It's hard to think of 13 reasons to go see this week's guns-a-blazin' Laurence Fishburne plus Ethan Hawke with a little twist of John Leguizamo remake "Assault on Precinct 13." (The only good reason I can think of is that Ja Rule is in it! "It's murrrderrr.") Thirteen might be considered an unlucky number in reality, but in movies, it's a number that, uh, is in a lot of titles.
1. "Friday the 13th" - 1980 While this seminal horror classic doesn't have a crazy killer with a hockey mask (the oh-so-famous goalie-gear doesn't show up until numero tres), what it does have is Kevin Bacon and a bunch of sexy camp counselors playing a hot game of strip Monopoly. Can't wait to see that Community Chest!
2. "Apollo 13" - 1995 This was a bad movie. Astro-NOT! This movie was so sweet, and - like "Friday the 13th" - it also boasts the sizzlin' Kevin Bacon! Also, with Opie himself directing a pre-"Cast Away" and "Polar Express" Tom Hanks, there's no way this mission could fail. Oh wait, it did.
3. "Thirteen Days" - 2000 Kevin Costner plus New England accent, divided by the Cuban missile crisis, equals "Dry land is not a myth!"
4. "Thir13en Ghosts" - 2001 I could have selected the 1960 film "13 Ghosts" of which this movie - co-starring Matthew Lillard, Shannon Elizabeth and the dude from "Monk" - was a remake, but the title "Thir13en Ghosts" is too awesome not to include. I mean, whoever the genius was in marketing to "hippify" the title by being like, "let's flip around the 'e' and make it a three!" Genius.
5. "13 Going On 30" - 2004 The real highlight of this confused time-traveler story is Jennifer Garner's totally gay boss played by Andy Serkis. All of the nerds of the ring will surely recognize Serkis from "The Lord of the Rings" for he was the creature Gollum. Despite Gollum being in it, this movie was pretty lame. But let me just say that the '80s soundtrack totally rocks.
