The Firm (1993)

One of two movies released in 1993 that kick-started an extra-lucrative time in the career of writer John Grisham, The Firm is an enjoyable thriller that focuses on the legal hoops the lead character needs to jump through, while also adding one or two more visceral moments for those wanting immediate thrills in their thrillers.

Tom Cruise is Mitch McDeere, a brilliant young lawyer who is given an offer he can't refuse from a prestigious law firm. He and his wife (Abby, played by Jeanne Tripplehorn) have to relocate, and there are long working days in his near future, but the rewards seem well worth the investment, especially as he is taken under the wing of Avery Tolar (Gene Hackman). Things seem a bit too good to be true though, which means they are. It turns out that the law firm has one or two secrets, and someone may be willing to kill to keep them secret.

There are very few movies adapted from John Grisham novels that don't benefit from having a stacked cast, but The Firm remains a high watermark. Alongside Cruise, Tripplehorn, and Hackman, you get Hal Holbrook, Wilford Brimley, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, David Strathairn, Gary Busey, Tobin Bell, and Dean Norris. There are also two main supporting roles for Terry Kinney and Barbara Garrick, people you will know by sight even if you can't put a face to their names right now. This is a Grisham movie, but it's also very much an actor's movie, and there's nobody here who disappoints (although Bell and Norris are very much locked in to the role of the "deadly stranger" required to add the proper physical threat alongside the legal wrangling, which is saying something in a film that also brings in Paul Sorvino and Joe Viterelli before the end credits roll.

Adapted from the novel by David Rabe, David Rayfiel, and the legendary Robert Towne, things are paced really well as viewers are introduced to the onscreen world, start learning some of the jargon, or at least have enough context clues to get the gist, and can then share the unease as some characters start to become suspicious about the way business is being conducted by the firm. The cast are all very capable of selling the dialogue, and Sydney Pollack once again shows himself to be one of the best in the business when it comes to presenting some potentially dry and dull material in a way that feels impressively engaging and propulsive.

It's hard to pin down why this works as well as it does, and those familiar with the novel may disagree (I know many were unhappy with how the ending changed from page to screen), but the main thing is a feeling of quality, as well as the way in which the plot has been made easily understandable without seeming too patronising. There are a few elements I can point to as being sub-par, maybe some of the score and some of the make up being used to show how tired and strained Cruise is in the second half, and some may be put off by the fact that the runtime is 154 minutes, but I would generally recommend this to anyone after blockbuster entertainment that focuses on the cast ahead of any random explosions and special effects.

8/10

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Ani-MAY-tion: Planes: Fire And Rescue (2014)

Dane Cook returns to voice Dusty Crophopper in this strange sequel to Planes, a film that continues to present a world populated by living vehicles, but also complicates the central premise by featuring more scenes in which vehicles are transported along INSIDE other vehicles (this also happened in the Cars movies, but feels a bit a bit more bizarre, and even Cronenbergian, this time around).

In an idea that feels tired and desperate from the start, Dusty Crophopper is already past his racing prime. He has a mechanical issue that means he can no longer push himself to fly at the speeds he once experienced. Ah well, at least he can retrain alongside planes that keep themselves busy fighting fires. This leads to him being taught fire-fighting tactics by Blade Ranger (Ed Harris) while he works to overcome his own fears, and his dangerous cockiness.

I could add more to that plot summary. Of course there’s a raging inferno to be dealt with at some point. Of course there are valuable lessons to be learned along the way. And, of course, Dusty gets a chance to show that he really is up to the task of being a fire-fighter. This is as predictable as expected, and even more humorless than the film preceding it (which wasn’t exactly a chuckle-fest). Okay, there is no rule stating that this should be a comedy, but it needs something in place of heart and/or genuine tension.

