815. Jacob's Ladder (1990)

Running Time: 115 minutes
Directed By: Adrian Lyne
Written By: Bruce Joel Rubin
Main Cast: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Pena, Danny Aiello, Matt Craven, Pruitt Taylor Vince
Click here to view the trailer

STEP BY STEP, RUNG BY RUNG

You know, for the longest time the "Jacob's Ladder" DVD sat on my movie shelf, untouched and unwatched. I blind bought it years ago, hearing so many great things about it and when it went untouched for so long, my wife and I finally decided to just sell it. As I sit here tonight, having finally seen the film, I don't regret the sale.

Tim Robbins is the star of the show this time around, playing Jacob Singer, a Vietnam war vet who is now back in the states and living his life as a postal worker. He's recently divorced from his wife and is living with his girlfriend, Jezebel (Pena) in a crummy, yet cozy little apartment in New York. The film starts out by showing us pieces of Jacob's time in Vietnam, presumably near the end, when his battalion fell under attack and Jacob is being air lifted out of the war zone. From there, we flash to Jacob waking up on a subway, revealing that everything we just saw was a hallucination. These occur frequently throughout the picture. Upon waking and in the days that follow, Jacob begins to encounter what can only be referred to as demons, which he begins to see pop up everywhere, at random moments. His girlfriend thinks he's crazy and at first he's able to shrug it off. However, things begin to get worse and the hallucinations come more frequently. It appears that Jacob is suffering from after effects of being in Vietnam - post traumatic stress disorder - but it's never made 100% clear. Later, some of Jacob's war buddies come forward and reveal that they've also been seeing demons and experiencing hallucinations and together the group decide that the whole thing must have been onset by something that happened to them during the war. They go to a lawyer and express their concern and begin steps to bring a case against the U.S. Army, however, the lawyer turns them down citing they have no case. As time goes on, Jacob begins to get more and more paranoid, as the hallucinations get worse.

SPOILER ALERT!!

I've gotta' say, that for having heard so many great things about this movie, I was very disappointed. I can't even chalk it up to being over hyped either, because even after reading the plot synopsis today, before watching it, it honestly didn't sound THAT appealing to me. The film is part horror, part psychological thriller, part mystery and it really asks us to be very patient, while we wait two hours to get to the end and find out, "Oh, he's just been dying the whole time" and really this whole movie has taken place in just a matter of minutes as he fought against death. Man, that's a decent ending and everything, but the whole movie is one big mess and to wait to get to that, it's not unlike sitting through the entire series of "Newhart" to find out that psychiatrist Dr. Bob Hartley has just been dreaming the whole time. Talk about pissed! Nah, I wasn't REALLY pissed, but I wasn't impressed either. Yeah, it's a cool idea and everything, but that's all, just an idea - not a whole movie. If you look into the history of the film, you'll find that the movie is actually loosely based on the short story "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge", which as later adapted into a Twilight Zone episode. Now that's more like it. Give me a good twenty-five minutes and keep me guessing for twenty-two of them and THEN spring this whole, "Oh, he's just been dying the whole time" thing on me. Don't make me sludge through two hours and then make me realize that there wasn't any mystery after all. Geez!

Oh and I don't think I like Tim Robbins very much, aside from "The Shawshank Redemption". Can you believe he landed four movies in THE BOOK? This, "The Player", "Bull Durham" and "Shawshank" and hell, I could be forgetting a fifth. I just don't find him to be that great of an actor. I did, however, really dig Elizabeth Pena - man, was she sexy in this. You also can't go wrong with Danny Aiello and Ving Rhames, but they really weren't in the picture enough to warrant any bonus points. I think at the end of the day, this was a fine film, but I wasn't as gaga over the payoff as other apparently were. I COULD sit through it again if I absolutely had to and I'll admit the ultimate idea is a cool one, but a "must see" this film is not and how it got such a cult following is beyond me.

RATING: 6/10  A pair of sixes to kick off my return from hiatus isn't that good, but it's not bad either. Still looking to be blown away by a BOOK movie, as possible last minute additions to my TOP 20.

