One Million Years B.C.
Prehistoric drama, with Raquel Welch.
The Phantom of the Opera
Definitely not the Broadway musical!
On the Buses
One of Hammer’s rare comedies.
Next: British “Carry On” movies
Carry On Sergeant
The first such, in 1958
Carry On Henry
Henry VIII’s two additional wives?!?
Carry On Columbus
Last in the series, 1992
Next up:
Serious movies about explorers
I’m not sure what exactly “serious” means in the prompt, but assuming that it means fictional dramas and reality-based documentaries, then here goes …
The Time Machine (1960)
Victorian Englishman explores the future.
The Wildest Dream
Mallory, Everest, answers some questions.
Friends of Kim
North Korea and disillusioned Westerners.
Next (and let’s keep things simple for now):
Tom Cruise movies
Born on the Fourth of July
Patrioc Kovic is Vietnam casualty.
Risky Business
Junior Achievers start brothel project.
Top Gun
Essentially, Navy pilots’ recruiting film.
Oh-- Next-- hmm. Back in a minute.
Hollywood films with a Russian chatracter who isn’t the villain
Ninotchka
Russian character learns Western ways.
Silk Stockings
Ninotchka, this time, a musical.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Chekov. Need I say more?
Next: Walt Disney live-action pictures
The Apple Dumpling Gang
Knotts and Conway buddy vehicle
The Strongest Man in the World
Breakfast cereal makes you strong
The Love Bug
It’s about Herbie, not herpes
Next: Movies that combined animation with live action
Mary Poppins
Van Dyke and dancing penguins.
Anchors Aweigh
Gene Kelly, mouse Jerry, dancing.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Famous toons interact with humans.
Next: Movies about college life
Animal House
Emil knew: “Knowledge is Good”
The Lords of Discipline
Integrating military academy ain’t easy
Love Story
Preppy, beauty fall in love
Next up:
Movies set all or mostly on the beach
Beach Blanket Bingo
Cries of ‘Hey! Surf’s up!’
Old
Talk about sun-related afflictions
Cast Away
Tom Hanks goes all ASMR
Next: Movies set in space
2001: A Space Odyssey
Groundbreaking? Exciting? Slow? All three?
Starship Troopers
Poor adaptation of Heinlein novel.
Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone
Awful. Don’t waste your time.
Next: On the Job (Movies about working)
Norma Rae
“One syllable words are better.”
Risky Business
Junior Achievement achieves too much.
9 to 5
The days before Anita Hill.
NEXT: Women in non-traditional roles (for the time or the setting of the film).
La Femme Nikita
Young criminal becomes highly-trained assassin.
First Monday in October
First woman joins Supreme Court.
Pope Joan
Apocryphal first (only?) female pontiff
Next up:
Fish-out-of-water comedies
Crocodile Dundee
“What? That’s not a knife.”
Coming to America
Fictional African prince mops floors
Sleeper
Some pretty cool cars here
Next: Black (dark) comedies
To Be Or Not to Be
You must see 1942 version.
Goodbye Lenin!
Reconstructing East Germany (for Mama).
Motel Hell
“Meat’s meat…man’s gotta eat!”
NEXT: Movies that gave us neologisms or other types of descriptive phrases.
Jaws
“Need a bigger boat? Why?”
The Godfather
You can’t refuse his offer.
Jerry Maguire
“You had me at hello.”
Next: Favourite Looney Tunes cartoons
(They’re technically movies, just a lot shorter than features.)
Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24 1/2th Century (1980)
Daffy meets Marvin the Martian
Fast and Furry-ous (1949)
Debut of the Road Runner
Herr Meets Hare (1945)
First ‘Left turn at Albuquerque’
Next: Movies with early comedy duos
The Lucky Dog
Laurel and Hardy’s first (1921)
One Night in the Tropics
Abbott and Costello’s first (1940)
Road to Singapore
Hope and Crosby’s (also 1940)
Next up:
Films with dangerous robots
Metropolis
Making false Maria still cool.
Alien
Ash is an evil plant.
Terminator
The ultimate in evil robots.
NEXT: Movies with Marys (or Marias or Maries)
There’s Something About Mary
She uses unusual hair gel
Hail Mary
The Nativity: Modern French retelling
Mary, Mary
Based on Jean Kerr play
Next:
Three good movies for Americans on Independence Day
Independence Day
Smith and Goldblum fight aliens
Red Dawn
Wolverines! Attack! Defeat the Russians!
Glory
Freed slaves fight the Confederacy
Next: Aliens versus us