34. Dave, 1993, Himself Heres the pitch: Dave (Kevin Kline), a loser running a temp agency in D.C., is conscripted by the Secret Service into posing as the President of the U.S. of A. (also Kevin Kline) to cover up POTUS extramarital activities. Dave, you see, has a side hustle impersonating the president, which of course makes him the ideal candidate for the job. Its a breezy enough film, charming and sweet like an Aero milk chocolate bar; call it harmless, really, because ultimately Dave functions as a two-hour respite from political reality, and its so lightweight that youll find yourself forgetting everything that happens in it even as you watch the thing unfold. It isnt the worst movie on this list, not by far, but Arnold, playing Arnold, pops up for not even a minute to discourage Kline and a bunch of kids from eating donuts. There's a question as to whether Dave belongs here at all. But Arnolds delightful enough in his blink-and-youll-miss-it moment that Dave demands inclusion, if only just. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube Movieclips Classic Trailers@Youtube
33. Hercules in New York, 1969, Hercules So this is probably the worst movie on the list. Probably. Bad Schwarzenegger films get really bad, and if youre now smirking and raising an eyebrow and saying, Well, but Schwarzenegger has been in lots of bad movies! you likely havent seen Hercules in New York, which makes trash like Sabotage and Red Sonja look like fine cinema. Be fair to Arnie: This is his first movie, shot when he was just in his 20s, roughly a decade and a half before he took the roles that helped make him a star in the 1980s. Its Arnie before Arnie became Arnie. Hell, the movie doesnt even credit him by his name, instead going with Arnold Strong, undoubtedly because strong is just a tad easier to say than Schwarzenegger. And the studio dubbed over him, too! Imagine this thing from Arnolds point of view, and you cant help feeling for the guy. Heres his first starring role, his big break, and the powers that be crapped all over it. Tough way to get started in the industry. Maybe the films badness is a silver lining. Today, audiences dont know about it. Weve forgotten it. That means Schwarzenegger can forget about it, too. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube Vincenzo Channel@Youtube
31. The Villain, 1979, Handsome Stranger Five years after Blazing Saddles parodied the Western genre (while also serving as a functional Western), along comes Hal Needhams The Villain, a movie of similar purpose but with none of Mel Brooks zany wit. Its about as blatant a rip on Brooks as one might imagine, all Western tropes and stereotypes with no real sense of humor, and any humor it does have, it wears out within seconds. I was named after my father, Arnold says any time a character remarks on his very specific name: Handsome Stranger. Its a fine gag, but Needhams film runs it into the ground, much as it runs every single one of its jokes into the ground, and thats assuming they land in the first place. BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube robatsea2009@Youtube
30. Scavenger Hunt, 1979, Lars The one joke accorded Schwarzenegger in this Michael Schultz screwball ensemble is, in all honesty, a pretty good one: In the biggest stretch of his career to date, Arnold plays a gym instructor whose sole role in the whole frigging movie is to knock Tony Randall out of a window with a single toss of a medicine ball. Thats it. Its not a bad joke! It actually works, in large part thanks to Arnolds large body and his unexpected comic timing, a gift he went on to make great use of over the course of his career. But the jokes punchline signals the end of his time on the screen, so its kind of hard to rank Scavenger Hunt any higher. It doesnt help that the movie is, in a word, crummy, two hours of scrubby craftsmanship that verges on homemade. As is so often the case, Arnolds appearance here is a high point, but hes not enough to hold the movie aloft. BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube kalli2@Youtube
29. Red Sonja, 1985, Lord Kalidor What about Conan the Barbarian, but without any of the joy? sums up the essence of Red Sonja pretty handily. Richard Fleischers 1985 sword-and-sorcery movie is ostensibly a follow-up to 1982s Conan the Barbarian and 1984s Conan the Destroyer, but producer Dino De Laurentiis couldnt get his hands on the rights to the property, so the gang had to wing it and have Arnold play Kalidor, the supporting muscle to Brigitte Nielsens lead. Thatd be fine if the film wasnt such a slog. If you want to suck all the life out of a campy fantasy picture, keep all the camp intact but take the story way too seriously, as if youre making a respectable movie rather than a movie where Nielsen fights an evil queen in one-piece swimsuit armor. Schwarzenegger called it the worst movie he ever made, and claimed he used it as a disciplinary measure for when his kids acted out. You think hes kidding? Watch the movie for yourself, and youll see that one viewing alone is punishment enough. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube GBW PODCAST@Youtube
