Uncle Buck

Original Movie Poster

Well here we are again with yet another look back at films from my childhood and of course we are right in the middle of looking at the films that were a little above the normal Disney animated canon and franchise based kid films that other kids my age were watching. I think because my parents had no restrictions or reservations when it came to movies as long as an adult was with me (mostly my dad or both parents) I could watch any movie they did (unless of course they just wanted to go out and see a movie together which I remember they did quite a couple of times). I don't really remember when I first saw Uncle Buck but I do believe that it was probably with my dad mostly because I believe this movie was more in his taste than my mother's because my father was a very funny man not unlike the late John Candy except my father looked more like Tom Selleck (but more on that some other time...)

Imagine Tom Selleck + this suit and face = my late father!

So...What's The Plot?
The Russell Family seem like average suburbanites moved from Indianapolis to Chicago, just one average neighborhood to another with two little kids, son Miles and daughter Maizy, and of course one sullen teenage daughter Tia. Moved away from her friends, Tia takes a lot of teenage angst out on her mother Cindy and it comes to a head when Cindy's father has a heart attack. With no one to look after the kids, Father Bob suggests that perhaps his brother Buck could help out during this time of family emergency but Cindy is none to thrilled with the idea. Buck is an unemployed gambler but he is a fun-loving goof who only seems to really suffer one flaw in having commitment issues with his girlfriend Chanice.

Buck arrives and of course hits it off with the younger children but now he gets to suffer the brunt of Tia's teenaged animosity. Unlike her mother, Buck dishes out just as much sarcasm and snark that leaves Tia to continually push his buttons in a battle of wills. Buck only seems to face one real problem with Tia: trying to keep her away from her punk boyfriend Bug who only wants to use her for sex. All hilarity comes to a stop when Tia leaves for a party and her Uncle Buck must finally face real responsibility for the first time to make sure she doesn't get hurt and her heartbroken. Will this be the thing to finally make Uncle Buck grow up and change all his ways?

Let's hope Buck keeps up the bowling...it's fun!

I know it doesn't seem like much and even what I described of the plot doesn't sound much like a comedy but if you have never seen Uncle Buck...to tell you anymore would surely spoil it for you. For those who have had the privilege to view this movie, you know just how hilarious Uncle Buck can get and what a great film this truly is. Now I don't really think there is an official soundtrack for Uncle Buck but the predominant amount of music that you here in the film is by that great nostalgic artist of the late 80s-early 90s Young MC who's biggest hit ever is "Bust A Move" which so dates how 80s this film is. Another musical tidbit that pops up a few times is Tone Loc's version of "Wild Thing" or more correctly an instrumental version that kind of serves as Uncle Buck's own personal theme which must be seen or heard to believe. A couple of other musical selections are some Perry Como in a bowling alley scene, the song "Laugh, Laugh" by The Beau Brummels which is one of my favorite little oldies that my mom would listen to on the radio in the car and a very cute scene which uses The Chordettes classic "Mr. Sandman" which today would probably creep kids out seeing as it's mostly used in horror films (for some reason I know not why...)

Coming to the acting portion we'll start with one big name and then end with another as we discuss what I think of the cast. First, Macaulay Culkin as Miles is just a big bag of hilarious cuteness! Watching this film which was his first major movie role at age nine, you could tell Macaulay was going to be star because not only was he cute and funny but he didn't really have to act like a kid considering he was a real child. The things I noticed with child actors is that they really either act too grown up or they seem really wooden in their delivery and Macaulay Culkin never seemed to do that. Since I was six when Uncle Buck came out, I must admit that I was kind of crushing on Macaulay Culkin which for me it is very rare since given my history I usually go for the older, foreign-accented type but he was adorable. I think the crush waned after I saw The Good Son and slightly returned when Richie Rich came out and has now all but vanished but my admiration of Macaulay Culkin's acting is still intact (ah the day I talk about the movie I truly love him in seems so far away...)

