The Witches Of Eastwick (1987)

It's Friday and hopefully everyone is ready for the long weekend because it's Memorial Day weekend. So for today, I decided to breakout the VCR (Videocassette Recorder) for old times sake and I decided to check out one of my recent acquisitions in the 1987 film The Witches Of Eastwick which was directed by George Miller (Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior) and based on the novel by John Updike. The film stars Susan Sarandon (Dead Man Walking) as Jane Spofford, Cher (Mask) as Alexandra Medford, and Michelle Pfeiffer (Murder On The Orient Express) as Sukie Ridgemont, three friends who are either widowed or their husbands left them and they are feeling pretty lonely especially with the prospects in the small New England town they live in. One night, they wish for the perfect man (or at least what their version is), but what they get might be more than they bargained for when a mysterious man shows up the next day. The film also stars Jack Nicholson (The Little Shop Of Horrors) as Daryl Van Horn, Richard Jenkins (Fun With Dick and Jane) as Clyde Alden, Veronica Cartwright (Flight Of The Navigator) as Felicia Alden, Carel Struycken (The Addams Family) as Fidel, Helen Lloyd Breed (Mickey Blue Eyes) as Mrs. Biddle, and Keith Jochim (A Pleasure Doing Business) as Walter Neff.

I have a couple of things that I want to say about this film and I am going to start this paragraph with them. The first thing is that before this film, the only other film that I ever found Michelle Pfeiffer attractive in was Batman Returns when she played the Catwoman. I take back all assumptions because she was an absolute fox in this film and one of the best things about the movie besides Cher who was proving once again that she had acting chops. The second thing is that in Jack Nicholson do we trust because if Jack can't do it then no one can! Jack Nicholson once again proved in this film why he is one of the G.O.A.T.'s of Hollywood with his hellraising performance as the devilish Daryl Van Horn. He had some amazing dialogue in the film and he absolutely nailed it with his sinister wit and charm. Seeing Jack Nicholson perform in this film is the reason I never became an actor because I couldn't pull off that performance. The part of the film when he becomes beats like just brought chills to my spine and gave me goosebumps because it reminded me of how great he was in The Shining and it makes me want to see the film Wolf just to see how he does in that film. Some of the stuff in the film was a little zany, but it worked with the subject matter at hand. The cinematography in the film was excellent and not enough credit goes to Richard Jenkins and Veronica Cartwright who put on one hell of a performance as well. This was a very fun film to watch which is why I am giving the movie an A- for a final grade.

Internal Affairs (1990)

Every once in a while, we are going to introduce a segment on the blog that is called Sheldon's Choice which is basically a list of films that my fell film connoisseur friend of mine has recommended to me to watch. Today's film is one of those choices as I chose to watch the 1990 film Internal Affairs which I viewed with my VCR for throwback Thursday. Richard Gere (An Officer and A Gentlemen) stars as Los Angeles cop Dennis Peck, a guy who is a veteran and certainly knows his ins and outs of what he can and can't do or I should say get away with when it comes to the law. Andy Garcia (The Godfather: Part III) as new Internal Affairs officer Raymond Avilla, who while investigating a fellow cop in Van Stretch (William Baldwin) who happens to be Peck's partner leads Avilla on Peck's trail as he tries to take him down for good. The film also stars Nancy Travis (So I Married An Axe Murderer) as Kathleen Avilla, Laurie Metclaf (Roseanne) as Amy Wallace, Faye Grant (V) as Penny, Michael Beach (Aquaman) as Dorian Fletcher, John Kapelos (The Breakfast Club) as Steven Arrocas, Katherine Borowitz (Baby Boom) as Toya Arrocas, Richard Bradford (The Legend Of Billie Jean) as Grieb, and the film was directed by Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas).

One thing is for absolute certain and that is after watching a film like this you can't help by tip your hat to Richard Gere who just absolutely stole the show. Every time he steps on the screen, he just absolutely takes over and shows you why he was picked to play a dirty cop who believes 100% that what he is doing is right. Then you have Andy Garcia playing opposite of him and it's a showdown to see who acted the best and quite frankly both men did well in what they were doing. The writing in the film was done very well especially all of the subplots that we see unfold in front of our very eyes and the mind games that Gere’s character plays is tremendous as well and that’s all due to the writing. Well, you can also credit his acting as well as he pulled off playing an arrogant prick with everything to lose like the best of them. It was funny watching this on VHS because it felt the same as if I was listening to a record on a Vinyl record player, it brings back those nostalgic feelings that get you all warm inside as you think of happier and simpler times. This was definitely a film that is worth watching especially if you want to see some brilliant acting from Garcia, Gere, and co. The cinematpgraphy is great, the acting was great, and this had some great writing which means that I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.