The Top 25 Movies of 1996!!

1996 wasn't the biggest year for movies, but it was still an entertaining one. It seems like it was one of the biggest years for family orientated films. Even so, there is never a year that doesn't bring us 25 good quality films.

The Top 25 Movies of 1996

#25  Tremors 2: Aftershocks

Plot Summary: When an army of Graboids - giant, carnivorous underground worms - threaten the Petromaya oil refinery in Mexico, its owners call on Earl Bassett, who once helped kill four of the creatures in Perfection, Nevada. Having squandered the money that came from his resulting celebrity status, Earl is convinced by the $50,000-a-head bounty offered, as well as the enthusiasm of admirer Grady Hoover, who becomes his partner. At Petromaya, Earl and Grady meet geologist Kate Reilly, and begin Graboid hunting, tricking several Graboids into swallowing bomb-rigged, remote-controlled cars. When they find they're facing a lot more Graboids than they ever expected, Earl calls his friend Burt Gummer, a survivalist who arrives well-stocked with weapons.

#24  Scream

Plot Summary: A killer known as "ghost face" begins killing off teenagers, and as the body count begins rising, one girl and her friends find themselves contemplating the "Rules" of horror films as they find themselves living in a real-life one.

#23  Ransom

Plot Summary: When a rich man's son is kidnapped, he cooperates with the police at first but then tries a unique tactic against the criminals.

#22  Last Man Standing

Plot Summary: A drifting gunslinger-for-hire finds himself in the middle of an ongoing war between the Irish and Italian mafia in a Prohibition era ghost town.

#21  The Adventures of Pinocchio

Plot Summary: One of puppet-maker Geppetto's creations comes magically to life. This puppet, Pinocchio, has one major desire and that is to become a real boy someday. In order to accomplish this goal he has to learn to act responsibly. This film shows you the adventures on which he learns valuable lessons.

#20  Set it Off

Plot Summary: Four Black women, all of whom have suffered for lack of money and at the hands of the majority, undertake to rob banks. While initially successful, a policeman who was involved in shooting one of the women's brothers is on their trail. As the women add to the loot, their tastes and interests begin to change and their suspicions of each other increase on the way to a climactic robbery.

#19  Hellraiser: Bloodline

Plot Summary: In the 22nd century, a scientist attempts to right the wrong his ancestor created: the puzzle box that opens the gates of Hell and unleashes Pinhead and his Cenobite legions.

#18  Escape from L.A.

Plot Summary: Snake Plissken is once again called in by the United States government to recover a potential doomsday device from Los Angeles, now an autonomous island where undesirables are deported.

#17  Beavis and Butthead do America

Plot Summary: Our intrepid adolescent heroes wake up to find their beloved television stolen, and embark on an epic journey across America to recover it, and, who knows, maybe even score. On the way they encounter a murderous smuggler of a deadly virus and his treacherous wife, an FBI agent with a predilection for cavity searches, a couple of rather familiar looking ex-Motley Crue roadies, Mr. Van Dreesen singing "Lesbian Seagull", a little old lady and of course Mr. Anderson and his trailer.

#16  James and the Giant Peach

Plot Summary: An orphan with terrible aunts for guardians, befriends human like bugs who live inside a giant peach, who take the boy on a journey to New York City.

#15  Daylight

Plot Summary: A runaway car hits a truck full of toxic waste causing an explosion that seals both exit of an underground tunnel between Manhattan and New Jersey. It's up to Kit Latura, disgraced ex-chief of the city's Emergency Medical Services, to find a way in and bring out the survivors before air runs out or the Hudson river runs in.

#14  Joe's Apartment

Plot Summary: A nice guy has just moved to New York and discovers that he must share his run-down apartment with a couple thousand singing, dancing cockroaches. 

#13  The Ghost and the Darkness

Plot Summary: Set in 1898, this movie is based on the true story of two lions in Africa that killed 130 people over a nine month period, while a bridge engineer and an experienced old hunter tried to kill them.

#12  Sling Blade

Plot Summary: Karl Childers, a simple man hospitalized since his childhood murder of his mother and her lover, is released to start a new life in a small town. 

#11  Sleepers

Plot Summary: After a prank goes disastrously wrong, a group of boys are sent to a detention center where they are brutalized; over 10 years later, they get their chance for revenge. 

#10  Harriet the Spy

Plot Summary: Harriet M. Welsch is a spy. But when Harriet's friends find her secret notebook the tables are turned on her. Can she win her friends back and still keep on going with the spy business?

#9  The Cable Guy

Plot Summary: A lonely and disturbed cable guy raised on television just wants a new friend, but his target, a designer, rejects him, with bad consequences. 

#8 Matilda

Plot Summary: Story of a wonderful little girl, who happens to be a genius, and her wonderful teacher vs. the worst parents ever and the worst school principal imaginable.

#7  D3: The Mighty Ducks

Plot Summary: In the third episode of this series, the Ducks get scholarships to Eden Hall Academy, a high ranking prep school. But as freshmen, they will have to face the snob varsity team.

#6  Happy Gilmore

Plot Summary: A rejected hockey player puts his skills to the golf course to save his grandmother's house.

#5  The Frighteners

Plot Summary: After a car accident in which his wife, Debra, was killed and he was injured, Frank Bannister develops psychic abilities allowing him to see, hear, and communicate with ghosts. After losing his wife, he then gave up his job as an architect, letting his unfinished "dream house" sit incomplete for years, and put these skills to use by befriending a few ghosts and getting them to haunt houses in the area to drum up work for his ghostbusting business; Then Frank proceeds to "exorcise" the houses for a fee. But when he discovers that an entity resembling the Grim Reaper is killing people, marking numbers on their forehead beforehand, Frank tries to help the people whom the Reaper is after! 

#4  The Quest

Plot Summary: Chris embarks on an odyssey of self-discovery that spans the globe. Kidnapped and enslaved by gun smugglers, sold by pirates and thrust into the murky underworld of gambling and kickboxing, Chris' journey takes him to forbidding Muay Thai Island where deadly martial arts are taught, the colonial splendor of British East Asia, the dank back alleys of Bangkok, desolate deserts once trod by the warriors of Genghis Khan and finally, the ancient Lost City. There he must face the ultimate test of his manhood in the fabled Ghang-gheng, the ancient winner-take-all competition in which the deadliest fighters from around the world employ the most spectacular feats of martial arts skills ever displayed in order to win the prized Golden Dragon.

#3  Kingpin

Plot Summary: A star bowler whose career was prematurely "cut off" hopes to ride a new prodigy to success and riches.

#2 Trainspotting

Plot Summary: Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out, despite the allure of the drugs and influence of friends. 

#1 From Dusk till Dawn

Plot Summary: Two criminals and their hostages unknowingly seek temporary refuge in an establishment populated by vampires, with chaotic results.