Katherine Monk’s picks:
Blade Runner (1982): Sure, it’s a dark science-fiction odyssey about a dystopian future where human-like robots attempt to overcome their offswitch by plotting to meet their corporate maker. But Ridley Scott’s gritty little adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s story pushes the human element and creates a thriller powered by emotion instead of plot mechanics.
This may also be Harrison Ford’s best movie, beat for beat, which makes Blade Runner the ultimate summer flick for those looking to go off-world with the big boy of summer.
Jaws (1975): There have been no recorded cases of death by great white shark in Canada, but that doesn’t mean your kids shouldn’t be as scared of freshwater swimming as you were after watching Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss battle the rubber shark dubbed Bruce.
It’s still a pretty good thriller that contains lines from scribe Carl Gottlieb that are now part of the pop culture lexicon, including: “You’re going to need a bigger boat.”
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980): “Teach you, I will,” says the wee warrior who turns Luke Skywalker into a Jedi knight in this second instalment in George Lucas’ classic summer space western.
And teach us he did: Yoda not only perfected backward syntax and borrowed myths, he taught us all that you needn’t be strong, handsome or tall to win the day, but strong of heart. Popcorn perfection, it is.
The River Wild (1994): Consider this Deliverance-Lite with a ’90s feminist twist, or the white wine spritzer of action movies.
Yes, even the women in the cabin will enjoy watching Meryl Streep face off against Kevin Bacon in this whitewater adventure story that features an expert paddler (Streep, offering a convincing turn in polar fleece and a ball cap) who finds herself forced to navigate a dangerous river when her family is kidnapped.
Norbit (2007): Sometimes you just get punchy after hours of jigsaw puzzles and Scrabble, and truly stupid things make you laugh so hard you’ll snort.
Eddie Murphy has moments of comic genius, and while there are only a few of them here in this story of a shmo married to a she-devil, it’s the truly dumb slapstick stuff that will make you giddy as Murphy assumes just about every role except the romantic lead, played here by the all-season Thandie Newton.