31 Movies Fit For a Ghoulish October 31st

This may be a tad late, but the spirit of the day is really with me. These are some of the movies that I think really best exemplify the essence of Halloween. They frighten, they horrify, and they even make us laugh. If you want an extra little chill tonight to celebrate the season of terror, check one of these out. Just make sure you put the kids to bed first.
In alphabetical order...


1. 28 Days Later (Boyle, 2002)
A London hospital patient awakens surrounded by an eerie silence. It seems that most of London has been killed off by the undead. Will he survive?
What a fantastic idea to start a movie off with. Imagine waking up and finding that life has nearly been wiped out and you are among the few that remain. With such a great idea, the movie could fall and disappoint, but it doesn't. It's filled with thrills.

2. Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (Barton, 1948)
Can Abbott save Costello from the scariest gang of monsters the world has known?
Abbott and Costello were famous for their shtick. It's silly, sure, but it's funny. Here they are at their best (with maybe the exception of the sublime "Who's on First" routine), and we get to have a fun, old-fashioned monster movie to boot, complete with Dracula played by Bela Lugosi. There is tons of spooky, horror-movie shadows and creepy sets, and lots of laughs.

3. The Blair Witch Project (Myrick, 1999)
A group of bold young adventurers wander into a reputedly haunted forest with video cameras. They are never heard from again, but now we get to see the footage they recorded.
This is one of the scariest movies ever made. As far as I'm concerned, it raised the bar on scary. I was shaking for some time after watching this. Sometimes only a shot of something strong and someone to cuddle with all night long will help after seeing something like this.

4. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Wiene, 1920)
A future-telling somnambulist informs a man that he only has until dawn to live. Will his prediction come true?
The beauty of this movie is in its art direction. It spawned an entire genre of film known as German Expressionism. The sets are creepy and moody, over-the-top, but terrific, and the plot works perfectly in that environment.

5. Child's Play (Holland, 1988)
A bewitched doll, containing the soul of a murderer, comes into the possession of a little boy. As people all around the boy start dropping off, how long will it take people to figure out who the killer is, and if they can stop him?
This may be hokey, but it is still creepy and scary as heck. I remember seeing a Chucky-sized doll in my sister's basement once. I thought that thing was going to run out and kill me! I love that this movie takes something that is familiar and safe, like a child's toy, and makes it threatening. How can we ever be safe if we can't even trust our dolls?

6. The Exorcism of Emily Rose (Derrickson, 2005)
The Exorcist and a courtroom drama. Who knew law could be so scary?
This is loosely based on an actual possession case in 1970s Germany, but it is set in modern-day America. I would have loved it even more I think if it would have stayed truer to the real story, but I loved this all the same. It's chilling to watch, and the courtroom aspect adds an interesting plot framework. It all really works, and the atmosphere is just right.

7. Final Destination (Wong, 2000)
A group of high school students escape death's clutches one time when they decide not to board an ill-fated plane flight, but this reaper doesn't give up so easily.
This is surprisingly terrifying for a teen horror flick. Some scenes stayed in my brain for weeks afterward. A nice little thrill ride.

8. Ghostbusters (Reitman, 1984)
A hapless group of ghostcatchers find themselves in the middle of a sudden increase in paranormal activity.
You just can't go wrong with the ghostbusters. It never gets old. It's spooky fun for the whole family. Well, maybe not for the teeny tots. I do remember that library scene at the beginning freaking me out quite a bit when this first came out.

9. Halloween (Carpenter, 1978)
The original stalker/slasher teen thriller.
What's more appropriate than Halloween on Halloween? Just be wary of any trick or treaters this Halloween that come to your door wearing William Shatner masks. Especially if they are fully grown and walk slowly but still catch up to people running away from them. Just a little holiday safety tip for ya.

10. Hellraiser (Barker, 1987)
The corpse of a man is reanimated by drops of blood accidentally reaching his body. People must be sacrificed for his newly buidling body to be complete.
Full-on gore, and crazy S&M sexuality, not to mention a fun puzzle box and bunch of menacing dudes called cenobites. Their leader, Pinhead, is probably one of the most iconic of the modern movie monsters. Great stuff.

11. High Tension (Aja, 2003)
A couple of girls go to a French countryside house only to be followed home by a gruesome killer.
Upping the ante on movie gore. This one will definitely have you covering those little peepers. Or maybe I'm just sensitive.

12. Ju-on: The Grudge (Shimizu, 2003)
A cursed house brings horror to those that enter it.
The Japanese seem to really know some stuff about scare-making. This is some of the most unsettling stuff I have seen in recent years.

13. The Lost Boys (Schumacher, 1987)
A gang of teenage vampires rule Santa Clara, California. When a couple of brothers move in and one gets infected with the vampire's virus, little bro must face some real scary shit in order to save big bro.
Probably my favorite vampire movie ever. It's fun and campy, but not too campy to not still have some cool factor going on. The soundtrack is great, and Keifer Sutherland is fantastic as the vampire gang leader.

14. The Mothman Prophecies (Pellington, 2002)
Richard Gere is a reporter in search of answers after his wife dies. Can the secret lie in the mysterious appearance of a dark, winged figure?
What's scarier than a dark story that has a dose of truth in it? Apparently people really have had visions of this 'mothman' just before some really bad things have gone down. Oh gosh! WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN??

15. Night of the Living Dead (Romero, 1968)
The recently dead are coming back in droves, and they want only one thing: to consume the flesh of the living.
A seminal zombie flick that so many have imitated since. But who knew that horror flicks could also have a political message? This has one of the best portrayals of black men I have seen to date.

16. A Nightmare on Elm Street (Craven, 1984)
A man with knives for fingers attacks and kills teenagers in their dreams.
"Whatever you do, don't fall asleep!" This one is nice and creepy, but it's fully aware of it's camp factor and plays it up. This is possibly the first horror to really make use of comedy, and to have a witty killer. Doesn't his morbid humor just make him all the more frightening?

17. Nosferatu (Murnau, 1922)
The first vampire movie.
There's something about this movie that still works more than 80 years later. It's story, based on Dracula, is timeless, but it's much more than that. For me one of the best parts is the look of the vampire in this film. He's so much creepier than a Bela Lugosi kind of vampire with a widow's peak.

18. The Others (Amenabar, 2001)
Some strange people come on to work at a house that is shrouded in darkness and secrets.
One of the best horror movies of recent years. The atmosphere is outstanding, the plot is wonderfully structured, the twists and turns are unexpected and titillating, and the fright factor is way up there. And all this is achieved with very little gore. A must see.

