Movie Review: Striking Distance (1993)

Genre: Action Thriller  

Director: Rowdy Herrington  

Starring: Bruce Willis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Farina, Tom Sizemore, Brion James, John Mahoney  
Running Time: 101 minutes  

Synopsis: In Pittsburgh, homicide detective Tom Hardy (Bruce Willis) is shunned for testifying against his partner in a police brutality trial. His father (John Mahoney), also a police officer, then dies in a botched high speed car chase. When Tom publicly disagrees with the arrest of a suspect in the Polish Hill serial killer case, he is demoted to river patrol duty. Two years later he is teamed with officer Jo Christman (Sarah Jessica Parker), just as a series of murdered women are dumped in the river. Tom is convinced the Polish Hill murderer is back, setting him in conflict with his uncle, Police Captain Nick Detillo (Dennis Farina).

What Works Well: The Pittsburgh locations are a refreshing change, and director Rowdy Herrington does not spare any carnage in a series of exhilarating stunt-filled car and boat chases. Bruce Willis never stretches but provides sturdy presence in the central role, supported by a deep cast. The plot contains enough criminal, familial, personal, and professional complications to maintain momentum. 

What Does Not Work As Well: Apart from the generic and meaningless title, the logic holes are large, the red herrings obvious, and several scenes go on for longer than needed. The cliches include Tom resorting to heavy drinking, living on a boat, and being emotionally rescued by a good woman. The script is cluttered by an endless number of related police officers (brothers, fathers, cousins, uncles) always ready to sputter, swear, and square up to each other instead of just...talking.

Key Quote:

Nick: There's an old Italian saying: Never scald your tongue on another man's soup.

Tom: Yeah? There's an old Irish saying: Don't listen to old Italian sayings.

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Movie Review: Honeymoon In Vegas (1992)

Genre: Comedy  

Director: Andrew Bergman  

Starring: Nicolas Cage, James Caan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Pat Morita    

Running Time: 96 minutes  

Synopsis: Four years after promising his dying mother (Anne Bancroft) that he will never marry, New York-based private investigator Jack Singer (Nicolas Cage) has studiously managed to avoid commitment. But when his girlfriend Betsy (Sarah Jessica Parker) issues an ultimatum, he agrees to marry her in Las Vegas. Professional poker player Tommy Korman (James Caan) falls in love with Betsy at first sight because she reminds him of his dead wife. He dupes Jack into losing $65,000 at a private poker game, and demands Betsy's company for the weekend as payment. Tommy and Betsy jet off to Hawaii, with Jack in hot pursuit to try to save his relationship.

What Works Well: The collective talent of Nicolas Cage, James Caan, and Sarah Jessica Parker is sufficient to maintain a base level of engagement. The Las Vegas and Hawaii settings offer decent eye candy, punctuated by the neat involvement of flying Elvis impersonators.

What Does Not Work As Well: Writer and director Andrew Bergman sacrifices character cohesion to serve the whims of a mostly moribund and always contrived script. Tommy oscillates between charming, clumsy, and mean; Betsy falls in and out of love every other scene; and Jack snaps from commitment phobe to desperate-to-commit in a heartbeat. Most of the laughs are ho-hum, and the obsession with Elvis impersonators grows stale. Pat Morita makes a welcome appearance as a taxi driver in Hawaii, but deserved a bigger role.

Key Quote:

Jack: People get married, and then they do the most hideous, unbelievable things to each other.



All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Movie Review: Failure To Launch (2006)

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Director: Tom Dey

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Baker, Bradley Cooper, Zooey Deschanel

Running Time: 97 minutes

Synopsis: Tripp (Matthew McConaughey) is 35-years-old and still living with his exasperated parents (Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw). They hire interventionist Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker) to fake a romance with Tripp and encourage him to move out. 

What Works Well: Director Tom Dey adds plenty of breezy fun and frolic to the otherwise standard rom-com standard. Paula has a caustic roommate (Zooey Deschanel) at war with a mockingbird, while Tripp has two friends (Bradley Cooper and Justin Bartha) equally comfortable living with their parents. Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker make for an attractive couple, with Terry Bradshaw and Kathy Bates adding depth to the supporting cast. A running joke about Tripp being out-of-alignment with nature and his profession as a boat broker provide opportunities for good laughs and wind-swept scenery.

