Sometimes there are movies that everyone loves, and you don't. I'm generally pretty open-minded about most movies (it helps to be in this business), and I can usually find something I like in almost every movie. There are, however, some movies that I don't like. These aren't all "hot takes." For most of them, I completely appreciate the quality of the movie in question; they just don't land with me on a personal level.

This is a "me problem" most of the time, but still, I wanted to put this list together to talk about movies everyone loves, but have never done anything for me, so without further ado, let's get into it!

The Shawshank Redemption

Let's just get this big one out of the way. The Shawshank Redemption is generally considered one of, if not the, best movies of the 1990s by many people. The Frank Darabont-directed prison movie, based on a book by Stephen King and starring Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, is beloved by many, especially those people (like me) who watched it on cable all the time in the '90s. The thing is, I just don't like it. Maybe it's because of the prison element, or that it's a little too... I don't know... cheesy to me. It doesn't work for me.

The Deer Hunter

Where to start with The Deer Hunter? Often cited as not only one of the best war movies ever, it's even thought of as one of the best films of all time. I couldn't disagree more with those assessments. This might be a hot take, but I find it boring. Do we really need to see a Russian-Orthodox wedding as it happens? The history is dubious at best. There is nothing that ties Russian Roulette to POW camps in Vietnam in actual history. While the performances are amazing from the entire cast, the movie, with a runtime of 184 minutes, is about 3 hours too long.

Avatar

The first time I saw Avatar, I was on a double date, and my girlfriend and I spent the whole movie snickering about how silly we thought it was. The other couple on the date loved it (as most seem to), so again, we snickered about how silly the movie is, and how much the other couple loved it. The special effects achievements in Avatar are rightfully lauded, but everything else... I can't take it seriously.

300

People were so excited when the graphic novel 300 got a film adaptation in 2006. While I'm often a stickler for good history in a movie about historical events, that's not what bothers me about this one. For me, the movie just looks and feels incredibly cheesy.

Magnolia

Paul Thomas Anderson is a polarizing director, at least in my own head. I tend to either really love his movies (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, Hard Eight, and Inherent Vice are all movies you can watch over and over) or I really don't like them at all, like Magnolia. I remember being so excited to see his follow-up to Boogie Nights in the theater and walking away disappointed and, honestly, pretty bored by the movie.

Scarface

Scarface has to be one of the most dated movies of all time. Talk about cheesy! Everything from Miami in the '80s to the score by the legendary Giorgio Moroder all feels like they are trapped in time - and not in a good way. Though some might disagree, it's also a really boring movie for most of it. Sure, the action scenes are classics, but Al Pacino's weird accent ruins even some of the best lines for me.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

I'm the perfect age for someone who loves Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, as I was a preteen when it came it. It is a movie directed right at the audience I was a part of when it became a smash hit in 1980. I never really liked it, even then. The humor doesn't land for me at all. I do like the animation, but other than that, it's just not for me.

Sin City

I don't read a lot of graphic novels, and that might be why I don't like adaptations like 300 or this one, Sin City. Both are adapted from works by Frank Miller, some of whose adaptations I do really like, like the third season of Daredevil, then on Netflix, now part of the MCU on Disney+. The style of Sin City does little for me, and I just couldn't get past that.

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid is a movie I really want to like. I love both stars of the movie, Robert Redford and Paul Newman, and The Sting, which I first saw years before seeing Butch and Sundance, is still one of my all-time favorite movies. I'm also a huge fan of Westerns, and despite this being considered one of the best Westerns of all time, I've never been able to connect with this one. I've tried over the years to get into it, but I end up turning it off every time.

Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino is a director, like some others on this list, who is always a little hit-or-miss with me. Reservoir Dogs is one of my all-time favorites, and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is an example where I think Tarantino nailed the alternate history in the story he was telling. Inglourious Basterds is the opposite of that. Outside of the incredible opening scene with Christoph Waltz's amazing performance, the movie is just too silly for me, and the ending drives me nuts. I do secretly love Brad Pitt's wacky accent.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Time for me to come clean: I'm not a big fan of any of the Mad Max franchise. Although I'm the perfect age to have grown up with it, I've never been able to get into it. Mad Max: Fury Road is widely praised, and visually, it is really awesome, but seeing it once was enough for me. I have no desire to watch it again.

Titanic

I know I'm not alone here in my dislike of Titanic. That's not to say I hate everything about the movie. I actually really love the set design and the special effects. Visually, it's an amazing movie. It's the story that does absolutely nothing for me. Frankly, it bores me, and now, by no fault of the movie itself, it's been so meme'd and quoted over the years, it leaves me with no desire to watch it again.

Top Gun: Maverick

The original Top Gun is a near-perfect action movie in my opinion. Its sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, was disappointing because it's basically a beat-for-beat remake. That's not why I really don't like it, though. It's that silly ending, which is essentially the exact same idea as Luke blowing up the Death Star in the first Star Wars movie, and that left me really bummed out when I finished watching it.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

When people rank the MCU movies, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is often near the top, or at least in the top third of all the movies. For me, though, it's way down the list. But what do I know? I love Iron Man 2, and everyone else hates that one.

Chariots Of Fire

I'm convinced that the reason people love Chariots Of Fire is solely for the incredible score by Vangelis. I love a good period piece, and by all accounts, I should love this movie, and yet, I don't. It's a movie that somehow won Best Picture over Raiders of the Lost Ark, and that never should have happened!

Heat

Another movie that I think I should really love, but just can't buy some of the ridiculous dialogue is Heat. The epic shootout is amazing, and I remember all too well what a huge deal it was that Al Pacino and Robert De Niro were appearing in scenes together in a movie for the first time. That novelty has worn off, and all we're left with is some silly dialogue now.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

This is where Wes Anderson lost me. I was excited for The Grand Budapest Hotel when it was released, as I was a huge fan of Anderson's earlier work, but this one left me feeling flat and, frankly, a little annoyed at the directing. I love that Anderson has a clear vision and style in his movies, but I'm just not into them anymore.

American Hustle

I once had a friend comment that American Hustle should really be called "American Hair and Makeup." The wardrobe and make-up departments more than earned their money on this one; it's all fantastic. The movie could have been so much better, though.

Once Upon a Time in America

Once Upon a Time in America is one of those movies that has what feels like dozens of different versions. The directors cut, the theatrical cut, the USSR cut... it goes on and on, but I have yet to find a version of the movie that makes me love it. Maybe one day a Redux cut will finally make it click.

The Big Chill

I'm pretty outspoken about my feelings about Gen X nostalgia, and that's my generation. I had to grow up in an America drenched in Baby Boomer nostalgia, and no movie represents that quite like The Big Chill. That said, I will always be grateful for the movie introducing me to Motown with its fantastic soundtrack.

Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump is a movie that never fails to annoy me. Yes, it has a great soundtrack, and I actually love Tom Hanks' performance in it. But it's just dripping in saccharine Boomer nostalgia, and that will always annoy me about it.

Driving Miss Daisy

I remember what a huge deal Driving Miss Daisy was when it was released, and I'm almost positive it was the first movie I ever saw with Morgan Freeman, so it does get points for that. It loses points for everything else.

The Shape Of Water

Let me get this straight... Is The Shape of Water is a better movie than Dunkirk, Get Out, Darkest Hour, Call Me By Your Name, and The Post? That's what the Academy thought when it named the movie Best Picture at the 2018 Oscars. There's just no way. I don't get it. Maybe it's me, but of all the films directed by Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water is by far my least favorite.

Grease

I get, Grease is a beloved movie for generations of kids and teenagers. The musical is one of the most popular movies ever made, and that popularity has never waned. Except with me. It never did anything for me. Except for the song "Greased Lightnin'." That's a great tune.

Harold And Maude

I love a great dark comedy, and Harold and Maude should fit that bill for me, but it just doesn't do anything for me at all. I mean, I kind of appreciate that Maude lives in an old train car; that's fun.

The Iron Giant

The Iron Giant is the perfect example of a movie that just came out at the wrong time for me. I was too old to care about kids' movies and too young to appreciate kids' movies as an adult. It's a movie that I finally watched about 20 years after it came out, simply because it was referenced in Ready Player One, but it still just wasn't for me.

American Sniper

I love a good movie about the military, and American Sniper is a very intense one of those, for sure. This is a case where I don't totally hate the movie, but I don't like it enough to ever watch again. I'm not going to get political here, so I'll leave it at that. Also, the fake baby totally took me out of the movie, and I never really recovered.

Easy Rider

I'm a huge fan of late '60s music and, by extension, the hippie culture. I love literature from the era, and so, by all accounts. I should love Easy Rider. Except... I don't. Like other movies on this list, it feels really dated, as do a lot of movies from the era. The motorcycles will always look cool, though.

Brazil

Terry Gilliam is a genius. I love his work with Monty Python, and I'm a big fan of a bunch of his movies, like Time Bandits, 12 Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and The Fisher King. I'm a huge fan of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, as well. But I just don't like Brazil. I can't put my finger on exactly why I don't, but I find it a little boring, and while I generally appreciate anything weird, this one may just be a little too off-kilter for me.

Moneyball

I read the book Moneyball years before the movie came out, and I have the same issue with the book as I do with the movie. As a baseball fan, it bugs me that the movie completely downplays the epic pitching staff the A's had in this era and gives far too much credit to Billy Beane's rethinking of player evaluation. It's something that I just can't get out of my head whenever I try to watch the movie.

The Fifth Element

I get why people love The Fifth Element. It's visually stunning, and the cast is amazing. It's missing something that I can't put my finger on. Maybe I need to try this one again, but I'm not sure I'll like it anymore than I used to.

Terms Of Endearment

For me, Terms of Endearment isn't one of those movies that is so good, but so brutal to watch that you can never watch it again; it's just a bland movie that I'll never understand how it won so many awards or was so popular at the time. It's a stellar cast, to be sure, but it seems only to serve one purpose: to make people cry. That isn't my kind of movie.

Comedies in the 1980s were just built differently. Sure, there are plenty of examples of movies that have been reevaluated for their questionable humor in more modern times, but one thing even the controversial ones did well was their over-the-top endings. It became a staple of the genre in the decade to end in the most ridiculous ways. Here is our list of some of our favorite examples of such endings. The list is hardly exhaustive, that would be impossible, but if you're looking for a good '80s comedy to watch with one of your subscription services, these are all great choices.

The Blues Brothers

The Blues Brothers, starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, is an action movie as much as it is a comedy. Well, it's also a musical, but the purpose of this list it's an action movie. The car chase at the end of the movie is legendary. Dozens, if not hundreds, of cars were trashed while shooting the scene, and it'll forever go down as one of the most famous car chases in Hollywood history.

Airplane!

It's a little absurd to include the crazy ending of a movie as wild as Airplane!, but we shouldn't discount the ridiculous ending just because the whole movie is ridiculous, right? The flop sweat pouring out of Ted Striker (Robert Hays) as he tries to guide the plane down with no help from the inflatable autopilot is worth this list alone.

Caddyshack

Carl Spackler (Bill Murray) spends most of Caddyshack at war with the gopher. Sure, he finds some time to get wasted with Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) and do a quick loop with the priest, but mostly it's about the Vermin Kong. In the end, he blows giant holes all over the course in one last desperate attempt to take the gopher out, but the rodent prevails, and Danny's putt falls into the cup. Everyone but Judge Smails (Ted Knight) and Carl is happy.

Ghostbusters

Has there ever been anything sillier than a giant Marshmallow Man rampaging the streets of Manhattan? When the creators and writers of Ghostbusters imagined how to end their movie, they couldn't have known how iconic it would become. The only thing funnier might have been a 500-foot-tall zombie of John Belushi, but they found another way to fit him into the movie as Slimer.

Stripes

Remember, in the words of John Winger (Bill Murray), it's not like they were going into Moscow at the end of Stripes in a heavily-armed recreational vehicle. They were going into Czechoslovakia, it's like going into Wisconsin. The band of misfit army trainees still manage to pull off their incredible stunt and rescue their platoon sergeant (and "big toe"), Sgt. Hulka (Warren Oates).

National Lampoon's Vacation

It was never hard in the 1980s for a Chevy Chase character to prove that he was the biggest jerk in the room, and National Lampoon's Vacation is no exception. On one hand, you can't really blame Clark for losing it, after the disastrous drive cross country ends in an empty Wally World parking lot because the park is closed. Buying a gun (real or not) wasn't the right answer, but it sure was funny, especially with John Candy as the hapless security guard.

Back To School

Rodney Dangerfield is still responsible for some of the funniest quotes in comedy history, and quite a few come from Back To School. None of Dangerfield's hilarious quotes are quite as ridiculous as his dive, the Triple Lindy, that he does at the end of the movie. The faces he makes alone make it worthy of inclusion here. Something like that could only be "learned" on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Struggling with a big school project is something everyone can relate to. Maybe that's what has made Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure so endearing and so enduring. Nah, it's really the two knuckleheads that go on that adventure through time and ultimately bring back half a dozen historical greats for their final presentation. Party on, dudes!

The 'Burbs

The ending to The 'Burbs is crazy. Houses are blown up, the block is destroyed, and Tom Hanks has one of his best meltdowns. The escalation in the movie just keeps growing and growing until their nice, suburban street is left in literal rubble.

Real Genius

The popcorn scene at the end of Real Genius is, for lack of a better word, genius. Not only is it a great prank to pull on the main character's annoying professor, but they actually used real popcorn!

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Like a few other movies on this list, it feels a little weird to call the ending of Who Framed Roger Rabbit "ridiculous" when the whole movie is meant to be pretty darn absurd. Still, we couldn't leave it off the list, either. It's when we find out that Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) was a toon (and why he never blinked) when he melts into ink and dies.

Trading Places

People can quibble about whether or not the ending of Trading Places is financially accurate or not, but it doesn't matter. The whole third act of the movie, from the train ride to the beach scene at the very end, is just insane. Insane in the very best way.

Better Off Dead

There are two things that make Better Off Dead's ending ridiculous. First, skiing the "K12" with one ski. This is a mountain that Lane (John Cusack) couldn't ski with both skis for most of the movie, but then he completes it with one? Oooookay. Then, somehow, he ends up on the field at Dodger Stadium making out with Monique (Diane Julian). Still, while it may be one dark comedy, it's the "comedy" part that hits the hardest.

Police Academy

It's easy to forget that the original Police Academy was a monster hit in the spring of 1984. It was, in fact, one of the biggest movies of the year, and it explains why there were so many (mostly terrible) sequels. Still, the original is a classic, and the riot that ends the movie is completely ridiculous and completely hilarious.

Christmas Vacation

Clark Griswold is back up to his shenanigans in Christmas Vacation, only this time, it's not really his fault that the end of the story is so insane. It's really Cousin Eddie's fault. Eddie (Randy Quaid) kidnaps Clark's boss, which is crazy enough, but the SWAT team crashing through every window in the house is way over the top. It's wonderful.

Big Trouble In Little China

The ending of Big Trouble In Little China is lot to explain, and it's best that if you aren't familiar with the movie, go watch it right now! the closing battle is, frankly, awesome, and it makes the comedy into more than just a movie that brings some great laughs and some iconic Kurt Russell quotes. Still, will we ever find out what happened with Wild-Man? Where's the sequel??

Little Shop Of Horrors

This one has a little caveat to it. The ending of the movie that we all saw in Little Shop of Horrors was honestly pretty standard: the guy saves the day and gets the girl. Why it's on this list is what it could have been. The original ending (and the ending in the play) saw Audrey getting eaten by the plant, and Seymour, realizing that a corporation wanted to sell more plants, tries to kill the plant. He fails, and the plants propagate worldwide and become forces of massive destruction, including Godzilla-like moments where they destroy buildings. Oh, what could have been had test audiences not hated it!

Top Secret!

Yet another ridiculous movie on this list with a ridiculous ending. Top Secret! was Val Kilmer's first movie, and will always be one of his best roles, and the ending, including the bar fight underwater, is a big reason why.

Revenge Of The Nerds

Revenge of the Nerds is one of the movies from the '80s that is problematic on so many levels, but that doesn't take away from its huge popularity in its day. The final song, with all the Lambda's joining on to win the fraternity cup thing, is and always will be a total banger. Cancel it for all the reasons it should be canceled for, but leave the song alone!

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

Major League superstar and future Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson trying to kill Queen Elizabeth II? Yeah, that's gonna land a spot on this list every single time. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! is a stone-cold classic, and the ending is so over-the-top it has to be here, and that's not even including Norberg (O.J. Simpson) flying off the top deck of the stadium!

Ghostbusters II

When the team of Ghostbusters returned for their second adventure, you knew they had to up the ante from the original's ending. How about a Statue of Liberty that has the ability to walk and destroy the city, ala the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man? Add in the banging music, and you've got an all-time great ending, especially for a sequel.

The Goonies

At the end of The Goonies, after the kids have saved the day, a reporter sums it all up when he describes a pirate ship, One-Eyed Willie's pirate ship, floating out into the sea off the coast of Oregon. Sure, there might have been a squid we never saw, but it was mentioned at the end, and even without it, the pirate ship qualifies the movie for this list.

Risky Business

It's a good thing everything worked out for Joel (Tom Cruise) in Risky Business, and wow, did it take until the last moment for things to do so. If only his mom hadn't noticed that crack in her crystal...

A Fish Called Wanda

A Fish Called Wanda is such a forgotten classic. It's not a true Monty Python movie, but it does feature Michael Palin and John Cleese, alongside Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline. Palin's character running over Kline's with a cement roller is the reason it's on this list and one of the things that make it a true classic.

Heathers

Christian Slater and Winona Ryder became Gen X icons in large part due to Heathers. The dark comedy will forever be one of that generation's touchstones, though many don't remember how over the top the ending was. Slater's character, J.D., tries to blow up the school, and while Veronica (Ryder) stops him from committing mass murder, he does manage to blow himself up. Things really escalated quickly!

The Cannonball Run

Dom DeLuise's character in The Cannonball Run is the biggest nut among a sea of crazy people, and while he has a chance to win the crazy race, he gets sidetracked, leaving the win to another team. His ridiculous character ruins it all, and it's brilliant. Plus, it set up the sequel nicely.

Romancing The Stone

Romancing the Stone is on this list for one reason. Jack (Michael Douglas) not only hauls a giant yacht through the streets of Manhattan looking for Jane (Kathleen Turner), but the sails on the boat are raised! Have you ever walked down the concrete canyons of New York City on a windy day? What would happen to a full sailboat with its sails up? Yikes!

Armed And Dangerous

The end of Armed and Dangerous is a crazy chase scene with John Candy doing some of his best, and most under-appreciated work. It's not always the best movie, but the ending does make up for some of that.

The Couch Trip

Too many people aren't familiar with The Couch Trip. It's a hilarious movie with a stellar cast including Dan Aykroyd, Charles Grodin, and Walter Matthau. It ends with Matthau having to be rescued off the top of the Hollywood sign, which in and of itself is worth the price of admission.

The War Of The Roses

Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas made some great movies in the eighties, and by far the darkest was The War Of The Roses. It's one of those movies that just keeps getting crazier and crazier as the two Roses fight over their house and everything else in the divorce. It ends with the two of them lying on the floor, barely alive, but still fighting.

Weird Science

A nuclear missile, catatonic grandparents, and a grotesque-looking older brother. That's more or less how Weird Science ends (though everything is fixed in the end. It's a wild ending to a John Hughes classic.

Beverly Hills Cop

If you're not aware, Beverly Hills Cop was originally intended to be an action movie starring Sly Stallone in the lead. Instead, we got one of the funniest movies of the 1980s with Eddie Murphy playing the cop from Detroit avenging his friend in L.A. The shootout at the end seems kind of out of place, and it's a wild shootout, until you realize the movie's origin story.

There are a lot of great bartenders in film and TV history. Guys like Same Malone in Cheers and Moe in The Simpsons. The kind of guys that quick with a joke and ready to hear you lament about your job. Pouring stiff drinks and beers while their patrons celebrate and mourn, congratulate and commiserate, and everything else that happens at your local water hole. This list celebrates all those great bartenders in movies and TV shows.

Sam Malone - Cheers

Of course Sam Malone has to be on this list. The owner (at least some of the time) and operator of Cheers bar in Boston's Back Bay. Played by Ted Danson for all eleven seasons of the smash hit Cheers, Sam is always ready to poor Norm, Cliff, and the rest of the gang great drinks and cold beers.

Isaac Washington - The Love Boat

For many people, the most important person on a cruise ship is the bartender. These days modern cruise ships have dozens of bartenders, but back in the day, the Pacific Princess, better known and The Love Boat only needed one, Isaac Washington (Ted Lange). At least, Isaac we pretty much the only bartender anyone ever ordered a drink from, and he always served it with a smile.

Marion Ravenwood - Raiders Of The Lost Ark

Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) tried to run away from her problems (and her former lover) by heading to Nepal and opening a rundown shack of a bar that at least had a warm fire and some stiff drinks to help her customers get through the long, cold nights - at least until that ex-boyfriend showed up looking for her father in Raiders Of The Lost Ark.

Lloyd - The Shining

There aren't a lot of people for Jack (Jack Nicholson) to talk to at the Overlook Hotel in The Shining. Unfortunately, Jack either invents Lloyd or supernatural forces create him, but either way, audiences quickly learn he's not the friendly bartender we've all come to expect in hotel bars. He does know how to mix up a whole bunch of martinis in a hurry though.

Guinan - Star Trek: The Next Generation

Even the crew of the USS Enterprise need a place to unwind and have a few drinks after a long day below decks. On Star Trek: The Next Generation, that means heading to the Ten-Forward lounge and sipping on the concoctions created by Guinan, played by the legendary Whoopi Goldberg.

Al Swearengen - Deadwood

Al Swearengen is the foul-mouthed, mean, criminally-minded propriator of the Gem Saloon on Deadwood. Played brilliantly by the great Ian McShane, Swearengen is so much more than a drink-slinger, as he is the most powerful person in town and the most likely to get violent, or have his crew get violent, in a town full of mayhem.

Horace - The Family Guy

For 11 seasons (and decades in show-time), Horace was the owner and bartender at The Drunken Clam, Peter and company's preferred watering hole in The Family Guy. It's hard to say how long Horace was serving up drinks, as he's there in almost every flashback to the bar going back...well... again, who knows. Sadly we lost Horace in Season 11 when he died and the guys have to go all out to save "The Clam."

Razor Charlie - From Dusk Till Dawn

Audiences don't get a ton of Razor Charlie in From Dusk Till Dawn, played by the menacing (and awesome) Danny Trejo. While he tries to run the bar with iron fist at the beginning of the movie, it comes up against a crew that he shouldn't have messed with.

Brian Flanagan - Cocktail

Brian Flanagan (Tom Cruise) is a terrible bartender at the beginning of Cocktail, one of those '80s movies that just has not stood the test of time. He soon meets Doug (Bryan Brown), a veteran bartender who literally knows every trick in the book and soon Brian and Doug are a superstar team of bottle-flipping bartenders who are much performers as they are servers. At least the movie has a great soundtrack.

Coach - Cheers

One of the bartenders we miss the most is "Coach" Ernie Pantusso. he was Sam's original partner behind the bar on Cheers, who was, let's just say, a few bottles short of a case. Sadly, when actor Nicholas Colasanto died after Season 3, Coach followed him to that great bar in the sky and we've been mourning the loss ever since.

Butchie - The Wire

If we're honest, as awesome as Butchie in The Wire is, we're not sure it's the kind of bar we'd want to hang out. Butchie, played by S. Robert Morgan, is more of a banker to the criminals of Baltimore than he is strictly a bartender and while he's always loyal, he keeps some awfully shady company.

Moe Szyslak - The Simpsons

What would Homer Simpson do with his free time if it wasn't for Moe's Tavern? That goes for Lenny, Carl, and especially Barney too. Moe is the surliest bartender on TV, but that's part of his charm. He's gruff, ugly, and quick to lose his temper, especially to those annoying kids who keep prank-calling him, but he's also always sincere and genuine.

Rick Blaine - Casablanca

While not strictly a bartender, more of an owner and keeper of secrets, Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) surely knows how to mix a mean martini after all those years running Rick's in Casablanca. He's probably served drinks all over the world and for that, he deserves to be on this list.

Spider - GoodFellas

Spider in GoodFellas, bless his heart, is clearly trying his best. The hapless drink server, played by future Sopranos star Michael Imperioli, just can't keep Tommy (Joe Pesci) happy. At first, his punishment is getting shot in the foot by the psychopath, but it gets worse from there. You're not alright, Spider.

Wuher - Star Wars

Every small town in the world - nay, the universe -has a gruff, somewhat racist bartender like Wuher in the first Star Wars movie. Sure, it probably takes an iron fist to run a bar in wretched hive of scum and villainy like Mos Eisley, but he's not the friendliest bartender on this list, for sure.

Woody Boyd - Cheers

After Cheers lost Coach, it wasn't long before they hired Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson) to replace him. Sure Woody was a lot younger than Coach, but he was just as... innocent and, well, dumb, as Coach. Luckily he was just as charming and the bar (and the show) didn't miss a beat with the new addition.

Doug Coughlin - Cocktail

Doug Coughlin (Bryan Brown) from Cocktail is easily the flashiest bartender on this list. He can flip a bottle and charm a customer like nobody's business. He's also good for business as the show he puts on draws people from all over the Tri-State area.

All Of The Bartenders In Coyote Ugly

Lil (Maria Bello) may own the bar in Coyote Ugly, but she's just one of the amazing bartenders who serves up drinks, and takes no guff, to the wild, drunken patrons every night of the week. It's impossible to have a favorite so it's only fair to include all of them on this list of great movie bartenders.

Gary - The Big Lebowski

Audiences never actually see Gary in The Big Lebowski, but that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve to be on this list. You can just tell by the way he interacts with The Dude (Jeff Bridges) and the rest of the guys at the bowling alley that he's a good guy and mixes a great White Russian.

Short Bartender - Desperado

Listed in the credits as "Short Bartender) and played by Cheech Marin, the barkeep in Desperado is clearly unimpressed by Buscemi (Steve Buscemi) from the moments he walks in the door. He even gives off as many hints as he can to warn Buscemi about acting correct in the tough saloon. That isn't enough, but you can't blame him for what happens next.

Georgie - The Sopranos

Georgie Santorelli on The Sopranos, played by Frank Santorelli, is pretty much a total idiot. While he seems to be decent at his job, serving up drinks to Tony and crew at the Bada Bing, he's pretty much a moron in every other way, but he's great comic relief on the show.

The Gang In Always Sunny In Philadelphia

This list is called "great bartenders" but let's be honest, the gang on Always Sunny In Philadelphia are all pretty terrible at everything, including bartending most of the time. There isn't much to say nice here, so let's move on.

Carl - How I Met Your Mother

Carl on How I Met Your Mother is hard to read. At times, the bartender at the show's popular pub MacLaren's, played by Joe Nieves, is sometimes the nicest guy in the room, but other times he's brutal and unforgiving. When you think about it, that's probably how all great bartenders need to be.

Mark Donnelly - Paradise

Mark Donnelly (Michael Hogan) on Paradise isn't a main character, like most of the bartenders on this list, but it doesn't take much to understand that he's an empathetic guy who not only serves a stiff drink, but he's ready and willing to let you talk about your problems. He's also pretty helpful in a pinch, as he proves when he tries to help Xavier (Sterling K. Brown) keep his children safe.

iZac - Futurama

One of the signature things about Futurama is putting a futuristic spin on cultural references and it doesn't get any better than a robot bartender with a sweet mustache name "iZac" as a callback to Isaac on The Love Boat. He's not always the most empathetic bartender, but he gets the job done.

The Octopus - Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

The only thing better than a two-armed bartender is an eight-armed one like the Octopus in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Anyone who has ever bartended knows that there would be nothing better than having a few extra appendages when the crowd fills up and the bar gets crazy at peak hours. This guy will make any server jealous with his skills.

Jim - Three's Company

Jim the bartender at the Regal Beagle on Three's Company, played by Paul Ainsley, is the most notable of all the bartenders and servers at the legendary TV watering hole. He doesn't have much to do as a character, but serving up drinks quickly and efficiently is enough for us.

Nick Miller - New Girl

Nick Miller in New Girl, played by Jake Johnson, is one of just a few bartenders on this list who also happens to be one of the main characters on a show. Nick is perfectly suited to be a bartender too, as his quick wit and empathetic nature make him a natural.

Margo - Gone Girl

Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) in Gone Girl is, if we're honest, a pretty terrible person. He may not be as psycho as his wife, but he's not a good guy. His sister, on the other hand, Margo (Carrie Coon) is actually a pretty good person who is loyal - maybe too loyal - to her brother and helps out however she can at his bar.

Arthur - Passengers

Arthur in the sci-fi romance Passengers is a character clearly inspired by Lloyd in The Shining, with the twist that instead of a figment of a character's imagination or worse, he's an android. He is the only person on the ship Jim (Chris Pratt) can call on to talk about his depression, but he can't keep a secret, which is something all bartenders should be able to do.

Frankie - Road House

Frankie (Jessica Williams) in Road House, the bonkers 2024 remake of the 1980s classic, really wants to save her bar in any way she can. She's a good owner, loyal to her staff, and fearless. She isn't just a bartender, of course, but she certainly knows how to pour a whiskey and open a cold beer, right?

Nick - It's A Wonderful Life

Nick the bartender in It's A Wonderful Life, played by Sheldon Leonard isn't the kind of guy who suffers fools and he's really got little time for dealing with any of his patrons' nonsense. That's exactly what some people need in a great bartender. Just keep 'em coming.

Genres are helpful—until a movie comes along that throws the rulebook into the fire. Some films are so inventive and wildly ambitious that slapping a single label on them feels like an insult. These movies blend tones, mix storytelling traditions, and challenge expectations at every turn. Whether mashup horror and comedy, sci-fi and romance, or animation and noir, these 32 films break free from traditional classification, proving that the best stories often refuse to fit into a box.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

The plot of Everything Everywhere All at Once sounds absurd when you hear it out loud. It’s sci-fi, but it’s also a family drama. It’s one of the best action movies in recent memory. It also happens to be an absurdist comedy with a scene that breaks my heart every time I see it–I still can’t look at rocks or googly eyes the same. It’s a meditation on existential dread wrapped in kung-fu spectacle. The Daniels crafted something that shouldn’t work but does—an emotional, high-energy, genre-blending rollercoaster where nihilism and love collide in the best way possible.

Donnie Darko (2001)

A suburban teen, time travel, existential horror, and a man in a creepy rabbit suit—Donnie Darko refuses to be pinned down. Is it a psychological thriller? A coming-of-age story? A horror film with sci-fi elements? Richard Kelly’s cult classic is all of these things, a moody, enigmatic puzzle box that continues to haunt viewers decades later, an easily one of Jake Gyllenhal’s best movie performances.

The Princess Bride (1987)

What other film can balance fairy tale fantasy, satirical comedy, swashbuckling action, and heart-melting romance without breaking a sweat? The Princess Bride is a book-to-screen adaptation that is as good, if not better than the novel it's based on. It’s a love letter to classic storytelling while also poking fun at its conventions. It’s pure magic—a film that can make you laugh, cheer, and cry, often within the same scene.

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, one of his best movies, refuses to let fantasy be an escape. Instead, it interweaves a fairy tale with the brutal realities of war-torn Spain. Part fantasy film, dripping in historical drama and a dash of horror. Del Toro blends all three into something chillingly beautiful, proving that sometimes the scariest monsters are human.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

A hard-boiled noir detective film… with animated cartoon characters running wild? Who Framed Roger Rabbit defies expectations by fusing classic film noir aesthetics with Looney Tunes madness. It’s part mystery, part slapstick comedy, part technical marvel, entirely unclassifiable, and, in retrospect, not very appropriate for children.

Swiss Army Man (2016)

Since finishing up his tenure as Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliff has made some weird movies, and none are as odd as Swiss Army Man. Think Cast Away with a farting corpse–as a stranded man befriends a farting, talking corpse with Swiss Army knife-like powers—if that sounds like nonsense, that’s because it is pure absurdist genius. It’s an iconic buddy comedy, an existential drama, and a surprisingly heartfelt film about loneliness, self-worth, and the strangeness of human connection.

The Fifth Element (1997)

Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element is one of the best science fiction movies of the 90s, sure, but it’s also a campy, over-the-top, French space opera that veers into comedy, action, and cartoon levels of insanity. It’s a spectacle of pure creative energy, filled with outlandish characters and visual madness that make it impossible to categorize.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is an unholy blend of campy B-movie horror and glam rock musicals. It embraces its genre-defying weirdness with open arms. It’s more than a film—it's an experience with some of the catchiest songs committed to screen.

Being John Malkovich (1999)

A movie about a portal into John Malkovich’s mind that turns into a psychological drama about identity, obsession, and control? Spike Jonze, in his directorial debut, and Charlie Kaufman turn an absurd premise into something deeply unsettling yet darkly funny, making Being John Malkovich one of the strangest films ever made and one of the best flicks of the 1990s.

The Shape of Water (2017)

If you mix a Cold War espionage thriller with a creature feature and, of course, a fairy tale romance, you’ll get an idea of what The Shape of Water is. Guillermo del Toro masterfully stitches these elements together into a haunting, poetic, and profoundly weird film. A love story between a woman and an amphibious creature shouldn't work, but in del Toro’s capable hands, the movie becomes unforgettable and deserves all its Oscar wins.

Hook (1991)

Though much maligned since its release, Hook is easily one of Robin Williams's best performances. It tells a compelling father-son story mixed with whimsy and is a family-friendly swashbuckler. However, at its heart, it’s a deeply melancholic story about rediscovering lost youth.

Spirited Away (2001)

Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away is an intoxicating blend of myth, folklore, and childhood wonder, defying any easy categorization. The film operates on dream logic, shifting between the whimsical and the nightmarish, crafting a world that feels both hauntingly strange and intimately familiar. It’s one of the very best adventure family movies out there.

Fargo (1996)

The Coen Brothers have a habit of making films that exist in the gray area between genres, and Fargo might be their greatest balancing act. It’s a crime thriller, a dark comedy with some of their funniest quotes, and a bleak meditation on human nature. The film is full of violence and tension, yet it never loses its absurd sense of humor—often in the same breath.

