Movie: She's So Lovely(1997)

This is a 'cute little adult movie' written by John Cassavetes and directed by Nick Cassavetes.An alcoholic lowlife(Sean Penn) and his lowlife wife(Robin Wright Penn, aka. Forest gump's girlfriend) are madly in love. They live in a seedy building and she is having his baby. A terrible turn of events forces the alcoholic to end up behind bars for a decade.
He returns after serving time to find that his girlfriend is now married to a great guy(John Travolta) who is a great father to his daughter and has two kids of his own with her. The lowlife is determined to win her back and the great guy wants her.
Then follows a great meeting of the minds. Its lowlife vs. greatguy, or Travolta vs.
Penn. In the unexpected end, not everyone is happy but everyone gets what they deserve, including the children. A great 'wicked' watch.

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Movie: Face Off(1997)

It would not be a Frenchman. It would not be an Italian. In fact it would not even be a Eurpean. It would be a Hong Kong director who would waltz into Hollywood and give critcs, actors and technicians a great lesson in glamour in action movies.

That director is John Woo. Nobody brings in style in movies like Woo. Add two veteran stars like John Travolta and Nicolas Cage and we have an enjoyable flick. I'll never forget watching Nicolas Cage playing the bad guy in the beginning of the movie when he reaches into a jewel box and removes two gold plated pistols. Then there is Travolta. Midas like, he brings out his golden starlike quality in anything it touches.

Agent Archer(Travolta) assumes the face of a maniacal terrorist Troy(Cage) to penetrate the underworld. Troy strikes back taking his face. Now Cage plays Archer and Travolta plays Troy.How can Archer win back his family and his life?

The movie then becomes a deadly game of cat and mouse as Troy poses as Archer and steals the latter's family from him. Yes an implausible plot but as the saying goes, anything is possible in show bussiness. Both actors get to show off their versatility. Travolta especially is simply superb dancing his way into the villain's role.

My favorite line in the movie is when Troy sees that Archer has assumed his face(Transalation: Travolta is now Troy and Cage is Archer.), he spontaneously says,'Hey goodlookin'.
In a TV interview,Director Woo attested that this dialog was Travolta's on-the-spot improvisation.

The end of the movie however has a stereotypical boat chase. Woo could have been more imaginative here. Nevertheless, this movie is a must for action movie buffs.

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