My next favorite character in the film is Tia so let's talk about her and the actress that plays her Jean Louisa Kelly. I think I love Tia because of course she gets as much focus as Uncle Buck and like the character of Miles ends up stealing a bit of the movie's focus because since Kelly was seventeen when the movie was made she can actually relate to being a teenager which doesn't make the acting a stretch. Today most people know Jean as Kim from the show Yes, Dear but did you know that she got her start as a theater actress and even starred on Broadway in a production of Stephen Sondheim's Into The Woods? Jean Louisa Kelly has a beautiful singing voice and there is evidence of that if you ever get to see Mr. Holland's Opus on TV sometime which caused me to do a double take because I mostly remembered her from Uncle Buck!

Jay Underwood as Bug with Jean Louisa Kelly as Tia

 I thought I would talk about Maizy and Chanice next because the actors who played them in Uncle Buck, Gaby Hoffmann and Amy Madigan respectively, both starred in the film Field Of Dreams a few months before this film was made. In that movie they were daughter and mother but here they get very little screen time together (spoiler) and the characters aren't related but they are both my next favorite characters in the film. Gaby was seven when she starred in this movie so like Macaulay as Miles she had a cute factor and six year old me thought we could be best friends so as she grew up into more mature roles being the same age as me I begin to appreciate her acting. I absolutely love Amy Madigan as Chanice because she can stand up to Buck for all the bull and bunk he gives her but even Chanice can fall to Buck's fun and witty charm and of course Madigan herself is a great actress who can do drama and comedy on an even playing field.

Amy Madigan as Chanice with young Macaulay and Gaby

The actors who play the Russell parents, Bob and Cindy, don't really get a lot of screen time so I don't really think they are important enough to talk about so the only other actors in the film to discuss are two semi-important characters. There of course is Tia's boyfriend Bug played by Jay Underwood who was memorable in the 80s in films such as Not Quite Human and the nostalgic classic The Boy Who Could Fly. He's an okay actor and quite cute in that jerk kind of way and he's probably as close to an antagonist character as we get. Another notable actor playing a kind of important character is Laurie Metcalf who almost everyone knows as Aunt Jackie from Roseanne. In Uncle Buck she plays a neighbor of the Russell family named Marcy Dahlgren-Frost who kind of develops a crush on Buck and since she is a divorced, upper class housewife she's more into country clubs than bake sales. Metcalf has been nominated for Tony Awards and has won three Emmys for her work on Roseanne so its clear she is a good actress and I have to admit I wish she had more scenes because when she plays off John Candy's Uncle Buck it's hilarious!

To make up for not enough video spoilers here's John Candy harassing a clown...

So of course we leave the best and biggest role for last as we talk about John Candy as Uncle Buck. I just love Uncle Buck and thought it was one of the late Mr. Candy's greatest comedic roles if not the greatest but there are so many films he is in that I love we could be here all day talking about him. Speaking of Candy himself as an actor he was one of the greatest that had to be taken too soon even though its been noted that obesity plagued him most of his life and might have been one of the reasons for his heart attack that claimed his life. Besides his movie roles John Candy was apart of my childhood thanks in part to his animated series Camp Candy which I use to watch a lot as a child that in part made me appreciate his film acting and opened my world to this talented and funny man. We really miss you, John Candy, and all the laughter you brought to us and I think most of us would have been honored to have a father or an uncle like you or Uncle Buck in our lives.

John Candy... Rest In Peace, Sir

I hope I didn't get too sentimental on you and I don't want to leave this post on such a somber note when the movie is anything but. There is drama but ultimately Uncle Buck is a comedy classic of the 1980s and if you have yet to view this wonderful John Hughes directed film that is not a teen flick then I recommend it for your next Family Fun Night. For those of you who have seen Uncle Buck but have not watched it in a while... what are you waiting for? Go get your DVD or old VHS copy and prepare to relive the side-splitting laughs again and again!

NEXT TIME: You know how I was talking about horror movie sequels before? Well even my childhood wasn't immune to them! Did you know that one existed to one of the most memorable movies of all time? Yep...it's Grease 2 next blog...

