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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June-Claude Van Damme: Hard Target (1993)

Jean-Claude Van Damme starring in a film that is yet another version of The Most Dangerous Game, what could possibly make this any better? Perhaps the fact that it was also John Woo making his first feature in America, after amassing such a loyal fanbase of his Hong Kong films. Would we get some impressive slo-mo moments, two guns being fired while characters dive across the screen, and doves flying into the air? Of course we would, which makes Hard Target a film that provides just as much fun today as it did when first released a quarter of a century ago (yes, it's been 25 years).

Van Damme plays the wonderfully-monikered Chance Boudreaux, a drifter in New Orleans who cannot get himself back into a job he has been selected for until he earns enough money to pay his union dues. But he can't pay those dues until he gets a job, of course, so finds himself in a vicious circle. For about half a minute. The chance to earn some money comes about when a young woman (Natasha, played by Yancy Butler) wants to hire someone as she searches for her missing father, an ex-veteran who fell on hard times. The pair start to do their amateur detective work, eventually piecing together evidence to realise what viewers have known from the very beginning; Natasha's father was paid by people who then chased him down and killed him before he could reach a designated safe point.

Like many other people, I really liked Hard Target when I first saw it. But I believe that I liked it then purely for the Van Damme factor. I wasn't familiar enough with John Woo to know of his style, I hadn't seen too many previous incarnations of this material (apart from The Running Man, which managed to feel a bit removed from the original idea because of the additional comments on the media and manipulation of the masses), and nobody else in the cast made much of an impression, simply because I was waiting for the next scene that would put Van Damme front and centre again.

Rewatching the movie with more knowledge tucked away into my brainparts has led me to find even more reasons to keep it marked as a fun action thriller, and one I am always happy to revisit. Van Damme may have the top billing but he's not the star here. The star here is Woo, clearly having a lot of fun with the cast and resources at his disposal. His style is stamped all over this, almost from the very first scene, as a statement of intent. "I have come to your shores," it says, "and this is why you wanted me here in the first place, so take it or leave it."

The script, by Chuck Pfarrer, is focused more on fun than any sense of realism, allowing for some decent exchanges between all of the main characters, and also some absolutely wonderful lines uttered by Lance Henriksen (the main villain).

Speaking of Henriksen, he almost steals this entire movie, which is easier for him to do as Woo balances things between allowing his leading man to have some leading man moments and allowing himself plenty of Woo-isms. Henricksen and Arnold Vosloo have a lot of fun with their roles, Van Damme gets to deliver some impressive smackdowns (including a great moment that sees him dealing with a rattlesnake), Butler does okay in her role (it's a bit underwritten but far from the worst female role in the action genre, especially from this time, and I can't help thinking a more recognisable actress could have lifted things slightly), and there's good support from Willie C. Carpenter, Kasi Lemmons, and the great Wilford Brimley.

Booby-traps, armed people riding motorbikes to track their potential victims, grenades being lobbed around with a distinct lack of real care, and let's not forget a damn fine mullet being worn by Van Damme, this has all of these treats and a lot more. Watch it, enjoy it, and rewatch it whenever you feel the urge. Which may happen more often than you expect.

7/10

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Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985)

AKA Remo: Unarmed And Dangerous.

Sometimes, as a youngster, your love for a movie is set in stone from the very first time you see it. There are many obvious titles I could list here as personal favourites, and many of them would have people nodding in agreement (I hope). But sometimes you love a movie that seems out of line with others that have grabbed your attention. Movies that weren't really aimed AT you, necessarily, but still managed to hit the sweet spot, even if you first saw it at an age when you didn't take in every detail or get every joke. Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins is one of those movies.

It's a simple tale. Fred Ward is Remo, a man who used to be someone else. A covert company liked his profile, decided to recruit him, and then faked his death. They then gave him a new face (although it's not a million miles away from his old face), a new name (errrr . . . .  Remo Williams, obviously), and placed him under the tutelage of a martial arts master (Chiun, played by Joel Grey). Remo will be trained up to become a perfect assassin . . . . . . . . . . . . . IF he survives.

Basically, this is The Karate Kid for slightly older viewers, mixed with elements of James Bond. Based on The Destroyer series of books, by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy, this was a movie that kicked off a franchise that never happened. While that's a bit of a shame, it's also great, in a way. No shoddy sequels were produced to tarnish the affection so many have for this film.

The cast all handle the material with the healthy sense of humour running all the way through it. Ward is consistently believable in the lead role, whether rolling his eyes and lacking self-belief in the first half of the movie or handling the physical aspect of the role in the later scenes. I don't know why Grey was picked to play the character of Chiun, but he's entertaining in every scene that he has. The great practical make up used on him doesn't cover the ever-present twinkle in his eye. J. A. Preston and Wilford Brimley both do their usual good work, playing the men in charge of CURE, the covert company waiting impatiently for Remo to fulfil his full potential, and Charles Cioffi is George Grove, the villain of the piece, although the best moments involve his henchman, Stone (Patrick Kilpatrick). Last, but by no means least, are two military personnel. George Coe is a General helping out Grove, while Kate Mulgrew has the role of Major Rayner Fleming, a military woman who starts to smell a rat when trying to check up on Grove and his projects.

