Podcasting Them Softly

Directed with iron-fist intensity by Andrei Konchalovsky, the 1985 actioner Runaway Train is easily one of the best films to bear the Cannon Films/Golan-Globus logo. There’s just as much devastating personal introspection as there is macho bluster and bloody fisticuffs, with the narrative combining aspects of the prison and train film with a story about friendship, sacrifice, honor, and living life by your own moral code. Starring Jon Voight and Eric Roberts as escaped convicts who board a runaway train that’s careening towards the remote and snowy wilds of Alaska, both actors were Oscar nominated for their wildly passionate performances, and were matched by Rebecca De Mornay as an unlikely railroad worker caught up in the madness.

Everything about this movie feels real and dangerous and forbidding, with the busy yet focused screenplay never taking a rest for a moment; Djordje Milicevic, Paul Zindel, and Edward Bunker got writing credit, having adapted an original screenplay by Akira Kurosawa. Look for Danny Trejo (Heat, Machete) and Tommy “Tiny” Lister (No Holds Barred) in their feature debuts. Alan Hume’s rough and muscular cinematography made terrific use of open and closed spaces, with all of the action centered on the train delivering high-adrenaline excitement that will make your palms sweat, while an early prison riot gets up close and personal in the melee. Trevor Jones’ thundering and operatic musical score is the cherry-topper. The final moments of this film are lump-in-your-throat perfection.

Marijuana and the movies have had a long, mostly potent relationship. Cannabis has inspired any number of cinematic artists, and it’s important to note how public perception of pot has changed throughout the years, with evolving laws and a recent explosion of smoker-friendly content. The social hysteria that greeted the infamous 1930’s exploitation film Reefer Madness can now of course be laughed at as an overreaction to a plant that has progressively become less demonized.

The Cheech and Chong films will forever be seen as stoner comedy gold, providing inspiration for modern efforts like Harold & Kumar, Half Baked, and Dude, Where’s My Car? Easy Rider is the definitive counter-culture item that opened the doors for more square viewers, while the 1970’s ushered in a new crop of pot movies, including Milos Forman’s American debut Taking Off, Ralph Bakshi’s animated Fritz the Cat, Cisco Pike with Kris Kristofferson, and the more obscure Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues, a heady mix of paranoid thriller and laconic romance featuring an early John Lithgow performance.

Marijuana has been used in an erudite fashion by filmmakers, woven into the narrative like a character in Curtis Hanson’s masterpiece Wonder Boys, the iconic Coen brothers sensation The Big Lebowski, and the underrated Leaves of Grass. Oliver Stone’s entire cannon feels especially indebted to ganja, as does Terry Gilliam’s psychotropic adaptation of Hunter Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Self-professed cannabis enthusiast Robert Altman left a misty haze over much of his work, most notably The Long Goodbye, California Split, and M*A*S*H, while his protégé, Paul Thomas Anderson, crafted a pot-infused ode to private eye cinema with Inherent Vice. And F. Gary Gray’s sly, smart, and hilarious pot comedy Friday still stands as one of the most influential cannabis narratives.

The Seth Rogen/Judd Apatow connection has helped to legitimize marijuana to the masses, with box-office hits Pineapple Express and Knocked Up majorly emphasizing marijuana, treating it like a character as much as any of the leading actors. Musical biopic spoof Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story has some hilarious moments concerning reefer, the two Neighbors movies nearly give off a contact high, and the meta-comedy This Is The End carried a lit-joint torch of pro-pot components. And let’s not forget Danny McBride getting stoned with some sheep in Your Highness, which shared the skunky whiffs of 80’s cult-classics Krull and The Beastmaster.

High school comedies have consistently thrown marijuana into the equation, with Amy Heckerling’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused standing as cultural touchstones. Nearly all of Kevin Smith’s films seem to have been born out of a cloud of bong smoke, with the Jay and Silent Bob characters feeling like zeitgeist-tapping creations of cannabis-happy comedy. Greg Araki’s Smiley Face with Anna Faris is one of the more perceptive and giggle-inducing movies to feature a stoner at its center, while Jonathan Levine’s unique 90’s time capsule The Wackness painted a portrait of people’s lives fully dictated by marijuana, and how it can be used both for good and bad.

John McTiernan’s supremely entertaining and exceedingly stylish remake of The Thomas Crown Affair is a film that I saw multiple times in the theater, and absolutely love revisiting multiple times per year. I remember seeing this picture with my then-girlfriend-now-wife back in 1999. and the zest and sizzle that this film emits never ceases to amaze me. Pierce Brosnan was icy-suave perfection in the title role and Rene Russo was real-woman sexy in ways that Hollywood actresses rarely achieve; what a ridiculous run of movies she had in the 90’s. Brosnan and Russo shared tremendous on-screen chemistry in this glamorous, high-end romance, with Pierce looking lethal in his finely tailored suits, and Rene never more beautiful on-screen than she was here, with a wardrobe to die for and hair/make-up design that took her already wonderful physical attributes to the upper stratosphere. This is a movie about surfaces, and how attractive people are drawn to each other thru the thrill of the chase, always on the prowl, always primal, and always ready to pounce.

At the time, their much-buzzed-about sex scenes became a public talking point; in retrospect, it’s a further reminder of how crass on-screen lovemaking has become, as what’s show in The Thomas Crown Affair is steamy without ever being needless. And on a visual level, the film is just marvelous. The simplest of scenes are made to be extravagant by Tom Priestley’s muscular widescreen cinematography, with various shots that are souped-up to the max, and which absolutely pop on Blu-ray. The terrific finale with all of the lookalikes in bowler hats with Sinnerman on the soundtrack is the film’s final ace up its sleeve, and the tempo that McTiernan and editor John Wright set during this sequence is positively electric. There can be no debating that McTiernan’s visual style was one of the most influential when his career was in full swing, as he always brought a big-budget luster to all of his work, which was all stylish in its time but still holds up and never feels dated. Especially this movie.

The Thomas Crown Affair also has a stellar supporting cast including Denis Leary (so awesome here!), Fritz Weaver, Frankie Faison, Ben Gazzara, Mark Margolis, and Faye Dunaway, slyly cast as Brosnan’s therapist in a sultry, wink-wink performance that never felt tacky due to her legendary ability to hold the camera’s attention. Leslie Dixon and Kurt Wimmer’s screenplay was a perfect blend of character dynamics, action, suspense, and adult sexuality, with McTiernan no doubt bringing his own ideas into the mix, while Bill Conti’s jazzy and energetic musical score keeps the film’s pulse moving at an elegant pace. The Thomas Crown Affair hums along like a fine-tuned luxury ride, and many people (including myself) find it superior to Norman Jewison’s 1968 original, which is a totally fine piece of entertainment in many respects. There’s just something different about McTiernan’s version that has kept me engaged for nearly 20 years and I suspect that I’ll continue to enjoy watching this one for many years to come.

I’m a huge fan of this slick and gritty urban sci-fi item with British flavor and lots of energy courtesy of director Joe Cornish.  Released in 2011 and starring John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, Nick Frost, and many others, Attack the Block is an equal parts funny and nasty alien invasion movie that stays intimate rather than opting for the epic, telling a self-contained story that is fresh and original despite being a part of one of the most traveled genres imaginable. The practical effects and creature design are especially cool (love those mouths!) and cinematographer Tom Townend gave the flick a strong sense of visual style. The filmmakers also valued their R-rating while never going too far over the top.