Movie Review: Cocktail (1988)

Genre: Buddy Drama 

Director: Roger Donaldson  

Starring: Tom Cruise, Elisabeth Shue, Bryan Brown  
Running Time: 103 minutes  

Synopsis: Brian Flanagan (Tom Cruise) leaves the Army and heads to New York City with dreams of making big money. But lacking any college education, he fails to land a corporate job. Veteran bartender Doug Coughlin (Bryan Brown) gives Brian an opportunity as a bartender, and the two men become friends, developing an energetic rapport behind the bar. Brian pursues college business courses, but after a falling out with Doug, he relocates to Jamaica where romance blossoms with the wholesome Jordan (Elisabeth Shue).

What Works Well: Director Roger Donaldson injects energy into the ultimately absurd spectacle of bartender showmanship. Aside from the juggling bottles act, the Doug Coughlin character is an intriguing study in complexity, manipulation, and false wisdom, while the thorny friendship between Doug and Brian exposes the pitfalls of male camaraderie when fueled by the warped metrics of greed and lust. 

What Does Not Work As Well: Seemingly packaged for the primary purpose of promoting soundtrack and poster sales, this is a superficial drama built upon unlikeable characters consumed by narcissism and meanness. Instead of exploring the dangers of the darkness within, Brian is presented as a celebration-worthy central character, despite never maturing beyond a toxic mix of selfishness and juvenile aggression. In a milieu rich with equal opportunity self-absorption, the women who enter the lives of Doug and Brian are either vapid, conniving, or possessing spectacularly poor judgment.

Key Quote:

Doug: The luck is gone / the brain is shot / but the liquor we still got.



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Movie Review: Death Wish (2018)

A remake of the classic Charles Bronson vigilante thriller, Death Wish is a serviceable update without breaking any dramatic new ground.

Chicago is overrun by a deadly crime wave with dozens of shootings daily. Dr. Paul Kersey (Bruce Willis) is a leading hospital surgeon and operates on victims and perpetrators. He also financially supports his brother Frank (Vincent D'Onofrio), who has a chequered history with the law. On the night of his birthday Paul's family is targeted by home invaders, resulting in the death of wife Lucy (Elisabeth Shue) and leaving daughter Jordan (Camila Morrone) in a coma.

With police detectives Raines (Dean Norris) and Jackson (Kimberly Elise) not making much progress towards solving the crime, Kersey turns to vigilante justice. Armed with an illegally obtained handgun he takes to the streets and starts confronting and killing criminals. He then stumbles upon clues identifying the gang members responsible for Lucy's death, and goes after them.

The 2018 version of Death Wish does many things right. The build-up is deliberate, affording director Eli Roth appropriate time to surround Paul, Lucy and Jordan Kersey with a warm blanket of sympathy. And after the crime is committed, Roth again allows Paul to go through a grieving process and creates space for due process.

So it's only at around the halfway point that the real action starts, with Kersey taking his first tentative steps towards a one-man city clean-up job. He is far from perfect, mishandling his weapon, injuring his hand and allowing his intervention to be filmed. Then he gains a taste for it, and once the opportunity presents itself to properly avenge Lucy, Death Wish becomes a proper, old-fashioned Bruce Willis movie.

And Willis is in fine form, staying within himself and taking the most out of a Joe Carnahan script that avoids wisecracks in favour of grit and some moments of blood-drenched gore. While the movie never threatens to enter into a serious debate about vigilante justice and who gets to dole out punishment, Roth sprinkles enough references to both sides of the argument and purposefully swims away from the shallowest end of the genre pool.

Vincent D'Onofrio's role is underwritten and an obvious weak spot, but with plenty of well-edited action scenes to hustle the story along, Death Wish blasts its way to a satisfying exhibition of blood-for-blood righteousness.

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Movie Review: Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

An intense character study, Leaving Las Vegas explores a friendship at the margins of society, where two knowingly damaged people connect in search of pure companionship.

