Cody's Top 30 Favorite Movies of All-Time: #11 - Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

I love stuff from the 1980s, that goes without saying. Quite frankly, you can't get any more 1980s than Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. In fact, a two part retrospect on Bill & Ted movies is how this blog first started.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure follows two high school surfer stoners, Bill S. Preston Esq. (Alex Winter) and Ted "Theodore" Logan (Keanu Reeves). These two dimwit hopeful musicians are in danger of failing history class by their teacher Mr. Ryan, who tells them "If you don't get an A on your final history report, I'm flunking the both of you". Worse news is that if Ted flunks, his father is sending him to Oats Military Academy, thus destroying Bill and Ted's future as a powerhouse of metal. What Bill and Ted don't know is just how influential their music will become, when a good samaritan named Rufus (George Carlin) travels back in time from 2688 AD to give Bill and Ted a time-traveling phone booth to help them complete their history report, else the entirety of the future will crumble when Bill and Ted don't form their band and change the course of time. As Rufus puts it, Bill and Ted's future music "will align the planets and bring forth universal harmony, allowing meaningful communication with all forms of life."

What follows is watching Bill and Ted travel to the Old West, Ancient Greece, Medieval England, Austria, Germany, and even 1863 USA. Rather than study the past, Bill and Ted take it upon themselves to capture or "borrow" rather historical figures from their time periods and bring them to present-day 1988 San Dimas, California. They capture everyone! Billy the Kid, Napoleon Bonaparte, Socrates, Joan of Arc, Genghis Khan, Beethoven, Sigmund Freud and Abraham Lincoln. At the end of the day, the bring these historical figures to their school and each one gives a speech relating their time period's to San Dimas's. The whole movie even climaxes with Abraham Lincoln telling people in the audience to "Be Excellent to Each Other and PARTY ON, DUDES!" in perhaps one of the greatest speeches Abraham Lincoln ever gave in the entirety of his political career.

Another point of pride in the movie is the soundtrack. It went full-on 80s hair metal with a few pop hits thrown in there and each song in the movie is poignant, notable and welcome. From Big Pig's "I Can't Break Away", Vital Signs' cover of "The Boys and the Girls Are Doing It", and Shark Island's "Father Time" to Robbi Robb's "In Time" and Power Tool's "Two Heads are Better Than One", the soundtrack is absolutely beautiful (wipes away heavy metal tear). Please do yourself a favor and give Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure a watch. You don't have to watch Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, but if you want to, that one's fun too. Just in a different way.

Cody's Top 30 Favorite Movies of All-Time: #12 - Ghostbusters

Coming to us is another fabled comedy movie not inspired by an SNL sketch, but written by and starring some of SNL's most famous alumni.

Ghostbusters shows us how the occult can be funny. How three scientists form a business in downtown New York for the sole purpose of hunting and catching ghosts. After their jobs as paranormal studies professors at Columbia University falls through, Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) and Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) each take it upon themselves to open up a ghost-busting business in New York City, dubbing themselves "Ghostbusters". The movie takes you one a ride as they have a montage of catching ghosts, showing the world that yes indeed ghosts exist and these are the guys to call if you hear or see anything spooky in your house, just as the lyrics to the theme song say. "If there's something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!" Standard run of the mill ghosts fill their time and manpower...

...but while that's going on, a greater evil manifests itself in the bowels of one New York apartment building on 55 Central Park West. Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) finds an evil presence in her refrigerator. Soon, two hell hounds of unspeakable horror come to life: Vinz Clortho, the Keymaster and Zuul, the Gatekeeper. Together, the two will meet and unleash the power of Gozer, the Gozerian. The two hounds possess Dana and Louis Tully (Rick Moranis) and meet up on the roof of 55 Central Park West, allowing Gozer the Gozerian to be revived. With the help of fourth Ghostbuster Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), the Ghostbusters walk onto the roof, do battle with evil and vanquish Gozer in his newest form: that of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.

