What Day is This?

I woke up this morning thinking about an old friend. Someone I haven't seen in a long time. To be honest, I hadn't even realized that I'd been missing this friend. Truth be told, my buddy was pretty high maintenance. Always wanting something from me, but offering little in return... and everything was always on their terms...

But right now I'm thinking of the good times we had... we laughed, we cried, we shared tender moments... I remember the first time we met, it was on my birthday.

In case you're too lazy to check the links, I'll fill you in... I'm talking about Film Vault Tuesday.

When I first started writing FVT it was pretty easy and I enjoyed every minute. I set up a basic copy and paste format I could follow, and readers really seemed to respond. On the rare weeks that I couldn't write a FVT people would ask where it was. I even got a few frustrated emails... Where the hell was Film Vault Tuesday?!

And that's when it started become a chore... Didn't you people understand? I didn't get to my mediocre position in life by being some sort of high achiever capable of self motivation and the managing of deadlines... I'm a slacker damn it!

How could I commit myself to doing something that takes time and effort every Tuesday until further notice?

I had magazines to flip through, fantasy baseball teams to tinker with, and games of internet Blackjack to lose... and what about the movies?! Do you know how many times I went through my DVD collection in search of an "oldie but goody" movie to write about?

Do you have any idea how hard it is to talk yourself into writing 1000 words on the career path of Lou Diamond Phillips! Let me assure you, it wasn't easy. I simply couldn't keep up with my own deadlines... not when there was an entire world of internet porn for me look at...

So I quit writing it.

I do have a vague memory of trying to revive it briefly with a new format- perhaps even it's own separate blog, but I'm not positive... whatever it is that I remember trying, it failed, otherwise I'd still be writing it.

But like I said... I woke up this morning inspired to write a FVT column, and damn it, Tuseday or not, I'm going to write one!

FILM VAULT TUESDAY

Title: The Firm (1993)

Credits: Directed by some guy to obscure to be worth mentioning, based on a "novel" written by John Grisham. Staring, Tom Cruise, Gene Hackman, and Jeanne Tripplehorn.

Why: Lets start with the cast... This was Tom Cruise during his peek. Before he jumped on Oprah's couch. Before he insulted Brooke Shields and took on modern psychology... and of course, way before he kidnapped Katie Holmes and forced her to be impregnated by aliens.

There's also a very enjoyable performance from the consistent Gene Hackman. And Jeanne Tripplehorn does a decent enough job at not screwing things up in the role of Cruise's wife Abbie. We've even got lots of big names in smaller roles... Ed Harris, Gary Busey, Holly Hunter, classic "that-guy" David Strathairn, and even the wacky Oatmeal/Diabetes guy Wilford Brimley (Die-a-beetis) make appearances.

You can't ask for much more than that.

The script is adapted from one of John Grisham's better known legal thrillers of the same name, and you all already know about my weak spot for Grisham... Basically the plot goes something like this:

Cruise is fresh out of Harvard Law School, he's near the top of his class, and he's being recruited by all the big firms in NY and DC. However it's a mid-sezed frim from Memphis that ends up winning him over with an offer that seems almost too good to be true... But when he stumbles across some of the Firm's shady dealings he stands to lose not only his legal career, but maybe even his life! [insert dramatic music]

Remote Stopper: Personally, I can't turn this movie off until I've seen the part where Cruise (who has just been caught cheating) has to go home and tell his wife that not only is he a crappy husband, but the Firm he's brought them to is full of crooks who are watching their every move... I doubt he got any ass that night... even if he is Tom Cruise.

Anyway, this somehow leads to the inexplicable, but obligatory scene where Tom Cruise sprints down the street in full Tom Cruise mode with his arms and legs pumping away... I'm pretty sure we've discussed this phenomenon here before, but for some reason almost every pre-Crazy Tom Cruise movie at some point featured Cruise sprinting. Often times a tie flapping in the wind was involved (as is the case in The Firm). And usually, there was no reasonable explanation for why he was sprinting... it just happened.

And thank god it did... I miss that Tom Cruise.

Goosebump/Tear Factor: I can't really pinpoint a scene that gives me goosebumps. And I certainly never got teared up during the movie... but I really do enjoy the hell out of the early "this is almost too good to be true" recruitment he receives from The Firm. For the record, I absolutely would have accepted their offer, AND I would have continued working for them even after I found out how crooked they were... fuck it!

I also love the scene where Cruise almost beats Wilford (Die-a-beetis) Brimley to death with a briefcase... who hasn't thought about doing that to the "Oatmeal Man" a few dozen times?

Overall Rating: Despite the All-Star cast and the decent script the movie is not without flaws.

It's got a few stereotypical "bad guy" types that so often appear in Grisham's books. They work well on paper but become a bit cartoonish on the big screen when you're limited in time you can use for character development... and there is a reason the director remains fairly obscure. His other "credits" include Tootise, Havana, and Sabrina... mmmmmm.

But overall, the movie does what it's supposed to do... It keeps you entertained, it builds the suspense, it's got quality actors, and has just enough unintentional comedy to make it worth watching even after all these years... I give it a solid 7 out of 10.