Revisit the '80s with the Rambo Trilogy that has everything straight from the Reagan era —unwelcome Vietnam-war veterans to a slim, handsome Sylvester Stallone whose body develops with the numbers.

John Rambo is a mean machine in First Blood (1982), an alien returning to the Vietnamese jungle in Rambo First Blood Part II (1985) and a warrior with bulging muscles and hatred against ruthless Russians in Rambo III (1988).

Based on the character created by David Morrell in his novel, First Blood, Rambo encounters a sadistic sheriff Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy) in the first part, and when he is tortured by his men (featuring David Caruso of CSI Miami in an early role), it brings back some horrible memories of the war, something Rambo wants to forget.

The snap puts him in fourth gear and he declares war against the establishment because he wants to live and they don't want him to. He injures all who come to hunt him down and his war ends only on the intervention of his old commanding officer, Colonel Trautman (Richard Crenna) who comes in to save the people from the wrath of his protégé.

Rambo returns as the highly skilled guerrilla warfare expert in the sequel when he is asked by Trautman to do a job 'for the country' ... to search for American POWs in Vietnamese captivity. But when Rambo engages the enemy in a war of terror, the Americans leave him to die...and he decides to live. He successfully starts and finishes a one-man rescue mission against all odds and gets a Presidential pardon for his acts.

Rambo III is the best of all since it is close to what is going on in Afghanistan these days. Rambo uses all his survival techniques and weaponry training in Afghanistan after he learns Trautman is captured by the Russians. He rescues his mentor and gets to use his exploding long-bow arrows, knife and perform stunts that still aren't outdated even after 20 years. Add Jerry Goldsmith musical score and you get a sure-shot hit.

Rambo's popularity can be judged from the fact that he was once mentioned in a famous Ronald Reagan snapshot where the US President, an actor himself, held a sign that read 'Rambo is a Republican'. The film also features Richard Crenna in a memorable role as Colonel Trautman but he might never have been in the film ... the late actor was a last-minute replacement for Kirk Douglas, but excelled after delivering some of the best one-liners such as “God didn't make Rambo...I did”, “Rambo, your country needs you”, “What you call hell, he calls home” and the ultimate insult, “I think you're going soft, Rambo.”

Rambo's adventures have made him a worldwide synonym for action heroes. He can do anything MacGyver can and shows us that one man can really make a difference. Each Rambo film is an improvement on the predecessor and Stallone does arguably the best acting of his career. In the first part, he has a breakdown scene which needs to be commended while he also shares the writing credits in all three films. Watch the Rambo Trilogy before you go for Rambo 4, where he not only writes and acts, but also calls the shots. — Seema Faruqi

WILD HOGS

Wild Hogs is the story of four friends who are fun-starved, middle-age, family men in Cincinnati and who find themselves frustrated with the pace of daily life, landing themselves into deep trouble when they try to act 'cool'.

Doug the dentist (Tim Allen), Woody the loser (John Travolta), Bobby the plumber (Martin Lawrence) and Dudley the 'virgin' computer nerd (William H. Macy) play the weekend-warriors who decide to rev up their ho-hum suburban lives with a cross-country motorcycle adventure.

Their decision is to revisit the good ol' days and opt for a life without obligations while the consequences of their ill-judgment in this Walt Becker-directed flick will surely bring a smile to your face, especially when they have nothing common except their leather jackets and Harley Davidsons.

And then, there are the Del Fuegos. The plot thickens after a scary encounter between the fake Wild Hogs and the real motorcycle gang, led by the indomitable Jack (Ray Liotta) who tricks them into a bum motorcycle trade which goes bad, really bad. From there on things never remain the same except that Dudley finds the woman of his dreams.

Filled with hilarious misadventures, crackpot situations and madcap mayhem, Wild Hogs has all the right ingredients for you to go wild. It doesn't matter what age you are, the presence of the star cast — and a guest appearance from the one and only you-don't-want-to-know-who — is guaranteed to make your day. — S.F.