Your mission ... should you choose to accept it, like Tom Cruise

I understand a lot of people are uncomfortable with Tom Cruise's religion and his personal life. But he is a hell of a movie star.

On a recent episode of The Tonight Show, when Jimmy Fallon asked the now 53-year-old actor why he still performs stunts like the already iconic one in the poster to your left, he said something along the lines of "I do it for you," meaning the audience.

That's always been my theory about Cruise -- his real life eccentricities aside -- he's like a hyperactive puppy dog, eager to deliver thrills to film audiences. Outside of a few dramatic roles, I think the Mission: Impossible series contains some of his best, loosest work -- and Ethan Hunt may go down as his most signature character.

I can say with great confidence that his new Hunt adventure -- Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation is the second best blockbuster of the summer, after Mad Max: Fury Road. It's fast, funny and inventive and I had a total blast watching it.

Five films in and this franchise is far from running out steam. Other than the Bond films, which are sort of a world unto themselves, only the Fast & Furious movies have managed to keep up their momentum this many films in. It helps that Cruise is somehow ageless and he has also discovered a brilliant formula for these films.

Ghost Protocol

He always teams with a new director, who brings their own style to each project (although the new film feels like the least stark departure from its predecessor). There's a new femme fatale and/or love interest each time too. The usual sidekicks appear (Ving Rhames and now, with a bigger role, Simon Pegg). And there's usually a solid character actor playing his superior (Anthony Hopkins and Laurence Fishburne have played this role in the past - this time Alec Baldwin has a ball with it).

There's also always a bravura set piece where Cruise has to perform some remarkable feat to penetrate some absurdly impenetrable fortress. The one in this film is a real doozy.

All of these familiar elements could in theory grow tiresome but they never do because the pacing is almost always top notch and the films have increasingly taken themselves less seriously. Cruise too seems liberated playing a character that's never had much depth. Some could call Hunt an American version of Bond, except even 007 has a lot of backstory and character development.

Hunt is essentially a hyper driven and reckless agent -- but also a total pro who simply wants to get the bad guys and protect his peers. He's not expected to be very human, which makes it the perfect role for Cruise. Entertainment Weekly has already done their ranking of the five films to date. And here's mine:

5) Mission: Impossible II (2000): My least favorite film of the series and the one that feels the most dated. This one came at the height of what I call Matrix-imitation syndrome. As great as that film was, it spawned far too many bloated, slow motion action sequences. John Woo directed this one and all his hallmarks are here (doves, abound). Cruise's rock climbing antics serve no story purpose other than to make him look cool, same goes for the midair fighting -- but it's perfectly watchable.

4) Mission: Impossible III (2006): J.J. Abrams' underrated entry in the series was an under-performer at the box office in part because it was released at the height of Tom Cruise backlash. It's got some very nifty, jittery action sequences and a nice turn by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman as the villain. My only real complaint with this one is its attempt to domesticate Hunt and to give him a love interest. It bogs down an otherwise fleet and exhilarating ride.

3) Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation (2015): Although director Christopher McQuarrie doesn't really have a distinct visual style, this relentlessly exciting film has a lot going for it. Leading lady Rebecca Ferguson is possibly the best female foil Cruise has yet had in this series. And although the plot gets a little too labyrinthian for its own good, the movie keeps throwing new fun twists and stunts your way; there's very little, if anything, to complain about. Cruise has another hit on his hands.

2) Mission: Impossible  Ghost Protocol (2011): These last two are essentially tied for me. Brad Bird crafted a visual feast for the eyes -- the sandstorm chase, the scaling of the world's tallest skyscraper in Dubai, for instance. He also provides the sleekest, simplest story of the series. Cruise is on the run, literally and figuratively, which forces his Ethan Hunt character to do what he's greatest at -- improvise. This was a huge comeback for Cruise and it helped established Bird as one of the premier action directors of this era.

1) Mission: Impossible (1996):  Not as action-heavy as its sequels, but more brooding and resonant. This one wins by a hair because its director, Brian DePalma, is one of my favorites, and the film is the most subversive and deliberately cinematic of them all. The opening plays like a riff on Psycho, the characters we think are our heroes are slaughtered and we are plunged into a more modern world of back stabbing spies than we ever could have anticipated for a TV reboot. The movies got bigger but for sheer impact nothing has topped Cruise being lowered into that secure room in Langley.

Seriously, what's the deal with Adam Sandler?

Adam Sandler

Like most people who came of age in the '90s I first became aware of Adam Sandler when he was on Saturday Night Live.

He wasn't as versatile as Mike Myers or as incisive as Chris Rock, but he had a certain dopey charm that was undeniably appealing. I never would have expected him to be one of the most consistent comedy draws at the box office in the ensuing decade though.

His early comedies -- while fondly remembered -- were all sort of flops, or at least they weren't exactly hits. This, at the time, gave Sandler a sort of underground appeal.

Movies like Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore were just self-aware enough that audiences sort of knew what they were watching was best enjoyed on the small screen after a few beers.

But then The Wedding Singer happened. It was an adorable crossover hit that showed some real vulnerability from Sandler and proved he could be a mainstream movie star. And it's when everything went kind of wrong.