28. The Kid & I, 2005, Himself Maybe ranking a movie made with such pure intentions this low is a one-way ticket to hell. The Kid & Is best recommendation is found in the stuff of its production. Tom Arnold produced this movie on behalf of his neighbors, Alec Gores and his son Eric, who has cerebral palsy and whose favorite film happens to be True Lies. In The Kid & I, Arnolds washed-up actor character gets a gig making a True Lies rip-off. Art and life bleed over into each other a bit, which is theoretically interesting; also theoretically interesting is Penelope Spheeris (director of Waynes World, Suburbia, and all three chapters of The Decline of Western Civilization), who cant do anything with Arnolds writing or mine meaning out of the kindhearted but nepotistic motivation driving the shoot. Schwarzeneggers barely in the movie at all, appearing alongside Jamie Lee Curtis, both playing themselves for no reason other than fan service. Theyre both better off that way. BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube Theodoros@Youtube
27. Sabotage, 2014, Agent John "Breacher" Wharton Theres a lot wrong with Sabotage that has nothing to do with Schwarzeneggerchiefly its direction, courtesy of Suicide Squad patsy David Ayer. But as Schwarzenegger films go, its shockingly inert given its absurd level of violence combined with its obvious and uncomfortable fondness for its absurd level of violence. Describing movie violence as fetishistic is its own kind of fetish, but the action of Sabotage slogs. Arterial spray isnt enough; every action sequence is grindingly unpleasant with no real payoff. It's a weird sort of flex from Ayer, perhaps meant to show everybody that he has chops behind the camera while unwittingly betraying his limits as a director. Sabotage isnt a good movie. Its not even a good Schwarzenegger movie, even though hes clearly trying to be good. The structure of the film built around him lets him down. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube Movieclips Trailers@Youtube
26. The Expendables, 2010; The Expendables 2, 2012; The Expendables 3, 2014, Trent "Trench" Mauser Why Arnold Schwarzenegger of all people would take on paycheck gigs as trite as the Expendables franchise is a mystery mankind may never satisfactorily answer. If someone ever invents time travel, send an envoy to before 2010 to warn Arnie off of this project. Each movie is built on the worst, or at least the most exhausting, fan service, where each action cinema icon takes turns winking and nudging one another by way of references to the franchises theyre known for. Groan. Schwarzeneggers here entirely for the Expendables central novelty act of watching dudes like Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis, and Jet Li pal around, but it's never supported by substance. Schwarzenegger is as Schwarzenegger does, but if you want to honor the mans legend, just watch one of the movies that got him cast in The Expendables in the first place instead. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube hollywoodstreams@Youtube
25. End of Days, 1999, Jericho Cane A good educational tool for Schwarzenegger scholars, and not much else, End of Days is the first time Arnold really took a crack at looking disheveled, beaten down, and totally helpless, going far off his normal turf as an indestructible man of action. Thats an experiment with merit, but End of Days has nothing else going for it, which basically means that the experiment is a colossal failure. How do you screw this up? Its the damn Terminator going one-on-one with Satan. That movie sells itself. But End of Days barely even managed that, coming in with a box-office take that just qualifies as profitable without actually being all that profitable in the long run. Part of the problem may be that nobody on the screen has a good grasp on what kind of film theyre in; Schwarzenegger way undersells himself while Gabriel Byrne, playing the Devil himself, goes off the rails. Its a curious disaster, but that doesnt make it fun to sit through. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube Johnny L@Youtube
24. Aftermath, 2017, Roman Melnyk If your concept of Arnold Schwarzenegger as an actor draws solely from his action iconographyhis movies ridiculous body counts, his one-liners, his physiquethen you probably watched Aftermath and thought, Huh! Who knew that Schwarzenegger could really act? The thing is, Schwarzenegger spent decades proving his acting chops in far better movies than Aftermath, a project that frankly doesnt benefit from his casting in any meaningful way. The revenge element, in which bereaved husband and father Roman seeks apology from the air traffic controller responsible for the mid-air collision that took his family's lives, sounds like an arc fit for a Terminator, but the film is one of those based on real events joints. Schwarzenegger is ill at ease in a film that comprises reality. Watching him struggle through his character is, in a heartbreaking way, fascinating, but he doesnt quite belong. His miscasting is a greater offense than Elliott Lesters limp, lifeless direction. BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube Aftermath@Youtube
