Gideon58's Reviews

Home for the Holidays is the 1995 comedy-drama that was a directorial triumph for Oscar winner Jodie Foster as well as her hand-picked cast.

This brilliant examination of family dysfunction during the holidays, based on a short story by Chris Radant and expanded into a screenplay by W D Richter, stars Oscar winner Holly Hunter as Claudia, an art gallery employee and would-be artist who gets fired and learns that her daughter is about to lose her virginity before flying home for Thanksgiving. The film then does a precise and efficient overlay of all those inane little things that drives adults insane when they go home for the holidays.

Topics broached in this film have been broached in past films, but the fact that Foster and Richter chose to set this film during Thanksgiving instead of during Christmas gives the film a layer of originality that sets it apart from similar cinematic fare. We see Claudia deal with the obnoxious woman sitting on the plane next to her, her mother complaining about her physical appearance, being forced into kitchen duty, playing referee between her brother and sister, struggling to find a private moment to have a secret cigarette, and clinging for dear life to the only relative she actually can tolerate, her little brother Tommy, to help get her through this ordeal.

Charles Durning and Anne Bancroft are an absolute joy as Claudia's parents, two people who have been together for so long that they have conversations without actual dialogue and love their children to death. The fact that neither actor is no longer with us makes their screentime all the more moving. Hunter has a couple of lovely scenes with each actor separately that, in the right mood, could ignite a tear duct.

Cynthia Stevenson was given the role of her career and ran with it as Joanne, Claudia's icy, emotionally detached, and slightly homophobic sister, despite the fact that her brother Tommy is gay. Stevenson imbues her unsympathetic character with an energy that evokes equal parts laughs and hisses. Steve Guttenberg is a great match for her as her tight-ass husband Walter, who hates his wife's family, especially her brother Tommy, with a white hot passion.

Robert Downey Jr. pretty much steals the movie as Tommy, the bombastic and crazy gay brother who is the only relative Claudia really likes. Downey Jr. is rolling on the floor funny here and makes every moment he has onscreen count, no matter who he's doing a scene with. Downey Jr. was at the height of his drug addiction during the filming of this movie and an actual intervention was staged at some point during production, but none of this shows onscreen...Robert Downey Jr.'s performance is the thing you will walk away from this movie remembering. Mention should also be made of Dylan McDermott as a friend Tommy brings home for Claudia and David Straithairn as an old high school classmate of Claudia's who was madly in love with her. Not to mention Geraldine Chaplin as Claudia's eccentric aunt who has, among other issues, a problem with uncontrollable flatulence.

Richter's screenplay hits all the right notes and Foster's direction is breezy yet sensitive. For anyone out there who ever wondered if they were secretly adopted and it was kept from them by their parents, this is the movie for you.

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ENCINO MAN was the 1992 comedy that introduced a young actor named Brendon Fraser to a film concept called the "fish out of water" comedy.

The film stars Sean Astin and Pauly Shore as two geeky California high schoolers who, while digging a pool in Astin's backyard, actually dig up a frozen caveman, who once they thaw out, clean up, and try to introduce to 1990 sensibilities, decide to use the caveman, who they name Link, as their ticket to the high school popularity that has alluded them up to this point.

This breezy comedy does provide sporadic laughs, mostly courtesy of Fraser, who is very funny as the caveman of the title. Astin is an acceptable teen angst lead and Pauly Shore's performance can only be judged by your own personal taste for the guy. For me, a little bit of Shore goes a very long way, though he does have one very funny scene with Fraser in a convenience store where he introduces Link to the joys of junk food. Richard Masur and Mariette Hartley also add a touch of class to the proceedings as Astin's parents, but this is Fraser's show all the way, playing the ultimate fish out of water, a character concept he would explore a few years later in GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE. 5.5/10

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Brendon Fraser continued to perfect his patent on the fish out of water comedy with 1997's George of the Jungle.

This live action version of the classic Jay Ward cartoon series of the 60's stars Fraser in the title role, a man who was raised in the jungle, who communicates with all the animals, and actually lives with a highly intelligent ape who wears glasses and reads the newspaper (brilliantly voiced by John Cleese). George meets a girl named Ursula who is on a safari and after rescuing her, decides to accompany her back home to her lavish life in San Francisco, where as George tries to adjust to life in civilization, he finds his romance with Ursula complicated by her obnoxious fiancee and her mother, who, of course, doesn't want George anywhere near her baby girl or spoiling Ursula's upcoming marriage.

