Raiders of the Lost Ark* (1981)

There’s really nothing I can say about this film that hasn’t already been said before. Raiders of the Lost Ark launched the Indiana Jones series and solidified both Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg as Hollywood titans. It is a near-perfect blend of action, romance, humor and drama.

Raiders of the Lost Ark sets itself apart from many other adventure films because the main character, Indiana Jones, is a scholarly archeologist. He’s not just a smug, dashing hero- he’s also a brilliant researcher who knows his stuff. The inclusion of real artifacts into the tale is a big plus. Looking for the much fabled Ark of the Covenant provides for both archeological and religious information that is both interesting and enlightening. This rare blend of education and entertainment is the driving force behind the success of the film and its sequels.

Harrison Ford was in the middle of the Star Wars saga when he did this film and it proved his worth and acting chops, as he plays the debonair yet gritty Dr. Jones to perfection. He makes the character his own and does so in a believable fashion. The supporting cast also does a tremendous job in their respective roles, creating one thrill ride of a film that is great from start to finish.

While a few of the special effects show their age nowadays, Raiders of the Lost Ark pushed the envelope back in 1981. The stunt work is very carefully choreographed and the script wastes no time advancing the action and the storyline simultaneously. This is such an enormous benefit that many Indy clones and knock-offs fail to pull off. Instead of shifting focus from the action and the information, Raiders of the Lost Ark keeps its sights on both sides of the equation the whole way through.

It is because of this that the film is so darn engaging and fun. Jones is too charismatic not to like and the quest for the Ark is too interesting and important not to care about. Viewers become heavily invested in the characters, the action and the purpose by the end of the film, which all makes for a triumphant picture. The addition of John Williams’ legendary score helped solidify Raiders of the Lost Ark as one of the most important and memorable films of all time.

As goofy and unlikely as some of the action and decisions may be, you can’t deny this tour de force. It is one of the rare great films that can be watched and enjoyed endlessly, no matter how many times you have seen it before. Raiders is one of my all-time favorite movies, but my rating is certainly not tainted by subjectivity. This film is hailed by many critics, actors, directors and (most importantly) movie goers as one rapid-fire thrill ride that’s sure to please (it was even nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars!).

I made sure to make this one of my milestone movies and it is a more than worthy addition to this site.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5

Joe's Apartment (1996)

Like Weekend at Bernie’s, Joe’s Apartment has a special guilty pleasure quality to it. This was MTV’s first film and, since I was in my teens at the time it was produced, it was a big deal for my generation. MTV has gone on to create countless movies and most have sucked, but there was and still is something special about the initial novelty of Joe’s Apartment.

Perhaps it was because MTV was still hip and worth watching at the time, or maybe it was because MTV was in tune with the current generation’s sense of style and humor, but somehow I connected with this film. It stars Jerry O’Connell, who was popular from the show Sliders at the time, as Joe, a recent college grad looking to make it in the Big Apple. Unfortunately, Joe doesn’t exactly land on his feet. He’s strapped for cash and only manages to secure a disgusting apartment in one of the most dilapidated buildings in New York by pretending to be a dead tenant’s son.

A powerful senator wants to turn the block the apartment sits on into a super-maximum security prison and is using thugs and lowlifes to drive tenants out of the complex. Joe just happens to be the last person in the building and the thugs don’t feel like being friendly about giving him the boot. Fortunately for Joe, his slobbish tendencies and messy lifestyle has won him the affection of the thousands of cockroaches living in the building. Not only do they defend him from the thugs, but they can sing and dance as well.

The biggest source of humor for the film is the antics carried out by the roaches, all of which were animated into the film in all their scenes. They are able to talk and do any number of anthropomorphic actions, but they just keep this a secret from humans, who have long sought to destroy the creatures because of their reputations as pests. Joe and the roaches reach a cautious mutual understanding that is tested several times during the course of the film.

Joe spots a girl in an alley and is instantly smitten. He eventually meets her and they start down the path to becoming an item. Things go awry when the roaches ruin Joe’s attempt at a romantic evening with the girl. She freaks out and runs away. It just so happens that this girl is trying to turn the area around Joe’s apartment into a public park and her dad happens to be the senator with plans for a prison. Everybody ends up at odds, leaving the roaches to try and sort everything out.

