The Thing (1982), Predator (1987), Short Circuit 2 (1988)

 

I saw Short Circuit 2 last Saturday with my Dank Movie Club. I am pretty sure I saw this as a kid in the theater with my dad, because I have a memory of him pulling me into the lobby during the scene where Johnny 5 gets the snot beaten out of him and appears to be bleeding to death (!). 

But other than that scene, this is a kid-friendly light-hearted romp featuring a lovable wiseass of a robot. Honestly, the puppetry and special effects for Johnny 5 are pretty amazing - most of the budget must have gone into that. Fisher Stevens reprises his role as Johnny 5's creator (but weirdly, they changed his character's last name, even though he is clearly supposed to be the same person as in Short Circuit), and now the wonderful Michael McKean is his slimy-but-heart-of-gold business partner/grifter/con man/big idea man. 

The best scene is where Johnny 5 is tricked by hoodlums into stealing car radios - which he is VERY good at - and he learns their gang chant: LOS LOCOS KICK YOUR ASS! LOS LOCOS KICK YOUR FACE! LOS LOCOS KICK YOUR BALLS INTO OUTER SPACE!! It's very charming, trust me. 

Directed by Kenneth Johnson (Six Million Dollar Man, V, Steel), it has a lot of heart. It was only a very very modest hit - made for $15 million, made $21 million - and studios declined to make a third movie. 

The Thing is my favorite horror movie. I prefer it by far to the original and much-lauded Howard Hawks-directed 1951 Sci Fi classic. A group of American scientists in Antarctica are preyed upon by an alien that can perfectly mimic anything that it consumes. Who can be trusted? The ultimate paranoid thriller meets the ultimate practical horror special effects - truly memorable and gruesome. 

Directed by John Carpenter, featuring Kurt Russell, Keith David, Wilfred Brimley, T K Carter, and many others, it's a real masterpiece. I will keep it short here, because I'll eventually write a longer post about this movie. 

This is a Perfect Action Movie. One of the all-time greats, right up there with Die Hard and First Blood: directed by John McTiernan (who also, coincidentally, did Die Hard) and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robin Ventura, Sonny Landham, Bill Duke, Carl Weathers, and more, it's the story of an elite group of soldiers on a secret CIA-funded mission in a Central American jungle to recover a lost diplomat... at least, that's what they think. Soon, the hunters become the hunted. 

A huge, huge hit, it features great special effects, an iconic and memorable villain, and some of Arnold's best acting and emoting. A tremendous classic. Should be seen by all. The most unsung aspect: it has a tremendous music score, one of the best of the decade.