Atomic Popcorn brings you yet another Top 10 list! This time we are bring you a list of some of the best on-screen duo’s there are! Below is a list of my top 10 on-screen duo’s of coarse you will have your own opinion. I promise to not use the word chemistry more than 4 times also!

If you all have any ideas for a top 10 list or want to see something specific send us an email at top10@atomicpopcorn.net and we will try and get it up here for you.

Without further ado, here is what I think are the top 10 on-screen duo’s of recent memory.

10. Ben Affleck & Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting- This unlikely duo of two kids from Boston making a movie based on something they wrote. Well the movie was a hit and the duo are still just that in Hollywood. Damon and Affleck both have a great career both behind and in front of them.

9. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys- who can see these guys without at least humming “Bad Boy Bad Boys, whatcha gonna do?” I know I can’t. A great on screen chemistry between these overly large men. The acting is on par with any action flick but these two bring to the table something special. I think they may be channeling a little something from another of our top 10 contenders for Top 10 Duo’s.

8. John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction – These extremely violent yet stupid criminals made a movie and a career for a certain Director. While these two came onto the scene quietly, they left with a very large bang after this film. Such chemistry and great writing lead these guy’s onto our Top 10 list.

7. Sam and Frodo in LOTR Trilogy – This unlikely duo has melted ring’s around the world. All jokes aside about being gay lovers, this on-screen duo shares a lifetime of pain and love throughout these films. This duo was something that I don’t we had seen on screen in a while. A true chemistry between two guys in the midst of uncertain times.

6. Brad Pitt and George Clooney in the Ocean’s franchise – two of Hollywood’s leading men, leading the charge for some awesome bank robbing. What more can you want from two Joe Cool’s. Great acting, great suave, these two ooze cool.

5. Tyler and The Narrator in Fight Club – Didn’t we just mention Joe Cool above this, well he is back along side Edward Norton as number 5 on our list. These two really gave us a run for our money in Fight Club. Writing aside, the acting between these two made the movie what it is today.

4. Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in the Lethal Weapon franchise – oh my, two entirely different people trapped with one another made these two real men of the 80′s. The boys of Lethal Weapon brought to the screen an on-screen chemistry that not many have or will match. The laughs, the tears, the fights, true brothers ended up on screen with these two crazies!

3. Woody and Buzz from the Toy Story franchise – Yes I am well aware that they are artistically enhanced characters. Yes I am also aware I have a animated feature as my number 3. Without a doubt you have to include Tom Hanks and Tim Allen on this list. Starting as fierce rivals for Andy’s love, they have grown into a duo among the best. The interaction and delivery from this duo brings to life what we only know as animated history!

2. Robert Redford and Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting – Suave and complete. The acting and everything that follows and it includes these guys had it and brought it to the screen. These movies are classics for two reason and the two reason are the men above and below this blurb. These guys we looked at the men of men and rightfully so.

1. Steve Martin and John Candy in Planes, Trains and Automobiles – the funny men of the 80′s paired together to bring to the screen one of the best on screen duo’s ever. With Candy gone we can only assume what could of been but this was and is still a great movie. Due in large, or in whole, to these two completely crazy comedians.

Just read this at the Hollywood Reporter and I hope it is true. I loved the first two “Bad Boys” movies and think they are great action flicks and some of the best mindless fun I’ve seen on the big screen.

Columbia Pictures is developing a third installment of the high-octane “Bad Boys” franchise, tapping Peter Craig to pen the screenplay.

The hope is to have a script that would reunite director Michael Bay, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. At this point, with the project in the early stages, none has a deal to return.

The “Boys” movies feature Smith and Lawrence as Miami detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, caught up in cases involving car chases and explosions.

The first “Boys,” released in 1995, helped launch Bay as a director and Smith as an action star even though it was not a fire-stamped blockbuster — it grossed $66 million domestically and $141 million worldwide.

The sequel, released in 2003 when Bay and Smith’s stars had risen, grossed $138 million domestically and $273 million worldwide.

All parties have expressed a willingness to return if a story can be hammered out. One potential hurdle, however, would be the costly deals with the players.

With Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opening this week, it seems time to take a look back at the critical punching bag career of Michael Bay. Outside of The Rock, Bad Boys and Transformers people have destroyed and tarnished his films. While Pearl Harbor is undoubtedly one of the worst things to happen to humanity, Bay takes too much blame for films that are otherwise purely and greatly entertaining. The guy knows what he’s making and outside of that film we shall not mention, he never parades them as “the most important film in the history of cinema making.” His flicks cater to the twelve year-old inside us all that wants to kill the villain in the worst possible way or go up and save the world on an asteroid (and really, when you’re twelve, do you care about the science of it all or blowing up the asteroid and being a hero?)