Wolf

I know what you're thinking here I go again with yet another werewolf film but this is a little different from the films I have talked about in the past. Yes based on the title a man does turn into a werewolf but that word is never really mentioned in this film and the mythology is completely different. Yes Rick Baker of An American Werewolf fame is in charge of the special effects make-up but this is a film that is a sophisticated look at the inner struggle of good and evil in all people against the primeval animal in all of us. Okay we'll get into that later but let's just look at the story first.

What's The Plot?
Will Randall is the aging editor-in-chief of a publishing house with a seemingly charmed life. His marriage is stable and he is worshiped by his employees but that all changes the night he accidentally hits a wolf in the middle of Vermont. After the wolf bites him, Will's life begins to unravel as he begins to change. First, his younger protege Stewart Swinton takes advantage of his mentor's diminishing skills and uses this to impress the publishing house's new owner Raymond Alden, who then demotes Will. The almost final blow is when Will, using his new heightened sense of smell, discovers that his wife Charlotte is having an affair with Stewart behind his back.

Stuff like this would probably destroy a normal man but Will is discovering that he is no longer a normal man as it seems the bite of the wolf has rejuvenated him. Now more aggressive, self-confident and revitalized with sexual energy, Will begins to try and outmaneuver Stewart to get his old job back and soon finds himself beginning a relationship with his boss' daughter, the headstrong yet jaded Laura. All of this seems to be a change for the better until Will starts waking up with blood on his hands and no memories of what his lupine side has done the night before which leads Will to think the worst when Charlotte is found murdered with canine DNA found on her body.

Turning to Laura, Will informs her that he is becoming a wolf and even though skeptical Laura decides to help Will try and fight the animal inside of him before it takes over completely. Is Will really turning into a wolf or is the primordial animal within him just trying to come to the surface? Could the bite of a regular wolf be changing Will or is it all just in his mind...a mind that is slowly becoming unhinged from reality?

Now most of the time when you think of werewolf films you think of a lot of blood and carnage...Wolf has no need for full out horror. It is more of a psychological level of horror although there is a little bit of blood and violent imagery but as we all know not even normal wolves are big cuddly dogs so to show that animal change Will undergoes when the wolf characteristics emerge is needed. Director Mike Nichols is no horror director and Wolf is not really a horror film to my standards it is more a psychological thriller that takes that werewolf motif and changes it to a modern age urban setting.

Will Randall is never shown to be evil and committing the things he does with intended malice just normal animal instinct that is aggressive when provoked. That said this is why this is one of my favorite performances of Jack Nicholson because it is believable and so low key compared to his normal over the top performances but Nicholson is by no means boring. As I stated in my blog post on The Witches Of Eastwick, Jack Nicholson to me is not an attractive man but he does have charm and since his character of Will is made a little more sexually energized thanks to being bitten by a wolf and exuding animal magnetism, it kind of fits here.

Speaking of The Witches Of Eastwick, Nicholson is reunited with Michelle Pfeiffer his co-star from that film in Wolf where she plays the world weary Laura Alden. They both have chemistry together obviously and work well alongside each other and of course, Michelle Pfeiffer is always an amazing actress. Her portrayal of Laura is an identifiable character for me as she is sort of withdrawn and sullen which I can sometimes be but she is also sometimes hostile and rude which I can be if pushed the wrong way I won't deny it. Even though Michelle Pfeiffer has done some comedy it's her dramatic work that I always fancy and it is why I love her here in Wolf as the dramatic actress playing a character who is headstrong and by no means just there to be a doe-eyed love interest for Jack Nicholson's character.

James Spader as Stewart Swinton is there to do what he does best: playing a character who is a smarmy, manipulative douche bag who seems to have some sort of psychological need to be well...an asshole. Now in real life I hear James Spader is a very nice guy and I guess it can be fun as an actor to play the guy everyone hates and if any actor is good at that it is Spader. Stewart is kind of the opposite of Will as he is more attractive but his aggressiveness is more manipulative and petty in nature and kind of makes him the evil counterpart and more of a villain on a human level than even Will at his most animalistic point (oops I think I just gave you a spoiler right there.)