Directed by Guy Hamilton (a Bond veteran, of course), the whole thing moves along at a cracking pace, ensuring that viewers never feel bored during the 120-minute runtime. The script (by Christopher Wood, although it was apparently heavily rewritten by Hamilton) has just the right tone throughout, gently self-mocking when viewers are directly alongside Remo but all about the thrills and action when watching him being seriously tested. Admittedly, the grand finale may be a little less effective than it could be, but the vertigo-inducing set-pieces that come along before hand more than make up for that. And the BIG sequence set on the Statue Of Liberty remains a high benchmark in action cinema, perfectly blending stuntwork, special effects and an almost unbearable amount of tension. Seriously, hold that up alongside any other action movie set-piece and it holds up to this day.

Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, or Remo: Unarmed And Dangerous, or even just Remo. The title may have been subject to change over the years, but the movie has remained, and still remains, a real gem for action fans.

8/10

Trust me, THIS is the release that you need ASAP - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Remo-Williams-Adventure-Begins-Blu-ray/dp/B00KHQD6DU/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1404863814&sr=1-1&keywords=remo+williams - a typically lush Arrow package, with commentary, a cracking documentary on the cultural context of '80s action flicks, a booklet, and picture and sound quality that I'd argue is the best the movie has had since its cinema release.

Please feel free to remember me whenever you're visiting Amazon and see my book there.

The UK version can be bought here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1395945647&sr=1-3&keywords=movie+guide

And American folks can buy it here - http://www.amazon.com/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395945752&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=TJs+ramshackle+mov

As much as I love the rest of the world, I can't keep up with all of the different links in different territories, but trust me when I say that it should be there on your local Amazon.

The Thing (1982)

Let me start by saying that the next Kurt Russell movie scheduled to pass before my eyes was due to be The Fox & The Hound but it's been delayed until next week so we go from Disney to classic Carpenter with The Thing.

The story is all about a bunch of men stuck out in the middle of nowhere, an Antarctic base, who find themselves in a situation full of danger and paranoia when they unwittingly let a shape-shifting alien into their midst.

Here is the review that I already posted on IMDb. I'm not sure that I can say much more about the movie so this format works. I entitle it . . . . . . . 10 Things About The Thing.

1) Despite director John Carpenter also giving us the greatness of Halloween, TheFog, Escape From New York, Assault On Precinct 13 and more, this movie is an absolute classic of the horror genre.

2) It's a remake, based on the Christian Nyby/Howard Hawks movie TheThing From Another World and the story THAT was based on, "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell Jr. The original movie was briefly shown on TV as part of the Halloween line-up the kids watch in . . . Halloween.

3) Thanks to the amazing work of Rob Bottin it features some of the best special effects work ever, all stuff that holds up to this day. Nasty, visceral, alien and eye-poppingly impressive.

4) The Carpenter-esque, minimal synth score was by Ennio Morricone, a fact I often forget while enjoying the movie.

5) It has an all-male cast and all of them are never less than great, with Kurt Russell, Keith David and Wilford Brimley standing out amongst an ensemble cast of sheer class.

6) Beyond the blood and guts on screen, there are some interesting ideas here about identity, a sense of self and a "trust no one" attitude that would, of course, become the watchwords of X-Files fans at the turn of the twenty-first century.

7) There has been a video game developed from the movie's premise (approximately 20 years after the movie was released) and it's surprisingly good.

8) Contains one of my favourite ever lines: "I know you gentlemen have been through a lot, but when you find the time, I'd rather not spend the rest of this winter TIED TO THIS F*-&KING COUCH!"

9) In a year dominated by Spielberg's little, friendly E.T.  it was not great news at the box office for The Thing but home video and subsequent word of mouth saw it become a much-loved film by horror fans and deservedly so, in my opinion.

10) I first saw The Thing at the tender age of twelve years old. On a small, black and white TV. With a lot of static. While eating a curry. Despite the lack of a crystal clear screen I still could not eat my curry. Needless to say, that's now a cherished memory within my twisted Thing-loving psyche.

For fans of the film, the Blu-ray release is essential. Great picture and sound gives the movie a new lease of life and this is complemented by the many extras that were also on the special edition DVD release: that great commentary track featuring both Carpenter and Russell (one of the best chat-tracks that you will ever hear), a lengthy documentary about the making of the movie, outtakes, production notes, conceptual art and much, much more. 

Movie: 10/10

Disc: 10/10 

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