Obviously, this movie is a classic simply for its star power. Each one of the guys in this movie has gone on to do other great things. I mean, Bill Murray needs no introduction whatsoever. If you don't know who Bill Murray is then you're living under a rock...a very big and dense rock. Harold Ramis would direct National Lampoon's Vacation not just a year before this movie was released. Aykroyd would have a storied career playing several memorable characters, both main and supporting. Ernie Hudson would go on to roughly do the same thing, to the point where you can point him out and say "That's Ernie Hudson!" Then Sigourney Weaver would go on to star in probably one of the greatest sequels ever made in Aliens. Rick Moranis would have one of the most storied comedy careers imaginable before disappearing from the limelight by choice later on in life. Even Annie Potts would go on to voice Bo Peep in the Toy Story movies.

Give Ghostbusters a watch. I love it for its comedy, its science-fiction representation and its somewhat spooky atmosphere. Not "scary" spooky, just "commedically toned" spooky.

Cody's Top 30 Favorite Movies of All-Time: #13 - Wayne's World

It's definitely one of the top most quotable movies of all time, and frequently thought of as one of the greatest comedy films ever made, all coming from a simple SNL sketch that showed two guys doing a celebrity talk show in the basement of one of their moms'.

Wayne's World follows Wayne Campbell and his best friend Garth Algar as they put on "Wayne's World", a talk show that they shoot every night in Wayne's mother's basement. The show dictates goofy antics, woman mooning, weird salutes and oddball monologues. The show opens rather notoriously with "WAYNE's WORLD! WAYNE's WORLD! PARTY TIME! EXCELLENT!" as Wayne plays guitar and Garth slaps his knees with his drum sticks.

The movie adapts the SNL sketch by giving it a plot. There's a nefarious TV show executive named Benjamin who wants to purchase the show to sell it to Noah Vanderhoff, a top-rated personality and arcade game entrepenur, responsible for creating "Noah's Arcade". Meanwhile, Wayne and Garth continue doing the show small-time out of Wayne's mother's basement, ignoring the possible spotlight of fame and fortune. They follow it up with a visit to Stan Mikita's Donut shop followed by a trip to the Gasworks. There, Wayne meets the woman of his dreams in Cassandra, the front woman for a small-time Chicago band looking to get signed. Benjamin also makes a move for Cassandra to sign her band in an effort to fall in love with her. Wayne and Garth fall for Ben's shenanigans and sell their show to him in an effort to go full-time, but Wayne botches it due to his distrust of Ben and his crumbling under the spotlight. In the end, Wayne gets the girl, Garth gets his "dream woman" he knows at the coffee shop, and Cassandra gets her record deal. That's of course one of the endings, as the movie gives you three literal endings to pick from.

The whole movie really must be seen to be believed. It really is notorious with good reason. There's so many in jokes and quotable lines that it's not even necessary to have watched the movie. Get a couple guys who love the movie together and you can practically put on a show for your friends, much to their annoyance or delight. I'd like to do a full, in-depth review of this movie, but it's difficult because it's all over the place, and there's so many memorable scenes that it would be hard to collectively cover them all. From Garth's Jimi Hendrix dream in the donut shop to Wayne getting pulled over by the T-1000 during his search for Cassandra, to the three false endings to the movie...including the "Scooby-Doo" ending. The whole movie is just wild and off the rails, and it's truly one of the best comedies ever made. If you haven't watched it, please do so now. Like honestly...stop what you're doing and do so now. Even if you're outdoors, find a cell tower and jack up your cellular plan's data bill just to enjoy it. You won't regret it. I mean, you might regret the bill but you won't regret the movie.

Cody's Top 30 Favorite Movies of All-Time: #14 - Spaceballs

Oh man, it's the ultimate Star Wars parody. The fourth best Star Wars film, in my own personal opinion. Lol.

Spaceballs comes to us from the talented and warped mind of Mel Brooks, responsible for several other comedy legends such as Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and later  Robin Hood: Men In Tights. He was also known for Dracula: Dead and Loving It, so take that with a mixed blessing. Don't get me wrong, Dracula: Dead and Loving It has it's moments but it's not on par with his original works. Spaceballs is the most notorious among nerdom, for its farce and crazy representation of interstellar hijinks.

