Raising Arizona (1987)
[10] Holly Hunter and Nicolas Cage star as Ed and Hi, a police woman and a supposedly reformed felon who try to start a family in Joel and Ethan Coen's Raising Arizona. But when they can't conceive a child of…
Hellraiser (1987)
[9] Clive Barker holds nothing sacred, least of all flesh, in exploring the fine line between love and pain in this sado-masochistic fantasy. The movie throbs with an intense, dark passion -- dark enough for a woman to love the…
Lethal Weapon (1987)
[9] Mel Gibson and Danny Glover star in the definitive ‘buddy cop’ movie, written with humor and heart by Shane Black (The Long Kiss Goodnight, The Nice Guys) and directed with cinematic flare by Richard Donner (Superman, The Goonies). Glover plays…
Empire of the Sun (1987)
[8]
Spielberg explores World War II through the eyes of a young British boy (Christian Bale) separated from his parents in Shanghai and forced to live in a Japanese internment camp. For a director who often celebrates innocence (and sometimes wallows in it), it’s nice to see a darker examination of the subject. In Empire of the Sun, innocence isn’t just lost. It’s almost shattered.Â
The Lost Boys (1987)
[9]
The public will never let director Joel Schumacher live down his Batman movies, but let’s not forget that before there were nipples on the Batsuit, there was The Lost Boys. A divorced mother brings her two sons to a coastal California town to live with their grandfather and make a new life for themselves. There’s just one problem. The whole town is prey for a gang of vampires!
Aliens (1986)
[10]
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 in name (this goes for all the Alien movies). In a smart move, Cameron decided not to compete with Ridley Scott in the areas of horror and suspense. Aliens is decidedly a combat movie.
The Mosquito Coast (1986)
[10]
Harrison Ford gives one of his best performances as Allie Fox, an obsessed inventor who moves his family to a Central American jungle to escape what he perceives to be the end of American civilization. Peter Weir (Witness, Dead Poets Society) directs from a screenplay by Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull), based on the novel by Paul Theroux. We experience the story through the eyes of Fox’s eldest son, Charlie (River Phoenix). Charlie begins the film in awe of his father, but as Allie spirals out of control, putting his family in danger and developing a serious God complex, Charlie begins conspiring with his mother (Helen Mirren) to save the family from their patriarch.
Stand By Me (1986)
[10]
Rob Reiner (This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride) adapts this dark coming-of-age tale from Stephen King, about a band of four boys who embark on a weekend journey to find the body of a missing teenager. Stand By Me is the best film of Reiner’s career, and the best film adaptation of King’s work. It’s a moving, hauntingly nostalgic piece, bolstered with healthy doses of good humor and some of the best adolescent performances ever put to film.
The Hitcher (1986)
[9] In this vastly underrated thriller, a teenager (C. Thomas Howell) picks up a hitchhiker (Rutger Hauer) in the middle of a rainy night and barely escapes to tell the tale. Unfortunately, that first night's narrow escape from the psychotic…
The Fly (1986)
[9] David Cronenberg's remake of The Fly is still the most fowl and disgusting film I have ever seen. It just about makes me barf every time I see it, and I love that. Jeff Goldblum plays an inventor who…