I remember being excited for his follow up and then I saw the trailer for The Waterboy (a movie I've still never seen from beginning to end) and I thought -- ughh. Is this character supposed to be mentally challenged? It looked so painfully unfunny that I passed on it and wrote it off as Sandler just looking to cash in on his newfound fame.

But then came Big Daddy and Mr. Deeds and Click and Grown Ups, and a host of other highly profitable but pretty pathetic "comedies" which Sandler barely walks through. He'd become a modern version of latter-day Burt Reynolds, smirking at his own cleverness while a familiar crew of sidekicks did all the heavy lifting.

Oddly enough, in Judd Apatow's interesting but indulgent Funny People, Sandler seemed to be playing a self aware parody of himself and yet he continued to make soulless trash -- the most recent example of which, the critically reviled Pixels, has just flopped hard.

The one bright, shining outlier -- his Oscar-worthy (I'm not joking) performance in Punch Drunk-Love. He was a revelation in this 2002 black comedy, winning the best reviews of his career in a collaboration with one of cinema's most original voices -- P.T. Anderson. Even though the film wasn't a commercial success, Sandler had a chance to show real growth as an actor.

Instead he returned to his comfort zone. Now this was in part because other attempts at dramedy (Reign Over Me and the recent Men Women & Children) bombed badly. So are we the audience, to blame, in part?

Film snobs recoil and his endless box office resilience. Even after the failure of Jack & Jill and That's My Boy, he was able to get ticket buyers to shell out millions for the unimaginative Grown Ups 2.

He's 48 now; plenty of critics have said he has outgrown the sophomoric films he stars in. And yet, he is still one of the few consistent A-list draws around.

Will he ever dare to team up with a real talented writing and directing team again? At the very least his career needs a real reboot. But the thing is that so much of Sandler's persona seems to be steeped in his appearance to "not care."

Think about every Sandler late-night show appearance you've ever seen, Despite being a millionaire many times over, he always appears unwashed in cheap looking denim and a T-shirt. In fact, I don't know if I've ever seen him in a suit outside of a couple of his films.

Clearly, he is comfortable with what he's become, even if those of us who used to be fan aren't.

'The Warriors': My favorite 'when NYC was scary' movies

Last night I re-watched the great cult classic The Warriors.

Sure, it's wildly politically incorrect and its leading man is a monosyllabic misogynist, but the movie somehow transcends its trappings to go down as one of great camp adventure films of its era.

It's also an amazing time capsule of a time where New York City was portrayed on film as little more than a cesspool of ceaseless violence and danger.

Hollywood really reveled in this type of film in the 1970s and early-'80s and in a sense it was an honest portrayal.

New York and the outer boroughs were riddled with crime during that period, and the city even went bankrupt in the middle of the '70s. So when the industry was looking for "gritty realism" they looked no further than the Big Apple.

The Warriors, with their elaborate costumes and over-pronounced attitudes, are emblematic of this kind of heightened "reality." When you watch these films you feel like at any moment a character can be mugged and/or accidentally stabbed by a syringe.

As a native and proud New Yorker, I cherish these films although I'd never want to live in them.

Midnight Cowboy (1969) - Perhaps one of the first films to be preoccupied with the underbelly of NYC and not its more glamorous side. In retrospect it's remarkable that the movie even got made, let alone won best picture. It's a buddy picture about a cripple named Ratso and a male prostitute who looks like he just walked out of a rodeo. And yet, it's an emotional tour de force that really takes advantage of the city's landscape.

John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever

The French Connection (1971) - The ultimate NYC cop movie -- it's probably yet to be topped. Gene Hackman won the Academy Award for his charismatic (and ultimately disturbing) portrayal of a bigoted but driven cop who winds up uncovering an elaborate drug trafficking plot. Full of rough and gruff dialogue and settings -- and yes, quite possibly the greatest car chase of all time.

Serpico (1973) - Probably the second ultimate NYC cop movie. Al Pacino's earnest cop encounters seedy corruption almost everywhere he goes. As the film progresses, he becomes increasingly bohemian -- but the movie never loses its violent edge. The finale features some of Pacino's most subtle acting ever.

Taxi Driver (1976) - One of my favorite movies of all time by my favorite director -- Martin Scorsese. Although heavily stylized, the film does evoke a certain bitter malaise that was setting in during this period. You see a clash of the underworld with the upper class in this movie and straddling both world's is Robert De Niro's fascinating and disturbing performance as Travis Bickle, easily one of the greatest roles of all time.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) - Walter Matthau as an action hero? Only in New York. This subway-based thriller is genuinely exciting but also full of colorful, foul-mouthed city folk who make this film feel richly textured and believable. The characters are mostly working stiffs trying to do their job whether it be crime or punishment.

Saturday Night Fever (1977) - Sure, most people remember John Travolta's slick dance moves, but if you actually watch this movie in its entirety its one of the most relentlessly bleak hit dramas ever made. Gang rape, race-based violence and suicide all factor into this story of Brooklyn youths with little to love but the disco beat. The iconic shot of Travolta, despondent, riding the subways, is more compelling to me than the gleeful image on the poster.

