COCKTAIL (1988)
Just as Tom Cruise was becoming a more serious actor, he delivered one more typical Tom Cruise vehicle, playing a dreamer who ends up settling for a bartending job. Don't know why I can keep watching this film whenever I flip past it on one of the movie channels, but I do. The Tom Cruise/Elisabeth Shue romance isn't as effective as the relationship between bartenders Cruise and the older mentor, played by Bryan Brown. It's fun to watch their interplay, and especially sobering when Brown kills himself, and Cruise realizes the path he could be on, and decides to change it.
YOUNG GUNS (1988)
Ok, I understand and can see most of the criticisms against this "Brat Pack" Western, but what can I say ... I enjoy watching this film. I felt it was a noble effort at presenting a different Western, and I thought Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Keifer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, and the others were all effective in this re-telling of the Billy the Kid legend. I felt it captured the Western mood just fine, and portrayed the sense of tragedy quite well. And sure, it's cheesy, but I liked the stylistic slow motion of the final escape and the over-the-top rock-meets-western musical score. It was an experiment to be sure, but I felt it was successful. For me, it's still one of Estevez's best performances.
WISDOM (1986)
Speaking of Emilio Estevez, he has another film which I still enjoy watching, and this one he also directed as well as starred in. Sure, the premise of the film is way out there, but I thought Estevez was most successful in portraying the story of a young couple in love running from the law. In the film, Estevez plays a young man who tries interviewing for jobs, and can't find anything because of a past felony on his record. He figures the only role that society has in store for him is that of a criminal. But instead of committing crimes against people, he decides to commit crimes on behalf of people, burning up bank loan documents, eventually becoming a very bizarre hero of sorts. Of course, tragedy eventually befalls the couple, as they actually do murder a sheriff, but the film just for some reason keeps me engaged, mostly because of the on-the-lam experiences of Emilio Estevez and a very young Demi Moore.