23. Collateral Damage, 2002, Cpt. Gordon "Gordy" Brewer Nothing wrong with a good ol goofy Arnold actioner, except for, well, this good ol goofy Arnold actioner. This is the rare movie where Arnold himself holds back; maybe its just outsiders perception, but from start to finish, his heads not in Collateral Damage. This could be a case of real life smothering the filmmaking: Collateral Damage landed in theaters not long before Schwarzenegger sought office in California for the first time, and not long after 9/11 made us all nervous to fly or travel near densely populated city centers. (In point of fact, 9/11 led to a delay on the films release.) Either the movie or Arnold had other things on their mind than kick-ass American macho antics, because Collateral Damage, considering its star pedigree, is about as standard as action cinema gets. Taken alongside Arnolds status as action royalty, standard translates to straight-up frustrating. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube MoviemanTrailers@Youtube
22. Killing Gunther, 2017, Robert "Gunther" Bendik Imagine, if you like, Rmy Belvaux, Andr Bonzel, and Benot Poelvoordes Man Bites Dog, not a very good movie to begin with, but filtered through Saturday Night Live, and you more or less have Taran Killams Killing Gunther. The ideas fine enough: A crew of hit persons, including Killam as well as Bobby Moynihan and Hannah Simone, team up to bring down the top dog of all contract killers, Gunther, only for Gunther to foil them at every turn. He really is that good. Problem is, the movies not, and Gunther is hardly even in it, which means Schwarzenegger is hardly in it, which means that you need more reason to hang with the movie beyond his appearance in its last half-hour. Is a little Arnold still good Arnold? It can be. But Killing Gunther has too little Arnold, and its an embarrassing movie even when he does show his face. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube Zero Media@Youtube
21. Jingle All the Way, 1996, Howard Langston Truth time, gang: Theres no such thing as a guilty pleasure, for if it pleases you to watch a film, theres nothing to feel guilty about. But lets entertain the guilty pleasure as an aesthetic. If we do, Jingle All the Way qualifies, and its not even a question: This movie sucks, but in its particular suckitude its bafflingly watchable. Maybe its the joy of watching Arnold get outsmarted by Sinbad at every possible turn. Maybe its the deranged delight of Arnold getting blotto with a reindeer. Maybe its the bonkers-in-a-family-movie-sort-of-way Santa Claus fight scene, kind of a pre-Matrix Reloaded Burly Brawl but with an army of Saint Nicks and the Terminator. Its a cheesy movie. Its a half-baked movie. Its a movie made with craft that barely measures up to adequate. But its a movie youll put into rotation at Christmastime every year without hesitation. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube MoviemanTrailers@Youtube
20. Batman & Robin, 1997, Dr. Victor Fries/Mr. Freeze If your dad was a supervillain, he'd be Mr. Freeze, which means your dad would be Arnold Schwarzenegger, which he almost certainly is not, though its pretty fun to imagine what that would be like. (Would he be the cool parent, or would he be the one who makes you do your homework, brush your teeth, and eat your vegetables at a time in your life when you cannot appreciate how damn good vegetables are?) That thought exercise aside, theres no denying that Mr. Freeze is the king of dad jokes in comic-book movie history. Back in 1997, when Joel Schumacher dropped Batman & Robin on the world like a neutron bomb of awfulness, Schwarzeneggers performance gave critics a convenient scapegoat for their (justifiable) contempt for the movie. Allowing for harsh words on how bad Batman & Robin actually is (in a word: atrocious), its problems have less to do with Schwarzenegger specifically and more with the production holistically. Basically, Schwarzeneggers the only one who gets to do anything fun, like drop cheesy puns about ice and dinosaurs. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube Batman & Robin - Trailer@Youtube