MOVIES WATCHED: 779
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 222

January 14, 2014  11:22pm

773. Fatal Attraction (1987)

Running Time: 119 minutes
Directed By: Adrian Lyne
Written By: James Dearden
Main Cast: Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Anne Archer
Click here to view the trailer

FROM KIRK TO MICHAEL

In a 100 that will be filled to the brim with films from the 1980s, I decided to make "Fatal Attraction" my third film since my return. I figured after watching a pair of Kirk Douglas films, it might be nice to slip in a Michael Douglas feature and compare the father and son.

The film opens by introducing us to Dan Gallagher (Douglas), his wife Beth (Archer) and their daughter Ellen, a typical, happy family living in New York. Dan practices law and is successful at what he does and enjoys his family life. The film's most vital point comes one weekend when Beth and Ellen go to visit Dan's in-laws for a few days. The morning that they leave, Dan heads into work for a Saturday morning meeting with a client and it is there that he meets Alex Forrest (Close). When the meeting ends and the two can't catch a cab, they decide to take refuge from the pouring rain inside a small, local restaurant. There the two get to know each other a little better and decide that not only do they get along, but that they are physically attracted to one another. In an innuendo driven exchange, where the two talk about being discreet and being adults, the two finally end up on Dan's kitchen sink, in a hot and heavy exchange, that will see it's end in Alex's bed. In other words, the two hump like rabbits (yes, RABBITS) and Dan officially becomes a cheating husband. When Beth returns, it is Dan's plan to act as if nothing has happened. He goes to certain lengths to make it seem as if things have been running normal, mussing up the bed to make it look like he slept in it, showering vigorously and even feeding the dog the spaghetti and meat sauce that was meant for him, but that he was too busy to eat. He wants the relationship with Alex to come to an abrupt halt and wants to consider the weekend a one time thing, never to see her again. She, however, sees it differently, wanting more out of Dan, noting that he didn't stop to think how this would effect her, only thinking of himself and his hormones. Long story short, she goes a little nutso, basically stalking Dan, calling him incessantly, vandalizing his car. Things reach a head when Alex announces she's pregnant and that the baby is definitely Dan's.

It wasn't a long walk to acquire this one, as all I had to do was walk to my DVD shelf. I saw "Fatal Attraction" for the first time, many years ago and fell in love with it instantly. THE BOOK notes that the film has that Hollywood gloss and without it would have surely been a straight to video vehicle. However, despite the gloss, I still think this film has that feeling of a little hole in the wall thriller, that you stumble across in the back corner of your local Mom & Pop video store (when those still existed). The film is slow to start and actually as I was watching it I started to think of why this film was so appealing to me, when I bought it on DVD many years ago. On the surface, the entire film hinges on this affair between Dan and Alex and the consequences that follow and really doesn't sound like it would be able to fill out a two hour length. However, Lyne knows what he's doing and is able to add moments of suspense, sometimes with the smallest of details, like a ringing phone and the look on Dan's face when he comes to the realization that it could be and probably is Alex. It didn't take long for the film to swallow me back up into it's world, get me on the edge of my seat and leave me with the feeling that I was watching this film again for the first time.

SPOILER ALERT!

The cast does a fine job, but in the matter of Kirk Douglas vs. Michael Douglas, the accolades have to go to Kirk. He was just a more polished actor and while I think I enjoyed this film more than both "Paths of Glory" and "Spartacus", it certainly wasn't for the skills of Michael Douglas. He's an okay actor, but I think he's often more overrated than he deserves to be. As far as acting skills go in "Fatal Attraction", the kudos have to go to Glenn Close, who knocked one out of the park as Alex Forrest, providing that "on the edge of insanity" portrayal. The film also does an amazing thing in getting the viewer to feel sympathy for Dan, even though Alex is basically in the right. Sure, her actions are a little out there (to say the least), but she's justified in being upset, making phone calls and hounding Dan to be a part of her life and her unborn baby's life. Dan is the one who is entirely in the wrong, taking advantage of a weekend alone to sow one more wild oat. Yet we (or at least I) feel sorry for him, especially when he breaks down and tells his wife the truth and is forced out of his home, leaving behind his daughter and wife. It's just a really fun film, one that is really easy to get lost in and enjoy. The suspense, at times, is off the charts and it's not something with so much Hollywood gloss on it, that you can't see the small, subtle effects that the actors and director bring to the table.

RATING: 8/10  Well three films down, 97 to go before I make another TOP 20 list and nothing that has dipped below a '6' yet...that's great news!

MOVIES WATCHED: 504
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 497

August 19. 2012  3:02pm