Cloak & Dagger (1984)

"Jack Flack always escapes!"
-Davey Osborne.

One of my colleagues recently posted an article about the best movies of 1984. Indeed, the many gems which came out that year include Ghostbusters, Gremlins, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Splash, The Terminator, Starman, Tightrope, Romancing the Stone, Beverly Hills Cop, The Last Starfighter and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

Another great movie which came out that year was this thriller, which, one could say, capitalized on the home video game craze that was beginning to take hold of many households, but, unlike the notoriously awful House of the Dead (2003), it did not exclusively depend on it to tell its story.

Davey Osborne (Henry Thomas) is a boy who recently lost his mother and has trouble connecting with his hard-working father Hal (Dabney Coleman). This is why he spends his time on role playing games, specifically Cloak & Dagger. The game's hero, superspy Jack Flack (also Coleman), even pops up to give Davey advice.

One day, Davey's friend, video game store owner Morris (William Forsythe, yes, that William Forsythe) sends Davey and his friend Kim (Christina Nigra) on a errand. It is during that run that Davey witnesses the murder of a man who gives Davey an Atari Cloak & Dagger game cartridge, telling them that it must not fall into the wrong hands. But the authorities, Kim and Hal don't believe Davey when he tries to tell them what happened.

It's not long, though, before Davey finds himself being chased by spies led by a man named Rice (Michael Murphy). At one point, they attempt to get the cartridge from Davey by kidnapping Kim, but he is able to save her with Jack's help. However, Rice manages to kill Morris and plant a bomb in Kim's walkie-talkie (yes, before cell phones dominated society, there were walkie-talkies) before Davey is kidnapped by a seemingly-friendly couple (John McIntire and Jeanette Nolan) who are confederates of Rice.

Eventually, Davey escapes and kills Rice after Jack tricks him. This angers Davey as he did not want to really kill anybody. His anger then turns to sadness as Jack vanishes, but Jack's voice encourages him to save Kim. Davey intercepts the couple who take him hostage and board a plane. But Hal, having heard about the killing of Rice, manages to sneak on board the plane when they demand a pilot. He and Davey manage to escape before the bomb goes off, killing the couple.

Some critics called this film 'Hitchcock for kids.' That certainly can't be a coincidence as its director, Richard Franklin, previously directed Psycho II (1982) and McIntire played the sheriff in Psycho (1960), while Nolan voiced Norman Bates's mother in the same film.

Thomas is every bit as good here as he was in E.T.-The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) because, as in that film, he is playing an ordinary fun-loving kid, who winds up being involved in something overwhelming. Murphy is, at times, downright scary as Rice, especially in the climatic face-off between him and Davey, where the latter tells him that he does not want to kill him, but Rice simply says he wants Davey dead.

But the scene-stealer is Coleman, who is wonderful as both Hal and Jack, giving both characters subtle differences. One could easily see this dual role as Davey's desire to have his father in his life and the end when father and son emerge victorious and embrace will certainly bring a tear to the eye.

Easy Virtue (2008)

"Smile, Marion."
"I don't feel like smiling."
"You're English, dear. Fake it."
-Veronica and Marion Whittaker



There have been several films which have dealt with a parent accepting a new daughter/son-in-law into his/her life. There are good ones with this theme, such as the underrated Only the Lonely (1991), and bad ones, like the laugh-free comedy The Family Stone (2005).

Happily, Easy Virtue falls into the former category. John Whittaker (Ben Barnes) returns home to his family mansion after spending time in Monaco. He brings with him an unusual surprise: his new bride Larita (Jessica Biel), who is a successful racecar driver. Almost immediately, she incurs the ire of her new mother-in-law, Veronica (Kristin Scott Thomas), who tries to get the other members of her household to view Larita with the same distaste that she does. Veronica succeeds where her youngest daughter Hilda (Kimberley Nixon) is concerned, especially when Larita accidentally kills Hilda's chihuahua and when Philip Hurst (Christian Brassington), the brother of John's former love Sarah (Charlotte Riley), shows more interest in her than in Hilda. John doesn't help matters when he seems uninterested in finding a home for himself and Larita and when his sense of responsibility leads to him investing more into his family, which has seven generations of farmers. Further fuel to the anti-Larita fire is added when Hilda realizes that she had a hand in the death of her first husband.

Larita does her best to simply apologize for her mistakes and basically put a smile on and offer an olivebranch to the family, which includes a lavish Thanksgiving feast she prepares. The only ally she gains is John's unhappy father Jim (Colin Firth).

The ending of the film is both unpredictable and satisfying. Rather than making amends, Larita simply tells off Veronica for being such a domineering control freak and her children, including John, for becoming mindless slaves to her every whim. Larita even tells Sarah that she can (basically) have John back. This makes the ending scene with Larita allowing Jim to join her as she drives off all the better. Unlike other films, like the aforementioned Family Stone, where the audience knows who the protagonist should be with long before he/she does, here the match up at the climax happens naturally. Jim doesn't make eyes at his daughter-in-law, but he does show her some basic respect. It's also clear, as the film goes on, that he doesn't exactly view life with Veronica as ideal as he once may have. He slowly but surely realizes that Larita is a breath of fresh air not only by the way she tells Veronica off but also by the way she relates to people in general. This infatuation comes out when he dances with Larita at the party during the film's climax when no one else, not even John, will. Firth has always been a fine actor, and his performance here is no exception to that. He walks away with the picture.

Some may think that The Illusionist (2006) is the only movie Biel's been in that's any good, but this film will come as a pleasant surprise.