What Does Not Work As Well: The central premise is as flimsy and unlikely as can be expected.

Conclusion: Lightweight entertainment enlivened by high-voltage star power.



All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Movie Review: Extreme Measures (1996)

A medical thriller, Extreme Measures effectively combines a nefarious conspiracy with a measured moral dilemma.

In New York City, emergency room doctor Guy Lathan (Hugh Grant) is unable to save patient Claude Minkins, a homeless man who dies in agony for inexplicable reasons. Guy's suspicions are aroused when he receives a phoney autopsy report then Minkins' body disappears. His boss Dr. Jeffrey Manko (Paul Guilfoyle) urges him to move on, but Guy delves into the archives and finds disturbing similar cases of homeless men's files being mishandled.

Guy is framed for a drug offence and his promising career appears to be over. But with help from nurse Jodie Trammel (Sarah Jessica Parker) he continues investigating, and uncovers the secret Triphase medical facility run by the distinguished Dr. Lawrence Myrick (Gene Hackman). Protected by corrupt FBI agent Frank Hare (David Morse) and police detective Bob Burke (Bill Nunn), Myrick is conducting unauthorized spinal nerve regeneration research using homeless men as unwilling test subjects. As Guy gets closer to the truth, his life is endangered.

Carrying strong echoes from 1978's Coma, Extreme Measures explores impetus for unsanctioned science. Here Dr. Myrick's motivation is not profit, but rather a genuine desire to reverse paralysis caused by spinal injury. Pursuing groundbreaking techniques and funded by the family and friends of spinal injury patients but running out of time due to his age, Myrick argues his homeless test subjects are worthwhile sacrificial heroes finally adding societal value.

In the hands of director Michael Apted and screenwriter Tony Gilroy (adapting a Michael Palmer book), this intellectual challenge is turned into a sleek thriller. Events move quickly but stay in focus, Guy adopting a determined and principled stance to uncover what really caused the horrible demise of his patient, albeit a patient he only knew for a few minutes. From there the mystery is revealed in layers, culminating in a good climax where action and words play an equal role.

The middle third is a weak spot, as Guy searches for another escapee from Myrick's institution within a homeless encampment located in tunnels deep below the subway system. The film points a flashlight at a sanitized version of human misery then meekly backs away, the episode registering as unnecessary padding for the longish 118 minutes of running time.

Star power easily rides out the rough spots. Extreme Measures is more about Hugh Grant than Gene Hackman, and it's good to see Grant tackling something other than a routine rom-com. He still brings his quip-ready persona to the role of Dr. Lathan, but is also serious when he needs to be. Hackman has just the few scenes, and makes the most of them with considerable gravitational pull. A pre-stardom Sarah Jessica Parker suggests untapped coy dramatic talents.

Despite less than perfect treatment, Extreme Measures finds most of the right doses.



All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Movie Review: Did You Hear About The Morgans? (2009)

A romantic comedy with boots on, Did You Hear About The Morgans? enjoys two stars in fine form, an out-of-the-way setting, and a sparkling script.

In New York City, successful realtor Meryl Morgan (Sarah Jessica Parker) is separated from her husband and lawyer Paul (Hugh Grant). Their marriage crumbled under the stress of arguments about adoption, and he subsequently cheated. But now he is contrite and desperately wants to win her back. They go on a date which ends with them witnessing a gangland murder and being placed in a witness protection program.

Relocated to the tiny community of Ray, Wyoming, Meryl and Paul are sheltered by gruff Marshal Clay Wheeler (Sam Elliot) and his wife and Deputy Marshal Emma (Mary Steenburgen). The Morgans have to get used to the rural small town lifestyle and learn to live together again, while the assassin from New York attempts to track them down.

Rom-coms tend to thrive in New York, and while Did You Hear About The Morgans? starts in the Big Apple, the story soon packs its bags and heads way west. Writer and director Marc Lawrence recognizes the humour inherent in ejecting perennial urbanites Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant out of their comfort zone, and he plonks them down in fictional Ray, Wyoming. Actually, the outskirts of Ray, Wyoming, because Clay and Emma Wheeler prefer to live a bit away from the hustle and bustle of the one-block town.