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

At first glance, The Cabin in the Woods is one of the best horror movies of the 2010s, but the deeper you go, the more it mutates into something else entirely. It works as a love letter to and a brutal deconstruction of the horror genre, blending meta-comedy with genuine scares. It starts like a standard slasher film, but by the end, it’s an apocalyptic fever dream that leaves you questioning everything you know about horror storytelling.

Gremlins (1984)

Is Gremlins a horror movie? A dark comedy? Is it a Christmas film or just Christmas-themed? The answer is all of the above. Joe Dante’s chaotic creature feature shifts wildly between tones, sometimes feeling like a heartwarming holiday classic and other times diving headfirst into gruesome horror. It manages to be both gleefully silly and genuinely unsettling—making it impossible to fit neatly into one category.

The Pagemaster (1994)

The Pagemaster refuses to commit to a single identity. Though it loomed large in my childhood, its unwillingness to commit to a single genre could be why it has such an abysmal Rotten Tomatoes score. While it’s positioned as a children’s film about the power of books, it blends so many visual and storytelling styles that it becomes something else entirely. This surreal, hybrid experience feels both nostalgic and oddly experimental.

Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China is an action movie that plays like a comedy, a kung-fu film that satirizes kung-fu films, and a supernatural adventure that revels in its own ridiculousness. It gleefully subverts action hero tropes, making its protagonist more of a bumbling sidekick–with some of the greatest Kurt Russel quotes–than a traditional lead. Its genre-bending nature has made it an enduring cult classic.

Her (2013)

Her straddles multiple genres while remaining profoundly intimate and personal. Yet again, Spike Jonze takes a premise that could have been used for satire—a man falling in love with his AI assistant—and turns it into a heartbreakingly sincere exploration of modern relationships. It’s futuristic but deeply human, making it impossible to categorize.

Last Action Hero (1993)

On the surface, it’s an action movie but also a deconstruction of action movies. Last Action Hero arguably came out at the wrong time, as it revels in Hollywood excess while poking fun at its clichés, blending over-the-top action with meta-commentary way ahead of its time. It’s self-aware, chaotic, and often refusing to be boxed into a single category.

Burn After Reading (2008)

Burn After Reading is classic Coen Brothers chaos—a film where every character thinks they’re in control, yet none of them have any idea what’s actually happening. It plays with the tropes of espionage thrillers, only to reveal that the stakes are laughably low, making it a darkly hilarious puzzle box of a movie. Also, it has one of the best Francis McDormand performances ever.

Men in Black (1997)

It’s a sci-fi film, but it’s also a buddy-cop comedy. It’s a blockbuster, but it has the sharp humor of a satire. Men in Black blends alien conspiracies, action-packed spectacle, laugh-out-loud comedy, and one of the scariest aliens committed to celluloid into something effortlessly entertaining. It thrives in its refusal to take itself too seriously, making it one of its era's most unique sci-fi films.

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Edward Scissorhands is unapologetically Tim Burton at his best. An oddity that defies easy classification. It’s equal parts whimsical and tragic, blending a monster movie's aesthetics with the romance's tenderness. The film’s visual style is pure fantasy, yet its emotional core is deeply human, making it one of Burton’s most enduring works.

A Ghost Story (2017)

A Ghost Story is a slow, meditative exploration of time, grief, and existential loneliness. It also tells the story of a spiritual being who walks the earth in a bed sheet. This story challenges everything you expect from a ghost story, stripping away jump scares and supernatural lore in favor of long, lingering shots and quiet, contemplative storytelling. It’s haunting, but not in the traditional sense—more of a melancholy whisper than a scream in the dark.

La La Land (2016)

A musical, but one that subverts the tropes of the genre. La La Land embraces old Hollywood spectacle while refusing to follow the standard “happily ever after” formula. It’s nostalgic yet modern, blending reality and fantasy in a way that feels both dreamlike and achingly real.

The Lobster (2015)

The Lobster is so uniquely bizarre that it exists in a separate genre–the genre of Yorgos Lanthimos. Lanthimos takes an inherently ridiculous premise—that single people must find a partner or be turned into animals—and turns it into something deeply unsettling, bleakly funny, and weirdly moving.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

The Fantastic Mr. Fox is a movie far better than its bombing at the box office would lead one to believe. It is a wonderful stop-motion movie, but it's also unmistakably Wes Anderson, as the filmmaker blends the time-consuming animation with his signature aesthetic. It feels like a classic children’s storybook brought to life, yet it carries an undercurrent of existential angst that makes it resonate just as strongly with adults.

Pulp Fiction (1994)

No movie influenced 90s cinema quite like Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. This unpredictable film intertwines multiple narratives, with Samuel L. Jackson as the standout performer. The movie redefined nonlinear storytelling by skillfully blending brutal violence, humor, and unexpected poignancy.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Another Charlie Kaufman brainchild, Eternal Sunshine, takes a high-concept premise—erasing painful memories of lost love and toxic relationships—and turns it into an achingly beautiful meditation on heartbreak, fate, and human connection. It’s as cerebral as it is emotional, making it one of the most uniquely structured love stories ever told.

Prey (2022)

Prey is not just another Predator movie; it’s a historical survival thriller and an Indigenous-led action film that reinvents the franchise. By removing the excessive machismo of earlier movies and setting the story in 1719 around a young Comanche warrior, Prey transforms into a compelling tale of resilience and culture. Amber Midthunder emerges as a standout new face in the lineage of final girls in horror.

Aliens (1986)

James Cameron cranked Ridley Scott’s slow-burn terror into an all-out war film, proving that a sequel doesn’t have to repeat its predecessor. Aliens retains the dread of its predecessor while injecting explosive, military-driven spectacle, making it a rare hybrid that succeeds as both a nerve-wracking horror movie and a high-octane action thriller.

Coraline (2009)

It looks like a children’s fantasy film, but Coraline, while being one of Laika’s best movies, is pure nightmare fuel. A dark fairy tale with horror undertones, the film walks the tightrope between whimsy and dread. Its stop-motion animation is gorgeous yet eerie, and the story—about a young girl lured into a seemingly perfect world with sinister secrets—feels like something pulled from the pages of an old gothic ghost story.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)

A coming-of-age story drenched in comic book and video-game aesthetics? Scott Pilgrim vs. The World should have been a hit, with its pure kinetic energy, blending pop culture, music, and self-aware humor into a hyper-stylized spectacle. Edgar Wright expanded his abilities as a filmmaker, creating a film that’s part arcade game, part indie rom-com, and wholly unique in its execution.

While nowadays it can be counted among the children’s movies that in retrospect weren’t so appropriate for children, there’s no question that Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a classic. From being packed with lines that still hit fresh to boasting many interesting behind-the-scenes facts, the movie about private investigator Eddie Valiant working to prove the innocence of popular toon Roger Rabbit has retained critical acclaimed status ever since it was released in 1988. Unfortunately, a sequel never followed, and as much as I hate to admit it, the reasons director Robert Zemeckis shared for why Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2 can never happen make sense.

Disney’s Current Leadership Allegedly Isn’t Interested In Roger Rabbit

Zemeckis stopped by Happy Sad Confused to talk with host Josh Horowitz about his 2024 movie release Here, and during the latter portion of their conversation, Who Framed Roger Rabbit came up. Horowitz brought up how he’d learned from Zemeckis years earlier that Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, who wrote the 1988 movie, had also penned a sequel that the filmmaker was “really excited about,” prompting Zemeckis to say:

I have no doubt that another major hurdle towards making Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2 is how it would be a lot harder for Disney to comes to arrangements with other companies to utilize their cartoon characters, like Warner Bros. with the Looney Tunes, compared to in the late 1980s. But with the way Robert Zemeckis is talking, it sounds like that’s a moot point. The powers-that-be at the Mouse House apparently just aren’t interested in revisiting this property, which Zemeckis says is due to the scantily-clad Jessica Rabbit. In that last sentence, Zemeckis is referring to how Jessica has been seen wearing a trench coat and fedora in the artwork for the Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin rides at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland since 2021.

The Who Framed Roger Rabbit Sequel Needed To Include Bob Hoskins

Given Disney’s frequent avoidance with sexually suggestive material with its more kid-friendly movies, I can’t say I’m surprised by this explanation Robert Zemeckis gave, though I don’t like it. But even ignoring that corporate preference, without Bob Hoskins, who played Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Rabbit and died in 2014, there’s no way for the Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2 script to be properly realized on the big screen. As the director laid out:

It’d have been one thing to have Bob Hoskins play Eddie Valiant as a ghost while he was still around, but even on the off chance Disney was willing to look the other way on Jessica Rabbit, work out deals with those other companies and move forward with Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2, it wouldn’t feel right have Eddie simply be recast. If a different version of the sequel were put together that starred all-new human characters, then it’d be another thing. Still, what we can take away is that there are just too many obstacles to getting another one of these movies off the ground.

So you’ll just have to make do with streaming Who Framed Roger Rabbit with your Disney+ subscription and enjoy Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin if you find yourself at Disneyland. Otherwise, you can look over the lineup of upcoming Disney movies to see what catches your eye.

When you watch a movie that is named after a character, such as Forrest Gump or Aladdin, you can typically expect the story to be about that person but that is not always the case. Sometimes the film’s title is synonymous with a person who is important to the true protagonist’s arc, either as a loved one, an enemy, or even just a memory. The following are some of the greatest cinematic classics that go against the tradition of making the title character the main character.

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

One of the best Studio Ghibli movies, My Neighbor Totoro, follows the adventures Satsuki and Mei (voiced by Dakota and Elle Fanning in Disney's 2005 English dub) in an enchanted forest. Along the way, they meet the titular, whimsical, furry spirit that they call Totoro (after its own species), who would also become Studio Ghibli's mascot.

Abigail (2024)

Filmmaking collective Radio Silence's modern update of the 1936 vampire movie, Dracula's Daughter, is called Abigail, which takes its name from Alisha Weir's young ballerina who turns out to be not so young and not so friendly. However, the story is told mainly from the perspective of Melissa Barrera's "Joey" and the other professional thieves who are shocked and devastated to learn they were hired to kidnap an immortal bloodsucker.

The Terminator (1984)

Arnold Schwarzenegger was, understandably, the face of the marketing and got top billing for the classic sci-fi movie, The Terminator, since he played the eponymous cyborg, which also made him the action icon he is known as today. However, writer and director James Cameron's breakout hit is really about the woman he is programmed to murder, Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton), who is destined to be the mother of humanity's savior in a world ravaged by machines.

Chasing Amy (1997)

Anyone who watches the acclaimed Kevin Smith movie Chasing Amy for the first time is probably surprised to learn that Joey Lauren Adams' character (and unlikely love interest for Ben Affleck's Holden due) is named Alyssa. Amy is not even a character in the story but an ex-girlfriend the normally quiet Silent Bob (Smith) recalls in conversation to demonstrate the film's theme of unattainable romance.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

One of the best romantic-comedy movies of its time, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, is the story of Peter Bretter (writer Jason Segel), who takes a Hawaiian vacation in hopes of getting over his recent break-up with the titular actor, played by Kristen Bell. Unfortunately, Peter discovers that Sarah is at the same resort and even in the suite right next to his and has brought along her new beau, rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand).

Kill Bill (2003-2004)

Uma Thurman's The Bride has such a raging vendetta for her former boss (and justifiably so) that writer and director Quentin Tarantino named his two-part revenge movie saga after him. We do not even get to officially meet David Carradine's Bill until Kill Bill Vol. 2. and see him earn his deserved comeuppance until after our deadly protagonist has rid the world of her four other most hated enemies.

The Wizard Of Oz (1939)

Oscar "Oz" Diggs (James Franco) is the title character of Oz the Great and Powerful, Sam Raimi's 2013 prequel to the 1939 film adaptation of L. Frank Baum's novel, The Wizard of Oz. Of course, that seminal classic is all about Dorothy (Judy Garland) and her quest to find said "wizard" so she can return home (which there is no place like) after a wicked tornado whisks her and her dog, Toto, into the mystical land.

The Big Lebowski (1998)

The name of the Coen Brothers' cult favorite comedy about a case of mistaken identity gone out of control, The Big Lebowski, is a play on the title of the classic film noir movie that inspired it, The Big Sleep. It is also the nickname that Jeff Bridges' aging hippie protagonist, The Dude, gives to a Los Angeles millionaire who also bears his legal name, Jeffrey Lebowski (played by David Huddleston).

Coco (2017)

One of the best Pixar movies (and also one of the animation studio's biggest tearjerkers), Coco, is a winning fantasy about young music lover, Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez), and his adventure through the afterlife on Dia de los Muertos. We never actually learn just how important his great-grandmother, Mamá Coco (Ana Ofelia Murguía), is to the story until near the end.

Beetlejuice (1988)

Tim Burton and co. must have realized Michael Keaton's mischievous bio-exorcist (whose name is really spelled "Betelgeuse") was going to be the most memorable character in the beloved horror-comedy movie (despite only 17 minutes of screentime). Otherwise Beetlejuice — which is really about the recently deceased Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (Geena Davis), and their bid to scare a new family out of their house — could have been named House Guests or even Scared Sheetless.

The Great Gatsby (2013)

Talk to any connoisseur of fine literature and they might tell you that Jay Gatsby is the central character of F. Scott Fitzgerald's tragic rags-to-riches story, The Great Gatsby, which Baz Luhrmann adapted into a hit in 2013. However, the entire story is told from the point of view of the narrator, Nick Carraway (played by Tobey Maguire in the Luhrmann version), which makes him a better fit to be called the protagonist.

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Tom Hanks leads Saving Private Ryan as Capt. Miller, whose crew is tasked with finding the sole surviving son of the Ryan family (played by Matt Damon) behind enemy lines. The opening flash-forward of Steven Spielberg's masterful war movie even tricks you into believing the elderly World War II veteran is Hanks' character since we witness the harrowing action through his eyes.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

The acclaimed fourth installment of George Miller's Mad Max movies gives the titular post-apocalyptic drifter (now played by Tom Hardy) a co-pilot in the form of Charlize Theron's Furiosa. Even the biggest fans of Mad Max: Fury Road would agree that the instant classic action movie really belongs to the one-armed warrior woman who deservingly earned her own prequel spin-off called Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

Tron (1982)

The visually groundbreaking Disney favorite, Tron, is named after a sentient digital security program that appears in the digital world with a resemblance to its creator, Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner). Of course, the hero of the story is Alan's co-worker, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), who is forcibly sent to the digital world where his video game skills certainly come in handy.

Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971)

Gene Wilder's performance as the titular chocolatier in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is so wonderfully whimsical and iconic that it is easy to forget poor, young Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum, a child star who walked away from Hollywood soon after) is the true protagonist. In fact, Roald Dahl's novel is called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which Tim Burton honored with the title of his 2005 adaptation.

Rebecca (1940)

Played by Joan Fontaine, the central character of director Alfred Hitchcock's Best Picture Oscar winner Rebecca remains unnamed throughout the story. The psychological thriller's title character is the former wife of our protagonist's new husband, 'Maxim' de Winter (Laurence Olivier), who has died but her memory continues to haunt his lavish estate.

The Exorcist (1973)

I would not be surprised if many audiences did not know what an exorcist was before seeing William Friedkin's horror movie masterpiece about a secular actor (played by Ellen Burstyn) who turns to religion for an answer to her young daughter, Regan's (Linda Blair) concerning behavior. Thus, they might not have not realized that Max von Sydow's Father Merrin (who only appears at the beginning and near the end to cure Regan's demonic possession, with help from Jason Miller as Father Karras) was the title character of The Exorcist.

Weekend At Bernie's (1989)

It is not unusual for a movie's title character to be dead most of the time (see Casper) but murdered businessman Bernie Lomax (Terry Kiser) is not the protagonist of Weekend at Bernie's or its 1993 sequel. The screwball comedy follows Bernie's employees, Larry Wilson (Andrew McCarthy) and Richard Parker (Jonathan Silverman), who try to conceal the fact that their boss is dead while spending a few days at his beach house in the Hamptons.

The Invisible Man (2020)

On the ReelBlend podcast, Leigh Whannell recalled when Blumhouse asked how he would reimagine the classic Universal Monster Movie, The Invisible Man, and said he would tell it from the point of view of the transparent fiend's victim. This led him to craft the story of Cecelia Kass (Elisabeth Moss), who suspects that her abusive, supposedly dead, tech innovator husband is alive and has figured out a way to be close to her without being seen.

Laura (1944)

In the 1940s mystery drama Laura, Det. Lt. Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) finds himself falling in love with the titular femme fatale, played by Gene Tierney. The only problem is that the object of his affection is the woman whose murder he is investigating.

Heathers (1988)

There are three characters named "Heather" who make up the antagonistic clique in the classic high school movie, Heathers. However, the central focus of the dark comedy is Winona Ryder's Veronica Sawyer, who teams up with the rebellious J.D. (Christian Slater) to punish the popular ladies for the errors of their ways.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

The title of director Jim Sharman's cult favorite musical horror comedy movie, based on Richard O'Brien's stage show, comes from Peter Hinwood's Rocky Horror, the hunky creation of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry). However, even the scientist is not the protagonist of The Rocky Horror Picture Show — a position shared by lovebirds Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon), who take refuge at Frank-N-Furter's spooky mansion on a dark and stormy night.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

The title character of one of Stanley Kubrick's best movies, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, is really just one supporting member of a vast ensemble that also includes George C. Scott as Gen. 'Buck' Turgidson and James Earl Jones in his motion picture debut as Lt. Lothar Zogg. In fact, the German nuclear war expert is one of three characters portrayed by comedy legend Peter Sellers in this uproarious Cold War-era satire.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

The story of Robert Zemeckis' Who Framed Roger Rabbit is centered around Charles Fleischer's animated hare struggling to clear his name in a murder case. Yet, the true hero of the groundbreaking classic is the guy helping prove his innocence, Bob Hoskins' Eddie Valiant, who was once the go-to private eye for helping "toons" in need before his brother's murder.

Rachel Getting Married (2008)

Director Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married stars Rosemarie DeWitt as Rachel Buchman, who is about to tie the knot with her music producer fiancé, Sidney (Tunde Adebimpe). However, the dramedy is really about Rachel's sister, Kym (Anne Hathaway), and how her decade-long struggle with addiction affects her relationship with her family, especially during the weekend of the ceremony.

The Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)

First, let's get one thing straight for anyone who might still be confused: "Frankenstein" is not the name of Boris Karloff's Creature, but the man who created it, played by Colin Clive. Thus, The Bride of Frankenstein is a bit of a misnomer as the scientist is not the one seeking to wed the titular reanimated female (Elsa Lanchester) who, not to mention, does not even have much screentime in the sequel to the 1931 Mary Shelley novel adaptation.

Waiting For Guffman (1996)

Co-writer and director Christopher Guest also leads the mockumentary favorite Waiting for Guffman as Missourian Corky St. Clair, who dreams of hitting it big in the world of musical theatre. Mort Guffman is the name of a renowned Broadway producer who is supposedly going to show up to see Corky's original musical, Red, White and Blaine, which puts the entire production into a tailspin.

Dr. No (1962)

Is it not a bit ironic that the first major James Bond movie is named after the bad guy, played by Joseph Wiseman? Anyhow, it still did not make any difference because Sir Sean Connery immediately proved to be such a natural in his debut as MI6 agent 007 that there was no question he was the star of Dr. No.

Kangaroo Jack (2003)

In Kangaroo Jack, the main characters, Charlie (Jerry O'Connell) and Louis (Anthony Anderson), accidentally lose $50,000 after leaving it in a jacket they place on a kangaroo before it hops away. However, the Australian animal is not actually named "Jack," but he apparently resembles a man Charlie and Louis once knew named Jackie Legs, which is where the not-so-family-friendly adventure gets its title.

The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs (2018)

Joel and Ethan Coen's The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, one of the best Western movies on Netflix, is an anthology-style collection of bizarre tales set in the Old West. Tim Blake Nelson plays the titular singing cowboy, who is actually the star of just one of the film's six segments.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Before Avengers: Infinity War, no comic book movie had ever employed so many superheroes into one story before. Even then, this epic story is not really about any of those costumed vigilantes, but the guy they are trying to stop: Thanos (Josh Brolin).

Searching For Bobby Fischer (1993)

There are several movies about Chess champion Bobby Fischer that you could watch, such as 2014's Pawn Sacrifice. However, Searching for Bobby Fischer, which stars Max Pomeranc as a young, but brilliant chess player, is not one of them.

While fans of musicals know where to go when they want to see characters breaking out in song left and right, there's something joyous about a random music number finding its way into movies across any genre. It has happened far more than you might think. Watch out for these awesome jump scares of song-and-dance numbers in comedies, science fiction, dramas and so forth. They've made iconic movies even more so! 

“Johnny B. Goode” - Back To The Future (1985) 

Even though the crux of Back To Future is as a time travel comedy, it also has one of the greatest music numbers in a movie. During the Enchantment Under The Sea dance, where Marty McFly’s parents are supposed to fall in love, Michael J. Fox performs an electric rendition of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.” It’s no wonder the movie has since inspired a Broadway musical. 

“Come and Get Your Love” - Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

There’s been a few notable Marvel music moments over the years, but few compare to Guardians of the Galaxy opening with Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill singing and dancing in the middle of an alien planet to Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love” alongside extra-terrestrial creatures. It’s the perfect way to start the trilogy and introduce Star-Lord. 

"Thriller" - 13 Going On 30 (2004) 

In the super fun romantic comedy, 13 Going On 30, Jennifer Garner plays a young girl named Jenna Rink, who dreams she is “thirty, flirty and thriving” and wakes up seventeen years later. In one of the highlight scenes of the film, Jenna brings together a whole party of 30-somethings to do the famous “Thriller” dance from Michael Jackson’s music video. 

“I’m Just Ken” - Barbie (2023) 

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is full of great music scenes and bright pink, but none quite like Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” sequence. In the third act of the movie, Ken breaks into song to express how it feels to be an accessory to Barbie all the time. The original song, reminiscent of "Singin’ In The Rain," earned an Oscar nomination (which surprised Gosling) after being penned by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt for the flick. 

“Day-O” - Beetlejuice (1988) 

Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice is a ball of a gothic comedy about a couple who die suddenly and hire a bio-exorcist named Beetlejuice to haunt the new tenants living in their home. One way he causes calamity to the household is by having them sing and dance to "The Banana Boat Song" at the dinner table against their will. 

'You Never Can Tell' - Pulp Fiction (1994) 

Quentin Tarantino’s stylish crime film includes an iconic dance scene between John Travolta’s Vincent Vega and Uma Thurman’s Mia Wallace while they are at an old school diner together. Mia casually has Vincent enter a dance contest with her. When the two characters do the twist, it’s just one of many scenes that make Pulp Fiction one of the best ‘90s movies.   

“You Make My Dreams” - (500) Days Of Summer (2009) 

(500) Days of Summer takes audiences through the unexpected love and breakup story of Summer and Tom, and has a blast playing with structure throughout. In one unexpected scene that depicts how it feels to fall in love, Tom dances in the street with a group of dancers to Hall & Oates “You Make My Dreams.” 

“Peaches” - The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) 

Never did we think Bowser would sing a piano ballad in The Super Mario Bros. Movie! In the 2023 animated film based on the beloved Nintendo franchise, Jack Black’s Bowser confesses his love for Princess Peach by singing “Peaches, peaches, peaches.” It became a viral hit we all couldn’t stop listening to when it hit theaters. 

“You Don’t Own Me” - The First Wives Club (1996) 

The 1996 comedy, The First Wives Club, ends in the best way: a music number! After Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton’s characters complete their goal of getting back at their ex husbands, they celebrate in their matching white suits by singing and dancing to “You Don’t Own Me.” 

“Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” - 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) 

In the romantic comedy, 10 Things I Hate About You, Heath Ledger’s cool guy character, Patrick Verona surprised both Julia Stiles’ Kat Stratford and audiences alike when he randomly broke out into song, with the help of the high school band. Patrick goes all out to woo Kat after being paid off to win her affections, and this scene is a good indicator that he’s going above and beyond. 

“Get Down Saturday Night” - Ex Machina (2014) 

In the A24 science fiction movie Ex Machina, it came out of absolute nowhere when Oscar Issac’s Nathan Bateman starts dancing with one of his A.I. androids to Oliver Cheatham’s “Get Down Saturday Night.” While it’s very much random to see a dance number in such a serious and foreboding film, it adds to the unique character building of Isaac’s role. 

“Cuban Pete” - The Mask (1994) 

Jim Carrey hilariously sings and dances to “Cuban Pete” during The Mask sequence where he ends up coercing the entire police force into singing and dancing with him while they try to pursue his arrest. In a movie as cartoony as The Mask, it’s not necessarily unexpected, but it does make us wish the whole movie was filled with wacky music numbers. 

“I Say A Little Prayer” - My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997) 

During Julia Roberts’ My Best Friend’s Wedding, Julianne attends the wedding of her longtime bestie (Dermot Mulroney’s Michael). During one particularly memorable scene, the whole wedding party and guests take part in singing ‘I Say A Little Prayer” after Julianne’s friend George inspires them to. How did they all know the words? 

“Bye Bye Bye” - Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) 

At the beginning of the third Deadpool movie, Marvel fans were certainly surprised to see Ryan Reynolds’ comic book character doing the official dance to *NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” in the snow while flinging around the corpse of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine from Logan in a fight against the TVA. What a way to open a movie and bring the Merc with a Mouth to the MCU! 

"I Put A Spell On You" - Hocus Pocus (1993) 

When you place Bette Midler in a movie like Hocus Pocus, you want her to sing, but who knows, the filmmakers could have let us down. Thankfully, director Kenny Ortega, who would go on to helm the High School Musical movies, had the actress sing “I Put A Spell On You” during the 1993 movie to have the witch literally cast a curse over Halloween partygoers during the non-musical. 

"Bohemian Rhapsody" - Wayne's World (1992)

Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” received a major bump up in pop culture back in 1992 when it was featured in a famous scene in Wayne’s World. While the movie itself is all about music fans, there’s something totally original and fun about this being in the comedy. Then, Mike Myers was cast in Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody as a nod to the whole thing, 

"Twist and Shout" - Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

John Hughes’ beloved coming-of-age movie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, features a massive music number when Matthew Broderick’s high schooler, who is on a wild day of hooky, ends up lip-syncing The Beatles’ “Twist and Shout” after jumping on a parade float. 

“Age of Aquarius” - The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) 

At the end of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Steve Carell finally partakes in the deed. To illustrate the joys of this, Carell and the cast have a dance sequence to “Age of Aquarius.” It’s pretty hilarious to see actors like Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen dancing shirtless to the song in the comedy that did not otherwise call itself a musical. 

“Everybody (Backstreet's Back)” - This Is The End (2013) 

During the finale of This Is The End, Seth Rogen and friends find themselves in heaven after facing a particularly hilarious apocalypse. When they get there they are told they can dream up anything and Jay Baruchel thinks up the Backstreet Boys appearing to sing and dance to “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” and yes, they fully go into the choreo! 

“Afternoon Delight” - Anchorman (2004) 

During the 2004 goofy comedy Anchorman, Will Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy randomly breaks into song to belt “Afternoon Delight” after the other guys ask him what being in love is like. In the scene, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell and David Koechner start to sing it with him in perfect unison like they are some sort of barbershop quartet.

"Por Ti Volare" - Step Brothers (2008) 

At Step Brothers’ “Catalina Wine Mixer,” Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly’s characters are coerced into taking the stage. What’s particularly unexpected about this music number is Ferrell singing Italian opera with the song "Por Ti Volaré." It also evolves into a dream sequence and epic drum solo that leaves all attendees speechless. 

“Wise Up” - Magnolia (1999) 

In Paul Thomas Anderson’s fantastic drama, Magnolia, the movie took a turn when all the characters begin to sing Aimee Mann’s “Wise Up.” The music number helps evoke the emotions the characters are collectively feeling even though they are seemingly experiencing them alone. Mann wrote original music for the whole soundtrack but the rest of the songs were not sung by the characters. 

“Try A Little Tenderness” - Pretty In Pink (1986) 

In John Hughes’ Pretty In Pink, Jon Cryer’s Duckie brought down the house in one scene at a record store where he walks in and goes completely all out lip-syncing and dancing to Otis Redding’s “Try A Little Tenderness” in front of Molly Ringwald’s Andie. 

"Love Me Tender" - Wild At Heart (1990)

David Lynch’s Wild At Heart ends with a music number when Nicolas Cage’s Sailor runs over the hoods and roofs of cars to approach Laura Dern’s Lula and their child to sing Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender” to profess his love to her. It’s a callback to a previous moment where Sailor says he’ll only sing that song to his wife. 

“A Place Called Slaughter Race” - Ralph Breaks The Internet (2018) 

While Walt Disney animated movies are most definitely known for their music sequences, the Wreck-It Ralph movies never established themselves as musicals. So when Vanellope Von Schweetz got her own “I Want” song for the sequel from composer Alan Menken, it was completely unexpected, but an excellent chance for Disney to do what it does best! 

“You Always Hurt The One You Love” - Blue Valentine (2010) 

The dramatic tale of a married couple’s relationship over the years, Blue Valentine, starring Ryan Gosling, is no La La Land, but it does employ the music talents of the actor for one music number where his character strums the '60s pop standard on a ukulele in a fun-loving sequence between himself and Michelle Williams.  

“Somebody To Love” - Ella Enchanted (2004) 

In the fairytale rom-com, Ella Enchanted, we were caught off guard when Anne Hathaway’s titular character breaks into song to Queen’s “Somebody To Love” while entertaining a pub full of giants. Hathaway is well-known now for her set of pipes, but at the time she was not yet known to be a singer. 

"Ballet Sequence" - I'm Thinking Of Ending Things (2020) 

Towards of the end of Charlie Kaufman's Netflix movie, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, two ballet dancers perform to represent the perfect ideal of a romance amidst the movie itself showing the realities of the lead's relationship throughout this surrealist movie. 

"Old Time Rock & Roll" - Risky Business (1983)

In what has become an iconic sequence, everyone expects Tom Cruise to roll up pants-free in nothing but a dress shirt and white socks to jam to “Old Time Rock & Roll.” But, considering the rest of the movie is more of a coming-of-age comedy, it’s a rather startling scene in context. 

“As Time Goes By” - Casablanca (1942) 

One of the most memorable elements of the classic Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman movie is the song “As Time Goes By.” The song holds a sentimental value to the movie’s leads and ex lovers, Rick and Ilsa, and comes back to haunt them when they are unexpectedly reunited. It’s one of the most iconic movie songs – as Rick Blaine famously says, “Play it again, Sam.”  

“Why Don’t You Do Right” - Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988) 

Sure, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is a Disney movie with cartoon characters left and right, it’s also a completely unique movie that turns the whole plot on its head (a few times over). It’s not a musical, but Jessica Rabbit singing 1936’s “Why Don’t You Do Right?” at a jazz club really sets the tone for what a music number looks like in it. 

"Canned Heat"- Napoleon Dynamite (2004) 

Then there’s the dance sequence in Napoleon Dynamite, where Jon Heder’s Napoleon performs a very skilled dance in front of other high school students to help market his friend Pedro in his election for class president. The best part? Apparently, Heder “winged” the dance sequence, per Business Insider. 

It's so fun to see how music numbers have popped up in movies across all genres over the years. They make the movies more memorable and give the songs an added boost.

We believe that beauty is only skin deep and that true love is defined by a profound emotional connection that makes each person feel whole. However, we also cannot deny that some marriages in movies — particularly ones between a traditionally attractive woman and a man of not quite the same stature — made us go, “What? How?” The following are some of the most notable examples of beautiful wives in cinema whose choice of a husband got the best of our most superficial thoughts.

Donna Newman (Click)

English actor and model Kate Beckinsale stars in the 2006 sci-fi comedy — and one of Adam Sandler’s best movies — Click as Donna Newman, the wife of overworked father, Michael (Sandler). Christopher Walken’s character, Morty, who gives Michael a universal remote that really lives up to its name, is the one who speaks for the audience when he wonders how a woman as attractive as she is fell for him.

Mona Lisa Vito (My Cousin Vinny)

To be fair, technically, Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei in her Academy Award-winning role) is only the fiancée of Joe Pesci’s titular attorney in the classic 1992 courtroom comedy, My Cousin Vinny. However, even that is enough to get heads turning in the jury box.

Margot Tenenbaum (The Royal Tenenbaums)

Looks aside, it is clear that Margot Tenenbaum (Gwyneth Paltrow) does not truly love her older husband, Raleigh St. Clair (Bill Murray). That is part of why, when she and her adoptive brother, Richie (Luke Wilson), finally form a relationship in Wes Anderson’s, The Royal Tenenbaums, we actually find ourselves rooting for the unlikely romance.

Kelly Radner (Neighbors)

One of the first times we ever saw Seth Rogen portray a married man was in the 2014 comedy Neighbors, in which his character, Mac Radner, is wed to Kelly, who is played by Rose Byrne. This is also one of the few times the Australian actor keeps her natural accent, which begs the question of why her character chose this American schlub over some Crocodile Dundee-type she could have bumped into at some point.

Karen Gaffney (Keeping Up With The Joneses)

There is a scene in the 2016 spy comedy Keeping Up with the Joneses when Karen Gaffney (Isla Fisher) pretends to be in love with her secret agent neighbor Natalie Jones (Gal Gadot) as a ruse to discreetly pass a knife to her in the middle of a standoff. However, considering the red-headed bombshell’s husband is the stocky, square Jeff (Zach Galifianakis), we could have easily believed their marriage was a ruse in itself.

Lauren Price (The Hangover, Parts II And III)

In The Hangover Part II, at the rehearsal dinner for Stu Price (Ed Helms) and Lauren Srisai’s (Jamie Chung) wedding, Lauren’s father compares his soon-to-be son-in-law to tasteless white rice in his speech and, to be perfectly honest, we kind of see where he is coming from. However, the fact that a gorgeous woman like Lauren fell for the dentist and certainly treated him a whole lot better than Melissa (Rachel Harris) in the 2009 original, there is clearly more to him than meets the eye (and we are not talking about his inner demon).

Dinah Ratner (Uncut Gems)

There are actually a multitude of reasons why Adam Sandler’s Howard Ratner does not deserve Dinah (Idina Menzel) and why she chose to leave him in 2019’s acclaimed A24 movie, Uncut Gems, and his looks have the least to do with it. The New York City jeweler’s undesirable nature has most to do with his compulsive gambling habits, nigh-pathological dishonesty, and many other self-destructive tendencies.