Death Wish (1974) - Charles Bronson goes from sensitive liberal to cold-blooded vigilante after a bunch of street punks (led by a young Jeff Goldblum, go figure) attack his wife and daughter in their home while he's away at work. Is it exploitation? Absolutely. It's also incredibly entertaining and fun if you watch it with the right amount of skepticism and awareness of the NYC climate in which it was released.

After Hours (1985) - By the '80s a sleeker, more sophisticated New York City started to take hold (think Fatal Attraction or 9 1/2 Weeks) but thank God for Martin Scorsese -- he had a little more scum to show off with this underrated, offbeat dark comedy. It's about a guy who takes a chance on a random encounter in the hopes of getting "laid" and then spends a nightmare of a night trying to get back home.

From 'Avatar' to 'Shrek 2': Assessing the biggest U.S. box office hits

Avatar

As Jurassic World continues its seemingly inevitable march towards the top of the all-time domestic box office charts, I am struck by many things. I have yet to meet a single person who loved the movie, although I have met few who haven't seen it. It's as if we all went out of cultural obligation and dutiful loyalty to the original film, from which this one ripped off liberally.

The all-time list used to mean something. Movies like E.T., Star Wars, Jaws and yes, the original Jurassic Park, represented genuine cultural phenomenons, films that people went to see over-and-over again because they truly struck a nerve.

Now, thanks to inflationary movie ticket prices, a thoroughly forgettable movie can make $300 million and a film that grosses $200 million can be deemed a disappointment and $90 million can be a flop.

Just for my own amusement, I decided to take a look at the films that currently rank as the highest grossing films ever in the U.S. -- keep in mind if the true number of ticket sales were taken into account this list would look very different.

1) Avatar (2009) $760.5 million: James Cameron's epic 3-D adventure really has faded from my memory. I saw it once and remember being very impressed by its visuals. But I am curious how well they hold up now. The story, however, doesn't hold up quite as well for me. And I've always been fascinated by the fact that it's star -- the blandly handsome Sam Worthington -- was never able to capitalize on its success with a sustained career as a leading man. Quite frankly its dominance sort of stupefies me.

2) Titanic (1997) $658.7 million: I was never a fan of Cameron's other behemoth movie but then again, I was clearly never the intended audience. I will say this -- this film definitely dominated the entire movie landscape from late '97 through the first half of '98. I don't recall anything else quite like it. Although I only saw it because a high school buddy and I couldn't sneak into Wild Things, I appreciated the scale of it. It's watchable but the cheese factor is hard to stomach.

3) The Avengers (2012) $623.6 million:  Barely holding onto third place is this -- forgive the pun, marvel. This elaborate production united the stars of several other superhero franchise movies and worked like gangbusters because writer-director Joss Whedon wisely kept the focus on character and his eclectic cast, led by the invaluable Robert Downey, Jr. A bonafide classic summer movie that really set the bar high for its sequel and all the Marvel movies that followed.

The Dark Knight

4) Jurassic World (2015) $611.2 million: I've already made my thoughts pretty clear on this one -- I didn't like it -- and in fact, I like it less the more I think about it. Look, I love Chris Pratt and I'm all for big dumb action movies -- but this was such an exercise in derivative nostalgia that it's hard for me not to roll my eyes at its success. For all its nifty effects it was yet another movie about how women should really settle down and learn to love kids. Yawn.

5) The Dark Knight (2008) $534.9 million: The first film on this list so far I would comfortably call a masterpiece. This relentlessly thrilling and ambitious movie really elevated what a so-called superhero movie could be and provided audiences with one of the all-time great performances. When I catch it on TV I still get hooked.

6) The Phantom Menace (1999) $474.5 million: Every Star Wars fan on the planet should be appalled that this atrocity, easily the worst film in the entire canon, is technically the most financially successful here in the U.S. Clearly, its success is due in part to an audience that had been deprived of a new Star Wars film for 16 long years. But this is the best George Lucas could do? I have refused to watch it over the years since, I just can't deal.

7) Star Wars (1977) $460.9 million: Due to several successful re-releases over the years, this is the only film released more than 20 years ago to break into the top 10 and its cultural impact can't be understated. While film snobs will forever blame this blockbuster for destroying Earth-bound narrative movies, it's hard not to be charmed by its wit, creativity and star-making performance from Harrison Ford as Han Solo.

8) The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) $455.9 million: This sequel attempted two things that didn't quite work -- a more serious tone and more characters. That said, I thought it was a lot of fun, again thanks to the cast which makes these absurd movies as believable as they can be. Still, this one felt a little bloated and at times I felt like it was made for the comic book geeks instead of the general audience. And Mark Ruffalo's Hulk has achieved iconic status for a reason.

9) The Dark Knight Rises (2012) $448.1 million: This terrific series finale was somewhat overshadowed by the tragic shooting at a Tuscon theater showing it and the total domination of The Avengers, which came out first. But this film is just bursting with ideas and indelible performances. Anne Hathaway has never been more likable, Tom Hardy was a force of nature and both Christian Bale and Michael Caine do some beautiful acting opposite each other in this powerful epic.

