Pacific Rim (2013)

Pacific Rim (2013)

[8]

Pacific Rim is good, dumb summer fun. It’s beautiful, sexy, exciting, funny, and it kinda made me feel like a kid again. The premise involves Kaiju and Jägers… scratch that. Let’s call it like it is: this movie is about big fucking robots fighting big fucking monsters. The monsters come from another dimension, entering our world from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. The robots, each manned by two psychically linked people (often blood relatives), are humanity’s last hope for survival. The concept sounds like the germ of another big, loud, stupid summer movie — you know, the kind Michael Bay makes. But director Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth) handily beats Bay at his own game with Pacific Rim, imbuing the film with more style and substance than any of Bay’s Transformers movies ever had.

Jurassic Park (1993)

Jurassic Park (1993)

[9] If you think of this movie as Jaws on land, as director Steven Spielberg has suggested, it can't quite compare to that masterpiece. The characters aren't strong enough. But it's still a hell of a summer event movie, delivering…
Pumpkinhead (1988)

Pumpkinhead (1988)

[9]

As far as monster movies go, this is the one to beat. It’s the only film directed by the late Stan Winston, the special effects wizard who brought so many creatures and otherworldly characters to life in movies like Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, and Edward Scissorhands.  I always wished he’d directed another movie, because Pumpkinhead is creepy as hell, a superb dark fairy tale that’s drenched in atmosphere. 

Gremlins (1984)

Gremlins (1984)

[10] Does it mean anything that Gremlins is my favorite Christmas movie?  Am I bad person because I eschew the sentimentality of It's A Wonderful Life for the malevolent rampage of little green monsters? Actually, sentimentality plays a big part…
Alien (1979)

Alien (1979)

[10] Ridley Scott's sci-fi/horror opus Alien is a haunted house movie set in outer space, where a ragtag team of "space truckers" do battle with one of the most fascinating monsters in movie history. Scott is one of the finest…