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Reviews
Career Opportunities (1991)
Unlike many, I loved the ending sequence
I really love the ending to "Career Opportunities." A great, feel-good ending. When we're young, most of us don't realize how lucky we are just to be young and with possibilities of adventures ahead of us. But this ending shows the two characters very much realizing how lucky they are. The big band swing music just makes everything seem groovy, Frank Whaley and Jennifer Connelly pulling up in the limousine, stepping out to bask in their moment of triumph (to the amazement of the kids), Jennifer's GREAT bend at the knees/twirl and pulling him back in to the limo, the kid saying "He is so cool," as they drive off and finally - Frank and Jennifer's self-aware cool, sitting by a swimming pool in Hollywood. How does it get better than that? It doesn't. That's it. But IMDb requires me to write ten lines of text or they won't allow my review. What's that all about? What about those 7 years I spent in college learning the craft of journalism (well, yeah, I did party a lot), training my mind to condense my thoughts efficiently, to hone my words to the barest minimum for maximum effect? Were all those books I studied by Ernest Hemingway and Hunter S. Thompson for naught? Now I'm being told to fluff the word count so that I can submit AN ONLINE REVIEW?! Well, I'm willing to do it for Career Opportunities. Many of the movies I see being made nowadays are downbeat, focusing on cruelty and the brutal nature of the modern world. It's so nice to take a trip back to the 80's when the message was "Anything's possible if you've got the balls to try and a silver tongue like Frank Whaley or Bill Murray." And one thing this movie has that Ferris didn't, is that Frank has to come to grips with his major flaw, and it's only when he does that, that he become a winner. Oh, and RIP John Hughes. You gave us some great, great movies, dude.
Robert Wuhl's World Tour (1990)
Excellent Stand Up
Over the years I've watched this time and again on a fairly worn out VHS tape that I captured from the original HBO special in 1990.
Robert tells his share of jokes during this "One City World Tour," but it is his observational humor and his story-telling where he really charms the audience. Great stories about working with Nicholson, getting to kiss Kim Basinger on-screen ( "And I got paid for it! And I didn't get it right on the first try, either!" ) His style is completely different from the manic antics of Robin Williams, but no less endearing, perhaps moreso. You can tell how much he is enjoying working with the audience, and it's contagious - the crowd really warms up to him during the show, and the laughs get louder and bigger as he goes.
I'll never forget his great story about trying to buy a painting for his traditional-minded Father. It goes on for at least ten minutes, and includes a romantic interlude, the stereotype that your Father is always right, his first appearance on the Tonight Show, his Father's passing and by the end you're pretty much laughing AND crying it's such a great story.
Highly recommended, not very much vulgarity ( really none by today's standards ) and a genuinely feel good hour with Robert Wuhl.
Red Rock West (1993)
Stylish Film Noir
Some movies you just know you're going to love from the first few seconds. This is one of those movies. Tracing it's roots back to "Double Indemnity," and "The Postman Always Rings Twice" in the 40's - this was a great example of Modern Film Noir in the 90's. Nick Cage plays the "down on his luck" main character who gets entangled in a husband-wife murder plot - and his luck goes from bad to worse to even worse as he tries and tries to get away from the people, town, violence and threat of Red Rock West. Lots of twists and turns, great performances by Cage, Hopper and Walsh, an hypnotic slide-guitar musical backdrop, and seamless directing make this a real joy. Favorite Line: When Cage looks at the empty gas gauge in the get-away car, shakes his head and says: "F***in' story of my life."