And the friendly friction between transplanted city folks and the rural lifestyle is fertile soil to freshen the produce on this genre shelf. Cows, horses, one bear, rifles and pick-up trucks of course all contribute. And in addition to the Wheelers, Lawrence populates the town with colourful characters including the larger-than-life Earl Granger (the ever watchable Wilford Brimley), an all-purpose doctor and an equally adaptable nurse/assistant fire chief.

Meanwhile Meryl and Paul are busy getting reacquainted and resetting their troubled marriage. The attempted relationship revival and associated tip-toeing through dark corners of their past lead to more-honest-than-usual conversations. The third leg of the narrative stool is the murderer tracking down the couple, and while a crime investigation instigates the cross-country displacement, it is also the least developed element. A sub-sub-sub plot is played for breezy laughs and features Paul and Meryl's stressed-out assistants (Elisabeth Moss and Paul Kelly) falling in love (involving tasers) back in New York.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant avoid any stretching and import their prepackaged screen personas with minimal modifications. She is pleasantly neurotic and cannot imagine the concept of a life outside of Manhattan, and he is self-effacing and lightning quick with a side quip. Sam Elliott and Mary Steenburgen are exceptionally good as gracious hosts who get to marvel at the foreign critters acting as houseguests.

Breaking new ground more literally than figuratively, the Morgans are worth hearing about. 



All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: All Roads Lead To Rome (2015)

A romantic comedy set in Italy, All Roads Lead To Rome deploys a meek plot in service of a travelogue.

Recently divorced journalism teacher Maggie (Sarah Jessica Parker) heads off to Italy for a vacation in Tuscany, where she spent one summer 20 years ago. Maggie has forced her teenaged daughter Summer (Rosie Day) to accompany her on the trip, although the sullen and rebellious Summer would much rather be with her no-good boyfriend Tyler, who wants her to take the rap for a drug charge.

Once in Italy Maggie quickly reconnects with her lover from youth Luca (Raoul Bova). His stubborn mother Carmen (Claudia Cardinale) has secret plans of her own. Summer and Carmen form an unlikely escape alliance, jump into a red Alfa and head to Rome. Maggie and Luca race after them in a yellow econobox.

Clocking in at exactly 90 minutes, All Roads Lead To Rome is a frivolous foreign frolic. The story is contrived, the slow countryside chase unnecessarily prolonged at every opportunity with witless plot points. The one and only objective is to showcase the Tuscany landscape, and director Ella Lemhagen fills about half her movie with shots of either the red car or the yellow car traversing the idyllic scenery.

The time spent on the road should provide ample opportunities to delve into the four characters, but only the most rudimentary dialogue exchanges are allowed to interrupt the pretty pictures. As a result, once the chase makes it way to Rome the significant attitudinal changes required to achieve the multiple happy endings are sudden, jarring and utterly unconvincing.

With the bickering between Maggie and Luca often stalling their ancient sub-compact in neutral, the Alfa contains the film's few positives. Claudia Cardinale's crusty performance occasionally threatens to rescue the film, her eyes still sparkling with spirit at 77 years old. And Summer's moment of romantic awakening on a dusty Italian country road is the one welcome and clever twist.

Otherwise All Roads Lead To Rome is pretty to look at, but as predetermined as the title suggests.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: The Family Stone (2005)

A Christmas family comedy, The Family Stone features plastic people, events and emotions. A strong cast salvages a few moments of merriment.

Christmas time is approaching, and New York City-based businessman Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney) and his new fiancée Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker) travel to the Stone family home in Massachusetts for the Holidays. Meredith is highly strung, and is immediately a misfit within the Stone family dynamics. Everett's parents Sybil (Diane Keaton) and Kelly (Craig T. Nelson) are upbeat but dealing with Sybil's illness.

Meanwhile, Everett's siblings do little to make their guest feel welcome. Amy (Rachel McAdams) is the youngest and immediately harbours a bratty dislike towards Meredith; Thad (Tyrone Giordano) is deaf and gay and in a relationship with Patrick (Brian J. White), who is black; Susannah (Elizabeth Reaser) is pregnant. Only the laid back Ben (Luke Wilson) makes an effort to reach out. Meredith commits every social faux-pas in the book and grows increasingly frantic. She finally appeals to her sister Julie (Claire Danes) to ride to the rescue.

