5.Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Still the biggest and best Terminator movie to date, Judgement Day cemented James Cameron as the "king of the world" when it coms to massive blockbuster spectaculars. What's even more amazing is that he forever cemented Ed Furlong into the annals of cinematic history. I might be fudging a little bit on this one, as only one major scene takes place in a mall, but the standoff between Arnold Scwarzenegger's T-100 and the more advanced, liquid metal T-1000 still gives me chills. There may not be a more perfect action movie than T2.
4. Career Opportunities
(1991)This actually takes place in a Target, but if you were a 14 year old boy like I was when this came out then chances are you're a fan of this flick too. Why? Probably because of scenes like these...
I never wanted to be an electric pony so bad in my life. Written by the great master of teen comedy, John Hughes, this is one of his lesser known flicks but it has just as much heart and raw emotion as the rest of them. This role so defined Frank Whaley for me that I still find it weird to see him now, looking older and a little creepy, in flicks like Vacancy
. 3. Bad Santa
When I look back on Billy Bob Thornton's career I won't see Sling Blade, Monster's Ball, or any of the other great performances he's had. I'll see him hard drinkin', kid hatin', foul mouthed Willie Stokes, without a doubt the worst mall Santa Clause ever. Bad Santa takes so much pleasure out of being crass and vulgar that it's impossible not to get caught up in it. Whether it's jokes about little people, fat people, or deviant sexual acts Bad Santa is just behind A Christmas Story for the best holiday movie ever. The DVD version, titled Badder Santa
, is even more filthy. 2. Dawn of the Dead
(2004)Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames fighting off foul flesh eating zombies in the midst of a shopping mall? Sign me up! The only thing more dangerous than the zombies in this ultra stylized, superior remake of the George Romero classic are the mix of explosive personalities who must band together in order to stay alive. You think it'd be possible to get Snyder(or even Romero) to direct an episode of The Walking Dead? How cool would that be?
1. Mallrats
From the hip comic book opening credits to the cheesy game show finale, Mallrats is easily Kevin Smith's most overtly juvenile flick. It's also probably the most critically reviled, but to me this is fan favorite filmmaker completely unleashed in his pop culture geekiness. Jason Lee and Jeremy London star as two slackers who deal with the usual Kevin Smith triple threat: sex, comics, and Star Wars all while loafing around the local shopping mall. There they meet up with any number of wacky characters, from the bullying hunk trying to steal their girlfriends(Ben Affleck), to a deranged mall Easter bunny, to everybody's favorite pot smokin' hetero-lifemates Jay and Silent Bob. Mallrats may not be Kevin Smith's smartest movie, but it will forever be immortalized by three very important words: "Fly, fat ass, fly!!"