19. Peeping Tom (Powell, 1960)
A stalker uses a camera to kill his victims.
What's more frightening? For a killer to be lurking in the shadows unseen, unsuspected? Or to see the world through the eyes of a terrifying killer, to know a person's fate before they do and to be able to do nothing to stop it? This movie takes voyeurism to another level.

20. Pet Semetary (Lambert, 1989)
Animals (and people) buried in the local pet cemetery come back to life, but they aren't the same.
This is a variation on the same old story of 'be careful what you wish for.' You may want your loved one back, but at what costs? This movie is almost as terrifying as the book. One of the best from Stephen King. Give me this over The Shining any day.

21. Poltergeist (Hooper, 1982)
A family unwittingly moves into a house built on an ancient burial ground. Trouble, in their case, is spelled with a capital P-O-L-T-E-R-G-E-I-S-T.
Ooooh so good. And poor little Carol Ann. She can't catch a break in this or subsequent Poltergeist movies. She is just more susceptible I guess. She is drawn over to the other side, and all hell nearly breaks lose while her family tries to bring her back.

22. Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960)
A lonely traveler stops for a night at Bates motel. It's one of those lovely little inns where you check in, but you don't check out.
A real masterpiece. Hitchcock was such a genius. Light and shadow play a huge role. The famous shower scene is still shocking. And Anthony Perkins inimitable performance here is so delicate and so perfect. Too bad he kept trying to imitate himself after this.

23. The Ring (Verbinski, 2002)
A journalist investigating unexplained deaths gets more answers than she'd ever want, and now that she knows, her own survival is at stake.
This movie is fairly groundbreaking. One of the things we love about seeing movies is our ability to see what we don't normally see, to be absorbed into a world yet still be removed from it and be able to experience it all from the safety of our seats. That is until the act of viewing can be just as dangerous. There is no safety in that cozy theater or living room armchair. No protective barrier between this world and that exists. Watch the forbidden tape and you too will die.

24. Saw (Wan, 2004)
A man wakes in a room finding himself in a situation of inescapable death. What is he willing to do to survive?
A unique idea, and a new level of disturbing killer. It wasn't the best movie ever, but it's still intriguing and makes you ask yourself some questions no one ever wants to have to answer. What would you do?

25. Scream (Craven, 1996)
A teenage girl is phone-stalked by a serial killer.
Bringing self-reference and irreverence to the horror flick. Okay, it's over-parodied and completely passe now, but this movie was really exciting when it came out. It single-handedly redefined and reinvigorated a genre. It also brought a new level of Hollywood gloss to horror film. This may be both good and bad, but money is certainly spent on fright flicks these days, and it's all thanks to Scream. That didn't all come from nothing. I think this movie will be considered one of the great classics of its time once it no longer has its current stigma.

26. Shaun of the Dead (Wright, 2004)
A British take on the zombie movie, complete with some of the best of Brit humor in years.
Probably one of my favorite movies in the last couple years. It has enough gore and sincerity to be taken seriously as a zombie movie, but its wit is even more biting than its scares. Terrific. I think I might "have a bit of a sit down" and watch some of those "bitey" zombies tonight actually.

27. The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan, 1999)
A whispering boy "sees dead people," and they just won't leave him alone, but his shrink may have an idea of how to help him.
Isn't it so sad when a movie is so imitated and spoofed that we have a hard time taking it seriously anymore? (see: The Matrix) Well, try to bring yourself back to before its 1999 release and watch it for its genius instead of its acquired camp.

28. The Stepford Wives/Children (1975, and 1987)
The town of Stepford has a little bitty secret: its husbands are secretly replacing their wives (or children) with more perfect robot versions.
Take your pick. The first (Wives) is a feminist story with a strong political message (FAR superior to the horrendous remake that recently came out), and the second (Children) scared the bejeebees out of me at a slumber party when I was a kid. The former is disturbing, the latter is more overtly frightening and disgusting. Both leave us with one question: What is wrong with men? (And when are we going to replace them -- actually they did a Husbands movie too, though I haven't seen that one.)

29. Stir of Echoes (Koepp, 1999)
A ghostly presence haunts a family in their new home. The husband nearly loses his mind and his family to find the answers that the ghost so desperately wants to communicate.
A surprisingly good little ghostie story. Good creep factor. I think I watch this one every time I pass it on TV.

30. Thriller (Landis, 1983)
Back when Michael Jackson was a cutie pie, he took his girl to see a horror flick. She was terrified by what she saw, but at least it was just a movie, or was it?
This elevated music videos to a whole new place. But rarely have any since come even close to matching the new height. A wonderful monster-movie musical fest of gore, music, dance, entertainment.

31. What Lies Beneath (Zemeckis, 2000)
A woman is haunted by the spirit of a murdered college girl. Will her husband believe her before the haunting consumes her?
A really thrilling ride. One of the most fun, jump-off-your-seat flicks in a while. And there is a wonderful Hitchcock-like aspect to it. It's smart, sexy, stylish, and is smothered in just the right amount of Hollywood. Love it.


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5-Star Movies: The finale!

Ta da! I have passed the 1500 mark on my Netflix ratings! I wonder if I will ever make the 2000 mark while a member of Netflix. Things to look forward to!

Are we ready for the rest of the 5-star list?


Moulin Rouge! (Luhrmann, 2001)
Satine is a turn-of-the-20th-century parisian showgirl. She doesn't think love is for her until dreamer, Christian, comes along.
Music and excess. Beautiful, bold excess. The colors alone are spectacular. First musical in a long time to incorporate contemporary music as well.

My Fair Lady (Cukor, 1964)
Pompous Henry Higgins thinks he can transform a gutter girl into a princess without any ramifications. "Just you wait 'enry 'iggins! Just you wait!"
Another great musical. Audrey Hepburn is one of most magical people to ever have been captured by celluloid. Too bad they overdubbed her voice on the songs. There is some authenticity lost there.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Coen, 2000)
In this take on Homer's Odyssey, three goofy, escaped cons are on a quest. They bumble and fumble along through some oddly mythical landscape.
Absolutely delightful. Wonderful, creative, and expressive use of color. The writing is terrific.

Pleasantville (Ross, 1998)
Two modern-day kids get sucked into a 50s TV show and begin to colorize the B&W world.
Also very expressive use of color. The film uses racism and integration as a metaphor for the coming of knowledge into a culture; how that can be met with resistence, and how it also spreads. Clever.

Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954)
A wheelchair-bound man begins to do a little neighbor-watching. His voyeurism becomes an obsession when he imagines that one neighbor has killed his wife. Thank goodness it is just imagination, or is it?
One of Hitch's best. To me this really talks about our (spectators) own voyeuristic obsession. Brilliant.

Run Lola Run (Tykwer, 1998)
A girl must find money for her boyfriend before he is killed by loan sharks. But she only has a limited amount of time. If she's going to save him, she's gotto book!
Another one that really plays with alternative structures. The story is hacked up and retold and retold, and it really works!

The Seventh Seal (Bergman, 1957)
Heavy swedish film that deals with questions of life and mortality. Replete with symbolic imagery
Deep and fantastic. How can you not love a film that has its lead playing chess with Death himself. (Yes this is the basis of the Death character in Bill & Ted.)

Shakespeare in Love (Madden, 1998)
An ironic look at what Shakespeare's life might have been like. (Especially if all of his plays were actually extrapolated from his real life.)
I am a Shakespeare nerd. Every play I have ever read of his is referenced in this movie. And yet it remains an accessible and fun film.

The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan, 1999)
A psychiatrist tries to help a child who has a terrifying secret: (whisper) he sees dead people!
OK it's all cliché now, but it blew our minds when it first came out. The ultimate king of cop-out twist endings, but one that is really good.

Tarnation (Caouette, 2003)
A memoir told through the memorabilia of one man's life (video, answering machine messages, photos.)
One of the very most creative and intensely honest films ever made. Absolutely, painfully astonishing.

Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
An obsessed man sees a woman's death. Later, he can't shake his memories of her.
Without a doubt this is Hitch at his absolute, most nuanced finest. If you don't love this movie, you're nuts.

Whale Rider (Caro, 2002)
A girl struggles for acceptance in an extremely patriarchal society.
I was avoiding this one for a long time because I was afraid it was going to be an independent Free Willy. I am glad someone finally made me see it, because it was so astonishing I almost gave up any dreams of making a film myself. (Why bother, someone has already achieved perfection!)

There ya go!
That's my list for now. I am sure I will have more additions when I hit the 2000 mark.

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5-Star Movies, Part 2

Just because I have a degree in film doesn't mean I am, by necessity, a film snob. In fact, I can think a movie is one of the smartest films I have ever seen, but unless it was also very entertaining, it won't make this list. One of the most tiring things for me in film school was all the pretentious students who talked about their favorite films as being the kind of stuff we were force-fed in class. Ok I liked some of that stuff a lot too, but don't try to fool me. I know you fell in love with film because you adore the movies churned out by the big machine.

Ugh. You know how annoying it is when someone asks you, "what's your favorite...?" Well in the critical film world it is worse. Such a loaded question when they ask who your favorite director is, what your favorite film is, etc.. When they hear the answer, they have everything they need to sum you up and either decide you are cool enough to be in their elite circle, or are pathetically uneducated and lacking the fine, sophisticated palate that they themselves, of course, possess.

Unlike any other artform, film has the biggest divide between popular taste and "high" art. (The closest is probably music.) And that's probably because there is just so much of the medium that is made explicitly for popular tastes. But just because it is "low-brow," doesn't mean it always lacks quality. But there is such a stigma against us pop-movie watchers, that film students, critics, and art-house crowds think we have the intellect and taste of a goldfish. When the truth is more likely that these elitists just like the movies they are supposed to like. Sounds kind of sheep-like, huh?

Guess what? I like movies! Not just film (and all that that connotes,) but also good, ole, snuggle-on-your-sofa-in-your-PJs, stuff-yourself-with-popcorn-n-coke kind of movies. That's not to say that those kind of movies can't be thought of critically. They absolutely can. And that's one of my favorite pastimes.

And now that I have sufficiently defended my right to like low-brow movies, here is the second installment of my list which, coincidentally, contains mostly low-brow movies this time.


Finding Neverland (Forster, 2004)
Depp as the famed author of Peter Pan. A fantastical vision of how he created the story.
The acting was spot on, the writing imaginitive. Wonderful story. But the best for me was the integration of fantasy and reality.

From Russia With Love (Young, 1963)
Second installment in the bond series.
This was when they figured out how to make Bond sooo Bond, but before Bond became a formula. My favorite Bond flick. Connery shows us that great action heros are more about wit and ingenuity than brawn, and can always wriggle out of inescapable death!

Four Weddings and a Funeral (Newall, 1994)
Hugh Grant is smitten with Andie MacDowell when he spots her at a wedding. Their relationship changes as they keep bumping into each other at further weddings (and one funeral.)
I tire of Hugh in anything but Bridget Jones and this movie. Here he is perfect. Ok, this movie doesn't have the greatest depth, but as an entertaining comedy, it's flawless. It has a lot of heart, and using the weddings/funeral as a structural device works really well.

The Full Monty (Cattaneo, 1997)
A British comedy about some out-of-work men and their kooky plan to make money that involves taking their "kit" off for women.
A little more raw than FW&aF. And perhaps even a little funnier. These guys aren't smooth, they aren't dancers, they aren't conventionally attractive, and they don't have good bodies, but they will really give it their all to make sure they put on a real show for the ladies.

Gigi (Minelli, 1958)
Gigi is coming of age as a trained courtesan in the turn of the 20th century. But she has ideas of her own.
Wonderful songs, amazing sets, splendid costumes. Leslie Caron is charming, Louis Jourdan is gorgeous, and Maurice Chevalier sparkles.

Grease (Kleiser, 1978)
Danny & Sandy come from two different worlds. Can they ever work it out? Maybe in song and dance they can.
You might criticize this for not being so cerebral. Lighten up! Besides, there was some wit involved in creating this part-nostalgic, part-satirical story and especially the wonderfully irreverent songs.

Jurassic Park (Spielberg, 1993)
Blind with ambition, a wealthy man creates an island sanctuary and hires scientists to fill it with dinosaurs!
Some of Spielberg's finest work. Still probably the best use of CGI I have seen. Great plot structure, great mood, good use of suspense. I just wish he had cast different kids. Ah well.

Life is Beautiful (Benigni, 1997)
A story of romantic and paternal love in the Holocaust.
Some movies are so poignant and honest that they touch you deep in your soul. This is one of those movies.