Fraser appears to be having a ball in the title role here and there is no denying that he looks great in a loin cloth. Leslie Mann is cute as Ursula and Thomas Haden Church is fall-down-on-the-floor funny as Ursula's fiancee Lyle Van De Groot. Holland Taylor and John Bennett Perry (father of FRIENDS' Matthew Perry) have some cute moments too as Ursula's parents, but just like ENCINO MAN, this is Fraser's show and he runs with it, though he gets some strong competition from John Cleese as Ape, who figures prominently into the film's finale.

Though this film was probably aimed at a teenage demographic, I have to admit that it is a guilty pleasure of mine that I never tire of re-watching. 7/10

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Jack Nicholson's powerhouse, Oscar-nominated performance is the centerpiece and primary reason to check out About Schmidt, an intriguing and sometimes very moving character study about a man reaching simultaneous crossroads in his life and being unsure of what's next, directed and co-written by Alexander Payne, the genius behind Sideways and Election.

Nicholson plays Warren Schmidt, an insurance salesman who has recently been forced into retirement and is really not sure what to do with his life without his work. His life is thrown into further turmoil when his devoted wife suddenly passes away. He then buys a Winnebago and embarks on a cross country journey to his daughter's wedding.

Payne and Nicholson have painted a somber portrait of a lost soul, trying to regain some sort of meaning in his life after losing his job and his wife. Schmidt's pain is evident in so many varied ways here...like when he is asked to train his replacement at the insurance company or when his daughter berates him for letting the house go to hell. Nicholson brilliantly conveys Schmidt's anger at his situation but manages an underlying level of sadness there as well. There are a lot of things that this character does that are not positive or attractive, but there is nothing that he does that is not vividly real or that we don't completely understand.

Payne and Nicholson make this film worth checking out and solid support is also provided by Len Cariou, June Squibb, Dermot Mulroney, Hope Davis, and Kathy Bates, in an eye-opening turn that earned her an Oscar nomination as well. Despite the supporting cast and Payne's sensitive direction, I'm pretty sure that if anyone other than Jack Nicholson had been cast in the role of Warren Schmidt, this film would have been a crashing bore, but Nicholson makes this sad and bumpy cinematic ride a pleasure.

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The Pleasure of his Company is a sparkling 1961 comedy that starred Fred Astaire as a globe-trotting playboy named Pogo Poole who shows up out of nowhere to his hometown of San Francisco in time for his daughter's wedding and pretty much turns the household upside down in the midst of all the wedding plans.

Of course, our hero's return to town causes all kinds of commotion in the household since his daughter's mother and ex-wife, can't stand Pogo and has remarried and has never forgiven Pogo for deserting his family all those years ago. On the other hand, Jessica, Pogo's daughter and the bride-to-be, is willing to forgive and forget and is thrilled to have Daddy show up in time to walk her down the aisle.

Fred Astaire has rarely been more charming onscreen, showing a gift for light comedy and proving that he does not need to put on his tap shoes to command attention on the screen. Debbie Reynolds is charming as his daughter Jessica, the bride-to-be, as are Lilli Palmer as Katherine, Pogo's ex and Gary Merrill as her current husband. Tab Hunter also appears as Jessica's wealthy fiancee.

The film is actually based on a play by Cornelia Otis Skinner and Samuel Taylor and Taylor adapted the work into a deft screenplay which director George Seaton smoothly transferred to the screen and don't worry, Astaire and Debbie Reynolds do dance together in one scene, just for you Astaire purists who can't abide the idea of watching an Astaire movie where he doesn't dance. A fun nearly forgotten gem of the 1960's that actually might keep a consistent smile on your face.

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The Oscar winner for Best Picture of 2004, Million Dollar Baby was a triumph for the creative genius that is Clint Eastwood, who not only provided sensitive, detailed direction to this film, but one of the best acting performances of his career. This moving and inspirational drama was part sports drama, part character study, and part tearjerker.

Paul Higgis' rich screenplay introduces us to a young woman named Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) who desperately wants to go where few women have gone...to the top of the world of professional female boxing. Maggie approaches one Frankie Dunn (Eastwood), an over-the-hill-but-in-denial-about-it boxing trainer who now runs his own gym, to train her, despite Frankie's belief that women and boxing rings don't mix. She finally wears him down, partially due to the girl's persistence and partially due to the fact that she reminds him of the daughter who is no longer a part of his life. It is the slow burn of the relationship between Frank and Maggie that makes up the crux of this movie, as Frank not only begins to care for Maggie but also discovers she does have talent as a boxer, but tragedy intervenes, destroying Maggie's career, but not the relationship between Maggie and Frank.

