1985

[3] Tom Hanks stars as a snobby college graduate who escapes gambling debts by joining the Peace Corps on a bridge-building mission in Thailand. But when he discovers that struggle for control of the new pathway will make the local village the center of bloodshed, he and his Corps friends decide they must undo the work they have done. Volunteers is a very un-funny movie. …

[7] Charlie Sheen and Maxwell Caulfield (Grease 2) star as high school graduates who take a weekend car trip to L.A. where they start a killing spree. Sheen’s character slowly begins to wrestle with his lingering empathy, while Caulfield’s grows more homicidal. The film heads toward a climax where the boys turn on each other while the cops are hot on their tails. The Boys …

[8] Gabe Jarret stars as a 15-year-old science prodigy who is accepted into a tech college where he’s immediately placed on a cutting-edge laser project with other college-aged brainiacs. Val Kilmer plays his roommate, a goofy prankster whose irreverent attitude belies his academic reputation. Kilmer encourages Jarret to come out of his shell and have fun once in a while. Some of that fun comes …

[5] First Blood is a terrific action movie because, as absurd as it gets toward its conclusion, it’s rooted in solid drama and with great verisimilitude. This sequel, cowritten by Sylvester Stallone and James Cameron (Titanic, Avatar), and directed by George Cosmotos (Tombstone, Leviathan), lacks that sincerity or realism. It’s much more of a comic-book superhero movie, complete with a leading hero who looks more …

[7] Steve Railsback and Peter Firth star in this film by Tobe Hooper (Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Poltergeist) that revolves around an invasion of London by, well… space vampires. Railsback heads the space exploration team that finds the humanoid creatures on an alien ship, but once the creatures arrive on Earth they begin sucking the lifeforce out of everyone who crosses their path. Hooper said …

[8] Corey Haim (The Lost Boys) and Megan Follows (Anne of Green Gables) star as young siblings in a small town where a series of grisly murders takes place. Follows’ character is jealous of all the latitude her wheelchair-bound brother gets, but the two begin to bond when they discover the identity of the killer — and that he’s no ordinary human, but a werewolf. …

[8] Famed Oscar-winning film editor Walter Murch co-writes and directs this dark but lovingly created sequel to the classic The Wizard of Oz. Of course the sequel fails to compare to the original, but if you take Return to Oz on its own merits, it’s an inventive, charming, extraordinarily well-crafted film. Dorothy (Fairuza Balk) has been back from Oz for six months, but is suffering …

[8] John Cusack stars as a comically suicidal teen who doesn’t think he’ll ever get over being dumped by his girlfriend (Amanda Wyss). As he trains to beat a douchebag high school ski captain in an upcoming downhill race, he starts to find love again with a French foreign exchange student (Diane Franklin) who is dealing with her douchebag host family. Writer/director Savage Steve Holland …

[4] John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis star in this bungled, misbegotten movie about a Rolling Stone reporter who joins an L.A. fitness center to research the aerobics boom that happened in the late ’70s and early ’80s. There he meets Curtis, who is reluctant to be interviewed because of a past experience with journalists that nearly wrecked her life. But since Travolta is so …

[6] Rutger Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh star in medieval tale of a young noble girl (Leigh) who is kidnapped by a band of traveling mercenaries. While her betrothed (Tom Burlinson) searches for her with a rescue team, she begins to feel at home among the bandits — and even in love with their leader (Hauer). Under the direction of Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall, Spetters), …

1 2 3 4 5