Mary Poppins (Stevenson, 1964)
A nanny with some special skills gains employment with a banker and his family (concidentally named "Banks".) She gives them the little extra TLC they need to deal with Pappa Banks's workaholism and neglect.
If it wasn't for the fact that I object to some of this movie from a feminist standpoint, it would be virtually flawless. (Well, Van Dyke left some things to be desired, but I did say virtually flawless.) In fact for this reason alone I have considered reducing the score I gave it. But despite myself, I can't help that I completely love this movie. I still don't know if I will show it to my kids if I ever have any. (Yes my objections are that strong.)

The Matrix (Wachowski, 1999)
Is life what we really think it is? Or are we secretly slaves to a big machine? The real question is: would you take the red pill or the blue pill?
As Keanu would say, "woooaah!" This movie is mind-blowing. Revolutionary. I saw it three times its first week of release.

Meet the Parents (Roach, 2000)
Poor Ben Stiller just can't seem to do anything right and win the approval of his future in-laws.
I never tire of watching this one. The comedy never gets tired, even if its delivery is sometimes a little over-the-top.

Memento (Nolan, 2000)
Can you imagine how confusing would life be if you had no short-term memory? Then add figuring out a mystery to your problems.
This movie is brilliant beyond words. (But let me waste a few anyway!) Absolutely genius structure. How can we work backwords and still get a cohesive picture? But we can! One of the best movies (for its entertainment value and "film" value) I have ever seen.

Monsoon Wedding (Nair, 2001)
Love and marriage, Indian-style.
Accessible movie, that appears as fluff on the surface, but is secretly filled with depth and even a little edge. I love how this movie deals with class issues, and especially women. Nair knows how to portray women as women without subjecting them to the kind of reductionism or villification that occurs in so many movies.


Well, that's part 2... tune in tomorrow for the rest of the list!
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A List of 5-Star Movies - Part 1

I am nearly at 1500 rated films on Netflix!

Yep! That's right, I have seen a lot of movies and spent way too much time rating them on Netflix. My current number of ratings is 1496. I think I should have a big party when I hit 1500, which will probably be later this week. Thing is, they aren't all movies. Some of them are music videos, short films, or even TV shows, and there are even probably some duplicate ratings (since they have separate listings when new releases of old movies come out.) But on the other hand, the number is also skewed because Netflix doesn't offer all the movies I have seen. So who knows how many I have actually seen. I wish I could know. That would be so cool. Anyway, as a celebration for this milestone I am about to reach, I thought I would give you a list of all the movies I rated 5 stars. Among my Netflix friends, those that can see the ratings I give, I am a notoriously stingy rater. I give 2 stars a LOT -- which in Netflix world equates to "didn't like it," though I have liked some of the movies I have 2-starred. You see, to me, to give 3 stars is to say, "Yep, this movie was quite good, and I didn't have problems with it." So if I enjoyed a movie, but found it problematic, I give it 2 stars. If I really enjoyed a movie but found it very problematic I might give it 3 stars. But also, style counts for me. So if I hated a movie, but it had some really great images, or very unusual style, I will give it 2 stars. So as you can imagine, the 5-star list is pretty selective.

Enough of the crap, huh? Shall we? Here they are in alphabetical order...

Adaptation (Jonze, 2002)
Screenwriter struggles to adapt a book. Decides to include himself in the plot as author of original book included herself in her book. Wait, am I talking about the screenwriter in the movie, or the one who wrote the movie?
Brilliant! Still the best work from screenwriting genius, Charlie Kaufman.

Aladdin (Clements, 1992)
Street Urchin -- what exactly is a street urchin anyway -- Aladdin, moves beyond his class with the help of a spastic genie. (How can a Robin-Williams-played genie be anything but spastic?)
My favorite animated Disney movie. Wonderful songs and very fun. To me, they went way downhill from here when they went from this to Lion King. But that's just me.

Amelie (Jeunet, 2001)
Even the adorably weird find real love.
Amelie's character is just so charming. You can't help but love her to bits. This film is as wonderfully quirky as its title character.

Baadasssss! (Van Peebles, 2003)
Mario Van Peebles's beautiful film about the making of his father's "opus," Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song.
This was just beautifully made. I was so compelled to watch the original film so lovingly described here. (Too bad I hated that one so much, huh?) Mario has crazy talent.

Babette's Feast (Axel, 1987)
Lovely Danish film about a French woman who finds asylum in a remote Danish home. After years of serving two pious women, she has only one wish.
Delicious! I was a bit impatient with the pace at first, but by the end I felt I had been wrapped in a the softest and warmest of blankets. Wonderful story.

Being John Malkovich (Jonze, 1999)
The Jonze-Kaufman team brilliantly creates a strange world in which office workers find a portal into the brain of John Malkovich.
This is when everyone first saw the brilliance of a screenwriter named Charlie Kaufman. (And also the beginning of my love affair with the man's work.) So freakin' weird and wonderful! Plus, John Malkovich is my favorite actor!

Bridget Jones's Diary (Maguire, 2001)
An ordinary, modern woman walking her hilariously clumsy walk through life and love.
Very funny. The fight scene in this movie is the best ever. I also love how honest this movie is about the "singleton" experience.

Chicago (Marshall, 2002)
A musical satire of the 1920s "Jazz Killings."
How astonishing to have such a cinematic film come from a former theater director and first-time film director! The music is fantastic, the images outstanding, the dancing is wonderful, the story is fun. This movie is terrific!

Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
The mystery of a wealthy man's life unfolds after his death.
I know, I am totally predictable. But this movie deserves to be on everybody's best-movies list. Watch it, you'll see. Look at Welles's use of space. The guy was a film god!

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Lee, 2000)
This one has so much: warriors skilled in an ancient art, love, female empowerment, hidden identities, and escape.
Never have the martial arts looked so much like art. It was like watching a beautiful dream.

Dangerous Liaisons (Frears, 1988)
Playing deadly games with people's lives and loves.
My favorite John Malkovich performance. Glenn Close also at her devilish best. Intrigue, lust, revenge, betrayal. Fantastic!

Dark City (Proyas, 1998)
Another what-is-really-my-reality film, pre-Matrix.
I just love movies that challenge your perceptions of reality. And this combination of a film-noir murder-mystery with way-out-there sci-fi really works for me.

The Emperor's New Groove (Dindal, 2000)
Entertaining Disney flick about a very spoiled Emperor and his learned lesson.
David Spade was made to play the emperor. And Seinfeld's Patrick Warburton is so great as Kronk! I love how he communes with the squirrels. "Squeek-Squeeker Squeeky Squeek." He even knows how to conjugate squirrel verbs!

