They are grouped by genre but are in a random order. I've intentionally skipped the "Sci-Fi" category because sci-fi movies can fit into one of the other main categories since sci-fi simply means there are sci-fi aspects to the story. So you will find some sci-fi movies in the list, but they will be under the broader category that they fit in, such as action, comedy, or adventure.

The Terminator (1984) Trailer
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn

The first Terminator was formatted more in a horror movie format than an action movie format. The main reason for this is that it was initially intended to be a horror movie, but turned into a B action movie. The movie actually bombed at the theaters, but I guess word got around that it was a good movie, and the movie's rentals and VHS sales were through the roof. And that was actually how it was ultimately a commercial success.

In the future, a super computer is built called Skynet that is given control of all of the USA's defensive networks and eventually our fighter and bomber aircraft become completely unmanned. While efficiency skyrocketed, the system got smarter. When Skynet seemed to have gotten too smart for us to control, the humans try to take the system offline, but Skynet fights back. They launch nuclear missiles at Russia knowing that Russia will retaliate with their own arsenal of nuclear weapons. The nuclear war that results nearly wipes out the human race.

The surviving groups of humans band together and form a resistance against the machines. Under the leadership of a John Connor, the human resistance just about succeeds in destroying Skynet and the machines, but in an act of desperation Skynet sends two of their Terminators back in time, but to different times. The T800 (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) was sent back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (played by Linda Hamilton), the future mother of John Connor. The other was a more advanced prototype, a T1000, and it was sent back to 1994 to try to kill John Connor himself when he was only 10. The Human resistance was able to capture and reprogram one of their T800's, but they send one of their best men, Kyle Reese (played by Michael Biehn), to protect Sarah Connor in 1983 and they send their reprogrammed T800 back to 1994 to protect John from the T1000.

That is the back-story for both The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The Terminator is about Kyle Reese protecting Sarah Connor in 1984.

Like I previously stated, The Terminator has many aspects from a horror movie. With the "who's at the door" moments, something jumping out when you least expect it, and how the villain comes back to life after you think you've defeated it. But it also has all the things you expect to see in an action movie: lots of guns and explosions. Back when the movie was made, there wasn't a whole lot of complicated computer generated effects available, so the movie relies completely on stop motion animation and a lot of props.

So watching it now, compared to modern movies, you might find yourself making fun of some of the special effects. But for its time, they were actually pretty good, and got the intended interpretation through to the audience, so that's what's important. The Terminator has some very intense action scenes and the acting is also very good. Initially they wanted Lance Henriksen, who is in the movie, to play the role of the Terminator, because they initially wanted the Terminator to be very inconspicuous, able to blend into the crowd without a problem. But when Arnold Schwarzenegger was approached for a role in the movie, he said he wanted to be the Terminator. Well, James Cameron didn't want to argue with a 350-pound Austrian body builder, so he made some changes to the script, lol. And I think the change was a good one, because Arnold is perfect for the role of the Terminator, and not only that, Cameron got to do his inconspicuous Terminator in T2 with Robert Patrick.

Most Memorable Line: "I'll be back" -T800
Most Memorable Action Sequence: The final action scene in the factory.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) Teaser | Trailer
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, Edward Furlong

I don't think there is yet to be an action movie where the villain/hero match up has been quite this exciting. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the T800 Model 101 that represents fighting with brute force, firepower and armor armor armor. He is in essence a walking tank, and hey, simplicity is a good thing, and it works. Robert Patrick, on the other hand, plays the T1000, a prototype in super advanced technology where the actual molecules of a liquid metal are manipulated to create a virtually indestructible entity that is also highly flexible in its use and appearance.

Terminator 2 is the sequel to "The Terminator" also directed by James Cameron. This time, it's the story of the T1000 that was sent back to kill John Connor, played by Edward Furlong. The T800 makes a return, and like the teaser for the movie said, "he's back, and this time, for good." Which was very clever, kind of like saying "he's back for good" but also "for good" meant that he's a good buy now, not the villain like he was so famous for in "The Terminator."

The action in the film is well paced and the acting is well directed. James Cameron works magic here and it isn't and wouldn't be his first time. I'm sure you've noticed I have several of his films in my list, and it's well deserved. And although T2 does feature some cutting edge computer graphics that are some of the best at the time, what people don't realize is that most of it was done without computer graphics. Most of it was props and gags by Stan Winston. But obviously some of the T-1000 scenes were done with CG, using some things they learned from doing "The Abyss"'s water tentacle.

This movie will keep your heart pumping with a riveting climax at the end that would demonstrate the pure power of the T1000 to the point where you think all hope is lost, but right when victory is at his grasp, the T1000 will have a big surprise in store for him...

Most Memorable Line: John Connor: "You were going to kill that guy!" T800: "Of course, I'm a Terminator."
Most Memorable Action Sequence: While the beginning set the pace, and the end climax kept you on the edge of your seat, the action sequence that stays in your mind the longest will have to be the Cyberdyne sequence. "That's a damn minigun!"

Equilibrium (2002) Trailer
Starring: Christian Bale, Emily Watson, Taye Diggs

"Forget the Matrix" It proclaims proudly on the DVD case. Some of you might blow this off and think they are crazy, but give this movie a watch, and you'll have to agree. This film pretty much bombed at the theater and slipped onto the DVD shelves in obscurity. But that's when it had a life of its own. Its DVD success FAR exceeded expectations. I would go as far as to saying that it has its own cult following along the lines of the Evil Dead movies with Bruce Campbell.

The story starts off like a cliche, the typical "It's after WWIII and some big evil empire has taken over the world" type deal, but that's where it stops being the typical post-apocalyptic tale. While it does maintain a fairly standard good vs. evil plot, the way they go at it and the unique action sequences will blow you away. And there are some twists and turns to keep you on your toes.

Equilibrium stars Christian Bale as Cleric Preston. He is an elite enforcer for the totalitarian government that has taken control after WWIII almost devastated the world. They took power because they promised a brand new world where wars are a thing of the past. The way they promise this is through the regular use of a drug called Prozium, which suppresses your emotion so you feel neither extreme happiness nor extreme sadness. Everyone is simply always in a neutral state. The philosophy is that without extreme emotion, there will be no conflicts. The problem is, they are taking away people's personal freedoms and taking away what makes us human.

So far, pretty stereotypical right? Well, here is where things get interesting. The government has their own special police, which can basically do whatever they want, so they have a lot of control over the people, but Preston is what they call a "cleric." He is basically a super elite enforcer for when there's a situation even the special police cannot handle. In the beginning of the film, Cleric Preston is their best enforcer, a true believer of the system, but that all changes in one dramatic turning point in the film. Now their best enforcer has turned against the government and will prove that the most powerful weapon against the government in this movie is one that comes from within.

Most Memorable Line: "No... Not without incident..." -Preston
Most Memorable Action Sequence: The special police try to apprehend him in the Nethers after he is caught with a dog. Last mistake they will ever make...

True Lies (1994) Trailer
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Bill Paxton

For the past 15 years, you are one of the most bad-ass secret agents of all time, saving the world many times over from bad guys from all over the world. Now imagine if your wife has no idea. I present to you, True Lies.

This is one of those rare occurrences where you get a great cast, laugh out loud comedy, and still get 1st class action to back it all up. It’s not often that you get to see a bridge getting blown up by Harrier jump jets and actually believe it…

You have flame throwers, rocket launchers, guns guns and more guns, a nuclear explosion, harrier fighters, girls fighting, and even a horse back chase, all in one action-packed movie. But even though this movie is considered an action-comedy, James Cameron does not take his directing lightly. He pays attention to the most minute details and makes sure that the action in this movie is as gripping and as exciting as any pureblooded action movie should be.

You will also notice that this movie talks about Islamic Terrorism LONG before 9/11/2001 where a lot of Americans seem to think Islamic terrorism started to affect us. People seem to forget that this type of terrorism has been a plague to all of us since as early as the 40’s. But not only does this movie touch on that concept, they are actually semi-accurate regarding the terrorists, their methods, their ideology, and even, to an extent, the government’s response to them. This shows that James Cameron does his research even when the issue was not the hot topic of every major news station.

Arnold is Arnold, it’s hard to be disappointed when it’s Arnold unless you restrict his use of weapons and senseless violence (Collateral Damage), Jamie Lee Curtis is hot in this movie even though she starts off playing a typical middle-age housewife, and Tom Arnold is just the perfect costar to this movie, offering adequate amounts of sarcasm to the script. Everything down to the musical score is excellent in this movie. I would have to say this is one of my all time favorite movies.

Most Memorable Line: Helen Tasker: "Have you ever killed anyone?" Harry Tasker: "Yah, but they were all bad."
Most Memorable Action Sequence: I would have to say the best action sequence in the movie is the entire sequence starting from when Arnold is picked up from the island until the nuclear explosion.

Die Hard 1-3 and Live Free or Die Hard (1988-2007)
Starring: Bruce Willis

I don't think any action movie list will be complete without the Die Hard series. Sure Harrison Ford has had 4 or 5 iconic roles in his career, but Bruce Willis only needs one: John McClane. In terms of iconic roles, I think John McClane takes the cake.

Die Hard Trailer
The first Die Hard is the most intelligent of the Die Hard movies in my opinion. It had the best villain, it had one of the more complicated plots, John McClane was the most careful and methodical in his actions in the first one, and the action was just through the roof. Somehow, even being confined within one building, they managed to blow up an APC, blow up a helicopter, shoot up a cop car with a machinegun, have tons of gun play, and blow up a third of the building. Most movies can't think of a way to cram all that action into a movie spanning an entire city, but John McTiernan managed to cram it all within one skyscraper.