Directed and written by Thomas Bezucha, The Family Stone offers harmless entertainment filled with contrived situations all leading towards saccharine happily-ever-after resolutions with just a touch of seasonal melancholia. The film is undermined by an almost total absence of authenticity, with the cast struggling against a script seeking laughs but most often inducing groans.

Meredith's fish-out-of-water behaviour is sometimes funny but always unbelievably awkward. Stressed or not, a successful businesswoman should know better how to charm her way into a new environment, but here the script demands that she does nothing except practice aggressive foot-in-mouth. Equally, the adults of the Stone family behave like immature children around the new love of their eldest son and sibling.

The Family Stone is saved from a total loss by a willing cast. Sarah Jessica Parker plays against type and pulls off Meredith as a stuck-up and socially inept diva. Rachel McAdams gives young Amy an attitudinal edge, and Luke Wilson brings out the friendly black sheep of the family in Ben's observe-first, act-later approach to navigating his tumultuous family. Diane Keaton struggles for meaningful screen time, and Claire Danes ghosts into the movie as Julie with the preordained purpose of playing the romantic disruptor, because the script says so.

The Family Stone sometimes induces a tight smile, but rarely delivers a genuine note.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: L.A. Story (1991)

A comedy romance loaded with biting satire of Los Angeles life, L.A. Story hits most of its intended targets, but also chooses ridiculously easy targets to aim at.

Harris Telemacher (Steve Martin) is the wacky weatherman on a Los Angeles television station. He is in a rocky relationship with girlfriend Trudi (Marilu Henner), but they break up when he discovers her sleeping with his agent. Harris slips into a lonely funk, but then meets British journalist Sara (Victoria Tennant), and they start to fall in love. A freeway changeable message sign starts to communicate with Harris, providing him with advice on love and life, and urging him to take risks. But Sara's ex-husband Roland (Richard E. Grant ) would like to win her back, while Harris finds himself irresistibly attracted to young salesgirl Sandee (Sarah Jessica Parker).

Written by Martin and directed by Mick Jackson, L.A. Story's primary objective is to make as much fun of Los Angeles as possible. And all the usual topics that are worth poking are here: the predictable and rarely changing weather, the obsession with driving for even the shortest trips, gun violence on the highways, California cuisine, plastic surgery, inane topics of conversation, earthquakes, and the trendy restaurants that are impossible for normal people to get into. Martin packs his story with deserved digs at his city, and generates a steady stream of laughs.

But beyond the broad satire, the rest of the film is thin on the ground. Victoria Tennant was Mrs. Steve Martin at the time of filming, and there is a whiff of a personal project about the movie. Martin attempts to elevate the central romance to something mystical, complete with a freeway sign that provides oblique life advice and a sojourn into a fantasy garden where everything old is new again. It's all rather emotionally obvious, and the film starts to resemble a couple's photo collection, special to them but ordinary to others. A sideshow running gag involving Harris being filmed rollerblading through museums and art galleries misses the mark and goes nowhere.

The other romantic comedy elements are lined up and knocked off according to the genre's well- established traditions, Harris and Sara both lonely and struggling to fit in, falling for each other, and then labouring to overcome the usual complications of lingering past and present attachments.

The supporting characters offer little that is memorable, with one exception. The best performance by far is delivered by Sarah Jessica Parker, who creates in Sandee a free-spirited, carefree young woman who can never stop twirling, bouncing, rotating and climbing all over Harris, all while incessantly chewing gum. Amidst all the satire, Sandee is Los Angeles, young, alive, positive, adventurous, incapable of standing still, and often clueless.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: The First Wives Club (1996)

A sharply written comedy about the pitfalls women face in middle age, The First Wives Club is an often hilarious film with a superb cast in top form.

After graduating from college as best friends, Annie (Diane Keaton), Brenda (Bette Midler), Elise (Goldie Hawn) and Cynthia (Stockard Channing) drift apart and pursue their lives. About 25 years later, Cynthia commits suicide after her husband leaves her for another, younger woman. Annie, Brenda and Elise reconnect at the memorial service, and discover that they are all being badly treated by their men.