Paul Higgis has crafted a story that unfolds slowly and introduces characters who are vivid, yet flawed and human at the same time. The movie draws us in as a dual character study between this woman determined to succeed in a sport that is not common for women and a man who has devoted his life to the same sport and everything that he had to sacrifice to do so, including a relationship with his daughter. Then just when we see these two really start to connect and find real success together, the story takes a complete 180 when Maggie's career-ending injury puts more of a father/daughter twist on the relationship rather than trainer/athlete.

Clint Eastwood turns in one of the best performances of his career as Frank, the man who finds a reason to live again through the training of this young woman and the affection that he develops for her but is in denial about it. Hilary Swank won her second Best Actress Oscar for her Maggie, a woman whose single-minded focus on a goal may get horribly crushed but her spirit never does.

Morgan Freeman finally won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as Frank's best friend, a former boxer who helps him run the gym and encourages Frank's training of Maggie. Freeman, of course, also narrates the story and it's a lovely performance, which I think was honored more as a "Body of Work" award because he has definitely done better work. Mention should also be made of a couple of effective supporting turns from Margo Martindale as Maggie's insensitive, money-grubbing mother and Jay Baruchel as a mentally challenged kid who hangs out at the gym and is denial about the fact that he will never be the boxer he longs to be.

Clint Eastwood has not combined his acting and directing skills together so effectively since UNFORGIVEN and has produced a riveting drama that is deeply moving and will haunt long after the credits roll.

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In the tradition of suburban dramas like Arlington Road and Unlawful Entry, comes 2008's Lakeview Terrace, a muddled and confusing melodrama that stars Samuel L. Jackson as Abel Turner, a widowed LAPD officer with two children, who makes the lives of his new neighbors, an interracial couple (Patrick Wilson, Kerry Washington) a living hell.

This movie aggravates almost immediately because Turner's treatment of his new neighbors doesn't make sense and we are let in on the reason way too late and by that time, we're really angry with Jackson's character and just want him to leave this poor couple alone.

Jackson, as always, gives a powerhouse performance, but it is not enough to evoke the sympathy the character should and without that, the film just falls apart, generating into a silly TRAINING DAY-type finale that just leaves a bad taste in the mouth. 5/10

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One of 1993's biggest box office hits, Sleepless in Seattle was the ultimate date movie in '93 and the most popular of the three films that its stars, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, made together.

Hanks plays Sam Baldwin, a widower who is thrown for a loop when his son, Jonah (Ross Malinger), calls a radio talk show headlined by a Dr. Marcia Fieldstone, and confesses that his father has not been sleeping since his mom died and that he really needs to find a wife. To placate Jonah, Sam takes the phone and explains to Marcia how amazing his late wife, Maggie, was, which prompts hundreds of letters from women all over the country willing to marry Sam.

One of the women who hears Sam on the radio is Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) a newspaper columnist, engaged to be married and traveling cross country to spend Christmas with her fiancee and finds herself unable to get Sam out of her mind and becomes determined to meet this lovely, lonely man.

Director and co-writer Nora Ephron has crafted an intelligent and riveting love story that earns its cinematic credentials with the fact that the two leads never share the screen together until the final scene of the movie, a cinematic ploy that alternately aggravates and fascinates the viewer as we watch these two people who have never met but we know immediately belong together, a knowledge that, at some points, might have you literally yelling at the movie screen because the leisurely pacing of the story and the fact that the leads never actually meet just puts the viewer completely behind this long distance relationship becoming a reality.

Ephron gets first rate performances from her hand-picked cast...Hanks has rarely been more sexy and appealing and somehow the chemistry he creates with Ryan is off the charts, even though they don't do any scenes together. Victor Garber, Hank's real-life wife, Rita Wilson, and Rob Reiner have their moments as friends of Sam's as does Rosie McDonnell as Annie's boss and best friend and Bill Pullman as Annie's fiancee. Malinger is absolutely adorable as Jonah.

A first rate love story with charismatic stars taking us on a cinematic journey that charms from beginning to end.

