The Rocketeer (1991)

Before the creation of the MCU by Disney, there were not a lot of comic book films that were coming out or at least that were treated seriously by the box office. In the 1990's, various film studios started to take chances on random comic book titles that faithfuls would know like Tank Girl, Judge Dredd, Barb Wire, The Crow, and today's film The Rocketeer which was released in 1991 by Disney and directed by Joe Johnston (Captain America: The First Avenger). The film stars Billy Campbell (Bram Stoker's Dracula) as airplane pilot Cliff in pre-World War II 1938 Los Angeles who just wants to fly a plane in Nationals and marry his girl Jenny (Jennifer Connelly), but an accident with one of the planes sets him back. One day, Billy stumbles on to a prototype of a jet pack that allows him to become a hero, but there are some very bad people after this jet pack. The film also stars Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) as Peevy, Timothy Dalton (License To Kill) as Neville Sinclair, Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas) as Eddie Valentine, Terry O'Quinn (Primal Fear) as Howard Hughes, Ed Lauter (King Kong) as Fitch, Jon Polito (The Crow) as Bigelow, Tiny Ron (Last Man Standing) as Lothar, and Eddie Jones (Sneakers) as Malcolm.

When I saw that Joe Johnston directed this film, it made a lot of sense to me because it had the same feel and aesthetic as Captain America: First Avenger. It's almost an updated version of The Rocketeer, but this film was actually pretty good that was actually an enjoyable film from beginning to end. The only thing that I would criticize is that Lothar just looked like he was wearing a mask the whole entire film much like the look of Dick Tracy (the film). I thought that Timothy Dalton was actually a really good villain and it makes perfect sense because he's a great actor, but he is a good opposite of what Billy is. Billy is a grease monkey pilot who is blue collar in love with a girl that is out of this world and just happens to be an actress which is what Dalton's character is. It was definitely the perfect set up for a great show down at the end of the film inside of a Zeppelin. I thought the gangsters int he film were a little cheesy, but they actually matched the times and what we thought of how Gangsters were in those Cagney times so it's safe to say that I loved it. All I could think of was Cagney and him saying, "Yeah! tell him the Valentine Gang did it!" The one thing that I absolutely did love about this film was the sets that were used like the Bull Dog Cafe which is so cool looking and in fact Disney has a replica of it in a museum. This isn't the greatest superhero movie ever made because I think that still belongs to The Dark Knight, but this was fun and it's all thanks to DC and Batman 1989 being so popular. I am going to give the film an B- for a final grade.

Primal Fear (1996)

Last month I started a segment on this blog called Sheldon's Choice which was a list comprised by a fellow film Connoisseur and our first film was Internal Affairs and now we are back with our second film. The film that I chose for today is one that kept seeing in parts whether it be having the ending spoiled for me or only seeing the beginning. The film I am talking about is 1996's Primal Fear which stars Richard Gere (Internal Affairs) as hot shot defense attorney Martin Vail who may have bitten off more than he could chew when he chooses a high profile case. You see a former altar boy is accused of murdering a Priest, but the truth is going to take a lot of digging to get to. The film also stars Edward Norton (American History X) as Aaron, Laura Linney (Mystic River) as Janet Venable, John Mahoney (Say Anything...) as Shaughnessy, Alfre Woodard (Star Trek: First Contact) as Shoat,  Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) as Molly, Terry O'Quinn (Young Guns) as Yancy, Andre Braugher (Frequency) as Goodman, Steven Bauer (Scarface) as Pinero, Tony Plana (One Eight Seven) as Martinez, Stanley Anderson (Armageddon) as Rushman, Maura Tierney (ER) as Naomi, Jon Seda (Chicago P.D.) as Alex, and the film was directed by Gregory Hoblit (Hill Street Blues).

If you never have seen this film before then you need to mark this one and put it on your list because it was excellent. The film not only features a masterful performance once again by Richard Gere, but it features a masterful performance from Edward Norton who at this time was proving to be a top notch talent in Hollywood. Richard Gere was masterful in playing the cocky big time lawyer who takes no for an answer, but is a master manipulator when it comes to the courtroom. Edward Norton is the true master in this film because he has all of us believing that he's this innocent, dumb witted, stuttering altar boy who couldn't possibly commit these murders, but his other personality certainly can and that is how he fools absolutely everyone. I loved the cinematography of the film even though they were showing the rougher parts of Chicago, there were still some great shots. The story is solid and the courtroom battles are worth watching. The only thing I wish they could have elaborated on more of was the character of Alex who was the second person on the tape as well as maybe addressing the girl, but I also get why they left it out. Time restraints can be a filmmakers worst nightmare, but then again I never read the book so I don't know if it's addressed there. As I said before, this is one film that you want to put on your list because Linney delivers a great performance in the film as the prosecuting attorney who just wants to light her damn cigarette. So with that being said, I am going to give the film an A for a final grade.