Showing posts with label Nicholas Cage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nicholas Cage. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

THE ROCK (1996)

A disgruntled general and a bunch of military dudes take over Alcatraz Island.  They lock all of the tourists in cells and then threaten to kill everybody in San Francisco with a deadly chemical gas (launched on missiles) unless they get 100 million dollars.  That sounds like the set-up for a fairly entertaining film: highly trained dudes in a highly fortified position, super badass dudes gotta sneak in and rescue the day...but then you see the credit "Directed by Michael Bay" and you know that you're gonna get all of that plus loads of crazy, illogical, fucked-up silliness.  Exotic cars, wailing guitars, explosions on top of other explosions, a ridiculous car chase, people barking orders, manly camera angles, patriotism overload, the Sun, helicopters, military jets...and then you add on Nicholas Cage's patented overacting!!! Wow!  That's a surefire recipe for entertainment.  Entertainment like a motherfucker!!

In order to sneak into Alcatraz, the FBI forcefully recruits escape artist/ex-spy Sean Connery (the only man to have successfully snuck out of Alcatraz) to lead a group of Navy SEALS and FBI chemical weapons nerd Nicholas Cage into "the Rock".

Even all these years later THE ROCK is still an entertaining ride.  Dumb story, impressive cast, fast pace, worried girlfriend looking all worried, Sean Connery channeling James Bond, a runaway coal mine cart chase.  Recommended.

If you think about it, it's kinda funny because Michael Biehn and Ed Harris' roles from THE ABYSS are now reversed: now it's Harris who is the bad guy and Biehn is the good guy. Also, I'm kinda surprised they haven't remade this with Dwayne Johnson in it.

Monday, July 28, 2014

VALLEY GIRL (1983)

Twenty-one year old high school student Julie (Deborah Foreman) breaks up with her boyfriend Tommy (Michael Bowen) because he's an arrogant douche.  Later at the beach and then at a party she sees Randy (Nicholas Cage) and falls for him.  He's such a stud muffin!  They start dating, but Julie's friend object loudly to this because he's sooo different than they are.  And by "different" I think it's because he's lower class or something, I don't even know.  It was hard to understand their logic when the filmmakers did such a poor job of showing what the difference was between people from the Valley and people from Hollywood.  Example: in the scene where he enters the party people literally stop dancing and just stare at him like he's a freak from another planet, when, to me, he looked just like everybody else.  He even had a popped collar.

While the Romeo and Juliet story idea is alright, I didn't care for the film because nothing really happens.  Yeah, yeah...Julie and Randy are suppose to be in love...but I never got the sense that they were actually in love.  She seemed pretty happy to get back with Tommy later on.  And Randy came off more like an obsessive stalker than anything else.  Hiding in a busy bathroom to see her?  Check. Dressing up like a server at a food joint to see her?  Yep.  Sleeping in her yard to be near her? Yes.  Dedicating a song to her on the radio?  Yep.

There was also a lot of wasted time on shit that never went anywhere. Julie's parents had multiple scenes that could have been cut.  The side story about one of Julie's friend's stepmom flirting with a younger dude went nowhere.  There was also a thing about Tommy and one of Julie's friends hooking up at a party, but that too just kinda disappeared.

Bland characters, zero tension, the bad guy wasn't bad enough, the good guy wasn't likeable enough, Sherman Oaks Galleria interiors, great soundtrack (the most pleasant surprise was "Sparks - "Eaten By The Monster Of Love" which reminded me of FRIGHT NIGHT), 80's fashions, girl on the poster doesn't even look like Deborah Foreman, Hollywood's version of "punk".  Worth watching for historical curiosity...and Elizabeth Daily topless.