19. Junior, 1994, Dr. Alexander "Alex" Hesse For many, Junior boils down to four words: My body, my choice. That line defines the movie. Its the anchor keeping Junior affixed in popular culture, not necessarily meant to flatter the filmit is, after all, a comedy where Schwarzenegger plays a scientist, and if thats not unbelievable enough, he plays a scientist who gets knocked upbut more to skewer it and memorialize its absurd one-joke premise. But hey: Twins had a one-joke premise, too, and Twins is pretty all right. Juniors nowhere near as good (and Twins is only good in the way many hacky goofball '80s comedies are good), but its a wonderful showcase for Arnolds sense of timing. Being as timing is everything in comedy, Junior, in the rearview, feels like more proof (if more proof is needed) of Schwarzeneggers star quality. He can knock a dude out with his fist, and he can knock an audience out with laughter. Double threat. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube Movieclips Classic Trailers@Youtube
18. Escape Plan, 2013, Emil Rottmayer / Victor X Mannheim Theres a neat little moment in Mikael Hfstrms Escape Plan where Emil Rottmayer, an Austrian banker trapped in a remote private prison, fakes a psychotic break to distract guards long enough for his fellow inmate to get into some prison-breaking shenanigans. Emil screams. He cries. He starts babbling in Austrian. Its a special beat in Schwarzeneggers history: Were always keenly aware of his background, but its not often that his background is brought into a films foreground. In Escape Plan, that dynamic helps this particular scene sing, and the weight of Schwarzeneggers micro-performance carries over elsewhere into an otherwise basic movie about two guys, uh, hatching a plan to escape. Honestly, the real point of the exercise here is getting Schwarzenegger into the frame with his costar and fellow '80s action star Sylvester Stallone, but being as their union here led to that great breakdown Arnold stages, its a net positive. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube Lionsgate Movies@Youtube
17. The 6th Day, 2000, Adam Gibson / Adam Gibson Clone Whats better than one Arnold? Two Arnolds! One Arnold is trouble for bad guys. Two Arnolds, well, theres just no escaping your comeuppance. As is the case with any movie that tries to sell Arnold as a regular guy to its audience, The 6th Day suffers from Arnolds not-at-all-regular stature as a movie star and especially as a model of peak male physicality. He plays a helicopter pilot. Lets reiterate: In a sci-fi movie set in the near-future where cloning is a thingan ethically fraught thing, but a thing nonethelessthe only career screenwriters Cormac and Marianne Wibberley could think to give Arnolds character is helicopter pilot. Cmon. But Arnold pulls off the normalcy well enough, handily selling Adam Gibsons shock at coming home to find hes been replaced by his doppelganger and thus entangled in the battle over clonings morality. The 6th Day mostly gets there; its diverting enough, and fascinating enough, and with just enough Arnold to make the experience memorable in his filmography. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube SonyPicsHomeEntWorld@Youtube
16. Kindergarten Cop, 1990, Det. John Kimble Watching your favorite action hero get his ass handed to him by a bunch of kids who dont even measure up to his waistline might not be your idea of a good time, but quite frankly, that scenario may well be Arnold at his most pure. Arnolds fans care about his macho image. No one can speak for Arnold but Arnold, but its a pretty good bet that he doesnt give half a damn about that image at all, at least not so much that he wont play around with it or trade on it for the sake of a good physical gag. The key to Kindergarten Cop is that it needs Schwarzenegger, but Schwarzenegger, a big huge Hollywood deal after the time he had in the '80s, didnt really need Kindergarten Cop. But he took the role anyway, and judging by his performance, he loved it. How can you not get behind that level of dedication and obvious personal enjoyment? One moment hes screaming at a bunch of tykes. The next hes introducing them to his pet ferret. Thats adorable. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube Kindergarten Cop Trailer@Youtube
15. Red Heat, 1988, Cpt. Ivan Danko When you make one great buddy-cop comedy, and when that buddy-cop comedy turns out to be so great that it effectively reinvents the buddy-cop subcategory, well, no one would blame you for making yet another buddy-cop movie, right? Right. Mostly. Red Heat has its issues; the movie reeks of its eras politics. But that aside, Red Heat is terrific, exactly what youd expect from a technician like Walter Hill, he of 48 Hrs., a guy with a no-nonsense aesthetic and an absolutely stellar sense for incongruous comic pairings. Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy, then Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Belushi. Theyre perfect foils for each other: Belushi the wise-ass American detective, Schwarzenegger the iron-jawed straight man. Timing, again is everything here, and thats the key to the relationship between the two. BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube sharpshooter07@Youtube
