Upcoming Reviews

I reserve the right to change at any time.   However these are the movies in the pipeline for review.    However I could add a movie or show if I happen to decide to watch it and decide to write a review.  

Movies

Zero Dark Thirty
Enders Game
Moon
Insomina (both American and Norwigian versions)
A Single Shot
Thin Red Line
Bond Films


TV
True Detective
Star Trek, Deep Space Nine
Farscape

No Way Out

No Way Out (1987) is something that does not pop up anymore much.   A spy thriller with no superpowers, assassins, or world changing events, just flawed humans and a soviet mole.


Movie: No Way Out (1987)
Rating: R

Starring: Keven Costner as Tom Farrell, Gene Hackman as David Brice, Sean Young as Susan Atwell, and Will Patton as Scott Pritchard.
Score: 7.1 out of 10 stars
Family Friendly: 2/5 (a short, not nude sex scene, random topless woman one one scene, and a moment of domestic violence)
Recommended: Anyone who enjoys watching a old school spy thriller, and for woman who want to see a young Keven Costner.

 Plot Summery (No Spoilers)

Tom Farrel (Costner) meets Atwell (Young)at a Washington ball.  They seduce each other.  After being a hero on his ship, Farrel is invited back to DC to work for intelligence for Brice (Hackman)   Brice is also seeing Atwell, and in a moment of rage kills her when he finds out she seeing someone else.   Brice claims that Atwell was killed by 'Yuri', a known Soviet Mole, and Farrel is tasked to hunt down himself as he leads the investigation.

Plot Summery (Spoilers)

A dashing Naval Officer Farrel (played by a young Keven Costner) meets Susan Atwell (Young), a socialite at a DC Ball.   They quickly fall for each other and make love in the back of a limo with cheesy 1980s music in the background.   Farrel soon goes out on his ship, and rescues a man about to fall overboard.   He is promoted by the Secretary of Defense Brice (Hackman) to a intelligence job.  We also find out the Department of Defense knows they have a spy inside the department that they have nicknamed 'Yuri'

Things become more complicated when we find out that the socialite is also sleeping with Brice.   In Farrel and Atwell's meeting, she takes a film photo (remember, this is the 1980s) of Farrel, who does not want to be photographed.   he crushes the film and throws it away.

Brice gives Atwell a nice gift (that was in turn given to him by a Moroccan diplomat, and thus recorded in a computer system) of a decorative box.   Later Brice finds out that his mistress Atwell is seeing another man, but she does not tell who.  In a fit of rage he throws Atwell off the stairwell and she dies.  

Brice, knowing that he needs to cover up his murder and affair, hes helped by his top aide Scott Pritchard (Patton) who thinks of the wonderful concept of claiming that Atwell knew who the soviet mole 'Yuri' is, and was seeing him.  

Farrel is given the task to lead the investigation to hunt down himself as he was the man who was seeing Atwell.   This leads to the meat of the film, as Farrel deals with pair of CIA "cleaners" and tries to prove that Brice was seeing Atwell while hindering the investigation on himself, without putting attention to himself.    It becomes a race of time between a computer slowly rebuilding the image of Farrel on the discarded film and Farrel linking the box with Brice. 

The climax comes as our three main characters are in the office,  Pritchard reveals that he killed a man for Brice, Brice disowns him for this, Farrel insisting that he must reveal to the public the truth.  It comes to a climax when Pritchard commits suicide, and Brice, ever the political survivor, pins the blame of Yuri on the now dead Pritchard, and our dashing hero of morals is saved....

Then he goes and talks to some interrogators, the man behind the glass comes out, and its Farrel's old landlord, who speaks to Farrel in perfect russian as he welcomes back Yuri to the fold, as Farrel really was the spy all along.

My thoughts:  A truly solid film that is a good classic spy thriller.   Keven Costner is the center of this film, and you can see that he has the ability to hold the entire movie together as it runs down the plot.

Some of this film has dated poorly.   The two new lovers in the back of the limo while 1980's music plays is more humorous then sexy as it so dated.   Also the computer centric tools used is both forward thinking, and yet dated as you see dot matrix printers print and what movies thought Photoshop would look like. 

This also has references to the US activities in Latin America at the time that to most modern viewers would forget, much like the last two administrations have forgotten the concept of the Monroe doctrine.   (I was a political science major, I have to get my dings in when I can).