Spaceballs follows the citizens of the planet Druidia as they fend off the onslaught of the race of beings known as the "Spaceballs". The Spaceballs are led by Col. Sanders, and the fiendish leader Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis). They both answer to President Skroob, played by Mel Brooks. The three of them plot to kidnap the daughter of Druidia's own King Roland (Dick Van Patten), Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) in order to extort Planet Druidia's fresh air supply for their own. In response to her kidnapping, King Roland hires the courageous duo of Lone Star (Bill Pullman) and his sidekick, Puke (John Candy) to find her and rescue her and her droid, Dot Matrix (Joan Rivers). The movie features this all-star cast in some of their most memorable performances, John Candy and Bill Pullman especially. Brooks double-stars as Yogurt, the wise Schwartz magi who teaches Lone Star how to utilize it, as well as teaching him about his heritage as a Prince.

The reason this movie resonates with me so well is the fact that it's one of those movies I discovered in junior high school, but I also didn't bother watching it again until high school, then rather religiously in college. It's yet another movie that I can quote backwards and forwards, but not quite all the way. Pretty much all the key scenes. "A hundred thousand space bucks?", "How many assholes we got in this ship, anyway?" and various others. Literally every other character as at least one quotable line. Even King Roland. "I'm breathing...air! AIR!" Just one of those movies that resonates with you so well. I guarantee if you watch it, you're going to get a lot of Star Wars related jokes for sure, but you'll also get science fiction jokes...like when John Hurt reprises his role of Kane from Alien when another alien bursts from his chest..."Oh no! Not again!" Give it a watch.

Cody's Top 30 Favorite Movies of All-Time: #15 - Galaxy Quest

Oh man, we've hit the top fifteen. What a strong fifteenth entrant, too!

Galaxy Quest is one of those movies you look at on the store shelf at Blockbuster (if you're old) or scroll through on Netflix (if you're young, or a hip old person) and think "Hmm, wow. This looks cheesy and dumb, I'd better scroll past it". But what you don't realize at that point is just how wrong you are. Galaxy Quest is a parody of Star Trek, the original series with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Not the series itself, no, but of the people who made the series.

Tim Allen plays Jason Nesmith, the William Shatner-esque actor who also has William Shatner's monumental ego that many of the Star Trek actors have stated he had. The late, great Alan Rickman plays Alexander Dane, the Leonard Nimoy-esque proud actor who feels dumb that he's stuck being remembered for a sci-fi role. Sigourney Weaver plays Gwen DeMarco, the Nichelle Nichols character who was once an on-screen love interest of Tim Allen's character. The other actors are Tony Schaloub, Sam Rockwell, and Daryl Mitchell. Enrico Collantoni plays the alien Mathasar, who comes to Earth to recruit the cast of this television series from the 80s to negotiate a surrender with the villanous arthropod alien known as Sarris. Even going so far as to build an scale, functioning real-life replica of their starship, the NESA Protector.

The whole movie is a giant farce quest, but not in the way of several farce movies do. This one actually has clever jokes and humor and puts the characters in a fun situation. I mean, it really makes you think. What would happen if aliens visited Earth and demanded that the cast of Star Trek or The Next Generation help them negotiate the surrender of an angry alien race. Patrick Stewart would probably accept death before leaving Earth to do any more interstellar work. William Shatner would spring his wrinkly butt into action, but none of his costars would enjoy going with him. This sort of conception regarding his relations to his costars is well played here. The other costars are completely oblivious to Jason's stories that aliens found him and tried to recruit him in their game. I would love to hear about George Takei, Walter Koenig, and William Shatner dusting off their phasers and getting back into the swing of things. Except, I doubt any of them would remember how to do anything. I highly recommend if you haven't seen it yet. Quite a fun movie.

Cody's Top 30 Favorite Movies of All-Time: #16 - Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Who here remembers the good times of the early 1980s? No really, because I wouldn't be born for about another decade. Somebody, fill me in.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High is just that all-round 'feel-good' movie. It takes place over the course of one school year at, well, Ridgemont High. The movie follows several characters as their lives are intertwined and they develop from who they are into who they're going to be for the rest of their lives. Several key standouts, like Judge Reinhold as Brad Hamilton is the star fry chef at All-American Burger and dates his high school sweetheart before getting fired and dumped close to the same time. He struggles emotionally as he copes with his new mundane job and works toward trying to finish school on a positive vibe, eventually halting a robbery. The main star is his sister Stacy, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh. She struggles with that female coming-of-age want and need for sexual attention, eventually to the point of having seven-second-sex with her potential lover Mark Ratner's good friend Mike Damone and getting knocked up...you know...as all girls...do? Ehhhhhhh, not the best time for a joke. Poor as it was. I won't spoil how that gets resolved, but ain't pretty.

