36 - Kiss Of Death (1995)

Connection To CON AIR - Both Nicolas Cage and Ving Rhames appear in both, but I'm going with Ving Rhames just so I can use Cage at a later date.

NYPD Blue - it's first season, in my humble opinion is among the best first seasons in American TV history, I know there is a lot of competitors but if I was drawing up a list it would be on there without a doubt and for me David Caruso was absolutely brilliant in that show - but after failing to gain a raise he left only a few episodes in to the second season with the hope of being a leading man, and that worked out... well he became a punchline for a while there and is career really didn't get back on track, when he ironically went back to TV with CSI: Miami (which he ended up lasting way longer for him - 10 years), but films like Kiss Of Death and Jade are considered the failed Caruso movies.

Kiss Of Death to me is a good thriller - not great but it's better then adequate - but Caruso is outshine by his co-star... you guessed it Nicolas Cage, this really is Cage's show, he really is the best thing about this movie which also features great talent such as Stanley Tucci, Ving Rhames and Samuel L. Jackson (more subdued then the Jackson we usually know), there's also future Oscar Winner Helen Hunt - but I didn't include because honestly I'm not a fan of hers, she's been in some good movies for sure but I've just never liked her performance, I just can't put my finger on it (I still prefer her to Meg Ryan though)

Kiss of Death is loosely based on the 1947 film noir of the same name - which I've never seen so can't comment on differences etc. - Caruso plays Jimmy whose an ex-con living with wife (Hunt), both of which are ex-alcoholics and daughter. Jimmy gets woken by his cousin Ronnie (Michael Rapaport) who desperately needs his help, his finger his broken and that if he doesn't help Little Junior Brown (Cage) will kill him.

Little Junior angry they are so behind schedule, insists they move four trucks full of stolen cars in a caravan instead of staggering them to avoid detection, which ends up drawing the attention of the police, when they arrive at their destination to unload the cars the police arrive to arrest but during this Jimmy's passenger shoots at the police the bullet of which goes through Jimmy and below the right of Detective Hart (Samuel L. Jackson) who survives it. The Brown family lawyer promises Jimmy that his wife will be taken care of if he takes the tap and not name the other criminals. Ronnie ends up shortening on her allowance (giving her $150 instead of the $400 the Brown's intended). She agrees to work for Ronnie at his chop shop where she goes to the Brown's club and ends up drinking vodka and wakes up in Ronnie's bed and horrified or relapse she rushes to leave but drives head on into a truck and dies. I'll stop here because I feel like I'm doing the plot bit by bit but I'll just say Ronnie gives a crappy reason to Jimmy about the death so Jimmy agrees to turn states witness...

Like I have already said it's a good thriller, while it's not the best of it's genre it does it's job well and I was actually interested in where the story was going but like I said Cage is just awesome every time he's on screen as the asthmatic psychopath (I'm one of them things see if you can guess which one), SPOILER his killing of Ronnie is one of the films most memorable END OF SPOILER

Overall a shame for Caruso it did nothing at the box-office but Jade would have destroyed any clout he had from this but it's enjoyable and comes recommended.

35 - Con Air

Connection To ALAN PARTRIDGE: ALPHA PAPA - Colm Meaney

What I view here is the extended version, which I ain't seen before but I've probably seen the "original cut" possibly close to double figures by now.

It's hard to hate a film like Con-Air - awesome action, characters and one-liners - the movie is a joy from start to finish, I've actually heard it being described as a guilty pleasure but for me that's wrong because there is absolutely no shame in enjoying this movie. I'm trying so hard to not do plane/flying related puns so apologizes if I end up doing it.

For me this was one of Nicolas Cage's terrific trio of action movies in the late 90's which also included The Rock and Face/Off (which some people dislike) in which this one he plays ex-Army Ranger Cameron Poe who in defending his pregnant wife and gets in a fight with some bar drunks killing one of them, he ends up in prison for 8 years which he is paroled for good behaviour.  He is eager to see his wife and his daughter (who he never met) and he is to be flown back home on the Jailbird plane where he will be released on landing. Another of other prisoners including his diabetic friend Baby-O (Mykelti WIlliamson) as well as the dangerous Cyrus The Virus (John Malkovich) and Diamond Dog (Ving Rhames) are being transported to another penitentiary. But shortly after takeout Pinball (Dave Chappelle) ends up inciting a riot and released Cyrus and Dog from their separate containers allowing them takeover the plane.

