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UPDATE: Need idea for an (older?) action movie for b-day party

Garga

By Garga,
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Garga

Garga

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UPDATE:

 

We decided to go with Super 8.  It's a monster movie that I don't think most of them have seen.  My son has seen it and LOVED it and loves the idea of sharing it with everyone.  Lots and lots of action once you get past the beginning which is designed to lull you into peace so they can (BAM!) scare you when The Monster shows up.  After that it is non-stop action.  Non-stop.

 

My younger son and a friend his age will also be at The Party and I'll take them out for ice cream during the monster movie.  I know my little guy can't handle it.

 

I'd forgotten about Super 8 until AmandaVT suggested it, so thank you!

 

And THANK YOU to everyone who replied.  We have a bunch of movies that my son wants to watch now over the next few months. 

 

----------------------------------

 

ORIGINAL POST:

 

My son and his friends pretty much all have the same birthday party every year for each boy.

It's a sleepover.
The boys run around with nerf guns and lightsabers.
They eat pizza.
They watch an action movie.
They eat cake.
They stay up late playing games on their electronics.
They fall asleep at 2 or 3 in the morning and then wake up to groggily eat some donuts and go home.

This has been going on since they started turning 10 or 11 and is still going on now that they're all turning 14. Always the same party for each kid as he has a birthday. :).

Soon it'll be my son's turn to have The Party. Everyone will bring their nerf guns, we will order the pizza, I'll make the cake, electonics will be charged...

But the movie.

We need a movie idea.

The boys have all seen the most recent action movies that have come out in the past couple of years like Antman or Captain America or the group Avenger movies.

Does anyone have a clever idea for an action movie for a bunch of 14 year olds that they might not have seen? I'm blanking.

Humor works, too, but they've all seen Princess Bride and Napolean Dynamite. But if you can think of other humorous movies, that would work, too. Have to be fast paced, though, or they start to talk during the movie and aggravate each other.

Edited by Garga_
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JFSinIL

JFSinIL

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Yeah, time for them to be exposed to Monty Python! 

Or, would they enjoy Galaxy Quest?

 

Not exactly action movies, but teen boy humorous!

 

Have they seen Air Force One with Harrison Ford

The second Terminator movie is the best one, too.

Speed?

 

Mad Max - the 2015 film?

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon?

 

Maybe one of the Jackie Chan/Owen Wilson action comedies? I like Shanghai Noon.

Edited by JFSinIL
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mmasc

mmasc

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Have they seen all of the Indiana Jones movies?

For humor, what about the two Johnny English movies, or Mr. Bean's Holiday? My boys think Rowan Atkinson is hilarious.

 

Eta: thought of another old, funny movie...National Lampoons Vacation

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Cinder

Cinder

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My ds's were about that age when dh decided to share Monty Python; the boys loved it!

 

An old movie they both enjoyed--which was a big surprise to me--It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

 

Re: National Lampoon's Vacation. Be aware there is a gratuitous boob shot and a few sleazy bits with Cousin Eddie & family.

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TheReader

TheReader

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The A-Team movie (I think it had Bradley Cooper) is hilarious and action-y.

 

Or possibly the Red movies although I can't quite pinpoint if it has objectionable language, etc. It's a shooting movie that somewhat makes fun of the old Rambo style movies. So, maybe depending on the families, maybe not. (We are pretty lax about some types of movie violence, so check IMDB parent guides, etc....)

 

The Last Samarui is good.

 

If they haven't seen Matrix yet, that is a good one.

 

Or the older X-Men movies, which came out a bit before the current super hero craze.

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Lori D.

Lori D.

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Some great ideas in the posts above, but a lot of them may be too intense with action/ideas or have language/violence/s*x that families might not appreciate -- just throwing that in there, in case you need to be careful about movie choices to respect the guidelines of other families -- and there are plenty of movies that don't push family boundaries for tween/young teen viewing. :)

 

Double feature -- the old Godzilla vs. Monster Zero on Netflix (also called Invasion of Astro-Monster), and then the new Godzilla.  :w00t:  Our DSs loved doing boy parties/sleep-overs with those old Godzilla/Mothra/Gamera movies! (The old Godzilla would NOT be fast-paced, but what if you just said from the get-go that it would be done in a sort-of MST3K way of poking fun while watching?)