I think the thing that makes John McClane's character so loveable is the fact that he's an "every man" not some fancy super agent that uses martial arts and all kinds of fancy things. He looks, acts, and talks like any normal person stuck in a situation where he doesn't want to be. He's what you would call a reluctant hero. If it were up to him, he'd be sitting at home cuddling with his wife, but instead, he's fighting off bad guys left and right trying to blow up a building. He doesn't do any fancy moves, in fact, all throughout the first movie, he takes out the bad guys one by one, and most of the time using pretty dirty tricks. And not only that, he gets hurt, VERY hurt, in doing so. Then the funniest thing about it is he goes on to mock the main villain, Hans Gruber (played by Alan Rickman), through one of their own radios.

In all honesty, even though he was a reluctant hero, with his resourcefulness he probably could have escaped the building, but he is also a NYPD police officer and does feel a responsibility to help the people in the tower, especially since his wife is among the hostages. But he not only cares for his wife's well being, he cares for everyone, even some a-hole like Ellis (you'll know if you've seen the movie, lol). This movie shows off his resourcefulness as he begins the movie with only a 9mm semi-automatic pistol but has to somehow take out a large group of terrorists before the day is through. And you will see this resourcefulness coming back in the sequels.

Die Hard 2: Die Harder Trailer
The second Die Hard places John McClane in Washington D.C. in an airport. The storyline of this Die Hard is a little ridiculous because in the movie, they had a military/political prisoner onboard a military aircraft coming into the United States and they decide to land this aircraft in a civilian airport instead of a military air force base like logic would have you do. But I guess they needed a reason for terrorists to take over this airport, so there it is. Of course, John McClane just happens to be there, again, and it's Christmas time, again. This is one of those "here we go again" type of sequels. You will get a bit more visuals in this one, but I don't think the action is as up close and personal as it was in the first one.

But even though the second one is not as memorable as the first one, it still has that John McClane magic and is definitely a movie to have in your collection.

Die Hard 3: Die Hard With a Vengeance Trailer | International Teaser
Then comes the third Die Hard, Die Hard 3: Die Hard With a Vengeance. It is called that because the main villain, "Simon" played by Jeremy Irons, is the brother of the first movie's villain, Hans Gruber. You will notice that this Die Hard just feels different, it doesn't really feel like a Die Hard movie. If you can't really place your hand on it, the reason this is, is one major aspect. It is during the daytime. Both Die Hard and Die Hard 2 take place almost entirely in the nighttime. Another big difference is that John McClane isn't trapped in any one area (Die Hard was inside of a building and Die Hard 2 was inside of an airport), he was basically free to move about the city.

Also, in the first two, he had that one "partner" that helped him from a distance, but this time, he's actually working along side another person throughout the movie. And lastly, in this one, John McClane isn't mixed into the action by coincidence, this time, he was specifically asked for by the villain. I guess that's where the "With a Vengeance" comes in.

Differences aside, this is still a John McClane Die Hard movie, and is actually the template that will stick with the sequel that comes after it. In this Die Hard installment, there is some riddle-crazy villain planting bombs all over the city, and the only way to disarm/find them is through a set of riddles that John McClane has to solve with help from his new found partner played by Samuel L. Jackson. He's not a cop or anything, just some guy that made the mistake of helping John McClane once, now he's stuck with him. The one thing that seems to stay the same, though, is the fact that the villain is willing to kill lots and lots of people to complete their tasks, lots of things explode left and right, and John McClane is always a smartass with a lot of great one-liners and most of his dialogue involve mocking the main villain. All great fun.

Live Free or Die Hard Trailer
When I first heard about them making another Die Hard movie, to be honest, I was afraid, afraid that they will find a way to ruin the entire franchise with one really bad movie. That happens so often with sequels, it seems the more sequels a franchise has, the more the director relies on the name to carry the movie and works less to actually make a good movie. One good example of this is Terminator 3. They felt that simply attaching the Terminator name to the movie will make it a success and very little thought was actually put into the movie. When the first Live Free or Die Hard teaser came out, it got me even more worried. Not that the teaser was a bad teaser, it was a great teaser, but it showed off such incredibly unbelievable stunts and action scenes that I thought they might have just gone overboard with the action and turned it into some senseless action movie.

Well, as it turned out, they did go overboard with the action, but surprisingly, it was VERY enjoyable. Done wrong, ambitious action scenes like those in the movie can be a complete disaster for the movie. But the combination of great camera work, I mean GREAT camera work, good music score, and just the way the scenes were put together, made those action scenes enjoyable. Instead of going "wow, that's so unbelievable." The fast pace leaves you sitting there unable to think, just focusing on the action, heart-pounding, falling off the edge of your seat. It's only afterward that you have time to think about what just happened. You think I'm exaggerating, but in the movie theater, the lady next to me almost literally fell out of her seat during the tunnel scene. If you've seen the movie, you know what scene I'm talking about. She had to readjust her sitting position after it was finished, lol.

In the first 3 Die Hard movies, John McClane's communications with the villain usually involves a whole lot of mocking, but I think he must have perfected his art for Live Free. One of the funniest things about Live Free or Die Hard is how John successfully gets under the skin of the villain, to the point where sometimes the main villain Thomas Gabriel, played by Timothy Olyphant, just does not want to talk to McClane anymore. Before the villain tried to keep communicating with McClane to either distract him or get information from him. I think John McClane's ex-wife said it best in the first Die Hard: "Only John can drive someone so crazy." In this one, John McClane has to protect this computer hacker, played by Justin Long, better known as the obnoxious Mac boy in the commercials, but I think the team up is a good match. Since Long's character is completely inept and cannot survive in a stressful situation even when his life depends on it, but he has John McClane to keep him alive and well.

Just to show how much of an impact the Die Hard movies have made on us, here is a music video you have to watch:
Warning, music video has spoilers, and foul language:

The Kingdom (2007) Trailer
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, Ashraf Barhom, Jason Bateman

As I'm writing this, this movie is still out in theaters. The movie begins with a bang. Literally. It then unfolds like a documentary, trying to show a semi-realistic representation of a "what-if" situation in the middle east. You'll see some politics and public relations type things, but then comes the action. Oh, when the action starts, it does not end until the movie ends. Action scenes in other movies are usually spread out and seem to be a pace keeper in a way, trying to keep the movie-goer interested whenever a lull seems to develop in the plot.

In "The Kingdom," that does not appear to be the motive for the action. The action is there because it's an integral part of the story, and is the climax. And unlike other movies, the action isn't spread out at all. The entire movie is the drama of the politics, and then BAM, all at once, you get all of the action all at once. The action is VERY intense and does not let up. It is right up there in intensity with Black Hawk Down's action. Probably even more so. But I guess I was actually kind of hoping for this seeing that it is a Michael Mann film, remembering the famous shootout scene in "Heat" with Robert DeNiro.

Jamie Foxx plays Agent Fleury of the FBI. After a deadly bombing attack on an American housing compound in Saudi Arabia killing over 100 civilians and a fellow FBI agent and friend, Fleury gathers an evidence response team to go to Saudi Arabia to try to help them catch the murderer. But once they get there, they realize that the Saudis were not planning on letting them have much participation in the investigation at all. They were just allowed to go there, do a walk through, and then go home. All the while being baby-sat by Colonel Faris Al Ghazi (played by Ashraf Barhom) of the police force that was guarding that compound at the time.

Agent Fleury eventually convinces the prince (played by Omar Berdouni) to allow him and his team to have a hands-on role in solving this crime and catching the bomber. Col. Ghazi and Agent Fleury form a friendship and mutual respect while working together to find this killer. But as they neared catching this killer, it seems the killer has actually got to them first. A brutal attack on their convoy results in a member of Fleury's team to be kidnapped. Can they rescue him in time before the terrorists make an example of him?

Like I've already said, the action scene that begins with this kidnapping does not let up until the end of the movie. And the action is very well done and keeps you on the edge of your seat until it is finally over. The acting in this movie is top-notch. I recommend you check this out in the theater where it will have the best effect.

Most Memorable Line: "Every bomb maker, at some point, gets bitten by his own work." - Col. Faris Al Ghazi
Most Memorable Action Sequence: Well, obviously the climactic action scene at the end, lol.

Aliens (1986) Trailer
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, Carrie Henn (as 'Newt')

Set roughly 50 years after the events of Alien, the horror/thriller by Ridley Scott, James Cameron turns a thrilling horror epic into one of the greatest action films to date.

A lot of times when a sequel to a great film is made by a different director, aspects of the original story are lost, changed, or simply done wrong. James Cameron, however, is known in the industry as a perfectionist, and not only did he try to stay true to the original, but he actually included aspects that were deleted from the original theatrical release of the first Alien. Originally, they had a scene in Alien that showed what the Aliens did with captured hosts and how they further their reproduction. They ended up cutting this part of the film all together, and James Cameron could have gotten away with not showing this aspect and nobody would have known better. But that's not Cameron's way. In making the sequel, Cameron made sure he understood every aspect of the Aliens and decided to put this scene back into the movie in this new setting.

While in Alien, there were only one alien, in Aliens, there were countless of them. Thus the title of the movie. While the first movie was very tense, having a deadly alien on board the ship just hunting the humans one by one and you just waiting to see who dies next, unleashing a ton of firepower at thousands of these same aliens roaming freely in a city they've overtaken is just so much more fun.

The movie starts off offensively with Space Marines being sent to this moon where they have lost contact with the settlers suspecting that they have been killed off by these aliens. The movie starts you off with one of the most intense action sequences you will ever see in any movie that gives you an idea what they are up against. Their use of music to compliment the action really makes a huge difference and makes the action that much more intense. James Cameron does not skimp when it comes to action.