Marge Simpson (The Simpsons Movie)

Her hair may be a little unusual, but I think anyone would agree that Marge Simpson (voiced by Julie Kavner) probably could have done better than Homer (voiced by Dan Castellaneta), but not just because of his thinning hair and accentuated gut. In fact, a major plot point of 2007’s The Simpsons Movie sees the homemaker actually make the decision to leave her husband after putting up with his immature behavior for too long, until he does manage to redeem himself in the end.

Dr. Sheila Gamble (The Other Guys)

In the 2010 cop comedy The Other Guys, Detective Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg) refuses to believe that his more square partner, Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell), is married to a beautiful dancer-turned-doctor named Sheila (Eva Mendes). What is even more surprising is how the nerdy detective does not seem to appreciate her or even admire her as much as Terry clearly does.

Diane Szalinski (Honey, I Shrunk The Kids)

We imagine it was Wayne Szalinski’s (Rick Moranis) intelligence that made his wife, Diane (Marcia Strassman), fall in love with him. Of course, it is also the scientist’s intelligence that leads to the bizarre trouble in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, but at least they can say their marriage rarely has a dull moment.

Jessica Rabbit (Who Framed Roger Rabbit)

In Robert Zemeckis’ brilliant 1988 comedic crime thriller Who Framed Roger Rabbit, private investigator Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) is puzzled when he discovers that the plucky, titular toon (voiced by Charles Fleischer) is married to the most desirable bombshell to come out of Toon Town. What is even more shocking is that Jessica Rabbit (voiced by Kathleen Turner) never actually two-timed Roger with Marvin Acme, and deeply loves her husband, particularly for his ability to make her laugh.

Vanessa Kensington (Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery)

Despite urging to keep their relationship platonic for both personal and professional reasons, at the end of 1997’s hilarious spy movie spoof, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, secret agent Vanessa Kensington (Elizabeth Hurley) actually elopes with her unusually hairy, hygienically challenged, and egregiously crass titular partner (Mike Myers). However, as we discover in the sequel, she turns out to be a robot clone, which actually explains quite a lot.

The Fives Wives (Mad Max: Fury Road)

The Splendid Angharad (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), Toast the Knowing (Zoë Kravitz), Capable (Riley Keough), The Dag (Abbey Lee), and Cheedo the Fragile (Courtney Eaton) would have never agreed to marry and bear the children of Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) had they not been force to against their will. Fortunately, the ladies managed to escape the Wasteland warlord’s clutches, with help from Furiosa (Charlize Theron) and Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) in 2015’s post-apocalyptic movie masterpiece, Mad Max: Fury Road.

Roxanne Chase-Feder (Grown Ups)

While branded as a pretty mindless comedy upon release in 2010, Grown Ups actually provides a pretty clever explanation behind the marriage and Adam Sandler’s Lenny Feber and Salma Hayek’s Roxanne. Lenny is a Hollywood talent agent and Roxanne is a fashion designer — both of which are professions that could plausibly overlap in some way.

Carley Bobby (Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby)

If Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) had not been a successful NASCAR driver, his wife, Carley (Leslie Bibb), would have never been interested in him, and that is not just by our own analysis. This is actually confirmed in 2006’s Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby when, after a post-accident loss of confidence cost him his career, she leaves him.

Bunny Lebowski (The Big Lebowski)

One of the most essential elements that makes Joel and Ethan Coen’s The Big Lebowski a genuine noir disguised as a screwball comedy is the marriage of Jeffrey Lebowski (David Huddleston) and Bunny (Tara Reid). Theirs is a classic pairing of the wealthy schlub with a vivacious femme fatale whose only interest in her partner is his money.

Mia Wallace (Pulp Fiction)

We do not necessarily think Uma Thurman’s Pulp Fiction character, Mia Wallace, is in a whole different league from crime boss, Marsellus (Ving Rhames). However, we just find that her husband’s employee, Vincent Vega — the brother of Reservoir Dogs’ Vic Vega — is a better match for her and their undeniable attraction to each other is clear evidence.

Sara (The Toxic Avenger)

While Melvin Junko never had much luck with women when he was a 98-lb weakling (played by Mark Torgl), it seemed even less likely that he would find romance after an accident made him a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength (played by Mitch Cohen). However, the beautiful, non-seeing Sara (Andree Maranda) falls for the titular hero of 1984’s awesomely cheesy classic, The Toxic Avenger, because of who he is inside and most definitely not for his rough, radioactive exterior.

Audrey Krelborn (Little Shop Of Horrors)

At the end of the 1986 horror musical comedy classic — the theatrical ending, that is — Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis), after destroying Audrey II, marries his longtime crush (played by Ellen Greene), whom he actually named the evil alien plant after. Despite being taller and more desirable than Seymour, Audrey reciprocates the feelings of her co-worker, who is a far better person than her sadistic former boyfriend, Orin Scrivello, DDS (Steve Martin).

Charlotte Field (Long Shot)

The title of the surprisingly delightful 2019 comedy, Long Shot, refers to the chances that Seth Rogen’s Fred Flarsky might have with presidential hopeful Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron), who happens to be his former babysitter and childhood crush. However, after she hires him as her speech writer, strong chemistry flows between them and, by the end, he becomes her First Mister when she enters the White House. 

Audrey Spitz (Murder Mystery)

The hit, 2019 Netflix original comedy, Murder Mystery, actually marked the second time Jennifer Aniston played the romantic lead in an Adam Sandler movie, but the first time the actors played a married couple. We imagine the Friends cast member’s character, a hairdresser named Audrey, became attracted to Sandler’s Nick Spitz because he was an NYPD Officer.

Bree Friedman (You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah)

After Uncut Gems, Idina Menzel would join the You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah cast to play Adam Sandler’s onscreen spouse a second time. The SNL star’s character, Danny Friedman, bears far more redeeming qualities as a husband and father to justify Bree’s attraction to him.

Sally Lamonsoff (Grown Ups)

One of the ultimate examples of a wife too hot for her husband in television history is Carrie Heffernan (Leah Remini), who is married to Kevin James’ Doug on The King of Queens. James would also level-up on the big screen when he starred in Grown Ups as Eric Lamonsoff, who is married to Sally (Maria Bello).

Sara Whitaker (Daddy’s Home)

In 2015’s Daddy’s Home, Linda Cardellini’s Sara was married to Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) — the tough, rugged biological father of her two children, Megan and Dylan. Following their split, she married Brad Whitaker (Will Ferrell), who is absolutely no match for Dusty as far as looks go, but does prove to be the most committed stepfather she could have hoped for.

Sandy Chester (Summer Rental)

There are few comedic actors in history as beloved on and off screen than the late John Candy, which is why we can totally see why Karen Austin’s Sandy Chester would fall in love with his character, Jack, from the 1985 vacation comedy, Summer Rental. One person surprised by his lovely wife’s attraction to him, however, is Jack himself. 

Deborah Clasky (Spanglish)

It is not the difference in physical attractiveness that causes a rift in the marriage between successful chef John Clasky (Adam Sandler) and his wife, Deborah (Téa Leoni), but, instead, the laid-off businesswoman-turned-stay-at-home mom’s personal insecurities. In fact, it is her troubling mother (played by Cloris Leachman) who pleads with her to stop her extramarital affair and be with John, claiming she will never find anyone better, even though he even finds himself tempted by their housekeeper, Flor (Paz Vega).

Susan Huffman (Parenthood)

Not only is scientist Nathan Huffman (Rick Moranis) not quite as attractive as his wife, Susan (Harley Jane Kozak), but his overbearing approach to raising their young daughter, Patty (Ivyann Schwan) eventually causes her to leave him. Luckily, he manages to win the middle school teacher back by serenading her in her classroom with “Close To You” in one of the most heartwarming scenes from Ron Howard’s 1989 comedy, Parenthood.

Bonnie Dimmick (Pulp Fiction)

Co-writer and director Quentin Tarantino appears in his 1994 masterpiece, Pulp Fiction, as Jimmy Dimmick, who urges Vincent (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) to get Marvin’s dead body away from his house before his wife, Bonnie, comes home. While we only see Nurse Bonnie from the back in a hypothetical scenario, that image alone might be enough to determine that she was out of Jimmie’s (Quentin Tarantino) league.

Erin Sadelstein (Jack And Jill)

There are a lot of reasons why the 2011 comedy Jack and Jill does not work in the eyes of most critics and audiences. We will count the marriage between Katie Holmes’ Erin and Adam Sandler’s Jack as one of them.

Mae Capone (Capone)

Many of Linda Cardellini’s onscreen spouses have been a level or so down in terms of attractiveness, including when she played Mae, the wife of Tom Hardy’s Al Capone, in Josh Trank’s Capone. Normally, we would never put model-turned-actor Hardy in this sort of category, but his heavy makeup as the titular notorious gangster certainly fits the bill.

Maggie Faris (Alien: Covenant)

One of the few times we have seen Danny McBride play a husband was when he starred as Tennessee in the eighth of the Alien movie installment (but second, chronologically), 2017’s Alien: Covenant, in which most of the main characters are married couples. Amy Seimetz plays McBride’s onscreen wife, Maggie Faris,  who sadly dies in an explosion she accidentally triggers while trying to kill the Xenomorph. 

Helen Truby (Men, Women & Children)

Rosemarie DeWitt stars in Jason Reitman’s 2014 dramedy Men, Women & Children as Helen Truby, who is dissatisfied with her marriage to Don (Adam Sandler) and goes on to use the website, Ashley Madison, to have outside affairs. Unbeknownst to her, Don has also been meeting with escorts on his own time, in a unique twist on their dynamic.

One of the best ‘80s movies, as well as a prime example of live-action/animation hybrids working out, director Robert Zemeckis’ Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is still a landmark hit in the Disney canon. And part of the reason is because the movie is extremely quotable, thanks to lines such as these feeling fresh every time you hear them.

“Marvin Acme. The rabbit cacked him last night.”

As Lt. Santino (Richard LeParmentier) breaks this news to one of the movie detectives you’d call to solve a murder, Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) sees the story, and the tone, shifting into the central murder mystery. It’s a sharp transition from Eddie celebrating a job well done to the conspiracy that’s about to unravel. 

“Didn’t you used to be Eddie Valiant? Or did you change your name to Jack Daniels.”

Eddie’s traumatic past has led our hero to have a bit of a drinking problem, which we’re reminded of through some memorable pieces of dialogue. And one of them comes from a forensic tech on the scene (Joel Cutrara), who drops this burn that pleases his crowd of fellow cops. 

“Nose? That don’t rhyme with walls?”

 One of the perfect set-ups for a double entendre in the Disney universe, Who Framed Roger Rabbit sees one of the Toon Patrol’s finest question Eddie Valiant’s rhyming scheme in a song, which leads to a painful moment that fills in the blank rather comedically.

“I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way.”

The world still has a crush on Jessica Rabbit (Kathleen Turner), and you can bet that part of those feelings come from her way with words. One of the all-time femme fatale lines comes from this moment, which ensured that hearts were stolen and new noir fans were created in the process.

“A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have.”

Something that most people don’t appreciate Who Framed Roger Rabbit for is its brilliant foreshadowing. When Roger (Charles Fleischer) gives Eddie this piece of wisdom while hiding out together, it’s like giving him the keys to ultimate victory. It’s also a heartbreaker, as it helps inform just how much of a lovable clown Roger Rabbit really is.

“That’s it! That’s the connection!”

There’s an electric surge every single time Eddie Valiant figures out the remaining thread that binds the picture’s ultimate conspiracy. A vital pivot point that drives the third act into full gear, the rest of the picture is a relentless and twist filled dash to the finish.  

“Is he always this funny, or only on days when he's wanted for murder?”

Everybody in Roger Rabbit’s L.A. has at least a couple of zingers in them. But one of the champions in this cast of characters is Dolores (Joanna Cassidy), a server at Eddie’s familiar watering hole, The Terminal Bar. Her sharp wit keeps things moving, and properly shows off how she keeps Eddie in line, when need be.

“His wife’s poison, but he thinks she’s Betty Crocker.”

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a family-accessible comedy that also deals with a murder plot that threatens the existence of toons. Alan Tilvern’s R.K. Maroon sits on the more somber side of things, especially when using this tasty analogy to fill Eddie Valiant in on why his early picture ‘snoop’ job is so important.

“Yeah, ain't I a stinker?”

In one of Mel Blanc’s final appearances as Bugs Bunny, he basically played one of his own greatest hits in this Roger Rabbit trivia-inspiring moment. The fact that he’s doing so with Mickey Mouse (Wayne Allwine) skydiving along with him is a reason why this movie is still such a big deal in pop culture history.

“I'm gonna listen to you spin the Cloverleaf scenario. A story of greed, and murder. And the parts that I don't like...I'm gonna edit out."

Threats of bodily harm sing if you have the right words, which is another hallmark of the film noir DNA present in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Showing just how much of a tough guy Bob Hoskins was known for playing, he walks the line between threat and action like a pro.

“Oh my god, IT’S DIIIIIIP!”

For most of the movie, Jessica Rabbit is a cool customer who knows how to hold her own among all types. But when she shrieks out in fear about this fatal weapon used by the infamous Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd), it’s a moment that proves just how serious the situation really is. 

“Take comfort, son. You're not the first man whose wife played patty-cake on him.”

What a brilliant move to equate marital infidelity to the game of patty cake. Giving Who Framed Roger Rabbit a truly noir motivation for potential murder, this particular treat also allows R.K. Maroon to comfort Roger with a piece of dialogue that proves this was a children’s movie that, in retrospect, wasn’t appropriate for young, unsupervised audiences. 

“Remember me, Eddie? When I killed your brother, I talked…JUST…LIKE…THIS!”

Judge Doom’s insidious plot is still as brilliant as the first time it unfurled on a movie screen. And similarly effective is the reveal of his role in the death of Eddie Valiant’s brother, Teddy. Adults and children alike probably still recoil when his voice gets nice and squeaky towards the end of this sentence. 

“Look, stars! Ready when you are, Raoul.”

Even in a moment that leads to the capture of himself and his wife, Roger Rabbit still has time to learn something new. And while that ton of bricks allowed the Toon Patrol’s weasels to get the jump on him, at least he can finish making “Something’s Cookin” with the ability to provide those stars the script called for. 

“No toon can resist the old ‘Shave and a Haircut’ trick”

The entire bar scene where Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s archvillain tries to suss out his quarry with a rendition of “Shave and a Haircut” is as tense as any grown-up thriller. Watching Roger coil himself up in resistance to this call just looks painful as well. 

“C'mon Roger, let's go home. I'll bake you a carrot cake.”

Another one of those lines that kept adults entertained, while leaving kids to discover its true weight upon growing up, Jessica’s promise to Roger sounds innocuous enough to a certain audience. And then that second layer of thought and innuendo kicks in, giving the movie a five-star conclusion. 

“My problem is I’ve got a 50-year-old lust, and a three year old body.”

Baby Herman (Lou Hirsch) is a complicated man, which is shown by the fact that he will apparently always look like a three-year-old. Puffing a cigar as he relays this problem to Eddie Valiant, it’s one of those moments you can actually feel sorry for the gruff man baby. 

“I didn't know where your office was. So I asked the newsboy. He didn't know. So I asked the fireman, the green grocer, the butcher, the baker, they didn't know! But the liquor store guy... he knew.”

Roger’s story about trying to track Eddie down winds through a laundry list of sources that could have helped him out. And in true Who Framed Roger Rabbit fashion, the booze wins in the end. 

“Oh Roger, you were magnificent. … Better than Goofy.”

Both Jessica and Roger Rabbit hold Disney’s Goofy in such high regard throughout the adventure that unfolds around them. One has to assume that’s because Roger admires his acting skills, and based on Jessica’s taste in men, she might have a bit of a crush. 

“Who needs a car in LA? We’ve got the best public transportation system in the world!”

One of the many brilliant pieces of foreshadowing happens in a scene that seems harmless enough, as Eddie Valiant hitches a ride on the Red Car with some kids who had the same idea. Admittedly, the line where Eddie thanks these kids for some loose cigarettes may have distracted some audience members from really taking this puzzle piece into their minds. 

“Is that a rabbit in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”

Eddie Valiant may have asked Dolores to cut the comedy in this Who Framed Roger Rabbit scene, but her quick wit was welcomed in a scene that would turn serious soon enough. With the way she likes to wisecrack, you have to wonder if she’s been around toons more than Eddie was in his past.

“I’m looking for a murderer.”

Christopher Lloyd is an actor whose range can both chill and comfort, with his legacy mostly being represented by the manic Doc Brown from Back to the Future. However, with this single line, he showed just why he was cast as the major antagonist in this thrill ride who knows when to laugh and when to gasp. 

“Hey. I seen a rabbit. … He’s right here in the bar. Well, say hello, Harvey.”

Despite being a total jerk to Eddie, barfly Angelo (Richard Ridings) is actually a more trustworthy fellow than most would have thought. While our detective thinks the rough-and-tumble jokester would sell Roger out in a heartbeat, Angelo shows off his own sense of humor, and also an appreciation for toons. 

“No, not at any time, only when it was funny.”

As Roger and Eddie spend a good portion of Who Framed Roger Rabbit linked together by handcuffs, the cartoon figure’s ease in slipping them off justifiably upsets his human friend. Which only gets slightly more frustrating when Roger offers this adorable, but still inconvenient, excuse. 

“They’re not kid gloves, Mr. Valiant.”

Robert Zemeckis didn’t waste any time getting the audience to hate Christopher Lloyd’s Judge Doom. Right in the very sequence he’s introduced, he’s a hard case from frame one; culminating in this still traumatic death of an innocent cartoon shoe. Offering only this thinly veiled promise of zero tolerance, it’s always been a chilling cap to a harrowing moment.

“Smile, darn ya, smile! You know this whole world is a great world after all!”

It’s hard not to smile at this impromptu sing-along that breaks out among Toontown’s various citizens. Which is probably why it’s reprised at the end of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, when the day is truly won, and the audience could use an upbeat note to leave the theater on. 

“That lame-brained freeway idea could only be cooked up by a Toon.”

Modern life has shown us the necessity of the freeway concept, despite the good city of L.A. not always possessing the need to have one. Eddie Valiant’s line hits like a comedic pie to the face every time, as anyone who’s ever been stuck in traffic clearly knows the truth. 

“Listen, when i say ‘I do,’ it means I do!”

Leave it to the classic Looney Tunes model of reverse psychology to save Roger Rabbit’s skin. Being the method that Eddie Valiant uses to convince his companion to trigger a violent reaction to alcohol, it gets Roger to slug some bourbon and freak right out of Judge Doom’s clutches.

“My God, it'll be beautiful.”

After waxing on about his plan to turn Toontown into a desolate landscape that’ll make way for the California Freeway, it’s enough to make any James Bond villain teary-eyed with joy. But for us the sane, non-megalomaniacal audience, landing on these five words sews up a chilling monologue that turns stuff we’re familiar with into a rather dystopian vision.

“Here’s to the pencil pushers. May they all get lead poisoning, huh?”

If Eddie Valiant ever needed to switch professions, toastmaster might be a good change of scenery. Attempting to drink to a friend laid off in the midst of Judge Doom’s freeway scheme, this quote is still something you could break out when imbibing with the right crew.

“What's wrong with Toontown? Every Joe loves Toontown.”

At this point in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, we don’t know about Eddie’s tragic backstory for why he hates toons. After R.K. Maroon puts this very question into the air, it primes the audience to keep searching for those answers, even if the story isn’t so beautiful. 

“I can’t believe they locked me up for driving on the sidewalk. It was just a couple of miles.”

Somehow, Benny the Cab (Charles Fleischer) is a better driver than Roger Rabbit. Though, to be fair, the traffic violation in this gag is less destructive than what we’d see later as proof of Roger’s lack of skills behind the wheel.

The best kids movies appeal to both older and younger audiences, assuring an enjoyable experience for the whole family. However, to achieve this, sometimes Hollywood incorporates certain jokes, themes, or even entire plot lines that are not appealing to kids at all and might leave them speaking with a colorful new vocabulary, making jokes way above their age level, or even traumatized for life. The following are a few examples of some notable, beloved children’s movies that, looking back, we might have been too young for.

The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1996)

Had it existed back then, The Hunchback of Notre Dame could have won the Best Animated Feature Oscar for being a very compelling period drama set in 15th-Century Paris. However, the story of the Disney classic — based on Victor Hugo’s dark novel involving an anomalous man nearly killed as an infant and an elderly priest (reimagined as a judge in the film) uncomfortably and passionately obsessed with a young dancer — is not particularly ideal for children’s entertainment at its core.

Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971) 

For years, fans have been re-analyzing Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and coming up with wild fan theories to darken the scrumdiddlyumptious classic, but why bother? The film’s dark themes are spelled out for us pretty clearly, especially in the infamous tunnel sequence when the titular chocolatier (played by Gene Wilder) recites a foreboding poem as unsettling images appear around the boat full of passengers.

The Brave Little Toaster (1987)

Before there was Toy Story, the ultimate animated adventure about sentient inanimate objects was The Brave Little Toaster, in which a group of old appliances set out to find their “master” after being left at a woodland cabin. The great thing about this classic is that it teaches children to be more compassionate and sentimental, but it does so through very upsetting means, depicting the cruel treatment of our innocent protagonists.

Labyrinth (1986)

Director Jim Henson’s cult favorite fantasy, Labyrinth, is already pretty dark with its creepy puppetry and plot involving a kidnapped infant. However, it is the predatory undertones of David Bowie's character, Goblin King Jareth, when interacting with Jennifer Conolly's young protagonist, Sarah, that really makes it hard to recommend to anyone under 13.

Pinocchio (1940)

Because most fairy tales are also cautionary tales, the sight of Pinocchio smoking a cigar after running away to Pleasure Island does not bother us too much. It is the way the titular, enchanted puppet from the Disney classic learns his lesson — seeing other runaway children transformed into donkeys — that leaves us wondering if this story takes its teachable moment a little too far.

One Hundred And One Dalmatians (1961)

Watching dogs save the day in One Hundred and One Dalmatians is what makes the animated film such a rewarding and joyful experience. However, when you consider the fact that these Dalmatians are forced to spring into action because Cruella de Vil wants to skin the spotted puppies for her own fur coat, it makes one hesitant to show it to any younger canine lovers.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

It would be childish of us to think that this musical adaptation of Ian Fleming’s children's novel, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, is inappropriate because of the title alone. Our concern is the fact that it takes place in a land called "Vulgaria" and one of its extremely discomforting main villains is literally referred to as the "Child Catcher.”

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

There is an argument to be made that Who Framed Roger Rabbit was never even intended for children in the first place and only earned its PG rating because they were more common at the time, let alone the fact that many of the characters are animated. Even then, this murder mystery story featuring a cigar-smoking baby with racy dialogue, a hard-drinking protagonist, and a sultry femme fatale (Kathleen Turner's Jessica Rabbit) would have never been PG in this day and age.

The Goonies (1985)

Director Richard Donner and producer Steven Spielberg’s enduring cult favorite, The Goonies, offer a relatively accurate depiction of what might happen if a group of children tried to live out their adventurous fantasies for real. The result includes a great deal of swearing, violence, innuendoes, and constant peril that younger viewers should find distressing.

The Incredibles (2004)

Because it is an animated Disney property and one of Pixar’s best films, we often forget that Brad Bird’s The Incredibles is one of the darkest superhero movies of its time. If the action thriller was not animated, its violence (which involves children) and other various adult elements would have surely cost it its PG rating. 

How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Ron Howard’s big-screen attempt at adapting a Dr. Seuss book into a live-action feature, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, has quite a bit of crude humor and a certain mean-spirited tone that the author is certainly not known for. One particular moment that surely went over younger viewers' heads is the scene when the infant Grinch (played as an adult by Jim Carrey) lands at the home of his adoptive mothers, where they are clearly throwing a swingers' party.

The Shrek Movies (2001-2010)

Watching all the Shrek movies is an almost entirely different experience for grown-ups than it is for children with mature jokes and references throughout. For instance, the first installment features Shrek’s (Mike Myers) comment about Lord Farquaad “compensating for something” with his large castle or a fairy tale-style recreation of O.J. Simpson's low-speed chase in 2004’s Shrek 2.

Mulan (1998)

As a film that takes place during a war, violence is to be expected, but is also handled in an impressively tame manner in Mulan. However, what people often tend to forget is how much partial nudity is in this animated Disney classic, particularly when the titular hero (voiced by Ming-Na Wen), posing as a man, is bathing in a lake and his suddenly joined by her fellow, male soldiers.

Ratatouille (2007)

Brad Bird’s Ratatouille is a delicious family treat, but not without its indulgences in adult humor. One notable scene from Pixar's culinary comedy sees Alfredo Linguini (Lou Romano) begin to confess about Remy (Patton Oswalt) to Colette (Janeane Garofalo), he begins by saying, "I have a tiny, little…,” at which point she darts her eyes below his belt.

The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)

Honestly, we believe that one of the things that makes The LEGO Batman Movie just as good as any live-action Batman movie is its more mature, but very clever, jokes. For instance, when Bruce Wayne (Will Arnett) first meets the young man who will be his ward and sidekick, the boy (voiced by Michael Cera) says his name is Richard Grayson, but most people call him "Dick," to which the aristocrat replies, "Well, children can be cruel."

Hocus Pocus (1993)

While certainly one of the more lighthearted movies about witches ever made, because of wall-to-wall innuendos and themes of child murder, calling Hocus Pocus a family movie is a bit of a stretch. Constant mentions of Max Dennison’s (Omri Katz) innocence (the reason why the Black Flame Candle successfully brings back the Sanderson Sisters) and a suggestive exchange between the witches and a bus driver are just a few notable examples.

Monster House (2006)

With a title like Monster House, you’d assume children should not be admitted anyway, but the horror elements are not really anything to be concerned by. However, the not-so-scary favorite does include moments of underage drinking, a reference to Chowder's mother's potential infidelity with her "personal trainer," and Chowder asking if they are in a "girl house" after Jenny calls a chandelier its "uvula."

Bee Movie (2007)

We suppose we should have realized that an animated movie co-written by and starring Jerry Seinfeld was not going to be just for the children. However, who could have expected that Seinfeld’s Bee Movie character — an insect named Barry B. Barrington — would have a crush on a human named Vanessa (Renée Zellweger) and that this strange interspecies romance would be expressed through many bizarre innuendoes?

Scooby-Doo (2002)

Writer James Gunn has said there exists an R-rated cut of Scooby-Doo — the live-action adaptation of the classic cartoon — and signs of that can be found throughout. Among them is the moment when Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) tells Mary-Jane (Isla Fisher) that she has his "favorite name" and when Freddy (Freddie Prinze Jr.), accidentally inhabiting Daphne's (Sarah Michelle Gellar) body, relishes in the ability to look at himself without clothing.

The Road To El Dorado (2000)

The influence of Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour’s Road to… franchise in DreamWorks’ The Road to El Dorado is clear, right down to the off-beat and often suggestive humor. The most significant and often debated example from the animated film is when Chel (Rosie Perez) seduces Tulio (Kevin Kline), leading to a love scene that is offscreen, but easily heard.

Tarzan (1999)

It is pretty surprising when you remember that Disney’s animated version of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan is rated G as the violence is actually quite visceral. It is even more disturbing when it is subtle, such as in Clayton’s death scene, when the silhouette of him being hung by the neck with vines can be spotted.

All Dogs Go To Heaven (1989)

The movie may be called All Dogs Go to Heaven, but there is one scene when Charlie (voiced by Burt Reynolds) visits the opposite end of the afterlife. That is only one pivotal, disturbing moment from the fantasy classic by animation legend Don Bluth, whose entire filmography has its fair share of nightmare fuel. 

Zootopia (2016)

There is a pretty funny and cleverly subtle adult joke from Zootopia that both kids and grown-ups may have missed. At one point, Judy (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) says, "I am just a dumb bunny, but we are good at multiplying.”

The Witches (1990)

One of the most sinister and truly grotesque depictions of witches — especially Anjelica Huston’s Eva Ernst — comes from a film intended as a “family picture.” Roald Dahl himself even agreed that director Nicolas Roeg’s adaptation of his 1983 novel, The Witches, was a little too scary for his taste.

Antz (1998)

DreamWorks' Antz is often considered the unintentional twin of Pixar's A Bugs Life, but the latter is far different, especially in terms of its genuine appeal to younger audiences. If it were not an animated film about insects, its innuendos, swearing, and plot involving a genocidal conspiracy would have easily earned it a PG-13 rating, at least.

The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie (2004)

The beloved animated TV show SpongeBob Squarepants has been criticized for a number of mature jokes and its 2004 movie spin-off is absolutely no exception and, in fact, far clearer to detect. To name just a few notable examples, SpongeBob (voiced by Tom Kenny) and Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke) get hammered from ice cream at a bar,  the duo later gets launched back to Bikini Bottom by David Hasselhoff's pectorals, and Patrick dons fish nets during SpongeBob's performance of "Goofy Goober Rock."

Rango (2011)

There are plenty of jokes aimed toward the parents who took their children to the Oscar-winning Rango. For instance, when Johnny Depp's titular chameleon introduces his gang as a troupe of "thespians," one of the prairie dogs says, "That's illegal in seven states,” obviously confusing the word for, “lesbians.”

Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014)

Based on special segments from the original animated series, The Adventures of Rocky and Bulwinkle and Friends, Mr. Peabody & Sherman sees the titular duo — a highly intelligent dog (voiced by Ty Burrell) and his adoptive human son (voiced by Max Charles) — accidentally cause a rip in the space-time continuum, which lands them in trouble. Luckily, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln agree to pardon Mr. Peabody, at which point — in the animated family film’s racist joke — Bill Clinton shows up to say, "I've done worse."

The Aristocats (1970)

When Disney+ started putting a content warning in front of older movies that contained insensitive or negatively stereotypical content, one such title was The Aristocrats. The animated film — which some still believe deserves a live-action remake — does, indeed, contain some insensitive racial stereotypes, as evident by how East Asian culture is depicted in “The Siamese Cat Song.”

Inside Out (2015)

There are many mature themes throughout Inside Out that are important for younger viewers to witness, but then there are some more humorous moments that likely go over their heads. For instance, when Fear wonders if Riley saw a bear and Disgust assures none in exist in San Francisco, Anger recalls seeing a hairy man who resembled a bear, in reference to a term from LGBTQ+ culture.

The Cat In The Hat (2003)

About 99.9 percent of the humor in star Mike Myers’ almost universally reviled adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat — following two siblings’ (played by Spencer Breslin and Dakota Fanning) adventures with a giant feline — is of the crudest, most crass, and most inappropriate kind. We could fill this entire list with examples, but we’ll just settle for the moment when The Cat calls a gardening tool a “dirty hoe.”

Cars (2006)

There are a quite a few overtly mature references in Pixar's Cars, such as when Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) gets “flashed” by a couple of fans who put on their high beams. Or, what about when Lightning walks in on Doc Hudson's (Paul Newman) surgery on the Sheriff or when he tells everyone Doc Hudson has three Piston Cups, to which Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) asks, "He did what in his cup?"

If you see no harm in showing these films to your children, we will not stop nor judge you. All we are asking is that you give it a little thought before you.

Have you ever watched a movie and seen a fictional movie within it that you’d like to watch? I know I have. Sometimes the whole movie is about another movie, and sometimes it’s a brief mention or even just a poster in the background. Here’s my list of the movies within movies that I want to watch one day. 

Tropic Thunder (Tropic Thunder)

I remember the first time I saw the trailer for Tropic Thunder and said to my friend, “Oh, it’s been a while since there was a good Vietnam movie.” Of course, it’s not actually a Vietnam War movie, but they are filming one that I still want to see to this day. All great Vietnam movies have trials and tribulations during production, and this one certainly did too! 

Pineapple Express 2: Blood Red (This Is The End)

This Is The End is one of the most ridiculous movies ever conceived (in a good way), so it makes sense that I would left wanting more. More James Franco and Seth Rogan to be exact and what better way than to follow up the apocalypse with another the creation of a potential Pineapple Express franchise, starting with Pineapple Express 2: Blood Red? Save me from the end of the world, I need to see this movie! 

Habeas Corpus (The Player)

Throughout Robert Altman’s The Player, different stars making cameos make a number of movie pitches at the fictional movie studio. Most of them include the recurring joke that the movie should star Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis. Sure enough, right at the end of the movie, the fictional movie Habeas Corpus is filmed and you guessed it, Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis are the stars. Based on the lone scene show, of Willis rescuing Roberts from the gas chamber, I have to see the rest! I’d like to see the original ending too. 

Napoleon (Get Shorty)

Get Shorty is a movie filled with hilarious ideas for movies, but given the 2023 release of Ridley Scott’s Napolean, it had me yearning to see the version of Napolean starring Danny DeVito’s character, Martin Weir. DeVito hasn’t played a lot of serious roles, so seeing him, as the serious actor Martin Weir, playing a dramatic part would just be fantastic.

The 14 Fists of McCluskey (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood)

Like a lot of movies about Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood features a few fictional movies, including “The 14 Fists of McCluskey” with Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt-double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). There are a bunch of Easter Eggs packed into this one, including a reference back to Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds and a clip from a real movie called Hell River from 1974 used as the clip in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Maybe Robert Rodriguez could direct it. 

Coming Home In A Body Bag (True Romance)

Christian Slater’s character, Clarence, in True Romance, is a huge movie fan and I trust his taste in film. His gushing praise of Coming Home In A Body Bag is all I need to hear to want to see it in real life. I love a good ‘Nam movie, and this seems like it could be one of the best. I’m unsure about the potential sequel, however, though it doesn’t seem like it’ll ever make it through production, given the events of the real movie it exists within. 

Bluntman and Chronic (Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back)

In this day and age of superhero movies, what the world needs is a Bluntman and Chronic movie, right? While “Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season” looks pretty hilarious in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, it’s really all about Bluntman and Chronic when you are talking about fake movies in Kevin Smith’s View Askewniverse. This is one that maybe could actually be real one day, right? I’ll keep believing. 