10) Shrek 2 (2004) $441.2 million: Now, this is a random one. This always feels like relic from a very different time. The voice acting talents of Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy -- where did those guys disappear to? I vaguely remember seeing this in theaters and thinking virtually all of it was overkill from the ogre-donkey banter to Antonio Banderas' debut as Puss In Boots, actually ...that was pretty damn cute now that I think about it.

'Ant-Man': How I learned to stop worrying and love Marvel again

I was starting to get fed up with Marvel movies. Sure, I enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy and Age of Ultron for the most part, but I was tired of the endless franchise building, the over-stuffed plots and numbing third act action spectacles.

But then along comes Ant-Man, a delightfully funny and light-hearted addition to the canon and I find myself back on board -- at least for now.

The makers of Ant-Man eschew the serious undertones of some of the recent Marvel films to make a totally joyful adventure which feels more like a throwback comic book movie, with an ample sense of humor.

Despite the film's troubled production history (the original director, fanboy favorite Edgar Wright, walked), the movie works so well -- even if its premise makes most people chuckle at first.

Top-notch effects will make you believe a man can shrink and the invaluable Paul Rudd helps you believe the person inside the suit has some real personality and charisma. This may be my favorite lead Marvel movie performance since Robert Downey, Jr. debuted as Iron Man. And he is aided by a terrific supporting cast including a scene-stealing Michael Pena and a powerful Michael Douglas, who reminds us what a classy leading man he is.

The movie is incredibly fast-paced for an origin story, its stakes are relatively small (forgive the pun) but nevertheless intriguing, and while the movie does have the requisite nods to the greater Avengers universe, I appreciated that they were largely tongue-in-cheek and don't distract from the narrative too much.

Paul Rudd in Ant-Man

An estranged father subplot which would normally tank a movie like this is handled with aplomb and the villain, which has consistently been one of the weaker aspects of these Marvel films, is played with a nice dose of smarm by House of Cards veteran Corey Stall.

But most of all, the movie is just diverting and funny. Rudd and frequent Will Ferrell collaborator Adam McKay made a pass on the script, and it shows. They have real fun with the absurdity of not just the Ant-Man concept but the tropes of the superhero film genre.

There will probably be those who will be turned off by just how jokey the film is. But I for one loved that the (SPOILER ALERT) epic finale essentially takes place amid a child's train set. After all, these films aren't about anything consequential so why should we be pretending they are?

This is part of why Rudd was an excellent choice to play the hero of this film. He is spot-on playing a smart, sarcastic regular guy who is thrust into some pretty extraordinary circumstances and who reacts appropriately.

Thor and Captain America are very entertaining, but I never find myself relating to them as people. Ant-Man feels like an underdog throughout this film because despite how cool his "power" can be -- and the fight sequences in this film are first-rate -- he's incredibly vulnerable and easily destructible, which in this genre is remarkably refreshing.

Much will be made about this film's relatively small opening (still $58 million!) compared to some of its heavyweight predecessors, but few of those films have the inner life Ant-Man does and I suspect it will have long legs at the box office throughout the summer.

Why I'm still so torn about the new movie 'Trainwreck'

I'm very torn about Trainwreck, a movie I found very funny but also profoundly problematic.

Basically it has all the flaws and hallmarks of most Judd Apatow movies, but it's elevated substantially by a star-making performance from Amy Schumer.

Her strength as a comedian is her defiant stance, her willingness to unapologetically be herself for better or worse.

The character she plays in Trainwreck, at least at first, possesses that same quality and it's both liberating and fun to see a female lead who is allowed to be both debauched and sexually aggressive.

But a funny thing happens at roughly the midway point, her character ends up becoming a much more conventional romantic comedy heroine, and while the movie never stops being engaging, it also winds up reinforcing traditional roles.

I suspect this is largely due to the involvement of Apatow who has always been a conservative filmmaker at heart. His films have consistently hidden under a veneer of raunchy jokes and high-concept premises, but every single one them (including the interesting, but rudderless Funny People) ends up promoting the family unit.

Apatow idealizes marriage and family -- and there's nothing inherently wrong with that -- but I wish he could embrace the reality that what's right for him is not necessarily right for everyone, especially his protagonist in Trainwreck. For instance, in his least affected film, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Steve Carrell's character didn't have to fundamentally change who he was to find love, just come out of his shell a little bit. And his romance was the culmination of several decades of pent up desire with a woman who was clearly his equal (the luminous Catherine Keener), so it was more gratifying.

But in many of his subsequent films, including this one, his lead characters stumble towards monogamy as a rite of passage, even if they haven't earned it. Meanwhile, his work has gotten more ambitious but also more self-indulgent.

That said, his films -- even his flawed ones -- do tap into real emotions and real-life challenges, and I do admire that. Trainwreck feels fresher than much of his previous work because of Schumer but her savage instincts are often neutered by Apatow's desire to tame her.