The situation quickly degrades when they realize just how many and how deadly these aliens are and the Marines go from offensive to a defensive mode. While most of them act like rude crude Marines, Michael Biehn once again plays the good guy (as he did in The Terminator) as "Hicks" and is Ripley's (played by Sigourney Weaver) main ally through-out the film. His character is one of the best characters in Aliens, and that's why it pissed me off that David Fincher killed him off in the horrible sequel to come, Alien III.

Most Memorable Line: "Game over man, game over!" -"Hudson"
Most Memorable Action Sequence: By far, the first action scene when they first encounter the aliens.

James Bond 007: Casino Royale (2006) Trailer
Starring: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench

Often times when a franchise gets so popular and has so many sequels, that it starts to get stale. Makers of the sequels start to run out of innovative ideas so they turn to gimmicks and hope the name will carry the sequel through to a box office hit. This is exactly what happened with the James Bond franchise. With every new release of a James Bond movie, come more and more ridiculous plots to take over the world, and more and more ridiculous gadgets that seem far too convenient at times.

With the exception of Goldeneye, just about every Pierce Brosnan James Bond film suffered from this. They all rehashed the same formula, same old crap new Bond girl, the villains got less and less believable (ooh, a media tycoon, or a guy in a robosuit controlling a death ray in space...), the gadgets seemed to have been specially made for the specific events that are to follow (as if Q had psychic powers and knew exactly what Bond would need for that movie), and the plots to take over the world got dumber and dumber. When a franchise gets this messed up to where it has passed the point of no return, it is time to do something drastic. Sony Pictures decided to do something that is not done very often in big name franchises like James Bond; they decided to start over.

This came as a huge surprise when it was first announced. For a movie to disregard the existence of all of the 19 movies that came before it is to make a really strong statement regarding the state of the franchise.

Casino Royale tells the story of a new MI6 agent, James Bond (played by Daniel Craig), earning his "00" status for the first time and his first big mission of his "00" career. The villain, Le Chiffre (played by Mads Mikkelsen), is kind of a banker for the world's terrorists. Instead of the terrorists trying to transport their money themselves, risking capture and seizure of their funds, they give their money to Le Chiffre, and when they need it, they contact him and he gets the money out to them.

However, he doesn't do this for free. He uses the money to finance his investments where he expects to make a return. He almost guarantees a return by setting up the market himself. When Bond foils one of his investment plans, Le Chiffre loses a lot of money belonging to a terrorist organization that he recently solicited to. Fearing retribution from this group, Le Chiffre sets up a high stakes poker game to win back the money he lost to pay these terrorists back. Le Chiffre is an odds expert and poker is where he excels. MI6 knows that if Le Chiffre loses this poker game, he'll have no where else to run and they expect him to seek refuge with the British government, turning state's evidence in exchange for protection against the terrorists.

To this end, MI6 decides to place Bond in the poker game, since he's their best poker player. To win means to potentially gain access to information leading to the world's deadliest terrorists, to lose is to directly fund Le Chiffre, and in turn fund the terrorists.

While the plot doesn't sound like it is very action packed, Casino Royale has some of the most intense action scenes from any James Bond movies. The fight scenes are very gritty and dirty, you won't see any fancy fighting here, the action scenes are fast paced, and the thing that you will notice about this Bond film is that there is no Q and there are no gadgets! Well, they have 2, and one of them actually kind of exists already, just not as advanced. Either way, you won't see any invisible cars, or death rays from space in this one, just Bond with a gun, shooting, punching, stabbing, throwing, and kicking his way through the film.

It also seems that the other moviemakers have caught the "do it over" bug. It seems that many of the other movie franchises that did not do so well will have sequels that are "do over" sequels that disregard the existence of the previous films, kind of like what they did with the James Bond franchise in Casino Royale. They are making a new Incredible Hulk movie that will disregard the last Hulk movie, they are thinking about making a new Terminator series that will disregard Terminator 3, basically they are planning on picking up from Terminator 2 and go from there. They are also redoing The Punisher, and there were rumors floating around before about them making a new Aliens movie that picks up from 2, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Especially since the rumors involved James Cameron directing it and he's busy with his current project "Avatar."

Most Memorable Line: "Who are you?" "The name's Bond, James Bond."
Most Memorable Action Sequence: The first action scene, the foot chase between Bond and a bomb maker.

Mission: Impossible III (2006) Trailers
Starring: Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames

You will probably notice that neither one nor two is in this list. The reason is that they both sucked. One was just stupid and two was retarded. But Mission: Impossible III is different. Directed by J.J. Abrams, it was the first attempt to make the franchise halfway believable. It didn't go the route of Casino Royale doing away with gadgets all together; it just made those gadgets less sci-fi and somewhat more realistic. And another thing they did to make the movie more believable is that they made Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise) more vulnerable and less of a fancy superhero. In this movie, he actually relies on the help from his team a lot of the time. In fact, without his team's help, he wouldn't have gotten past the first scene. Unlike the first two, especially the second one, where he seemed like some kind of superhero taking out an entire army with one handgun that never seems to run out of ammo.

Mission: Impossible III starts off with Ethan Hunt, who have quit being a field agent and started training others, pulled back into the field for one last mission: to rescue one of their own, Agent Lindsey Farris (played by Keri Russel), someone Hunt has trained himself. Things turn sour in the rescue attempt but they do recover information regarding the whereabouts of her captor, an Own Davian (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman), an international arms dealer that Agent Farris was tracking. But as the events start to unfold, things turn sour once again and Ethan Hunt finds himself and his family personally targeted by Davien's crew. The rest, you'll have to see for yourself.

One thing that also made this one enjoyable is the fact that Tom Cruise actually learned how to handle weapons correctly. I believe he received pretty good firearms training for the movie "Collateral," and it looks like he went in for additional lessons for MI3.

Most Memorable Line: "And you never... slept with your little sister, right?" -Luther
Most Memorable Action Sequence: The scene where they are ambushed on the bridge. "There's a G36 in the truck!" Hell yah.

Batman Begins (2005) Trailers
Starring: Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson

This is probably where the "start over" bug all started recently. Batman Begins is a retelling of the Batman movies. While I'm pretty sure most people would agree that the Michael Keaton Batman movies were actually very good. The rest, however, just got progressively worse. Starting over seemed to be the only way to save the name, and I guess it would have been weird to "start over" in the middle of the series. Batman Begins is supposed to be the first in a new trilogy I believe, or could be more.

Christian Bale plays the new Batman. Like the title suggests, Batman Begins talks about how Batman came to be. It shows what happens to his parents, and how he made the transformation from just some rich kid, to becoming a criminal's worst nightmare.

They tried to make some of the aspects of Batman more believable by giving some of the things a scientific explanation. Like how in the originals and in the animated series it appeared as if he could glide using just his cape. And the Batmobile is far more believable now too. Before, it looked like some stretched limo turned into a car with floppy wings on it and a jet engine. In this movie, the Batmobile was supposedly a vehicle designed for use by the military to be able to jump over openings, thus the jet engine and the rugged design. Basically, it's a fast moving tank. The movie also shows where the Bat-Signal first originated.

The star-studded cast and the top notch directing make this a good movie, not just a good Batman movie. It is probably the best out of all the Batman movies, definitely go check this out sometime before the sequel comes out, "The Dark Knight" which will feature Batman's best villain, the Joker.

Most Memorable Line: "A guy who dresses as a bat clearly has issues." -Bruce Wayne
Most Memorable Action Sequence: The final fight between Batman and the villain.

Soldier (1998) Trailer
Starring: Kurt Russell, Jason Scott Lee

This is one of those rare times where a B action movie is actually a very good movie. The other time this has happened in a big way was The Terminator. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but Kurt Russell plays the quiet and tough character very well, he seemed to be the perfect choice for this character. His actual dialogue is limited to only a few words here and there through-out the movie, so the majority of it relied on acting and portraying emotion (or lack there-of at times) without the use of words. Which most people find difficult to do.

Soldier is about the future where other planets have been colonized, and the waste we produce is too much for just one planet to contain. So we designated certain planets to be places where we dump all our excess garbage. Soldiers are raised from childhood to be lean mean fighting machines and nothing more. Brought up so you know how to fire, disassemble, and assemble a rifle when you're less than 5 years old. The ones that don't make the cut are eliminated. Kurt Russell plays Todd, one of the best of these soldiers. When a competing contractor for super soldiers develops genetically engineered soldiers to compete with these raised ones, they are put to the test, Todd versus the best of the genetically engineered soldiers, played by Jason Scott Lee. Todd puts up a good fight, but is ultimately defeated, and presumed dead. His "body" is then dumped on one of these trash dump planets. The problem is, Todd isn't dead, and the planet isn't uninhabited.

Todd is found by this civilization living on this planet and is taken in as one of their own. But Todd is not accustomed to a peaceful living. He was raised from childhood to kill, kill, and kill some more, then eat, then kill some more. So as Todd struggles to comprehend the new emotions he's feeling, the fleet of genetically engineered soldiers is on their way to this planet to get rid of this colony.

Well, Todd likes his new family, and wouldn't let this happen without a fight. Now comes the true test to see which is more important: combat experience or genetic perfection. The odds are against him as the combat experienced Todd takes on at least a platoon sized group of the newly genetically engineered super soldiers.

The funny thing is that Kurt Russell got ripped for this movie less than a year after he made the movie "Breakdown" where he played an out of shape middle-age husband whose wife is kidnapped after their car breaks down. I wish I could shape up that quickly. Also, there is a scene in the beginning where he is running a race against the super soldier. That scene was actually filmed last, even though it appeared in the beginning of the film, and he actually had broken his ankle prior to that during another scene. Talk about determination.