In Los Angeles, middle-aged Ben (Nicolas Cage) is a full-blown alcoholic. Estranged from his ex-wife and son, he lives a life of nothing but excessive drinking and womanizing. Ben is not surprised when he is fired, and uses his final paycheque to relocate to a sleazy motel room in Las Vegas with every intention of drinking himself to death.

A chance encounter with prostitute Sera (Elisabeth Shue) evolves into an unlikely friendship. When her Russian pimp Yuri (Julian Sands) meets troubles of his own, Sera invites Ben to move in with her. He accepts on condition that she never asks him to stop drinking. She continues working as an independent prostitute, and their relationship evolves towards genuine caring.

An admitted alcoholic with no intentions of drying out and a prostitute proud of her profession make for an unlikely pair to place at the centre of a would-be romantic drama. And yet director and writer Mike Figgis, adapting John O'Brien's semi-autobiographical book, fearlessly marches his film towards the down-and-out fringes seeking humanity's unifying sparks.

Leaving Las Vegas carries echoes of Midnight Cowboy as it teases out compassion from the filthy corners where human debris accumulates. Despite a neon-bathed Las Vegas featuring prominently as a backdrop, neither Ben nor Sera are here to enjoy the town. Alcohol is the only source of Ben's pleasure, and any room he occupies is soon overflowing with bottles. Sera navigates her profession with a survivor's practiced efficiency, maintaining a steady disposition and even demonstrating a level of empathy towards Yuri.

Ben and Sera reach a core understanding that they can care for each other only if they don't impose conditions of change. Maintaining their self-destructive trajectories is essential to who they are; and the relationship exists strictly on an "as is" basis. Figgis strips out most of their backgrounds, highlighting the immediacy of here and now: it shall not matter to Ben and Sera how they got here, only that they are here, now, and can be companions through the emotional darkness.

And it's vivid immediacy Figgis searches for, often drowning the dialogue with melancholy music. At their stage in life Ben and Sera really have not much of value to say to each other; closeness is what matters.

Nicolas Cage's descent into Ben's abyss is almost physically painful to watch, and ensures the film is always walking to the edge of despair. Elisabeth Shue finds the role of her career, providing Sera with remarkable restraint and quiet acceptance, plus a layer of searching tension just below the surface.

Leaving Las Vegas is the end of frivolous escapism, but departure is softened in the presence of a soulmate.

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Movie Review: Back To The Future Part II (1989)

The first sequel to 1985's beloved Back To The Future time travel adventure comedy, Part II offers plenty of amusing time hopping but lacks focus and suffers from middle chapter syndrome.

After returning from 1955 to 1985 at the end of the first film's events, eccentric inventor Emmett "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd) immediately whisks teenager Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and his girlfriend Jennifer (Elisabeth Shue) off in the DeLorean time machine to 2015. Doc needs Marty to intervene and prevent Marty's son Jr. (also Fox) from getting involved in illegal activity with Biff's grandson Griff (Thomas F. Wilson plays both Biff and Griff).

Marty does prevent Jr. from getting into trouble, but in the process realizes that Marty grew up to be a weak man due to his inability to walk away from an insult. Worse still, in 2015 the elderly Biff gets his hands on an almanac covering the score of every sports event from 1950 to 2000. He steals the DeLorean, travels back in time and passes the knowledge to the young Biff. When Doc and Marty arrive back in 1985, they find a hell-on-earth created by a mega-rich and all-powerful Biff. Doc and Marty have to again travel to 1955 to prevent the almanac from falling into young Biff's hands.

Directed by Robert Zemeckis and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, Part II is more manic than cerebral. The film undoubtedly enjoys a high amount of madcap energy, and has fun imagining the future in 2015 and an alternate present in 1985, warped by Biff's evil. But this segment of the story is very much a bridge from the original episode to the trilogy's conclusion, and there is no hiding the sense of sideways drift.