14. Eraser, 1996, U.S. Marshal John Kruger Erasers great claim to fame is that its a solid Schwarzenegger film. No more, no less. Part of its importance in his filmography, and part of what makes it so good, is when it lands: after Last Action Hero, when Schwarzeneggers star power just couldnt help him open a movie worth a damn leading. Its the last worthwhile Arnie film up to The Last Stand (the corny delights of Batman & Robin aside). And it really is worthwhile, nothing special next to the great entries on his rsum, but a handsome example of what makes Arnie movies Arnie movies all the same. No more Mr. Nice Arnold: The actions a gas, and he even gets a few choice one-liners here. (Youre luggage!) It cant stand up to the Total Recalls and Terminators, but as mid-tier Schwarzenegger goes, Eraser satisfies. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube The Trailer Guy@Youtube
13. Twins, 1988, Julius Benedict Its amazing how, even after 1976, Schwarzenegger could skate by on his farm-boy charms and earnestness, and make a crummy movie decent and a decent movie surprisingly watchable just by being himself. Twins falls between these designations; its the kind of schlocky 1980s comedy that winks and yucks and hams it up before taking a sharp turn for the sentimental toward the end, except the movie stars Schwarzenegger as a fluffy riff on his action-star persona. Julius Benedict is a very good boy, basically a golden retriever in human form. All he wants is for his brother, Vincent (Danny DeVito), to love him. He wants to find their mother and ask why she abandoned him, because (surprise) he just wants her to love him, too. The whole exercise is goofy as hell, but Schwarzenegger is winning enough, and DeVito slimy enough, that Twins works against expectations. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube Movieclips@Youtube
12. Raw Deal, 1986, Sheriff Mark Kaminsky / Joseph P. Brenner Theres an alternate universe out there where behind the lens, Raw Deal wound up getting, well, a raw deal. In that universe, the movies a potboiler from top to bottom, made by only borderline-competent technical types to keep down on expenses. But we dont live in that universe. We live in the universe where Raw Deal was shot by Alex Thomson, whose rsum features names like Nicolas Roeg, Michael Cimino, Michael Mann, David Fincher, and John Boorman; edited by the legendary Anne V. Coates, known best for Lawrence of Arabia; and written by Norman Wexler, responsible for the screenplays of Saturday Night Fever and Serpico. How Raw Deal wound up with this much pedigree in its corner is a bizarre mystery that probably has something or other to do with producer Dino De Laurentiis, but hey, dont look a gift horse in the mouth: Raw Deal has way more artistic merit than it needs to or even deserves (so much, in fact, that Arnolds casting is superfluous compared to the hands involved with putting the movie together in the first place). BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube SchwarzeneggerFans@Youtube
11. Last Action Hero, 1993, Det. Jack Slater / Himself If Total Recall wasnt a thing, Last Action Hero might hold higher esteem in the Schwarzenegger canon; theyre more or less of a piece, as self-aware action movies made by great craftsman intent on dissecting and also skewering the very conventions theyre openly indulging. But theres a big difference between the two: Total Recall is a stone-cold masterpiece, and Last Action Hero is just good, or, in the spirit of generosity, probably better than you remember it being. Like Total Recall, its self-reflective. Like Total Recall, it uses genre cliche for fun and profit and even plot. Unlike Total Recall, its made by John McTiernan, who knows how to make an amazing action movie (see: Die Hard, and other entries on this list, yknow), but doesnt quite have a handle on the kind of thing Last Action Hero is trying to accomplish. (It doesnt help that watching the movie lends this unshakeable sense that other folks kept trying to get their hands on the wheel while McTiernan was trying to steer.) What the film does do well is capture and dramatize the love of action as a genre; its a celebration of things going boom and an ode to Arnolds legend. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube 3RAS3R3@Youtube
10. The Running Man, 1987, Benjamin "Ben" Richards Three decades ago, critics took The Running Man out to the woodshed. Now they all look like assholes. Its not uncommon to see yesteryears movies reevaluated over time and given new life and appreciation by later generations (or by the previous generations more thoughtful arbiters), but reviewers got The Running Man very wrong the first time around. Lets get fancy and call it prescient: Paul Michael Glasers adaptation of Stephen Kings 1982 novel not only predicts the advent of TVs poisonous influence on pop culture, it specifically informs movies, ranging from Battle Royale to The Hunger Games, made long after its initial release in 1987. King set the novel in 2025. Glasers screenwriter, Steven E. de Souza, pushed the date back to 2017, the year of a global economic collapse that led to the U.S.s transformation into a police state. As serious as The Running Mans premise is, The Running Man itself is willfully silly, loaded with one-liners and action that verges on the absurd. But the silliness has a way of selling the seriousness, and thus selling the satire. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube Frank Schenk@Youtube
