Not that Nelson's character doesn't have his bad points but I think he's one of the least hypocritical of the characters. As they say in the movie, he wouldn't care what his friends had to say if they saw him hanging out with Anthony Michael Hall's character while Molly Ringwald and Emilio...
It had to be more than 20 years ago now but I remember watching The Twilight Zone episode "Time Enough At Last" and my sister was in the room and she started watching it too. When it got to the twist at the end of the show, her jaw basically hit the floor. I just laughed because I thought...
Me and a friend always say how great it would be to be able to erase a movie you love from your brain so you could watch it for the 'first' time again.
Before anyone asks, you'd just leave a note to tell yourself to watch it.
I really like most of the John Hughes stuff too (though I'm probably the only Hughes fan that doesn't like Ferris Bueller) but I'm sure part of that is based on having been a kid watching them when they were new. I think anyone that sees them as a young person- then or now- can probably relate...
I don't think those movies are any more dated than any other movie of the era. The clothes are funny now and there's no cell phones but the situations that the characters are in would probably still resonate with a teen audience.
I wonder if the fakeness of sets or rear projection in older movies was even a concern to viewers back then. I think it was probably like when there's bad CG in movies today. The audience knows it's fake but they accept it because that's just what you see in a movie.
My experience with E.T. was the opposite. I saw it as a kid and probably expected to see lightsabers so I didn't really care for it but seeing it as an adult (starting with DVD), I absolutely fell in love with it. I've grown soft in my old age. :)