So do Kurt Russell a favor, go watch this movie so he didn't have to run on a broken ankle for nothing, lol.

Most Memorable Line: "I'm going to kill them all, sir" -Todd
Most Memorable Action Sequence: The final battle between Todd and the super soldiers of course.

Patriot Games (1992) Trailer
Starring: Harrison Ford, James Earl Jones, Sean Bean

Based on the political thriller of the same name written by Tom Clancy, Patriot Games is about a former US Marine, Jack Ryan (played by Harrison Ford), who was in England with his family to give a lecture when he witnesses an attempted kidnapping by some IRA members of a member of UK's royalty. Being a former Marine, he instinctively went to take the IRA terrorists out, killing one and taking down another in time for authorities to arrive to capture him and save the British royalty. He is regarded as a hero in the UK for his actions, but not by Sean Miller, the captured IRA member (played by Sean Bean), whose brother is the IRA member Ryan killed while trying to stop the kidnapping. Ryan returns home to the USA only to find out that Sean Miller has escaped, and is now after Ryan's family.

Patriot Games is considered by many to be the best Tom Clancy movie made. Harrison Ford makes an excellent Jack Ryan, and as many people who have read the novels will tell you, a better Jack Ryan than in the novels. In the Clancy novels, Jack Ryan is almost without emotion. The novel focuses more on the events and less on the characters, but Harrison Ford gives Jack Ryan a personality. The thing I love the most about Patriot Games, and basically any of these Tom Clancy movies except Sum of all Fears, is that you get the heart pumping action without the big hollywood action you normally see in movies. The settings and events seem very real and based off reality. Also, the subject matter is also very close to being real.

Patriot Games is just one of the many Tom Clancy movies that were made. And while they mostly involve some of the same characters, they are only loosely tied together. Meaning they can all exist separately or together. Some could argue that there is a set timeline, but they are all really just individual novels in themselves. But this one is definitely one of the better ones made. Sum of all Fears would be an example of how not to make a Tom Clancy movie, but I suppose it probably all started going down hill as soon as they cast Ben Affleck for the role of Jack Ryan...

Most Memorable Line: "I don't care what you have to do, just get him." -Dr. Caroline "Cathy" Ryan
Most Memorable Action Sequence: While I felt that all the action scenes were equally important to the film, from when Ryan stopped the kidnapping, to the ending fight scene, the one that I always remember the most is when the IRA members tried to kill Ryan's wife and daughter. That sticks in my mind the most.
The Jack Ryan Special Edition Collection
(The Hunt for Red October/Patriot Games/Clear and Present Danger/The Sum of All Fears (use as a coaster))

Clear and Present Danger (1994) Trailer
Starring: Harrison Ford, James Earl Jones, Willem Dafoe, Joaquim de Almeida

Based on the political thriller of the same name written by Tom Clancy, Clear and Present Danger shows how power can be improperly used when the president has a personal vendetta. A lot of the same cast returns from Patriot Games, including Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan.

A rich businessman and his family are discovered to have been murdered on board their yacht by the United States Coast Guard. The significance of this is the fact that this businessman was a close friend of the President of the United States of America. Even more significant was the fact that they were killed because this business man had business ties with one of the biggest drug cartel's in Colombia, run by a Mr. Escobedo, played by Miguel Sandoval, and has been stealing money from them. Escobedo's security advisor, Col. Felix Cortez (played by Joaquim de Almeida), was not aware of this action and would have advised against this action due to the individual's relationship with the President of the USA. Upon hearing the news, Cortez is furious with Escobedo and decides that Escobedo is too reckless and plots to take him out with the hope of taking over once Escobedo is killed.

Meanwhile, the president then authorizes (in secret of course) the mobilization of a small elite group to Colombia to disrupt Escobedo's drug business in any way that they can. And at the same time, Jack Ryan is being sent over there to try to secure the money that belonged to the dead businessman. Watch this movie to see the chaos that ensues when these three events converge.

John Clark is superbly played by Willem Dafoe and Harrison Ford is once again great as Jack Ryan. This action-packed political thriller will not disappoint.

Most Memorable Line: "How dare you?! Sir!" -Jack Ryan
Most Memorable Action Sequence: By far, the most memorable action sequence is the ambush of Jack Ryan's convoy when he first arrives in Colombia. Many people have tried to copy this action sequence, an episode of JAG actually tried, but not only did they try to copy it, they actually used some of the actual footage from this movie in that episode. Pretty sad really, but for a while, every action scene in every action movie was compared to this action sequence. That's how good it was.
The Jack Ryan Special Edition Collection
(The Hunt for Red October/Patriot Games/Clear and Present Danger/The Sum of All Fears (use as a coaster))

The Hunt for Red October (1990) Trailer
Starring: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, James Earl Jones, Sam Neill

One of the earlier movie translations of a Tom Clancy novel, if not the first one, The Hunt for Red October takes place during the cold war and is about a nuclear submarine called, you guessed it, the Red October. The United States (and probably the same with the Soviets) have sophisticated listening devices to track the movement of Soviet submarines in the ocean as they all make noise when they move and they are easily detected that way. However, the Red October is a new submarine developed by the Soviets that feature a revolutionary new propulsion method that does not produce these distinctive noises. This, of course, is a big threat to the West, since the reason for the listening devices is to know if the Soviets are moving their submarines close enough to launch their nuclear arsenal for a preemptive strike.

Well, the United States intelligence has found that a legendary Soviet captain, Captain Marko Ramius (played by Sean Connery), has taken this submarine and have started on a course for the United States. Of course the US government is concerned about this because he can potentially enter United States waters without them knowing and they are thinking about mobilizing their fleet to try to intercept the Red October. Jack Ryan (played by Alec Baldwin), however, has a different theory. He believes that Captain Ramius is trying to defect to the United States, and chose to be the admiral of the Red October because he felt it was the one submarine that could get him to the United States without the Russian fleet being able to track him.

Trying to avoid starting WWIII over a mistake, the US government decides to give Ryan a chance to prove his theory since that will have a chance of a peaceful ending and at the same time, could win the United States the greatest prize of all, the Red October. But if Jack Ryan is wrong and Captain Ramius is on a course to launch a preemptive strike on the USA, this could just be costing the US precious time in trying to prevent this from happening.

The Hunt for Red October is a very thrilling movie with lots of great unexpected twist and turns. Definitely add this to your "must-rent" list if you've never seen it, or just go ahead and buy it if you're at all interested in this type of story.

Most Memorable Line: "I will live in Montana. And I will marry a round American woman and raise rabbits, and she will cook them for me. And I will have a pickup truck... maybe even a "recreational vehicle." And drive from state to state." - Capt. Vasili Borodin
Most Memorable Action Sequence: The final climactic submarine battle involves Captain Ramius using some VERY unorthodox tactics and is very ingenious and unexpected, making it a great scene to watch.
The Jack Ryan Special Edition Collection
(The Hunt for Red October/Patriot Games/Clear and Present Danger/The Sum of All Fears (use as a coaster))

Predator (1987) Trailer Pretty bad trailer if you ask me, lol
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, Elpidia Carrillo

Yes, that's right, John McTiernan makes it into the list yet again. Him and James Cameron are the "repeat offenders" when it comes to directors for my list of the movies you have to have seen sometime in your life. Along with the director that just keeps coming back, you'll also notice that Arnold Schwarzenegger is once again in the list. And funny thing, this movie also has two actors turned governors: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura. Predator first introduced us to another alien that has made a deep impact in our movie culture, and long after this introduction, the two of them will meet in Alien vs. Predator.

Predator takes place in a Central American jungle, where a group of commandos are sent in to rescue some downed airmen only to find them dead. So they decide to eliminate the band of guerilla fighters. But it turns out that they are not the only ones in the forest there to hunt people. An alien from another world is here to hunt people, hoping to find someone that is a challenge to hunt. We only know these aliens as "Predators" although that's more based on what they do than what they are actually called. We don't know what they are actually called since they don't speak English... Anyway, when all of the members of this team are taken out except Dutch, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, he finds himself in a cat and mouse game. Alone and no longer with a firearm, he relies on his wits to stay alive. Or perhaps it's better to be the hunter than the hunted...

Predator starts off like the typical Vietnam era movie, commandos riding in a Huey listening to classic rock, but it turns out to be anything but typical. John McTiernan is a master of hard-hitting action and he doesn't slack with this one.

Most Memorable Line: "Get in the chopper!" -"Dutch"
Most Memorable Action Sequence: The predator finally feels like he has met his match and dukes it out with Dutch fist to fist, and unfortunately, face to face...

The Matrix (1999) Trailer
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving

I'm not a big fan of "whoa, it's Keanu, dude" but this movie was very unique for its time. Unfortunately the sequels were just capitalizing on the name and didn't really offer anything new or innovative like the original. It was also annoying how in the sequels it seemed that being "cool" was the primary purpose for everything they did, how they had to wear sunglasses ALL THE TIME, even when he's indoors and it's dark as night. Or how action scenes no longer seem to serve a purpose other than to try to wow the audience with endless effects and to fill in time. The first Matrix actually had a good story and the characters didn't all seem to be completely full of themselves. I mean the "Hear me!" speech by Morpheus (played by Laurence Fishburne) in the 2nd one was just stupid, and pointless, then the 30-minute dance scene that followed was just as pointless...

Anyway, in the Matrix, you find out that the world we live in is all just a big lie. When you think you're driving to work, you're really not, when you think you're sitting down reading this review, you're not. Everything you're seeing, smelling, feeling, and hearing, is just a virtual world that we are all "plugged" into. The real world is nearly destroyed and is a hard place to live. Should the human race be free but give up everything they know to be the truth? Or is ignorance bliss?