In all of his pictures, there’s something known as Bayhem. What is Bayhem you ask? Well I’ll tell ya. It’s the biggest whirlwind you’ll see on screen mixed with an explosion or bullets whizzing by you or both followed by some glorious slow-motion of the hero and or said action sequence. In short it’s mayhem that only Michael Bay can deliver, and what better way to celebrate the opening of Transformers 2 than with The Top 11 Bayhems.

11. THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR – PEARL HARBOR

My hatred of this film is pretty well-known, but I’m trying to include all of Bay’s film and this does qualify as Bayhem even if it does slap anyone involved in the attack in the face. Slow-motion shots of incoming Japanese planes? Check. Explosions up the wazoo? Check. Planes being shot down left and right and right and left? Check. Likely, it’s the least terrible scene in the movie but I can’t bring myself to call anything about this film good. The fact anything from this crap is on here is a compliment.

10. NAVY SEAL SHOOTOUT – THE ROCK

WHEW, now with that one out of me, we can move on to this brilliant scene from Bay’s second film The Rock. Now, if this had been “The Top 11 Best Directed Bay Scenes” this would be at the top as it perfectly captures the vulnerability and claustrophobia of being in such a tight location for a shootout. As it stands for Bayhem, it’s still great and ends very violently with the SEALs being wasted by Hummel’s mercenaries from above. It’s fairly gripping to see these men fall to their doom and you really wish they wouldn’t. The fallout of the scene leads to one of the best exchanges between Goodspeed and Mason as well as making the viewer feel, if for a minute, all hope is lost.

9. HANGAR ATTACK – BAD BOYS

Interesting fact: Bay took a pay cut on this movie so he could have the hangar explode at the end of this film. It’s debatable whether the scene needed it or not but who doesn’t get riled up watching Mike Lowry and Marcus Burnett launch a small assault on Fouchet and his crew. “You forgot your boardin’ pass,” followed by a flaming body being shot out of a plane is badass, as is Trigger Mike’s leap after Fouchet as the villain tries to flee. It’s all gloriously capped off by a car chase and a really fun take down of the villain. As usual, we get the slow motion shots of our heroes against the sunset as well as Bay’s trademark helicopters. The best thing to me is Mark Mancina’s score as Mike plants one into Fouchet’s leg. Perfect hero music.

8. FREEWAY/BUILDING CHASE - THE ISLAND

A pretty underrated film in it’s own right, The Island did have a strong performance from Djimon Hounsou and was ultimately hurt by terrible marketing which gave away the twist and all of the film’s secrets (see Moon for how to market a film like this properly.) Part of what hurt as well was Bay trying to make this a summer blockbuster with a sci-fi story, as evidenced by the ending (which should have ended the moment a certain character died.) While to me, the freeway chase is a giant rip off of another flick on this list, the sequence that takes place in the building is enough to justify it being here. It culminates with a pretty unrealistic Looney Toones-esque drop that only feels right in a Bay film. Not to mention all the destruction the giant R causes as it races down the side of the structure. Ah, more lovely Bayhem.

7. SOCCENT BASE ATTACK – TRANSFORMERS

This was the perfect way to open Transformers as it begins with that wonderful noise that defined so many of our childhoods. What follows is a giant smackdown of the SOCCENT base in Qatar as Blackout pummels through tank after tank and soldier after soldier. It’s memorable to me because the moment that familiar noise was made, my theater rose and burst into applause and cheers. If Bay was trying to get everyone on his side, he did it within the first five minutes by giving that noise and one of those giant robots whipping all kinds of tail. This, coupled with the introduction of Sam, set us up for what kind of movie we were in for and it didn’t disappoint. Plus, who didn’t want a Blackout toy after that?

6. SAN FRANCISCO CAR CHASE – THE ROCK

The funny thing is Bay wrote this chase into the movie as it wasn’t apart of the original script. While that’s fairly obvious now, Bay still gave us a chase that aspired to be Bullitt on steroids. John Mason launches Womack over the hotel ledge, gets chased by Stanley Goodspeed and the Bayhem ensues once Mason takes a Humvee and Goodspeed “borrows” a Ferrari that’s not his. For my money, it’s one of the best car chases of the last fifteen years with glass being crashed, water tanks being destroyed and even a trolley and the Ferrari are claimed in a giant explosion to cap it all off. Connery’s exchange with the Humvee owner is short and priceless and Cage’s “hero shot” reaction is what the lot of us would feel after being in that. Probably the most badass part of the whole thing is when the Ferrari crashes though the glass from the parking lot. Yeah, I want to do that.