The film is overstuffed and although many of its comedic riffs are uproarious, far too many of the scenes run too long and have no momentum. Most great comedies clock in under two hours for a reason, and Trainwreck -- which is teeming with ideas -- has more than a few scenes that could have gone on the chopping block.

In my opinion, Melissa McCarthy's Spy, the other major female-driven comedy of the summer, is actually the superior film because its timing was impeccable and its plot never got overwhelmed by its jokes. Schumer wrote the screenplay for Trainwreck and it has a stand-up's sensibility, which may account for its "more is more" barrage of one-liners.

And yet I had a great time watching it, and I suspect it will hold up far better than say the overrated Knocked Up. For once, the female character isn't the wet blanket trying to force an inexplicably immature and unattractive man to conform. In this film, Bill Hader makes for a lovable and charming comedic foil for Schumer, and she gets to play a real range of emotions here -- in fact, the strongest portion of the film may be the surprisingly moving dynamics of the lead character's family life.

Trainwreck is by no means a bad film -- but I am curious how it will be received by Schumer's fans and women in general. In some ways, it's an advance. But it also doesn't do enough to revolutionize a genre which has historically sought to put women in "their place."

Revisiting 'Raising Arizona' and a defense of Nicolas Cage

Aww, young Nicolas Cage

It's easy to take potshots at Nicolas Cage.

He is like the poster boy for making regrettable "paycheck movies," especially since his embarrassing financial troubles became common knowledge.

Somewhere around the time he won the Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas his once-promising career as a character act made a pivot and he turned into a kind of unconventional action star.

And while he starred in numerous hit films -- many in the Jerry Bruckheimer/Michael Bay mold -- he began to look and sound increasingly like a parody of himself.

Every once in a while there is an outlier like Adaptation or Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, where he gives us some of the true talent he displayed early in his career. Still, his output for the last 20 years has largely been laughable.

That's why it's hard -- especially with younger moviegoers -- to make the case that Cage was once one of the most interesting and entertaining actors of his generation. He's been such a goofball for so long (spawning one of the great recent SNL imitations) that few people, other than diehard fans, take him seriously anymore.

Moonstruck

But when he first burst onto the Hollywood scene -- albeit with an assist from his famous relative Francis Ford Coppola -- he was compelling.

Most mainstream audiences were introduced to his oddball energy in the 1986 time-traveling fantasy Peggy Sue Got Married (directed by Coppola). Cage adopts a cartoonish accent, blonde pompadour and I assume false teeth to play a very unconventional love interest for Kathleen Turner, to say the least. The performance divided critics, but it was undeniably memorable.

The following year Cage delivered an incredible one-two punch, the classic Coen brothers comedy Raising Arizona and the wonderful Cher romantic comedy vehicle Moonstruck. In both films, Cage gives the best kind of controlled eccentric performances -- they don't derail the movies, if anything he enhances them.

In Raising Arizona, he is like a living, breathing cartoon -- from his unkempt hair to his myriad of wacky facial expressions. But what really makes the character he plays, and the movie itself, resonate with me is how inherently sweet they both are. Watching the film this past weekend, I started to tear up during Cage's final monologue, in part because his delivery was so sincere amid the heightened reality of the film.

In Moonstruck he makes for an unlikely romantic lead opposite Cher. They have a real chemistry -- she plays an unappreciated store clerk and he a lonely baker. Cage comes equipped with a fake wooden hand and a lot of overheated dialogue -- but he delivers it so convincingly you never laugh at his performance, you chuckle with it.

In 1990's Wild at Heart director David Lynch gave Cage full reign to indulge his infamous Elvis obsession and he delivered yet another excellent, albeit mannered leading man performance. And I would suggest Cage haters check out another underrated gem -- the 1993 noir thriller Red Rock West, which has him playing more of a straight man drifter opposite a deranged Dennis Hopper.

Unfortunately A-list fame seems to have corrupted Cage and now people aren't even buying tickets anymore. It seems like audiences have tired of his over-the-top antics, even if they proved to be diverting in mainstream junk like National Treasure.

Still, Cage is relatively young -- 51 years old. He's just been around so long people don't realize it. I believe there's still a chance he can deliver a great performance in a worthy film, without sacrificing his trademark eccentricity.

From Cheech & Chong to 'Superman III': My guilty pleasure movies

Thomas Chong

Part of being a true movie fan, in this humble writer's opinion, is embracing work that seemingly most other people don't appreciate. The same is true of music too, I think. We all have those artists or "works of art" we enjoy that most people look down upon or outright hate.

There are more than a few films I will probably be forced to defend liking over the course of my life, and I'm fine with that. It'd be boring if my collection only contained the selections the American Film Institute declares classics every now and then.

The idea for this blog came to me while I was recently binge-watching Cheech and Chong movies.

They're all pretty plotless and silly -- but I love them. Their stoner humor is on point, instead of manufactured. They're politically incorrect as hell but also rambunctious and unpredictable, which I would argue all great comedies should be.

Their three strongest films -- Up in Smoke, Cheech & Chong's Next Movie, and Nice Dreams -- are both time capsules of the era in which they were released, but also hilarious viewing for a lazy afternoon.

