No matter where you go, you'll find that it's still the 25th anniversary of cult classic The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension, released on this very day in 1984. Shall we go ahead and destroy Russia now?
We could go ahead and complain about the failed attempts at sequels to this ridiculous (and ridiculously enjoyable) movie, but we'd rather just celebrate the fact that it exists at all. Look at the who's-who-of-80s-greatness cast list (Peter Weller! Jeff Goldblum! Christopher Lloyd! Clancy Brown! Um... Ellen Barkin?), the plot that recognizes the necessity of a hero who can do everything he sets his mind to, or the fact that, by movie's end, you too will wish that you were one of the Hong Kong Cavaliers and you'll realize that the British Guardian newspaper had no choice to but to include the movie in its list of 1000 movies you must see before you die (They're also not entirely wrong when they describe it as "nearly incomprehensible yet sharply funny"). If you're in Portland, OR, there's a special anniversary screening of the movie tonight at the Laurelhurst Theater, but for everyone else, DVD technology exists for a reason. In a summer full of movies that replaced plot with bombast, here's to one that knew that over-the-top didn't only have to apply to special effects. Happy birthday, Buckaroo.