For its time, the Matrix had some amazing effects and great sound and a good musical score to match. The first Matrix is by far the best Matrix of the three, and is the only one good enough for me to consider one of my favorite action movies. But if you've seen the Matrix already and enjoyed it, and have not seen Equilibrium, definitely go check that one out. I would have to honestly say that I enjoyed that movie even more than I enjoyed the Matrix.

Most Memorable Line: "Unfortunately one can't be told what the Matrix is, you have to see it for yourself." -Morpheus
Most Memorable Action Sequence: Has to be the helicopter scene.
The Ultimate Matrix Collection (The Matrix/ The Matrix Reloaded/ The Matrix Revolutions/ The Animatrix)

Narc (2002) Trailer
Starring: Ray Liotta, Jason Patric

I think if you've ever had any doubts about Ray Liotta, this is the movie that will finally put those doubts to rest. I've never thought that Ray Liotta wasn't a good actor, but I've never been too excited about some of the movies he has been in. Now I feel like watching more of his movies to see what I've been missing.

for the most part, I avoid police movies because often time the makers of those films have no clue about real law enforcement or what they do and the movies usually turn out either just ridiculously overreaching their ability, or makes them all look bad. This movie is different. While the main character is portrayed to be a cop that will most likely face charges for police brutality many times over, but trust me, you will be cheering him on. While he may have a few loose screws, at least he takes it out on people who deserve it.

Under bad directing or simply bad acting powerful dialogue often seems corny and out of place. But done correctly it makes for a great drama. Luckily, it was done right in Narc.

The movie is very serious and very bleak. It is about a murder of an undercover narcotics police officer, often nicknamed "Narcs." When the case turns cold, the police department gets desperate and puts a new detective on the case, Det. Sgt. Nick Tellis played by Jason Patric. He, in turns, calls in the original detective, Detective Lt. Henry Oak played by Ray Liotta, who was kicked off the case due to his personal friendship with the victim in question. Det. Oak is a loose cannon, a hothead, but Tellis knows that the only way to solve this case is to let Oak continue his investigation. Often times most of the information and evidence regarding a murder or any crime can only be found during the first 48 hours. After that, the crime scene is processed and clean up has to happen. So having the original detective on his team will give him the best chance of breaking the case.

Right as it seems the case is cold as ice, it starts to open up. Little by little the pieces fall into place and you start to get closer to seeing what really happened. As the case opens up, the characters start to open up. You learn more and more about Det. Lt. Oak, Det. Sgt. Tellis, Tellis' family, the victim, and even the victim's family. Knowing the back-story behind Oak gives you a clearer picture as to why he is the way he is.

The movie is full of very powerful dialogue backed by some very powerful performances. And right at the end when it all seems to make sense, you find out that things are not as they seem.

This movie is a definite must-see in my opinion, and a great addition to your collection.

Frequency (2000) Trailer
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Jim Caviezel

Now, I'm still not sure if this movie belongs in drama, action, sci-fi, or an "all of the above" category, but I think it satisfies a little bit of all categories.

To be honest, if someone would have described Frequency to me, I probably would not have wanted to see it. A guy is able to talk to his dead father through a radio. But luckily for them, they must have hired a great team to make their trailer because the trailer just peaks your interest and gets you excited to see this movie and find out how it all turns out. I'm glad it did, because this is one of my favorite movies. And don't worry, the storyline isn't as simple as I just stated.

A NYPD police officer, John Sullivan (played by Jim Caviezel) living in the same house he grew up in digs up his late father's old CB radio out of boredom one night. He speaks to a man who eventually reveals himself to be his father, Frank Sullivan a firefighter (played by Dennis Quaid), 30 years ago, a day before he was supposed to have died in a fire. Of course, at first he does not believe him at first, but certain events happen that convinces them both that this is real. However, their conversation changes the way history goes down and has caused the deaths of several people, including John's mother (Frank's wife). Together, they work through time to prevent these deaths and try to catch the killer.

I know what you're asking, if these people already died, how can they prevent their deaths right? Well, it's simple, these people are "dead" according to John, who is in present time, but they died after Frank's time, so in Frank's world, these people are still alive, but will die in the near future. Remember, they are communicating, in real time, just 30 years apart.

Now, if you're thinking to yourself, "This doesn't sound like a good movie to me, it sounds kind of weird." Remember what I said, I would have thought the same thing too if someone tried to explain it to me, but trust me, the movie explains itself much better than I can. And unlike other movies with sci-fi aspects that spend a good portion of the film making up fake scientific terms to explain what is happening, this movie manages to get you to completely believe in what is going on without saying a word about it. In fact, they don't spend ANY time explaining what is happening or how it is happening.

This is an excellent family movie and is very exciting and has a great plot twist toward the end that is very well presented. I believe the moviemakers behind this movie are very talented and were able to take a story that potentially could have been very hokey and corny and turned it into a very enjoyable movie that leaves you with a very positive feeling. So don't wait, go out and rent this movie if you haven't seen it. Hell, go ahead and just buy it right now, I bet you once you watch it you'll want to own the DVD anyhow. I'm sorry the action portion is so big only because it took a while to get to this movie because this is EASILY one of my favorite movies of ALL TIME. I hope that's a strong enough statement because I've seen A LOT of movies as I am a huge movie buff. So definitely check this movie out. Watch the trailer and tell me you're not interested.

The Abyss (1989) Trailer
Starring: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn

In case it isn't obvious enough, James Cameron has a fascination with the deep sea. He did a lot of documentaries about and participated in a lot of deep-sea explorations in deep-sea submersibles. He shot a deep sea documentary called "Aliens of the Deep" which a lot of people thought was referring to his movie Aliens, but for anyone who has seen The Abyss, it's pretty obvious it was supposed to be a reference to this movie.

In The Abyss, an American submarine is sunk when an unidentified object passes by it at great speed, and the resulting wake from this object threw the submarine off-course and it crashed into a rock wall on the ocean floor. The US Navy sends a team of Navy SEALs down to an underground oil drilling rig, run by Virgil 'Bud' Brigman played by Ed Harris, to try to get to the submarine to see if they can find any survivors and to check to make sure its nuclear arsenal was still in tact.

But things take a strange turn when Lindsey Brigman, Bud's estranged wife (played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), starts seeing strange alien creatures or craft showing interest to the rig and its inhabitants. But things quickly turn from strange to just bad when the leader of the SEAL team, Lt. Coffey (played by Michael Biehn), starts to get paranoid and crazy from the deep-sea pressures messing with his mental state. A crazy Navy SEAL and nuclear bombs usually don't go well together unless you want a major international (or now intergalactic) situation on your hands...

If you do decide to watch this movie, and I highly suggest you do, make sure you're watching the extended director's cut, because the theatrical release, for whatever reason, cut out one of the most important scenes and aspect of the movie. Which is weird because it was almost the most central theme of the movie and they cut it out. The result was a movie that didn't quite make sense with an ending that didn't explain itself at all with this scene and side-story cut out of the film. If you've seen both versions, you'll know what I mean.

Dragonheart (1996) Trailer
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Sean Connery (voice), David Thewlis, Dina Meyer

Every once in a while, a movie is made that sets a standard for a certain genre that every movie of that genre that follows will be compared to it. While "Dragon Movies" isn't really a genre, this movie certainly sets the standard for anything dragon related that followed. You can't even play a game with a dragon in it without thinking about Sean Connery doing the voice. In fact, Factor 5 recently released a game with flying dragons for the PS3. Although it turned out that the game sucked, the developer joked that they decided against having the dragons talk because they cannot get Sean Connery to do the voice. That was a direct reference to this movie, which was made 11 years before this joke. That's how enduring this really is.

Dragonheart takes place in the time of knights and the legends of dragons. In this movie, the heir to the thrown of England is mortally wounded in a mission to kill off rebelling peasants. A dragon, voiced by Sean Connery, decides to share half of his heart, his life force, with the boy to save his life. Dennis Quaid plays a former knight, Bowen, who have raised and trained this young king (Einon, played by David Thewlis). He took him under his wing, hoping to teach him the way of the old code. Unfortunately he is oblivious to Einon's true, evil, intentions. Bowen spends the next few years trying to hunt down the dragon he believes to have corrupted Einon's soul. But unknowingly to him, he befriends the very same dragon.

Dennis Quaid was the perfect choice to play this knight of the old code. He plays a man who is good in heart, but has lost faith. Sean Connery plays one of his most iconic roles next to James Bond in this movie. Which has surprisingly went out of print despite its fame. This is a very charming movie with well-placed humor and a touching story as you watch a former knight regain his faith with the help of an unexpected ally.

Bottom line is, it is a movie about knights and dragons that isn't completely nerdy. For that reason alone, you should definitely check this movie out, haha.

Willow (1988) Trailer
Starring: Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Warwick Davis, Jean Marsh

This movie seems like it really should have been a cartoon, but was made into a movie instead. It stars an evil queen, dwarves, miniature people, talking animals, and someone even turns into a big snowball like you see in the cartoons whenever someone rolls down a hill of snow. This George Lucas movie is full of funny moments and is a great family movie. Val Kilmer plays Madmartigan, an expert swordsman who helps Willow (played by Warwick Davis) in his adventures. Davis is known as a little person. He has worked with Lucas before on Star Wars Episode 6 as an Ewok.