Well, there is too many for one post. Tune in again next time to read part 2 of my list. And leave me a comment with some of your 5-star movies!

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80s Series - Top 20 Teen Movies

If you didn't notice the teen-movie craze in the 80s, you just weren't paying attention to the world around you. You probably also missed the shoulder pads and hair bands. No other movie trend took hold in the 80s like the teen movie. In the "me" decade, teens couldn't have fit in better with the idealogy of the time, so catering to them in movies just made sense.

Criteria for this list:
1. The movie had to have been released in the 80s.
2. I have to have seen it & thought it memorable.
3. It had to be focused on high-school or college age kids.

Bitchin! Now, let's get started...


20. For Keeps (Avildsen, 1988)
Molly Ringwald was queen of 80s teen flicks. This is one of her lesser-known roles as half of a crazy-in-love pair of teens who decide to try to make it on their own when she becomes pregnant. Whooops! The couple is so hopelessly cute and twitterpated, you can't help but pull for them. This movie is great fare for a lazy, pre-menstrual afternoon.

19. Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Metter, 1985)
Very young Helen Hunt & Sarah Jessica Parker before they became 'it' actresses of the 90s and 00s. Here they just boogie to their own beat in this wannabe Footloose. Cute stuff. Nice and fluffy. Check out how young Shannon Doherty is!

18. A Nightmare on Elm Street (Craven, 1984)
How scary to be a teen. They are always the ones to bite it in horror movies. Why is that? Because horror movies have historically been morality pics aimed at reckless teens, and because if you want teens to pay to make out in the back of your theater, you have to give them a movie that is relevant to them. I just like this series because, unlike the other horror flicks that try to be truly dark and frightening, this one has a serious sense of humor. It's its own parody!

17. Some Kind of Wonderful (Deutch, 1987)
Ahhh... to be young and in love. Nice, isn't it? Though not without complications. I mean, Mary Stuart Masterson loves good buddy Eric Stolz, Eric Stoltz thinks he loves Lea Thompson, but Lea Thompson is peed-on territory of hunky-rich-jerk, Craig Sheffer. Who will get their desired love? So sweet, surprisingly complex, and I love that the girl doesn't get the guy by totally changing her dress & personality.

16. Mask (Bogdanovich, 1985)
Cutie Eric Stolz again! Only sacrificing huge cuteness for deep emotions. He wants what every teenager wants: love, acceptance. Only now he has massive deformities in his way. Yet he remains utterly charming in this utterly endearing movie.

15. Once Bitten (Storm, 1985)
Jim Carrey in an early role as a regular teen who wants to suck neck - with his fangs! Yet another transformation film in the vein of Teen Wolf. Jim Carrey is fantastic. Not over-the-top as in later films, he is still funny, yet attractive and approachable! Who wouldn't want a little nibble on their necks from this guy, I ask you?

14. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (Herek, 1989)
Guess what? Keanu Reeves's droning, dopey, wooahh-dude voice made sense once! We didn't know it would be all he was capable of when this movie came out. We just thought he fit the roll perfectly. He was excellent! (air guitar riff) And the movie was anything but bogus. Party on dudes!

13. War Games (Badham, 1983)
You know, I have only seen this once, and don't remember it all that well, but it is so beloved and remembered by so many others, I had to include it. I did think it was cute and totally fun that a couple of kids could inadvertently start WWIII! Well, almost. Matthew Broderick is so young! He looks so young today that I forget how young he looked when he was really young, which is really young! At his best (or second best) here.

12. Sixteen Candles (Hughes, 1984)
John Hughes, Teen-Queen Molly, requiting unrequited love... what more do you need from a teen-flick? Nada! I love the daily embarrassment of life that is captured by Hughes & Ringwald. It rings true, doesn't it? When you are a teen, everything is embarrassing, and then you are hit with just mortifying moments as well. Though thankfully not quite this mortifying -- at least not most of the time:

Grandma Helen: Oh Sam, let me take a look at you. Fred, she's gotten her boobies.
Grandpa Fred: I better get my magnifying glass. Ha Ha Ha.
Grandma Helen: Oh, and they are so PERKY.
[reaches to cup them]
Samantha: I can't believe my grandmother actually felt me up.

11. Pretty In Pink (Deutch, 1986)
Molly, Molly, Bo-bolly, Banana-Fanna-Fo-olly, Me My Mo-Olly, Molly! Molly, Molly, Bo-bolly, Banana-Fanna-Fo-olly, Me My Mo-Olly, Molly! Molly, Molly, Bo-bolly, Banana-Fanna-Fo-olly, Me My Mo-Olly, Molly!

10. Real Genius (Coolidge, 1985
Val Kilmer was yummilicious and hysterical. I remember thinking that I was watching the naughtiest thing because they joked about penises. Ah youth. The finale is truly inspired: vengeance by giant popcorn ball to the music of Tears for Fears (My fave T4F song no less - "Everybody Wants to Rule the World.") I never tired of watching this one. Oh I am feeling nostalgic. Let's watch it again!

9. Can't Buy Me Love (Rash, 1987
Fantastic, even if formulaic. Guy crosses the dork-cool divide to become hot guy on campus, only to find the cruel truth of his own character: he willingly sacrifices the ones he loves to achieve his goal. But of course, we get the ultimate happy ending when he sees the error of his ways. Ugh. I had such a crush on Patrick Dempsey. Key scene: when everyone at the school dance does the African Anteater Ritual Dance (or whatever it was) just because they see the cool guy do it. Can you say baa?

8. Footloose (Ross, 1984)
Always come back to this one. It's just such a celebratory movie. Ends on such a high, such a success for those rascally kids. And Kevin Bacon was coo-ool.

Chuck: I thought only pansies wore neckties.
Ren: See that? I thought only assholes used the word "pansy".

7. Mystic Pizza (Petrie, 1988)
A teen movie for the thinking chick. Goes beyond the usual teen issues and deeper into social issues of race, class, sibling issues, turbulent relationships, and babysitters boinking the dad! OK, so they may have been slightly older teens, but it still qualifies - check my criteria if you don't believe me. Julia is great as the town hottie, Annabeth Gish & Lili Taylor make wonderfully complicated side-kicks with kicks of their own, and what the heck was in that pizza? I still love catching this one on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It goes perfectly with PJs and ice cream.

6. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Hughes, 1986)
Undeniable classic. Nuff said?

