They Live (1988)
They Live (1988) — Motivated by Rowdy Roddy Piper’s appearance on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia the other day I decided to finally sit down and watch this movie [Sidenote: FearNet OnDemand sucks, they plaster the screen with ads and inserted a commercial about thirty minutes in. Plus my usual OnDemand complaint of having the sides chopped off for a mutilated fullscreen image still applies as well.] So fascist aliens have secretly taken over the world with subliminal messages instructing us to “obey,” “consume,” and “marry and reproduce.” I think on some level we all know this is true. Anyway so Roddy finds a pair of sunglasses that allows him to see through the facade. Badassery ensues, including a long and pointless yet awesome fistfight with his FRIEND (Keith David) over getting him to wear the glasses too. Roddy proceeds to kick ass (owing to his lack of bubblegum). Gloriously over-the-top 80s Verhoevan-esque social satire punctuated with violence makes this John Carpenter flick a winner.