Fun fact: The duo also pop up sporadically in one of my favorite, underrated Martin Scorsese films as well, the 1985 New York classic After Hours. But I digress...

Here are a few other guilty pleasures of mine:

Superman III - The first two Christopher Reeve Superman films are pretty unassailable in my mind and have yet to be topped by any future adaptation of the DC Comics icon. Most fans of the franchise (and even some of its stars) have argued that series took a nosedive with part III. They probably have a point. It's a goofy, tonally-jarring movie, where Richard Pryor gets almost as much screen time as Reeve -- but that's kind of why I like it. It's great camp. Reeve playing "bad Superman" as a horny drunk? Phenomenal. Pryor wearing an oversize cowboy hat and a general's outfit, while taking on comic personas. Hilarious. And the Superman fighting himself sequence still holds up!

Drunk Superman

Russ Meyer movies - The king of the nudie picture is far from a feminist icon but I'd be lying if I said I didn't love the raunchy, devil-may-care quality of his best films. Yes, they feature copious amounts of T&A, but they are also shockingly bizarre and violent, with the female characters usually physically dominating the men throughout. Meyer was a fascinating guy who made sneakily brilliant movies like his satire Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Even reading the title makes me wince a little, but that said, I am a sucker for seeing Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. And despite this film's flaws, he's terrific in the much-maligned outing. Now, granted, I haven't watched it much since I first saw it in theaters, but this film is no way as atrocious as the Star Wars prequels it's often associated with. And while many fans were appalled by the sci-fi bent this film took, I personally enjoyed its attempt to be an homage to 1950s B-movies.

Bad movies - I've written about this before, but there's few things I adore more than an unintentionally horrible movie. It's probably not the best way to spend your time -- but there are few activities I enjoy more than sitting back and riffing on disasters like The Room and Miami Connection with friends. Not only does it make you appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into a good film but there's something so touching and tragic about someone aiming high and failing so miserably.

Rocky III and IV- I will contend that the original Rocky film, it's first sequel and 2007's Rocky Balboa are all actually excellent dramatic films about boxing. Part V is nearly unwatchable. But when it comes to pure adrenaline rush mixed with a healthy dose of absurdity -- the middle part of the saga has the goods. Part III is largely reasonable, although some pretty heavy camp creeps in. Rocky IV however goes all in with heavy-handed Cold War commentary I should have no patience for, but totally do.

Other much maligned sequels... - I am also a defender of several other sequels which have more than their fair share of detractors, such as Back to the Future Part III (I've never understood why people don't like this one), Ocean's Twelve (sure, it's a little smug, but it looks great) and Iron Man 2 (I loved seeing Robert Downey, Jr. face off with Mickey Rourke). There are probably a few others that just haven't immediately come to mind.

Hustle & Flow - This is one of those wildly entertaining movies that is morally reprehensible when you think about it for more than five seconds. Terrence Howard gives a genuinely terrific performance as a pimp we're somehow supposed to pity, who is trying to get a hip-hop career off the ground. I am pretty sure I can't support any of the notions this movie presents about relationships or the sex trade -- but it's got a great beat.

Binge-watching Bond part 23: 'Skyfall'

Talk about saving the best for last.

The 23rd film in the wildly successful James Bond canon arrived three years ago, conveniently on the 50th anniversary of the entire franchise. After the disappointment of Quantum of Solace, there was some apprehension about where the series might go.

Still, after a four year hiatus most fans were just happy to have 007 back -- little did they know they were about see a movie that would dramatically reinvigorate the series and arguably be the greatest Bond film of all time.

I am certainly one of those that feel that way. Skyfall is both the culmination of every great previous Bond movie and as Daniel Craig's 007 puts it in one pivotal scene, a harbinger of a "brave new world." Besides becoming the most successful Bond film financially so far, winning best song at the Oscars, and being a bonafide cultural phenomenon for a period -- the movie also serves as a dynamite spy film.

The plot is one of the most original and daring in the history of 007. It puts an elderly woman (Judi Dench, giving a delicious performance as M) in the center of the action, it pits an effeminate and deformed villain (an Academy Award worthy Javier Bardem) against her as the villain, all while filling out the previously unknown backstory of who James Bond was before he was 007.

Casino Royale and other Bond films may have scratched the surface, but Skyfall digs deeper into the emotional make-up of 007. It pulls this off without being plodding thanks to Daniel Craig's to-date best performance as James Bond. It also helps that the script is incredibly well-paced and written. The film gets a top notch director -- Oscar winner Sam Mendes -- who really puts his own stamp on the movie without messing with the elements we love in a 007 movie. And then there's the score -- which is perfection -- and finally, the cinematography, which is sublime.

Even if you are one of this film's few detractors -- and in this age of hyper-cynical film viewership, it inevitably does -- one must admit that it is hands-down the best looking 007 film of all time.

The locales, the ladies, every inch of this movie looks sumptuous, and the action is staged in such a crisp and precise manner (unlike the sloppily-edited set pieces in its predecessor) that you feel like you are in the thick of it every step of the way.