The stand-out character and the one everyone remembers is Sean Penn as Jeff Spicoli, the stoner-surfer dude who becomes the constant annoyance and chagrin of his US History teacher, Mr. Hand, played by Ray Walston. Mr. Hand keeps track of all of Spicoli's wasted time in class and then on the last school dance of the year, he barges into Spicoli's house and just sits there, getting his wasted time back by studying US History with him in one of the funniest scenes of the movie. This movie isn't just one of Penn's debut acting performances, but remains that way for other now-big-time Hollywood names: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold (as mentioned) but also Forest Whitaker, Eric Stoltz and even Nicolas Cage as a background character, one of Brad's friends. One of those weird movies where every face is recognizable to us, but to people at the time, nobody would know the careers a lot of these guys would come to have.

The movie is very emotional, being one of those teen dramedies. It's part drama and its part comedy, but the funny bits are insanely funny and the emotional bits are insanely tear-jerking and mind-numbing. You really start to put yourself in these characters' shoes and wonder what it would be like if you ran through these messed up scenarios, or if you're older than that you'll flashback in your mind to the time when high school was simpler than the life you've got now and you'll remember with irony how easy all those "difficult" times were compared to how rough you have it now. Wait... I'm the only one that does that? Shit.

Cody's Top 30 Favorite Movies of All-Time: #17 - Spider-Man (2002)

Alright, so after that brief little sabbatical, I need to finish my top thirty countdown that I started some time last year. I'm bad about staying dedicated, lol.

What can I say about Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man in 2002? It's one of the most defining comic book movies ever made. I rank it my personal "Top 3" monolith of comic book movies: 1978's Superman, 1989's Batman and this. The art style is very rich and colorful. It's not all dark and gritty like the DC Movies of today. It's on par with it's own Marvel kind; brightly lit and well-defined. One thing I need to say about the story is just how spotless it is. Green Goblin was chosen as the villain of the film since Sam Raimi wanted the father-son-friend relationship triangle between Norman Osborn, Harry Osborn and Peter Parker. It becomes a very emotionally driven tale when Harry, oblivious to who either person is, has his back turned while his father fights his best friend. All over a girl, too.

The movie was also responsible for giving me my first Hollywood crush in Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson. So there's that. I mean that red hair? Gee-willikers, Radioactive Man...erm...ahem *clears throat* moving on. She does well, except for the whole thing about being there only as eye candy and a damsel in distress. Her character really isn't given a whole lot to do rather than turn two friends against each other and fall in love with three dudes in one picture. Hard to believe why she ends up single after it all...lol. No really, she gets friendzoned. Peter friendzones her ass out of fear she'll get hurt if they start dating. Shrewd move.

The last thing I'll say, since I want to do a full-review some day, is that a lot of the movie is rather adult in nature, and that's what makes it cool. The comic book movies now are pretty tame and you're not going to find these super heroes fighting real-world problems and defending characters from actual grim situations where you can be on the edge of your seat. They're all overpriced live-action cartoons. Superhero movies like this, Batman, and even the Ben Affleck version of Daredevil were all originally written without being based on any one storyline of a comic book, just the source material as a whole. The screenwriters took this source material and came up with a movie for it. I mean come on; there's a scene where Spider-Man saves Mary Jane from attempted rape in the rain...that's pretty unsettling. Green Goblin even makes a passing glance like he's going to rape her in the "Mary Jane and I are going to have a hell of a time" line that sends Peter into frenzy mode. The whole movie's tone is very patriotic to boot, being released some 8-9 months after 9/11 happened in the United States, so the shot at the end with the American flag is no coincidence. I feel like that's why Spider-Man did so well and still resonates like it does with people like me.

Give it a watch if you haven't. Enjoy this free clip, courtesy of me...courtesy of YouTube.