Angels With Filthy Souls (Home Alone)

In Home Alone, Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) uses a clip to scare off the Wet Bandits from a movie called “Angels with Filthy Souls” and as a fan of old gangster flicks, it looks right up my alley. It was decades before I even learned this wasn’t a real movie! I sure wish it was. 

Machete (Grindhouse)

Talking about getting meta with things, Grindhouse is part of a double feature, and while it’s a real movie, it’s sort of presented as a fake one, and within it is another fake trailer for, “Machete,” among a couple of other films. All the films were eventually turned into real movies, but it’s the ones in the trailers I want to see. 

Home for Purim (For Your Consideration)

The Christopher Guest-directed movies have some of the best quotes in movie history and while For Your Consideration doesn’t quite reach the heights of Best in Show and Waiting For Guffman, it’s still great. The idea of a movie about the Jewish holiday of Purim is just perfect for the movie within the movie. In the end, predictably, the movie’s plot is changed to Thanksgiving, but the original idea sounds way more interesting. 

Hyde (Entourage)

The HBO show Entourage had countless fictional movies within the show about Hollywood stars. In the movie, made after the show concluded, included “Hyde” starring Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), who also directed the fake movie. In the real movie, the fake one is a huge hit, and even Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon) wins a Golden Globe for his performance! 

Somethin’s Cookin’ (Who Framed Roger Rabbit)

The opening scene of Who Framed Roger Rabbit sets up the character of Roger Rabbit perfectly. The struggling toon star is a disaster while trying to film a movie called “Somethin’s Cookin’.” He just can’t get it right and apparently, he had a refrigerator dropped on his head 23 times. Who wouldn’t want to see how it finally turns out? Remember, stars, not birdies! 

The Three Amigos (Three Amigos)

The premise of Three Amigos is pretty classic. A town confuses three B-movie stars (Chevy Chase, Martin Short, and Steve Martin) for actual heroes and hires them to protect their town. It’s all based on a movie the town sees. That’s enough to sell the movie to me. A movie so good they are hired for real? Sold! 

Hail, Caesar! A Tale Of The Christ (Hail, Caesar!)

The Coen Brothers have used the “Capitol Pictures” name in a few of their movies, including Hail, Caesar!, starring George Clooney as a dopey film star in the 1950s. Capitol Pictures is the production company making “Hail, Caesar! A Tale of the Christ” which, judging by the title, sounds like a completely insane premise, especially since Julius Caesar died 44 years before the birth of Christ. I’m in! 

History of the World Part II (History Of The World Part I)

This one is something that we almost actually got to see. Mel Brooks’ classic History of the World Part I ended with a fake trailer for “History of the World Part II.” More than 40 years later, in 2023, Brooks produced History of the World Part II as a TV show for Hulu. The caveat is that the show didn’t include the promised bits the fake trailer included, so we’re still not getting the movie he promised! The show is great, but who doesn’t want to see the three completely inappropriate skits in the original trailer? I do.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day Starring Sylvester Stallone (Last Action Hero)

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Last Action Hero has a great poster for Terminator 2: Judgment Day. If you’re thinking to yourself, “Wait, that is a real movie,” you’re not wrong but in Last Action Hero the film stars Sylvester Stallone! As much as I love the actual movie, seeing Stallone as the Terminator would be amazing! 

Coming Up Daisy (Burn After Reading)

The late Cormac McCarthy is one of my favorite writers and his books have been turned into some great movies. The absurd idea that the noir author would write a “chick lit” book that’s being turned into a movie is one of the best jokes in the Coen Brothers’ Burn After Reading and I just have to see it.

Argo (Argo)

“Argo” was the name created by the CIA for the fake movie they used the supposed production of to extract hostages from the US Embassy in 1979 after the Iranian Revolution. In the actual movie, also called Argo, the fictional film is described as a sci-fi flick akin to Star Wars. I’m a big believer that the world needs more great sci-fi so this feels like a missed opportunity for a real movie. 

The Night the Reindeer Died (Scrooged)

Bill Murray’s Scrooged has a lot of over-the-top insanity when it comes to the movies and TV produced by Murray’s character Frank Cross on the TV network he runs. One of those is shown in a commercial on the station that opens the movie, “The Night the Reindeer Died.” Starring Lee Majors as a James Bond-type rescuing Santa at the North Pole. I’m seriously all in on this. It’s too bad Lee Majors can’t be the next James Bond. 

Deception (The Holiday)

Lindsay Lohan and James Franco in an action-adventure hit? Sign me up! All we get to see of this fake movie called "Deception" is a trailer in The Holiday, but Cameron Diaz and her team (including John Krasinski)  really sell it! 

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (The Man Who Killed Don Quixote)

Former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam is one of my favorite directors and while his movies aren’t for everyone, I love them all. Especially The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which infamously took almost three decades to complete. Adam Driver stars as a commercial director who is reminded of the first film he directed, also called “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” which leads his character down memory road and on his own quixotic quest. If it’s that good, I’d love to see it, too.

See You Next Wednesday (An American Werewolf In London)

“See You Next Wednesday” is often used by director John Landis in his movies when he needs the name of a fictional film and it has become an Easter Egg for fans of the director. An American Werewolf in London is one example of the movie title being used as an adult film. The name is even seen on a movie poster at the movie theater where Michael Jackson watches the “Thriller” video. 

Jaws 19 (Back To The Future Part II)

Back in the ‘80s, it seemed like the Jaws franchise was going to go forever and get more and more ridiculous as it went. It was such a trope that it found its way into Back to the Future II when Marty (Michael J. Fox) sees a hologram for “Jaws 19.” Of course, now that Back to the Future’s future is in our past we know that the shark franchise didn’t keep making movies, but I sure wish it still did. 

Lightyear (Toy Story)

In 1995’s Toy Story, audiences were introduced to the toy Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Tim Allen). Buzz was an astronaut from a blockbuster movie that had been turned into one of Andy’s favorite action figures. Of course, this is an example of a movie we finally did get to see when Pixar released Lightyear in 2022, but it was a long wait. 

Action Doctor (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World)

In Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Lucas Lee (Chris Evans) is a B-movie star and one of Ramona’s exes that Scott (Michael Cera) has to defeat to win her heart. Scott is a fan of Lee’s and in one scene lays out a number of his movies on DVD, including one called “Action Doctor” which sounds so ridiculous I just have to see it. 

The Old Mill (State And Main)

State and Main is an absurd and hilarious take on the ridiculousness of the movie business. It is about the troubled production of a movie called “The Old Mill” in a town that doesn’t, in fact, have an old mill. We never get to see how the movie turns out and I still want to. 

Stab (Scream Franchise)

In the Scream franchise, “Stab” is the meta-tastic film-within-a-film parody of slasher films in a movie meant to be pretty much the same thing. We’ve heard a lot of the movie, but now we need to see the whole thing! 

Sawdust and Mildew (Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult)

It’s fair to say that Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult is the least funny of the Naked Gun franchise, and mostly forgettable in every way. It actually makes the joke about the bomb at the Academy Awards funnier though, as the producers of “Sawdust and Mildew” stand up. It must have been a box office bomb. Still, I try to see as many of the nominated movies as I can. 

The Dueling Cavalier (Singin' In The Rain)

There are a couple of fake movies in Singin’ In The Rain but the one I want to see is “The Dueling Cavalier.” The movie is so bad that it turns into a Rocky Horror-like showing in the theater with the crowd yelling at the screen and acknowledging how bad it is, making it a must-see in my book. 

Salome (Sunset Boulevard)

The biblical story of Salome has never received a modern telling on the silver screen, but it almost did in Billy Wilder’s legendary Sunset Boulevard. The script in the movie was written by Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), but writer Joe Gillis (William Holden) is working to make it, you know, good. I trust that he could have! 

True Fear (One Cut Of The Dead)

One Cut of the Dead is one of the best zombie movies ever made, and in it, the characters are working to make their own zombie movie, eventually attempting to make the movie with the “real” zombies that are suddenly appearing. A movie about zombies in a zombie movie? I’m all in. 

Logjammin’ (The Big Lebowski)

Okay, so this is probably not a movie I’d want to see in the theater, as it’s of a very adult variety. But let’s be real, it actually looks pretty hilarious as Karl Hungus stops by to “fixin da cable.” while Bunny La Joya’s friend takes a shower. 

You can typically tell who is meant to be considered the “hero” of a movie by identifying the title role or looking at the top-billed cast member. However, there are many ‘80s movie characters who often go overlooked for the pivotal role they play in bringing things to a satisfying conclusion. We took a deeper look at some of the best movies of the 1980s, identified who we believe is the real hero, and decided to give them the credit they deserve.

Short Round (Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom)

While many like to criticize Raiders of the Lost Ark by claiming Indiana Jones' actions have no bearing on the plot, it is more surprising that Harrison Ford's intrepid archaeologist gets more credit for defeating the Thuggee Cult than he really deserves in the sequel. If not for Short Round (Academy Award winner Ke Huy Quan in his debut role) freeing Indy from their captors' spell, 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom would not have had the happy ending the bleak thriller so thankfully concludes on.

Sgt. Al Powell (Die Hard)

In arguably the greatest action movie ever made (let alone one of the best Christmas movies), 1988’s Die Hard, as John McClane (Bruce Willis) is single-handedly warring against violent thieves invading Nakatomi Plaza, his only real ally at ground zero is Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson). At the very end, the L.A. cop actually ends up taking out the last of Hans Gruber’s (Alan Rickman) goons, Karl (Alexander Gudunov), with the first shot he gained the courage to take in years.

Boy In Police Station (Ferris Bueller's Day Off)

At the end of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, the title character (Matthew Broderick) probably would have gotten caught without help from his sister, Jeanie (Jennifer Grey), who would not have been willing to help if she hadn't met Charlie Sheen's character at the police station. Not to mention, despite his off-putting appearance, the unnamed teen gives off a more genuine and endearing aura than the central character of John Hughes's 1986 classic.

George McFly (Back To The Future)

When Marty McFly's (Michael J. Fox) plan to get his future mother, Lorraine (Lea Thompson), and father, George (Crispin Glover), to fall in love goes awry courtesy of Biff (Tom Wilson), George gains the courage he needs to knock the ruthless bully out himself. This ensures that Marty will one day be born and changes his family's fate for the better at the end of the 1985 time travel movie masterpiece, Back to the Future.

Chunk (The Goonies)

Out of the entire Goonies cast — a stunning who’s who of future A-listers, including Sean Astin and Josh Brolin — it is Chunk (Jeff Cohen) who has the most memorable and inspiring character arc. He goes from being the butt of every joke to the one who helps rescue his buddies from The Fratellis (with help from Sloth, of course).

Jessica Rabbit (Who Framed Roger Rabbit)

In 1988’s groundbreaking fusion of live-action with animation, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit (voiced by Kathleen Turner) assures private eye Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) that she is not bad, but “just drawn that way.” She goes on to prove that her words ring true by becoming a pivotal role in Valiant’s effort to clear her husband (Charles Fleischer in the title role) for murder.

Wang Chi (Big Trouble In Little China)

Kurt Russell may get top billing and his character, Jack Burton, may kill Lo Pan (James Hong) by the end, but did you ever notice that is really his only heroic act in 1986's Big Trouble in Little China? His Chinese-American best friend, Wang Chi (Dennis Dun), is the one who makes the smartest decisions and kicks the most butt in John Carpenter's cult-favorite fantasy that is lauded for its predominantly Asian cast at a time when such representation was scarce.

Rebecca "Newt" Jorden (Aliens)

Aliens may have solidified Sigourney Weaver's Scream Queen status and made a heroic icon out of her character, Ellen Ripley, but the most courageous and resourceful character in James Cameron's 1986 sci-fi sequel has to be Carrie Henn as Newt. The young girl manages to survive on a planet overrun with Xenomorphs all by herself before the arrival of a crew of marines, who also might not have survived as long as they did without her tips and tricks.

Rufus (Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure)

If you think about it, the plot of 1989’s Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure is not so different from The Terminator, which makes George Carlin's Rufus the sci-fi comedy's own Kyle Reese. The time-traveler ensures a bright future by helping the titular messianic duo (Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter) at every turn, including in 1991’s Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey when he disguises himself as Pam Grier’s character, Mrs. Wardroe, to let them into Battle of the Bands.

The Ewoks (Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi)

There are many Star Wars fans who see the Ewoks as nothing but a cheap  gimmick to attract younger audiences to the franchise. Whether or not that is true, the cute, cuddly warriors were pivotal to the Empire's downfall at the end of 1983’s Return of the Jedi.

Grandpa (The Princess Bride)

In 1987’s The Princess Bride, there is no real doubt that Westley (Cary Elwes), Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), and Fezzik (Andre the Giant) are the heroes of the enchanting, action-packed fairy tale. However, to us, the hero of the whole movie is Peter Falk's character, who takes the time to visit his ill grandson (Fred Savage) and read to him the story within the story.

Roy Batty (Blade Runner)

The main protagonist of 1982’s Blade Runner is, of course, Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard, but his job as a cop assigned to retire Replicants makes him a better qualifier for the villain of the story. It is Roy Batty's (Rutger Hauer) bid to try to give artificial humans like himself a chance at a better, longer life that makes him the real hero of Ridley Scott's groundbreaking, futuristic noir.

Ophelia (Trading Places)

After losing everything as part of an experiment to make him poor and give his job to the impoverished Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy), hot shot investor Louis Winthorpe (Dan Aykroyd) crosses paths with a street walker named Ophelia (Jamie Lee Curtis). While she was initially hired by Clarence Beeks (Paul Gleason) to make life even worse for him, she takes him in, cares for him, and attempts to help him get back on his feet, making her the true hero of 1983’s Trading Places.

Cabbie (Escape From New York)

One of Kurt Russell’s most iconic roles is Snake Plissken — a hardened criminal tasked with rescuing the President (Donald Pleasance) from a penal colony that used to be Manhattan in a dystopian 1997 in John Carpenter’s 1981 cult favorite, Escape from New York. The only incarcerated individual who is selflessly willing to help the anti-hero complete his mission in time is Oscar winner Ernest Borgnine’s Cabbie, whose own taxi ends up being Snake’s escape vehicle.

Carl Fox (Wall Street)

Oliver Stone’s 1987 drama Wall Street chronicles the rise and fall of ambitious stockbroker Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen), as a result of taking orders from the devil on his shoulder: the ruthless Gordon Gecko (Academy Award winner Michael Douglas). If only he had listened to the angel on his shoulder — his father and the moral center of the story, Carl (Sheen’s real-life father, Martin Sheen) — he might not have wound up behind bars.

Queen Aoleon (Coming To America)

In Coming to America, Akeem’s (Eddie Murphy) chances at a life with his true love, Lisa McDowell (Shari Headley), are almost ruined by his father, King Jaffe Joffer (James Earl Jones), if not for the support of his mother, Queen Aoleon, who we assume talked sense into her husband offscreen. Her tender-hearted performance and truly majestic presence in the 1988 comedy makes us sad that the late Madge Sinclair could not reprise the role in 2021’ Coming 2 America.

Bub (Day Of The Dead)

Never did a horror fan have any reason to feel empathy or admiration for a zombie until writer and director George A. Romero introduced “Bub” in 1985’s Day of the Dead. Played by Sherman Howard, the reanimated corpse displays an unusual level of intelligence, endearing human characteristics, and a strong compassion for his handler, Dr. Matthew Logan (Richard Liberty) which drives him to seek vengeance on his murderer and the film’s true villain, Capt. Henry Rhodes (Joseph Pilato).

The Gopher (Caddyshack)

As far as we are concerned, anyone who proves to be a source of frustration for Judge Smails (Ted Knight) is on the side of heroism in the classic 1980 comedy, Caddyshack. That being said, absolutely no one gets under that man's skin like the Gopher who lives underneath Bushwood Country Club and makes burrows in the golf course grounds wherever he goes.

Cousin Eddie (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation)

When Eddie (Randy Quaid, reprising his role from 1983’s Vacation) arrives at the Griswolds’ house unannounced, Clark (Chevy Chase) believes his holidays are destined for disaster. He is right, but his otherwise annoying and absent-minded cousin is responsible for very few of the uproarious mishaps in 1989’s National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. In fact, he really comes through at the end when he brings Clark’s boss, Frank Shirley (Brian Doyle-Murray), to the house, where he becomes ultimately convinced to give Clark the bonus he deserves.

Dawson (Adventures In Babysitting)

We are not just including Dawson, Vincent D’Onofrio’s garage mechanic character from 1987’s Adventure in Babysitter, because he happens to look like one of Marvel Comics’ iconic depiction of Thor. Then again, if not for that striking resemblance, he might not have been coerced into giving Chris Parker (Elisabeth Shue) a $5 dollar discount for her car repair by young Sara Anderson (Maia Brewton) who calls him her hero. 

Carl (The Breakfast Club)

The character who forever changed the way high schoolers perceive their custodial employees was Carl (John Kapelos) from 1985’s The Breakfast Club, who has a bit of a heart-to-heart with the nearly sadistic Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason). We like to think that the janitor's defense of the students in detention that day got through to the uptight teacher so, by the time he reads their letter at the end of John Hughes’ quintessential teen dramedy, he may have seen them in a new, more sympathetic light.

Vi Moore (Footloose)

In Guardians of the Galaxy, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) refers to Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon) as the hero of Footloose for bringing the joys of dancing back to the small, conservative town of Bomont. However, there is one character from the 1984 classic of equal (or even greater) importance that he should have also mentioned: Vi Moore (Dianne Wiest), who breaks her long silence and ultimately convinces her strict preacher husband, Shaw (John Lithgow), to give the town’s youth the freedom the dance.

Billy Francis Kopecki (Big)

In 1988’s Big, when 13-year-old Josh’s (David Moscow) wish to be a grown-up mysteriously comes true, turning him into Tom Hanks, the only one coming to his aid (after some convincing) is his best friend, Billy (Jared Rushton). He tries to be there to get his buddy through his strange situation in any way he can, even helping him get a job, but when Josh starts act a little too grown-up, it is Billy who brings him back down to Earth, reminding him it is time become his real self again.

Mr. Green (Clue)

Determining the real hero of Clue depends on which ending of the 1985 board game-inspired whodunit you consider canon. The conclusion we like to settle on reveals that Mr. Green (Michael McKean) is an undercover FBI agent, which he announces after shooting Wadsworth (Tim Curry), who also turns out to be the real Mr. Boddy.

The Gyro Captain (The Road Warrior)

Things between Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) and a fellow loner known only as The Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence) get off to a rough start in the second installment of George Miller’s Mad Max franchise, released as The Road Warrior in the States. However, the gyrocopter pilot comes to see the hardened former cop as a great teammate, later rescues him from a near-fatal accident, and assists him in his race to bring the rig to the Oil Refinery compound.

Mrs. Parker (A Christmas Story)

There are countless cinematic mothers, especially from the 1980s, who deserve more credit than they receive, and the quintessential example has to be Melinda Dillon’s role in 1983’s A Christmas Story. The classic moment when she keeps her son, Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley), out of trouble with The Old Man (Darren McGavin) after his tussle with Skut Farkus (Zach Ward) is just one way she shows her loving devotion to her family and undisputedly earning the honor to be called a hero. 

Curtis (The Blues Brothers)

The heart and soul of the best movie based on Saturday Night Live characters, The Blues Brothers, is Cab Calloway's Curtis, who served as a father figure for the titular siblings, introducing them to music in their youth. Not to mention, he motivates them to attend a church service that ends up giving them the idea to put the band back together to save the orphanage.

Ken Pile (A Fish Called Wanda)

It comes as a surprise to see the stuttering, accident-prone goof, Ken Pile (Michael Palin), take down the true antagonist of 1988’s A Fish of Wanda, Otto West (Oscar winner Kevin Kline). To avenge the death of his beloved fish, Ken runs over Otto with a steamroller when he is stuck in cement, seemingly putting an end to his career in thievery, until we discover at the end that he survived the ordeal. Nonetheless, to see Ken get even with his enemy is one of the hit comedy’s most satisfying moments.

Otto (Airplane!)

When food poisoning incapacitates the entire piloting staff on a commercial flight, former fighter pilot Ted Striker (Robert Hays) is asked to help bring the also ill passengers to safety, but he is not the only one equipped for the job. Lest we forget, a great deal of the classic 1980 spoof movie, Airplane! sees an inflatable automatic pilot — aptly named “Otto” — at the helm of the aircraft. 

Lt. Andrew Bogomil (Beverly Hills Cop)

When Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) first blows into town in 1984’s Beverly Hills Cop, he immediately comes at odds with Lt. Andrew Bogomil. However, because the Detroit detective helps Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Taggert (John Ashton) take down local traffickers while he is supposed to be on vacation, he fabricates a story to cover for him and helps smooth things out with Inspector Todd.  

Yori (Tron)

In 1982’s Tron, Flynn (Jeff Bridges) and the title character (Bruce Boxleitner) might have never managed to take down the Master Control Program without the help of Yori (Cindy Morgan). She gives Tron the chance to get pivotal information from his user outside the grid after convincing a guard named Dumont to let him. 

Merlin (Top Gun)

At the end of 1986’s Top Gun, Maverick (Tom Cruise) is still reeling from the death of his best friend, Goose (Anthony Edwards), which distracts him from his current aerial battle. Luckily, Merlin (Tim Robbins) is in the other seat and helps bring him back to Earth, leading him to victory.

So, next time you watch a flick and think you know who the real hero is, think again.

In the history of live-action Disney villains, I still maintain that Who Framed Roger Rabbit's Judge Doom as one of the studio’s crowning achievements. Part of that is because of the fact that Christopher Lloyd’s baddie came up with a brilliant Disney villain plot that so evil, and yet so believable, that it still holds up to this day. 

And just when I thought we’d seen this toon disguised as a human at his most evil, a video from his recent appearance at Disneyland proved me absolutely wrong. The clip you’re about to watch came from 2023’s Oogie Boogie Bash, or at least I’m led to believe that, as Doom was announced as a new addition earlier that same year.

This allowed an X user to join in on the fun when someone asked a pretty loaded question on social media. Answering the call to prove “who has that theme park video?”, Judge Doom has been proven to be even more of a hard case, as you’ll see below:  

Tax evasion? Seriously?! Look, I know this is a suggestion from the park patron that provided the video, or at someone close to them in the crowd. But still, Judge Doom isn’t exactly an “improv” sort of guy, so the laws of “yes and” probably don’t apply. 

As if it wasn’t enough that Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s resident gargoyle bribed his way into becoming a judge, he’s now dipped a Toon for tax evasion. I’m counting this as canon, and now I hate this man even more. Flipping back to reality, I do hope this Disneyland cast member got some sort of bonus and/or recognition for this.

The same goes for anyone who goes out of their way to interact with Disney Parks guests in a similar manner, as that’s not a responsibility solely on the shoulders of the nicer and gentler character performers. Villains need to be believable too, as we saw previously with Kylo Ren's adorable Disneyland Stormtrooper encounter, and this Judge Doom fits the bill to a tee. 

Whether everything new coming to Disneyland includes Judge Doom’s return to the Oogie Boogie Bash is yet to be seen. To be fair, it’s early in the year, and there are other highlights on Disneyland’s 2024 event schedule that are still in the wings. However, it was the 35th anniversary of Who Framed Roger Rabbit last year, and those major changes to Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin are still in process as well.

So maybe I’ll finally get to square up with Judge Doom in person this year, giving him a piece of my mind on cartoon tax codes and every other crime he’s committed. That is, if watching Who Framed Roger Rabbit through my Disney+ subscription doesn't bring back those collective childhood memories a certain generation shares of being terrified of this man. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?

The Disney canon, through both live-action and animated films, has some of the most intimidating villains ever committed to the screen. Disneyland’s annual Oogie Boogie Bash draws very heavily from that canon, with past showings even introducing MCU villains to the park. This year might be one of the most impressive though, as a deep cut villain was just teased, and now I need to face them down in person. Who Framed Roger Rabbit fans, you’re going to want to check this out as well.

Part of what you just saw in front of you was a vat of turpentine, acetone and benzine - or as it’s more commonly known, “The Dip.” That is surely a sign that Judge Doom is about to be terrorizing folks who dare to visit him during the Oogie Boogie Bash this Halloween. If that’s absolutely true based on what we’re seeing here, I need to see this fiend in the fake flesh!

On top of being one of the most horrifying concepts for an antagonist in the world of Disney and subsidiaries, Christopher Lloyd’s iconic role is one of the best ‘80s movie villains on record. With that high squeaky voice, daggers for eyes and the ability to seemingly fly through the air, Doom is the stuff that spawns childhood nightmares. 

What’s even more frightening is that Judge Doom isn’t just a scary presence; he’s actually pretty damned smart. To this day, 35 years after the movie’s release, Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s evil plot is actually pretty brilliant. Put both of those facets of this character together, and it’s a formula that spells out how much I desire to be at Disneyland’s annual Halloween soiree. Though to be fair, on any given day, I’d prefer to be wandering around a theme park in the first place, especially when a Disney destination is on the menu. 

Perhaps the most exciting reason to seek out such evil in Disneyland is that it’s a sign that Disney on the whole might be treating Robert Zemeckis’ 1988 movie with a little more respect. It wasn’t too long ago that the director flat out said that the corporate decision makers “had no interest in Roger.” As attitudes have changed enough that Jessica Rabbit got a makeover on Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin, maybe a new day is dawning at Disney, and there’s justice for toons after all. 

The only way that Disneyland’s Oogie Boogie Bash could be more exciting for me is if they somehow decided to announce a surprise reopening of the gone, but not forgotten ElecTRONica. It’s doubtful that this piece of Tron theme park history will ever be brought back, no matter how popular the Tron Lightcycle Run becomes in Orlando. But if someone like Judge Doom can be brought back from the depths of Disney’s deep cut canon, isn’t anything possible? 

Disneyland’s Oogie Boogie Bash will run between September 5th and October 31st. So you should probably snag tickets, and prepare to meet your Doom if you’re the least bit interested in this frightful revelry. And if you’re looking to watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit again, just in case you forgot how frightening Judge Doom is, use your Disney+ subscription to take that special trip down memory lane.

I have always been firm believer in the phrase, “A hero is only as good as his or her villain.” I also believe that some of the best movies of the 1980s are home to some of the greatest heroic characters in cinematic history. By that logic, the antagonists from that decade would have would also have to be pretty top notch, to say the least.

Well, the 30 great ‘80s movie villains below certainly make a great case for that bold claim. Take a look at the heinous jerks, power-hungry criminals, and coldblooded killers from the unforgettable decade, below.

Ace Merrill (Stand By Me)

Part of the reason why 1986’s Stand By Me — Rob Reiner’s adaptation of the coming-of-age novella, The Body — is one of the most beloved Stephen King movies is that its darker moments never rely on a supernatural threat. That was handled perfectly enough by Kiefer Sutherland’s performance as Ace Merrill, who is remembered today as one the quintessential examples of how unmercifully sadistic a childhood bully can be.

Audrey II (Little Shop Of Horrors)

A 1960 B-movie by Roger Corman inspired a hit Broadway show that director Frank Oz made into one of the greatest musical horror comedy movies — 1986’s Little Shop of Horrors, in which Rick Moranis’ Seymour Krelborn comes across a weeeiiiirrrrd plant that soon becomes a sensation. 

The catch: Audrey II (named after his co-worker and crush, played by Ellen Greene) is really a “mean, green mother from outer space” with an insatiable craving for human flesh and an even meaner singing voice (courtesy of The Four Tops’ Levi Stubbs) that could consume the entire world if it grows large enough.

Betelgeuse (Beetlejuice)

Before playing one of the greatest ‘80s movies heroes (and becoming the best live-action Batman actor in the process), Michael Keaton first collaborated with Tim Burton in the title role of the spooky 1988 classic, Beetlejuice. The future Academy Award nominee actually had a lot of influence in the creation of the kooky, conniving bio-exorcist — from his rapid-fire speech pattern, bizarre wardrobe choices, and moldy skin — making him a villain hard to dislike and even harder to forget, despite only 17 minutes of screen time.

Biff Tannen (Back To The Future)

Making Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Doc Brown’s (Christopher Lloyd) troublesome adventures in the time travel movie classic, Back to the Future, and its sequels even more difficult is Biff Tannen — easily the best-known role of comedian Tom Wilson. Initially a typical, ‘50s-era high school bully, by Part II, he evolves into a dynamic antagonist of various sides who, in an alternate 1985, becomes a powerful, ruthlessly corrupt business tycoon with the unwitting help of his older self.

Chet Donnelly (Weird Science)

Has cinema ever shown us a more fearsome example of how horrible older siblings can be than the late Bill Paxton as Chet Donnelly from 1985’s Weird Science? From little things like stealing breakfast from his brother, Wyatt (Ilan Mitchell-Smith), to shoving a shotgun in Gary’s (Anthony Micheal Hall) face, the dull-brained, militaristic terror is easily the biggest jerk from John Hughes’ movies and his comeuppance at the end — Lisa (Kelly LeBrock) turns him into some frog-like blob — is less than he really deserves.

Christine (Christine)

It is every teenager’s dream to have their own car, but when Keith Gordon’s Arnie gets his own set of wheels in John Carpenter’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Christine from 1983, it proves to be a nightmare… for everyone else in his life. The titular, red Plymouth Fury (named after George Romero’s ex-wife) turns out to have a mind of her own, the ability to heal herself of any damage, and grows so protective of her driver that she will do anything to keep him all to herself. 

Chucky (Child's Play)

Anyone who suffers from an irrational fear of dolls must have felt a refreshing sense of validation upon the 1988 release of one of the best scary doll movies, Child’s Play, in which a single mother (Catherine Hicks) discovers a friendly-looking gift for her young son (Alex Vincent) is possessed by the soul of a nasty serial killer. Academy Award nominee and deeply underrated actor, Brad Dourif, gives a memorably menacing performance as the voice of Charles “Chucky” Lee Ray that is key to why the franchise still continues to this day with Syfy’s hit Chucky TV show.

Darth Sidious (Star Wars: Episode VI - Return Of The Jedi)

If this was a list of villains from the best ‘70s movies, we would have given praise to the original Star Wars movie’s Darth Vader, but when it comes to classics from this decade, the most fearsome foe from George Lucas’ galaxy far, far away is his boss, Darth Sidious. Otherwise known as Emperor Palpatine, the Sith Lord (whom Ian McDiarmid first appeared as in 1983’s Return of the Jedi) may appear old and decrepit, but behind those yellow eyes is a mighty, nigh unstoppable force of deadly, tyrannical manipulation — not to mention, the lightning that emits from his fingertips is pretty devastating. 

The Duke (Escape From New York)

One of the first and most iconic acting roles by Isaac Hayes (the Academy Award-winning composer of the iconic movie theme song from Shaft) is a really bad mother— shut your mouth — known as The Duke from John Carpenter’s dystopian 1981 cult thriller, Escape from New York. The ruthless criminal, who has established himself as the most powerful inmate in the maximum prison that once was Manhattan, sees the accidental arrival of the President (Donald Pleasance) as his ticket to freedom and compromises the anti-heroic Snake Plissken’s (a badass Kurt Russell) rescue mission by barbaric means.

Gozer (Ghostbusters)

The moment that really confirms 1984’s Ghostbusters as a classic horror-comedy movie (with emphasis on the horror) is certainly not when Slimer first appears, but in the final act when the crew must take on the demonic Gozer (Slavitza Jovan, but later played by Olivia Wilde in Ghostbusters: Afterlife). The terrifying, omnipotent “prehistoric bitch” takes way more than a proton pack to defeat, but at least has enough respect for its human adversaries to give them the choice of what will be bring forth their planet’s destruction, resulting in the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man’s attack on New York.

The Gremlins (Gremlins)

Many can relate to the idea of giving your child a seemingly cute and cuddly pet that turns out to be a terror, which producer Steven Spielberg, writer Chris Columbus, and director Joe Dante exaggerated to a nightmarish levels in the Christmas horror movie classic, 1984’s Gremlins. If only the Mogwai’s three rules were followed, it could not have given rise to the titular, green, grinning, goblin-like creatures that give Billy’s (Zach Galligan) small town a horrifying holiday.

Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare On Elm Street)

Growing up, parents always said not to be afraid of bad dreams because they cannot hurt you, but what if that was not the case and staying awake was the only solution? Such is the concept of writer and director Wes Craven’s 1984 supernatural slasher favorite, A Nightmare on Elm Street, in which Robert Englund gives his most iconic performance as Freddy Krueger — a grotesque boogeyman with the power to slay people with his razor-clawed glove from within their subconscious.

Hans Gruber (Die Hard)

You would never believe that the late Alan Rickman had never been in a movie before giving his stunning, seminal performance in 1988’s Die Hard cast as Hans Gruber. The bloodthirsty, but admirably sophisticated, German thief is a polar opposite to Bruce Willis’ reluctant, blue collar hero, John McClane, making him the perfect adversary for, arguably, the greatest action movie ever made and one of the genre’s finest villains.

Ivan Drago (Rocky IV)

While the original from 1976 is a classic Best Picture Oscar winner, the fourth installment of the Rocky movies from 1985 might be the most iconic in the Sylvester Stallone-led boxing movie franchise. A good chunk of credit should be given to Dolph Lundgren as the cold, hulking, Russian rival athlete, Ivan Drago, who takes competition deathly seriously, based on his signature catchphrase, “I must break you,” and his absolute lack of remorse for incidentally killing Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) in the ring. 

Jack Torrance (The Shining)

One of the reasons why Stephen King did not care for The Shining (to put it lightly) was the casting of Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance, as he believed it would let on his eventual descent into madness from the moment we first see him. However, the Academy Award winner’s bombastically unhinged performance was one of the top reasons why Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 adaptation is so beloved to this day and why the good dad gone bad is, arguably, the best Stephen King movie villain yet. 

Jason Voorhees (Friday The 13th Sequels)

In 1980’s original installment of the Friday the 13th movies, the killer stalking Camp Crystal Lake was a vengeful mother named Pamela Voorhees (Betsy Palmer), who would easily go down in history as one of the greatest female horror villains of all time. Yet, the one who would go down as one of the most iconic horror movie villains in general and became the (hockey-masked) face of the subsequent franchise was her son, Jason Voorhees, who started off slicing teens with his machete to avenge his mother, but did not really need much of a motivation as the series went on.