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Adam Sandler brought another variation of the demented man-child that he has a patent on to the screen in 1999's Big Daddy, a somewhat amusing but predictable comedy whose appeal will depend on your own personal tolerance of Sandler.

Sandler plays Sonny Colfax, a lazy law school graduate who was in an accident and has decided to live off the huge settlement he receives and works very part-time as a toll-booth attendant who decides to adopt a child who is literally dropped off on Sonny's doorstep by his mother, a character we never see, who had an affair with Sonny's best friend, which produced the child.

Sandler's look at an oft-told screen story is no better or no worse than any other. There are funny moments here and there and he has a pretty solid cast behind him, including Jon Stewart as the child's biological father, Leslie Mann as his fiancee, and especially Joseph Bologna, who is hysterical as Sonny's father, a brilliant attorney who thinks his son is a bum.

It's no classic, but it will keep you awake for 90 minutes or so. 6/10

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A clever and imaginative screenplay, detail-oriented direction, and a perfect lead performance all work together to produce Groundhog Day, a caustic and brilliant comic fantasy that works on every level.

This comic confection stars Bill Murray as Phil Conners, a television reporter who travels to the sleepy little hamlet of Puxatawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the Groundhog Day ceremony, which is comparable to New Orleans during Fat Tuesday. A serious snowstorm strands Phil and his crew in Pennsylvania after the ceremony and forces them to check into a small bed and breakfast in town, but for some reason, when Phil wakes up the next day and every day after that, it's still Groundhog's Day.

The film thoroughly entertains as we first watch Phil be aggravated by the phenomena, then try to use it to his advantage to romance his producer Rita (Andie McDowell), but then actually using what is happening to him to actually help the strangers of Puxatawney.

Murray's dead solid perfect performance is the amusing centerpiece of this entertaining story as we watch Phil predict little events before they happen, avoid conversations he doesn't want to have by stopping them with the right answers and even risking his own life because he is so sure that the next day is still going to be February 2nd that he knows nothing is going to happen to him.

Danny Rubin's brilliant screenplay and Harold Ramis' direction are the icing on the cake to this comic gem, which like Phil's holiday, offers new rewards with each viewing. 8.5/10

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The late Rodney Dangerfield had one of his best movie roles in 1986's Back to School, a college comedy with a twist that was one of Dangerfield's biggest hits.

Dangerfield plays Thornton Mellon, an extremely wealthy businessman, fresh off his divorce from a hedonistic trophy wife, who decides to enter college with his son (Keith Gordon), who is on the verge of flunking out, in the hope that it will encourage his son to try harder and bring them closer together. Needless to say, this doesn't happen as Mellon completely outshines his son by throwing his money around and treating college as one big party.

Also thrown into the mix is a sexy English professor (Sally Kellerman) who Thornton is immediately attracted to and her half-hearted relationship with another professor (Paxton Whitehead) who resents Thornton's purchase of admission into the college and makes it his mission to get rid of him.

This breezy comedy hits all the right notes, primarily thanks to Dangerfield's character, who, despite the crazy things he does, is the most likable character Dangerfield has ever played. Keith Gordon, who has recently gone into directing, has one of the strongest roles of his acting career here and makes the most of it as the son tired of living in the shadow of his father. Kellerman shines as the apple of Thornton's eye, Robert Downey Jr. manages to generate laughs in his small role as Gordon's best friend, and Whitehead is an appropriately slimy villain. Mention should also be made of Burt Young, quietly effective as Mellon's bodyguard/chauffeur/muscle.

The film is well-mounted by director Alan Metter, producing a comedy with consistent laughs and great re-watch appeal. 8/10

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Marilyn Monroe had one of the biggest hits of her career with The Seven Year Itch, a delicious 1955 comic fantasy directed by Billy Wilder and written by Wilder and George Axelrod, which contains one scene that cemented Marilyn's position as a Hollywood icon forever.

The film stars Tom Ewell as Richard Sherman, an average guy in a dead end job in 1950's Manhattan, who is looking forward to his wife and son leaving town for the summer so that he can eat and drink what he wants and live the life of a carefree bachelor for a couple of months. Richard's plans change when a beautiful blonde (guess who) sublets the apartment directly above his and he keeps accidentally running into her, prompting Sherman's imagination to run wild as he imagines a passionate affair with the woman.

