To give you some idea of where I'm coming from I firmly believe that all great movies have a headbutt in them. That's not to say that all movies with a headbutt in them are great but to get the highly coveted Aaron Blaylock Great Movie Stamp of Approval it must have a headbutt. Without it the movie can be really good or even really really good, just not great.
In addition a great movie must be quotable. If you can get through a movie without remembering a one liner or an emphatic statement or speech of some sort then it cannot be considered a great movie. Some of my favorite movies have no headbutt whatsoever but they are all quotable.
Alright, so I wouldn't put any of the following movies in my top 10 favorite movies, and none of them are winning any Academy Awards (unless they finally accept my incessant petitioning to create an award for Awesomeness), as a matter of fact I wouldn't even watch them unless they were on TV (for several reasons) but I like them...just because.
The 13th Warrior
An elite group of Viking warriors and an Arab poet take on a hoard of cannibals masquerading as bears. What's not to love?
This movie is filled with great lines and is from start to finish my favorite "guy movie".
My favorite quote is when Herger (a viking) throws a large sword to Eben (the Arab poet whom Herger calls "little brother")
Eben says, "I cannot lift this." Herger jubilantly replies, "Grow stronger."
And then there's this scene The Viking Death Prayer at the end:
Does it get better than that? I submit to you that it does not.
ConAir
Cameron Poe (a cool name by the way) is an Army Ranger who is sent to prison after accidentally killing a man while protecting his wife outside a bar. He is finally being released after years in prison and going home to see his wife and child, who he has never seen because she was born while he was in prison and he didn't want her to see him behind bars. The only problem is his ride home is on a plane full of high level pscychopaths that take over said plane. Poe, who is always in the wrong place at the wrong time, spends the rest of the movie repeatedly saving the day.
One of the subtlety funny things throughout the movie is the bunny that he is bringing home for his daughter; it becomes a point of contention several times with a couple of different bad guys. Leading to several unintentionally funny lines. "Put the bunny back in the box.", "Why couldn't you just put the bunny back in the box?" and "Make a move and the bunny gets it!"
John Malkovich is an outstanding lunatic in this movie and is the mastermind behind the plot to take over the plane. He is also very funny. Observe:
Soldier
A futurist society in which children are selected at birth and trained to be emotionless killing machines. Todd (played by Kurt Russell) and his fellow soldiers are replaced and discarded by the army in favor of genetically bread super-soldiers. Todd is abandoned on an isolated planet and taken in by a peaceful settlement of crash survivors. Just as he is expelled from the settlement because of their fear of him the army arrives on a training mission with the super-soldiers. Todd quickly returns to protect the settlement and in the process get even with the army.The best line in the movie is as he prepares to engage these super-soldiers the woman who took him in says, "What are you going to do?" He replies, "I'm going to kill them all, sir." Good stuff.
Cobra
This is a wonderfully horrible movie. However, I have to include this movie for Stallone's glasses and toothpick alone.
Throw in the car and I start to waver on my stringent headbutt rule. This movie is grrrr...I can't do it. This movie is not even good but I've seen it (too ashamed to include the actual number) times.
As for quotables, all you have to say around me and the friends I grew up with to get us going is "Pretty hair." Classic.
The only thing these movies have in common is the schlub who can sit down and watch them pretty much whenever they are on...just because.
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