Tate's Fifteen
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| 1) Big Trouble in Little China : Director John Carpenter’s super-charged action adventure film is flavored with abundant doses of comedy, romance and horror. Kurt Russell leads a seasoned cast of Asian-American actors under the quick witted direction of Carpenter. Jack Burton (Russell) is a fast talking truck driver with a taste for high adventure; but he gets more than he can handle on a fateful trip into San Francisco’s Chinatown. The fiancée of Burton gambling buddy, Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) is kidnapped into slavery and Jack comes to his aid. He is thrown into the midst of warring factions in the Asian underworld. This is only the beginning of the intrigue… for the kidnapped girl’s unusual green eyes make her of immense interest to the evil Lo Pan (James Hong) a 2,000 year old entity who lurks deep within the heart of Chinatown. To rescue the girl, Burton must brave Lo Pans lair, consisting of a subterranean labyrinth filled with demonic creatures, deadly traps and kamikaze warriors. |
| 2) Fight Club : David Fincher's amazing and gritty story of an unnamed narrator's (Edward Norton) reality. If you have not seen it yet, I don't want to ruin it for you! A great film, not really about fighting at all. |
| 3) Tron : Director: Steven Lisberger Jeff Bridges is a video game designer who is transported into a dangerous computer world. The classic Good vs. Evil plot is made unique by Disney’s use of the first computer graphics on the big screen. |
| 4) They Live : Director: J. Carpenter Ugly aliens secretly control America. The hero finds a case of odd sunglasses, tries them on, and sees for the first time subliminal messages plastered all over everyday objects. Messages such as: Obey, Stay Asleep, No Independent Thoughts, Buy, and Watch TV. The mysterious glasses also reveal the true image of the aliens, vile blue and red reptile/skeleton looking things. The heroes who naturally save the day are Roddy Piper and Keith David. |
| 5) Dazed and Confused : Jason London is Randall “Pink” Floyd a pot-smoking quarterback in this great film set in 1976 on the last day and night at a suburban high school. Freshman boys’ behinds are paddled raw, and freshmen girls are made to fry on the ground like bacon and covered with garbage. Milla Jovovich (Leeloo in Fifth Element) is a mellow hippy-type chick, Matthew McConaughey is a sleazy old cradle robber (“I keep getting older… and they stay the same age.”) and Ben Affleck (who looks completely different, kinda fat) gets a shotgun pulled on him by a freshman’s mother. |
| 6) Boogie Nights : Set against the background of the Golden Age of the Porn Industry/Disco era; Boogie Nights chronicles the rise and fall of “Big, Bright Shining Star” Dirk Diggler’s (Mark Wahlberg) amazing porn career. He goes from dishwasher to phenomenon overnight. Great acting from Burt Reynolds, as Jack Horner (with a nice toupee); Heather Graham, also from Austin Powers 2, as RollerGirl (who gets completely naked); and Julianne Moore, as porn queen Amber Waves. Also Recommended: Hard 8, by the same director & many of the same actors. |
| 7) The Thing : Director: J. Carpenter This is a superior remake of the movie Thing From Another World. Set in the winter of ‘82 at a research station in Antarctica, here a twelve men research team finds an alien being frozen in the ground for over 100,000 years. The malevolent alien thaws and all hell breaks loose as it mutates and takes over various people’s bodies. |
| 8) Dune : (both versions) Giant sand worms produce a mind expanding “spice” that prolongs life. Good and evil families battle for control of the spice yielding desert planet. Directed by David Lynch, but billed as Allan Smithee in the credits of one version because Lynch didn't want his name on the project. It is recommended to read the entire Dune series! |
| 9) Indiana Jones : (1 and 3) Harrison Ford is archeologist Indiana Jones searching for various artifacts and fighting many exotic bad guys. Everyone has seen these films! |
| 10) Back to the Future : (I/II/III) I: Michael J. Fox is Marty McFly a teenager with a mad scientist as a friend. Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) creates a time machine out of a DeLorean and accidentally sends Marty back in time to 1955, where he must make sure his parents fall in love or his existence will be erased. II: Marty is sent to the future and must thwart long time foe Biff. III: Doc Brown is accidentally sent to the old west and Marty goes there to save him from certain doom. |
| 11) Better Off Dead : Semi-geeky high school student John Cusack loses his cute girlfriend to a sweaty jock and becomes comically suicidal. This is a hilarious classic 80’s comedy. |
| 12) One Crazy Summer : With a name like Hoops McCann, he's bound to get that basketball scholarship after high school, right? Wrong! What Hoops really wants to do is write and illustrate a love story. To help him find his way, his friend George invites Hoops to come with him and his sister to spend the summer on Nantucket. The friends Crazy Summer begins when they pickup Cassandra on the way--she's being chased by a motorcycle gang. From here on in, it only gets crazier. Once on the island, Hoops and George, along with George's island friends the Stork twins and Ack-Ack (son of a marine), must help Cassandra save her grandfather's house from the greedy Beckersted Family. Along the way, Hoops must find a way to write his cartoon love story - and maybe a real one of his own. Another funny John Cusack 80's film! |
| 13) Red Dawn : Cuban and Soviet forces invade the U.S. after major American cities are destroyed. Small town teens hide themselves in the woods and become guerrillas, known as the “Wolverines” in honor of their school mascot. Stars a young Patrick Swayze, & teens C. Thomas Howell and Charlie Sheen. |
| 14) Escape From New York : Director: J. Carpenter A condemned criminal and former war hero is offered his freedom if he can rescue the President of the United States from the walled prison island of Manhattan after a terrorist brings down the President's plane in this futuristic adventure starring Kurt Russell. |
| 15) Ghostbusters : Three odd-ball scientists get kicked out of their cushy positions at a university in New York City where they studied the occult. They decide to set up shop in an old firehouse and become Ghostbusters, trapping pesky ghosts, spirits, haunts, and poltergeists for money. A classic. |
| Honorable Mention... Favorite Karate Movie Crippled Masters : Two men skilled in the arts of Kung-Fu are betrayed by their master and crippled for life, one left with no arms and the other with no legs. Despite their obvious disadvantages, they learn to combine their martial arts skills and seek revenge against the evil master. One of the MOST bizarre karate films! Hilarious bad dubbing tops it all off. Best line: "Don't forget my chicken!" ;-) |