Johnny Lawrence (The Karate Kid)

In the ‘80s, one of the go-to actors to play the designated superficial, bullish jock in a coming-of-age movie was William “Billy” Zabka and earning him that reputation was his role as Johnny Lawrence in 1984’s The Karate Kid. Years later, the character — introduced in the classic movie as Daniel LaRusso’s (Ralph Macchio) brutal martial arts rival — would be seen in a whole new light when Zabka reprised the role in the Cobra Kai cast on the YouTube original series that became a Netflix exclusive.

The Joker (Batman)

There have been many different, unique portrayals of The Joker — the top dog of Batman’s rogues gallery — with some favoring Mark Hamill’s enduring animated iteration or Heath Ledger’s unpredictably manic, Oscar-winning interpretation in 2008’s The Dark Knight. However, when 1989’s Batman came out, it seemed like nothing would be able to surpass Jack Nicholson as Jack Napier — a Gotham gangster whose chemical accident turns him into a Clown Prince of Crime with an ingenious balance of cartoonish lunacy and chilling wickedness.

Judge Doom (Who Framed Roger Rabbit)

There are many reasons why modern audiences struggle to call Robert Zemeckis’ astonishing blend of live-action and animation, 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a great movie for kids, definitively. One of the most pressing is the way Christopher Lloyd fully channels his bad side — and abstains from blinking his eyes — as the ominous Judge Doom, who only gets much, much scarier when we discover his true identity.

Khan Noonien Singh (Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan)

Ricardo Montalban first appeared as a genetically engineered Augment known as Khan — or, as William Shatner’s Captain James T. Kirk pronounces it, “KHAAAAAAAAAN!” — in an episode of the original Star Trek series in 1967. However, his grand return to the role as the titular antagonist of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is one of the most legendary performances in the franchise’s history and key as to why the 1982 sequel is still widely considered the best Star Trek movie to date.

Lord Humungus (The Road Warrior)

George Miller’s Mad Max movies have had their fair share of great villains, from Toecutter in the 1979 original to Immortan Joe in 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road — both of whom were played by Hugh Keays-Byrne. When the franchise fully entered its influential, dystopian-era stage with 1981’s The Road Warrior, Mel Gibson’s anti-hero was tasked with taking on the Marauders’ hulking leader, Lord Humungus (Kjell Nilsson), who kind of looks like if Jason Voorhees was a medieval exotic dancer, but is nonetheless a memorably imposing figure off post-apocalyptic tyranny.

Mama Fratelli (The Goonies)

The deadly traps that the thrill-seeking youngsters from the Goonies cast encounter while searching for buried treasure are scary enough, but if there is anything more terrifying in director Richard Donner’s 1985 cult classic, it’s the matriarch of the menacing Fratelli family. Given her reputation for playing particularly “grouchy” characters, to say that Academy Award nominee Anne Ramsey gives one of her most intimidating performances as a woman trying to beat a group of children to the site of hidden loot is really saying something.

Mola Ram (Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom)

Harrison Ford’s intrepid fortune hunter, Indiana Jones, has made enemies with many dastardly personalities, but I do not believe a single one of them comes close to being as haunting as Amrish Puri as Mola Ram. What better proof is there than the terrifying scene from 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when the Thuggee cult leader reaches into a man’s chest, pulls out his still-beating heart, and lowers him into a fiery pit as a sacrifice to his ruthless deity. 

Mother Alien (Aliens)

In the franchises’ decades-long history, the Alien movies have shown us various breeds of the Xenomorph — each one horrifying, but also undeniably picturesque, in its own way — but the one that might take the cake, however, is the (literal) mother of them all. Then again, we cannot blame this queen for her main goal in James Cameron’s 1986 sequel, Aliens, which is to protect her children from Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley, who is on her own mission to rescue the young, orphaned Newt (Carrie Henn).

The Predator (Predator)

The Xenomorph may be cinema’s definitive depiction of extra-terrestrial evil, but the most badass of them all would have to be the titular creature played by the late Kevin Peter Hall in director John McTiernan’s 1987 sci-fi hit, which is still the best of the Predator movies in most people’s eyes. As Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch would demonstrate in the third act of the testosterone-fueled, jungle-set action thriller, it does not take brawn, but brains to defeat the hulking beast, who admirably maintains a code of honor when hunting his prey.

Principal Richard Vernon (The Breakfast Club)

I pray for anyone who ever felt like their principal relished in making his students’ lives miserable when they were in high school, because that would mean that they actually knew someone like Richard Vernon. 

Paul Gleason, an actor who seemed to relish playing unlikable characters with brilliant focus, may have hit his peak in that regard in 1985 with his performance in John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club cast as a nearly sadistic principal with no sense of respect or concern for his youthful peers. I hope the custodian, Carl (John Kapelos), managed to talk some sense into him and save him from being a dangerous embarrassment to the public school system.

Rene Beloq (Raiders Of The Lost Ark)

Out of all of the memorable Indiana Jones movie villains, my pick for the all-time best would be Rene Beloq, played by Paul Freeman in 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. As a fellow fortune-hunter, the charismatic Frenchman is a perfect match for Harrison Ford’s hero — having a similar goal, but going about it in a more despicable manner by partnering with the Nazis and being willing to kill and manipulate to get his hands on any great fortune.

Roy Batty (Blade Runner)

There really is not a “good guy” in director Ridley Scott’s groundbreaking — yet commercial unsuccessful — adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? from 1982, considering how there is nothing admirable about Rick Deckard’s (Harrison Ford) occupation in “retiring” Replicants from a moral standpoint. Furthermore, as an artificial being who wants nothing more but to live longer and freely, I think that Rutger Hauer’s Roy Batty is actually one of Blade Runner’s more sympathetic characters, which is what makes him such a unique example of antagonism.

The Terminator (The Terminator)

One of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most iconic characters would come to be known as a great hero in the early ‘90s with the release of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but that is a far cry from his original depiction in 1984. The titular antagonist of James Cameron’s breakthrough, The Terminator, may look like an ordinary (yet extraordinarily ripped) man, but is really a futuristic machine that does not negotiate, feel any emotion, and refuses to cease until his target — Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), the unwitting mother of a dystopian war hero — is dead.

The Thing (The Thing)

Imagine not being able to trust if someone you know personally is really who they say they are or if they are a shapeshifting, otherworldly creature in disguise. That is the concept of, arguably, the best of John Carpenter’s movies, 1982’s The Thing, which more faithful adapts John W. Campbell  Jr.’s horror novella “Who Goes There?” into a master class in suspense in which its alien antagonist pits an Arctic research crew against each other, challenging them figure out who is still human.

For anyone who wants to get in the business of playing bad people on the silver screen, they should consider ‘80s movie villains their heroes.

George Clooney as Ferris Bueller? Eddie Murphy in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Sammy Davis, Jr as… Beetlejuice? These are just a few actors who almost starred in classic ‘80s movies and could’ve changed film history. They aren’t the only ones either. Here is our list of 20 actors who almost starred in classic ‘80s movies.

Tom Selleck (The Raiders Of The Lost Ark)

In one of the more infamous casting decisions of all time, Tom Selleck was offered the part of one of the most iconic characters in film history, Indiana Jones in Raiders Of The Lost Ark. It’s often falsely reported that Selleck turned the offer down, but as he explained to Rachel Ray, he didn’t say no to director Steven Spielberg, CBS did. The network decided to pick up the pilot he shot for Magnum PI and they wouldn’t let him take the time to shoot Raiders. Harrison Ford is very grateful for it.

George Clooney (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)

Yep, that’s right, everyone’s favorite truant, Ferris Bueller, was almost played by George Clooney, instead of Matthew Broderick, in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. According to casting director Janet Hirshenson, she had Clooney read for the part but thought he was too mature for the role and would’ve been "the college student version of Ferris Bueller."

Ethan Hawke (Stand By Me)

River Phoenix had his breakout role as Chris Chambers in Stand By Me, but director Rob Reiner also thought another up-and-coming actor at the time would have been great for the part. In an interview with The Guardian, Ethan Hawke explained that Reiner told him, "You’re really good, but I just gave the part to another kid with a bird name." 

Nicolas Cage (Fast Times At Ridgemont High)

Nicolas Cage did make his big screen debut in a small part in one of the best high school movies of all time, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, but he almost had a much more significant role. According to Judge Reinhold, who played the lead, Brad Hamilton, the producers were going to cast Cage (then known by his given name, Nic Coppola) in the Brad role. The part ended up going to Reinhold because Cage was under 18 at the time and that would’ve required working fewer hours due to child labor laws.

Yaphet Kotto (Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back)

In one of the coolest and most interesting “what could have been” moments, the now legendary role of Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back wouldn’t have been played by Billy Dee Williams. Alien star Yaphet Kotto was the first person offered the part of the former smuggler-turned-Empire bureaucrat, as Kotto was asked by Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner to star as the character. According to the actor, he turned it down because after having just starred in Alien, he was worried about staying "up there," saying,  

You can't blame a guy for worrying about being type-cast, but missing out on Star Wars must have stung! 

Eric Stoltz (Back To The Future)

In another of the more famous “almost-was” casting decisions, it was almost Eric Stoltz, not Michael J. Fox, as Marty McFly in Back To The Future. For six weeks, they filmed Stoltz in the lead role before deciding he wasn’t right for the humor. They went back to their first choice, Fox, who found a way to cram the film into his busy schedule shooting Family Ties, and the rest is history. 

Dustin Hoffman (Dead Poet’s Society)

Of all the roles on this list, the one that would’ve dramatically changed its film most (pun intended) is Dustin Hoffman as John Keating in Dead Poets Society. Hoffman was cast in the part early on and according to writer Tom Schulman, the movie would’ve been very different. In the original script, Keating was dying of leukemia, something Hoffman was ready to embrace in the character, per Schulman:

A dying John Keating played by a dour Hoffman sounds intriguing, but the tone Robin Williams struck makes for much better movie. 

Dustin Hoffman (Blade Runner)

Speaking of another movie that would have been quite different if it had starred Dustin Hoffman, the Rain Man actor was director Ridley Scott’s first choice to play Deckard in Blade Runner. According to the Mirror and production executive Katy Haber, the producers weren’t thrilled with Hoffman, and for the second time in his career, Harrison Ford caught a break and was cast in a film that would become a franchise. 

Matthew Modine (Top Gun)

It’s impossible to image anyone other than Tom Cruise in the role of Maverick in Top Gun, or its sequel Top Gun: Maverick, but it almost happened. The part was originally offered to Matthew Modine, but the Stranger Things star turned down the film because of his personal politics, telling Salon, 

You have to admire Modine for sticking to his personal morals, even if the role he turned down made Tom Cruise one of the biggest stars of all time, to the point where the 2022 sequel hit some major milestones at the box office. 

Mickey Rourke (Beverly Hills Cop)

Well, this one is just bizarre. Before Beverly Hill Cop helped establish Eddie Murphy as one the most bankable stars of the 1980s, it was a very different movie. So different, in fact, that the actor originally attached to play the Axel Foley character was Micky Rourke. The idea was for it to be an action flick, not a comedy, and, as producer Jerry Bruckheimer explained, they contracted Rourke to star for a whopping $400,000. Eventually, Bruckheimer changed his mind and we’re all grateful for it. 

Eddie Murphy (Who Framed Roger Rabbit)

Eddie Murphy isn’t immune from making the wrong call, either. While visiting with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, Murphy talked about how he was offered the role of Jimmy Valient in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. According to the Shrek star,

At least it sounds like Murphy is pretty good at not turning down hits on a regular basis!

John Belushi (Ghostbusters)

Sadly, this isn’t a case of an actor or a producer making the wrong (or correct) call by casting someone else in a role, this happened because the actor tragically died. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd were close friends and often castmates. As such, when Aykroyd wrote Ghostbusters, he wrote the role of Peter Venkman with Belushi in mind. Luckily for us, Bill Murray stepped into the part and the film still became a classic. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger (RoboCop)

The part of the titular RoboCop is a little different than most others. This time, a big star was very interested in the role but lost out. According to The Movies That Made Us on Netflix, Fubar cast member Arnold Schwarzenegger was very keen to play the role and was riding a wave of success. It all makes sense, right? Well, no, and somewhat ironically, it was Schwarzenegger’s legendary physique that might have lost him the job. While his bulging biceps helped make him a star, the producers of RoboCop were worried he wouldn’t fit into the suit, so the gig went to Peter Weller. 

Kris Kristofferson (The Shining)

This one is almost too hard to even contemplate. There is no one that could be Jack Torrance in The Shining other than Jack Nicholson, right? Well, it almost didn’t happen that way. While Nicholson was director Stanley Kubrick’s first choice to play the writer-gone-psycho Jack Torrance, there was a backup plan in case a deal couldn’t be made for the star. Kris Kristofferson was that plan, according to Kubrick historian Lee Unkrich. 

Billy Zane (Dirty Dancing)

There has rarely been on-screen chemistry like that between Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing. Would you believe it almost never happened? According to writer Eleanor Bergstein in The Movies That Made Us, it was almost Billy Zane in the legendary role of Johnny Castle. Unfortunately for Zane, but fortunately for the rest of us, Bergstein said he danced, "like someone who looked like he had learned to dance beautifully for his bar mitzvah."

Frank Sinatra (Die Hard)

In what must have been the most ridiculous casting pitch of all time, the producers of Die Hard were contractually obligated to offer the role of John McLean to Ol’ Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra. You see, Die Hard was adapted from a book called Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp. That book was a sequel to his 1966 novel The Detective, and that was adapted in 1968 into a movie of the same name starring Sinatra. Because of all this, the legendary singer/actor had the first right of refusal to play the role in future films. Of course, a 70-year-old Sinatra turned down the role and fans rejoice every Christmas when we get to watch Bruce Willis as McLean taking out the terrorists. 

What If…

Finally, a few “what ifs” that were never particularly close to being cast, but directors were interested in filling some iconic roles with some really out-there choices. Take, for example, Tim Burton’s desire to cast Sammy Davis, Jr. as Beetlejuice, instead of Michael Keaton. It’s got to make you giggle at least a little bit to picture Davis trying to drive the Deetzes out of their home by crooning “The Candyman Can.”

How about instead of Sly Stallone as the grizzled Vietnam vet John Rambo, audiences got 1970s superstar, Burt Reynolds? The Smokey & The Bandit star was one of many big-name actors the producers contacted in hopes of landing them for the role. In an interview with Empire, Stallone once mentioned a few names that the part was offered to, including Reynolds, Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Robert De Niro, and Al Pacino. Frankly, the movie might have worked with any of them, but we’re lucky it “fell” to Stallone. 

Burton also had an out-of-the-box thought for the Joker in his Batman. Instead of Jack Nicholson owning that role, just imagine, for a second, David Bowie as the Clown Prince of Crime. Ziggy Stardust was the director’s dream pick, but it’s pretty safe to say that “settling” on Nicholson is a win for audiences, like almost every casting call on this list.

Somewhere in an alternate universe, all these parts were played by different actors and you have to wonder how the butterfly effect could have changed the course of careers and, indeed the film industry if these casts were different. We all believe the right choices were made, but were they? We'll never know. 

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers arrived on Disney+ in May 2022 and became an instant hit with those who grew up watching the show on which the hilarious animation/live-action hybrid was based, as well as young audiences (even if they didn’t pick up on all the jokes). I know this because this was the case in my household: my wife and I loved all the jokes, pop culture references, and abundance of amazing Easter Eggs, and my kids loved the visuals, story, and of course, Ugly Sonic (who was admittedly loved by everyone in my family).

And, after the credits rolled, I immediately started to think about movies like Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers that I would like to watch again or introduce to my kids. So, I started to put together a list of titles and began figuring out how I could watch them, and ended up coming up with a fairly remarkable list of movies that feature certain elements of the new Disney+ movie that I enjoyed so much. Here are a few of those now…

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (Disney+)

Private eye Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins), who’s no fan of cartoons or their zany characters, reluctantly takes on a job to trail Jessica Rabbit (Kathleen Turner), who is rumored to be sleeping around on her husband, Roger Rabbit (Charles Fleischer). But when Jessica’s alleged lover winds up murdered, the grumpy detective is stuck trying to protect the cartoon star from being brought up on false charges.

Robert Zemeckis’ 1988 groundbreaking live-action/animation hybrid movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was the first movie that came to mind when I heard about Chip n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers, and it’s not because the titular character is in the new movie’s trailer. It more has to do with the presence of all those third-party cartoon characters featured throughout the movie, as well as its incredible sense of humor.

Stream Who Framed Roger Rabbit on Disney+.
Rent/Buy Who Framed Roger Rabbit on Amazon.

The Lego Movie (Amazon Rental)

Emmet Brickowski (Chris Pratt) is just a normal, everyday Lego figure who is the opposite of what you would call special. But that all changes when the nondescript construction worker becomes attached to the Piece of Resistance, a powerful Lego brick that could save the world from Lord Business (Will Ferrell) and his destructive “Kragile” super weapon.

Written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, The Lego Movie was one of the biggest surprises of the 2014 box office, but after watching the animated film it’s easy to see why it resonated with audiences of all ages. It has that same blend of self-referential humor and dazzling animation as Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and also features an incredibly catchy song (“Everything is Awesome) written by The Lonely Island, whose members include Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone.

Rent/Buy The Lego Movie on Amazon.

Wreck-It Ralph (Disney+)

After years of always being the bad guy in the Fix-It Felix video game, Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) goes on a one-villain mission to become the hero of his own story and change the digital world’s perception of what it means to be a good guy. But, in doing so, he opens the door for an even bigger and badder nemesis to take over.

Wreck-It Ralph has a lot of similarities with Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers, including an abundance of characters from multiple franchises (video games instead of cartoons, in this case), a fun and upbeat story adults and kids will both enjoy, and an incredible message about second chances and rising to the occasion.

Stream Wreck-It Ralph on Disney+.
Rent/Buy Wreck-It Ralph on Amazon.

Last Action Hero (Netflix)

There is no bigger fan of hero cop Jack Slater (Arnold Schwarzenegger) than Danny Madigan (Austin O’Brien), a young boy who obsessively watches all his new movies. After being presented with a magical ticket, Danny finds himself in the middle of the action in Jack Slater IV, right next to his longtime hero. However, just as Danny entered the fictional world, its characters, including the villainous Benedict (Charles Dance) can enter his world as well.

Is Last Action Hero a great movie? That depends on your taste. Is it a fun movie? You bet! John McTiernan’s hilarious and action-packed 1993 meta comedy about big-budget blockbusters is fully aware of itself, which only adds to its charm. Like the story told in Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers, it’s heavy-handed, outrageously silly, and never takes itself too seriously.

Stream Last Action Hero on Netflix.
Rent/Buy Last Action Hero on Amazon.

Space Jam (1996)

A greedy alien theme park owner makes a plan to kidnap Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes gang to use as his new attraction, but will back off if the iconic cartoon characters can defeat his all-star team known as The Monstars (who have the stolen talent of the NBA’s brightest stars). Just when it looks like all hope is lost, though, Bugs comes up with a plan that involves getting Michael Jordan to come out of retirement.

Although not the best movie to feature live-action and animated characters together, Joe Pytka’s 1996 smash hit, Space Jam, is still a lot of fun, and not just for kids of the ‘90s. It’s not as wild or expansive as Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers, but is loaded with pop culture references and heart, unlike its 2021 sequel Space Jam: A New Legacy.

Stream Space Jam on HBO Max.
Rent/Buy Space Jam on Amazon.

Sonic The Hedgehog (Paramount+)

Years after being magically transported to Earth from a distant planet, Sonic the Hedgehog (Ben Schwartz) finds himself on the run from the diabolical mad scientist Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey), who wants to use his power to take over the world.

If you are like me and can’t get enough of “Ugly Sonic” in Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers, why not give Sonic the Hedgehog a spin (no pun intended). The version in the new Disney+ movie is a spoof of the original model revealed in the Sonic trailer back in 2019. You know, the one that was met by fan backlash and resulted in the movie being delayed.

Stream Sonic the Hedgehog on Paramount+.
Rent/Buy Sonic the Hedgehog on Amazon.
Also try Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on Paramount+.

Shrek (Prime Video)

In an attempt to get rid of all the fairy tale characters that have been forced to live in his swamp, Shrek (Mike Myers) strikes a deal with Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow) to find and rescue the villain’s bride-to-be, Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz). Accompanied by a tenacious (and annoying) donkey (Eddie Murphy), this ogre becomes the most unlikely of heroes.

Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson’s fairy-tale inspired 2001 animated comedy broke new ground upon release and proved to be a hit with audiences of all ages. The humor, which pokes fun at everything from classic folk tales to modern film franchises helped usher in a new era of meta humor in animated movies.

Stream Shrek on Prime Video.
Rent/buy Shrek on Amazon.

Pokémon Detective Pikachu (Amazon Rental)

After his police detective father goes missing, Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) teams up with his dad’s old partner, Detective Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds) to get to the bottom of his disappearance in the chaotic Ryme City, a place where humans and Pokémon live in harmony.

Like Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Rob Letterman’s Pokémon Detective Pikachu has an incredibly heartfelt story tucked behind all the pop culture references, comedic banter, and dazzling visuals. The 2019 action-comedy also happens to be one of the best video game movies in recent memory. 

Rent/Buy Pokémon Detective Pikachu on Amazon.

The Mask (Amazon Rental)

Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carrey) is a down-on-his-luck bank clerk with not much going on in his life, but his fortunes are changed when he comes into possession of a mysterious mask that turns him into a living, breathing cartoon character.

Chuck Russell’s The Mask, which was released in the middle of Carrey’s ridiculously successful 1994 box office run (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Dumb and Dumber also came out that year) perfectly blends the chaos of old cartoons and crime serials with live-action drama, creating a unique cinematic experience that is fun from top to bottom. And, it still remains one of Carrey’s best movies.

Rent/Buy The Mask on Amazon.

Chip ’N Dale: Rescue Rangers (The Original Series) (Disney+)

And then there is the original Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers animated series that followed the titular chipmunks as they start their very own detective agency alongside their friends Gadget Hackwrench, Monterey Jack, and Zipper. Over the course of three seasons, the fearless group went up against iconic villains like Fat Cat, Professor Norton Nimnul, and Rat Capone.

If you were interested in all the references for the show throughout the new Disney+ movie, then you should jump on in and give Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers a shot.

Stream Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers on Disney+.
Buy Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers on Amazon.

Hopefully, all of this helps you put together a nice marathon of titles to watch after watching Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers, the newest film that will be added to the list of the best Disney+ movies so far before long.

The Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers movie has proved itself to be a bit of a crowd pleaser. Fresh antics with familiar faces reframe the classic animated series with a huge dose of meta-humor, all sorts of in-jokes, surprise cameos, and easter eggs in this latest offering to be added to the collection of original Disney+ movies. It’s enough to inspire some to see Rescue Rangers as a spiritual sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and according to the screenwriters, that’s not an accident. 

I got to speak with writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand recently as part of the press day for Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers’ recent release. The writing team behind director Akiva Schaffer's meta-humorous detective comedy both men admitted that while they were fans of Chip and Dale, they didn’t want the movie to merely be “another episode” in the Rescue Rangers canon. In search of a fresh approach, Gregor and Mand turned to Roger Rabbit and its legacy of mixing the world of toons with that of humans.

Using the 1989 Robert Zemeckis classic, which also resides in the library Disney+ subscribers have access to, Dan Gregor in particular highlighted why the movie was so important to cracking Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers’ reality. As he spoke with CinemaBlend, Gregor laid the following foundation based on the DNA of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The remarks below are selected from a longer conversation, which you can watch in the video at the top of the story.

In the world of Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Chip (John Mulaney) and Dale (Andy Samberg) become estranged because of those acting careers taking separate paths. As the Rescue Rangers show is cancelled after Dale accepts a role in a pilot for a James Bond knockoff, 30 years introduces a lot of space between the formerly close friends. It also explodes the number of animation approaches available, which was something that Dan Gregor and Doug Mand also took into account with their script. 

Further nurturing the “mental exercise” of their pseudo-sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the pair took into account the changing animated landscape in the decades since the film’s release. Building off of the Los Angeles that introduced human and toon harmony, another tale of abduction, conspiracy and impromptu musical numbers in a time of crisis was built from the ground up. Everything from a claymation detective voiced by J.K. Simmons to an insidious plot known as "Bootlegging" resulted, widening the playing field for what could be done and who could show up.

What makes this approach so much more rewarding is the fact that over 30 years after Roger Rabbit became a massive cultural and box office hit for Disney, courtesy of its Touchstone Pictures division, the legacy of Roger and his friends has somewhat dimmed. Several attempts were made to get a sequel off the ground, but none proved successful. Some would tell you they couldn’t see why or how this could happen, but director Robert Zemeckis feels that Disney executives just don’t like Roger Rabbit anymore. 

Perhaps with Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers reviving those nostalgic feelings, and Disney Parks trying to rehabilitate the image of Jessica Rabbit, Who Framed Roger Rabbit might have its day yet again. Legacy-quels are definitely all the rage, with the studio maintaining a foothold in that realm with projects like the Honey I Shrunk The Kids follow-up Shrunk. Seeing as the Disney brass was supportive of the movie that Dan Gregor and Doug Mand wanted to make, it couldn’t hurt to push this exercise a little further.

Seeing Roger Rabbit himself in the trailer for Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers may have seemed like a cameo for nostalgia’s sake. Ultimately, the film itself proves that the impressive roster of easter eggs and appearances it landed were all justified. It just so happens that Roger in particular was a nice tip of the hat to the legacy of an undervalued Disney original, and that sort of heart is what makes it all so much fun to watch.

You can catch Roger, Chip, Dale and a ton of other characters you wouldn’t expect in a Disney movie in Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, which is currently streaming on Disney+! A double feature could even be arranged, as Who Framed Roger Rabbit is also included on the platform at the time of this writing. However, if you’re ready to look beyond into the world of upcoming movies at a theater near you, that could be arranged as well. 

Change is inevitable at Disneyland. Someday your favorite ride will change. Perhaps it will be a big change, or perhaps it will be a small change, but it will happen. Such changes are currently being undertaken at Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin, the dark ride found at Mickey’s Toontown, and Jessica Rabbit has officially been revealed in her new detective garb, complete with a bright yellow trench coat.

Back in September we learned that major changes were in store for the Roger Rabbit dark ride. While the attraction previously told a story that more or less was the plot of the Who Framed Roger Rabbit, movie, the story would change to put more of a spotlight on Jessica as a detective chasing after the weasels. What made this ride update unique was that, rather than shutting it down and making the updates, it was all being done in pieces while the ride continued operating as normal.

The first major change was the removal of Jessica Rabbit from a scene where she was being thrown into the back of a car by the weasels. Now, as seen in a new video from Laughing Place, Jessica has returned to the ride, but every place you see her, rather than being seen in her iconic red dress, she’s now wearing a trench coat and a fedora looking like a female Dick Tracy. 

The exact reason for the update is unclear beyond the fact that the ride has been largely untouched since it first opened. Giving Jessica Rabbit a bit more agency in the story is likely part of an ongoing effort to improve representation in attractions throughout Disney Parks. We’ve seen the Jungle Cruise undergo updates to remove some racially insensitive elements and Pirates of the Caribbean has also been updated to remove some inappropriate gender dynamics. Splash Mountain is set to undergo a major redesign to remove its current Song of the South story. 

If there’s a reason to be a bit surprised to see this most recent update take shape it’s because the fate of Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin is a bit murky right now. Last month it was announced that all of Mickey’s Toontown, the land where the attraction is found, would be closing in early 2022 for a major overhaul that would take about a year. It hasn’t been confirmed that the ride will even survive this update, though the fact that these changes are being made now is probably a good sign. Why bother adding the change today if you’re just going to demolish it all tomorrow?

Whatever the future is for Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin, the new Jessica Rabbit is now available for guests to enjoy. And she does look pretty good in that trench coat. Maybe somebody can give her a Disney+ detective series?

Putting animated characters in a live-action setting (and vice versa) has practically become a genre all its own by this point, with Space Jam and other successful examples, but 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit was one of the first films to use that magic trick for a full movie. From producer Steven Spielberg and director Robert Zemeckis, the Academy Award-winning box office hit (and one of the best movies on Amazon Prime at the moment) follows a private eye (Bob Hoskins) who must help a goofy rabbit (Charles Fleischer) accused of murder clear his name in an alternate 1947, in which humans and "Toons" co-exist. 

Bringing this inventive concept (inspired by Gary K. Wolf’s novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?) to the big screen was bold and seemingly impossible at the time, but one way the filmmakers proved they could achieve it is the first secret we reveal in the following behind the scenes facts.

A Test Sequence Was Shot To Prove That Seamlessly Incorporating Toons Into Live-Action Was Possible

The secret to making a groundbreaking movie like Who Framed Roger Rabbit was to break all the rules, as director of photography Dean Cundey (who earned his sole Oscar nomination for his cinematography on Roger Rabbit) recalled in an oral history for Gizmodo. He, Robert Zemeckis, and lead animator Richard Williams came up with the idea of filming a short sequence featuring the Eddie and Roger characters that used all the tricks they had been warned to avoid attempting. 

The magical sight of a clumsy rabbit who was never actually there knocking over three-dimensional garbage cans in what appeared to be one take convinced Disney to go forward with the project, which proved to be just as expensive and time consuming as they had anticipated.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit Was Shot Practically Before Toons Were Added In 

Director Robert Zemeckis decided that the only way to make a live-action world in which animated characters also exist believable was to film Who Framed Roger Rabbit as a live-action movie first and let the animators take over with implementing Toons later. 

As seen on the 2003 making-of doc Behind the Ears (which is available to stream on Disney+), this meant that principal photography was an unusually meticulous process which involved using rubber dummies and complex animatronics as stand-ins for the animated characters. Cast members were also put through mime training to learn how to better interact with objects and people that were not really there.

Puppeteers Were Brought In To Manipulate Objects From Above

Of course, there are also many shots from Who Framed Roger Rabbit in which some of the animated characters are seen interacting with live-action objects, which had to be captured on camera in order to achieve the illusion properly. 

According to Behind the Ears, a team of skilled puppeteers, led by David Alan Barclay (previously known for bringing Jabba the Hutt to life in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi), would handle that task beautifully. While standing on beams built above the set, the puppeteers controlled objects such as drinking glasses (like in the Ink and Paint Club sequence) or a revolver pistol with strings that were removed later. 

Animators Were Given Printed Still Frames As Reference When Drawing Toon Elements 

When the time came to bring Roger Rabbit and other Toons into the live-action world of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the animators were equipped with black and white prints of still frames from the movie’s principal photography, which they would place underneath the paper they were drawing the animated elements onto. 

Behind the Ears shows that the drawings were then photographed one frame at a time (as per usual with hand-drawn animation) and sent to legendary visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic to composite the animated elements into the live-action shots. The meandering process involved in implementing all 55 minutes of animated shots into the 104-minute movie resulted in a post-production process that lasted about 14 months.

Animator Richard Williams Aimed To Make The Toons "2.5-Dimensional"

Earning a special Academy Award for his work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit was the film’s Canadian animation director, Richard Williams, who unfortunately passed away in 2019 at the age of 86. However, a year earlier, he was able to dish on his ideas of how to make the Toons appear especially life-like with what he described to The Wrap as "old stuff inserted into new stuff." He elaborates on this in the following quote:

By making these two-dimensional creatures "2.5-dimensional," as Richard Williams called it, Roger Rabbit and co. were able to retain the same look and feel of old school cartoons and still feel authentic in a three-dimensional world.

Looney Tunes Characters Were Required To Have As Much Screen Time as Disney Characters

Probably the most astonishing achievement that Who Framed Roger Rabbit is famous for (by today’s standards, especially) is managing to get a slew of established animated characters owned by different companies in one movie produced by the Disney affiliate, Touchstone. 

A 2018 article published by The Hollywood Reporter reveals that producer Steven Spielberg was able to score the necessary permissions for just $5,000 per character, with Warner Bros. making one special request: that each of its iconic Looney Tunes would be given equal screen time as Disney staples. So, as it turns out, the very fitting pairings of Daffy Duck with Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny with Mickey Mouse in their respective scenes were legally motivated.

Charles Fleischer Insisted On Rehearsing In A Roger Rabbit Costume On Set

While Roger Rabbit is merely an animated character, his essence was very much alive on the physical movie set through the performance of actor Charles Fleischer. As behind-the-scenes footage from the Behind the Ears featurette reveals, all of the voice actors from the Who Framed Roger Rabbit cast were around to help give their characters an on-set presence, but the stand-up comedian (then best known from the A Nightmare on Elm Street cast) was the only one who insisted on showing up in costume. 

While this was mainly a character building technique, Fleischer’s Roger Rabbit outfit had some onlookers at the studio commissary assuming this was how the character would appear on-camera and that the film was destined to fail.

Bill Murray And Eddie Murphy Were Offered The Role Of Eddie Valiant

When performing in character on the set of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Charles Fleischer spent a lot of time with his co-star, the late Bob Hoskins - who was actually not the first choice for the role of drunken 1940s gumshoe Eddie Valiant. 

One of the first actors considered for the role was Bill Murray, who regretfully missed out on the opportunity by simply not picking up the phone when Disney first tried to reach the Ghostbusters cast member, according to Robert Schnakenberg’s The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray (via National Post). Another casting hopeful was Eddie Murphy, who expressed his regret over directly turning down the role during a revealing appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in December 2019.

Christopher Lloyd Avoided Blinking While Filming Who Framed Roger Rabbit 

However, perhaps the real MVP of the (mostly) live action Who Framed Roger Rabbit cast is Christopher Lloyd, who went unnecessarily (but admirably) far with his performance as Judge Doom - who not only turns out to be the one who framed Roger Rabbit, but is really the Toon who killed Eddie’s brother in disguise. In 2020, the Back to the Future cast member revealed in the following quote from a Twitter video during a Disney+ Q&A why he decided to abstain from blinking when portraying the odd and sinister character:

I’ll be keeping my own eyes peeled for Judge Doom’s unbroken stare next time I sit down to watch this instant classic - which is kind of a funny thing to call Who Framed Roger Rabbit when you consider the early receptions for the film.