This comedy classic entertains from beginning to end and not just because of Monroe's sparkling presence, but because of an on-target performance from Ewell, who completely invests in this humorous and slightly pathetic character without ever letting Monroe blow him off the screen.

As for the bombshell herself, Monroe has rarely been more appealing onscreen and once again reveals her gift for light comedy, thanks, in part, to Wilder and Axelrod's screenplay, which establishes comic credentials so strong that Monroe's character doesn't even have a name...she doesn't need one. And, of course, this is the film that contains the scene where Marilyn walks over a subway grating in a certain white dress and created cinematic history (and was probably the beginning of the end of Monroe's marriage to Joe DiMaggio).

Evelyn Keyes is charming as Richard's wife and Robert Strauss has some funny moments as the building handyman, but it is Wilder's sure-footed direction, Ewell's comic timing, and the magic that was Marilyn that made this one work. Despite this film being one of Monroe's biggest hits, she was still deeply unhappy with the direction of her career at this time and this was when she suddenly left Hollywood and moved to New York to study at Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio. 8/10

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Norman Jewison had a directorial triumph with the 1971 film version of the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof a beautifully mounted screen version of the classic Sheldon Harnick-Jerry Bock musical about the Jewish milkman and father of five daughters, who has his entire belief system challenged and thrown back in his face during this turbulent period in Jewish history.

Tevye is a poor milkman struggling to keep food on the table for his wife and daughters but finds his whole way of thinking and the way he was brought up turned on him as his three eldest daughters have men come into their lives and his inner struggle as to whether honoring his own belief system is more important than the happiness of his daughters. His hardest challenge comes when his third daughter chooses to marry a man outside the Jewish faith.

The Broadway musical made a star out of Zero Mostel, but I think Tevye turns in an electrifying performance as Tevye, that did earn him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. His rendition of "If I Were a Rich Man" is a classic. Other musical highlights include "Tradition", "Matchmaker", "Far From the Home I Love", "Tevye's Dream", "Do You Love Me?" and the rousing "To Life", which features most of Jerome Robbins' original choreography. One of the best transitions of a musical from stage to screen and a joy from start to finish. 8.5/10

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Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward had one of their biggest hits with 1960's From the Terrace, a stylish and expensive looking soap opera, based on a WAY steamier novel by John O'Hara, which chronicles the relationship between David Eaton, the son of a wealthy industrialist who has constantly lived in his father's shadow and Mary St. John, an icy socialite who cannot abide David's neglect when he chooses success in business over his marriage. We watch the marriage fall apart as Mary falls for a handsome doctor (Patrick O'Neal) and David finds real love with the daughter of one of his biggest clients (Ina Balin).

This glossy soap opera was all the rage during the 1960's and still has appeal today, thanks to the off-the-charts chemistry between Newman and Woodward, evidenced for the first time a few years earlier in The Long Hot Summer. and a solid supporting cast including Myrna Loy as Newman's alcoholic mother, Leon Ames as his demanding father, and George Grizzard as Newman's best friend.

Ernest Lehman's adaptation of O'Hara's novel was somewhat watered down for 1960 film audiences but the story sustains interest until the end and Woodward has rarely been more beautiful or alluring onscreen. They don't make 'em like this anymore. 7.5/10

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Being John Malkovich is a zany and uncompromisingly brilliant black comedy that boasts something very few American films can claim...originality.

Charlie Kaufman's imaginative, Oscar-worthy screenplay centers around an unemployed puppeteer named Craig (John Cusack, in a delightfully unhinged turn), who gets a job as a file clerk at a company called Lestercorp, which is lodged between the 7th and 8th floors of an office building. Craig discovers a hole in the wall of his office which turns out to be a portal into the mind of actor John Malkovich, which allows those who enter to view the world from Malkovich's mind for 15 minutes, at which time they are then deposited at the side of the road on the New Jersey Turnpike.

To reveal anymore of the story would be wrong for the uninitiated, but suffice it to say that director Spike Jonz has mounted a quirky and unpredictable roller coaster ride which keeps the viewer constantly guessing and consistently entertained. Cusack receives solid support from Catherine Keener, smart and vivacious in her Oscar-nominated turn as Maxine, Craig's partner-in-crime with whom he falls in love, Cameron Diaz as Craig's dizzy wife, Lottie, and, of course,Malkovich himself, who deserves major kudos for allowing us to laugh along with him, at himself and his image. A once in a lifetime cinematic experience. 9/10

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Director John Hughes established directorial credentials and single-handedly created a new movie genre known as the Teen Angst comedy with 1984's Sixteen Candles, the film that also officially made a star out of Hughes' primary cinematic muse, Molly Ringwald.

