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Blame It On Rio (1984) 6/10. This is a trashy, thrown-together old fashioned sex farce set in the tropical paradise of Rio de Janeiro. Michael Caine and Joseph Bologna are a couple of longtime buddies who plan to go on holiday together with their families but find themselves in Rio without their wives – because of Bologna's divorce and Caine's wife suddenly decides to go to Europe instead, at the last minute. With their wives elsewhere it's up to their daughters - Demi Moore and Michelle Johnson - to look after them and keep them out of mischief. But mischief is got into very quickly as no sooner do they reach the Cidade Maravilhosa, the one of the daughters that's not his own seduces Caine and continues to do so throughout the film despite his fatherly and mild-mannered protestations.
Time After Time (1979) 8/10. 1893: John Leslie Stephenson, who is really Jack the Ripper, is transported forward through time in H.G. Wells's time machine to 1979 with H.G. in hot pursuit. Stephenson, played by David Warner, flees in the machine simply to avoid the cops; but H.G. (Malcolm McDowell) is horrified because he's sure that the world in 1979 will be a utopia free of violence and everything else bad. Because of some spurious reason the machine is relocated geographically as well as in time, and ends up in a museum in San Francisco. After Stephenson exits it returns to London 1893, where H.G. fires it up again and brings it to San Fran a few hours later. For an oddball hybrid film forty something years old this moves at a fair pace and, aside from its basic premise, never feels too fatuous or artificial. McDowell is great as H.G. with his childlike wonder combined with a sturdy pragmatism that keeps the story going. His dialogue with Mary Steenburgen (who plays the reverse of her Back to the Future Part III character) is thoroughly believable thanks to her as much as to him. San Francisco locations are used brilliantly and one chase sequence particularly stands out. H.G. is after Stephenson soon after they reach 1979 and they're running through the San Francisco streets. There's a brief pause as they spy each other on parallel footbridges over a road. They square off, trying to stare each other down and then they're off again through the streets.
In Good Company (2004) 7/10 is a bad and forgettable title for an admittedly flimsy and very broad but still perfectly watchable comedy-drama. I'm always intrigued by depictions of the workplace in movies: when the script calls for a single scene a character's work it sometimes rings hollow, especially in comedies, and if the primary setting is a workplace it pays to get it right. There really aren't too many wholly workplace-based films - workplaces aren't exciting enough to set movies in - but I saw Up in the Air recently and that felt fairly authentic, and so does In Good Company. (Revolutionary Road also springs to mind as a film that absolutely nailed the workplace, and that was a 60s workpace. The Devil Wears Prada is the best example of a bullshit movie workplace I can think of.) Dennis Quaid is sometimes known as the poor man's Harrison Ford: the comparison doesn't really work for me as I was never keen on Ford but I get the idea. He's the poor man's Ford in that he plays roles one could imagine Ford passing up. He's less pissed-off and pissy than Ford and way more laid back, which makes him much more suited to light roles like this. Cast as Quaid's character here, Ford would be glaring and staring and scowling and cursing and you'd feel like any minute he might blow, and he would not be likeable. The film's set-up is that Quaid's new boss (Topher Grace) is, thanks to a corporate takeover, a go-getting dickhead half his age who has no clue about the job and (to add insult to injury) starts fooling around with Quaid's daughter, Scarlett Johansson. Grace's performance starts off feeling obnoxious, as is surely intended, and a little TOO light, even for this - like a sitcom almost - but as the film wears on and his character is inevitably revealed to be one of more substance and integrity than we initially supposed, he comes into his own. His incessant twittering caffeine-fuelled empty peptalk is just a facade, a defense mechanism automatically deployed at work that comes crumbling down whenever he's around Quaid's daughter. The soundtrack for In Good Company deserves a mention: at least one song does. For most of its running time the songs are modern acoustic totally throwaway almost irritating but not quite songs like Cannonball by Damien Rice. But then right near the end in comes Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel. I've been conditioned enough over the years by that song in the recut Shining trailer to think of it as a joke but here it works and is totally right for the "this character was down but now his life's getting back on track and is on his way to a happy ending" moment.
Firestarter (1984) 8/10. SPOILERS - Is there an endless supply of Stephen King adaptations? Surely not, but it seems like every other week I come across some mention of one I've never even heard of. There's loads of film adaptations and then probably as many again of TV movies and miniseries. Firestarter is about a little girl (Drew Barrymore) who has firestarting powers and is on the run with her Dad (David Keith) from government forces. Martin Sheen also stars as the suit running the operation, and George C Scott is a wholly evil Indian henchman with an agenda of his own. I approached this warily not expecting much but Barrymore (aged nine!) puts in an incredible performance and sells the whole thing. The finale has to be seen to be believed and is quite similar in scale and devastation as the ending of Commando (which was the director's next film). I doubt if any character so young has ended so many baddies' lives in so little time as here.
also-
Star Wars Return of the Jedi (1983) 7/10
Black Hunter White Heart (1990) 8/10
Gangs of New York (2002) 8/10
The Usual Suspects (1995) 7/10
Up in the Air (2009) 7/10
Tin Cup (1996) 7/10
Rango (2011) 8/10
You Only Live Once (1937) 7/10
The Brothers Bloom (2008) 8/10
The Grifters (1990) 6/10
Running with Scissors (2006) 6/10
War of the Buttons (1994) 8/10
The Italian Job (1969) 7/10
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