5. ROCKHOUND GOES CRAZY AND DESTRUCTION OF PARIS – ARMAGEDDON

Technically, this counts as one scene as these two follow each other. It all starts when Steve Buscemi gets hold of a gun on an asteroid (and if you’re still taking the flick seriously at this point, shame on you) and starts shooting and blasting everything on the asteroid. The asteroid gets pissed and causes an earthquake that claims an armadillo and one of the astronauts. What follows is one of the most over-dramatic scenes ever put to film with everyone running away and the man standing on the yellow taxi with a “The End is Here” sign. More Bayhem continues when an asteroid falls near Paris and in one fowl swoop the capital of France is leveled. Still, the highlight here is the montage of the world running in fear that has some sort of “we’re sure screwed now” type of mentality behind it. It’s likely the music, which is scored brilliantly by Trevor Rabin.

4. ASSAULT ON TAPIA’S MANSION – BAD BOYS II

Simon Pegg once stated “the film runs on for twenty minutes too long, but it’s the best twenty minutes in the film.” That’s not necessarily true, but the take down of Johnny Tapia is a wonderful action sequence that goes from Plan A, to Plan B, to even Plan C. Not content with the heroes fighting just drug dealers, Bay feels they have to fight the entire Cuban army as well. Bullets fly and magically hit only one of our heroes as they rescue Marcus’ sister and proceed to speed off in a Hummer as Tapia’s house comes tumbling to the ground and only to be finished off the only way Bayhem can be: explosions. The end of all this shooting and explosions does take heavily from Police Story 2 but Plan C ends with one of the best deaths of a villain. Even a lizard is claimed in all of this mess.

3. MISSION CITY BATTLE – TRANSFORMERS

“At the end of this day, one shall stand, one shall fall.” Cue applause from anyone who’s a true Transformers fan and you’re witnessing the best thirty minutes in the movie. This scene displays all of the money that was put into making this flick and nary one time does it look fake. An entire city is destroyed as the robots pound on each other through seemingly downtown Los Angeles. Everyone gets their time to shine, even Optimus Prime who gets pounded on by Megatron and makes an exciting rescue of Sam. In addition, Ironhide’s Chow Yun-Fat like dive as he takes down Brawl (not Devastator, as the movie incorrectly states) is pure greatness. Starscream awesomely takes down a group of Raptor jets before tricking them into thinking he’s one of them and the scene makes Josh Duhamel cool by doing his motorcycle stint to take down Blackout. Enough Bayhem? I thought so.

2. FREEWAY CHASE – BAD BOYS II

It sucks this scene is so early in the movie as it’s my favorite scene and of the best crafted action pieces in a long while. The exchanges between Smith and Lawrence are hysterical and some of it feels natural. The real show stealer though is when the cars start being thrown at the pair by the Haitian drug dealers. Cars aimlessly destroy one another and no, Trigger Mike’s Ferrari doesn’t make it unscathed. Automobiles explode and then get launched from the top of the car carrier. They claim forty-two cars are taken out, but over the course of the scene it looks more like 100. Cars aren’t enough for Explodo (Bay), as he decides to end this with a boat taking out at least ten cars before another five police cars crash and explode into it. The sequence is one of the best car chases you’ll find and is filmed with perfect execution. My favorite exchange? “Know what would be real fuckin’ helpful Marcus? Just shut the fuck up and let me drive, let’s try that!”

1. THE ENDING OF ARMAGEDDON

Odd choice? Not in the slightest, as this scene is everything that IS Michael Bay. “We win Gracie,” kicks off one lighting quick edit of Harry Stamper’s life and daughter, moving onto slow motion destruction of the asteroid. Through all of this, Trevor Rabin’s score hits all of the easy dramatic notes that give the feeling of “WE DID IT!” Even more, there’s shots of people across the world celebrating and running into the streets with space shuttle toys.  It’s over-the-top, slow motion explosions complete with cheese for the resolution with it’s characters, and rapid fast dialog. But this is what defines Michael Bay as all of his tricks are at work in this entire sequence. Nothing is subtle or restrained here and yet it feels like the perfect way to cap off this flick. It’s pretty likely that those who hate this sequence are the ones who detest Bay and those who enjoy the ending for what it is are those who like him. In either case, no other scene of Bayhem depicts what he is or truly defines the man like this and that’s why it’s at the top.