The ending is both what makes this film great, and at the same time flawed, as its very abrupt and feels disjointed from the rest of the film.   Just seven years later this type of twist ending was used much more effectively in  The Usual Suspects (1995)

Sean Young is surprisingly forgettable in this film.  Of course, most only know her as "Blade Runner Girl".   Hackman and Patton do a solid job.   No one will will awards for the acting, but outside of young none of the actors will leave you wanting more out of the roles.  

In conclusion, its a solid film that is not a waste of your time to see, and could easily become someone cult classic fave movie due to the 'Yuri' ending.  

Badlands (1973)

This review is of the 1970s film Badlands (1973), the first film directed by Terrence Malick.   This film is also the feature film debut of Martin Sheen, and who stars opposite of Sissy Spacek.  

Movie: Badlands (1973)
Rating: PG

Starring: Martin Sheen as Kit, Sissy Spacek as Holly, and Warren Oates as Holly's Father
Score: 9.5 out of 10 stars
Family Friendly: 4/5 (Some folks get shot including police officers, Would be a PG-13 movie today (PG-13 was not created till the 1980s)
Recommended: Anyone who enjoys a visually stunning 1970s movie and enjoys seeing a very young Martin Sheen show why he such a good actor. 

 Plot Summery (No Spoilers)


Holly, a girl in a boring South Dakota town meets the older Kit, who likes to think that he looks like James Dean.   They elope, and Kit shows his real self as they start to shoot themselves across the Dakota Badlands.


Plot Summery (Spoilers)

The movie starts with Holly, who is the semi-innocent narrator of the movie, describing how what starts in little alleys ended up in the badlands of the Dakota's.   Soon we see her, twirling her Baton, as Kit, who recently quit his job as a garbage man, sees her and sweeps her off her feet.   Of course, Holly's dad does not approve, as Kit is 25 and Holly is only 15.   However Kit has a easy way to fix such a disagreement.   He shoots Holly father and they couple run off into the Dakota Badlands, to try to live a idyllic life, building a tree house in the woods and living as young lovers.   However the law is after the couple, and soon we learn that Kit is at least unstable, if not outright sociopath in nature as he begins to shoot his way across the Dakotas with the narrating Holly in tow.  

 

 

Soon the couple is shooting across the Dakotas, you know it cannot end well, and in the end they young lovers are captured, with Holly narrating how she married her lawyers son, and Kit ended up being executed by the state for his crimes. 

My thoughts:

This is a story that has been told a hundred times, thus the short plot synopsis.    It is based off the true story of the Charles Starkweather, who at the young age of 18 ran off with a young 13 year old girlfriend and killed 11 people before being caught in the 1950s.

There are four things that make this movie go from just another story of star crossed lovers to a classic in cinema.  

1)  The stunning landscape and photography.
2) The charisma of a young Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek
3) The great use of Music
4) The formula of Holly's childlike narration of the awful acts committed around her. 

This movie is a visual feast, with the stark landscape being part and parcel of the movie.   Many of the screenshots when outside could be used as postcards if it was still photography.   Even in this early work you see Terrence Malick already using two of his techniques, stunning photography and voice over narration.   I will go over the narration later, but this film at times makes you forget that Kit is truly a horrific person.

Speaking of Kit, Martin Sheen is simply amazing as the young greaser who likes to think he looks like James Dean.   He effortlessly oozes the simple confidence that at no time you doubt that he could talk his way into the heart of a young girl, even while committing murders as they go across the plains.   It is even more notable when you remember that this is his first ever film.

Above is a clip of the movie, showing the music and narration that makes this movie notable.   The music gives the movie a tone of almost childlike innocence, which combined with the narration helps reinforce the concept that Holly is not functioning as a adult in this movie.   Her narration reinforces this, as for example, she calmly informs what happens when her dad find out she still seeing Kit.

"Then sure enough Dad found out I been running around behind his back. He was madder than I ever seen him. His punishment for deceiving him: he went and shot my dog. He made me take extra music lessons every day after school, and wait there ‘till he came to pick me up. He said that if the piano didn’t keep me off the streets, maybe the clarinet would.” 

This is a classic movie from one of the best American directors (later made Days of Heaven (1978), The Thin Red Line (1998), and Tree of Life (2011)) is a great movie for those who can accept the early 1970s pacing of the film, which is a strong contrast to today's movies where the action never stops.  

First Post

This is the first post to my little Blog.   I will be doing movie reviews, TV show reviews, and other commentary in dealing with the enjoyment of watching movies.