Other than the imaginative portrayal of Hill Valley in 2015, the entire future-set sequence appears half-baked, leaving a lot more questions than answers as Doc and Marty quickly abandon the future and zip back first to 1985 and then 1955. The women in the story also suffer from neglect. Jennifer appears set to join the adventure before being summarily knocked-out for the duration, and mom Lorraine (Lea Thompson) is reduced to a caricature in a distasteful portrayal of the McFlys in 2015.

And the central quest to retrieve a sports almanac is fundamentally not that interesting, this chapter reduced to a classic McGuffin set-up devoid of human-centred emotion and compelling drama.

Still, there is enough adventure and imagination in the film to maintain interest, thanks in large part to Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd reprising their roles and fine-tuning their unlikely duo dynamics. The gutsy teenager and wacky inventor are a formidable team, and convey a sense of problem solving ingenuity that powers over the bumpy aspects of the script.

Back To The Future Part II is a necessary elaboration, in itself an incomplete and vaguely unsatisfying work but nevertheless part of a lively journey.

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Movie Review: Battle Of The Sexes (2017)

A biography of tennis legend Billie Jean King around the time of her famous showdown with Bobby Riggs, Battle Of The Sexes reveals the tumult behind the headlines but doesn't quite achieve the intended emotional heights.

It's 1973, and 29 year old Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) is on top of the tennis world. When tournament organizer Jack Kramer (Bill Pullman) refuses to close the gender pay gap, King leads a renegade group of players in the establishment of the Women's Tennis Association, with her friend Gladys (Sarah Silverman) as manager. Although married to Larry (Austin Stowell), King meets and starts a secret lesbian affair with hairdresser Marilyn (Andrea Riseborough).

Meanwhile, former tennis champ Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) is now 55 years old, a compulsive (but successful) gambler much to the disdain of his wife Priscilla (Elisabeth Shue). He is also a self-professed male chauvinist pig. Sensing an opportunity to make money and reclaim the spotlight, Riggs tries to goad King into a publicity-grabbing "battle of the sexes" televized tennis match. She refuses, but Riggs does find an opponent in Margaret Court (Jessica McNamee). The outcome of that game forces King into accepting Riggs' challenge, although her private life is in turmoil.

Directed by the duo of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Battle Of The Sexes takes on plenty of weighty topics. The early 1970s witnessed the confluence of turbulent currents that had been building up over a decade, and finally feminism, sexuality, money, broadcasting and politics started to fully come together.

The specific tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King was just that: a one-off, made-for-television stunt event, but it also carried the winds of change: if the reigning queen of women's tennis, carrying the torch of pay equity, could not defeat a loudmouth overweight over-the-hill sexist man in his mid-50s, the cultural setbacks would have propagated far from the tennis court.

Dayton and Faris, working from a script by Simon Beaufoy, are workmanlike in capturing the events of the times, but the central character's spirit eludes them. The film largely focuses on King as she helps form the WTA, meets Marilyn and awakens to her sexuality. Despite a focused Emma Stone performance, King's energy and societal drivers are notably missing. The film meets her at the peak, a woman demanding change while grappling with fundamental personal changes. How and why King got here are absent, an unfortunate gap in a biographical film.

Riggs is very much a supporting character, a caricature battling his middle-age demons and refusing to grow up because his wealth means he does not have to. The rest of the characters are fleeting. Marilyn remains an ethereal partner, more a muse than a person. Riggs' wife Priscilla and WTA organizer Gladys drop in and mostly out of the story.

The match itself forms the climax of the film, and is well presented as an inflated media circus, King cutting a lonely figure as she singularly enters a noisy arena in a world tilted against women's equality. Her on-the-court public showdown contrasts well with her private life, King compelled to keep her relationship with Marilyn a secret despite the whispers, the battle to come for gay rights already visible, but for now still ahead.

Battle Of The Sexes is a good serve, but misses the ace.