Test Screenings For Roger Rabbit Did Not Go Well

Disney set up screenings of an unfinished cut of Who Framed Roger Rabbit for test audiences that, as Visual Effects Supervisor Ken Ralston says on Behind the Ears, consisted mainly of 17-18-year-olds who were walking out during the fully animated opening sequence. Robert Zemeckis then adds that Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg told him that he “saw [his] life flash before [his] eyes” in response, but that did not discourage the future Academy Award-winning director (who had final cut on the picture) from leaving the film be and not changing a thing.

Robert Zemeckis’ belief in Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s potential for success certainly paid off, resulting in a worldwide gross of more than $300 million on a $70 million budget, and Oscars for film editing, sound editing, and visual effects. Well, that’s all folks!

Disney Parks are never done and it seems like every time we turn around now there's something new happening. While we wait for scheduled changes at Disneyland Resort like an update to Splash Mountain and the completion of Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, an unexpected change has already gotten underway. Next door to the new Mickey and Minnie ride inside Mickey's Toontown the Roger Rabbit Car Toon Spin attraction is seeing a significant change that has already begun.

Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin is a dark ride that more less tells the story of the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but now the OC Register is reporting that the ride is undergoing changes. The story is going to be modified and it will now focus on Jessica Rabbit, who has decided to become a private investigator herself and is chasing after the cartoon weasels who are responsible for a rise in crime. A scene in the attraction showing Jessica being thrown into the back of a car by the weasels has already been replaced. Now the back of the car is full of the cartoon erasing Dip.

According to the OC Register, Disneyland officials say that in addition to the scene that has already changed, the finale sequence featuring Jessica will also undergo a change at some point. If the complete story of the ride is changing it would seem like more would need to be done to make that story work, but only these two scenes have been specified as changing.

Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin opened with Mickey's Toontown in 1993 and has remained unchanged since then, so the ride was probably due for an update. And making Jessica Rabbit a more active participant in the story falls in line with other changes made to rides that have tried to make them more relevant to a modern audience. We've seen similar changes made in recent years to rides like Pirates of the Caribbean and Jungle Cruise.

And like the Jungle Cruise update at Walt Disney World, this one appears to be planned to take place without ever shutting down the ride. Instead changes are simply made overnight and are there the next day when one goes on the ride. I happened to be at Disneyland yesterday so I got to see the one change that already took place.

Honestly, a new story using the popular Who Framed Roger Rabbit characters sounds like a pretty great idea. Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin isn't exactly the most beloved attraction at Disneyland. It's frequently overlooked and so if nothing else this has the potential to give people a reason to give it a fresh look. The Roger Rabbit characters are co-owned by Disney and Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, and while Roger Rabbit used to be a bigger presence in the park, in recent years it's really just been this one ride keeping the character going in the parks.

If Jessica Rabbit is going to become the focus of the story, then one wonders if there might not be at least one more change for the ride at some point, it could end up getting a new name. If it's Jessica's story, shouldn't it also be Jessica's ride?

Disney+’s latest original is a concert special from Billie Eilish, the Grammy-winning “bad guy” singer and the latest artist to write a James Bond theme, the latter for the upcoming No Time To Die. Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter To Los Angeles sees Eilish performing her latest album in its entirety as an animated version of her travels throughout her hometown of L.A, and her inspiration to be hand-drawn by Disney comes straight from Toontown.

CinemaBlend spoke to Patrick Osborne, the director behind the animated element of the Happier Than Ever concert film who teamed up with Sin City’s Robert Rodriguez for the movie with Billie Eilish. The filmmaker shared the singer’s key influences to mix mediums for the movie:

Although Billie Eilish was instantly compared to a Disney princess when her animated character was revealed for the Disney+ original, it was created to be more along the vein of one of Disney’s most controversial and one-of-a-kind animated projects, 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Patrick Osborne continued with these words:

At the time, Patrick Osborne, who has previously been part of Disney animated projects like the short film Feast and Big Hero 6, did not expect Billie Eilish to present a blonde-haired alter ego of herself for animation, because she was still known to have neon green roots and black hair. Pretty quickly after, like the rest of the world, the director watched as the singer changed up her iconic look to match her Happier Than Ever era, which seems to be inspired by old Hollywood through a noir lens.

Jessica Rabbit was the main inspiration for the animated version of Billie Eilish, which the singer likely relates to. The character famously says “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way.” For a long time, Eilish covered up her body so the public could focus on her work over her body type and sexualize her, but recently she’s decided to stop hiding under layers and wear whatever she wants. As this video illustrates:

It’s most certainly not her fault that she may be under scrutiny for how she decides to dress, because when it comes to being a pop star, it seems to become a topic either way, as she speaks about in her song “Not My Responsibility.”

Another inspiration Billie Eilish brought to the Happier Than Ever filmmakers is Cool World, the similarly animated/live-action hybrid noir that came out in 1992 and starred Brad Pitt. The 19-year-old singer had an excellent vision for the concert special, and checking out these films following checking out the Disney+ film is already next on our list this weekend.

The list of the best ‘80s movies is a massive and diverse list of everything from iconic action movies to Best Picture winners, and so much more. With so many great movies having come out in the penultimate decade of the 20th century, keeping track of all those rom-coms, sci-fi thrillers, horror flicks, and tear-jerking dramas is no easy task.

Looking for a way to revisit your favorites from the ‘80s while waiting for those new releases on the 2025 movie schedule? Well, come with us as we explore the best the ‘80s had to offer and how to watch those movies on some of the best streaming services. There’s a lot to unpack, so let’s go back to the ‘80s with these great movies…

The Big Chill (1983)

The Director: Lawrence Kasdan

The Cast: Glenn Close, Kevin Kline, William Hurt

What It’s About: A group of college friends reunite to bury one of their own who has committed suicide. Together for the first time in years, the once close-knit gang examine their college experience and what has changed.

What To Expect: With one of the best movie soundtracks ever assembled, incredible performances by some of the biggest ‘80s stars, and an unflinching story about friendship and identity, The Big Chill has it all.

• Stream The Big Chill on Max.
  Rent/Buy The Big Chill on Amazon.
• Get The Big Chill on DVD on Amazon.

Major League (1989)

The Director: David S. Ward

The Cast: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Wesley Snipes

What It’s About: After discovering that their team’s new owner is planning on tanking the team to relocate to sunny Florida, the ragtag group of misfits that make up the Cleveland Indians take matters into their own hands and attempt to pull off the impossible.

What To Expect: One of the best baseball movies of all time, Major League hits the triple crown of a sports flick: comedy, drama, and all kinds of web gems.

• Rent/Buy Major League on Amazon.
• Get Major League on DVD on Amazon.

Clue (1985)

The Director: Jonathan Lynn

The Cast: Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Michael McKean

What It’s About: Six seemingly random strangers, who appear to have nothing in common with one another, are summoned to a mansion for dinner, only to discover they are in the middle of a murder mystery where no one can be trusted, not even the staff.

What To Expect: With its multiple endings, hilarious gags, and unforgettable performances by some of the funniest people in Hollywood, Clue takes a classic board game and turns it into a classic whodunit comedy.

• Rent/Buy Clue on Amazon.
• Get Clue on DVD on Amazon.

Honey, I Shrunk The Kids (1989)

The Director: Joe Johnston

The Cast: Rick Moranis, Matt Frewer, Amy O’Neill

What It’s About: After being in the wrong place at the wrong time, a group of teenagers are turned into a fraction of their normal size and are forced to survive the dangerous hellscape that is their backyard.

What To Expect: One of the most hilarious Rick Moranis movies, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, is full of great practical effects, a wild story, and some of the most iconic movie moments of the ‘80s.

• Stream Honey, I Shrunk the Kids on Disney+.
• Rent/Buy Honey, I Shrunk the Kids on Amazon.
• Get Honey, I Shrunk the Kids on DVD on Amazon.

Field Of Dreams (1989)

The Director: Phil Alden Robinson

The Cast: Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta

What It’s About: Ray Kinsella’s (Kevin Costner) life is forever changed after hearing a mysterious voice whisper “If you build it, he will come” while out in his cornfield.

What To Expect: What follows is one man’s journey to “ease the pain” of his hero, an odyssey that concludes with one of the most emotional scenes in any sports movie.

• Rent/Buy Field of Dreams on Amazon.
• Get Field of Dreams on DVD on Amazon.

Raising Arizona (1987)

The Director: The Coen Brothers

The Cast: Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, John Goodman

What It’s About: A down-on-their-luck couple goes to extreme lengths to have a baby of their own, even if that means kidnapping one from a wealthy family.

What To Expect: One of the Coen Brothers’ best movies, Raising Arizona has a perfect blend of comedy and crime, as well as no shortage of iconic and unforgettable characters.

• Rent/Buy Raising Arizona on Amazon.
• Get Raising Arizona on Blu-ray on Amazon.

9 to 5 (1980)

The Director: Colin Higgins

The Cast: Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton

What It’s About: A trio of fed-up secretaries team up to get even with their sexist boss, but things get out of hand when they learn their dream may have come true.

What To Expect: In addition to having one of the best movie songs of all time, 9 to 5 also has one of the best premises of the ‘80s and a cast that is untouchable.

• Rent 9 to 5 on Amazon.
• Get 9 to 5 on DVD on Amazon.

A Christmas Story (1983)

The Director: Bob Clark

The Cast: Peter Billingsley, Darren McGavin, Melinda Dillon

What It’s About: A young boy named Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) tries to convince everyone from his parents to his teacher and even Santa Claus himself to bring him a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas.

What To Expect: Made up of a series of vignettes showcasing life in 1940s Indiana, A Christmas Story perfectly captures childhood obsession and what happens when reality brings your dreams crashing down.

• Rent/Buy A Christmas Story on Amazon.
• Get A Christmas Story on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Adventures In Babysitting (1987)

The Director: Chris Columbus

The Cast: Elisabeth Shue, Anthony Rapp, George Newbern

What It’s About: After being stood up by her boyfriend, high school senior Chris Parker (Elisabeth Shue) decides to spend the night watching a group of young siblings. What at first seems like a quiet night and easy money quickly turns into anything but.

What To Expect: Adventures in Babysitting, one of the best movies set in Chicago, is full of great and hilarious moments, all kinds of danger, and Elisabeth Shue in all her glory.

• Stream Adventures in Babysitting on Disney+.
• Rent/Buy Adventures in Babysitting on Amazon.
• Get Adventures in Babysitting on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Airplane! (1980)

The Directors: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker

The Cast: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen

What It’s About: With the crew and passengers incapacitated and no one else left to land the plane, a nervous pilot has to rise to the occasion and save the day.

What To Expect: The 1980 disaster film spoof, Airplane!, answers the question: what happens when a man who’s afraid to fly is the only one who can prevent a jumbo-jet from crashing?

• Rent/Buy Airplane on Amazon.
• Get Airplane! on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Aliens (1986)

The Director: James Cameron

The Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Lance Henriksen, Michael Biehn

What It’s About: After spending decades floating through space, Ellen Ripley is awoken and sent with a group of highly-trained space Marines to investigate a mining colony that has gone dark.

What To Expect: Ripley is back with a vengeance in James Cameron’s 1986 sci-fi action flick, Aliens, and she isn’t stopping until the final Xenomorph is launched into outer space.

• Rent/Buy Aliens on Amazon.
• Get Aliens on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Back To The Future (1985)

The Director: Robert Zemeckis

The Cast: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Llyod, Lea Thompson

What It’s About: When Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) steps into a DeLorean time machine and is transported back to 1955, he must avoid high school bullies and a younger version of his own mom if he wants to get back to 1985.

What To Expect: With great time-traveling scenes, Michael J. Fox at his best, and some hilarious scenarios (both in the past and the present), Back to the Future has everything you’d want in an ‘80s movie.

• Rent/Buy Back to the Future on Amazon.
• Get Back to the Future on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Batman (1989)

The Director: Tim Burton

The Cast: Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger

What It’s About: After falling into a vat of toxic chemicals, one of Gotham’s most ambitious and dangerous criminals is transformed into the prince of crime, and only Batman can stop him.

What To Expect: Tim Burton’s dark and moody 1989 unconventional superhero film, Batman, forever changed the face of comic book movies and gave audiences one of the best representations of the iconic character.

• Stream Batman on Max.
• Rent/Buy Batman on Amazon.
• Get Batman on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Beetlejuice (1988)

The Director: Tim Burton
The Cast: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin

What It’s About: When the efforts by a ghostly couple (played by Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin) to scare away the new owners of their country home are fruitless, they turn to a spirit by the name of Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) to regain control.
What To Expect: More than 35 years after its release, Beetlejuice remains one of the most inventive, iconic, and hilarious additions to Tim Burton’s massive library of movies.

• Stream Beetlejuice on Max.
• Rent/Buy Beetlejuice on Amazon.
• Get Beetlejuice on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

The Director: Martin Brest

The Cast: Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton

What It’s About: A wise-cracking and rebellious Detroit police officer comes to Los Angeles to track down those responsible for his best friend’s murder.

What To Expect: Expect to laugh, like a lot, because this Eddie Murphy classic starts and doesn’t stop until the credits roll.

• Stream Beverly Hills Cop on Paramount+.
• Rent/Buy Beverly Hills Cop on Amazon.
• Get Beverly Hills Cop on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Big (1988)

The Director: Penny Marshall

The Cast: Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia

What It’s About: When 12-year-old Josh Baskin (David Moscow) wishes he was a little bigger, he gets his wish and then more when he wakes up to find he has been transformed into a full-grown adult (Tom Hanks).

What To Expect: Penny Marshall’s timeless comedy sees Baskin navigate 1980s New York City, but as a child trapped in a man’s body and various situations.

• Stream Big on Disney+.
• Rent/Buy Big on Amazon.
• Get Big on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

The Director: Stephen Herek

The Cast: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, George Carlin

What It’s About: Strange things are afoot at the Circle K in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure when two dopey high schoolers (played by Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves) are given access to a time-traveling phone booth to pass their history exam and keep their band together.

What To Expect: Looking for righteous time-traveling sequences, air guitar, and Napoleon going to a water park? Well, look no further.

• Rent/Buy Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure on Amazon.
• Get Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Blade Runner (1982)

The Director: Ridley Scott

The Cast: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young

What It’s About: Blade Runner follows replicant hunter Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) as he tracks down four escaped criminals who have returned to Earth from an off-world colony.

What To Expect: What starts off as a simple game of cat and mouse slowly turns into something much more complex.

• Rent/Buy Blade Runner on Amazon.
• Get Blade Runner on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Blue Velvet (1986)

The Director: David Lynch

The Cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Isabella Rossellini

What It’s About: College student Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) becomes involved with the dark and twisted world of his town’s criminal underbelly after finding a dismembered ear.

What To Expect: Come in expecting Lynchian twists and turns, unforgettable characters (that you’ll want to forget), and a great soundtrack.

• Rent/Buy Blue Velvet on Amazon.
• Get Blue Velvet on Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Blues Brothers (1980)

The Director: John Landis

The Cast: Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Carrie Fisher

What It’s About: Two brothers attempt to get their old band back together to help save the orphanage in which they were raised.

What To Expect: In the mood for great music, even better characters, and quite possibly the best car chase of all time? Well, look no further than The Blues Brothers.

• Stream The Blues Brothers on Prime Video.
• Rent/Buy The Blues Brothers on Amazon.
• Get The Blues Brothers on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Broadcast News (1987)

The Director: James L. Brooks

The Cast: Holly Hunter, Albert Brooks, William Hurt

What It’s About: In addition to presenting the news day in and day out, a news producer finds herself in the middle of a love triangle with her longtime best friend and a dreamy yet under-qualified anchorman.

What To Expect: James L. Brooks’ romantic comedy, Broadcast News, finds the perfect balance between drama and comedy, composure and awkwardness, and so much more.

• Stream Broadcast News on Starz.
• Rent/Buy Broadcast News on Amazon.
• Get Broadcast News on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Caddyshack (1980)

The Director: Harold Ramis

The Cast: Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase

What It’s About: Set at the Bushwood Country Club, which is infested with rodents and yuppies alike, Harold Ramis’ 1980 sports comedy, Caddyshack, follows caddies (led by Michael O’Keefe), grounds crew (led by Bill Murray), and all other sorts of characters who spend a summer at the prestigious club.

What To Expect: Considered one of the best sports comedies ever made, Caddyshack has some of the subgenre’s most quotable scenes and one of Hollywood’s most hatable villains.

• Rent/Buy Caddyshack on Amazon.
• Get Caddyshack on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Coming To America (1988)

The Director: John Landis

The Cast: Eddie Murphy, James Earl Jones, Arsenio Hall

What It’s About: John Landis’ 1988 comedy, Coming to America, follows Prince Akeem Joffer (Eddie Murphy) as he travels to Queens to find a wife to bring back to the African nation of Zamunda.

What To Expect: If you’re in the mood for classic Eddie Murphy moments, some outrageous characters, and a great look at ‘80s NYC, this will do the trick.

• Rent/Buy Coming to America on Amazon.
• Get Coming to America on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Dead Poets Society (1989)

The Director: Peter Weir

The Cast: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke

What It’s About: Set in a prestigious college prep academy, the 1989 drama Dead Poets Society follows newly arrived English teacher John Keating (Robin Williams) as he spends a semester opening the eyes and changing the lives of his students, for better or for worse.

What To Expect: Dead Poets Society, one of the great coming-of-age stories of all time, is at times incredibly hopeful while at others utterly heartbreaking.

• Rent/Buy Dead Poets Society on Amazon.
• Get Dead Poets Society on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Die Hard (1988)

The Director: John McTiernan

The Cast: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia

What It’s About: NYPD officer John McClane (Bruce Willis) finds himself in the right place at the right time in Die Hard when his wife’s holiday Christmas party is overtaken by a group of international terrorists who hold them hostage in hopes of securing unfathomable wealth.

What To Expect: Bruce Willis’ wisecracks, explosive action scenes, and one of Alan Rickman’s great villains all make Die Hard an unforgettable classic.

• Stream Die Hard on Hulu.
• Rent/Buy Die Hard on Amazon.
• Get Die Hard on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Dirty Dancing (1987)

The Director: Emile Ardolino

The Cast: Jennifer Grey, Patrick Swayze, Jerry Orbach

What It’s About: Frances “Baby” Houseman (Jennifer Grey) goes to spend a summer in the Catskills with her family in Dirty Dancing. Thinking she’ll spend the time bored out of her mind, Baby quickly finds herself learning what it means to dance, love, and stand up for herself, thanks to her dance instructor-turned-lover Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze).

What To Expect: There is no short order of romance, drama, dancing, and legendary ‘50s music in this decorated classic.

• Rent/Buy Dirty Dancing on Amazon.
• Get Dirty Dancing on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Do The Right Thing (1989)

The Director: Spike Lee

The Cast: Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis

What It’s About: What initially starts out as a disagreement over which actors should or shouldn’t be included on the wall of a Brooklyn pizzeria quickly escalates into a full-blown riot in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing.

What To Expect: If you’re looking for comedy, drama, and a large dose of social commentary, give Do the Right Thing a shot.

• Stream Do the Right Thing on Prime Video.
• Rent/Buy Do the Right Thing on Amazon.
• Get Do the Right Thing on Blu-ray on Amazon.

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

The Director: Steven Spielberg

The Cast: Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore

What It’s About: Steven Spielberg’s 1982 sci-fi adventure E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial follows a young boy (Henry Thomas) as he forms an unbreakable bond with a gentle alien who is trapped on Earth and just wants to go home.

What To Expect: This 1982 sci-fi classic is full of wonder, adventure, and quite possibly one of the best John Williams scores of all time.

• Rent/Buy E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial on Amazon.
• Get E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Blu-ray on Amazon.

Escape From New York (1981)

The Director: John Carpenter

The Cast: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine

What It’s About: John Carpenter’s 1981 dystopian thriller, Escape From New York, sees Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) attempt to save the U.S. President from a group of fanatical criminals who run the streets of Manhattan, which has been turned into a prison colony.

What To Expect: With one of Kurt Russell’s most badass characters, some great practical effects by James Cameron, and a legendary John Carpenter score, there’s a lot to love here.

• Stream Escape from New York on Prime Video.
• Rent/Buy Escape from New York on Amazon.
• Get Escape from New York on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982)

The Director: Amy Heckering
The Cast: Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold
What It’s About: The school lives, social lives, and love lives of several teenagers are explored both in and outside their California high school.
What To Expect: If you’re looking for a movie that captures the heart and soul of the ‘80s high school experience, look no further than Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Yes, that includes the good, the bad, and the unbearingly uncomfortable.

• Rent/Buy Fast Times at Ridgemont High on Amazon.
• Get Fast Times at Ridgemont High on DVD on Amazon.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

The Director: John Hughes
The Cast: Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara

What It’s About: John Hughes’ Ferris Bueller’s Day Off follows the charismatic titular high school senior (Matthew Broderick) as he convinces his girlfriend and best friend to skip class and have an epic adventure in Chicago.

What To Expect: A quintessential ‘80s movie, and one of John Hughes’ best cinematic experiences, there are few teenage comedies that hit as hard (or as often) as this one.

• Rent/Buy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off on Amazon.
• Get Ferris Bueller’s Day Off on DVD on Amazon.

Footloose (1984)

The Director: Herbert Ross

The Cast: Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, John Lithgow

What It’s About: When Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon), a dance-obsessed high schooler, moves to a small town that has banned all forms of music and dancing, he does what any teenager would do in his position: rebels with loads and loads of dancing, in Footloose.

What To Expect: If you’re in the mood for angry dancing, John Lithgow villains, and great movie songs, look no further than Footloose.

• Rent/Buy Footloose on Amazon.
• Get Footloose on DVD on Amazon.

Friday The 13th (1980)

The Director: Sean S. Cunningham

The Cast: Betsy Palmer, Kevin Bacon, Adrienne King

What It’s About: The slasher film Friday the 13th follows a group of counselors as they are picked off one by one by a sadistic killer with one hell of a backstory involving Camp Crystal Lake.

What To Expect: You won’t see Jason Voorhees tracking down and killing teenagers this time around, but the killer in this iconic slasher is just as brutal and perhaps even more unhinged.

• Rent/Buy Friday the 13th on Amazon.
• Get Friday the 13th on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Ghostbusters (1984)

The Director: Ivan Reitman

The Cast: Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson

What It’s About: Who ya gonna call? Well, Ghostbusters if you’re looking for a fun supernatural comedy involving college professors who use their knowledge to rid New York City of ghostly threats.

What To Expect: Want to go back and see how the Ghostbusters got started? Want to see the Marshmallow Man walk through NYC again? Want to experience one of the best ‘80s movies? Here’s your chance!

• Rent/Buy Ghostbusters on Amazon.
• Get Ghostbusters on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Gremlins (1984)

The Director: Joe Dante

The Cast: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton

What It’s About: Written by Chris Columbus and directed by Joe Dante, the 1984 horror flick Gremlins answers the question: What’s the worst that could happen when you spill water on your new pet and feed them after midnight?

What to expect? Well, you’ll find out what happens when you feed a gremlin after midnight. That’s for sure!

• Rent/Buy Gremlins on Amazon.
• Get Gremlins on DVD on Amazon.

Lethal Weapon (1987)

The Director: Richard Donner

The Cast: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Gary Busey

What It’s About: Los Angeles police detectives Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) are forced to look past their differences and opposing lifestyles to uncover a massive drug-trafficking ring in Richard Donner’s Lethal Weapon.

What To Expect: If you want to see one of the premier buddy action movies, Lethal Weapon is going to do the trick, and then some.

• Rent/Buy Lethal Weapon on Amazon.
• Get Lethal Weapon on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Midnight Run (1988)

The Director: Martin Brest

The Cast: Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, John Ashton

What It’s About: Bounty hunter Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro) sets out to capture mob accountant Jonathan “The Duke” Mardukas (Charles Grodin), who has skipped out on his bail.

What To Expect: What follows is a cross-country adventure involving two personalities that mix like oil and water. But with mobsters, bounty hunters, and the FBI hot on their tail, they’ll have to work together.

• Rent/Buy Midnight Run on Amazon.
• Get Midnight Run on Blu-ray on Amazon.

National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)

The Director: Harold Ramis

The Cast: Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Anthony Michael Hall

What It’s About: Bumbling father, Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase), takes his wife and two children on what is supposed to be two weeks of family bonding but quickly devolves into a trip from hell in National Lampoon’s Vacation.

What To Expect: Expect chaos. Pure chaos!

• Rent/Buy National Lampoon’s Vacation on Amazon.
• Get National Lampoon’s Vacation on Blu-ray on Amazon.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

The Director: Wes Craven

The Cast: Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp

What It’s About: Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street follows a group of teenagers who are being terrorized by the undead killer Freddy Krueger, who attacks them when most vulnerable: while they sleep.

What To Expect: If you came looking for an iconic horror villain to be both unbelievably brutal yet undeniably hilarious, as well as terrifying dream sequences, this franchise starter will do the trick.

• Rent/Buy A Nightmare on Elm Street on Amazon
• Get A Nightmare on Elm Street on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Platoon (1986)

The Director: Oliver Stone

The Cast: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe

What It’s About: Oliver Stone’s 1986 Academy Award-winning military drama, Platoon, follows a group of American soldiers in the Vietnam War who are pushed to the brink of losing what little humanity they have left.

What To Expect: Don’t go into Platoon looking for a happy-go-lucky or romantic view of war, because this brutal, realistic, and unflinching military drama doesn’t hold back.

• Rent/Buy Platoon on Amazon.
• Get Platoon on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Raging Bull (1980)

The Director: Martin Scorsese

The Cast: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty

What It’s About: Robert De Niro plays Jake LaMotta, a former heavyweight champ whose life is falling apart in Martin Scorsese’s 1980 acclaimed, all-time great boxing movie, Raging Bull.

What To Expect: You won’t find likable or redeemable characters, but you will find one of the most engaging and hard-hitting stories ever told in and out of the boxing ring.

• Rent/Buy Raging Bull on Amazon.
• Get Raging Bull on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)

The Director: Steven Spielberg
The Cast: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, John Rhys-Davies
What It’s About: The world is introduced to Harrison Ford’s iconic archeologist in Steven Spielberg’s 1981 adventure film Raiders of the Lost Ark, which kicked off the Indiana Jones franchise with a story about the mysterious Ark of the Covenant.
What To Expect. You can expect legendary movie sequences, Nazis losing their faces, and Harrison Ford being charming as all hell.

• Stream Raiders of the Lost Ark on Disney+.
• Stream Raiders of the Lost Ark on Paramount+.
• Rent/Buy Raiders of the Lost Ark on Amazon.
• Get Raiders of the Lost Ark on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Rain Man (1988)

The Director: Barry Levinson
The Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino

What It’s About: Barry Levinson’s 1988 drama, Rain Man, netted Dustin Hoffman an Academy Award for his portrayal of Raymond Babbitt, an autistic man who has a knack for counting cards and the game of blackjack.

What To Expect: Rain Man features what could be one of Hoffman’s best performances as well as a story that is both heartwarming and incredibly maddening at times.

• Get Rain Man on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Scarface (1983)

The Director: Brian De Palma
The Cast: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer

What It’s About: Brian De Palma’s sprawling 1983 crime epic, Scarface, follows Cuban immigrant Tony Montana (Al Pacino) as he climbs from the bottom of the food chain to the top of Miami’s booming cocaine market.
What To Expect: Though being a remake itself, Scarface would go on to become one of the most influential crime films of the ‘80s and of all time, thanks to its electric tone, over-the-top violence, and one of Al Pacino’s most unhinged characters.

• Rent/Buy Scarface on Amazon.
• Get Scarface on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Spaceballs (1987)

The Director: Mel Brooks
The Cast: Rick Moranis, Bill Pullman, John Candy

What It’s About: Mel Brooks’ 1987 sci-fi spoof Spaceballs takes plot points from the likes of Star Wars and other classic adventures and creates a farcical race to save the galaxy from the evil President Skroob (Brooks) and Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis).

What To Expect: Spaceballs has some of the most hilarious spoof movie gags, great comedic moments, and one of the wildest villains of the decade.

• Rent/Buy Spaceballs on Amazon.
• Get Spaceballs on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Stand By Me (1986)

The Director: Rob Reiner
The Cast: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell

What It’s About: Based on a story by Stephen King, Rob Reiner’s 1986 coming-of-age story, Stand By Me, follows a group of childhood friends as they spend the final days of their summer break looking for the dead body of a missing boy.

What To Expect: This is perhaps the best “end of childhood” movie ever released, as well as a drama that never gets old no matter how many times you watch it.

• Rent/Buy Stand By Me on Amazon.
• Get Stand By Me on DVD on Amazon.

Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (1982)

The Director: Nicholas Meyer
The Cast: William Shatner, Ricardo Montalban, Leonard Nimoy
What It’s About: The 1982 sci-fi adventure film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan sees Enterprise commander Captain James Kirk (William Shatner) cross paths with the villainous Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán), a genetically enhanced superhuman he never thought he’d have to see again.
What To Expect: In the mood for one of the best Star Trek movies as well as an iconic space film, look no further.

• Stream Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on Paramount+.
• Rent/Buy Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on Amazon.
• Get Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Steel Magnolias (1989)

The Director: Herbert Ross

The Cast: Sally Field, Julia Roberts, Dolly Parton

What It’s About: The 1989 Golden Globe winner, Steel Magnolias, follows a tight-knit group of women in northwestern Louisiana who stand together through thick and thin.

What To Expect: Expect to laugh, cry, and then cry some more. Seriously, try watching this movie without crying.

• Stream Steel Magnolias on Max.
• Rent/Buy Steel Magnolias on Amazon.
• Get Steel Magnolias on DVD on Amazon.

The Abyss (1989)

The Director: James Cameron

The Cast: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn

What It’s About: James Cameron’s 1989 sci-fi thriller, The Abyss, follows a group of Navy Seals and petroleum engineers as they go to the bottom of the ocean to make a remarkable discovery, one that could destroy or save humanity.

What To Expect: If you want to see state-of-the-art visuals from the late ‘80s that stand up 36 years later, an engaging story, and one of Ed Harris’ best performances, check out The Abyss.

• Rent/Buy The Abyss on Amazon.
• Buy The Abyss on DVD on Amazon.

The Breakfast Club (1985)

The Director: John Hughes

The Cast: Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson

What It’s About: John Hughes’ 1985 “Brat Pack” classic, The Breakfast Club, follows five high school students from different walks of life who are brought together during Saturday detention, forever changing their lives.

What To Expect: This is one of the best “Brat Pack” films and a movie that everyone needs to watch at least once.

• Stream The Breakfast Club on Peacock.
• Rent/Buy The Breakfast Club on Amazon.
• Get The Breakfast Club on Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Goonies (1985)

The Director: Richard Donner

The Cast: Josh Brolin, Sean Astin, Corey Feldman

What It’s About: Richard Donner’s 1985 coming-of-age film, The Goonies, centers on a group of friends who set out for one more adventure together before their neighborhood is demolished and turned into a multi-million-dollar development.

What To Expect: An adventure like no other, The Goonies is all of your childhood dreams (and nightmares) come to life. Pirate ships, mobsters, a “monster” who’s actually a hero, and so much more.

• Rent/Buy The Goonies on Amazon.
  Get The Goonies on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

The Director: Irvin Kershner

The Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher

What It’s About: The best Star Wars movie, 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back starts off with an epic battle on the ice planet of Hoth and only picks up from there as Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) uncovers a dark secret about his past.

What To Expect: Seriously, this is the greatest sequel ever made.

• Stream The Empire Strikes Back on Disney+.
• Rent/Buy The Empire Strikes Back on Amazon.
• Get The Empire Strikes Back on Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Karate Kid (1984)

The Director: John G. Avildsen

The Cast: Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue

What It’s About: When high schooler Daniel LaRusso is forced to pack up his life and leave the East Coast, he lands in Southern California, where he finds himself the target of the evil Cobra Kai dojo. That is, until he learns a few tricks of his own in The Karate Kid.

What To Expect: You want karate? You want drama? You want evil dojo owners willing to do anything and everything to win? Time to watch The Karate Kid.

• Stream The Karate Kid on Netflix.
• Rent/Buy The Karate Kid on Amazon.
• Buy The Karate Kid on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Little Mermaid (1989)

The Director: Ron Clements, John Musker

The Cast: Jodi Benson, Pat Carroll, Samuel E. Wright

What It’s About: The 1989 Disney animated film The Little Mermaid follows the rebellious Ariel (Jodi Benson) as she tries to chart her own course in life, even if that means sacrificing everything.

What To Expect: There’s a reason why people say The Little Mermaid helped start the Disney renaissance that would follow in the early ‘90s. Simply put, this movie is a masterpiece of animation.

• Stream The Little Mermaid on Disney+.
• Rent/Buy The Little Mermaid on Amazon.
• Get The Little Mermaid on Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Princess Bride (1987)

The Director: Rob Reiner

The Cast: Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin

What It’s About: Rob Reiner’s 1987 fantasy comedy, The Princess Bride, offers a new spin on the classic fairy tale setup with an epic and hilarious story about a man who would go to the end of the Earth to save the woman he loves.

What To Expect: The Princess Bride is a great movie that literally anyone in the family can enjoy, which isn’t something you can say too often.

• Stream The Princess Bride on Disney+.
• Rent/Buy The Princess Bride on Amazon.
• Get The Princess Bride on Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Shining (1980)

The Director: Stanley Kubrick

The Cast: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd

What It’s About: Stanley Kubrick’s controversial 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining follows writer/caretaker Jack Torrance as he descends into madness while isolated with his family in the Overlook Hotel in Colorado one winter.

What To Expect: The Shining slowly builds the tension until the movie reaches a tipping point and we’re given one of the most unsettling yet exciting chase sequences ever captured on film.

• Rent/Buy The Shining on Amazon.
• Get The Shining on Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Terminator (1984)

The Director: James Cameron

The Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn

What It’s About: James Cameron’s iconic sci-fi thriller, The Terminator, centers on Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton) as she is hunted down by a cyborg assassin from the future who has been sent to the past to kill the young waitress before she can give birth to John Connor, humanity’s last hope.

What To Expect: Want to see an emotionless silent killer stalk his prey through 1980s Los Angeles, as well as one of the best sci-fi thrillers of all time? Well, time to start watching The Terminator.

• Rent/Buy The Terminator on Amazon.
• Get The Terminator on Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Thing (1982)

The Director: John Carpenter

The Cast: Kurt Russell, Keith David, Wilford Brimley

What It’s About: The crew of a remote research facility in Antarctica is torn apart when a shapeshifting alien finds its way into the complex in John Carpenter’s The Thing.

