Two Geeks and a GIT Classic Movie Reviews

Episode 214 begins our pairing of Films You Should Definitely See Once with 1986's Oliver Stone vehicle, "Platoon." Directed and written by Stone, the film stars Charlie Sheen as Chris Taylor, a soldier in the infantry newly cycled into Vietnam during the war. His troop includes Tom Berenger as Sgt. Barnes, Willem Dafoe as Sgt. Elias, John C. McGinley as Sgt. O'Neill, Keith David as King, Forest Whitaker as Big Harold, Francesco Quinn as Rhah, Kevin Dillon as Bunny, Reggie Johnson as Junior, Corey Glover as Lt. Wolfe, Johnny Depp as Lerner, and Tony Todd as Warren. The film follows Chris through three different time-periods during his "365 and a wakeup" in Vietnam, and his gradual loss of innocence throughout the year as well as the transformation he undergoes. An incredibly powerful film, based on Oliver Stone's actual experiences as an infantryman during the Vietnam war.

Acclaimed director, writer, and producer Joel Schumacher passed away on June 22nd, 2020, so this is the second part of our pairing in tribute to him. For Episode 213, it's a story of racial justice and injustice in the deep south in 1996's "A Time to Kill." Based on a controversial John Grisham novel, Jake Tyler Brigance (Matthew McConaughey) is a lawyer in Mississippi, trying to keep his firm afloat after his mentor, Lucian Wilbanks (Donald Sutherland) was removed from the Bar. With office manager Ethel (Brenda Fricker) and his friend and shady divorce lawyer Harry Rex Vonner (Oliver Platt), he's just trying to keep the lights on. But after Carl Lee Hailey's (Samuel L. Jackson) daughter is raped, abused, and almost lynched, and Carl takes the law into his own hands, Jake may be his only hope. And he finds help going up against C. A. Rufus Buckley (Kevin Spacey) and cantankerous Judge Omar Noose (Patrick McGoohan) in the form of idealistic, genius law student Ellen Roark (Sandra Bullock). But amidst and against the rampant racism and violence of Mississippi, do Brigance and associates have any hope of sparing Carl the death penalty? The film also features Charles S. Dutton, Kiefer Stutherland, Ashley Judd, Chris Cooper, Kurtwood Smith, and the final big-screen appearance of Joe Seneca! Plus, the trio announce the names of the next two films in a pairing they're calling "Movies you only ever need to see once!"

On June 22nd, 2020, we lost acclaimed director, writer, and producer Joel Schumacher. Thus, for this pairing, we're going to pay a tribute by focusing on two films from Schumacher, starting with Episode 212, spotlighting his 3rd cinematic offering, 1985's "St. Elmo's Fire." The story follows seven college friends, Kirby Keger (Emilio Esteves), Billy Hicks (Rob Lowe), Keven Dolenz (Andrew McCarthy), Jules (Demi Moore), Alec Newbary (Judd Nelson), Leslie Hunter (Ally Sheedy), and Wendy Beamish (Mare Winningham) just after they've graduated from college. The story revolves around the gradual dissolution of the ties that bound them together at college as they begin to navigate the adult "real world" and realize that things are not going to stay the same as when they were still in school. This was the film to feature the largest number of the "Brat Pack" of the 80s, missing only Anthony Michael Hall and Molly Ringwald, and also started the career of Andie MacDowell, who plays Kirby's object of obsession. A film to watch with your mid-20s in mind, or if you're IN or near your mid-20s!

Episode 211 is the second in our pairing of films which can be linked three different ways! It's a Christmas film that was moved up six months so that its production company could compete against Ghostbusters. Released on the same day, it's director Joe Dante's 1984 horror comedy "Gremlins!" Written by Chris Columbus and starring Hoyt Axton, Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Polly Holliday, Dick Miller, Francis Lee McCain, Corey Feldman, and Judge Reinhold, with a cameo by animator Chuck Jones, and the voice of comedian Howie Mandel, this is the story of a cute little creature, a Mogwai named Gizmo, who joins the Peltzer family one Christmas. Billy (Galligan) is the recipient of the gift, and he is told the three rules for keeping the Mogwai: No bright light, don't get him wet or give him any water, and never, ever, under any circumstances, feed him after midnight. And, as you might guess, each of these rules gets broken, unleashing calamity upon the sleepy little town of Kingston Falls. The film that helped create the PG-13 rating! Plus, the trio reveal how they intend to honor the passing of the great director Joel Schumacher with their next pairing!

For this pairing, we could label this several ways: Horror comedies, films released on June 8th, 1984, or movies starting with "G." Whatever way you like, for episode 210, our first film is the blockbuster that endures, the paranormal comedy with a heart, the love letter to New York City that is "Ghostbusters!" Directed by Ivan Reitman, this film boasts a script by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis that was used mostly to give the stars a starting point to improvise from. Starring Aykroyd and Ramis, along with Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, and William Atherton, this is one of the best U.S. film to come out of the 1980s. Apart from its superb cast (who improvised most of the film's dialogue and turned in superb performances) the film features a great score by the renowned composer Elmer Bernstein, an Academy Award-nominated song by Ray Parker Jr., and special effects that are still impressive even in 2020! Plus, it's one of the most quotable (and quoted) films in cinema history!