Economics Teacher-- brilliantly played by Ben Stein with his signature droning monotone: In 1930, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, in an effort to alleviate the effects of the... Anyone? Anyone?... the Great Depression, passed the... Anyone? Anyone? The tariff bill? The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act? Which, anyone? Raised or lowered?... raised tariffs, in an effort to collect more revenue for the federal government. Did it work? Anyone? Anyone know the effects?...

5. Running on Empty (Lumet, 1988)
We thought we had it tough coming of age, didn't we? Well, unlike River, we didn't come of age in a crook family constantly on the lam. Ok, only a film nerd such as myself would put a Lumet movie high up on a teen-flick list. But that's me, Film Nerd Numero Uno! This was just such a great story! And yes, my teen hormones compelled me to love any movie starring a cutie in the ranks of River.

4. Say Anything (Crowe, 1989)
One of the biggest, most moving, and most memorable moments in movie history: John Cusack doing the I-love-you-dammit serenade, 80s-style; with a boom-box held aloft to enchant his lady love. So memorable in fact, that the memory has virtually wiped out any memory I have of the rest of the movie. Except maybe for this...

Lloyd Dobler: I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that.

3. The Lost Boys (Schumacher, 1987)
I was kind of a morbid teen. Thanks in part to Anne Rice, I had a minor obsession with the, uh, dark side. My college roommate told me she thought I was a total freak when she walked into our dormroom one day and found me in pitch black with candles burning, watching a vampire movie. "I'm feeling dark," I think I told her. ooooooooooooook. As a connoisseur of the genre, I can say that The Lost Boys is actually one of the better vampire movies ever made. It was a teen transformation movie like Teen Wolf or Once Bitten but more, um, biting, ha! The soundtrack was amazing. It managed to put the famous Coreys to good use as light-hearted foils to the darkness of Jason Patric's experience. (who was, by the way, gorgeous.) Man! I need to get a copy of this.

2. Heathers (Lehmann, 1989)
Everyone hates those annoying snots who think they rule the school. For some people that hate can lead to death. In our 80s innocence, we thought that homicidal desire brought to fruition worked as a comedy, albeit a dark one. Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, the young generation of Hollywood that rose to power in the 90s, star in this very smart film. Also visible is a pre-90210 Shannon Doherty. If you haven't seen this one, you missed the end of the 80s altogether. Go home and fill in the gap! That's an order!

1. The Breakfast Club (Hughes, 1985)
Was there ever any doubt as to what would hold the number one position? To make your own ultimate-success 80s teen flick take three parts John Hughes (writer-director-co-producer), one part Molly Ringwald, put in confined high-school setting, stir in additional brat packers, season with mysterious wrongs all have committed, add breaking the boundaries of their roles (the jock, the nerd, etc.) to taste, and voila! A wonderful creation; just enough fluff, just enough meat, just enough bite. Genius! This movie is undeniably the best teen movie of the 80s and possibly the best ever. I have watched it countless times. It is so beloved it has spawned homages (An episode of Dawson's Creek), spoofs (Not Another Teen Movie), and undoubtedly tons of rip offs (though I can't think of any specifically right now.) This movie is part of the best that the 80s had to offer.


And the runners up are...
21. Better Off Dead - John Cusack wise cracks his way through another movie...
22. One Crazy Summer - and another.
23. Friday the 13th - Kids camp in the woods hoping for some al fresco nookie, and get some al fresco murder instead. One, by one, by one.
24. Hiding Out - Jon Cryer, wanted by the mob, must hide out in, horrors, high school -- à la Never Been Kissed. Best part - his alias, Maxwell Houser (was looking at a coffee can, when he came up with it.)
25. Karate Kid - The kid that crane-kicked his way into our hearts.
26. The Outsiders - The movie that gave us young Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Esteves, and Diane Lane, before they were big. (oh and don't forget Ralph Macchio and C. Thomas Howell.)
27. Risky Business/All the right Moves - Tom Cruise teen flicks. Football star, Lea Thompson, Rebecca De Mornay, dancing in underwear... Now, if I could only remember which was which.

See you next time!

P.S. I hope everyone had an excellent Secularmas!

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80s Series - Top 20 Nostalgia Movies

So I had the awesomest birthday dinner the other night with friends. Most of us being from the generation that had its childhood in the embarrassingly 80s-ish 80s, we ended up talking a lot about the shows and movies we grew up on. Afterwards, we headed into our fabulous home theater to watch some really great movie. Something obscure, classic, interesting, exciting. We were going to have a vote. I had Dr. Strangelove and Dial M for Murder, one friend brought Office Space and Refer Madness, one friend brought The Interpreter and another brought 13 Conversations About One Thing. So many great flicks to choose from! While we were waiting on someone, the hubby popped in Ghostbusters to continue the boogie down memory lane we had been doing. By the time everyone was seated and ready, everyone was so thoroughly full of ectoplasmic nostalgia that we ended up watching all of Ghostbusters instead of any of the other amazing options. Afterwards we tried to list all of the great 80s movies we could remember. And there are now requests for an 80s series to be played next year at the Hurley-David Cineplex. Well, we'll see about that one, but I thought I would do an 80s series on the blog.

Each post, I will put a list of top 20 80s movies for a particular category. This post: Nostalgia movies. Come on! Put on your best Madonna, MJ, or Prince shirt, bring the lightsaber, hop in my DeLorean, and let's ride our bikes past the moon!


Criteria for choosing movies for this list:
1. It must have been released in the 80s.
2. I must have seen this movie in the 80s.
3. Watching or thinking about this movie must take me back to the era. Either by being very 80s in feel, or by reminding me of my experience of the 80s.


You will notice that there are some major 80s movies that don't appear on the list. That is because of one or more of the following reasons:
1. The movie didn't do anything for me.
2. I forgot about it.
3. I didn't see it until later (or never at all).
4. I had to narrow down a list of 260 80s movies that I could remember seeing, so, it doesn't remind me of the 80s as much as these ones do.

By the way, I may put movies on more than one list. Because, well... because I can. Now, let's get on with it...

20. Short Circuit (Badham, 1986)
How could you not get the warm and fuzzies from watching a movie about a robotic WMD that acquires life through a freak accident, escapes the weapons facility, and is subsequently hunted by the authorities? Robot "Number 5" (Johnny 5 to his buddies) is just a misunderstood infant, having to run when he only just learned to walk. He only wants to be allowed to live and maybe make some friends along the way. Oh yeah, and he has a voracious appetite for "input, input, need more input!" This one killed me as a kid. All the corny one-liners, the Indian guy with the awesomely immitatable accent, the social commentary. (whuh?) Thanks to this movie, I was able to sling new verbal arrows at my fellow classmates, who had no idea what hit them when I shouted, "Hey Laser Lips! Your mama was a snowblower!" Hey, did anyone else notice how much this robot looks suspiciously like E.T. without his skin? Did they use the same creature shop for both movies? Something to think about.