In the movie Willow, the land is ruled by an evil queen, played by Jean Marsh, along with her daughter and right-hand-woman (I suppose) Sorsha, played by Joanne Whalley. Together they rule the land with an iron fist. The evil queen maintains her total power through the use of powerful magic spells, but a prophecy has foretold of a female child, bearing a certain birthmark, that was to be born and was destined to destroy the queen once and for all. Trying to keep this prophecy from coming true, the queen has her forces scour the lands, looking at every newborn female child, to find the one bearing this birthmark. But when she is finally found, the servant that was supposed to deliver the baby to the queen decides to escape with it instead. It doesn't take long for the queen to realize the deception and to send her forces out to intercept her. As demonic hounds draw near, the servant tries to save the baby by floating her down a river on a log where she is later found by Willow.

Willow's race of dwarves greatly value magic and consider magicians to be wise holy men. Willow strives to be a great magician but is stuck performing cheap party tricks. But after finding the human baby, Willow is sent off to try to return the baby to the race of humans. And that's when Willow meets Madmartigan. And the fun begins there. Willow and Madmartigan embark on a great adventure through great battles with magical creatures and an evil witch. If you want to laugh out loud and watch a feel-good movie all at the same time, go check this one out.

Indiana Jones 1-3 (1981-1989)
Starring: Harrison Ford

When it comes to iconic roles, I believe this is Harrison Ford's biggest one. It is hard to pick between this one and Han Solo of Star Wars, but I think this is more "his" movie than Star Wars was for Han Solo. Although many would argue that Han Solo was probably one of the key elements that made the franchise a success, and I agree. I would classify Indiana Jones to be a comedy/action/adventure. Even though often time the protagonists are in a life and death situation, Indiana Jones will not let that get in the way of his sarcasm. I think one of the funniest aspects of the Indiana Jones movies is just how unplanned a lot of his actions really are. Somehow he's put up against impossible odds and yet Indiana Jones will almost single-handedly overcome these odds without even the slightest attempt at forethought. It's like he just impulsively does whatever pops into his head, and somehow it ends up working out. Maybe no in the way he expected but it usually eventually works out.

Funny thing I want to mention, right now I'm writing this while at work, and someone's phone just goes off and it is the Indiana Jones theme song, lol. What a coincidence. Anyway...

During the week Indiana Jones is just a normal Archeology professor, with all the cute college girls drooling at his presence. But somehow, this is not enough for him. In the weekends he sneaks off to great far away lands seeking great treasures ranging from the Arc of the Covenant to the Holy Grail. Pretty decent with firearms and an expert with the whip, he embarks on these great adventures, usually picking up a few friends and making a lot more enemies along the way. The movie is set during the days of Nazi Germany around the time of the second world war. Usually the plot involves the Nazi's seeking some great magical power with the use of the artifact that Indiana Jones is also searching for. Well, except for the second one.

They are coming out with a 4th installment soon, titled Indiana Jones: The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Make sure you check out the first 3 and then be sure to watch the 4th one. So far all 3 Indiana Jones movies have been great, hopefully the 4th will not disappoint. These movies have to be seen or you will be missing out.

Star Wars: Episodes 4-6 (1977-1983)
Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, James Earl Jones (voice)

If you're wondering why I did not include episodes 1-3, let me just say that I didn't really like Episode 1, Episode 2 was alright, and Episode 3 was quite good, but not worthy of a "must-see" list. Well, I suppose if you are to watch the originals, Episode 4-6, you probably should see Episode 1-3 just because it'll be nice to see how they tie into the storyline, but I think you'll get ample enjoyment from Episodes 4-6 by themselves.

I don't think there has been any other sci-fi franchise that has had as big of a social influence as Star Wars. Many trekkies will argue that Star Trek did, but I don't think so. Star Trek catered to a more specific audience than did Star Wars. Star Wars was more appealing to more types of people than was Star Trek. So therefore, with the wider acceptance, came the greater influence on our society.

Star Wars was one of those rare movies that had everything. It had a gripping plot that was quite innovative for its time, it had a great group of characters, all of which were loved by audience, good guys and bad guys alike. There are probably just as many Darth Vader fans as there are Luke Skywalker and Han Solo fans out there, perhaps even more, even the storm troopers are loved by everyone. And the special effects were also quite good for its time. The movie had a serious plot, but also had a great sense of humor to keep the mood a little loose, making it a very exciting feel-good movie. Then as an icing on the cake, it has one of the most recognizable musical score of ANY movie before it and since.

The galaxy is ruled by an evil empire and the rebellion's last hope is a young boy, Luke Skywalker (played by Mark Hamill), who has traveled from his home planet to help the rebellion fight Darth Vader and the evil empire. Recruited by his friend Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Alec Guinness, they link up with a smuggler, Han Solo (played by Harrison Ford), and Han's sidekick Chewbacca. Together, they travel through space in their quest to help the rebellion defeat the empire. In the process, Luke learns about "the force" which gives him the ability to do things that normal people cannot do. But not anyone can learn this power. It is something passed down in certain bloodlines. It isn't coincidence that he was recruited to the cause by Obi-Wan, can it be destiny?

These movies are considered by many to be "classics." Check them out and see why.
Star Wars - Episode I, The Phantom Menace (Widescreen Edition)
Star Wars - Episode II, Attack of the Clones (Widescreen Edition)
Star Wars - Episode III, Revenge of the Sith (Widescreen Edition)

Back to the Future 1-3 (1985-1990)
Starring: Michael J Fox, Christopher Lloyd

When you think about the 80's, you think about big hair bands, shoulder pads, squared off cars, and Back to the Future. This movie's soundtrack can be renamed and sold as "Tribute to the 80's" and nobody would know the difference, lol. Back to the Future stars Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly who is a typical high school teenager living the typical high school teenage life. Showing up late to class every day, hitting on all the chicks along the way, hated by the principal, pretty typical teenager. He's friends with a mad scientist, Dr. Emmett Brown ("Doc") played by Christopher Lloyd, who have somehow figured out time travel.

In the first film, "Doc" calls out Marty to film the time machine's first test. and of course, given that it was made in the 80's the time machine was fashionably encased in a DMC Delorian. But of course, as it so often happens in movies, the test does not go as planned, and Marty is sent back to 1955 without enough power to get back to 1985. But he runs into complications when he runs into his future mother and her family, well, it's more like they run into him. Anyway, things get complicated when his mother, now just a teenager, falls in love with Marty, not knowing that he's actually her son from the future. But by doing so, Marty has accidentally changed the past in where his mother does not fall in love with his father like she was supposed to. So he has to unite the two of them before he ceases to exist. Not to mention, he has to somehow find a way to get back to the future. Enter young "Doc."

In the second film, Marty and his girlfriend are brought to the future to fix a problem that risks his family. But things go bad when future Biff (played by Thomas F. Wilson) a long time rival of Marty McFly, steals the time machine and goes back to the past and gives his past self an almanac that documents the results of all of the major sporting events in the time to come. Marty McFly returns to his hometown that is very different from what he remembers thanks to the changes in the timeline caused when Biff becomes the richest and most powerful person in the country. Can Marty and Doc go back and change things back to the way they were?

In the third, and last, film, future Doc is accidentally sent back in time to an unknown time. But Marty receives a letter that was postmarked back in the 1800's and has specific instructions not to be delivered until that time and place. Given that Doc knew the time and place when he was accidentally sent back, it was pretty clear that Doc was indeed sent back into the 1800's. The letter states that Doc is living a happy life where he is and would actually like to stay put. But Marty finds out that Doc actually is violently killed shortly after the date he wrote that letter. So him and present day Doc dig up the time machine, which has been sitting there since the 1800's, and gets it to work again so Marty can go back and prevent the Doc that was sent back in time from being killed. But the problem is, the Delorean's fuel tank is punctured and now it is out of fuel. Marty and Doc now needs to find a way to get the Delorean running again before they are both stranded in the 1800's.

The Back to the Future movies are all comedies and are great fun movies to watch. The descriptions might sound confusing, but it's not at all once you watch the movie. It is excellent entertainment for people of all ages. Go check them out.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
Starring (voices): Kevin Conroy, Dana Delany, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Mark Hamill

The animated Batman series aired on the WB for many years. But it slowly became more childish and corny as time went on. I guess they realized that most of the audience are younger children and it didn't need to be as deep as it used to be. Not to mention parents probably preferred it to have less violence. The Mask of the Phantasm was made before all of this changed. In fact, I would have to say that this is probably one of the more violent cartoons I have ever watched. Obviously I don't even count anime because they are just completely, retardedly, and ridiculously over the top. For a cartoon, Mask of the Phantasm has superb voice acting, a pretty gripping plot, good sound effects, basically all of the things you would expect from a big budget movie, but in a cartoon. This one was definitely not meant for kids.

In Mask of the Phantasm, there is a mysterious vigilante on the loose, killing off members of the mafia left and right. When the vigilante is mistaken for Batman, the police go on a massive manhunt to bring down the very person who has been dedicated to keeping Gotham safe. Batman must now try to bring down the mysterious vigilante to clear his own name. But the plot thickens when it turns out that there is a tie between the mob and the Joker and that the Joker is the next target of the vigilante. What starts out as a search for the vigilante boils down to an incredible showdown between Batman and his number one rival, The Joker.

