(For an explanation of this, read the Introduction.  Other posts in this series can be found here.)

Movies We Still Care About

• Aliens
• Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
• Highlander
• Little Shop of Horrors
• Stand By Me
• Top Gun

Other Notable Movies

• Back to School
• Big Trouble in Little China
• Crocodile Dundee
• The Fly
• Labyrinth
• Star Trek IV
• Three Amigos
• Transformers: The Movie

Best Picture Nominees:

• Platoon (Winner)
• Children of a Lesser God
• Hannah and Her Sisters
• The Mission
• A Room With a View

Top Grossing Films (US)

1. Top Gun
2. Crocodile Dundee
3. Platoon
4. The Karate Kid Part II
5. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
6. Back to School
7. Aliens
8. The Golden Child
9. Ruthless People
10. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Rotten Tomatoes Top Movies

1. Aliens (98%)
2. Hannah and Her Sisters (93%)
3. The Fly (91%)
4. Stand By Me (91%)
5. Little Shop of Horrors (90%)

Movies We Still Care About

Aliens

This is one of the best intense action movies of all time.  I think what’s really interesting about this is that it’s a sequel to one of the best horror movies of all time.  I can’t think of another example of a sequel to an excellent movie that completely changed genres, and ended up even better than the original.  (The closest would be the mindless action film Rambo: First Blood Part II following the psychological drama First Blood.  But neither of those are in the same league as Alien or Aliens.)

Aliens was the first time James Cameron was given a big budget to play with, and he showed what he can do with it.

It also has one of my all-time favorite one-liners:

And one of my favorite speeches.  This is a great thing to watch/listen to when you want to get pumped up. (As long as you ignore that Hudson later turns into a sniveling coward.)

And one of the best openings to an action scene:

 

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

This movie continues to resonate with audiences today because it perfectly captures the wish-fulfillment fantasy of absolute freedom.  Ferris is able to do whatever he wants with complete liberty and no consequences.  For both teenagers and adults, when we are at our most libertine we wish we could be Ferris Bueller.

The sad reality is that we spend far too much our lives trapped in a humdrum Ben Stein world:

And whenever we are in a situation like that, we wish we could instead twist and shout:

A few side-notes:  I was on Win Ben Stein’s Money in 2001.  It really annoyed me that one of the bonus round questions was about the Hawley-Smoot tariff.  I got it right, as did Ben Stein, but it didn’t seem fair to ask him a question that was more or less quoting one of his most famous lines.

Next side note: In the original script, Ferris talked about how he used to have a depressed friend who he tried to help, but failed.  The kid ended up dropping out of school and becoming a druggie.  This was Charlie Sheen’s character, who meets Jeannie at the police station.  It explains why Ferris was so eager to help break Cameron out of his depression.

And then there’s a fan theory saying that Ferris didn’t exist at all, and was just a figment of Cameron’s imagination.  Which makes the movie a whole lot more depressing if you buy into it.

Highlander

This isn’t a great movie and it doesn’t really hold up.  But the idea of highlanders has entered our culture, as has the phrase “There can be only one.”

And yes, I know that technically Highlander refers specifically to Connor MacLeod (and Duncan MacLeod from the TV show), who were from the Highlands of Scotland, and not to immortals in general.  But much like how Frankenstein is the scientist and not the monster, the incorrect terminology has made its way into our popular lexicon.

Other Notable Films

Back to School

This is a movie that a lot of people have forgotten about.  But it’s worth revisiting, sheerly for the comedic brilliance of both Rodney Dangerfield and Sam Kinison:

 

Big Trouble in Little China

This has more or less fallen to cult status.  It has its hard-core fans. (Including my former roommate, who runs the biggest BTiLC fan site on the internet, and will be happy to sell you a variety of t-shirts.) But most people have forgotten about it.  Which is a shame, as it’s a really fun comedic adventure of the sort you rarely see these days.  It’s certainly worth another look.

Crocodile Dundee

This doesn’t really hold up, but we all remember this scene:

I tried to find the Simpsons scene spoofing that, but my google-fu failed me.  So instead, here’s two random dudes reenacting the Simpsons scene spoofing Crocodile Dundee:

 

The Fly

A weird creepy cult horror movie that is still beloved by fans of weird creepy cult horror movies.

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Do you disagree with any of these choices, or think that I missed something?  Leave a comment below.