9. Conan the Barbarian, 1982; Conan the Destroyer, 1984, Conan You can take your pick over Schwarzenegger roles that best define Schwarzenegger as a movie star or as a person. His work is littered with contributions to action-movie iconography. But if you tend to think of Schwarzenegger as a big, musclebound beefcake with little to offer humanity beyond the circumference of his biceps, then your go-to Arnie movie is probably Conan the Barbarian, or its considerably lesser sequel, Conan the Destroyer. (The latters saving grace is its immense GIF-ability, but thats really not much of a plus.) Stick with the original, not only the sire of its own sequel but the progenitor of that very short-lived fantasy epic boom in the 1980s, assuming you consider that a good thing and not an embarrassment best forgotten. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube Forever Cinematic Trailers@Youtube
8. The Last Stand, 2013, Sheriff Ray Owens Should you find yourself in the mood for an Arnold Schwarzenegger that functions as a series of nods to Arnold Schwarzeneggers career and also doesnt insult your taste and intellect, try giving Kim Jee-woons excellent The Last Stand a watch. Kim doesnt try to reinvent the Arnie wheel, but hes also a disciplined filmmaker, not one to get lazy and lean on referential drudgery to score a few cheap pops from his audience. Arnie fans will be happy just to see him in a movie, to say nothing of a movie directed with brisk, loony energy by one of South Koreas best genre filmmakers. Helming The Last Stand, a tale of big crime in a small town watched over by Schwarzeneggers guilty and world-weary sheriff, Kim contents himself letting Arnold be Arnold with no other pretense. Rather than reference Arnolds movies, he references some of his own and generally has a great time doing it. The best part? His star has a great time indulging him, and turns out the best performance in his 2010s revival. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube IGN@Youtube
7. True Lies, 1994, Agent Harry Tasker / Harry Renquist Depending on your vantage point, True Lies has either aged poorly or remarkably well for a movie of its era. In 2018, productions as blatantly racist and homophobic as this are rightly unfashionable, and for that matter, can you even imagine a movie about a government spy blackmailing his own wife into becoming a prostitute getting a greenlight today? (Scratch that last one. The answers still likely yes.) But even problematic faves still have merit as entertainment, and entertainments where True Lies thrives. If you can stomach the bad optics, and if you can buy the central premisethat a guy like Schwarzenegger could work as a spy and hide his vocation from his family without ever raising even a whiff of suspicionthen youre in for a nice, larky ride, a product of its time that knows how to party. Its about as basic as they come in Arnolds filmography, but everyone needs to chow down on meat and potatoes once in a while. BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube treskate2@Youtube
6. Maggie, 2015, Wade Vogel Wade Vogels weepy zombie flick Maggie doesnt ask much of Schwarzenegger, but he delivers more, which is good since Vogel doesnt have a whole lot to give himself. Maggie, in case its not already clear, isnt a great movie, just a decent one, too listless to uphold the promise of its basic conceit. Wade (Schwarzenegger) finds his daughter, Maggie (Abigail Breslin), zombie-bitten in post-zombie pandemic America; he brings her home, though she left in the first place to protect him and the rest of her family, to take care of her, knowing full well the danger he courts by just being near her. Its a heartbreaking idea, lessened by the absence of momentum. All things considered, Maggie goes nowhere. Its stakes never amount to anything. But its beautiful, in a grim, washed-out sort of way, and Schwarzenegger is legitimately devastating as a man torn in two by the inevitable demise of his daughter. Burying your child is one kind of horror. Knowing when youre going to have to bury her is worse. Maggie might be stuck in place, but Schwarzenegger understands the grim truth at its center. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube Arnold Schwarzenegger@Youtube
