Holiday Movie Wrap-up

Over the New Year Holiday, amidst all of the college football and final week of the NFL's regular season I managed to watch a couple of movies. When Nicole and I went to go see I am Legend a few weeks ago it got me thinking about all the post-apocalyptic movies I've seen over the years. When I was a kid i remember watching the TV mini-series of Stephen King's The Stand. I remember it being pretty cool with some nice abandoned city scenes and general end of the world goodness. Nicole hadn't seen it so I tracked it down and gave it another look.

Stephen King also happened to pen the teleplay about a flu that wipes out most of the world's population in a matter of hours mysteriously leaving several thousand people immune. The survivors all discover they are having the same dream involving an old black woman sitting on her porch and playing guitar. Her words become the inspiration to return the world to its previous state. The catch is that the survivors have also been having visions of a devil-type named Randall Flagg who is hell bent on turning the world into the Devil's Playland.

It turns out that this mini-series actually sucks really bad, yet Nicole and I stuck with it for like the entire 6 or so hours it lasted. Despite having some skilled actors (Ossie Davis, Gary Sinise, Ruby Dee, Ed Harris) the acting was absolutely atrocious. I can't forget to mention the horrible Early 90s television effects that just made this an absolute cheese-fest.

We also managed to squeeze in a couple of actual movies, the first of which was True Colors; a classic story of betrayal starring John Cusack and James Spader. This is one of those movies where I was like, "Why haven't I seen this before? Cusack and Spader: You can't go wrong!" Then I actually saw it, and realized why no one ever talks about this film when discussing the acting careers of Spader and Cusack. It's not a good movie. Spader and Cusack are good as law school roommates, one from a wealthy family(Spader) and one from the wrong side of the tracks(Cusack), that take separate career paths that eventually converge in a sort or dual backstab that ends the political career of Cusack's character. The story idea is compelling, but the film is rushed and the narrative and all of its parts are just too underdeveloped for me to recommend True Colors.

Last but not least, I once again and Nicole for the first time watched Michael Mann's L.A. crime masterpiece, Heat. This movie is so damn awesome, I wish I had re-watched it sooner. The gun fights are absolutely amazing and Mann only betters himself in the final shoot-out from Miami Vice.

Al Pacino's boisterous acting style is perfectly suited for the ace detective determined to bust heartless criminal Robert DeNiro before he can leave town. Mann has a natural gift for portraying violence in both a realistic way and a highly stylized manner. His films could make even the most staunch gun control advocate wish they had an AK-47, and Heat is no exception.