The thing I always like about many Jerry Bruckheimer produced films is the casting, they always get some good names - Malkovich as Cyrus is a brilliant main villain, bring his Malkovichiness (I know that's not a real word to the role and Steve Buscemi as Garland Greene, the psychopath killer is also another stand out, his scene of playing with the little girl is probably one of the most famous and tense. We also get to enjoy actors like Danny Trejo, Chappelle and Colm Meaney among others.

As for Cage is Forrest Gump accent in this just adds to the charm, he's a great action hero here - sort of a shame that they mostly shot their load here and a sequel would have been pushing, his co-star John Cusack his also great in a rare-action role for him.

Speaking of the extended edition for a bit - I'd say only a few months really got added here and there, Greene killing a guard was not in it before (am I right or did I just forget) and it feels most of the time additional dialogue at the end of scenes.

Criticism time - it's so, so minor you'll feel me stupid for even mentioning it - at the end after the plane as landed in the Vegas strip and the three bad guys escape on a fire engine, Cusack and Cage jump police bikes and chase after them, this part I have no problem with (except maybe the fact Poe is still technically a prisoner at this point) it's a touch into when the fire engine goes past two other police bikes parked we only see them from behind but guess what drops from to the road from the bike - yes two doughnuts - you get it because they are cops... just thought it was a minor thing that was a bit dumb.

Overall extremely enjoyable even after multiple viewings - the entire package is cool (even the syrupy LeAnn Rimes ballad oddly fits in) so I'll just say strap yourself in for one hell of a ride... (damn it)

14 - Peggy Sue Got Married

Connection To Who Framed Roger Rabbit - Kathleen Turner

THE 1980s SUCKED!!! Do you want to know why? Because it seemed like so many films and TV series had nostalgia for the 50s and the 60s - which was yeah, through rose-tinted glasses cause there was a lot of shit that happened.

Peggy Sue Got Married - you can't help but think of Back To The Future, this was released a year after and involves somebody going back to an earlier time (in the case 1960), it's really where the similarity ends and it would be unfair on this movie if I kept comparing it to that iconic movie.

Kathleen Turner plays Peggy Sue who is attending her 25th high school reunion in the present (well as in 1986), just seperated from her school sweetheart Charlie (Nicolas Cage), she is made class Queen (alongside the King who was a class geek now turned millionaire), during which she faints and when she awakes she finds herself back in 1960.

Finding herself back in 1960 she is really confused but soon finds herself being able to have the courage to address rude classmates or tell a teacher that there is no use for algebra in the real word and she knows it for a fact. This also gives her a chance (of the inevitable) to remember why she fell in love with Charlie in the first place.

I liked this, it indeed made me feel nostalgia for a time and place that I was never there for, there is cute little references about the future (like her saying she'll go to Liverpool and discover The Beatles). The film also features quite a cast of before they were famous, besides Cage, who wasn't a breakout yet (who is director Francis Ford Coppola's nephew), there is Jim Carrey (playing naturally the class clown), Joan Allen (herself later a star of the 50's sit-com set Pleasantville), a young Helen Hunt and Coppola's own daughter Sofia.

Speaking of Cage, is choice for voice is weird an odd high pitched tone that a little bit dents the enjoyment of the movie but he doesn't grate completely 100%, Kathleen Turner though carries the movie great.

The music choice is typical of the nostalgia run of movies where all songs are still well known to this day (that's all that was played on the radio and at club it was always seems, I imagine songs get forgotten along the way in reality).

Overall, it's nowhere near the Coppola classics of the 70's, but it's a nice movie - that's not a complaint - and though going back to Back to the Future (what an awkward thing to say) it's a decent watch if somebody wants something a little bit the same.