A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

[8] Freddy Kruger (Robert Englund) returns for a third film that's just as good as the original. Heather Langenkamp's Nancy also returns, now a psychologist who specializes in dreams, hired on at a hospital where suicidal teens are being terrorized…
Aliens (1986)

Aliens (1986)

[10] Writer/director James Cameron accomplishes a rare feat with a sequel that doesn't shame the original and succeeds on its own merits. Aliens is so different in tone than the original Alien, I think of it as a sequel only…
Moonstruck (1987)

Moonstruck (1987)

[9] In New York City's Little Italy, a widowed bookkeeper named Loretta (Cher) accepts a marriage proposal from a man she likes, but doesn't love (Danny Aiello). Before her fiancée heads out of town to tend to his ailing mother,…
The Road Warrior (1981)

The Road Warrior (1981)

[7] Mel Gibson's policeman-turned-vigilante returns in this sequel from Mad Max director George Miller. The Road Warrior takes place years after the events of the first film, plunging the Australian outback further into a post-apocalyptic, sci-fi setting. In a script…
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

[4] In this animated film from Japan, a teenaged boy tries to take care of his little sister after their mother dies in a bombing by the Americans during World War II. The children's father is a soldier at sea…
Talk Radio (1988)

Talk Radio (1988)

[7] Oliver Stone (Platoon, JFK) directed this underseen and underappreciated stage adaptation about a shock-jock radio deejay (Eric Bogosian) who riles up listeners with his harsh personal criticisms and grim social commentary. Bogosian, who wrote and starred in the one-act…
Explorers (1985)

Explorers (1985)

[6] Three junior-high students interpret cryptic messages from outer space to build a ship and make first contact with extra-terrestrials in Explorers. Director Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling) launched the notable careers of young co-stars Ethan Hawke (Training Day) and…
The Right Stuff (1983)

The Right Stuff (1983)

[7] Writer/director Philip Kaufman chronicles the birth of the U.S. space program in The Right Stuff, beginning with the breaking of the sound barrier by Chuck Yeager (Sam Shepard) at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Based on Tom Wolfe's…
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

[6] Kurt Russell stars as a cocky truck driver who gets embroiled in a mystical adventure beneath San Francisco's Chinatown in this cartoonish action-comedy from director John Carpenter (Starman, The Thing). When the fiancée of a friend (Dennis Dun) is…