces many movies, I doubt he'll ever be involved with one that I love. I still respect the man for his past movies.