What To Expect: Please know that this movie will make you twist and turn in your chair, leave you with trust issues, and will leave you traumatized (especially when it comes to that dog sequence).

• Rent/Buy The Thing on Amazon.
• Get The Thing on Blu-ray on Amazon.

They Live (1988)

The Director: John Carpenter

The Cast: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster

What It’s About: Wrestler-turned-actor Roddy Piper plays a drifter armed with a pair of sunglasses that give him the ability to see behind the illusions of an alien race that has invaded the planet in They Live.

What To Expect: Come for the sunglasses scene, stay for the best fight ever recorded on film.

• Rent/Buy They Live on Amazon.
• Get They Live on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Tootsie (1982)

The Director: Sydney Pollack

The Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr

What It’s About: Fed up with not being able to get a job, struggling actor Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) does the unthinkable in Tootsie and reinvents himself as Dorothy Michaels, a female actor who quickly lands a starring role on a popular daytime soap opera. It only gets more complicated from there.

What To Expect: Tootsie has just about everything you’d want in an ‘80s movie, plus one of the best “walking through NYC” shots of all time.

• Rent/Buy Tootsie on Amazon.
• Get Tootsie on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Top Gun (1986)

The Director: Tony Scott

The Cast: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Kelly McGillis

What It’s About: Tom Cruise plays Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Tony Scott’s 1986 action thriller Top Gun. Upon being invited to a specialized fighter pilot school, Maverick’s skills, as well as his attitude, are put to the ultimate test.

What To Expect: Beach volleyball, epic dogfights, and multiple iconic ‘80s tracks are on full display here.

• Stream Top Gun on Paramount+.
• Rent/Buy Top Gun on Amazon.
• Get Top Gun on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Trading Places (1983)

The Director: John Landis

The Cast: Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis

What It’s About: In John Landis’ 1983 comedy, Trading Places, Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy play two men who find their positions reversed as part of a sick game by a duo of villainous millionaires.

What To Expect: A young Eddie Murphy steals the show in this 1983 comedy classic.

• Rent/Buy Trading Places on Amazon.
• Get Trading Places on Blu-ray on Amazon.

WarGames (1983)

The Director: John Badham
The Cast: Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, Ally Sheedy

What It’s About: The 1983 thriller WarGames follows high school student David Lightman (Broderick) as he begins to play what he believes to be a high-tech arcade game but what is actually a supercomputer that could bring on the destruction of the planet through nuclear war.

What To Expect: If you’re looking for a chess match between a teenager and a supercomputer, here ya go!

• Stream WarGames on Max.
• Rent/Buy WarGames on Amazon.
• Get WarGames on DVD on Amazon.

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

The Director: Rob Reiner

The Cast: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher

What It’s About: Written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner, the all-time great romantic comedy, When Harry Met Sally, follows the titular characters played by Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan as they try to prove that a man and woman can have a relationship that doesn’t involve sex.

What To Expect: Seriously, this movie is perfect. No notes.

• Rent/Buy When Harry Met Sally on Amazon.
• Get When Harry Met Sally on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

The Director: Robert Zemeckis

The Cast: Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Charles Fleischer

What It’s About: Robert Zemeckis’ 1988 live-action/animation hybrid, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, follows Hoskins’ hardened private investigator who is tasked with proving the titular rabbit has been framed with the murder of a high-profile figure.

What To Expect: Here is what can best be described as the ultimate animation/live-action hybrid and a tremendous example of competing movie studios working together to create an unprecedented cinematic experience.

• Stream Who Framed Roger Rabbit on Disney+.
• Rent/Buy Who Framed Roger Rabbit on Amazon.
• Get Who Framed Roger Rabbit on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Well, that was a comprehensive list of the best ‘80s movies streaming. Now that you know where and how to watch all these classics, all you have to do is start watching (but hopefully not all in one big marathon).

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There’s nothing quite like a well-matched fight – especially when the stakes are through the roof and there are bets on the table for each side. While crossover fights are usually topics of playful conversations among friends or primed for fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Super Smash Bros, every once in a while, they happen on the big screen. We just saw this play out in the MonsterVerse with Godzilla vs. Kong. How does it rank among other crossover fights throughout the years?

Movie crossover fights have quite a long history, finding some roots back in the 1940s when Universal matched up Frankenstein and Wolfman for Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, which was the studio’s first time blending two characters from its host of horror franchises when movie series were operating on a much smaller scale in Hollywood. Within the last 30 years, there’s been an interesting range of movie crossover fights, but which one did it the best? Here are the highlights:

6. Alien vs. Predator

Perhaps the most iconic crossover in movie history for science fiction fans is Alien vs. Predator. The 2004 phenomenon had 20th Century Fox matching up its own popular monster franchises for a sequel to 1986’s Predator and a prequel to 1979’s Alien. As one would expect out of a crossover movie, it’s just a fun match-up featuring the slimy guys going at it in an ancient underground pyramid. While it’s unmistakably memorable, empty-head action goodness, it wasn’t necessarily executed well by larger public opinion.

Hey, if you grew up with Predator and Alien at the right time, this movie was probably your jam. But the tagline was “whoever wins… we lose” pretty much fits. Alien vs. Predator will always be in the crossover movie fight conversation because it was such a huge deal. If only the action had gone into deeper space.

5. Freddy vs. Jason

One year before Alien vs. Predator, New Line delivered on a horror movie crossover fight for the terrifying villains of Nightmare of Elm Street and Friday the 13th. It was serial killer Freddy Kreuger versus the masked slasher star Jason Voorhees, because why not? Ronny Yu’s film has a powerless Freddy resurrecting Jason from Hell to do his bidding in Springwood to create fear and therefore strengthen his powers. The premise is arguably more fun and clever than Alien vs. Predator, and it did bring something new to each of the characters’ series.

Freddy vs. Jason is no masterpiece either, but we got to see two stars of famed horror franchises that began in the ‘80s come together in a blood and guts way that stepped up the stakes from how your typical horror movie goes.

4. Godzilla vs. Kong

Coming off of the movie’s recent release, I’ve decided to fashion Godzilla vs. Kong in the mid-range when it comes to crossover movie fights. Time will tell how we feel about Adam Wingard’s MonsterVerse film in a few years, but for the moment, I think this is where it belongs. Godzilla vs. Kong feels a bit more evolved than the aforementioned early ‘00s crossover films, and although the human element was lacking, when these two got in the ring, it was super entertaining and well-shot.

Godzilla vs. Kong had a leg up in that it was being built up over the years with the MonsterVerse films Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla: King of the Monsters. The 2021 hit knew what it was and played into it, and it’s pretty cool that it’s the first movie in the matter of a year that has boasted major box office numbers.

3. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

And this ranking’s wildcard pick is Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Although this film is not like the others on the list because it’s not centered on a big crossover fight between two specific movie characters, it is a massive crossover movie that was groundbreaking for the animation genre. The crossover movie fight I’ll refer to is a hilarious piano duel between Daffy Duck and Donald Duck in between Roger Rabbit’s hijinks.

Yes, that happened! The angry ducks from two cartoon franchises started going at it at a club while playing music. It’s really amazing that this went through, amongst Robert Zemeckis’ wild live-action/animation hybrid that created Jessica Rabbit and other crossover moments, like Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny sharing the screen together. This was basically animation’s Avengers: Endgame, and it remains an oddball classic and impressive feat.

2. Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

Coming into the best of the best, it comes down to Marvel vs. DC. Ahead of the #1 spot is Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It's definitely a decisive movie within the DCEU that has its sum of lovers and haters on each side. We’ll probably always laugh about that one time Batman and Superman stopped fighting because they found out their mothers were both named Martha, or sit in awe of Gal Gadot’s debut appearance as Wonder Woman as her theme triumphantly rang in our ears.

Nevertheless, Batman v Superman is an incredibly interesting and ambitious crossover movie. Having two of DC’s finest battle it out as a way to set up Justice League? It’s awesome, and the way Snyder explored the heroes' diametrically different ways of seeing crime fighting was an interesting concept to explore.

1. Captain America: Civil War

The best crossover movie event we’ve seen so far is thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Since 2008, Marvel Studios has carefully crafted an incredible comic book world that has allowed fans to see their favorite superheroes work and fight against each other in ways we never thought possible in a cinematic setting. In Captain America: Civil War, Chris Evans’ Cap and Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man became at odds and divided the Avengers in two teams due to the Sokovia Accords.

Captain America: Civil War is everything a crossover fight movie could and should be. It invited a number of matchups throughout its runtime and gave its finale battle between Iron Man and Captain America something weighty to fight for. Oh, and it introduced Black Panther and Spider-Man! The fight between Team Cap and Team Iron Man was equal parts fun, emotional and complex, and for that, it wins our ranking for best crossover movie fight.

You can check out Alien vs. Predator, Freddy vs. Jason, Godzilla vs. Kong and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, on HBO Max. Sign up for the streaming service using this link. Those of you looking to rewatch Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Captain America: Civil War can head over to Disney+. Alright, it’s your turn. What was your favorite crossover movie fight? Vote in our poll below!

This poll is no longer available.

If there is one thing everyone at CinemaBlend loves talking about, it is the John Wick movies, specifically all the crazy random facts about the Keanu Reeves franchise that has provided thrills, chills, and dozens of kills since the character was introduced in 2014. And while we've covered the body count of the first John Wick, who would win in a fight between two of Reeves' most notable, and lethal, characters, and everything else under the sun, one thing we haven't talked about is the insane number of random martial artists, stuntmen, professional wrestlers (hello, Kevin Nash), and even an NBA star, who have shown up to either help or kicked their asses kicked by John Wick.

So, as we wait for the next two installments in the John Wick franchise, let's take a look at all those random faces from the first three films and where you've seen them before. Who knows, you might even see a spokesperson for a certain insurance company. And no, it's not Dean Winters.

Francis (Kevin Nash) - John Wick

Kevin Nash, arguably one of the biggest and most consequential professional wrestlers in the '90s with runs in WWE (then WWF) and WCW, shows up for a hot minute in John Wick as Francis, a bouncer at the Red Circle night club who speaks in code to tell the titular assassin just how many armed guards he can expect on the other side of the door. Nash, who went by nicknames like "Big Daddy Cool" and "Big Sexy" during his 30-year wrestling career, has transitioned to acting in the past 10 years, with appearances in the Magic Mike and its sequel Magic Mike XXL.

Ernest (Boban Marjanovic) - John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

By the time John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum came around, audiences had seen everything Keanu Reeves' hitman had to offer, and then came the fight with the towering henchman "Ernest" at the New York Public Library who finds himself on the receiving end of a book attack that left him with more than some paper-cuts. Boban Marjanovic, the Serbian center for the Dallas Mavericks, has another film appearance (We Will Be the World Champions) under his belt, but he'll always be remembered for his love of quoting the Divine Comedy and getting his head bashed in by John Wick.

Sumo Assassin (Yamamotoyama Ryuta) - John Wick: Chapter 2

In John Wick: Chapter 2, everyone's favorite assassin with an affinity for dogs is the one being hunted (by everyone in New York City), including "Sumo Assassin," a massive contract killer that is only taken down after Mr. Wick unloads a magazine on the oversized character. And if you thought that the assassin looks like a sumo wrestler it's because he is portrayed by retired Japanese sumo star Yamamotoyama Ryuta. Since stepping down from competition in 2011, Ryuta has appeared on The Bachelorette and the Ed Sheeran video "Shape of You," in addition to his John Wick role.

Shinobi #1 And Shinobi #2 (Cecep Arif Rahman, Yayan Ruhian) - John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

Just like how CinemaBlend previously put Shinobi #1 and Shinobi #2 together in the ranking of John Wick's greatest opponents, there's no way we could have one without the other here. The amazing knife fight scene involving the Shinobi and John Wick near the end of John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum remains one of the best of the franchise, even if they were allowed to walk away with their lives before Wick takes on Zero (Mark Dacascos). Prior to showing up in third John Wick movie, Cecep Arif Rahman and Yayan Ruhian were both featured in The Raid 2, with Ruhian also appearing in The Raid and Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens.

Huang (Roger Yuan) John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

We couldn't make a list of random characters from the John Wick franchise without talking about the insanely epic and inventive weapon museum battle between the neighborhood friendly hitman and a trio of Triad assassins. Huang, the Triad who takes an axe to the side of his head after surviving all those knife wounds, is played by Roger Yuan, an American actor, martial arts fight trainer, and stunt coordinator (he trained Keanu Reeves for 47 Ronin) who has either trained or appeared in 30 movies over his career. With everything from Shanghai Noon to Skyfall under his belt, chances are you've seen Yuan multiple times over the years.

Roma (Roman Mitichyan) - John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

When John Wick arrives to meet with the Director (Anjelica Huston), the head of the Ruska Roma in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, he is asked to remove his belt and other personal belongings before he may enter. And while everyone is probably distracted by the guy with all those face tattoos, Roman Mitichyan's character, Roma, is the one doing all the talking. Mitichyan not only acted in the third installment of the franchise (he also previously appeared as a Red Circle security guard in John Wick), he also did some stunt work. Prior to acting (Argo, Furious 7, Vice), Mitichyan had a 13-year professional MMA career and even appeared on the reality series The Ultimate Fighter.

Russian Assassin (Oleg Prudius) - John Wick: Chapter 2

John Wick: Chapter 2 pretty much picks up where things left off for the recently un-retired assassin when he goes to retrieve his stolen Mustang from a chop shop. Before he can do so, however, John Wick must take down a small army of Russian gangsters, including "Russian Assassin," the larger-than-life beast of a man in coveralls. And if you thought that his bodyslam on Wick looked like something out of WWE, that's because the actor, Oleg Prudius, wrestled for the company from 2006 to 2012 under the name Vladimir Kozlov, making him the third (but probably not last) wrestler to appear in the franchise.

Bowery King Bodyguard (McManus Woodend) - John Wick: Chapter 2, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

The introduction of Laurence Fishburne's Bowery King in John Wick: Chapter 2 does a great job of expanding the universe, so to speak, and also gives us another random actor you might have forgotten or didn't know was in the franchise. McManus Woodend is uncredited, but appears as the Bowery King's bodyguard when John Wick first arrives at his secret compound and then again when the Adjudicator shows up in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. But Woodend isn't some random person off the street. In fact, he's the person on this list who has probably been seen the most over the years considering he was the GEICO Caveman for a number of years.

Jimmy (Thomas Sadoski) - John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 2

The first two John Wick movies feature a recurring character that provides some great comic relief following some of the most intense moments of the franchise. After Wick takes down the Russian thugs in his house in John Wick, he is greeted by Jimmy, a New York City police officer and friend asking if the assassin in "working again." He shows up again in John Wick: Chapter 2 to ask if Wick had a "gas leak" after his house is blown up. The actor behind the role, Thomas Sadoski, has been in everything from Loser to Wild as well as the HBO drama The Newsroom.

Helen (Bridget Moynahan) - John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 2

And then there is John Wick's late wife, Helen, whose death and parting gift (Daisy) sets the whole John Wick franchise into motion. She isn't exactly a random character, to be fair, but we only see glimpses of her throughout the first two movies (flashbacks and the recorded video on Wick's phone). Still the film's producers brought in a heavyweight to fill the role, none other than Bridget Moynahan. One of the main stars of Blue Bloods, Moynahan has also had big roles in shows like Sex and the City and movies including Coyote Ugly, I, Robot, and Battle: Los Angeles.

Those are just a few of the random actors, wrestlers, martial artists, and stunt actors to appear in the John Wick franchise. With the fourth and fifth chapters only a couple of years away, who knows who will make a one-off appearance in the future.

Books and movies have had a symbiotic relationship for quite a while, with Hollywood consistently purchasing the rights to high profile works in hopes of making them into the next box office hit. Sometimes the adaptations are so faithful that audiences have little reason to read the actual book, and other times they're like the recently released Artemis Fowl and feature vast departures from the source material.

Some movies stray from the books and become cinema classics. Others do a lot to change and fail, and audiences wonder why they didn't just stick to the source material that was already tried and true. I'll run down some of the more popular movies of both situations, including Artemis Fowl and the major decision it made that has led to its rough reviews. As a warning, this list will run down spoilers of both the books and the movies, so read at your own risk!

Artemis Fowl

In the Artemis Fowl series, Artemis started off as a villainous mastermind. This kid is rich, cold and crafty, and while he seems like a heartless, greedy devil child reeking havoc on the magic world, readers eventually realize he's just a misguided kid.

Artemis eventually grows throughout the series, but it doesn't seem like those stories will be told on film as Disney decided to drastically change Artemis and make him a hero from the jump. Artemis' change of heart is the major focus of the series, so it's not surprising that removing this character element has led to some poor reviews for the movie.

Forrest Gump

Believe it or not, Forrest Gump is not quite the character in his book that the movie made him out to be. He was a 6'6 and 242 lbs in high school, a football star and perhaps not someone you'd see people chasing down with a car. His sex life was wild and the foul-mouthed Forrest was with more women than Jenny. He even works at NASA with an orangutan, which is certainly a scene I would've liked to see in the movie.

Forrest Gump the movie was insanely popular despite the massive changes, and in what may be a surprise, author Winston Groom wasn't that upset with the changes. He wrote a sequel called Gump And Co., which stated on the first page "Don't never let nobody make a movie of your life's story," which created an interesting nod to how the movie and book differed. Interestingly enough, some have noted Groom's Gump in the second book is more akin to Tom Hanks' version, so maybe Groom wanted to see what he could do with that version.

I Am Legend

The novel I Am Legend has been adapted into a film not once, not twice, but three times since its release in 1954. And yet ,The Last Man On Earth, The Omega Man and I Am Legend are different from each other, as well as different from the source material they're all based on. The most recent adaptation is a vast departure from the book, to the point that one has to wonder if tying it to the original work was really necessary.

The two tales talk about a world overrun by vampires, who seem more similar to zombies, but differ in a few key areas. Beyond the difference of I Am Legend taking place in more modern times, the virus is created through an attempted cure for cancer rather than a bacterial infection. In the book, Neville is eventually captured by an evolved form of the vampire people, and realizes in an ironic twist he has become a legend to them as one of the last remnants of humanity. Basically, the vampires win, as opposed to the movie having Neville sacrifice himself in order to give humanity a good shot at curing the sickness and surviving.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

As crazy as it may sound, yes, Who Framed Roger Rabbit is based on a novel. In the original Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, Roger is a sidekick comic strip character who hires Eddie Valiant in order to find out why his comic strip partners have reversed their deal to give him his own comic strip. Roger is later murdered, and Valiant's mystery eventually leads him to a genie. This book is a real trip, and that's saying something considering what the movie is.

What's really interesting about this is that after Who Framed Roger Rabbit, author Gary K. Wolf wrote a sequel to the movie called Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit? This sequel not only followed the Roger Rabbit continuity of the movie, but wrote off the original book Wolf wrote as a dream Jessica Rabbit had. It's certainly interesting to see Wolf retcon his own work in favor of an adaptation, and not a response I'd expect from any author!

The Shining

This is perhaps the most known movie to diverge from the book it was based on, mainly because of who was involved and the feud that followed. Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick are both legends of their craft, and they apparently had different ideas on how The Shining should be told. There are major differences between the movie and book, but perhaps the best way to summarize the differences is the decision in which the danger is supernaturally or psychologically driven.

Making the danger mainly a domestic event rather than supernatural issue is one of the reasons Stephen King disliked the adaptation of The Shining so much. He also really disliked the film's version of Wendy, as King believed his version of the character was much deeper than the one presented on screen. Viewers can decide for themselves who made the definitive telling of the story, or simply appreciate how phenomenal they each are in their own ways.

The Natural

The Natural is, in my opinion, one of, if not the best baseball movie ever made. The story of Roy Hobbs and his baseball career is a dream come true, right up to the lights-out home run to win the National League pennant. I always assumed the storybook ending meant the novel was not all that different, but I recently learned that the original ending of The Natural is far darker.

In the book, Roy Hobbs takes a bribe to throw the game, but has a change of heart midway through. Regardless, he strikes out and loses the game for the Knights, but only before fouling off a ball that breaks the Wonderbat and strikes his baby mama Iris in the head. What's worse is journalist Max Mercy learns about the bribe and plans a report that will likely end Hobbs career and have his records scrubbed from baseball. It's comically sad in comparison to the movie ending, though I can't say for certain which is the more impactful ending.

There are plenty other examples, so be sure to list your favorite book to movie change in the comments below. As always, stick with CinemaBlend for all the latest news happening in television and movies.

One of the most frightening characters in cinematic history would have to be Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s Judge Doom, who was brilliantly played by Christopher Lloyd. The actor has creeped out generations with his unsettling villain, a fact that he loves. He appears to have put quite a bit of time and effort into developing the character. This includes coming up with one of Doom’s mannerisms that only adds to his scary nature.

Christopher Lloyd recently participated in a Disney+ Q&A on Twitter, during which the actor revealed behind-the-scenes tidbits about his work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He also revealed that he came up with the idea to not have Judge Doom blink at all. Because the villain was actually a toon in disguise, he thought it wouldn’t seem right for him to have to do so:

Judge Doom was a major departure from some of Christopher Lloyd’s other roles, including his famous turn as the eccentric and friendly Doc Brown from Back to the Future. Although, he didn’t find it hard to help with the creation of Doom:

Christopher Lloyd definitely seemed to slide right into the role, as Judge Doom was a believable threat when going up against Eddie Valiant and Roger Rabbit. The little nuances that he helped to develop are also key parts of who Doom is, and the actor deserves credit for truly committing to the part.

As a child, Lloyd was somewhat traumatized by some of the scarier moments in classic Disney films and, by playing Judge Doom, he believed he could have a little payback. This was ever so present in one of Doom’s most cruel scenes, which is ironically one of Lloyd’s favorites.

Even though Judge Doom may terrify many of us to this day, we’re definitely grateful for Christopher Lloyd turning in such a memorable performance. To learn more about his work on the film, you can check out his appearance on Disney+’s Prop Culture, and you can stream Who Framed Roger Rabbit on the service as well.

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One of the wackiest Disney movies to ever hit the big screen has to be 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. The live-action/animation hybrid from Robert Zemeckis merged the world of Disney cartoons with racy film noir. For those of us who were exposed to the film as kids, the memory of the film is almost like some kind of fever dream that we’re not sure actually existed. But it totally does, and Christopher Lloyd is here to remind us of a particularly cruel scene.

The Back To The Future actor played the villain -- Judge Doom -- in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, who is an evil mastermind hellbent on committing toon genocide in Toontown. While reflecting on the movie on a Disney+ Q&A on Twitter, Christopher Lloyd discussed his favorite scene as the character:

Thanks for bringing back that painful memory! If you didn’t already repress it, you may remember a scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit when Judge Doom executes a poor cartoon by placing him in “The Dip” – his concoction of turpentine, acetone and benzene that can dissolve toons to death. Many of us watched this scene at a time when it was thought that cartoons simply couldn’t die. This cute little guy was the victim:

As Christopher Lloyd explained, it was kind of payback for all the times the studio’s early films traumatized him as well. I mean the part in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs when the poor Disney princess enters the dark forest was absolutely terrifying, for me, as a kid. Or how about when Pinocchio turned into a donkey or when the poor doe’s mom is shot by a hunter in Bambi? All can be pretty traumatizing for a child.

“The Dip” is a clever weapon because all of those chemicals are paint thinners. Get it? Because they're cartoons? Anyway, karma comes for Judge Doom by the end of Who Framed Roger Rabbit when he (a toon in disguise) melts, bringing a bit of justice to the poor toon shoe.

Christopher Lloyd reflected on his famed villain role since he makes an appearance on the news Disney+ documentary series Prop Culture. The eight-episode first season that dropped on the streaming service on Friday takes Disney fans into the props that defined movies such as Mary Poppins, Tron and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The seventh episode is about Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Those who want to see more can sign up for a free 7-day trial of Disney+.

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This past week, the internet discovered and had a bit of fun with a piece of minor censorship found on Disney+. It seems that the 1986 comedy Splash, which stars Tom Hanks as a man who falls in love with a mermaid, uses some digitally-created hair to make Daryl Hannah's nude rear disappear. It's not the best CGI work, as it was probably done fairly quickly. That said, it's not all that surprising. This is hardly the first time that Disney has made changes to a movie to remove references that haven't aged well, or even to simply remove something that is perceived as being less than family friendly.

Disney has been doing this for literally decades. There are numerous examples to be found on Disney+ of a movie that has been changed from its original theatrical version. Many of them haven't been seen in their original form since their original release. Here are a few examples of movies on Disney+ (which is offering a free 7-day trial) that aren't quite identical to their original form.

Aladdin

Aladdin could have been a very un-Disney movie if some of the outtakes from both Robin Williams and Gilbert Gottfried had been used. Instead, the biggest issue the movie has now is that some of the pop culture references are a little dated. However, that wasn't always the case. In the theatrical release of the film, the song "Arabian Nights" included the line "Where they cut off your ear, if they don't like your face." The line was viewed as insensitive, and when the movie was released on home video, the line was changed to "Where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense." Even the live-action remake uses a third, different line in that spot. The only place you're likely to find the original version of the song now is on copies of the soundtrack released when the movie first came out.

The Lion King

While some movies saw changes made before the home video release, some items that were eventually changed weren't discovered until then. It's a famous story now; in one moment in The Lion King, Simba drops to the ground and kicks up dust, which for a brief moment, combines to, possibly, form the word "sex." It's been claimed that the easter egg is actually reading "sfx" as a reference to the special effects department. Whether this moment was meant to be suggestive or not, it no longer matters. Check out The Lion King now, and the dust doesn't do anything of the kind.

The Rescuers

Whether or not The Lion King's suggestive moment really was what it appeared to be or not, one of the most famous Disney edits is no urban legend. The 1977 film The Rescuers once included a naked woman. It's a blink and you'll miss it moment, but years after the film was released, it was discovered that in a single frame, in a window that Bernard and Bianca fly past at high speed, you could see an image of a topless woman that was apparently placed there by an animator with a sense of humor. Needless to say you won't find the woman there on Disney+.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

From an actual naked woman to one that was perceived by some to be. Near the end of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit and Eddie are thrown out of Benny the Cab and Jessica's dress goes flying up, exposing her legs. Some thought that it exposed more than that. Jessica's underwear was actually visible in the scene, but the color was close enough to her skin tone that some thought she wasn't wearing underwear. This film saw a couple of edits, the first made Jessica's underwear white, so it more obvious that's what you were seeing. However, later versions of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, including the one on Disney+, make sure the dress keeps everything covered.

Adventures In Babysitting

The 1987 cult classic Adventures in Babysitting isn't your traditional Disney movie, which is why it was released by Touchstone, the studio Disney created in order to get into more adult-themed movies. The film was rated PG in 1987, but this was during the era when even the MPAA wasn't sure what to do with the PG-13 rating. Today, the rule, or at least the guideline, is that PG-13 films are only allowed to drop an F-bomb once. Adventures in Babysitting does it twice in one scene and still got away with a PG rating. The movie was previously available on Disney+, and will be again, but the version found originally included the TV edit that replaces the F-word with something less vulgar.

The Little Mermaid

Similar to The Lion King, it's unclear if the edit to The Little Mermaid was strictly necessary, but Disney decided to err on the side of caution. In the moment when Eric nearly marries Ursula, there was a moment when it appeared that the priest performing the ceremony was getting a tad, uh, excited. Disney claimed that the priest just had some knobby knees, and that's what was sticking forward. In the end, it was decided to change the scene so that it wasn't a question either way.

Lilo & Stitch

This one made headlines very recently as a number of people watching Lilo and Stitch on Disney+ thought they might be losing their minds. People distinctly remembered a scene where Lilo hid from her sister in a clothes dryer, but the scene in the movie now shows Lilo hiding in a cupboard, where she uses a pizza box to block off the hole. Of course, the cupboard in question is right next to a washing machine. The truth is that the original film did include Lilo hiding in a clothes dryer, but there was apparently fear that too many kids might do the same, and so later versions of the film were changed.

Fantasia

When I said Disney's decision to edit their own films went back decades, i wasn't kidding. At the same time, 1940's Fantasia includes topless centaur ladies bathing, and that's still there. However, for about three decades in the "Pastoral Symphony" sequence, there was a character known as Sunflower who was removed from the film's 1969 theatrical re-release. While most of the centaurs are clearly coded white, and the women have long flowing hair. Sunflower had dark skin and kinky hair, and her non-human half was more donkey than horse. She's clearly coded as Black in very unflattering ways. 50 years since her removal, Sunflower is still missing from Fantasia.

Three Little Pigs

And yet, Fantasia isn't even the earliest example of a Disney cartoon being edited. Disney's theatrical short Three Little Pigs from 1933 is one of the most important films in animation history. It won an Academy Award and is viewed by many as one of the first cartoons to successfully give personality and life to an animated form. Yet, the film wasn't without controversy. In once scene, the Big Bad Wolf disguises himself as a fuller brush man in an attempt to sneak past the door of the brick house. The image above is what the wolf looks like now, but in the 1930s, the Wolf looked distinctly Jewish, as the "Jewish peddler" stereotype was well understood at the time. It didn't even take all that long for this decision to be made. The edit was done in 1948, so even Walt Disney himself would have been aware of the change.

The editing of Disney movies is, nothing new. It's been happening almost as long as there has been a Disney studio making animated films. Sometimes, like in the case of Splash, the decision may seem strange, or sometimes like in the case of Fantasia, it's probably justified. How important it ultimately is will be a matter of opinion, but it will likely continue regardless.

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For over 30 years, Who Framed Roger Rabbit has been one of my favorite movies of all time. It introduced me to film noir as a child, it helped fuel my love of mysteries, and it’s a cartoon fan’s dream to see that many iconic characters on the screen at once.

To my surprise, for as many times as I’ve revisited director Robert Zemeckis’ landmark blockbuster, I never really looked at the mystery behind the action. But upon a recent viewing of the film, it hit me like a ton of bricks: the evil plot from Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s antagonist is actually pretty brilliant!

Sure enough, buried in the middle of some A+ theatrics and enough cameos to make the Star Wars saga feel inadequate, there’s a tightly-wound villainous plot that plays out both during the film and throughout its backstory! Today, we’re going to discuss a tale of greed, sex and murder that’s more ingenious than it’s ever been given credit for, and that’s saying a lot.

One last thing, before we get started: it’s obvious that tons of spoilers for Who Framed Roger Rabbit are going to be in play. So if you haven’t seen the film yet, you should give yourself a treat and see it for yourself. In fact, if you’re so inclined, you can take advantage of a 7-day free trial of Disney+ and watch the movie as part of its library.

The Evil Plot Behind Who Framed Roger Rabbit

The overarching villain in Who Framed Roger Rabbit is Christopher Lloyd’s legendary baddie Judge Doom, a man we know to be a criminal and cartoon in disguise as a human. And his big scheme starts years before the film begins, as Doom steals a whole bunch of Toontown’s currency, Simolians, in order to buy his election to the position of judge.

Coincidentally, this is also where private detective Eddie Valiant’s (Bob Hoskins) brother, Teddy, winds up dead, as Doom drops a piano on his head during his getaway. This will play a very important part later on in Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s plot.

Now Judge Doom, our villain, becomes a powerful person of authority and eventually parlays that into some business interests. Namely, sole ownership of the transportation Cloverleaf Industries, a company with the sole purpose of buying and dismantling California’s Red Car trolley transit system.

On top of that, Judge Doom’s Cloverleaf wants to buy cartoon studio Maroon Cartoons and the Acme Corporation’s novelty joke factory. The goal behind these land purchases isn’t just to extent the Red Car’s trolley route, but rather to jumpstart the development of the Interstate Highway System.

This would have included wiping Toontown off the map, thanks to Doom’s cruel weapon known infamously as “Dip,” a solution that dissolved cartoons in a most painful fashion. And all that stood in its way was one toon-loving gag king: Marvin Acme (Stubby Kaye).

To get around that obstacle, he’s going to have to do something pretty drastic; and it begins with the perfect coverup, which requires framing the ultimate patsy.

How Roger Rabbit Was Framed

The beginnings of Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s actual framing plot are really simple. Roger’s wife, Jessica Rabbit (Kathleen Turner), is blackmailed by the head of her husband’s employer, Maroon Cartoons, to be photographed as participating in an extramarital affair. But R.K. Maroon (Alan Tilvern) wasn’t really after Jessica; he was aiming to incriminate Marvin Acme so he could sell his studio.

With Acme seen as a home-wrecker, he surely would have been done for and had to sell his company – which was the only way Maroon Cartoons would have been purchased by Judge Doom’s Cloverleaf Industries. Unfortunately, this gave Doom the perfect cover for his own means of removing Marvin Acme from the Who Framed Roger Rabbit equation.

This scenario presented a potential motive for Roger’s supposed murder of Marvin Acme. Not to mention, Doom now had an extra Achilles’ Heel to take advantage of: Eddie Valiant’s racism against toons, thanks to his brother’s murder.

Judge Doom kills Marvin Acme in the exact same manner he killed Teddy Valiant: by dropping a safe on his head. With some paint that matches the same shade Roger’s gloves are made of, there’s a perfect circle of evidence and prejudice that should have led to Roger Rabbit’s conviction.

Under typical circumstances, Eddie would have more than likely helped steamroll Roger’s conviction and left him to rot. And knowing the justice system on a cursory level would have shown anyone that this plot could have actually worked.

Roger Rabbit More Than Likely Would Have Been Convicted If He Went On Trial

The rough benchmark for conviction in a murder trial falls down to three aspects: “means, motive, and opportunity.” As far as Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s big frame up is concerned, “the means” come from a classic method of toon violence: dropping a large object on your opponent.

In terms of what “the motive” would be, Jessica Rabbit’s supposed affair with Marvin Acme filling Roger with rage would have covered that base more than well. This, in turn, dovetails with “the opportunity,” as not only was Roger seen fleeing Maroon Cartoons in a state of anger, we the audience last see Roger at the Acme factory, so that only compounds this case.

If Roger Rabbit had gone on trial for this supposed murder, a jury could have convicted him. The evidence was supposedly strong, the benchmarks for reasonable doubt were established above, and with the right lawyers at work, this could have been the trial of the century.