 

Since you mention light-sabers, what about an "encore showing" of the original Star Wars (i.e., New Hope)?

Or a few favorite episodes from Star Trek The Next Generation (like the 2-episode Borg story where Picard gets smorga-borg-ized)?

Or the original cast movie of Star Trek: Wrath of Khan?

Or Galaxy Quest which parodies the old/original Star Trek?

 

Goofy but funny and with action is The Fifth Element with Bruce Willis. (the girl is seen once briefly from behind with no top, and wears a minimal garment made of strategically placed cloth strips for the first scenes)

Goofy and Monty-Python-esque in humor but interesting concept and some action is Time Bandits by Terry Gilliam.

Cheesy action/dystopia: Escape from New York, with Kurt Russell. (can't remember about s*x or language...)

The 3rd Back to the Future film toned down the language, and has a pretty solid story and humor.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (first film)?

 

Jackie Chan and Jet Li together with a young teen boy protagonist in Forbidden Kingdom!

 

How about Sky High or Zathura or National Treasure -- these films may be just old enough and the kids just young enough that they haven't seen these...

 

A western with action (but probably slower in pace than what you're looking for) -- The Magnificent Seven, with Steve McQueen and Yul Brenner.

 

For older super hero movie ideas, how about one of the Batman movies directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton?

For newer snappy action that is "clean" (s*x and language), either Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol or Rogue Nation are fun.

Or action with humor: Get Smart with Steve Carell?

Or survival type of action with The Martian, starring Matt Damon?

Edited by Lori D.
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Stacia

Stacia

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Ymmv... (I think these are R-rated, except for Wayne's World.)

 

How about some old SNL stuff?

 

Wayne's World?

 

Blues Brothers? (My 15yo ds loves this one.)

 

And if you love Blues Brothers, you will get a laugh out of watching the "What's the Damage" video about it:

  

 

Or a big favorite in our house: Die Hard (Bonus = Alan Rickman!)

  

 

 

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Garga

Garga

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I'm going to stay away from R rated stuff. I know a few parents were pretty strict about waiting until their kids were 13 for PG13, so I don't think they'll want me showing 14 year olds R rated movies. (Though T2 is one of my all-time favorite movies!)

 

I like a number of the ideas on here. Maybe I'll let my son watch some previews of a few and let him pick. I also thought of the spiderman movies from a couple of years ago--the most recent reboot. My son didn't see those, but I don't know if all his friends did. It'd be nice to find something no one has seen.

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gardenmom5

gardenmom5

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how about something a little older:

 

secondhand lions

jumanji

e.t.

superman with christopher reeve

indiana jones

apollo 13

Jurassic park (the original)

 

original ghostbusters

back to the future

war games 1983 (teenage boy)

 

eta: if they want comedy - the great race. racing from new York to paris.  going west. it's old, it's long, it still  holds the record for most pies in a pie fight.  amazing cast.

 

 

Edited by gardenmom5
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Ravin

Ravin

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I'm going to stay away from R rated stuff. I know a few parents were pretty strict about waiting until their kids were 13 for PG13, so I don't think they'll want me showing 14 year olds R rated movies. (Though T2 is one of my all-time favorite movies!)

 

I like a number of the ideas on here. Maybe I'll let my son watch some previews of a few and let him pick. I also thought of the spiderman movies from a couple of years ago--the most recent reboot. My son didn't see those, but I don't know if all his friends did. It'd be nice to find something no one has seen.

One thing to keep in mind with R rating, 80's and older movies before the PG-13 rating was introduced are often not anything as bad as a more recent R rating.

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gardenmom5

gardenmom5

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Oh, here's one more, though it's newer: The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

 

It got pretty good reviews in my house, and had the kids looking for the old tv show it was based on.