The fact that all the roaches were animated is impressive. CGI was still coming along at the time and traditional animation must have taken forever. Also, kudos must be given to Jerry O’Connell for being daring enough to take on a role that forced him to shout at an empty room and at things that weren’t there. It takes a lot to be able to make the situation believable and O’Connell pulls it off nicely. There is never a disconnect where he seems unfocused or lazy in his approach.

Joe’s Apartment is far from Oscar quality, but the original songs by the roaches are cute and oddly endearing. MTV managed to make cockroaches loveable (at least for one film) and showed that they were capable of making movies too. It expanded their entertainment potential and paved the way for future cable TV productions. It’s weird and gross at times (the roaches’ humor is mostly crude) but for those of us who grew up during the 90s, Joe’s Apartment is a part of the nostalgia for that era.

I for one enjoy the film as something of a guilty pleasure, but there’s really nothing guilty about enjoying this film. You just need to have the heart of a teenager for 80 minutes and you’ll have yourself a good time.

RATING: 2.75 out of 5

Weekend at Bernie's (1989)

I’ll admit right off the bat that this film has very little appeal or merit outside of being something of a quirky cult classic. I happen to enjoy Weekend at Bernie’s though. It takes a plot that has certainly been used before but shakes things up a bit by making the action completely ridiculous and absurd. What it lacks in uniqueness, Weekend at Bernie’s makes up for in physical comedy and sight gags, a nice throw-back to more innocent comedies of yesteryear.

Larry and Richard are lowly accountants for a major New York firm who discover a major accounting error that will save the company a ton of money. Apparently someone set up an insurance policy that would defraud the firm for millions of dollars. They notify the head honcho of the firm who seems happy about the news and invites them to his posh beach house for Memorial Day weekend. The two are stunned and eagerly agree.

Turns out, their boss, Bernie, is the one trying to defraud his company for millions of dollars so he and some of his associates can make some easy money. He tells an associate to come by his beach house Memorial Day weekend and dispatch of the two accountants so that no one ever finds out about the scam. Instead, his associate hires an assassin to kill Bernie as well, due to his getting sloppy in acquiring the money.

Memorial Day weekend arrives and Bernie is killed first, only to be discovered by the two hapless accountants. At first they are dumbfounded and depressed- their weekend is totally shot! Then, Larry decides that they’ll just cover up the death so they can spend the weekend living the high life for a change. This involves many goofy scenarios of rigging up Bernie’s body to a number of contraptions to make him look alive.

It’s all fun and games until Larry and Richard discover that they too are being sought by an assassin and spend the rest of the weekend trying to avoid certain death. This brings on even more hilarity as Bernie’s apparent survival of the assassination frustrates the assassin to keep trying different ways to off the already-dead man. It’s cheek and the blank faced Bernie makes it all the goofier.

Most of the comedy comes from the charade of Bernie being alive. The body undergoes a number of bizarre situations that make it harder for Larry and Richard to keep the act up. But fortunately, just when it seems that everyone is on to them, the people who call themselves Bernie’s friends react as if it’s just crazy old Bernie living it up like he always does. Certainly, it’s not the kind of reaction that would occur in real life, but it’s only meant to be campy, absurd fun. And it is!

While Weekend at Bernie’s would never be deserving of any serious awards, it is a fun little film that gets high marks for both physical and black comedy. How often are you able to laugh at a dead body getting slammed around and manipulated for personal gain? The answer is not very often, which is why Weekend at Bernie’s is a fun little guilty pleasure of a film that will likely be remembered longer than some Oscar winners.

The first half hour or so of the film is completely forgettable, but once the dim-witted accountants hit the beach with a corpse in tow, the movie takes flight. Not quite dumb enough to be considered a “stupid movie,” Weekend at Bernie’s lands squarely in the middle of the pack as a guilty pleasure and is worthy (in my mind at least) of the cult classic following and fondness that it has developed over the years.

RATING: 2.75 out of 5