Last Action Hero - 1993

Director: Jonathan McTiernan

Writers: Shane Black & David Arnott

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger

"Why am I wasting time with a dime-store putz like you when I could be doing something much more dangerous, like re-arranging my sock drawers? " The director of Die Hard teamed up with action star/comedian Schwarzenegger to make a send-up of the typical action movie, full of bad one-liners and plotholes. A film-obsessed kid goes to see the new Jack Slater movie (Schwarzenegger plays himself playing Slater...it's hard to explain), and thanks to a magic ticket from Houdini, gets catapulted into the film itself. Of course, the film's villain gets his hands on the ticket and wreaks havoc in the real world as well.

I think I liked this movie. If its intent is truly to parody the films of the genre, it excels spectacularly. In addition, I'll admit to enjoying a few of the one-liners. However, it hurts me that not only did "serious" films like this exist in the era (and still do, to an extent), but Schwarzenegger himself was in several. Then again, I have from a reliable source that this is Arnold's third best film after Terminator 2 and Commando, so I'd say it's worth your time.