Roger Rabbit would have been framed either as a thug who perpetrated a murder against a human pillar of the community, a jealous husband trying to avenge his wife’s honor, or even an advantageous toon trying to get his own hands on Toontown. You could take your pick of motive, but it all spells “reasonable doubt” with every other piece of the puzzle lined up.

But even if Roger was somehow acquitted, it would have been all for naught if his “love letter” never showed up in the commotion. Since he wrote that letter to his wife on what turned out to be Marvin Acme’s will, the worst case scenario would have seen Cloverleaf getting its hands on Toontown if Doom had survived, or in the best case scenario, Doom would have still been dead, and Toontown could have been up for grabs to the highest bidder.

The Will Of Friendship In Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Two large factors save Toontown and Roger Rabbit’s life in Who Framed Roger Rabbit: Eddie Valiant’s burgeoning friendship with Roger and his ace detective skills. As much as Eddie was a potential liability to Roger’s survival, if he wasn’t drawn into the case, he would have never befriended Roger in the first place!

Not to mention, without snooping on Marvin Acme and taking the dirty pictures that were meant to ruin him, Eddie would have never known that Marvin had the will on his person the night those photos were taken. Which, in turn, would have never led to him remembering that Roger wrote his wife a love letter on a supposedly blank piece of paper.

Thanks to their madcap adventure, Eddie prevents Roger from being captured throughout Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which also gives him ample time to figure out the full plot behind Judge Doom’s attempted takeover of Toontown. And after his introduction to the usage of disappearing/reappearing ink, by both Marvin and Roger, our grumpy gumshoe realizes that Acme’s Will has not only been discovered, it’s been in play throughout the entire movie as everyone thought it was just Roger’s goofy love letter.

Between Eddie Vailant’s skilled investigation and his slow, but sure reversion to being able to trust Toons, Who Framed Roger Rabbit debunks Judge Doom’s pretty ingenious machinations with an equally creative journey of friendship and comedy.

I thought I loved Who Framed Roger Rabbit as much as a person could throughout all of the years I’ve been watching it. And yet, after examining the mystery plot and seeing how it not only holds up, but also enhances the actual story being told between Eddie and Roger, I’ve only come to realize that I’ve only ever been half watching this movie.

With this new viewpoint fresh in my head, it only makes me more certain that it’s a film that will stand the test of time much as classics like Casablanca and The Godfather have in eras past. That’s something the folks at Disney should keep in mind when discussing Who Framed Roger Rabbit, despite their supposed souring on the film’s legacy.

Nevertheless, we’ve brought this particular case to a beautifully satisfying close, and all involved can go home happily ever after. Though I must apologize to Eddie Murphy, as this whole argument has probably opened up some old wounds. Maybe if that fabled sequel ever gets off the ground, Mr. Murphy can be approached to pick up the torch as Roger’s new human friend; but that’s an argument for another day.

When you look at Eddie Murphy’s career, it’s hard to see how it could have been much better. He is one of the most heralded stand-up comics of all time and as an actor he has been in classics like Beverly Hills Cop, 48 Hours and Trading Places, animated hits like Mulan and the Shrek franchise and he even got an Oscar nomination for Dreamgirls. But there is one hit movie that Eddie Murphy still feels like ‘an idiot’ for turning down: Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Yes, Eddie Murphy could have been in Disney’s 1988 live-action/animation hybrid Who Framed Roger Rabbit. While appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Eddie Murphy talked about his career and some of the folklore surrounding it. The actor confirmed that he turned down a chance to be one of the original Ghostbusters, but doesn’t regret the decision because his schedule wouldn’t have allowed for him to do that film and Beverly Hills Cop.

Eddie Murphy then revealed that the only role he ever turned down that wound up becoming a big hit was Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The actor and comedian was apparently offered the lead role of Eddie Valiant in the film, which eventually went to the late Bob Hoskins. Eddie Murphy knows he messed up too by turning down Who Framed Roger Rabbit, saying:

Hey, you can’t win them all. Who Framed Roger Rabbit of course wound up becoming a true classic and a hit at the box office. Director Robert Zemeckis’ film cost $70 million and made $156.4 million domestic and $329.8 million worldwide according to Box Office Mojo, and that’s in 1988 money. Bob Hoskins’ Eddie Valiant is also now a classic character in a classic film.

So why did Eddie Murphy turn down Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Well, unlike Ghostbusters, it wasn’t a scheduling conflict. No, he turned it down because the pitch didn’t sound appealing to him as the actor tells Jimmy Fallon, saying:

Fantastic. You can’t really blame Eddie Murphy for turning down Who Framed Roger Rabbit if it sounded like bullshit to him. Taking roles that sound like bullshit is probably not the best career strategy. Of course, Roger Rabbit was not bullshit, but hindsight is 20/20 and you live and you learn.

Honestly Eddie Murphy’s reaction to Who Framed Roger Rabbit reminds me a lot of another great ‘What if’ bit of casting: Will Smith’s Neo in The Matrix. Will Smith too didn’t really get the pitch for what wound up being a visionary film because it sounded ridiculous.

But hey, Eddie Murphy has still done pretty well even though he didn’t play Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. And while this is a fun casting ‘What if’, as great as Eddie Murphy is, it’s hard to imagine Roger Rabbit without Bob Hoskins.

He wasn’t in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but you can see Eddie Murphy in the critically acclaimed Dolemite Is My Name, now on Netflix. And you can watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit anytime you want on Disney+. Check out our 2020 Release Schedule to see what movies are headed to theaters next year.

Picture the following scenario: you're minding your own business, say at a party or on a long train ride home, and all of a sudden, BAM! There's been a murder. Some poor sap's ticket to the great skyline has been punched, and you know for sure you didn't do it, much like the folks in this weekend's Murder on the Orient Express. But who did? Well, if you're a detective, you'll be able to figure it out in no time. But if you aren't, you're going to need someone smart to connect the dots and handle the riff raff. If you're in need of a gumshoe during such troubled times, consider the following list your Yellow Pages for the top film detectives who can take your case.

Jake Gittes - Chinatown

In all honesty, you're going to be hard pressed to find a case as messed up and twisted as that of Chinatown. With land purchases, bureaucratic conspiracy and a heaping helping of abuse, private detective Jake Gittes goes from being hired to tail someone's husband to trying to save the lives of two women who really need it. And in the middle of it all, he solves a murder case, which only feeds into the larger conspiracy at hand. So if you're thinking of hiring Jake, you're going to get more than you bargained for, including expenses and medical.

Eddie Valiant - Who Framed Roger Rabbit

The fact that the alcoholic Eddie Valiant can speak or walk straight, much less solve the mystery of Marvin Acme's unfortunate "cacking" at the heart of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, is a mystery even we can't solve. But this legendary detective with a history of working Toontown was able to put aside his prejudice, sober up enough to see the truth and uncover a web very similar to that of Jake Gittes' mystery. So hiring him to do the job is gonna require a bit of money and a rocks glass of the good stuff, but he's worth every drop.

Inspector Clouseau - The Pink Panther

Sometimes, clumsiness pays. Just ask Inspector Jacques Clouseau, one of France's finest bumblers/minor league detective. Through several adventures in The Pink Panther mythos, Clouseau has tripped, slipped and ripped his way to the truth, with barely a thought in the right direction. But somehow he manages to get the girl, recover the loot and find the culprit pretty handily - even if he doesn't know it. He might be an idiot, but he's an idiot with divine guidance and protection. Neither would hurt when inspecting a cold corpse's unfortunate circumstances.

Sam Spade - The Maltese Falcon

Sam Spade is, by conventional standards, not a good guy. He's not only a hot head that sometimes jumps into trouble feet first, he's also the type that'd lust after his trusted partner's wife. While he may not be the best person in the world, he's The Maltese Falcon's damned fine detective with some semblance of scruples left. Despite a rare statue being the inspiration for many bribes and woes in Mr. Spade's life, getting justice for his murdered partner is his main goal. You can see it at the end of the film when, despite falling for his partner's beautiful murderer, he turns her in. It's the right thing to do, and it's what you can count on Sam to do in spades.

Hercule Poirot - Murder on the Orient Express

You might think it a cheat to include Hercule Poirot from Murder on the Orient Express in a list of detectives inspired by said film, but hear us out. The character has had a long legacy of being a methodical crime solver, as he views the world in its supposedly perfect order and always notices the details that stick out of sorts. And judging by the mystery he solves in what's arguably his most popular adventure, his skills are more than adept to solving even the toughest murder mystery. If you have something to hide, and you've hired Poirot, you'd better watch your 'stache.

Brendan Frye - Brick

Never count out a man with his heart on his sleeve, for it'll lead him to all sorts of trouble. Brick's Brandon Frye practically traipses through his hometown with blood pumping from his coat, as he searches for the people behind the tumultuous drug scene that took his ex-girlfriend's life. Just by looking at him, you'd think he's a scrawny runt that can't defend himself. But between his brainy associate and his own prime investigative skills, he's able to map out an entire criminal underground in a short window of time. If you hire him though, make sure he's forewarned of any femme fatales that might be lurking, as that's his one, true weakness.

Detective William Somerset - Se7en

Some folks choose to take it easy and slow things down before they retire, especially in high stress professions such as that of a homicide detective. The same cannot be said about Detective William Somerset, one of the two leads in David Fincher's Se7en. While he may be aged, he's not dead to the skills needed to close a case. Partnered with a younger, brasher detective, his brain power helps decode the mystery of the murders perpetrated by the man only known as "John Doe", a serial killer pursuing a line of killing inspired by the seven deadly sins. If you want to get into the head of your killer right to the root of their psyche, Detective Somerset is one of the finest candidates for the job.

Margie Gunderson - Fargo

Police work isn't always about waving a gun around or beating up a suspect. Sometimes it's having a polite chat with someone you know to be guilty, and allowing them to wrap themselves up for your apprehension. Margie Gunderson, the chief of police to Fargo's Brainerd, Minnesota, is one of those folks who can lure you in with that false sense of security and gentility, only to reveal she's been onto you the whole time. She's as nice as she is intelligent, and if you choose her for your murder investigation, you might just find yourself hanging out with her after the villains have been captured.

Sherlock Holmes - Sherlock Holmes

How do you put together a list of exemplary detectives and not doff your cap to the great Sherlock Holmes? No matter which incarnation you're fond of, Holmes' reputation precedes him, but for the sake of our current discussion, we'll go with Robert Downey Jr's performance in Guy Richie's Sherlock Holmes duology. Which means that in addition to Holmes' usually dry wit and pinpoint deduction skills, we have a detective who can engage in fisticuffs like the best ruffian. If you hire Holmes, it's not a matter of if your murderer will be caught, but when.

Cory Lambert/Jane Banner - Wind River

While Wind River's team is the only pair on this list, that doesn't make them any less effective than even the other great detectives. On the investigative end, you have Elizabeth Olson's Jane Banner: an FBI agent that's still a little green, but packs whip smart intellect and procedural knowledge. But the case in Wind River needs someone familiar with the land, which is where Jeremy Renner's Cory Lambert comes into play, as he's a local with extremely good tracking skills. Even in the middle of the frozen plains, Lambert and Banner can nail a perp in a heartbeat.

Detective Edmond "Ed" Exley - L.A. Confidential

The son of a fine officer slain in the line of duty, Detective Edmond Exley from L.A. Confidential is an ambitious Boy Scout by time the film starts his rise to his rank at the end of the film. Cutting his teeth on the infamous Night Owl murder case, Exley learns a lot about the department's way of handling things, both physically and politically. By the end of the film's events, Ed not only knows how to corner the dirty element in the department into giving him what he wants, he leaves the streets of L.A. a little cleaner. Tenacious, with a cutting interrogation style, Detective Exley cracks the clues that help land confessions.

Released back in 1988, Who Framed Roger Rabbit is one of the most influential films of the last 30 years, as it ushered in a new interest and a renaissance in the animated genre, which still flourishes to this day. Since sequels have been just as popular as animated films in Hollywood for many years, you might have thought that Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2 would currently be high on the list of priorities over at Disney. But director Robert Zemeckis has quashed these hopes, instead admitting that there's little to no chance of Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2, even though he insists he has the perfect script for it.

Robert Zemeckis made this revelation to the Telegraph (via Comicbook.com) while out promoting his latest directorial effort Allied, the World War II spy thriller starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard. After teasing what Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2 would entail, Robert Zemeckis then candidly confessed that Disney owned the rights to the project, and they have no interest in it. Robert Zemeckis explained:

It's easy to see why Disney might have an issue with Jessica Rabbit, who straddled the line between anthropomorphic bunny and sex icon a little too closely for the famously family friendly studio's comfort. In fact, over the years, the latter trait of Jessica Rabbit has easily come to eclipse the former, which is understandable when you take just one glance at the picture below.

But what would Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2 have included? Well, according to Robert Zemeckis, the "magnificent" script for the follow-up moves on from the world of film noir in 1947 to the "next few years of period films," specifically the 1950s. "More a continuation than a sequel," Robert Zemeckis also insisted that Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2 would include a digital version of Bob Hoskins, rather than recasting the legendary actor, who died in 2014, while all of the other toons would return, too.

There have been various incarnations of a follow-up to Who Framed Roger Rabbit ever since the original was released to a stream of critical plaudits back in 1988, as well as grossing $329.8 million at the box office. J.J Abrams worked on a version, while a prequel written by Nat Maudlin would have seen Roger Rabbit traveling to Nazi Germany to both fight in the war and to try and save his kidnapped future wife Jessica, which he eventually does with the help of his fellow Toon platoon.

But executive producer Steven Spielberg left the project to focus on his own animated company Dreamworks, while Sherri Stoner and Deanne Oliver's rewrite focused on the sub-plot from the original draft of Roger Rabbit searching for his mother, but this time the film would have revolved around Roger Rabbit's inadvertent rise on Broadway and in Hollywood. The script was entitled Who Discovered Roger Rabbit.

However, a spiraling all-CGI budget and the insistence that audiences' tastes had changed soon led to the film being cancelled by Disney CEO Michael Eisner around 2000. Over the last 16 years, there have been numerous utterances from cast and crew about their hopes for a prequel or sequel for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but Robert Zemeckis' comments suggest it's just never going to happen.

Next month, Netflix will have some really fantastic movies available for streaming - including the Best Picture-winning Spotlight and the original Jurassic Park trilogy – but whenever new titles become available, that means it’s also time for certain contracts to expire. As a result, there are some great films that will be leaving Netflix in June, but the good news is that there is still time to watch a bunch of them.

With the end of May fast approaching, we’ve plucked out 10 awesome movies that will be departing the Netflix streaming service next month, and recommend checking them out in the next few days. Read on to see what titles are standing on the knife’s edge!

Clear and Present Danger

Harrison Ford has played a number of iconic roles in his career – and while Indiana Jones and Han Solo are the first two parts that jump to mind, one also shouldn’t be quick to forget his time as Tom Clancy’s legendary hero, Jack Ryan. Between Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, the latter is definitely the better of the two and simply a well-made spy thriller from director Phillip Noyce, following Ryan as he roots out information from within the CIA about a covert war being fought against drug lords in Colombia.

Darkman

Years before he brought us the first live-action version of Spider-Man, Sam Raimi got to bring a much different kind of superhero to the big screen, and one that played much more into his horror sensibilities: Darkman. Starring Liam Neeson as the titular hero, who has his face burned off in a lab accident but can create incredibly realistic masks to disguise himself, the movie is a fun, occasionally ridiculous vigilante story that is made brilliant and memorable by Raimi’s auteur style. If you can only choose one of the movies on this list to watch before June 1st, this is the one I’d most recommend.

Groundhog Day

A lot of people find time to watch Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day annually on February 2nd, but given that the movie is about to leave Netflix, we recommend giving it a summer watch for a change. The 1993 fantasy comedy has become a modern classic both because it features one of the best performances of Bill Murray’s career, but also because the film is utterly fascinating to watch from a philosophical angle as well (borrowing perspectives and ides from great thinkers like Jean Paul Sartre and Friedrich Nietzsche).

The Others

We always hope that Netflix’s roster of horror films will be in tip top shape by the time that October rolls around, but next month the streaming service will be losing a genuinely creepy title. It’s true that ghost stories are kind of a dime a dozen in Hollywood today, but Alejandro Amenábar’s The Others is a tense, psychologically creepy movie that is anchored by a great turn from Nicole Kidman. Also, if you haven’t seen the movie yet and nobody has spoiled the ending, we recommend watching it ASAP just for the fun shock value that could one day disappear during a random conversation with a friend.

The Station Agent

Game of Thrones fans have the pleasure of seeing Peter Dinklage perform on a week to week basis, but those who love watching him as Tyrion Lannister would be doing themselves a favor by checking out some of his film work. In particular, Tom McCarthy’s The Station Agent is absolutely wonderful. An excellent blend of drama and comedy, the film stars Dinklage as a man devastated by the death of his only friend, and becoming close with two oddballs after moving to New Jersey to live a life of solitude. It’s a small movie made by a lot of very talented people, and it shines.

About a Boy

This weekend, movie-goers will be able to see Nicholas Hoult play Hank McCoy a.k.a. Beast for the third time in Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse, but before the calendar flips over to June, you should do yourself the favor of watching the performance that put Hoult on the map as a young actor. Chris and Paul Weitz’s About A Boy is a really wonderful adaptation of the book of the same name by Nick Hornby, and while it doesn’t exactly feature the blockbuster action of a superhero movie, it most definitely qualifies in any "feel good" category and is effortlessly heartwarming.

Wayne's World

The list of great movies based on Saturday Night Live sketches is impressively short, but Penelope Spheeris’ Wayne’s World is certainly the best of the lot, and if you haven’t seen it by now or have an itch to see it again, you should do so before June 1st. Mike Myers and Dana Carvey truly make an unbelievably funny pair, and the movie happens to have one of the best soundtracks of the 1990s. It’s also worth mentioning that the "Bohemian Rhapsody" lip-sync scene will go down in history as one of my favorite comedy sequences.

Mulan

Truth be told, there are a few classic Disney animated movies about to leave Netflix – including both Hercules and The Hunchback of Notre Dame - but of the group, Mulan is the one we think is most worth either a revisit or a first watch. The movie tells a classic story of a young woman who disguises herself as a man so that she can fight as a soldier, and it’s wonderfully executed with beautiful animation and also a great supporting performance from Eddie Murphy. The good news is that you actually have until June 24th to watch this one, but don’t waste time!

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Robert Zemeckis is a filmmaker known for using his movies to explore new innovations and styles, and while that approach has led to many great films, one could argue that Who Framed Roger Rabbit remains his greatest work. The feature (which won’t be disappearing from Netflix until June 24th) somehow manages to be for audiences of all ages while simultaneously never losing the edge from its noir atmosphere, and it has some truly legendary performances from Bob Hoskins and Christopher Lloyd. Plus, it’s may wind up being the only work in history that legally features a conversation between Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny.

Sophie's Choice

Since 1979, Meryl Streep has been nominated for 19 Academy Awards, and has won three times: for Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie's Choice and The Iron Lady. Of these select few, only Sophie's Choice is currently available on Netflix, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you should probably check it out before it disappears on June 30th. The film is certainly a rough emotional ride, as the titular "choice" is one of the most tragic in cinema history, but it’s a movie worth experiencing if not just to understand just how incredible Meryl Streep is.

J.J. Abrams’ tastes are nothing if not diverse. Between reviving Star Trek, Star Wars, and providing us with some of the most engaging thrillers this side of a Spielberg movie, he has kept himself insanely busy over the last few years. As it turns out, Abram has been coming up with great stories a lot longer than we realized. The modern film icon recently came out and admitted that years ago he met with Steven Spielberg about potentially crafting a sequel for the beloved Robert Zemeckis film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

During a recent interview on the Nerdist podcast (hat tip /Film), J.J. Abrams explained that he actually met with Steven Spielberg about taking part in a potential Who Framed Roger Rabbit? sequel as a teenager:

I think it’s officially safe to say that J.J. Abrams had better teenage years than I did. When he was 16 he got the attention of people like Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg because of his work in a small film festival. They brought him in to work on some old 8mm films and eventually he sat down with the iconic director about a potential sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Although the project never got passed the early discussions about story details, J.J. Abrams still looks back fondly on those days and has a few storyboards lying around. What we wouldn’t give to see some of those early sketches.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is an absolute classic film from the 1980s. Directed by cinematic legend Robert Zemeckis, it’s the type of movie that very clearly inspired the sort of nostalgia drenched filmmaking techniques that J.J. Abrams has become known for in recent years. We can only imagine how awesome a sequel with his characteristic style would have looked.

We now live in a world where nostalgia rules all. With that in mind, we think the door remains wide open for J.J. Abrams to one-day return to this project and actually produce the Who Framed Roger Rabbit? sequel that we have always wanted to see. For now, be sure to check out his latest project, 10 Cloverfield Lane, which is currently in theaters.

It’s a fairly well known story at this point. In 1984, Steven Spielberg directed Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom while simultaneously producing Gremlins. Both movies received PG ratings. In both cases, parents came out quite unhappy, feeling that neither movie was really suitable for their children. The result was a brand new rating, set in between Parental Guidance and Restricted, PG-13. A rating designed to indicate that a movie might be acceptable for some minors, but not all.

It’s easy enough to look back at the history of movies prior to 1984 and find movies that probably would have been rated PG-13 if the rating had existed back then. What’s more interesting, however, is to look at the first few years of the rating and realize one thing: the MPAA had no idea what to do with it. Here are eight movies that could have (and should have) been rated PG-13 but for some reason got away with a simple PG.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

When Who Framed Roger Rabbit was marketed, it was focused on kids. Hey everybody, here’s a movie that has all your favorite Disney characters, and all your favorite Looney Toons in the same movie. But what Roger Rabbit actually has is a lot of humor designed for adults. Jessica Rabbit is introduced as an object to be lusted over. The innuendo is barely veiled. Several toons smoke, drink, and swear (mildly). One toon is straight up murdered by Judge Doom in a vat of dip.

Most Non-PG Moment: It’s a tough call between the weasel shoving his hand between Jessica Rabbit’s breasts to discover the "booby trap" and Baby Herman’s statement that he has a "50 year old lust and a three year old dinky."

The Princess Bride

It’s easy enough to think of The Princess Bride as a movie for children. It's essentially a fairy tale, and the entire narrative is framed as a story being told to a child probably too young for a PG-13 movie. Still, there’s a lot of adult stuff going on here. The movie itself breaks away from an intense sequence with killer eels that would have likely frightened small children to reassure the boy on the screen (Fred Savage). Wesley gets killed and Inigo takes a knife to the gut, apparently killing him, too. Neither death ends up happening, but that's hardly the point. This movie is dark.

Most Non-PG Moment: Inigo starts bleeding all over the place after a pair of stab wounds, which he then returns to the six-fingered man, before running him through, killing him. Then Inigo calls him a son of a bitch for good measure.

Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice was a movie that got turned into a Saturday morning cartoon show, so surely there wasn’t anything here to be concerned about. Right? Well, while Beetlejuice had more than the normal cinematic allotment of Harry Belafonte dance numbers, there’s some fairly scary shit in this movie. Don’t tell me you weren’t the least bit bothered as a kid when the bannister railing turned into a giant snake with a Beetlejuice head.

Most Non-PG Moment: The aforementioned staircase scene is disturbing, but following that, we’re guessing there were a lot of questions for mom and dad when the ghost with the most excuses himself to Dante’s Inferno Room, which we’re still not convinced was just a strip club. Although it was certainly that.

Ghostbusters

Coming out the same year as the two movies that helped create PG-13 as a rating, (and one of only two movies that beat them both at the box office), the original Ghostbusters has a lot of intense and frightening scenes. From the ghost librarian that scares the hell out of the team, to the demons that chase down Rick Moranis and abduct Sigourney Weaver, there’s plenty here that may not be suitable for kids.

Most Non-PG Moment: During a dream sequence, Dan Aykroyd has visions of a female ghost who goes down on him. Kids, don’t ask mom what that scene was about. It will get very awkward, very quickly.

Willow

Willow is a movie about an evil witch hunting down a baby so she can kill it. While it doesn’t have a great deal of sexual innuendo or language, the movie does include Joanne Whatley threatening to cut Val Kilmer’s balls off. If she had, it likely wouldn’t have been bloody, but still.

Most Non-PG Moment: Pretty much the entire climax of Willow is dark and scary. Elora Danon is on the verge of being murdered in the scary witch’s chambers, and parts of the chamber come to life and chase Willow around the room. Eventually Bavmorda is killed when she's struck by lightning, which doesn’t help lighten things up.

Dead Poets Society

Never mind that Dead Poets Society is not really the kind of movie you would take your kids to in the first place. You probably shouldn’t. There’s a handful of items that might concern you as a parent depending on how strict you are. Underage kids smoke, drink, swear, and look at Playboy magazine, but it’s the end when this movie takes a sharp turn into child nightmare territory.

Most Non-PG Moment: Faced with never being able to pursue his passion of acting again, Neil decides to take the only way out of his father’s authoritarian rule that he knows how. He blows his brains out. You don’t actually see him do it. You don’t have to. The look on his mother’s face is enough.

Hamlet

As with Dead Poets Society, you probably aren’t going to be in a rush to show your small child Shakespeare. This is probably a good call. When Kenneth Branagh made his version in 1996 it was rated PG-13, and Mel Gibson’s version from six years earlier should have been too. Everybody dies in Hamlet and not in a pleasant way. Murder, suicide, stabbing, poisoning, it’s all there.

Most Non-PG Moment: You don’t have to understand the language to understand that at one point Hamlet climbs on top of his own mother while he chastises her and punctuates his admonishments with pelvic thrusts. Then they sort of make out for a minute. It is several different kinds of wrong.

Howard the Duck

Not only should small children not see Howard the Duck, in point of fact, nobody should ever watch Howard the Duck. However, we’re sure several unsuspecting parents thought that movie at the video store in 1986 with the anthropomorphic duck was harmless. Even if we discount the topless ducks at the beginning of the movie, alien Jeffrey Jones is truly disturbing, especially with extra long tongue that appears to be going after Lea Thompson at one point.

Most Non-PG Moment: Lea Thompson nearly has sex with an anthropomorphic duck. That’s a thing that happens in this movie.

Hands, as much as faces and words, can tell a story all their own. Be they the primary indicator of the action ahead, or an accomplice to whatever other talents a performer is using at the moment, they certainly do get around in the medium of film. So let's give a hand to that very appendage by watching a tribute to hands entitled, "A Show of Hands."

Editor Thor Cromer shared his hand-y supercut through his YouTube channel, showcasing the best action you can see with five (give or take) digits and extremely good motor skills. Grabbing, smashing, slapping, fiddling, and just plain nonsensical flailing are all on display, as the folks showcased here are extremely expressive with their articulate gesticulations. The examples may range from both the classic and the modern, but they are universal in the sentiment that sometimes words can't capture what the hands can.

To start, you have some of the crazier moments in this montage, such as manic gestures from Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys and Steve Martin in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles - both of whom have hands that seem so light, they must be made of paper. Of course, the craziness can only last for so long, as lunacy starts to turn to menace in the second act, where one of Mia Farrow's infamous moments of horror from Rosemary's Baby and Christopher Lloyd's gloved hands show what the justice of The Dip could do in Who Framed Roger Rabbit can co-mingle with Bruce Campbell giving himself the finger in a moment from Evil Dead 2: Dead Before Dawn.

Of course, the weird stuff doesn't kick in until the third and fourth movements of "A Show Of Hands," in which more functional movements in performances like Daniel Day Lewis' Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood give way to more surreal moments like a pair of pavement laden hands trying to apprehend Brazil's Sam Lowery. The point is, when you watch a video like "A Show of Hands," you really start to wonder how we take little things like hand gestures for granted in the cinematic realm.

While we tend to focus on dialogue and even the general scene being set by what's going on in the foreground of any given scene, sometimes the smaller details will elude us in the shuffle. Very rarely do you look at a person's hands and remember what they were doing with them at any given time, which is an advantage to the film-makers when they want to try and put one over on the audience. Though sometimes this trick works in the inverse, as attention will be paid to said hands and their actions, leaving viewers to wonder just what outside factor are necessitating these actions. In either case, the next time you sit down to watch a movie, and a scene with particularly intense dialogue starts to unfold, try paying close attention to the hands of the people in said scene. They just might be trying to give you a clue.

While The Walk hasn’t made quite the box-office splash that was intended, having failed to match the efforts of The Martian, there’s still no denying just how impressive Robert Zemeckis’ return to the big-screen is. It really is how an IMAX and 3D film should be made, and is further proof of Robert Zemeckis’ prowess as a filmmaker, something that he’s been showcasing for close to 40 years now.

But where does Joseph Gordon-Levitt tight roping between The Twin Towers while deploying a French accent sit alongside the legendary filmmaker’s other efforts? Does it match up to Forrest Gump, Cast Away, or Back To The Future? Well, take a look below to see.

10. Back To The Future 2

Not a match to the original, but nevertheless a worthy expansion of the universe that still captures the fun and wonderment of Back To The Future. In the end, it gets bogged down by its overly complex plot. However, within the walls of this craziness are iconic scenes that include Doc and Marty landing in 2015 and being confronted with a bevy of changes to Hill Valley and the revelation at the end that Doc Brown has been transported to the Wild West. Plus, it introduced the hoverboard into mainstream consciousness – an invention we’re still waiting to see hit the shops.

9. Flight

With all his technical wizardry it’s easy to forget that Robert Zemeckis is a great actor’s director. He is able to get the very best out of his stars, and, because of his glossy and fluid direction, they often look amazing up on screen in his films. This is evident in Flight, where Denzel Washington eats up the screen with a towering performance for which he received a well-deserved Academy Award nomination. Flight is also a tender but rugged character study, while it also possesses a truly pulsating air crash sequence. Something of a Zemeckis speciality.

8. Used Cars

Until Flight in 2012, Used Cars was Robert Zemeckis’ only R-rated film, and it is a twisted satire of American culture. Full of laughs, the fact that it was released in the same summer as Airplane! meant that it was immediately overshadowed. It’s also buoyed by a great leading performance by Kurt Russell as the devious car salesman working for an unsuccessful but affable dealer, who goes to great lengths to make their dealership more profitable. Executive produced by Steven Spielberg and John Milius, this marked Robert Zemeckis’ third screenwriting collaboration with Bob Gale, who he’d later achieve much greater success with.

7. Contact

Robert Zemeckis’ foray into space and the search for extra-terrestrials possesses some truly magical moments of cinema, which are on par with some of the best galactic scenes the genre has ever produced. Sure, Zemeckis gets bogged down by the visual effects, and its plot lacks the cohesion to build to a truly satisfying conclusion. But with Jodie Foster leading the way and Zemeckis at the peak of his powers as a visual filmmaker, you’re constantly intrigued by Contact. At the time, it was a perfect antidote to alien disaster films, and it still holds up to this day.

6. The Walk

OK, The Walk might have made a slow start to its box-office campaign (it's about to open wider, so we'll see how it performs), but there’s no denying just how gut-wrenching and compelling it is to watch on the big screen. The Walk is Robert Zemeckis at his best, and thriving with a medium that many people are still indifferent about -- 3D. This is how to make a 3D film. Zemeckis also manages to eke out a funny and heartfelt drama, as well as a heist film, all while you eagerly and impatiently wait for Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Philippe Petit to actually walk on the wire. It’s impossible not to fall just a little bit in love with this film, while it is also a perfect reminder of the majesty of silver-screen cinema.

5. Cast Away

Throughout most of Robert Zemeckis’ oeuvre, you can see that he often builds a film around a single idea, which he believes is interesting and cinematic. With Cast Away, he looks to meticulously and intimately find out how you could survive on a deserted island for five years. And while there are flaws, with Cast Away, Zemeckis actually delivers his most heartfelt film as well as his most composed direction. Plus, it also features the most terrifying plane crash in celluloid history. It all truly flourishes, though, because of Tom Hanks. He keeps you captivated and enthralled, while you just pine with every fiber of your being for him to find a way home. Despite the fact that he left Wilson to die.

4. Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Arguably the first animated film to genuinely pander to an adult audience, Who Framed Roger Rabbit is terrifying, hilarious, but most importantly it’s innovative, and it helped to inspire and rejuvenate a new interest in the animation genre. There’s also a smoothness to the film that belies the hardship that went into having the animated characters and actors share the screen, while its plot is both riveting and a nostalgic nod back to the Golden Age of cinema -- something that ebbs throughout. It’s a wink to the past, and a wave to the future. Plus, the introduction of Jessica Rabbit meant that you never looked at Minnie Mouse the same way again.

3. Romancing The Stone

Robert Zemeckis’ first box-office success, with I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Used Cars having flopped at the box office. If Romancing The Stone had failed, there is a good chance that Zemeckis might never have been heard from again. The action-adventure is also a rollickingly enjoyable romp, which was a critical as well as financial triumph. Zemeckis’ script is consistently funny, and his direction is flawless. Benefitting from the scintillating camaraderie from Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, both of whom are given the dual lead roles, Romancing The Stone is lean, funny, and thoroughly entertaining.

2. Forrest Gump

For some, Forrest Gump is Hollywood schmaltz at its worst. I have to admit that I used to be in that camp. But, then, one rainy afternoon, I found that it was on, and I resisted the urge to switch channels. Within an instant, I was caught up in its sickly sweet plot, which just flowed from one scene to the next, helped by its wonderfully woven soundtrack, all while incorporating both seamless visual effects and a genuinely unique but always captivating leading character, perfectly played by Tom Hanks. It’s the kind of film that you just can’t help but be charmed by. Unless you hate it. And even then, I can kind of understand why.

1. Back To The Future

It’s hard to sum up just how important Back To The Future was, and still is, to so many people. It was rebellious but hopeful, intelligent and funny, and just the most fun that you’ve ever had in a theater. It’s also relentless and breathless, zipping from one scene to the next, and definitely one of the finest scripts ever written. It’s also populated with characters that you either adored or despised. You wanted to be Marty McFly. You wanted your dad to be Doc Brown. You suddenly realized that your mom and dad used to be real people. And everyone wanted to make Biff eat manure. Back To The Future is pure cinema magic, which is summed up by the fact that even to this day, the riff for The Power Of Love and riding a skateboard are still cool.

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