5. Commando, 1985, Col. John Matrix For one group of people, Commando may well come down to its one-liners, as do so many of Arnies movies. For another group, Commando comes down to a 40-second gear-up montage, where John Matrix rows ashore an empty beach in naught but his Speedos and then, in several blinks of the human eye, clothes himself, carefully knots his boots, arms himself to the teeth, and paints himself with camo stripes. You think Johns an efficient soldier? Hes even more efficient at getting dressed. You ever hit up a party with this guy, you can rest easy knowing that you wont be late because hes taking too long to pick out and put on an outfit. Thats military discipline exemplified. Granted, he might leave the party a smoldering ruin, but at least youll be on time. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube aheutohmaluko@Youtube
4. Predator, 1987, Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer Gather together a crowd of action die-hards, and each of them will have their own favorite '80s action star, whether Stallone, Willis, Chow Yun-fat, Jackie Chan, Jean Claude Van Damme, or Schwarzenegger. But from any objective sense, Schwarzenegger has an edge over all of them thanks to Predator, where he goes toe-to-toe with Kevin Peter Hall as one of sci-fis greatest monsters; none of Arnies contemporaries can claim that kind of awesome accomplishment. But Die Hard is the greatest action movie of all time! you say. And you know what? Youre right. But Predator, John McTiernans pre-Die Hard warm-up, is every bit as dizzying a spectacle and proof of both his skill as an action maestro and Schwarzeneggers presence. Even when dwarfed by Hall, he fills up the screen. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube JohnVexer@Youtube
3. The Terminator, 1984, T-800 "Model 101"; Terminator 2: Judgment Day, 1991, T-800 "Model 101"; Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, 2003, T-850 "Model 101"; Terminator Genisys, 2015, T-800 "Model 101" Given a little thought, Terminator is the perfect metaphor for Schwarzenegger: Like the T-800, hes an implacable brawny machine who absolutely will not stop until he fulfills his mission. The key difference is that Schwarzenegger just wants to wow your socks clean off your ankles. He doesnt want to kill you, though if you hang out with him long enough, chances are youll accidentally get blown up or crushed by a tank. Thats the risk you take hanging out with the Governator. Yuks aside, the Terminator films, for better and for worse, are likely the most defining films of Schwarzeneggers body of work; the image of the shades-wearing, leather-clad cyborg, striding without end toward his target. Theres a transgressive cool factor to the Terminator figure: He looks like a rebel badass. True, hes a tool of oppression in the first movie, but his turn through the rest of the series lets him earn the distinction his outfit affords him. The quality of Terminators after the first two (arguably three, if you feel like fighting) drops tremendously, but decades later, the cool remains. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube Eduarda Alice Santos@Youtube
2. Stay Hungry, 1976, Joe Santo Here it is: The best evidence available that Arnold can, in fact, act. Much like its protagonist, a mopey well-heeled Southern boy and inveterate loafer, Stay Hungry isnt ambitious. Rather, its unapologetically carefree, the film equivalent of bobbing down a river on a summers day, lazing on an inner tube without a worry in your heart or any plan in mind other than pursuit of nirvana by way of inertia. The Southern boy is played by Jeff Bridges, youthful but still possessed of that trademark Bridges roguishness; hes supported first by Sally Fields, free-spirited and completely allergic to nonsense, and second by Arnold, playing an equally free-spirited bodybuilder with the life goal of winning the Mr. Universe title. Schwarzenegger embodies chummy convivial warmth; hes everyones friend. Whether hes lifting weights or shredding on the fiddle, hes a vision of good cheer, a magnetic field of joy youre happily caught in. RENT OR BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube Movieclips Classic Trailers@Youtube
1. Total Recall, 1990, Douglas "Doug" Quaid / Carl Hauser The film The Last Action Hero wishes it could be. Also: not the film anyone thinks it is, or thought it was. By now Total Recalls quality of satire is well-known; its a clever, and well-masked, send-up of action cinema, a demonstration of how action films numb our senses and melt our brains. Maybe one could argue, assuming one is willing, that a guy like Schwarzenegger doesnt suit that conceit particularly well, given that hes the action star, a man whose influence over the genres evolution is as grand as it is undeniable. But thats exactly what makes him so perfect for Total Recalls merciless parody. The movie needs Schwarzenegger to be himself, and to give a full demonstration of the archetype he helped shape. It has Schwarzenegger at his wide-eyed best, a man unmoored from reality as he knows it and desperate to find his footing. Its a wild bit of entertainment, an all-timer among spoofs, and the best Schwarzenegger has ever been. BUY IT HERE See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube See the original post on Youtube TheAlpacino921@Youtube