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Movie Review: Adventures In Babysitting (1987)

A teen adventure comedy, Adventures In Babysitting enjoys a wacky ride through urban hazards, boosted by an appealing Elisabeth Shue lead performance.

In a leafy suburb of Chicago, high school senior Chris Parker (Shue) is anticipating a big date with her boyfriend, but he makes a lame excuse and cancels. Chris then reluctantly agrees to babysit the neighbourhood kids, 15 year old Brad Anderson (Keith Coogan) and his 8 year old sister Sara (Maia Brewton). Brad has a crush on Chris, and his friend Daryl (Anthony Rapp) ends up hanging around as well. The evening starts out as routine but soon Chris receives a frantic phone call from her friend Brenda (Penelope Ann Miller), who is stranded at the downtown bus station and in need of rescue.

Chris drags the three kids into her mother's station wagon and heads into the jungle. A flat tire on the freeway initiates an encounter with tow truck driver John Pruitt (John Ford Noonan), setting off a series of wild events including witnessing a stormy domestic dispute, an encounter with car thief Joe Gipp (Calvin Levels), an unwanted detour to a car chop shop where hissing villains await, and a chance meeting with dreamy college kid Dan Lynch (George Newbern). And Chris' resemblance to the latest Playboy magazine's centrefold model just adds to the night's insanity.

Written by David Simkins and featuring the directorial debut of Chris Columbus, Adventures In Babysitting is smart, sharp and funny. Adapting for a teen audience the "one crazy night" premise of 1985's Into The Night and After Hours, the film quickly establishes the dynamics between babysitter and kids, and then piles on the mishaps and laughs as Chris and her troop venture well outside their comfort zone. There is just enough edge to the events of the night to maintain an enjoyable amount of tension without ever threatening to alienate younger audience members.

Columbus plays up the central theme of downtown as a dangerous and unknown place that may as well be on a distant planet for a bunch of suburban kids ill-equipped for the perils of a concrete jungle. Chris' happy and sunny disposition belongs in the suburbs, and she has to learn on the fly to survive encounters with hardened inner city people, places and events. She maintains her composure and keeps a regime of discipline among Brad, Daryl and Sara, her coping techniques providing the film with plenty of charm.

Elisabeth Shue delivers one of the best performances of her career, defining Chris as a capable and resourceful teen, grounded enough to maintain sanity but capable of taking risks to get out of jams. Columbus and Shue combine to deliver the film's highlight, an unexpected appearance on an intimidating blues bar stage that turns into an impromptu improvised song performance by Chris and her charges.

The three kids are given their own personalities to liven up the night. Brad is star-struck as he nurses an understandable crush on his perfect girl-next-door babysitter. Daryl is more down to earth and up for trouble. Young Sara is just having a blast enjoying the best night of her young life, her obsession with comic hero Thor about to pay dividends in the unlikeliest of settings as Vincent D'Onofrio nails a mythical entrance to place an exclamation point on proceedings.

Every parent's too-nutty-to-happen nightmare, Adventures In Babysitting is madcap entertainment.

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The Movies Of Elisabeth Shue

All movies starring Elisabeth Shue and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

The Karate Kid (1984)

Adventures In Babysitting (1987)

Cocktail (1988)

Back To The Future Part II (1989)

Back To The Future Part III (1990)

The Marrying Man (1991)

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

Hope Springs (2012)

Battle Of The Sexes (2017)

Death Wish (2018)

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The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: The Karate Kid (1984)

The Karate Kid delivers a strong punch of entertainment with a kick of sly humour. It is a memorable story about the weak kid who learns to defend himself from bullies, thanks to the guidance of a wise old man. It is also a solidly crafted movie, impressively patient in its build-up, allowing its two main characters to grow into well-rounded personalities.