19. Top Gun (Scott, 1986)
TC at his best. Wise cracks, sideways smirks, sexy glances, goofy serenades, bold flirtation, and rockin, riding-off-into-the-sunset-on-his-motorcycle shots. What could be better for a pubescent girl who had a poster of Tom Cruise that covered half her ceiling? This movie not only taught me the importance of being a good wingman, but I also learned some new variations on the high five that were previously unseen in my corner of England. I also learned to look at the guys on our military base a little differently - especially the uniformed ones. "I feel the need, the need for speed!" Woo!

18. Flash Gordon (Hodges, 1980)
A great campy sci-fi flick replete with over-the-top costumes, ridiculous scenery, and absurd dialog. "Flash! Flash! I love you, but we only have 14 hours to save the Earth!" Fantastic, B-movie quality stuff. I loved it and it's bad effects, it's winged warriors, it's fake-Asian, heavy-eye-liner wearing, villainous ruler, and it's toe-headed, sparkle-eyed, all-American hero. Oh! And the theme song is one of Queen's all-time best. "Flash! Ah-ahhhhh... Savior of the universe!"

17. Adventures in Babysitting (Columbus, 1987)
That other great Elisabeth with an 's' as the reluctant hero on a mythological journey straight out of Joseph Campbell's research. The only catch this time, is that the hero has a couple of brats in tow, and the journey is a trek through a treacherous sky-scraper jungle. This movie rocks.

16. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981)
Our introduction to Dr. Jones, Indiana Jones - the guy we came to know and love for two (and apparently soon three) further movies. He is my favorite kind of hero. He's sarcastic, smooth, calm (unless surrounded by snakes), and gorgeous. He knows the worth of a leather fedora (which he values about as much as his hand), he knows how to outrun a massive ball of stone, escape any danger, outsmart any villain, all with charm and wit. He's like a scruffy, American, more visceral Bond. (with a whip!)

15. Rocky III (Stallone, 1982)
Same Rocky, with an added dose of camp thanks to Mr. T. "I pity the fool!" Can I just say that I loved him? Him and his weird mohawk-sportin, gold-chain-wearing, tough-talkin self? Loved him here, loved him on the A-team. Remember how he was tough, badass, but also made you want to hug him and his pouty self? Or was that just me? I think the world could do with a little Mr. T right now. Too many action stars are too serious anymore.

14. ¡Three Amigos! (Landis, 1986)
I was blissfully ignorant to the negative, social side-affects that movies like this could have for latins - or other races. (As you can see by my unaffected love for the other movies on this list.) If I saw this movie for the first time now, I am sure I would wax academic about the reduction of Mexicans to a people who's only means of self-preservation lies in utilizing their only skills (sewing - an utterly domestic ability) and who can only be saved with the help white men, no matter how clueless those white men are. In fact, from this movie we see that Mexicans are either simple, sewing villagers, or gun-toting, bullet-belt-wearing, pistol-shooting, "arriba"-and-"andale" screaming maniacs. (Or no, wait, that last one was Speedy Gonzalez.) But let's forget all that and focus on the fond memories we have of the fun of this movie. And hey! Thanks to this movie, I learned the meaning of the word "plethora."

-"Would you say I had a plethora of piñatas?"
-"Oh yes, El Guapo. You have a plethora."
-"Jefe, what is a plethora?"
-"Why, El Guapo?"
-"Well, you just told me that I had a plethora, and I would just like to know if you know what it means to have a plethora. I would not like to think that someone would tell someone else he has a plethora, and then find out that that person has no idea what it means to have a plethora."

13. Xanadu (Greenwald, 1980)
Hey, I love campy movies, I love musicals, I love guilty pleasures. And this movie is probably at the top of my all-time greatest guilty pleasure movies list. First of all, how great is Gene Kelly in this movie? And how awesomely tacky is it to mix greek goddesses with roller-skating? This movie screams 80s for me, and as a rule I always watch it if it comes on TV. Funny though, not sure I have seen it on TV once since I moved to the States. Hmmm.... Brits must have a better sense for camp. (Or am I hopelessly lacking in taste like the Brits? I think I will go with Option A please. Brits share my awesome appreciation of camp aesthetics)

12. Tron (Lisberger, 1982)
I miss movies that are as unabashedly stylized and hokey as this one. When I was a kid, I think this was the coolest movie I had ever seen. I mean, how freakin great was it when they were racing on those motorbike things, drawing out neon patterns behind them? This is really a precursor to The Matrix, and though I absolutely love The Matrix (the first one), I think Tron was just sooooooooo much more fun.

11. The Never Ending Story (Petersen, 1984)
Ok, so you may have noticed by now that, by and large, my nostalgia movies from the 80s are all kid/family flicks. Well, yeah! I was a kid! And just like today, I loooooooooved movies. This was probably one of my absolute favorites. It taught me the ability of movies to give you real escape, and how far imagination could take you. How beautiful is that? And what in all the 80s was cooler than that big, friendly, flying dog-dragon? Hmmm... maybe I should have put this movie higher up on my list.

10. Big (Marshall, 1988)
#10! Halfway there!
Adulthood through the eyes of a child in the late 80s. I love the innocence in Tom Hanks's eyes. But was I the only one who was creeped out that the 13 year old (allbeit in the body of a 30 year old) had a sexual relationship with that woman? At least that is better than the reverse in Birth. That movie is so creepy in a bad way. But Big not only mad me laugh and gave me an awesome musical number (the duet on the oversized keyboard, remember?), but also gave me a little glimpse of the American childhood culture that I was missing in Europe.

9. Gremlins (Dante, 1984)
This movie did the impossible: it functioned as both a B-horror flick and a family film. Genius! The critters are both evil and scary AND cute and cuddly (and totally marketable) thanks to a plot mechanism that allows them to go from nice to naughty. But not Gizmo of course. We love him, so he can never go over to the, ahem, other side. He has to stay our furry little friend who shrieks "Bright light! Bright light!"