Brenda dedicated her life to her family, only for her husband Morty (Dan Hedaya), the owner of a chain of electronics stores, to leave her for the much younger Shelly (Sarah Jessica Parker). Elise became a famous Hollywood star and helped her husband Bill (Victor Garber) establish himself as a producer. He now wants a divorce and has his eye on young starlet Phoebe (Elizabeth Berkley). Annie, an accommodating apologist still tolerating the nagging of her mother Catherine (Eileen Heckart), wants to desperately believe that she has a salvageable marriage to husband Aaron (Stephen Collins), a marketing executive. But she also discovers that he is having an affair with their joint therapist Leslie (Marcia Gay Harden).

Driven by anger and a desire for revenge, the three women band together to heap misery on the men. Deploying Elise's financial clout and with help from interior decorator Duarto (Bronson Pinchot) and New York socialite Gunilla Garson Goldberg (Maggie Smith), Brenda tries to find a way to manipulate the naive Shelly and bring down Morty's retail empire. Annie joins forces with her daughter Chris (Jennifer Dundas) and tries to manoeuvre her way into a position of influence at Aaron's marketing firm. Elise does her best to ensure that Bill gets very little from their share of the assets. But the ladies soon clash among themselves and realize that revenge alone may not provide the satisfaction that they seek.

Directed by Hugh Wilson and written by Robert Harling and Paul Rudnick, The First Wives Club is a snappy riot. The film generates its laughs from the strength of its likable characters, and successfully steers clear of cheap gags. While some set-ups are unfortunately quite contrived (for example, the ladies end up descending a building on a barely-controlled window cleaning platform), most of the film's energy is derived from the angst of real women grappling with the unfairness of life.

Elise: You think just because I'm a movie star, I don't have feelings, well, you're wrong! I do have feelings! I'm an actress! I have ALL of them!

And while the film is first and foremost a comedy of empowerment, it also has a lot to say about the ghastly treatment handed out by men as they approach middle-age, find success and dump the women who helped to get them there. There isn't a sympathetic main male character anywhere to be found (the hapless Duarto comes closest), and while the men are driven by blind lust and the superficiality of good looks, women are presented as both allies (Gunilla, Chris, Catherine) and back-stabbing, gold-digging enemies (Phoebe, Shelley, Leslie).

Brenda: Where's Shelly?
Morty: In the car.
Brenda: Glove compartment?
Morty: Trunk.

The dialogue exchanges are a particular highlight. Almost every conversation, jab and retort is polished to a shine and dipped in irony, sarcasm, or venom. They don't always work, but most of them do, and in the hands of the brilliant cast, the film becomes a showcase for clever verbal sparring and timing excellence.

Elise: You've got some nerve! I drink because I am a sensitive and highly strung person!
Brenda: No, that's why your co-stars drink!
Elise: I am not a DRUNK!
Brenda: Oh really? Let's examine the evidence! Look! All bottles! And gallon jugs!
Elise: I had GUESTS.
Brenda: Who, Guns N' Roses?!

Watching Keaton, Hawn and Midler bounce off each other is a delight, and the screen glows with what appears to be a genuine rapport as they share equal screen time. Hawn happily represents the youth obsessed culture of Hollywood and allows herself to play with the extremes of injections, face lifts and plastic surgery. Midler embrases the frumpyness trap of middle age motherhood, while Keaton carries the flag of women with the crying need to believe that everything will work out., and who stand ready to take all the blame when they don't. All three evolve out of necessity into take-charge women ready to dish out pain, and the film rides on their wave of transformation.

The supporting cast is unusually deep, with Sarah Jessica Parker sparkling as the hilariously dim Shelly. The likes of Ivana Trump, Ed Koch, Gloria Steinem and Kathie Lee Gifford make minor guest appearances, and J.K. Simmons appears in a bit part.

Ivana: Ladies, you have to be strong and independent. And remember...
Elise: What?
Ivana: Don't get mad... get everything.