Episode 209 is the second in our pairing of films that detail the African-American experience in the United States, as well as the second appearance of our Guest Geek, Annette, as we take a look at one of the pivotal events of the 1950s, the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott in 1990's "The Long Walk Home." Directed by Richard Pearce, the story follows Miriam (Sissy Spacek) and Odessa (Whoopi Goldberg). Miriam is the mother in a middle-class white family, while Odessa is the mother in a working-class African-American household, and Miriam's housekeeper. Shortly after the start of the film, we hear about Rosa Parks historic refusal to give up her seat on a public bus to a white person. This results in the African-American residents of Montgomery staging a complete boycott of the bus system. This does, however, cause many problems as a significant portion of those boycotting live far enough away from their workplaces as to make walking not really feasible. They do it anyway, however, and Miriam starts turning her back on the systemic racism that infects the other white adults she normally associates with. An incredibly moving film that doesn't sugarcoat anything, making it a must-see for people of any race! Plus, the trio reveal which films, released on the same day in 1984, they'll be reviewing next!

With all the unrest in the United States over the past month or so, we wanted to do our part... but we review movies. So, as we welcome our first Guest Geek, Annette, episode 208 begins our investigation of the African-American experience, as captured in popular film, with the first of two films starring Whoopi Goldberg, 1985's "The Color Purple!" Directed by Steven Spielberg, from a screenplay written by Menno Meyjes (based on the best-selling book by Alice Walker), the film co-stars Danny Glover, Margaret Avery, Oprah Winfrey, Willard E. Pugh, Akosua Busia, Rae Dawn Chong, and Adolph Caesar. The story follows a young woman named Celie as she is married off to an older man, assigned to take care of his three poorly-behaved children, and separated from her only friend, her sister Nettie. It isn't until a juke joint singer named Shug arrives that her life begins to change for the better. This is the first on-screen appearance for both Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg, and it's an absolute triumph for both!

Episode 207 completes our two-week look at the films of the great Danny Kaye, with a review of what is likely his best-known film, 1955's "The Court Jester." This film netted Kay a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical (this film is both). Kay plays Hubert Hawkins, a former circus performer turned bandit, part of the crew under the lead of the infamous Black Fox. Hawkins wants nothing more than to be useful in the fight against the usurper King Roderick the First. Unfortunately, the Black Fox feels he's not manly enough, and assigns him to work with his Captain, Jean (Glynis Johns), in keeping hidden the rightful king, an infant with a telltale birthmark on his... cheek. He ends up meeting Giacomo, King of Jesters and Jester of Kings, who is headed for Roderick's court. Hubert and Jean waylay Giacomo and Hubert takes his place. Arriving at the palace, he meets both the evil Sir Ravenhurst (Basil Rathbone) and the beautiful Princess Gwendolyn (Angela Lansbury). Unfortunately for Hubert/Giacomo, things are not as simple as he'd hoped, and the story takes several turns before it's over. The film contains many scenes demonstrating both Kaye's singing and dancing talent and his abilities with physical comedy. A classic for the whole family, and a look at how beautiful both Lansbury and Johns were in their heyday! Plus, the trio reveal how they're trying to help the civil unrest in their own filmic way through their next pairing.

Episode 206 begins our two-week look at the films of entertainer extraordinaire Danny Kaye. First up is the 1947 film which has been remade twice since, most recently in 2013 with Ben Stiller in the lead role, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty!" Written by Ken Englund and Everett Freeman, based on a James Thurber short story, and directed by veteran Norman Z. McLeod, the story follows Water Mitty (Kaye), a mild-mannered, hen-pecked, editor of lurid pulp magazines. Since his real life is so hum-drum, he survives by descending into a fantasy world of daydreams, filled with damsels in distress, and heroism. But when he falls into a situation where real-life becomes too much like his daydreams, will he shrink away or rise to the occasion? Co-starring Virginia Mayo, Boris Karloff, and Reginald Denny, this is a classic film the whole family can enjoy!

Episode 205 completes our "Fish Out of Water" pairing and, once again, the fishes are from New York. This time, however, they land in a small town in Alabama, in its courthouse, and dealing with one of it's old-school judges in 1992's "My Cousin Vinny!" Directed by Jonathan Lynn and written by Dale Launer, this is the film that won Marisa Tomei an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Bill (Ralph Macchio) and Stan (Mitchell Whitfield) are heading to college. After they stop at a store in a small town in Alabama, they are mistaken for two guys who robbed the store they stopped at and shot the clerk. In desperation, they reach out to "the lawyer in the family," Bill's cousin Vinny Gambini (Joe Pesci). Vinny arrives in NY style, complete with New York fiance Mona Lisa Vito (Tomei) in tow. But when he appears before long-time judge Chamberlain Haller (Fred Gwynne), and faces off against the town DA Jim Trotter III (Lane Smith) as well as the town's head of law enforcement, Sheriff Farley (Bruce McGill), Vinny realizes that he's out of his league, but he still has family who are innocent of the charges being levied against them! A wonderful film full of real characters (in more than one sense of the word), masterful dialogue, authentic courtroom procedure, and true genius comedy! Plus, the trio reveal which classic comedy star they're paying tribute to in the next episode!