Other actors to note are of course the charming Christopher Plummer as Laura's father and Will's boss. Not a lot of screen time but when he is on screen, Plummer's presence is always one of class and he seems to be having fun even though it may not look like he is. Also of note is a small role played by David Hyde Pierce, who plays another one of Will's proteges but with a more loyal appeal, and like always Pierce is charming and shines in the small bit of screen that he inhabits. Notice that I have said that most of the actors are charming in this film? That is why Wolf works the way it does it uses the werewolf motif in a high class way that doesn't rely on over the top horror. Mike Nichols is a respected director so it makes sense to have respectable actors doesn't it?

 Kate Nelligan plays Will's cheating wife Charlotte and even though her acting is not to be questioned, I find I don't really like her character that much. Granted she does get killed and is shown to be guilty for having an affair, Nelligan's Charlotte is kind of a cold woman who seems to have just jumped in bed with Spader's Swinton because he is younger and more attractive and only seems to turn back to her husband because the wolf in him has made him more sexually appealing in bed. It seems to me that Will is better off without her so that of course leaves poor Kate Nelligan, a great movie and stage actress, playing a character I really have no sympathy for in a role in which she plays marvelously.

 Wolf Teaser Trailer

So being a werewolf fan, I like Wolf for being different from the normal horror portrayal and the story is engaging with drama, fine acting and direction from a Hollywood master. For a horror fan, I can say that Wolf is pleasant to watch if you want a small break from gore but is still suspenseful enough to watch to get your adrenaline running. Of course, I don't blog about movies that I hate so I think that Wolf is a must see film for anyone whether you like horror or drama or you just happen to be a Jack Nicholson or Michelle Pfeiffer fan and have yet to see this movie. If you ever come across this film, I highly recommend giving it a shot.

Next Blog: I sometimes don't like to play to convention of talking about certain movies when it seems appropriate that I should. Since I love you, dear readers, so much you all deserve a little...Valentine

The Crush

You know in 1995, Alicia Silverstone became a pop culture queen starring in Clueless as Cher Horowitz and spawned girls wearing plaid skirts and furry backpacks everywhere. Before that she was video eye candy in a trilogy of Aerosmith videos but in her very first film, The Crush, she became my generation's version of Glenn Close as a deadly teenage Lolita to rival Drew Barrymore's role in Poison Ivy. I saw this film right before I started the seventh grade when it was on Fox as yet another World Premiere Movie and became hooked. Funny that I saw this movie with my mom and dad in the living room and that I actually got away with watching it! Nostalgia aside, let's dig into this film shall we?

What's The Plot?
Handsome writer Nick Eliot has secured a job at Pique Magazine and he needs a new place to stay. He finds lodgings in the guest house of Cliff and Liv Forrester and their 14 year old daughter Adrian. Adrian is a gifted girl who plays piano, takes equestrian lessons and has a love of Emily Bronte and entomology making her a little more sophisticated than other girls her age. She has only one friend Cheyenne because the girls' mothers went to college together so Adrian fixates an attraction on Nick who is fourteen years her senior. To try and win Nick's affections she rewrites one of his articles and then Adrian has Nick escort her to the local make-out spot, unknown to Nick, where she kisses him.

Nick realizes the mistake of leading Adrian on and tries to ignore her advances by beginning a relationship with co-worker Amy Maddik but this seems to only make Adrian's crush become more obsessive. Soon, Nick's belongings start to disappear like a picture of himself as a young boy and then his recently restored classic car becomes defaced. These little incidents don't seem like anything much until Nick's big story for the magazine is erased from his computer and all of his backup files disappear and then things begin to go even worse. When Cheyenne tries to talk to him about Adrian she is injured in a horse riding accident and soon after Amy is attacked by wasps at her private home darkroom.

Nick knows Adrian is behind everything but with no proof against her all he can do is try to find a new place of residence. Too bad Nick doesn't realize that whatever Adrian wants, she gets and she is only just beginning to make his life miserable. Can Nick convince everyone that Adrian is crazy before her crush ends up killing him?

Another great instance of when I could divulge the entire plot of The Crush to you but as you should know by now...I won't. This film is such a great one that I think it should of course be viewed by you to develop your own opinion of whether or not it is as good as I say it is.