What makes Skyfall so special? It puts an emphasis on story -- and in this one you have a very basic revenge plot that takes on epic proportions because of the people involved. It both pays tribute to the established Bond archetype (as well as his sidekicks M, Q, etc.) but it also conveys a modern anxiety we all have about faceless villainy.

In that sense it shares some DNA with the great Christopher Nolan reboot The Dark Knight, which seemed to both modernize and enshrine Batman as a necessary part of our culture. And although Bond will never be as brooding a hero as the Caped Crusader, after Skyfall it's clear that no one serves up globe-trotting escapism quite like him; like the song says "Nobody does it better."

If the film has a flaw is that it has raised the bar so high, it's almost as if anything that follows will inevitably be a disappointment. This was one of those rare films I not only saw twice in theaters but I found myself giddy at the prospect of a follow-up. With a new M, Moneypenny, and Q firmly established and in place I can't wait to see my favorite 007 -- Daniel Craig -- suit back up for a least a couple more adventures.

Unfortunately, I'll have to wait till November for Bond 24, a.k.a. Spectre, but binge-watching these movies has been a real pleasure and has only rewet my appetite for more.

My rankings:

1) Skyfall
2) From Russia With Love
3) The Spy Who Loved Me
4) Goldfinger
5) Casino Royale
6) For Your Eyes Only
7) Live and Let Die
8) Dr. No
9) On Her Majesty's Secret Service
10) The Living Daylights
11) GoldenEye
12) Octopussy
13) You Only Live Twice
14) Diamonds Are Forever
15) Thunderball
16) Die Another Day
17) Moonraker
18) The World Is Not Enough
19) The Man with the Golden Gun
20) Quantum of Solace
21) Tomorrow Never Dies
22) A View to a Kill
23) License to Kill

Liz's take: Best Bond movie ever -- drop the mike. It looked great. Daniel Craig seems more comfortable in the role than ever before. He's both suave and rough-and-tumble in this movie. Before re-watching it (I only saw it the one time in theaters), I was thinking I might be disappointed by the lack of a strong female character, but even though Berenice Lim Marlohe doesn't have a lot of screen time, her performance is heartbreaking and she does a lot with a little.

I like that the film really plays with your expectations -- killing of characters, catching the villain early -- keeping you intrigued about what it going to happen next. I thought the action was fantastic  -- the opening scene could have been the climax of several movies, and same could be said for an underground subway chase and shootout out during government hearings.

Bardem is phenomenal as the bad guy, he gives a flamboyant performance without looking silly. His character's motivations are very personal which helps invest you in his story, as well as M's and Bond's. You get invested in the stakes in a way that you don't if it's countries and governments on the line instead of characters we care about.

This film did so many things so well -- Daniel Craig's performance, the way it's shot, the nods to the Bond legacy, the theme song. The re-introduction of Moneypenny works for me because now she and 007 actually have real tension with each other that doesn't feel artificial. This set the bar so high, I am little nervous about Spectre. I'm excited to see Craig as 007 again and I'm pleased that director Sam Mendes is returning -- but I'll be going in with tempered expectations because I don't know they're going to top this.

Liz's rankings:

1) Skyfall
2) On Her Majesty's Secret Service
3) For Your Eyes Only
4) Casino Royale
5) Goldfinger
6) Dr. No
7) Live and Let Die
8) The Man with the Golden Gun
9) The Spy Who Loved Me
10) The World Is Not Enough
11) GoldenEye
12) The Living Daylights
13) Quantum of Solace
14) Octopussy
15) Moonraker
16) A View to a Kill
17) License to Kill
18) Tomorrow Never Dies
19) Die Another Day
20) You Only Live Twice
21) From Russia With Love
22) Diamonds Are Forever
23) Thunderball

Happy 4th! First time viewing of fascist parody 'Starship Troopers'

I finally got around to watching Starship Troopers from start to finish yesterday and I can't think of a better movie to celebrate the Fourth of July with.

I'm not sure why I've never watched it before, I've always heard great things about it and I consider myself a big Paul Verhoven fan.

In a way, Starship Troopers is the culmination of an incredible string of films which are all subversive parodies of American culture and its strain of reactionary politics.

First there was Robocop, a darkly funny sci-fi classic, which recently spawned a mediocre remake.

He followed that up with one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's all-time best -- Total Recall, and concluded with his one-two punch of sexual excess: Basic Instinct and Showgirls.

Showgirls, in particular, has always fascinated me. It is not only one of the best bad movies ever made -- I'm also beginning to believe its director was consciously mocking his own film as he made.

Listen to any interview with Verhoven and you get the sense of an incredibly smart and sophisticated man, with a pronounced socialist streak and a revulsion (mixed with admiration) for the fascistic side of American nature. And he has explicitly said that the ultraviolent, superficially bad Starship Troopers is about that very subject.

Casper Van Dien in Starship Troopers

Seeing the film today -- complete with it's horribly dated CGI -- I am so impressed that Verhoven could hoodwink a major studio to bankroll such a ridiculous movie. I suppose execs only saw what it appeared to be -- a byproduct of the bigger is better aesthetic of '90s action movies -- with copious nudity and a high body count.

