Over the Top (1987)

By 1987, Hollywood was cranking out roughly 7.3 movies about boxing every year, with Stallone's Rocky sequels serving as a prototype for the brainless summer action sequel 25 years before that was standard practice. Stallone therefore ventured forth to bring another underdog story from a sport nobody cares that much about home to middle America: he came back with competitive arm wrestling. Because what could be more cinematic than watching a grown man make a pained expression while standing perfectly still?

I feel like this sums up the movie pretty well: freakish arm, truck crash, hawk decal.

The Expendables (2010)

After Stallone touted the virtues of American jingoism, violent conflict resolution, and arm wrestling, Stallone entered the 2000s fresh out of ideas. Rather than challenge himself as an actor, writer and director, he instead rehashed some of his most popular characters and removed any possible political or emotional relevance.

Rocky Balboa is now a shell of his former glory; John Rambo is not just a man without a war, he's a man without any discernible enemy or purpose; and to cover Stallone's catalog of generic 80s action schlock, he brings out The Expendables, a fun action movie hiding within poor lighting composition, a needlessly complex plot, and indiscernible slurred ad libbing by its overwhelming cast of has-beens, might-still-bes, and never-wases.

A pretty good summation of the movie.

Demolition Man (1993)

The late 80s and early 90s was a golden age of goofy action loosely connected with sci-fi themes: from the hugely successful Terminator 2 to Total Recall to Robocop, it was the zenith of combining Phillip K. Dick plots with explosions. It was at this cultural high tide that Demoltion Man was released, introducing Stallone's first foray into the genre.

His frozen body is forced through a rigorous exercise routine.

Cobra (1986)

In the 1980s, Los Angeles was out of control. Minorities were walking the streets with no fear, left untouched in bars and clubs, and parking in legal designated spaces without any sort of hassle or intimidation.

That all changed when Lieutenant Marion "Cobra" Cobretti (Sylvester Stallone) came onto the scene. Part of the LAPD's infamous "Zombie Squad" (named as such because they are "the bottom line," whatever that means), Cobra drives through the mean streets in his 40s-era Batman car (license plate "AWSOM 50"), matchstick in mouth and pistol in waistband. He's everything our society values in a police officer: carelessness, violence, and a complete lack of administrative oversight.