A Better Tomorrow

Ho and his brother-in-arms Mark are high ranking members of a Hong Kong criminal organization. But, at the urging of his father, Ho agrees to leave his crimial life behind after one last job. Ho winds up getting double crossed and spends the next three years in prison. After getting out, Ho tries to rebuild trust with this brother Kit, who has since become a cop. While Mark feels betrayed that Ho has turned his back on their criminal ways and Shing, a former protégé who's gone on to become the head of the criminal organization, refuses to let Ho go straight. A Better Tomorrow is the epic first collaboration of John Woo and Chow Yun-fat. Though overshadowed by their future collaborations, A Better Tomorrow is a two-fisted action extravaganza that helped set the template for modern action cinema. Chow Yun-fat exudes boat loads of charisma as Mark and the success of the film helped him shed his early reputation as "box office poison."

Rating: 85%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Explorers

In his dreams, Ben sees the layout of a strange circuit board. Using a sketch of the circuit board, Ben's genius friend Wolfgang is able to create a machine that generates an electromagnetic bubble. Together with their new friend Darren, the boys build a spaceship and set off on an adventure that takes them out of the suburbs and beyond their wildest imaginations. Directed by Joe Dante, Explorers is a science fiction fantasy adventure film. Ben and Wolfgang are played by Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix in the feature film debuts. Rushed into production and released before it could be properly completed, Explorers isn't entirely successful. It feels very much like a movie trying to recreate the vibe of E.T. But, like many of Joe Dante's other films, Explorers has since gone on to find a cult audience.

Rating: 62%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Fun Fact: Jason Presson, who played Darren, also played one of the yogurt shop employees in Gremlins 2: The New Batch.