The ending goes searching for a greater meaning and falters a bit as it moves away from the core premise. Although The First Wives Club is not necessarily perfect, this group of fun-loving ladies is well worth joining.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

The Movies Of Sarah Jessica Parker

All movies starring Sarah Jessica Parker and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Footloose (1984)

L.A. Story (1991)

Honeymoon In Vegas (1992)

Striking Distance (1993)

The First Wives Club (1996)

Extreme Measures (1996)

The Family Stone (2005)

Failure To Launch (2006)

Sex And The City (2008)

Did You Hear About The Morgans? (2009)

I Don't Know How She Does It (2011)

New Year's Eve (2011)

All Roads Lead To Rome (2015)

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.
The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: I Don't Know How She Does It (2011)

A breezy comedy about the status of women in the workforce, I Don't Know How She Does It is sometimes sharp but wholly inoffensive.

In Boston, Kate Reddy (Sarah Jessica Parker) juggles a demanding, travel-intensive career at an investment bank with a household full of responsibilities. Her husband Richard (Greg Kinnear) is also working hard to establish the reputation of his new architecture firm, and together they barely keep up with the hectic schedule of their two young kids. At work, Kate's highly capable young assistant Momo (Olivia Munn) is all business, and has no intention of ever having kids.

Kate's life is thrown into a higher level of turmoil when her business proposal for establishing a new mutual fund is accepted for further study by the company brass, requiring her to travel frequently to New York to work closely with senior partner Jack Abelhammer (Pierce Brosnan). At the same time, Richard lands a major new client. Kate does her best to keep up with school bake sales, the children's birthdays and her demanding work responsibilities, while fending off Jack's tentative advances and keeping some semblance of a relationship with Richard. To add to the chaos, Momo goes ahead and unexpectedly gets pregnant.

Based on the best selling novel by Allison Pearson, I Don't Know How She Does It is a snapshot of middle class women in the workforce circa the 2010s. A high wire juggling act in which balls are occasionally dropped, picked up, dusted off and juggled again, there is no longer any expectation or ambition of having it all. Kate is finding satisfaction at work while keeping her home life functional, and does not expect anything to be quite perfect, and does expect everything to be just a bit harried. Her hair is never properly combed and her clothes are rarely free of food stains. She gets by with a good attitude and plenty of support from her husband.

I Don't Know How She Does It can almost pass as a movie companion for Sheryl Sandberg's 2013 book Lean In. Many of the concepts in the book, including saying yes to challenging opportunities at work, the need for a supportive spouse, and the imperative of women supporting each other at work, find an echo in the film. Kate even grapples with an episode of lice, similar to Sheryl's real-life experience.

Parker almost succeeds in finding the necessary depth to carry the movie, but does sometimes slips into her lightweight television persona. She is rescued by a strong supporting cast. Greg Kinnear, Pierce Brosnan and Olivia Munn are joined by Kelsey Grammer (as Kate's boss) and Christina Hendricks (Kate's sassy best friend) to ensure that there is plenty of presence in every corner.

Director Douglas McGrath keeps the mood light, steers away from farce or serious romance, and makes good use of the Boston and New York locations while avoiding travelogue traps. I Don't Know How She Does It is a slice of life, modestly successful in juggling mild humour with social commentary.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: Footloose (1984)

A musical comedy-drama celebrating the healing powers of music and dance, Footloose bounces on its own giddy energy, propelled by a joyous soundtrack and a cast of talented young actors. Directer Herbert Ross assembles the film with one eye on maximizing the fun quotient and the other on maintaining the colourful characters at the centre of the drama.

Teenager Ren (Kevin Bacon) relocates from Chicago to the small rural town of Bomont. Ren is an athletic dancer with a positive outlook on life, but he finds Bomont seething under the domineering influence of Reverend Shaw Moore (John Lithgow), who delivers fire and brimstone sermons banning dancing and popular music throughout the town. The Reverend has taken it upon himself to save the soul of Bomont, after a car crash killed a group of partying teenagers, including his son.

Neither Moore's wife Vi (Dianne Wiest) nor his teenage daughter Ariel (Lori Singer) are keeping up with him. Vi is concerned that the town is taking his message to extremes, and indeed there are rumblings of impending book burnings. Ariel is in full fledged teenage rebellion mode, running wild with her group of friends, including the fun-loving Rusty (Sarah Jessica Parker), and sleeping around behind her father's back with the local no-good redneck.

Ren makes a few good friends, notably the slow but well-meaning Willard (Christopher Penn), and attracts the attention of Ariel, but otherwise finds himself a misfit in the crusty community. He decides to shake things up by organizing a school dance in defiance of the Reverend and all the town elders.

