Rocketeer, The (1991)

The Rocketeer is a fun adventure film from the early 90s that holds up pretty well. Like Dick Tracy, The Shadow, and The Phantom, The Rocketeer has both a period charm and comic book feel to it. You've got Nazis, mobsters, a zeppelin, and Howard Hughes lumped together in a kind of small-town big-conspiracy story about a boy who finds a secret rocket-pack and tries to protect his friends and the rocket from falling into the wrong hands. The actors are all top-notch, with Alan Arkin playing Billy Campbell's mentor/partner and Timothy Dalton playing a sneering, snobbish (but dreamy) movie actor. Jennifer Connelly is stunning, especially in that white dress at the South Seas club. The special effects are done quite well. Five years later, Schwarzenegger would don a jet pack like the one in this film, but the effects don't look nearly as good in Jingle All the Way as they do here. A great film for kids, but also enjoyable for the adults.

7/10