 

or go for the old series with david mccullum.

 

I love the line in NCIS - someone asks gibbs what ducky looks like.  "illya kuryakin"

 

though for campy tv series - "the prisoner" is great for this age.

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TranquilMind

TranquilMind

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One thing to keep in mind with R rating, 80's and older movies before the PG-13 rating was introduced are often not anything as bad as a more recent R rating.

I happened to see Saturday Nighth Fever listed recently. Oh good- dancing and the Bee Gees! Ack! I forgot how really awful that movie was. My TV listed it as PG. I have a copy of it on video. It was rated R. So they downgraded an R rated movie to PG by today's standards. That's awful. Today's R rating is horrifying and not appropriate for ME.

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Garga

Garga

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Prince of Persia (although they might feel too old for that one)

 

I second Time Bandits, ds loved it at that age.

 

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is great, but you might preview the Castle scene with the girls as Or*l s*x is brought up.

 

I love Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but I can picture the boys getting really embarrassed to be sitting there watching it together during the castle scene when the women all start asking for spankings. I think it would be super awkward.

 

Air Force One is also one of my favorites. I watched it in a theater in a part of town where the people get reeeeally involved in their movies. When Harrison Ford said, "Get off my plane!" the entire theater erupted with applause and people were saying, "Yeah!" "You go!" It was great.

 

But it's R and I remember how the bad guys would just shoot people right in the head in cold blood and it wasn't like when comic characters do violent things. It was upsetting. A woman in the theater kept saying, "Mmm! Mmm! Oh, no no no!" during those parts. So...the story is great, but the violence is that R-rated raw kind of violence and not the cartoonly violence of comic book PG-13 movies.

 

This is harder than I thought--to pick the movie for the party. There are a number of choices I do like on this thread. I'm starting a list and we'll watch some previews for them and then pick one.

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Lori D.

Lori D.

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I know! I know!

 

Now You See Me

 

And if you want to get creative for The Party and change things up a bit, you can give them some decks of cards and magic props.

 

Great idea!

 

And if heist-action movies would work, these are all clean, without intense violence/language/s*x

- The Italian Job (2003) -- with Mark Walberg

- Flawless (2007) -- Michael Caine and Demi Moore attempt a diamond heist in 1960 London

- Inception

- Catch That Kid (2004) -- teen girl and 2 friends raid a bank for the $$ to pay for dad's needed operation

 

Also just thought of an older (1998) hero-action film: Mask of Zorro with Antonio Banderas and Anthony Hopkins.

 

And, if the Godzilla-type of movie is of interest, Pacific Rim (2013) is full of action, with violence being of the giant monster vs. human-in-a-mech type. A few 4-letter words are used, but not frequently, and no s*x that I recall.

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AmandaVT

AmandaVT

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I second (or third?) Apollo 13

 

Batman from 1989 with Michael Keaton

 

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

 

Men in Black

 

Super Eight

 

Twister (there are a whole bunch of weather related action type movies - Volcano, Dante's Peak, The Day after Tomorrow)

 

 

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Spryte

Spryte

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Great idea!

 

And if heist-action movies would work, these are all clean, without intense violence/language/s*x

- The Italian Job (2003) -- with Mark Walberg

- Flawless (2007) -- Michael Caine and Demi Moore attempt a diamond heist in 1960 London

- Inception

- Catch That Kid (2004) -- teen girl and 2 friends raid a bank for the $$ to pay for dad's needed operation

 

Also just thought of an older (1998) hero-action film: Mask of Zorro with Antonio Banderas and Anthony Hopkins.

 

And, if the Godzilla-type of movie is of interest, Pacific Rim (2013) is full of action, with violence being of the giant monster vs. human-in-a-mech type. A few 4-letter words are used, but not frequently, and no s*x that I recall.

Stealing some of these ideas.

 

Hey, what about Oceans Eleven? Would that work for that age group?

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Lori D.

Lori D.