What Else Can I Tell You?
Again as stated, The Crush was Alicia Silverstone's theatrical film debut and she came out swinging in this role! She was 15 when she did the film and she became emancipated from her parents to work the hours that she couldn't have otherwise. She won an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain and one for Breakthrough Performance with her role as Adrian Forrester. (Interesting fact: Forrester sounds a lot like Forrest which is the last name of Glenn Close's character in Fatal Attraction who shares many similarities with Silverstone's character in The Crush!)

Cary Elwes is one of my favorite actors and I love him as Nick Eliot! He tries to hide that English accent but he can't and his portrayal as the dogged object of obsession makes him even more endearing. Fangirl love aside, Elwes is a great actor and he does have a small amount of chemistry with Silverstone but not in a squicky kind of way - a man of morals and a gentleman who ends up having to be a dick to get his point across but is still innocent in the scheme of things. Kurtwood Smith who plays Cliff Forrester is known to many as Red from That 70's Show and again he plays a father figure here but the kind of dad you don't want to be messing with his little girl! Red threatens to kick your ass but Cliff Forrester will kill you or castrate you if you lay a hand on his daughter and Kurtwood Smith as an actor is not somebody you want to mess with!

Jennifer Rubin as Amy is okay with her dark model looks and her snarky personality but I think she is just thrown in as a love interest for Nick to step up Adrian's psychotic little games. What better way to make a woman crazier than to have another woman stealing the object of her affections but this is much different than Fatal Attraction where Michael Douglas' character is married or even Swimfan where Jesse Bradford's character has been dating his girlfriend for a much longer period of time. No offense to Jennifer Rubin or writer/director Alan Shapiro but the character of Amy has a lot of unneeded screen time. The only other actor of note is Amber Benson as Cheyenne.  This was also her first film role and even though she has little screen time the actress who would one day be Tara on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and future comic book writer does a good job being the only friend to a troubled and sick girl and the only one besides Nick to see that she is not as sweet as she acts.

Before we go did I forget to mention that writer/director Alan Shapiro wrote The Crush supposedly based on true events that happened to him? Yeah, he even named the character after a real girl named Darien Forrester and when she found out she sued him! Thanks to that they had to go back and re-dub all instances of the name Darien with Adrien by different actors. His only other theatrical film he directed was the movie of Flipper - you know the one with Elijah Wood, Paul Hogan and a dolphin! Sometimes it's best I guess to not write what you know...or at least change names before the film is complete!

On a more serious note to end this blog post, if you have not seen The Crush you should give this movie a viewing if you get the chance to find it. Cary Elwes and Alicia Silverstone fans will definitely like this movie and if films like Fatal Attraction and Single White Female are ones you enjoy, The Crush is a must have for your own DVD collection.

 The Crush 1993 Trailer (Original Darien character name)

Next Blog: Since I am going to go see Snow White & The Huntsman this weekend my next blog is going to be about another very dark version of the fairy tale - Snow White: A Tale Of Terror

Flowers In The Attic

It seems that I talk about a lot of films based on books doesn't it? Besides being a fan of cinema, I am also a fan of the written word and I have a collection of books that rivals my DVD collection. Now today's movie I saw before I even read the book it was based on and when I finally read the novel Flowers In The Attic, I became a V.C. Andrews fan on the spot. If you don't know by now, V.C. Andrews died shortly before the movie of her very first novel was released and every book from 1986 onwards has been written by a ghost writer because the estate of Virginia Cleo Andrews is a veritable gold mine. Now the plot of Flowers In The Attic  the movie differs greatly from the original novel (and how!) but right now let's discuss the basic plot.

What Is The Plot?
The Dollanganger Family are a blue-eyed, blonde, healthy All-American family with teenage son Christopher named after his father, teenage Cathy who wants to be a ballerina, and twins Cory and Carrie who are adorable and they all love their father and mother, Corrine, unconditionally. Tragedy strikes when their father is suddenly killed in a car accident and the family finds themselves penniless so Corrine reaches out to her long estranged parents who are very wealthy and her mother agrees to let the five of them come to Foxworth Hall in Virginia on the condition that the children are never to be seen by her husband Malcolm who is dying.

