Movie Night Theme Ideas, Part One

Having a hard time coming up with some movie theme nights? The best length of time for a theme night is six hours, which translates into about three movies. Longer movie nights tend to lose your guests' attention and shorter ones won't give you a decent selection. Below are ten categories that you might want to try for your next movie night.

Rogue Robot Night

Wargames: "Would you like to play a game?" Sure you would, and it's Global Thermonuclear War. Watch as Matthew Broderick tries to save the world from Joshua, a government computer bent on playing a game. Or is it a game?

I, Robot: Will Smith plays a Chicago detective who hates robots and must investigate a murder in which the main suspect is a robot. It's always the quiet robots.

2001: A Space Odyssey: The Monolith. The Mission. And a computer named Hal. Can a computer go insane? Of course it can, unfortunately, Hal goes insane in space...the last place you'd want to go insane.

Nautical Disaster Movies

Titanic: Surely your heart will go on and on and on when you see this movie. The ultimate love story on a sinking ship.

Poseidon: Not the "Adventure" one, but the new one with Kurt Russell. Poor Kurt, first Overboard and now this...if only he was in another movie about sinking ships. Wait, that was Dreamer.

The Perfect Storm: A decent movie about three storms working together to take down the "Andrea Gail". Our government should have the same kind of teamwork! Also, this movie has a bunch of "those guy's".

Natural Disaster Movies

Twister: Bill Paxton's finest role as a storm chaser chasing his greatest enemy: himself. Okay, it doesn't say that on any tagline for the movie, but if you want to see a movie that has great special effects and Carl Elwes taking all the credit from Paxton, then Twister is your movie. Also, watch a grungy Philip Seymour Hoffman hit on Jamie Gertz.

Armageddon: A meteor on its way to Earth and Bruce Willis is the only one that can stop it. Bruce and his oil drilling crew to be more exact. A superb ensemble cast with intense action and emotional moments. You just can't beat this movie.

The Day After Tomorrow: It's a little chilly in here. Global warming creates a new Ice Age (not the animated version) and everything...well freezes over. Mexico claims reverse illegal immigration as Americans migrate south and Dennis Quaid attempts a trek to save his son.

Jean-Claude Van Damme Revenge Movies

Kickboxer: To avenge his brother's paralyzing at a recent high-profile kicking match in Thailand, Jean-Claude learns from a Muay Thai master to take Tong Po down. The guy's name is Tong Po...which means "Bad Ass" in English.

Blood Sport: Jean-Claude has been training for the Kumite, an underground martial arts tournament. He does well, but gets really angry when a new friend gets his head nearly popped by Bolo Yeung. You can also see a good Forest Whitaker as an American Agent trying to capture Van Damme.

Lionheart: More underground fights, but this time in American. Van Damme has left the Foreign Legion, but finds that his brother is almost dead and his sis-in-law and niece can't really help him out. He participates in some underground fights to make quick cash. And if you wondered if Ashley Johnson from Growing Pains is in this movie, then you are correct.

Hugh Grant Night

Four Weddings and a Funeral: Funny, sad, romantic: one of Grant's best. And guess what: there are four weddings and one funeral. How much more do you need to know?

Nottinghill: Grant plays a bookshop owner who becomes smitten with Julia Roberts, who plays a superstar actress (I know, I know, a stretch), but the universe seems to be working against them as they try to profess how much they care for each other. Hugh Grant's other romantic comedy that is tops.

Two Weeks Notice: Sandra Bullock's plays a lawyer who gets a job with Grant, but quickly becomes irritated at being at his beck and call. She gives him (wait for it) two weeks notice, but feelings intervene as they try to fight those feelings.

Lee Family Night

Enter the Dragon (Bruce Lee): The essential Bruce Lee. Action, martial arts, and Bolo Yeung. Yes, he's been around that long. Lee goes undercover to an island compound for a tournament of "epic proportions". Don't forget to catch a glimpse of Jackie Chan near the end of the film getting his hair pulled.

Showdown in Little Tokyo (Brandon Lee): Dolph Lundgren, Brandon Lee, Tia Carerra, and Philip Tan, that's all you need to know. One of the first buddy cop movies that rivals Rush Hour. No, it's better than Rush Hour. Plus the movie is only 79 glorious minutes.

High Voltage (Shannon Lee): So maybe not the best movie starring a Lee, but it has Antonia Sabato Jr. and William Zabka. You read that right, the Cobra jerk himself. If you must know, the movie is about a group of people who decide to rob a bank that is a front for a Korean money laundering ring, which then gets infiltrated by the mob.

Sylvester Stallone Non-Rocky Night

Over the Top: The best arm-wrestling ever. The perfect Redneck movie with truckers, arm-wrestling, and white trash in Las Vegas. And this movie probably has the best named character from any movie: "Lincoln Hawk". That's almost as good as Sylvester Stallone.

Cliffhanger: John Lithgow loses suitcases of money in the mountains and uses Stallone and his team to find them against their will. Great backstories, great action, and a great tightrope falling scene. A simply classic action movie.

Daylight: The Lincoln Tunnel collapses and a recently fired Stallone goes in to try to save a group of people who survived the blast from thieving stupid young people who created the disaster.

Underdog Football Teams

The Replacements: Keanu Reeves leads a group of misfit replacement players when the professional players go on strike. The team must win four games to make it to the championship, but there's that one team that gets in their way called Love.

The Longest Yard: The new version has Burt Reynolds also, so you're safe with the Adam Sandler movie. Prisoners against the Guards...we all know who will win.

Gridiron Gang: Dwyane "The Rock" Johnson, who is just going by Dwyane Johnson coaches a team of delinquents to give them some self-esteem. They get that, plus a million life lessons. Maybe not a million, but a lot...and so does Dwyane. Based on a true story and uplifiting.

Have fun with movie night and be ready for the next set of Movie Theme Night Ideas which is coming soon!