Cook still doesn’t make for a great lead in this role, and he isn’t often surrounded by people who can pick up his slack. Harris is great, as you would expect, and there’s a fun turn from Julie Bowen, playing a character who inexplicably takes a shine to Dusty, but the better voice performers (Patrick Warburton, Fred Willard, and John Michael Higgins) are wasted in roles that have very limited screentime. A number of people return from the first film, essentially bookmarking the tale with some moments that help remind you about the first movie, and both Hal Holbrook and Wes Studi get paid to play characters that could have been played by absolutely anyone. I am happy they got the job, but I wish they had been more involved in the main storyline.

Writer Jeffrey M. Howard is responsible for the weak tale, having just limped along the first time around, and this time he shares writing duties with director Bobs Gannaway. The best thing I can say about Gannaway is that he is equally skilled at both directing and writing. Ahem.

The visuals are okay. I will admit that some moments look great, which is especially impressive when it is a story that includes numerous scenes with fire surrounding main characters. That’s about all I am willing to grudgingly compliment though, considering how this just felt like a waste of my time, as well as a waste of some great actors.

Younger viewers will enjoy this more, of course, and that’s just fine. My relatively high rating reflects the fact that this isn’t aiming to be a sophisticated modern masterpiece. There are so many better movies for them to watch ahead of this though. This is sub-par stuff, and hopefully remains the last time we see this character starring in his own feature film.

4/10

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Girls Nite Out (1982)

A 1982 slasher movie that I didn’t have high expectations for, Girls Nite Out ended up being surprisingly enjoyable, despite not having any truly memorable set-pieces.

It’s a classic set-up, with the earliest scenes showing us a killer committing suicide. The two men responsible for digging his grave are killed by someone we don’t see. Is the killer less dead than anyone realised, or is there someone else with motivation to replicate his killing ways? This dark turn of events coincides with a scavenger hunt taking place throughout a local college campus, with plenty of young men and women heading away on their own, or in pairs, to potentially be picked off by a killer, who also manages to get their hands on a team mascot costume. 

Seeing the artwork and imagery from this, you would be forgiven for thinking that this is a horror comedy. It isn’t, which is a slight disappointment, despite the enjoyable ridiculous killer “outfit”. All you have here is a very standard, unremarkable, slasher movie that only stands out in one way, a soundtrack surprisingly filled with some great pop tracks from yesteryear (“Summer In The City” being an eternal favourite of mine).

Director Robert Deubel doesn’t really have anything else of note in his filmography, there’s a TV movie and some shorts/episodic entertainment, so he seems to have been one of the many people who decided they could jump in on the slasher movie craze and make a winner. Despite the attempts of the four people who worked on this script (FOUR!!!!!), this is no winner.

It’s no failure either, somehow managing to be consistently entertaining enough throughout without an abundance of gratuitous nudity or decent gore. The pacing seems to be the biggest positive, although it does, like so many slashers, have that slight lull between the halfway point and the third act, after everyone has been introduced and a couple of kills have occurred but before the bodies start to pile up in time for the big finale. 

The cast are fairly forgettable, with Hal Holbrook being the main “name” that genre fans will be happy to see. He is the local cop, and his character has a history tied to the killer (of course), but he’s not as involved with the main storyline as I would have liked, I am guessing for scheduling and budgetary reasons. Rutanya Alda, Suzanne Barnes, and Julie Montgomery are three of the main actresses featured, and James Carroll and David (son of Hal) Holbrook are two of the actors worth mentioning. Is anybody onscreen doing great work? Not really, but they’re doing okay with what they’re given, for the most part.

Here’s the thing, and it is arguably more important than my final numerical rating. I would watch this again, no problem. It has something, a certain likability, that allows it to edge ahead of so many other slasher movies from this time. That doesn’t mean the movie deserves to be nestled closer to the BIG names in this subgenre, but it is something I don’t often say about lesser slasher movies I watch for my own sense of attempted completism.

Will anyone else feel the same way? I don’t know, but I certainly recommend giving this one a watch anyway. Especially if you’re a fan of The Lovin’ Spoonful.

6/10

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