Film: Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

Blu-Ray


Review: A gritty film showing a hard-core drunk spiraling around the drain. Nicholas Cage does a outstanding job showing Ben's final descent as he uses a severance check to finance his last days in Las Vegas while revealing small hints of the successful and charismatic man before alcohol took control. He finds a soul-mate in Elisabeth Shue's prostitute, but it is too late to change his fate harnessed to the extreme edge of addiction. It is Sera's reactions to Ben's sickness that elevate the film to it high level.

Quotes:
"I came here to drink myself to death."
"How long will it take you?"
"I'd say about three to four weeks."

"Are you desirable? Are you irresistible? Maybe if you drank bourbon with me, it would help. Maybe if you kissed me and I could taste the sting in your mouth it would help. If you drank bourbon with me naked. If you smelled of bourbon as you fucked me, it would help. It would increase my esteem for you. If you poured bourbon onto your naked body and said to me 'drink this'. If you spread your legs and you had bourbon dripping from your breasts and your pussy and said, 'drink here', then I could fall in love with you."

"Don't you think you'd get a little bored, living with a drunk?"
"Well... that's what I want."
"You haven't seen the worst of it. I knock things over... throw up all the time. These past few days I've been very controlled. You're like some sort of antidote that mixes with the liquor and keeps me in balance. But, that won't last forever."

"We both know that I'm a drunk. And I know you are a hooker. I hope you understand that I am a person who is totally at ease with that. Which is not to say that I'm indifferent or I don't care, I do. It simply means that I trust and accept your judgment."

"You can never, ever ask me to stop drinking. Do you understand"?
"I do. I really do."

4 1/2 out of 5 Stars

Film: Grumpy Old Men (1993)

Blu-Ray


Review: A perfect little film with great chemistry between the two comedic superstars, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. The winter setting perfectly complements the long-running cold war between two neighbors who have lived next to each other their entire lives. Their feud comes to a head when an attractive widow moves in across the street.

Quotes:
"I need something for my lumbago. The pain is killing me."
"Ah, it's killing you, my ass. He doesn't know the meaning of the word pain, Phil. I got a pinched sciatica that makes your lumbago look like eye strain."
"Pain. He wants to talk about pain. I had a gallstone the size of a baseball."
"Gallstones, yeah. Gallstones are for pussies. When I had the shingles, did you see me in here complaining to Phil? Did ya?"
"Shingles, schmingles. When I had my ulcers, I was... farting razor blades."

"Give me two packs of camels and a cup of your special coffee, you love muffin, you."
"You're supposed to be smoking filter cigarettes, Pop."
"Yeah, well, I'm 94 years old. What the hell do I care, huh? Oh, thank you, dear."

"Max, oh, he's just magnificent."
"Magnificient? He's a damn record-breaker. You've got a three-footer."
"Oh, Max. I can see the beauty in this now."
"Can you see it?"
"Yes, the lure. No, the fight."
"The fight! Wait till I show the guys!"
"The catch..."
"What a catch!"
"And then the release."
"The release!!! What release? There's no release."
"Oh, yes, it's beautiful."
"No, I'll tell you what's beautiful. This monster on my wall... stuffed."

"Who are these little guys?"
"Oh, ha. That's me and the moron."
"Max?"
"Of course it's Max. He's ugly, isn't he?"
"Ha, ha. Oh, you mean you were friends?"
"Well, I was 10. I didn't know any better."
"What can make two grown men spend most of their lives fighting each other?"
"Oh, guess."
"A woman."
"Uh, yeah."
"How romantic."

"It looks like Chuck is taking the skin boat to tuna town."
"Jesus, Dad!"

5 out of 5 Stars

Film: Out for Justice (1991)

Blu-Ray


Review: Steven Seagal peaked with Under Siege but his earlier work created consistently great genre films. What raises this one is the intense acting by William Forsythe as the coked-up, short-tempered villain, Richie Madano, who terrifies and disgusts even his fellow criminals. The story takes place over one day as Seagal, the Brooklyn detective Gino, hunts down the cop-killer who wants to go out in a frenzy of violence.

Quotes:
"Why won't this man run?"
"You know, Vic. You never understood nothing about the neighborhood. Did you, huh?"
"No, I guess I never did."
"Let me tell you something. You kill a cop on 18th Avenue in front of a hundred witnesses, you're gonna die. The only difference is, this guy wants to die in his own neighborhood."

"Hey Vinnie! How you doing?"
"Officer Big Shot, come to bust my balls? This here is a detective! In what, Narcotics now?"
"That's right."
"Now I want you all to be very nice and tell this big fucking mamaluke over here anything he wants to know."
"Vinnie, come over here. Listen, you shouldn't talk to me that way because, like, you and I don't know each other so good. You were still sucking your thumb when your brother was going around town sucking dicks."

"The only balls he has is that badge and gun."
"Is that right? Let me show you something. Here's my gun! Fair game, now, okay? And here's my badge! This is your trophy. This is your trophy, okay?! Come and get it. Tell one of your fuckin citriolis to come and get it."
"I offer 5,000 for that badge, right now."

"Gino, you have not even told me what I've been arrested for."
"Let me see here. What could we do? Ah, how about 240.25?"
"What's that?"
"Prostitution, honey."
"Are you fucking kidding me?! Let me out of here right now, Gino!"
"I told you I was going to do this. Now, how's your memory? Who is Roxanne?"
"Gino, you're really starting to piss me off!"
"Jack, did you ever find this one over here on the street?"
"Many times."
"And how much was she?"
"10 bucks."
"Oh, ten bucks this, my friend! Fuck you, Gino!"

"After pop died... and the neighborhood kids wanted to go to Coney Island or something to play... one of the other fathers, Mr. Madano, used to slip me a little money so I could go play with the kids too. You know how I repayed Mr. Madano? You know how I thanked him tonight? I arrested him. Just so I could get to Richie. That's how crazy I am."

4 out of 5 Stars