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Stealing some of these ideas.

 

Hey, what about Oceans Eleven? Would that work for that age group?

 

I was wracking my brain trying to remember if there was anything objectionable for tweens/young teens... I think it just seems more at an adult interest level to me.

 

Here's the IMDB parental guide for Ocean's 11 -- looks like there are a few partial n*de moments -- also a few shots with female str*ppers in the background. ick. You'd have to decide if that's short enough or background enough to fly unnoticed, or if it would be inappropriate...

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kewb

kewb

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I happened to see Saturday Nighth Fever listed recently. Oh good- dancing and the Bee Gees! Ack! I forgot how really awful that movie was. My TV listed it as PG. I have a copy of it on video. It was rated R. So they downgraded an R rated movie to PG by today's standards. That's awful. Today's R rating is horrifying and not appropriate for ME.

There are two versions of Saturday Night Fever. It was so popular that they edited out the stuff that gave it the R rating and released the pg version in 78 so the younger teens could go see it.

 

Of course, I remember sneaking into the r version.

 

Back to the original question:

It's a mad, mad, mad world is a favorite here. As is The Gods must be crazy.

 

Young Frankenstein

 

Indiana Jones

Back to the Future

 

Enemy of the State

Edited by kewb
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TranquilMind

TranquilMind

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There are two versions of Saturday Night Fever. It was so popular that they edited out the stuff that gave it the R rating and released the pg version in 78 so the younger teens could go see it.

 

Of course, I remember sneaking into the r version.

 

Back to the original question:

It's a mad, mad, mad world is a favorite here. As is The Gods must be crazy.

 

Young Frankenstein

 

Indiana Jones

Back to the Future

 

Enemy of the State

 

That's confusing.  The version on TV I began watching was AWFUL and it was marked PG.   I can't imagine I was actually viewing the watered-down version. 

 

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dirty ethel rackham

dirty ethel rackham

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Not all are action movies...but....

 

What about "Tombstone"?

 

"Blazing Saddles" or "Young Frankenstein"? (In honor of Gene Wilder)

 

Hitchcock movie?

 

 "Enemy of the State"? (Gene Hackman, Will Smith)

 

"Dr. Strangelove?"

I think Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein have a lot of sexual innuendo, which may not necessarily be appropriate for this group.

I'm a huge fan of Dr. Strangelove, but it is slow-moving.

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Garga

Garga

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I second (or third?) Apollo 13

 

Batman from 1989 with Michael Keaton

 

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

 

Men in Black

 

Super Eight

 

Twister (there are a whole bunch of weather related action type movies - Volcano, Dante's Peak, The Day after Tomorrow)

 

 

Super 8!  That's the one! 

 

I showed my son this thread and as soon as his eyes read Super 8, he *knew* that was The Movie.  Thank you!

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happypamama

happypamama

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Glad you found something!

 

I'd say Ocean's 11 would be a good choice. It's one of my favorites because it's clever. But since it takes place in Las Vegas, there very well could be strippers. I just don't remember. DD hasn't seen it, so I haven't looked at it.

 

Are the Sherlock Holmes movies too adult? (The ones with Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law.). I think they might be, but I don't remember them well enough.

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Garga

Garga

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Not a movie but... what about Stranger Things on Netflix? Soooo good!!

 

(I know you picked something but this might be an afterthought if they finish the movie and you have Netflix)

 

 

You bet we thought of Stranger Things.  But it would be too long. At 45 minutes an ep, it would be over 5 hours of tv. 

 

Maybe we should have a Stranger Things party where the boys all watch it together and that's all.  Watch in the afternoon, take a break for dinner, and then finish up and go home.  Hmm....that's a good idea...

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AmandaVT

AmandaVT

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Super 8!  That's the one! 

 

I showed my son this thread and as soon as his eyes read Super 8, he *knew* that was The Movie.  Thank you!

 

Yay! We really enjoyed that movie in the theater and I've had it on my mental list of movies to rent or catch on HBO. 

 

hope they have a blast!!

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