If you haven't read any of the comics or the graphic novels, The Mask of the Phantasm finally gives fans of the animated Batman series a glimpse of how it all started. It also introduces a previously unseen romance element into Bruce Wayne's life. This movie is a very good watch whether you're familiar with the back-story of the animated Batman series or as a stand-alone movie. Check out this movie, in case you don't remember when animated movies had more animation and less computers this will bring back memories, lol. Mark Hamill of Star Wars fame does the voice of the Joker as he has always done in the animated series. And in my opinion, it would have been interesting if he would have played the Joker in the Batman movie, but I guess he doesn't have the right look, but the voice would have brought back fond memories of the animated series that I have watched for years back in the day.
Batman Collection DVD 3-Pack (Mask of the Phantasm / SubZero / Return of the Joker)

The Incredibles (2004) Trailer
Starring (voices): Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Spencer Fox, Sarah Vowell

Imagine a world where super hero powers and super heroes are a normal part of society. Enough so that politics and laws actually involve super hero rights and regulations. The Incredibles is completely done in CG animation by Pixar/Disney. It is a very cute story revolving around a superhero family and even involves the normal family drama, with super hero powers thrown into it. Teenage kids rebel against their parents, parents argue about stupid things, the only difference being that the neighbors would know that something got out of hand when the house is lifted off its foundation or turns invisible or something, haha. Anyway, it is a funny family movie that is suitable for people of all ages.
The Incredibles (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

Cars (2006) Trailer
Starring (voices): Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Larry The Cable Guy

Cars in this movie are not controlled by humans, in fact, humans are not even in the story. Every role is filled by some kind of vehicle, who all have personalities of their own. The story revolves around Lightning McQueen (Obviously named after the legendary actor Steve McQueen), who seems to think that the world revolves around him as well. He is a NASCAR... car, who is used to being in the spotlight and lives off the excitement of adoring fans. However, on the last race of the championship, McQueen ends up in the first ever 3-way tie. Now they have to travel cross-country to race in the first ever tiebreaker race between the three cars. Along the way, Lightning McQueen falls out of his trailer and subsequently gets lost in the middle of nowhere. He stumbles into a small rundown town and from there, is a tale of culture clash as Mr. Big Shot meets ordinary small town mentality.
Cars (Widescreen Edition)

Finding Nemo (2003) Trailer
Starring (voices): Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe

One of the most popular of the CG animated films done by Pixar; Finding Nemo is a family film about fish and other wildlife in our oceans. Marlin is a clownfish who is the father of Nemo. Marlin is overprotective of his son Nemo since he is Marlin's only child. When Nemo is finally old enough to go to school, he is anxious to finally go out and see new things. But upon doing so, Nemo is captured by some divers and has become the newest addition to a dentist's fish tank. Meanwhile, Marlin goes on a quest to find his son Nemo. On the way, he runs into another fish, Dory who is eager to help Marlin find his son, but suffers from short-term memory loss. Finding Nemo is a hilarious family movie that is appropriate for all ages.
Finding Nemo (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

Kindergarten Cop (1990)
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Penelope Ann Miller, Pamela Reed, Richard Tyson

Arnold Schwarzenegger is best known for the action movies he has been in. Whether he's blowing up cars as the Terminator or chopping people as Conan. But there's a side of Arnold that a lot of people are fond of, and that is his comedic side. Kindergarten Cop is one of my favorite Arnold comedies.

Arnold plays Detective John Kimble, a police detective that has been chasing down Cullen Crisp, a notorious criminal played by Richard Tyson. Right when he thinks he has a case against him to put him away for murder, the main witness is executed. Now free and back on the streets, Crisp goes to a small town in search for his son. His ex-wife, played by Penelope Ann Miller, had run away with his son after changing their identities in an attempt to hide from her crazy ex-husband Crisp. Now Detective Kimble and his new partner Detective Phoebe O'Hara (played by Pamela Reed) has to go to that town to try to find his ex-wife before he does. But in order to do so, Kimble must disguise himself as a substitute teacher in the elementary school where Crisp's son is said to attend.

But as a cop, Det. Kimble is used to beating up thugs and shooting down bad guys dead. He has no experience in dealing with kids. Being gentle is not is forte.

Twins (1988) Trailer
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, Kelly Preston, Chloe Webb

Twins is another great Arnold comedy. Arnold stars with Danny DeVito, surprisingly as twins. They obviously look like they have absolutely nothing in common and in terms of everything from looks, physical shape, and even ethics and morals they are polar opposites, but that's what makes this film funny.

Arnold plays Julius Benedict and Danny DeVito plays Vincent Benedict. They are twins separated at birth. Julius was raised in a remote island, learning everything from books and having no contact with the outside world. Physically strong, mentally fit, and morally straight he embarks to the big city to look for his long lost twin brother. Vincent was raised in the city, learning that in order to get what you need, you need to be selfish and cheat your way through life. The two of them get together and they decide to take a road trip together. Julius thinks it's to go in search of their long lost mother, but Vincent has his own agenda.

Twins is a hilarious story about the ultimate culture clash as Julius encounters things like crime, lies, betrayal, and even love for the first time in his life.

Innerspace (1987)
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan

Innerspace takes the concept introduced to the masses by Fantastic Voyage (1966) and turns it into a very funny comedy starring Dennis Quaid as Lt. Tuck Pendleton and Martin short as Jack Putter. But if you're unfamiliar with Fantastic Voyage, the concept basically is that if you can develop a technology where you can miniaturize people so they actually can be injected into another person, that you can perform medical procedures from the inside out and can have a first-hand view of exactly what is going on. The effects in the movie are not bad for its time. And while it might be showing its age, you always know what is going on so they serve their purpose well.

Jack Putter is the typical loser, working a stressful minimum wage job, too timid to actually approach a girl, living in a run down apartment which he's probably late in rent in, basically, Putter needs a vacation, and he intends on going on one.

Lt. Tuck Pendleton, on the other hand, is a military officer who has the life. Tough guy, gorgeous girlfriend (played by Meg Ryan), badass car, and now he will be the first human to be miniaturized with such a technology. But it all goes wrong when "Tuck" ends up being injected into Putter instead of the rabbit as intended by the test. Now with the help of Tuck, Jack Putter has to try to get things fixed out before it's too late.

Crocodile Dundee (1986)
Starring: Paul Hogan, Linda Kozlowski, John Meillon

The first Crocodile Dundee movie was purely a "fish out of water" or culture shock movie with a love story mixed in, while the second one was an attempt at a kind of comedy-action. The first one is definitely the best one, but the second one was pretty entertaining as well and is a nice bonus if you're a fan of the first. The third installment, on the other hand, was just someone's attempt at capitalizing on the Crocodile Dundee name, throwing together a very typical "like father like son" type story while every once in a while they will throw in a famous Crocodile Dundee tagline in there. It was more-or-less turned into a cheesy children's movie, which is not at all a good thing.

In Crocodile Dundee, Paul Hogan plays Mick Dundee who lives in a small remote town out in Australia’s "outback." While Linda Kozlowski plays Sue Charlton, an ambitious reporter for a big time newspaper in the city that never sleeps. She heard of a story about a man who was viciously attacked by a crocodile out in the middle of the outback but managed to survive a long and slow journey back to town. She wanted to travel out to this town to do a story on this guy, because she felt that a story outside of New York and about someone who's very different than they're used to will be a good story for the newspaper. When she gets there, she decides to do the story on how Mick Dundee can adjust to life in the big city.

The thing I really like about Crocodile Dundee is that they managed to make fun of almost every aspect of big city mentality and show you how small town practical thinking is more logical and less perverse. Most people while watching this won't catch this, but it definitely makes a statement.
The Crocodile Dundee Triple Feature (Crocodile Dundee I-III)

Tombstone (1993)
Starring: Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Michael Biehn, Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton

There is a lot of controversy behind the story of Tombstone. It was inspired by the infamous shootout at the OK Corral by the legendary Wyatt Earp and his brothers (with Doc Holliday tagging along). Some people say that the men Earp killed at that showdown were actually unarmed at the time and they were basically ambushed. But I say armed or unarmed those people have probably killed many other people in more ruthless ways, so I have no sympathy for them either way. Tombstone has a great cast with Kurt Russell playing Wyatt Earp, Sam Elliott as Virgil Earp, Bill Paxton as Wyatt's brother Morgan Earp, Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday, and Michael Biehn as Johnny Ringo, a villain for once. Even Charlton Heston makes an appearance as Henry Hooker in the film.

Tombstone tells the story of Wyatt Earp and his brothers trying to retire from a life of being lawmen to a town called Tombstone. They wish to settle down with their wives and start businesses and just earn money and live happily. But those plans go down the drain when the town is taken hostage by a large criminal gang calling themselves "The Cowboys." The resulting lawlessness of the town forces Virgil to take a stand and assume the position of sheriff. I guess the lawman inside of him couldn't stand to see the town go up in flames like it was headed. And of course, his brothers including Wyatt couldn't just let him do it on his own. This all leads up to the infamous shootout at the OK Corral. But such a stand against the "Cowboys" would not be left without an attempt at payback.

Tombstone might seem kind of long, but it's very good from beginning to end. I would have to say that the movie plays out in 3 parts, their arrival, them taking a stand against "The Cowboys," and then the fallout. The ending is quite satisfactory, lol.

3:10 to Yuma (2007) Trailer
Starring: Christian Bale, Russell Crowe, Logan Lerman, Ben Foster

This movie is a remake of a much older movie of the same name. I'm not much of a Western fan, strange considering I'm a Country music fan, so I have not seen the original and have no idea how they compare. I saw this because it got very good reviews from a lot of people, so I figure I'll give it a try. Christian Bale plays Dan Evans, a gimped war veteran who lives on rented land with a family that does not respect him while Russell Crowe plays Ben Wade, an infamous murderer, robber, and gang leader. Two completely different people from different worlds come together in this film.

