Cliffhanger (1993)

A late entry in the High Eighties era of action films, Cliffhanger is a highly entertaining popcorn flick starring Sylvester Stallone as a mountain rescue climber. Still recovering from a tragic accident, Sylvester Stallone is asked to return to mountain climbing to help his ex-friend Michael Rooker (screaming his way through the picture as usual) as they get caught up in an air-to-air (very impressive stunt) heist gone wrong. The crowning achievement of the picture, though, is John Lithgow's loony performance as the villain Eric Qualen--a performance that is 10% menacing and 90% hilarious. I love Lithgow's performance in all its fake-British-accent, tongue-wagging, eyes-bugging glory. Falling off cliffs, knifings, shootings, fist fights, stalactitings, exaggerated explosions, and other fatal lapses in logic (where did they get C4... twice?) are the bread and butter of Cliffhanger, but what tasty bread and butter it is.

8/10

PS: Stallone's mouth sags even when he is hanging upside down.

Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, The (1984)

The film follows the adventures of Peter Weller as the multi-talented captain of a crew of kooky characters. With a great supporting cast consisting of Jeff Goldblum, John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, and Clancy Brown, one would think nothing could go wrong, but the film makes so many off-the-wall decisions with its plot and characters that you end up with one big mess. It has everything going for it, colorful characters, great actors, great 80s special effects, a unique concept, and a good soundtrack, but unfortunately it's missing a cohesiveness and focus that left me more confused than entertained.

6/10