High school student Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and his single mom (Randee Heller) relocate from New Jersey to California, and settle into an apartment building managed by Mr. Miyagi (Noriyuki "Pat" Morita). Quick to meet and make new friends, Daniel is soon attracted to the wholesome and friendly Ali (Elisabeth Shue). But Ali's former boyfriend Johnny (William Zabka) is immediately jealous, and along with his friends, Johnny launches a campaign of vicious bullying against Daniel. Johnny and his buddies take karate lessons at a school run by Kreese (Martin Krove), an ex-Special Forces soldier, whose teaching philosophy of merciless violence fuels the bullying behaviour of his students.

Miyagi takes Daniel under his wing, and negotiates a truce with Kreese: Daniel will enter a karate tournament in two months time to take on Johnny and his buddies. In the meantime, as Daniel trains, the bullying stops. For two months, Miyagi teaches Daniel the true philosophy and techniques of karate, and their relationship evolves beyond karate to cover many principles of life. In the meantime, Daniel maintains a stuttering courtship of Ali, and discovers a wide gap between her family's wealthy social status and his humble life.

The tournament arrives, and Daniel has to apply all that he has learned from Miyagi to survive and progress against the hardened students from Kreese's school, with all roads leading to a final showdown against Johnny.

Miyagi: Hai! Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left hand. Wax on, wax off. Breathe in through nose, out of mouth. Wax on, wax off. Don't forget to breathe, very important. Wax on... wax off. Wax on... wax off.
Daniel: Hey where do these old cars come from?
Miyagi: Detroit. 

Other than the obvious revenge-of-the-scrawny-kid attraction, the appeal of The Karate Kid stems from the relationship between the mystical Miyagi and the willing-to-learn Daniel. The strength of the Robert Mark Kamen script lies in the breadth and depth with which the bond between the mentor and mentee is probed. A painful and touching scene, atypical of the feel-good genre, reveals Miyagi's background, and it becomes clear that Miyagi needs Daniel as a surrogate son just as much as Daniel needs Miyagi as a father figure. From then on, the father-son connection achieves the strength of indestructible hardened steel.

Director John G. Avildsen applies all the lessons he learned from the classic underdog tale of Rocky to good effect, and provides The Karate Kid with texture and artistry to elevate it several notches above the routine. The production quality allows the film to overcome a soundtrack filled to the brim with the worst of 1980s pop-rock.
A cast of previously obscure acting talent works in favour of The Karate Kid, which is essentially a story about the success of the nobody. Relative unknown Ralph Macchio is competent as Daniel, rarely straying far from doing exactly what the script asks for, and projecting adequate and joyfully doe-eyed appeal for the target audience of 12 to 14 year old girls. Pat Morita was mostly known for television roles prior to exploding into prominence as Miyagi, a one-man quote machine and a competitor for Yoda's crown as filmdom's ultimate fountain of old-aged wisdom laced with cynicism. The Karate Kid was Elisabeth Shue's movie debut, and despite a perfectly boring and predictable role as Ali, the most stereotypical of girls-next-door, Shue would go on to have arguably the most interesting and varied career from among the cast members.

The Karate Kid does struggle to soften the otherwise blatantly worrying message that fighting back is the only solution to bullying. Miyagi stresses the need for balance, and there is dialogue about fighting as a last resort, learning to fight in order not to have to fight, and karate being a defensive skill. But it is all for naught: the film boils down to meeting force with force, and there are no attempts to promote the engagement of the intellect or diplomatic skills to cleverly sidestep retarded and testosterone-driven conflicts.

The Karate Kid is also not helped by a very sudden ending. As soon as the climactic tournament ends, the film ends. The otherwise relaxed two-hour running length is abruptly rushed to the exits, while the story screams for an extra, thoughtful 10 minutes to wind-down, tidy up Daniel's relationships, allow Johnny and his buddies some moments of reflection and partial redemption, and to emphasize the more useful, less violence-obsessed lessons that could be learned from the experience.

As it stands, The Karate Kid is an easy-to-like feel-good story, providing far-fetched hope for all underdogs: with the wisdom of a strange man from Okinawa, humiliation can be the platform to learn life's long-lasting lessons.

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