Outland
High Noon in space! Peter Hyams! Here’s a great grungy sci-fi pic, adapted from a book, with the grungy Alien aesthetic, starring Sean Connery facing off against Peter Boyle. Tension! Exploding heads! C’mon!
The Package
Andrew Davis! Gene Hackman! Tommy Lee Jones! Hey, the inspiration may be tired but this is a fun thriller and part of a string of great movies from Davis.
Bone aka Beverly Hills Nightmare
Larry Cohen’s first film is a strange mix of tension, black comedy, racial commentary, and surrealism. It’s surprisingly artier than his later, more genre-friendly work, and features a fantastic performance from Yaphet Kotto. Challenging, fierce, and funny, maybe the best film Cohen ever made — definitely worth checking out!
Deep Rising
This derivative cheesefest from Stephen Sommers is probably everything Vern hates not just because of the director, but I love the thing, it’s a fun monster b-movie with great production and humor, a cast of recognizable toughs and the type of ridiculous that makes the cheese so damn delicious!
CON AIR
Always enjoyed this one, but apparently Vern doesn’t. Wouldn’t mind hearing his thoughts on it in a bit more detail.
The Core
I love this cheese. Thick. gooey cheese. It’s always fun with Stanley Tucci in asshole mode, but this reverse-Armageddon has loads of everything you want in an unhealthy snack. Mmm-mm-good!
No Way Out
Another ’80s “topical” thriller, this one is a lot of fun with a great Will Patton performance and Gene Hackman being a dick as President…again!
Brazil
Okay, sure, it’s a strange suggestion. Vern’s reviewed a couple of Terry Gilliam’s flicks, so it’s not like there’s a huge demand to add to the voluminous writing about this one. But at the same time Vern likes to draw attention to things outside the genres he covers more exhaustively, and with new readers popping up this excellent comedy adventure could always enjoy the exposure to new viewers. And you could argue a number of hoary cliches get skewered and pimped here in ways that would reverberate in subsequent filmmaker’s works. So yes, there is more to mine and celebrate here!
Prince movies
He’ll never do this, but that would be fun. From his career peak of fame and success (PURPLE RAIN) to his fascinating car wreck hubris (UNDER THE CHERRY MOON) to a great capture of his artistic/performance peak (SIGN O THE TIMES) to just bad bad bad bad what the fuck bad (GRAFFITI BRIDGE).
