1980’s

[7] One of the ultimate ‘little movies that could,’ Dirty Dancing is a low-budget sleeper sensation that is arguably the most popular and enduring movie released in its year. Set in a Catskills resort in 1963, the film is a coming-of-age story for Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman (Jennifer Grey) as she wanders from the family-friendly on-site entertainment into the staff’s secluded after-hours parties. There the cha-cha …

[5] Edward Zwick (Glory, Legends of the Fall) directs this yuppie ‘windy city’ romance starring brat-packers Rob Lowe and Demi Moore. It’s your typical boy-meets-girl story. They have sex, they fall in love, they move in together, they fight, they make up, they fight, they make up… and in the end we’re all reminded how much men suck. (No, really.) In lesser hands, this sort …

[5] Rosanna Arquette stars as a bored New Jersey housewife who becomes infatuated with Susan (Madonna), a nomadic woman she’s never met who uses the newspaper personal ads to keep up with her boyfriend. When one of the ads mentions a time and place to meet up, Arquette spies on them and ends up being mistaken for Susan after hitting her head and getting amnesia. …

[3] In this self-proclaimed ‘rock & roll fable’ from director Walter Hill (The Warriors, 48 Hrs.), a mercenary is summoned to rescue a revered singer from a motorcycle gang that kidnapped her right off the stage. That the singer and the mercenary were once lovers complicates matters, especially since her new boyfriend and stage manager is funding the rescue operation. The idea of Streets of …

[8] Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie play vampire lovers living in modern-day New York who seek the help of a gerontologist played by Susan Sarandon. If that sounds oxymoronic, therein lies the rub. Bowie’s character has suddenly begun aging, following in the doomed footsteps of Deneuve’s past lovers who enjoy eternal youth for a few hundred years before mysteriously aging and dying within mere weeks. …

[3] In this adaptation of the DC Comics series, a scientist working on a bio-engineering experiment is killed in a lab explosion that turns him into a creature, half-man and half plant. Super-strength and the ability to heal people are perks of the transformation, which come in handy since the military is trying to find him and steal his formula for their own nefarious purposes. …

[4] A sorcerer’s apprentice confronts a fire-breathing dragon that likes to eat virgins. If only Dragonslayer were as exciting as it sounds. Peter MacNicol (Sophie’s Choice, Ghostbusters II) plays the apprentice with all the charisma and screen presence of driftwood, not that writer/director Matthew Robbins (Corvette Summer, The Legend of Billie Jean) gives him much to work with. He’s easily upstaged by a couple of …

[6] Writer/director Colin Higgins (Harold & Maude, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas) serves up an office space comedy starring national treasures Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton as three women who enact revenge on their sexist, egotistical boss (Dabney Coleman). The script works best in the early stages, when the women bond over their mutual misery. High points include their pot-smoking chill session …

[2] Mary Tyler Moore (Ordinary People) and Christine Lahti (Running on Empty) star as newfound friends who discover a terrible coincidence — that the man Lahti is having an affair with is none other than Moore’s husband (Cheers‘s Ted Danson). Lahti is the first to realize the problem and tries to break it off with Danson. But fate intervenes, and the secret eventually comes out. …

[6] Deepsea miners dig for silver and find a genetically mutated monster that picks them off one by one — you know, Alien under the sea. Even though the script is a hack job, Leviathan should still satisfy anyone in need of a creature feature fix. Production values are high, with Stan Winston Studios providing the special effects, renowned Hollywood conceptual designer Ron Cobb on …

1 3 4 5 6 7 37