Flick of The Day: WarGames

Ah, the 1980's. Remember them. After the boundary pushing 1970's, it is tempting to view the 1980's as a step back as in many ways it was, something which we have looked at before in our review of Cutter's Way. A lot of the best movies were not being made at big Hollywood studios or if they were, they were being made for a pittance. Hollywood studios were too busy making blockbusters that reflected the political mood of the day, namely right wing action pictures. Thankfully, there are some exceptions such as today's flick of the day, WarGames, a teen movie that perfectly encapsulates the cold war paranoia of the day. Remember of course, that the '80s were also the last decade in which American children lived in fear that the Soviets would nuke them in the night.

War Games (25th Anniversary Edition)

Are there two actors more associated with the 1980's then Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy? I think not. In any case, they lead the cast in this tale of a computer whiz kid, David Lightman played by Broderick who while intelligent pays no attention in school and is constantly in and out of the Principal's office. Broderick is full of his usual boyish charm. Lightman befriends fellow slacker Ally Sheedy, and he introduces her to the wonders of early '80s computer hacking. They change their school grades, book flights to Paris and accidentally login to a military computer and almost launch a nuclear attack on the Soviets. Of course, David and Jennifer think its just a strategy game but unbeknownst to them the computer has recently been put in charge of all of the nation's  missile silos. David thinks the game is over when he turns the computer off but the computer, named Joshua is still playing, counting to nuclear war. It is not long before the FBI catch up with David and he is brought to NORAD to explain himself.  David escapes and with the help of Jennifer seeks to track down the brilliant scientist, Dr Stephen Falken who created Joshua. Together they are in a race against time to stop Joshua from starting a nuclear war.

Released in 1983, the technology featured in WarGames has long since been passed by the shifting sands of human endeavour, however it still stands out as a fascinating drama. Director John Badman has created a film that is a cautionary tale of the dangers of nuclear arms proliferation and of over reliance on artificial intelligence. These are issues which are still relevant today. The film is filled with tension and the scenes at NORAD as the clock ticks down to Armageddon are still powerful. The peaceful message at its core is one that anyone can empathise with.

Apart from being a skillfully created thriller, it is also genuinely entertaining. Sheedy and Broderick seem to be having fun on camera. It is telling that John Badman was the second director attached to this film after the original director was fired 12 days into filming for having too dark a vision for the film. Supposedly Badman's first act in taking over was to get the actor's to enjoy themselves and this comes across on screen.

Stephen Falken: Now, children, come on over here. I'm going to tell you a bedtime story. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin. Once upon a time, there lived a magnificent race of animals that dominated the world through age after age. They ran, they swam, and they fought and they flew, until suddenly, quite recently, they disappeared. Nature just gave up and started again. We weren't even apes then. We were just these smart little rodents hiding in the rocks. And when we go, nature will start over. With the bees, probably. Nature knows when to give up, David.

It is difficult to get across how controversial the idea that the best way to win a nuclear was not to start at all in the Reagan '80s. Let us not forget this was the decade of The Evil Empire, The Star Wars system and incredibly right wing films like Red Dawn, Invasion U.S.A and Rambo. The communists were always depicted as heartless and evil, killing civilians while they demolish churches on Christmas Eve (Invasion U.S.A). In contrast to the visceral hatred of those mainstream films, WarGames preaches peace above all else and if for nothing else should be praised for this.

Overall, this is a very enjoyable thriller. Ally Sheedy is young and pretty, Broderick is charming. There is a strong supporting cast including the great Dabney Coleman and John Wood. Its entertaining and has a good message at its heart. Well worth a look.

Flick of The Day: Say Anything...

Another day, another film from Cameron Crowe, after previous flicks of the day Almost Famous and Singles, today's film is a paean to teenage romance, Say Anything, his directorial debut and a big hit upon its release in 1989.

Say Anything

Say Anything is unusual among films of its genre, it takes an intelligent look at teenage romance without resorting to the usual teen movie clichés and stereotypes so common in American cinema. There are no jocks, no cliques and no cheerleaders. An impossibly young John Cusack, is Lloyd Dobler an average high school student with no real ideas or prospects as to what to do when he graduates apart from pursuing the best student in the class, Diane Court, played by the lovely Ione Skye. Against the wishes of her overbearing father, played against type by John Mahoney, perhaps best known for playing Martin Crane in TV's Frasier, Diane agrees to go out with Lloyd and gradually falls in love with his quirky sense of humour and mannerisms. The kind of character that John Cusack would make a career out of.  As their relationship deepens, Diane begins to feel guilty for spending too much time with Lloyd as her father is indicted for tax evasion.

Perhaps the best compliment that can be paid to this film is that it neither talks down to its audience or panders to it. The characters are quite naturally drawn and look and feel like they exist in the real world. This is not the teenage fantasy land of 10 Things I Hate About You or She's All That. There are real issues and conflicts at the heart of this story. John Mahoney is excellent as the single father who appears to believe himself to be acting in Diane's best interests but then given the conclusion of the film, is he merely acting as an emotional blackmailer in all his dealings with Diane? This is not resolved satisfactorily and is just one example of the "grown-up" nature of the film.

Let's not forget that this is a romantic film and there is some great chemistry between the leads, aided by a fine script with some great witty lines that ring true.

"Lloyd Dobler: I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that."

Another prerequisite for any film like this is a great ending, something that affirms all that has come before it and this film has it in spades. The film is rightly remembered as a classic, particularly for that famous scene involving Lloyd, his boom-box and Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes". Ultimately, what makes this film is that its story is universal. It drags us back with a warm look at that brief half-life between the end of your school days and the start of real adult life. That kind of storytelling is a true gift. Check it out.

Flick of The Day: Brick

Film Noir is that most stylistic of genres, trading as it does substance and realism for an often rollercoaster ride to the dark side of town. Populated by cynical leading men and a host of seedy underworld characters, it exhibits a bleak view of humanity and arose primarily from the dark underbelly of domestic prosperity in America during the 1940s and 50s. Strictly speaking today's film is Neo-Noir, in that it attempts to recapture the spirit of those films in a modern setting. Brick, written and directed by Rian Johnson, was a big hit at Sundance in 2005.

The film's narrative centers on a hardboiled detective story that takes place in suburbia, specifically that most well travelled of film locations, an American High School. The film draws heavily in plot, characterization, and dialogue from films such as The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon. Suspend your disbelief for a moment and take the story at face value and you will quickly get sucked into a gripping ride with a twist finale. Brendan, played by the then rising star Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is the high school loner who has to try and penetrate the upper echelons of the school's social scene and its drug fuelled underbelly when he finds his ex-girlfriend's body in a storm drain, shortly after she made a cryptic call for help.  As always, to find out the true story, you have to watch the film.

This film could so easily have been a train wreck mixing as it does the high school genre and the dark heart of Film Noir however the script is well crafted enough and the leads so obviously enjoying themselves that it pulls it off. As mentioned the film is carried by the performance of its leading man, Jospeh Gordon-Levitt. His character is obviously intelligent, driven by guilt to find out what really happened to the woman he loved. However it's his everyman nature that will keep you caring about what happens to him and his quest for truth.

Shot in only 20 days on a minimal budget by a first time Director, this film punches far above its weight. If you love Noir, you'll love this, filled as it is with shady guys. femme fatales and sharp, pacy dialogue.