But the movie is so hilarious and profoundly prescient, that it's hard to believe that people didn't fully 'get it' when came out back in 1997.

The wooden, perfectly coiffed stars square off against an invasion of indistinct bug creatures, all brought to you with commercial breaks from a totalitarian regime called 'the Federation.' It's both wildly entertaining, stupefyingly silly and overblown. In other words -- it's a quintessential American movie. The cast of mostly blonde, blue-eyed 'heroes' grows increasingly heartless as the story evolves and as their 'performances' heighten, so does the gore and the trenchant social commentary.

It could only have been made how it was and when it was. It arrived at time of unparalleled American superiority -- we were in the midst of a historic economic boom and we were at peace. It's hard to imagine a film parodying American military muscle would ever fly in a post-9/11 world.

But safely tucked away as a '90s artifact -- Starship Troopers is pretty irresistible.

Binge-watching Bond part 22: 'Quantum of Solace'

Daniel Craig and Gemma Arterton in Quantum of Solace

This film plays like a prime example of what not to do in a James Bond film.

The lone misstep of the Daniel Craig era so far, Quantum of Solace was a letdown the first time I saw it back in 2008 and, unfortunately, it hasn't improved with repeated viewings.

I still love Craig in the role and the movie looks great -- but it makes so many mistakes that it's hard for me not to rank it near the bottom of the pack. First off, the title alone is a buzzkill. We're basically asked to spend an hour and 45 minutes watching Bond get over a woman ... who betrayed him.

This isn't Diana Rigg in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, an innocent woman who Bond genuinely falls in love with and married. This is Vesper Lynd, a woman who lied to him for the entire duration of their time together. As great as Casino Royale was, no was clamoring for a direct sequel which Quantum of Solace is.

Like Casino Royale, this film packs on the action scenes early and often, but the editing is so choppy and relentless that the chases and fights are hard to follow, and ultimately become numbing. This might be the fault of the unconventional directing choice of Marc Forster, who later did action adeptly with World War Z, but prior to this film his credits were largely dramas like Finding Neverland.

The plot is a snoozer and the villain is a wimp -- an eco-terrorist -- or something like that. Meanwhile, the principle Bond girl, while beautiful, spends most of the movie pouting and she and 007 never really consummate their relationship. A second, more light-hearted heroine is thrown in for good measure, but then gets killed right when she starts to become interesting.

There is next to no humor in the film, which feels less like a 007 movie than almost all of its predecessors. In some ways it recalls License to Kill, the ill-fated Timothy Dalton Bond film. Like that 007 adventure, this film tries to break too much with tradition -- with a bad guy who may actually be in cahoots with the British government and shadowy subplots involving mysterious, unnamed organizations.

Skyfall ended up doing a much better job of creating a relevant, timely plot without sacrificing the timeless qualities we love about Bond. But this film, in an effort to keep pace with the Bourne films, is almost all style with no substance.

When the film ends, almost on a perfunctory note, I felt largely unsatisfied. Still, Craig remains compelling throughout -- and he does enliven several of the action set pieces. I just wish the movie was more fun and better conceived.

My rankings:

1) From Russia With Love
2) The Spy Who Loved Me
3) Goldfinger
4) Casino Royale
5) For Your Eyes Only
6) Live and Let Die
7) Dr. No
8) On Her Majesty's Secret Service
9) The Living Daylights
10) GoldenEye
11) Octopussy
12) You Only Live Twice
13) Diamonds Are Forever
14) Thunderball
15) Die Another Day
16) Moonraker
17) The World Is Not Enough
18) The Man with the Golden Gun
19) Quantum of Solace
20) Tomorrow Never Dies
21) A View to a Kill
22) License to Kill

Liz's take: I enjoyed Quantum of Solace because I continue to appreciate Daniel Craig's performance as James Bond, but it was definitely a letdown after Casino Royale. The plot is thin, yet manages to be somewhat preachy and in contrast to Casino Royale, where they take time to develop the story and the characters, this movie frontloads itself with too many action scenes.

The female characters suffer because of this early emphasis on action set pieces. Neither Bond girl gets to establish themselves -- with one who shows glimmers of fun getting killed quickly, albeit in a memorable way.

After I watched the movie the first time I barely remembered it and seeing it a second time did little for me. There were a couple sequences that were well edited -- the opera sequence in particular showed a 007 I like to see, an effective spy, flushing out his enemies. And Judi Dench has some nice sassy moments as M, but I think the movie was riding on the coattails of Casino Royale.

The things that I liked about it were all aspects that Casino Royale did better the first time around.

Liz's rankings:

1) On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2) For Your Eyes Only
3) Casino Royale
4) Goldfinger
5) Dr. No
6) Live and Let Die
7) The Man with the Golden Gun
8) The Spy Who Loved Me
9) The World Is Not Enough
10) GoldenEye
11) The Living Daylights
12) Quantum of Solace
13) Octopussy
14) Moonraker
15) A View to a Kill
16) License to Kill
17) Tomorrow Never Dies
18) Die Another Day
19) You Only Live Twice
20) From Russia With Love
21) Diamonds Are Forever
22) Thunderball