8. Back to the Future (Zemeckis, 1985)
Must be one of my all-time favorite 80s movies. We watch it every time it comes on TV even though we own the trilogy DVD set. It has everything - Michael J. Fox, the brilliant Christopher Lloyd in what is quite possibly his best performance, contemporary music & buyable theme song, skateboarding tricks, a new way of working through the Oedipus Complex, and a healthy dose of diegetic (contained in the world of the movie) nostalgia. And it's chock full of 80s references (especially by comparison with the 50s). The only reason this movie isn't higher up the list is because I have seen it so many times since the 80s that it doesn't really remind me much of the 80s anymore so much as just the experience of a great adventure. (But on the other hand, I couldn't leave it out altogether, could I? It had to be on the list!)

7. E.T. (Spielberg, 1982)
Is this not one of the greatest movies of all time? Don't we all just love that Reese's Pieces eating, home-phoning little alien? And how cute was Drew Barrymore? She says in interviews now that, while filming E.T., she would speak to the alien between takes, because she believed he was real. How cute is that? I think a lot of us in the audience (and yes, I was a little kid) believed he was real too. And don't lie! You got choked up at the end too, didn't you?

6. Ghostbusters (Reitman, 1984)
I always played the rockin theme-song on any jukebox I saw. I had the VHS box-set of both the movies. I bought the ectoplasm. I watched the cartoon. I drew the logo in my doodles. I LOVED this movie. As hokey as it may be, I still do. I loved Peter and his dry sarcasm, Winston and his realist perspective, Ray and his naïve enthusiasm, and Egon and his hopeless nerdiness. This may be the movie that helped me to develop crushes on nerdy men. Sorry babe, you may well be my latin Egon. I loved the ghosts, the comedy, the drama, and for me, yes, this movie was a little scary. (Not in the truly frightening way, since I have told many of you that I haven't been scared by a movie since The Wiz but this movie was more exciting for it's ghosts than truly scary.) And it contained a reference to my then-favorite food:

-Tell him about the Twinkie
-What about the Twinkie?

5. Superman III (Lester, 1983)
What's better than Superman coming to earth, growing up to save the day & getting the girl? Superman with Richard Pryor! As a seemingly gormless scientist, Pryor gets in over his head a bit, ends up on the wrong side of the good/bad divide, and adds a little comedy to Superman's struggle along the way. Even better than that, this installment of the series could really be named, "Superman: The Soap Opera." Guess what? He now has an evil twin! Ha!

4. Karate Kid (Avildsen, 1984)
One summer in the Faroes (where my Mom is from, and where I spent many summers growing up), before I realized what I was missing by staying indoors in such an amazing place, I spent many days watching Karate Kid, and Superman III. Well, mostly Karate Kid. In fact, I watched it so much that I could recite nearly the entire movie from memory. -- Hey! I wasn't an active kid, this is what I loved! Not sure why it didn't inspire me to become active and take up martial arts. You'd think... But it didn't. "Daniel-san! You all wet behind ear! Ah-haha-ha -ha -ha -ha haaaa." Mr. Miyagi rocked! Was it not the coolest thing you had seen when Mr. Miyagi opened a can of whoopass? I don't think anything has come close till Yoda did the same in the new Star Wars movies. Although that would have been better if it was the Yoda, not that CG crap.

3. Footloose (Ross, 1984)
Was 1984 not a good year for cheeseball movies? Good for me at least. And as far as I'm concerned, you can't go wrong with musicals. Especially musicals that are fun to sing along to. Gosh I remember thinking that Kevin Bacon was such a great dancer with that ubiquitous 80s-jazz-ballet dance he (and everyone else) did. Eeeewwww... Good thing I never tried to imitate it! Maybe I did and just blocked it out of my memory. This movie is also notable for being one of the last times we ever took John Lithgow seriously. Remember how intense he was? I really believed him as an overpowering dad and 'father.' Now I think I would laugh at him no matter what he did. Well, at least that's because he's good at being funny. It would be sad if it were because he was a sucky actor. (PS I love that they made a musical out of a true story.)

2. Mr. Mom (Dragoti, 1983)
I can remember watching this one when I was real little. I remember wondering why the kid called his blanket a "woobie" and why he took it with him everywhere. I remember having no idea what The Young and the Restless was, but still finding the parody of it funny. I remember understanding that the boss-guy was a total scuzz, and thinking that drying a baby's butt with a hand-dryer in a public bathroom was the funniest thing ever. That and the soap bubbles pouring out from the washing machine and filling up the house. Ahhhhh.... memories....

Drumroll please.......................................................

1. The Goonies (Donner, 1985) Ta da!
There is no other single movie that can conjure up memories for me like The Goonies. I watched this movie a lot. And I made all my little British friends (I grew up in England) watch it too. We watched it one year for my annual Halloween sleep-over. Which many of my friends still thought was my birthday, since they didn't do Halloween over there (and certainly not Halloween parties.) I remember several preteen bodies packed like sardines between the arms of the couch backrest that we had on the floor (it was sort of a multi-piece foam couch that came apart, and the back and arms were one piece. I loved being on the floor at the time (sleeping, sitting, etc..) so we tossed that on the floor and all of us crowded in.) If one of us wanted back in the pile after a trip to the bathroom, we'd have to step between knees and thighs, and feet to find our place again. The Goonies, tacos, twinkies, pickles, Kraft Mac & Cheese, and Halloween parties, were my gifts to England. And what better way is there for England to understand American culture than by watching Chunk do the truffle shuffle, Mikey using his inhaler while his brother lifted weights, Mouth freaking out the latin maid who speaks no English, and by seeing a very dysfunctional family with a disfigured son that they have chained in the basement who screams, "Hey you gu-uys!"???

And now for the runners up...
21. Three Men and a Baby - Remember how silly it was to think of men taking care of babies?
22. Beetlejuice - Fun in the underworld.
23. Cocktail - Top Gun in the Bahamas, twirling booze bottles instead of planes.
24. Dirty Dancing - Nobody puts Baby in the corner!
25. Splash - Fish can be hot!
26. The Money Pit - Best scene: Tom Hanks singing "the Name Game" while stuck in a hole in the floor.
27. See No Evil, Hear No Evil - Making fun of debilitations and color. "What???? I'm black????" - genius!
28. Roxanne - a.k.a. Cyranno De Bergerac for Dummies. Also: humor with unfortunate facial features.
29. Labyrinth - Puppets, a maze, the bog of eternal stench, and David Bowie.
30. Flight of the Navigator - Sci Fi for kids.

Well, that's all folks. See ya next time.


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