Ben Wade and his gang are notorious for holding up trains and carriages and then robbing them clean and most likely killing anyone who gets in their way. When Wade is caught in town, Dan Evans steps up to join the party that was hastily formed to bring Wade to the train station to try to catch the 3:10 train to Yuma prison where he will be brought to justice. The problem is, Ben Wade is an escape artist and his gang are hard at work catching up to them to try to free their boss. Eager to gain the respect from his family, Dan refuses to back down even when it seems the odds are against him and everyone else has already either given up or have been killed. He intends to get him to the train in time or die trying.

3:10 to Yuma is a mix of an action western with a drama showing what a man is willing to do to win the respect of his family and to provide for them. The owner of the land is trying to evict him and his family from the property so he can sell that patch to the railroad company for a lot of money. So while at first it seems his motivation to help them bring Ben Wade to the train station is get the money needed to pay to keep his land, by the end you realize that it goes much deeper than that. The acting in this film is top notch, and I am definitely glad I decided to watch it even though I'm usually not into Westerns.

Quigley Down Under (1990) Trailer
Starring: Tom Selleck, Laura San Giacomo, Alan Rickman

Tom Selleck has starred in several Western movies. Although most of them are usually made for tv, primarily TNT tv movies, this one was made for the big screen. It has a very different style from typical Westerns for many reasons. For one thing, it doesn't even take place in America. Also, it doesn't take place in some rundown ghost town, or some gold rush pit stop like with most Western movies. Also, the main character doesn't go around drawing a pistol everywhere. Instead, the main character, for the most part, relies on the use of a 45-110 double trigger single shot rifle, most of the time at extreme long range. And you see a lot of open rolling country and deserts instead of the ghost towns. And instead of American Indians, you see the aborigine. It is also quite humorous, but with a serious plot that drives it along. But you can't hide Tom Selleck's sense of humor.

In Quigley Down Under, Matthew Quigley is a legendary rifle marksman from the USA. He is goes to Australia after a wealthy land owner there offers him a well-paying job which he assumed was shooting wild animals that threatened the land owner's live stock. The wealthy landowner, Elliott Marston, is played by none other than Alan Rickman. Best known as Hans Gruber from the first Die Hard movie. Yet again he plays the primary villain. When Quigley gets there, he finds out that Marston wants to hire him to kill off the aborigine people from his land. Of course, Quigley wants to have nothing to do with that, but his way of telling him no is by beating the crap out of him and throwing him out of the window. But I guess anyone who suggests something like that deserves all of that and more. I guess Quigley thinks the same.

Of course Marston's men don't take kindly to this. Beaten up and left for dead in the middle of nowhere, Quigley fights to survive and decides he needs to do something about Marston and his men before they murder any more of the aborigine people.

It is kind of like a Western version of a sniper movie. Except Quigley is not using any kind of optics, just good old fashion iron sights. The rifle he uses in the movie is actually a legendary rifle for its accuracy at its time. It can probably still hold its own today if it can be modernized for today's ammunition. The rifle itself is precise enough, but ammunition plays just as big of a role in a rifle's accuracy as the rifle itself. And ammunition technology has improved a great deal since those days.

United 93 (2006) Trailer

When this movie was first announced, I worried that it was just going to be someone trying to capitalize on a tragic event. As the name suggests, this movie is the story of United Flight 93, the 4th airliner that was hijacked on 11-September-2001 that was headed toward Washington, but crashed in a field just short of it because the passengers decided to fight back against the hijackers. Even though they themselves didn't survive, they prevented the deaths of countless more lives at wherever the target building was. All three of the other hijacked aircraft reached their target. One flew into the Pentagon and the other two brought down the World Trade Center north and south towers. I hope that this has become a lesson to anyone in the future facing the same situation that you have to resist the acts of terrorism. Backing down or not acting is just teaching them that they can get away with it.

One of my main concerns besides the concern that this movie was looking to capitalize on that event was that they would romanticize everything like "based on a true story" movies tend to do. They take some of the general facts, and then give it the Hollywood treatment where everything everybody say or do have to be dramatic and completely unrealistic. This is something that "World Trade Center" does, but luckily, United 93 does not do this at all. The way they accomplish this is they don't hire any big name actors, and a lot of the roles are actually played by the actual person, not an actor. This keeps the reactions real because these are the actual air traffic controllers, the actual military personnel responding to the incident, etc. It was done so well that at times you forget you're watching a movie and you actually think that you're seeing real footage from inside Flight 93.

The directing and the camera work in this movie are superb and it was very emotional to watch it all done over so realistically. Some people thought that a movie like this shouldn't be made, but I think that it does. I think people need to remember, and a great film like this helps us keep it in our mind. I think it is wrong to just take the easy route and try to forget. Sure it's easier emotionally to just forget, but that does not help prevent this from happening again and does not serve these brave people who gave their lives justice. We need to remember the heroes of Flight 93, the firefighters, law enforcement officers, and port authority officers who continued to climb the WTC towers while everyone else is trying to get down and out of trouble. Especially those who kept going up the north tower when the other one already collapsed.
United 93 (Two-Disc Special Edition)

The Unit (2006 - ?)
Starring: Dennis Haysbert, Scott Foley, Max Martini, Robert Patrick, Michael Irby, Demore Barnes

This is a new show that tried to make an action tv series different by showing two stories at once. The story of the trigger-pullers out in the field doing their work, and the stories of their wives waiting at home not knowing when their husbands are sent on a mission if they will ever see them alive again. In the beginning, it was a pretty decent and unique concept, but after a while, the wives story just got dumber and dumber. While it is my favorite show on television now, I feel that if it didn't have the wives in it, it would probably be twice as good. The thing I like about the show is that they try to make the action somewhat believable. They use real tactics and their movements and gun handling is very good. Bob Brown is probably the worst of the actors in terms of gun handling, but it's still not half as bad as the best of most other action shows.

The premise of the show is that Colonel Thomas Ryan, played by Robert Patrick (best known as the T1000 in Terminator 2), commands top secret Army special forces unit that operates all around the world covertly doing jobs that we are technically not allowed to do. The Unit is recapturing hijacked planes, taking down terrorist cells in the USA and abroad, recovering stolen Stinger missiles, recovering top-secret material, capturing political prisoners, and all of that good stuff. Meanwhile, their wives live on base and have to live the cover that their husbands are part of a logistical studies unit that are technically not even a combat unit.

The leader of alpha team, SgtMaj. Jonas Blane, is played by Dennis Haysbert (Navy SEALs, HEAT, Jarhead, All State Insurance guy, 24). He has been in the Army probably for most of his life and is fighting to keep from retiring. The newest member of the team, Bob Brown (played by Scott Foley), struggles to be accepted into the close knit Unit. Brown is put to the test in the first episode in a trial by fire when a plane is hijacked. With superior training on their side, the Unit will overcome overwhelming odds in every episode.

The thing I love the most about this show, is how the action is intense but surprisingly believable. While one can argue that in combat, all it takes is one lucky shot to kill even the most well-trained operator, they make the action believable because they at least show the effort to at least perform the fundamentals and tactics correctly. Unlike other action shows and movies where the protagonists are shooting wildly on full auto, holding their firearms COMPLETELY wrong, and somehow still able to land pin-point accurate shots, in The Unit, they at least pretend like their firearms have some recoil since shooting blanks generally have little to no recoil, thus why movie actors seem to be able to fire them so effortlessly. Give most of them a real firearm and it'll knock them to their ass because their posture is all wrong, lol. On certain episodes, they've even employed the use of grenades and claymores in a semi-realistic fashion.

It is not at all completely realistic, but they put in the effort to at least appear to be. And compared to other action shows on television, it is FAR more realistic than anything else currently on.
The Unit - The Complete Second Season

Stargate SG-1 (1997 - 2007)
Starring: Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, Michael Shanks

Rarely is there a show that is based on a movie that turns out to be good. Even more rare is when that show not only is good but is actually better than the movie it is based on. I believe this is true for Stargate SG-1. The original premise of the Stargate movie really didn't make a whole lot of sense if you really think about it. I really liked the movie, I'm a big Kurt Russell fan, but that's just the truth. For some reason, they built some complicated device able to artificially create a wormhole through space just to transport slaves from Earth to this foreign planet. First of all, if transporting large numbers of people was the goal, why wasn't the stargate much larger than it is? Also, why go through all of that trouble building something so complicated and it can only go to ONE place? What a waste of time and effort, the aliens should have just transported the slaves aboard their space ships.

Based on this reality, the show would have been pretty boring, there can only be so many episodes based on the one planet it was meant to go to. That's why in order for the show to work they had to change the story around a little. According to the show, the stargate symbols are not part of a combination lock system, but are actually like keys on a telephone, different combinations lead to different places. Another major change is an expected one: the casting. The only characters to carry over from the movie to the series are Dr. Daniel Jackson, now played by Michael Shanks, and Colonel Jack O'Neill, now played by Richard Dean Anderson. Several other characters made some appearances throughout the show, but are not really significant characters for the show.

Colonel Jack O'Neill's character got a complete overhaul in the show thanks to Richard Dean Anderson. Anderson is pretty much a clown in real life; even his cell phone ringtone is circus music. No, I'm not joking. But despite his relentless sense of humor, Richard Dean Anderson is actually a higher learned actor actually attending acting school unlike so many of these pretty-boy celebrities that only got famous because of their looks. His acting skill is unquestionable and there is ample opportunity in the show for him to display this. Aside from the jokes, the premise of the show is of a very serious nature and there are some very deep episodes with deep meaning. The special effects and pyrotechnics are also very decent for a tv series. Often times in sci-fi shows, they use far too many contrasting colors and things look far too outrageous and the result is some really hokey prop and set designs and corny characters. Stargate SG-1 does not suffer from this.

Stargate SG-1 starts off when the stargate comes to life unexpectedly one day and poses a new threat to the security of planet Earth. So they revitalize the