'Twas The Night (2001)

If you want to watch one Christmassy Disney movie directed by 'The Shape" from Halloween then 'Twas The Night is the film for you. I'm not going to make a case for it being any kind of forgotten classic, but it will hit just the right nostalgia buttons for many, being tucked away alongside many other turn-of-the-century Disney TV movies on Disney+.

Written by Jim Lincoln, Dan Studney, and Jenny Tripp, a trio who spent a decade or so working on various Disney projects, this is supposed to be all about a young boy named Danny Wrigley (Josh Zuckerman), but viewers nowadays will have more fun watching his irresponsible uncle, Nick (played by Bryan Cranston). Idolised by his nephew, Nick is actually a small-time scammer who visits his family while he hides away from people who want to hurt him, wring money back out of him, or both. When they accidentally knock out Santa (Jefferson Mappin), Nick convinces Danny that they can use the special Santa gadgets to ensure everyone still gets their Christmas presents. It soon becomes clear, however, that Nick wants to rob a number of homes to give himself a bumper payday. But will Danny see the truth in time to stop Christmas from being ruined.

This is exactly what you think it is going to be, a fairly low-budget TV movie with a mix of amusing misbehaviour, some very mild peril, and occasional use of special effects to convey some magical "Santa powers". It's not one to seek out, nor is it overflowing with the Christmas atmosphere, but it's mildly entertaining stuff, and clocks in at a nice, short runtime of approximately 84 minutes. Zuckerman is the typical smartass-but-not-bad kid at the heart of it all, but most of the fun comes from watching Cranston's character trying to capitalise on an unbelievable stroke of good luck. Whether that is how the film was intended, or whether it just plays that way now with Cranston being such a familiar face, is beside the point. The fact is that Cranston helps to make this more fun than it otherwise might be.

Nobody else really stands out from the cast. Brenda Grate and Rhys Williams play Kaitlin and Peter, Nick's siblings, while Barclay Hope and Torri Higginson are the parents who have a couple of scenes trying to lay down some ground rules when Nick arrives, only to then disappear for the majority of the movie (because that is what the plot requires). Sandy Robson, and Jeff Geddis are the people looking to be reimbursed, and they have Jung-Yul Kim with them, acting as their "muscle". And let's not forget Mappin, in the role of Santa. In fact, let's actually just forget him, because he's quite forgettable in the role, and has to spend a lot of the movie powerless.

The direction is competent enough, the script is simple and fun, and this will please younger viewers who fall into the right age bracket for it. (I'm going to say between about 7-10, but please bear in mind that it's been a long time since I have curated any viewing choices for children . . . not  including my own inner child). Everyone else should find it decidedly average, but also pleasingly painless.

5/10

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The Last Starfighter (1984)

Another slice of '80s greatness, The Last Starfighter is yet another in the long list of films that I took far too long to watch. Thankfully, it holds up as a fun sci-fi action movie.

Lance Guest plays Alex Rogan, a young man who lives in a trailer park but dreams of the day when he can move away and start to make something of his life. He wants to take his lovely girlfriend, Maggie (Catherine Mary Stewart), with him, despite the fact that she doesn't seem quite so keen to get away. At the end of a bad day, Alex unwinds by playing the arcade game entitled The Last Starfighter. He breaks the record and defeats the game, much to the delight of the crowd gathered around him. But it turns out that The Last Starfighter is more than just an arcade game. It's a simulator/test, developed and planted in various locations by aliens who are under attack and in need of skilled fighters. When he is picked up by a man named Centauri (Robert Preston) and taken into outer space, Alex reacts as expected. He doesn't want to risk his life in a space battle if it's not in safe videogame form.

Directed by Nick Castle (a name familiar to any John Carpenter fan) and written by Jonathan R. Betuel, The Last Starfighter is a delightful mix of practical effects, very basic computer FX work (crude, but charming in this context) and sheer escapism. It's family entertainment from back when those two words didn't equate to something that had been completely neutered to appease everyone offended by the merest hint of an immoral thought.

Guest is perfectly fine in the lead role, and also has a lot of fun playing the robotic unit that replaces him while he's away in space. He's a standard teenager, imperfect but likable enough. Catherine Mary Stewart is equally fine as his girlfriend, and the two work well together. When it comes to the space bods, Preston has the most fun as Centauri, but Dan O'Herlihy is constantly entertaining onscreen, hidden under a LOT of make-up for his character, Grig. Then there are the main baddies, played by Norman Snow and Dan Mason. Both do solid work.

It's very cheesy in places, and it's often a bit ridiculous, but The Last Starfighter is also fine entertainment. It's eager to please, and the perfect pacing helps (a few different alien agents are sent to take Alex out of action when his skill becomes known). I'll be buying it ASAP, rewatching it every so often, and simply regretting the fact that I didn't get to see this when it was first released back in the 1980s.

7/10

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Escape From New York (1981)

This sleek, cool, sci-fi thriller from John Carpenter is the film that really seemed to cement the working relationship between the director and actor Kurt Russell. The two consistently brought out the best in one another throughout the 1980s and this is when it all kicked off (the Elvis biopic was good but also far removed from the rest of the work that they would do together).

Russell has a ball playing Snake Plissken, one of the coolest, grizzled anti-heroes ever to be put on film. He’s asked to rescue the President Of The United States after a flight is hijacked and he reluctantly agrees, not caring at all about the fate of the POTUS but won over by the thought of a full pardon. You see, Snake is a criminal and it will take a criminal to rescue the President because the President is being held in a prison by a bunch of degenerates who want out. The prison is New York itself, walled up many years ago and made inescapable – it’s the place where criminals go to rot.

Escape From New York is just as enjoyable to watch today as it was when it was released back in 1981. It doesn’t matter that the wild future depicted onscreen is now some years behind us (1997), it only matters that this is Carpenter at the top of his game with his favourite actor in the lead role and a supporting cast of top notch character actors: Tom Atkins, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, George ‘Buck’ Flower, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau and Donald Pleasence.

The script, written by Carpenter and Nick Castle, is lean and cool throughout, with Plissken being more a man of action than words. The direction and cinematography is as great as you'd expect from Carpenter during this period in his career, with typically gorgeous work from Dean Cundey, and there's yet another of those classic synth scores accompanying the action - created by the director and Alan Howarth.

It may have been Carpenter's biggest budget at the time but the movie remains a great one to study for those wantting to learn about wringing the most from every dollar. Superb matte paintings, "wire-frame" images of a city created by white tape on a black model, a production design department making numerous trips to garbage landfill sites to scavenge junk they could use for props, every trick in the book was used to ensure that the money is onscreen and that the movie matches the vision of its director.

9/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Escape-New-York-DVD/dp/B0002JK73Y/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1352469724&sr=8-3