The Princess Bride opened

The Princess Bride Released: September 25, 1987 Studio: 20th Century Fox Genre: fantasy/action/romance/comedy Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 30.86 Worldwide: -- Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 66.03 Worldwide: --

Directing: Rob Reiner Screenwriting: William Goldman Starring: Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Christopher Guest, Chris Sarandon, Wallace Shawn, André the Giant, Peter Falk, Fred Savage, Billy Crystal, Carol Kane Review: The Princess Bride is “a warm and silly fairy-tale, played with giddy delight by all concerned and directed with a rich vein of humour by Rob Reiner.” EM13 William Goldman wrote the original novel as an “affectionate pastiche of romantic fairy-tale stories” E18 and then adapted the screenplay as a “sly attack on Hollywood’s tendency to ignore the simple beauty of storytelling.” EM13 The story is framed by a grandfather (Falk) reading to his sick grandson (Savage), who feigns disinterest but is eventually captivated by the tale of Buttercup (Wright) who is kidnapped by Prince Humperinck (Sarandon) and her love Westley (Elwes) coming to her rescue. Throughout the movie, characters deliver excellent parodies of fairy tale tropes: as the “dashing hero” Westley “seems to have dug up Errol Flynn’s swagger” E13 and Buttercup serves as a “fair damsel in distress…who seems to have drifted in from a sitcom.” E13 Swordsman Inigo (Patinkin) delivers “a bouncy dash…stolen wholesale by Antonio Banderas for his Zorro.” E13 We also get a wedding speech from a tongue-tied minister, Billy Crystal and Carol Kane as a comic wizardly duo, André the Giant as a loveable, well, giant, and Wallace Shawn as his brainy sidekick. It all adds up to a beloved story that skewers fairy tales even as it displays great affection for them. Sources: E18 Empire (3/20/2018). “The 100 Greatest Movies” E13 Empire (1/1/2013). “Princess Bride Review” by Ian Natan WK A (). Wikipedia

Accolades: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Oscars: Wins: 0 Nominations: 1: Best Original Song (“Storybook Love”) Hall of Fames: Lists: Experts’ Picks: Genre Lists: First posted 5/27/2025.

Raising Arizona released

Raising Arizona Released: March 13, 1987 Studio: 20th Century Fox Genre: comedy Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 29.20 Worldwide: -- Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 62.49 Worldwide: --

Directing: Joel and Ethan Coen Screenwriting: Joel and Ethan Coen Starring: Nicholas Cage, Holly Hunter, Trey Wilson, John Goodman, William Forsythe Review: After the Coen brothers (Joel and Ethan) debuted in 1984 with their crime drama Blood Simple, they did a huge left turn for their sophomore effort, the “offbeat screwball” PM comedy Raising Arizona. It “milks laughs from such unexpected gags as a baby flying off a car’s roof.” PM H.I. (Cage) is an ex-con who marries Edwina (Hunter), a former police officer. When she turns out to be infertile, the couple kidnap one of the quintuplets recently born to furniture king Nathan Arizona (Wilson). Life gets even messier when H.I.’s former cellmates, Gale (Goodman) and Evelle (Forsythe) Snoats, break out of prison and seek shelter with H.I. and tempt him back into his criminal life. The Snoats brothers, a bounty hunter, and H.I.’s boss all see dollar signs in either returning the baby to Nathan Arizona or selling him on the black market. Almost Looney Tunes-style chases ensue with everyone fighting to get the baby. RottenTomatoes.com said the movie is one of the Coen brothers’ “most purely entertaining.” WK Time’s Richard Corliss called it “exuberantly original.” WK Critic Gene Siskel said the film was as “goo looking as it is funny.” WK New Yorker’s Pauline Kael said the movie “has a rambunctious charm.” WK Sources: PM Premiere Magazine (Oct. 1998). “100 Most Daring Movies Ever Made” WK Wikipedia

Rating: 4.060 out of 5.00 (average of 15 ratings) Accolades: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Lists: Experts’ Picks: Genre Lists: First posted 9/25/2026.

Some Kind of Wonderful released

Some Kind of Wonderful Released: February 27, 1987 Studio: Paramount Pictures Genre: teen Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 18.55 Worldwide: -- Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 39.70 Worldwide: --

Directing: Howard Deutch Screenwriting: John Hughes Starring: Eric Stolz, Mary Stuart Masterson, Lea Thompson Review: Critic Roger Ebert said, “Most movies are not about people. Most movies are about things…Hardly ever do we get an American movie about adults who are attempting to know themselves better, live better lives, get along more happily with the people around them.” RE John Hughes’ movies “are almost always about the problems of growing up and becoming a more complete person. Some Kind of Wonderful…is a movie like that.” RE He went on to say that “Hughes always gives his characters the right to be real” and that this movie “is not about whether the hero will get the girl. It is about whether the hero should get the girl.” RE The hero in question is Keith (Stolz), “a pleasantly shaggy young man who is an outsider at his high school. He would rather be an artist than fit in with the crowd.” RE His object of affection is Amanda Jones (Thompson), a popular girl who’s dating one of the school’s rich pretty boys. However, Keith’s best friend, Watts (Masterson) is secretly pining for Keith, hiding behind her tough-as-nails tomboy persona. Ebert offered her performance praise, saying “There’s something a little masochistic about the way she volunteers to chauffeur him on his big date, but something sweet, too, in the way she cares for him. She has a lot of tricky scenes in which she has to look one way and feel another way, and she’s good at them.” RE Ebert says Some Kind of Wonderful “is yet another film in which Hughes and his team show a special ability to make an entertaining movie about teenagers, which is also about life, about insecurity, about rejection, about learning to grow. I sometimes have the peculiar feeling that the kids in Hughes’s movies are more grown up than the adults in most of the other ones.” RE Sources: RE RogerEbert.com WK Wikipedia

Rating: 3.711 out of 5.00 (average of 13 ratings) Accolades: Lists: First posted 9/25/2026.