The children are shown to a room beneath the attic by their very cold and overly religious grandmother Olivia who states that she will never show the children kindness or love but will provide them food and shelter and access to the attic to entertain themselves while their mother must try to win back the love and respect of her father. What could their mother have done that was so horrible for her children to be treated this way?  Now Cathy, Chris, Cory and Carrie are going to pay for the sins their mother committed: shut in from the outside world and forced to suffer under their physically and emotionally abusive grandmother as their mother tries to be written back into her dying father's will. Will the children be able to survive their desperate and tragic circumstances or will their innocence wither away like flowers in the attic? 

Now for those of you who have seen the film and/or read the novel of Flowers In The Attic, I know there is a lot I have left out of the plot but for those who have never seen or read Flowers In The Attic, I would be spoiling so much of it for you! One major difference in plot is the fact that Flowers In The Attic as a novel is just the first in a series of five books so the story continues in written form over quite a long span and the movie has no such open ending. There are rumors that a script for the second novel in the series Petals On The Wind was written but never became green-lit and I have feeling that because of the ending the film had might have prevented that.

1987 Film Trailer (slight spoilers) 

Another thing about the plot is if you have ever read a V.C. Andrews novel she has the theme of consensual incest in almost all of her books and since the element of a brother and sister committing this might have given the film a different rating and of course moral guardians of the 80s probably frowned on this being even more heinous than many of the slashers of the era I have talked about. Today a film based around Flowers In The Attic that contains the theme of brother-sister incest and goes by the book (pun intended) to leave it open for the many sequel novels would probably fare better but only time will tell.

Back to the film, the acting in the film at times can seem over the top but taken that the film is a very dramatic take on Gothic horror, it seems fitting in a way. I love Louise Fletcher as the Grandmother she gives a very good interpretation of the character bringing about that cold and heartless exterior on the screen. Victoria Tennant plays Corrine the mother and I never knew that she was a British actress! I could never detect the accent but her portrayal of Corrine to me is absolutely perfect! She has the features of a gorgeous woman who can appear cold when needed and when she smiles and laughs it's hard to resist her charm and she does have some slight resemblance to on-screen daughter Kristy Swanson.

Of course you know that I love Kristy Swanson as I already praised her in my Deadly Friend post (quick fact: Wes Craven who directed Deadly Friend wrote a script for Flowers In The Attic that was rejected by producers for being too gory and violent.) Kristy Swanson gets to do some serious acting here as Cathy and she does very well handling her character. Cathy is much younger in the novel as Swanson was about seventeen maybe eighteen at the time of filming and I think the choice in her being older works and not just because the element of incest might have been present in an earlier script but if a younger actress had been cast I think the maturity of some of Cathy's statements might have been lost if the perfect actress had not been found.

Jeb Stuart Adams who plays Chris does a good job at acting as well. He was in his late 20's when he appeared in this film so he was much older than Chris in the novel but again because of an earlier script an age-up of his character might have been necessary but again maturity makes the role what it is. Of course the age of the twins is perfect and Lindsay Parker and Ben Ganger who play Carrie and Cory respectively are great in a role that requires so much drama for such young actors to handle and they are adorable before the plot of the film takes it very dark turn but even after that they still provide a small glimmer of hope for the viewer in their innocence.

Flowers In The Attic the film may not be as successful as its namesake novel but it has a charm all its own and is full of drama and suspense. Hard as it may be to choose a form but in the end I'd recommend reading the novel just so you can read its sequel novels which extend the story far better than the film. If you happen to be a person who isn't much into reading then the film is just as good to enjoy. If you enjoy both reading and watching movies then I would read the novel after viewing the film because the movie will be a good starting point to introduce you to the novel which will make you a diehard V.C. Andrews fan if you aren't one already. Speaking of which, any book written before 1986 would be a great starting point for you to discover just how great an author she truly was. If Gothic horror and mysteries full of hidden secrets are something you enjoy you won't be disappointed in the least.

Next Blog: A 90s flick that will leave you well a little crushed - The Crush