Written by Dean Pitchford, Footloose never attempts to take its superficial context too seriously. But the film does connect interesting dots on the perils of extremism, and Ren gets to use Biblical passages that support dancing to argue against the zealots running the town.

Footloose does have a few weaknesses, notably a couple of ugly fights that appear utterly contrived. Arial comes out of one brawl pretty badly bruised and battered, but her previously ultra-concerned dad does not seem to notice. However, the weak moments do not take away from an overall mood of infectious exuberance.

Ross inspires his cast to deliver terrific performances. Kevin Bacon, in one of his most memorable roles, shines as Ren, a cool cat of a character, full of optimism and bright ideas, and a refreshing, positive personality. Lori Singer smoulders as Arial, compensating with a brooding sexuality what she lacks in talent. Christopher Penn gets the most memorable supporting role as the dorky but game Willard, and the montage of Ren teaching Willard how to dance to the tune of Let's Hear It For The Boy became a much imitated classic.

The adults add substantial weight to the talent on display: both John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest bring a serious tone to their roles. As Reverend Moore, Lithgow rumbles through Footloose imposing his own version of the commandments, but gradually comes to realize that he is simultaneously losing his daughter and unintentionally driving the community to the dark alley of self-defined intolerance.

The soundtrack of Footloose displaced Michael Jackson's Thriller from the top of the charts and stayed there for 10 weeks. The title track Footloose, Let's Hear It For The Boy, Almost Paradise, and Holding Out For a Hero, among others, embedded themselves in the soundtrack of the 1980s. The music, much like the movie itself, left a lasting and upbeat impression on the cultural landscape.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Film Review: Sex and the City (2008)

It's four years later. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) has settled into a relationship with Big (Chris Noth), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) has settled into life in Brooklyn, Charlotte (Kristin Davis) has settled into the role of wife and mother, and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) has settled in LA, managing the career of her long-term lover.

None of this settling is without troubles brewing beneath the surface, as Carrie is longing for the re-assurance of marriage, Miranda has little time for wifely duties, Charlotte is about to receive a surprise and Samantha is gradually getting resentful that her life is not revolving around her.

And so we are off on a two-hour adventure with the ladies who forever transformed television, as they tackle life's latest challenges, this time on the big screen, dressed from head to toe in the latest designer clothes and accessories, visiting the trendiest restaurants, and in Samantha's case, seemingly spending every other day jetting from LA to New York and back.

There are no disappointments here for fans of the series. There is fashion, fashion, and more fashion, everything from out-there everyday outfits to wedding dresses (an excuse is found for a wedding dress photo-shoot), to haute couture (an excuse is found to attend a fashion show) to the latest designer shoes (an excuse is found for a pair of shoes to play a role in the storyline) to the latest designer handbags (yes, another role in the script is found for a handbag). Not an opportunity is missed to show a designer label, and no less is expected.

There are many gab-sessions over many meals and (mostly) many drinks. The full supporting cast from the series is back, and there is the welcome addition of Jennifer Hudson (of Dreamgirls and American Idol fame) as Carrie's new assistant.

What about the Sex, and the City? Plenty of both. Sex is near the core of the issues that Miranda and Samantha have to deal with, and as an added bonus, Samantha finds herself living next to a hunk who is always either (a) naked; (b) getting naked; or (c) naked and having wild passionate sex, with at least one partner. It's mostly (c), actually. As for the City, although the plot finds an excuse for a quick interlude at a five-star Mexico resort, and there are several scenes at Samantha's dreamy LA beach house, New York remains very much the fifth member of the group. Key locations that play a part in the film include the public library, the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, many restaurants, a luxurious penthouse apartment, and even City Hall.

The friendships, the fights, the misunderstandings, the make-up sessions, and the comedy are all here, appropriately proportioned to the big-screen experience, and as usual with Love being the emotion at the core of everything. Searching for it, finding it, being afraid to lose it, and trusting in it. It's also a nice touch for one of the other central themes of the movie to be the age of the central characters, now in their 40's, and a bridge is built to the next generation in their 20-somethings through Hudson's character.

It is rare for a TV series to translate so well to the big screen, but Sex and the City succeeds without the slightest stumble. It is highly recommended, of course for all women, and for all men who want to try and understand them.

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.