Ringwald's character, Samantha Baker, is an introverted, but intelligent high schooler who is upset because her entire family seems to have forgotten her 16th birthday and seem more focused on her older sister's wedding, which happens to occur on the same day. Not to mention Samantha's unrequited crush on a hunk named Jake (Michael Schoeffling)

Throw in a couple of subplots regarding a geek (Anthony Michael Hall) looking for social acceptance and an Asian foreign exchange student named Long Duck Dong and you have all the ingredients for a laugh a minute comedy that does provide moments of warmth as well.

Ringwald is charming and Paul Dooley is wonderful as her father, as are Billie Bird, Edward Andrews, Carole Cook, and Max Showalter as her grandparents. Hall also steals every scene he is in. A minor comedy classic that definitely deserves a look if you've never seen it. 7/10

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Sure...

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Mubi

Writer-director John Hughes continued his foray into teen angst comedy with the 1985 winner The Breakfast Club, a warm and winning look at five high school students trapped together in detention on a Saturday.

We watch as these students get to know each other and eventually bond because during regular school hours, they pretty much navigate in separate orbits.

Hughes' cinematic muse, Molly Ringwald plays Claire, a spoiled and popular princess who is in detention because she ditched class to go shopping. Claire spends the majority of detention fighting an attraction to John Bender (Judd Nelson), a thug who spends every Saturday in detention. Emilio Estevez plays Andy, a jock with father issues who is in detention due to actions motivated by attempts to please dad and Anthony Michael Hall plays Brian, a straight-A geek who seems to think being in detention is kind of cool and his reason for being there might be a bit of a surprise. Ally Sheedy completes the quintet as Allison, a space cadet whose reason for being in detention is the funniest of them all.

Despite a sort of music video directorial approach, Hughes screenplay compliments as we get to watch a bonding between these students occur, but not too quickly and pretty realistically.

The other thing I love about the screenplay here is how only Estevez and Ringwald's characters actually knew each other before this particular Saturday and how that is not necessarily going to change. The screenplay actually addresses the issue of how these five kids are going to act toward each other if and when they run into each other at school on Monday. The answers presented here may not be what we want or expect but there is nothing here that is not stemmed in complete realism and an uncanny understanding of the teen psyche and the class system that exists in high school.

The performances are first rate, with standout work from Nelson and Hall. Mention should also be made of Paul Gleason, appropriately slimey as Mr. Vernon, the teacher supervising detention, who apparently has his own issues.

This film was a box office smash and was pretty much an instant classic upon release. Teen angst has rarely been this much fun.

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Another one of my favorite popcorn movies was the 1997 action adventure Con Air, a non-stop thriller that moves from jail to the desert to the air to Las Vegas, never allowing the viewer to take a breath.

The film stars Nicolas Cage as Cameron Poe, a former US Ranger who has just been released from prison, who is being sent home via a plane filled with some of the worst criminal offenders on the planet, who finds himself in jeopardy when the criminals actually hijack the plane, thanks to a criminal mastermind named Cyrus the Virus (John Malkovich) and how Poe ends up being a very reluctant hero.

Director Simon West displays a real flare for the action drama and has given us a very likable hero in Cameron Poe (despite a questionable southern accent). We are behind Poe from jump because we know this trip home is long overdue for him and we know he doesn't deserve the trouble he has gotten in the middle of just because he is hitching a ride home on the wrong plane. But as soon it is clear that Poe's cellmate (Mykel T. Wlliamson) and a female corrections officer (Rachel Ticotin) are in jeopardy, we know there is no way that Poe is going to have a simple and uncomplicated ride home and we knew exactly what to expect when Poe is even given the option to get off the plane.

Malkovich brilliantly walks the line between funny and menacing as Cyrus and John Cusack brings his flip screen charisma to the role of Vincent Larkin, a US Marshall in charge of the plane. Ving Rhames, MC Gainey, andNick Chinlund offer solid support and there's also a fun cameo by Steve Buscemi as a very dangerous criminal aboard the same plane in one of the most enjoyable action flicks of the 1990's...just hold onto something and watch.

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I didn't like Con Air when I saw it at the movies, but saw it on cable a couple months ago, and loved it.