Taylor Hackford
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This depiction of the past’s stronghold recalls a moment in Taylor Hackford’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Dolores Claiborne (1995), wherein forgotten sexual abuse inflicted upon Jennifer Jason Leigh’s character flood back to the present, and she’s only able to see the back of her head in a mirror’s reflection.
The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
Directed by George Miller
influenced The Devil's Advocate (1997)
Themes
Although the film isn't a landmark combination of unique elements (viewers will find themselves reminded of both The Witches of Eastwick and The Firm), it has a lot of energy and the rather long 145-minute running time passes quickly.
In a performance reminiscent of Jack Nicholson's in "The Witches of Eastwick," Pacino is nothing short of enthralling, using to magnanimous effect the loud-mouthed hamminess that has become his post-Oscar trademark.
The lesson of Tod Browning's Freaks is that disability is the great democratizing factor, trumping race in matters of larceny and division--and Ray, at its best, balances entertainment with politics in the same deft, graceful way as Charles himself.
Yet pictures like Evita and Moulin Rouge almost seem like appetizers when compared to Chicago, a knockout of a musical that, among other achievements, finds Catherine Zeta-Jones in her best screen work to date, Richard Gere delivering his finest effort since An Officer and a Gentleman, and Renee Zellweger adding to her then-noteworthy string of unassailable performances.
Drive Angry (2011)
Directed by Patrick Lussier
influenced by The Devil's Advocate (1997)
Characters Themes
Oh, and his character's name is John Milton, like Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate, because Hollywood still thinks that referencing Paradise Lost is being subtle.
But that sort of not-too-subtle joke was used up nearly 15 years ago in the similarly devil-themed The Devil’s Advocate.
He recalls it as a combination of An Officer and a Gentleman and Saturday Night Fever.
The Science of Sleep (2006)
Directed by Michel Gondry
influenced by An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
Plot
Even more than Flyboys, though, this resembles An Officer and a Gentleman, right down to the scene where our handsome hero bursts into his girlfriend's place of employment to declare his everlasting love (sign of the times: Instead of the Oscar-winning "Up Where We Belong," the soundtrack swells with a treacly Bryan Adams tune).
“Extraction” is a “Proof of Life” thriller about a soldier-turned-mercenary/”rescue-for-hire” Aussie named Tyler Rake.
Lawyer on the rise, isolated wife, forces of evil afoot - if these elements recall "Rosemary's Baby," that's where the comparisons stop.
The premise sounds like a "Rosemary's Baby"-ized version of "The Firm": A young man joins a high-powered law firm and finds out that his boss is not only evil but that he's in fact the devil.
If this were "Casablanca," he'd be the Paul Henreid character the earnest, politically committed chump who doesn't have a clue what's really going on with his wife and that dashing loner.
Gilroy's screenplay, while steeped in the unknown world of K&R, has the feel of a re-creation of that greatest of American films, "Casablanca."
Only the Brave (2017)
Directed by Joseph Kosinski
influenced by An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
Characters
As with Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman , Donut -- his nickname -- has nowhere else to go.
Michael Clayton (2007)
Directed by Tony Gilroy
influenced by The Devil's Advocate (1997), Dolores Claiborne (1995), Proof of Life (2000)
A decade ago, Gilroy co-wrote the screenplay for Taylor Hackford's terrific The Devil's Advocate, and so may himself have contributed to the unjustified mystique surrounding the profession.
To help further understand the nature of the film, consider that its writer and director, Tony Gilroy, also wrote the screenplays for "Dolores Claiborne," "The Devil's Advocate," "Extreme Measures," and the three "Bourne" films.
I applaud first-time director Gilroy for resisting the urge to make a movie in the same vein as many of his slam-bang screenplays (“Armageddon,” “The Devil’s Advocate,” all three “Bourne” movies), but at the same time, the story could have used a little sizzle.
But Gilroy was also one of two screenwriters credited with Al Pacino’s pot-rattling tirades in “The Devil’s Advocate,” back in 1997; and now, in “Michael Clayton,” which Gilroy both wrote and directed, he’s back in the flow.
Screenwriter Tony Gilroy ("The Devil’s Advocate" and "The Bourne Supremacy") makes his directorial debut with the assistance of pedigreed producers and executive producers that include Sydney Pollack, George Clooney, Steven Soderbergh and Anthony Minghella.
Gilroy says he got the idea for Michael Clayton while researching big law firms for his script, The Devil's Advocate.
Unlike Jamie Foxx, whose Oscar-winning portrayal of Ray Charles confirmed his ability to portray a famous celebrity with agency and depth, beyond a basic use of mimicry, I simply do not know what we have here with Michael’s nephew.
I used to believe that Walk Hard, Jake Kasdan and Judd Apatow’s pitch-perfect parody of movies like Ray and Walk the Line, should have killed the conventional musical biopic.
Movies like Mike Birbiglia's Don't Think Twice and Gillian Robespierre's Obvious Child have comedy club dirt under their fingernails.
(One example, of many: Jenny Slate in “Obvious Child.”)
Whiplash (2014)
Directed by Damien Chazelle
influenced by An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
Characters Plot
This is part of a hallowed tradition in movies: It’s the drill sergeant and the raw recruit, as in An Officer and a Gentleman ; it’s Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke in Training Day .
Its like a jazz version of the very good inside-classical-music drama Mr. Hollands Opus crossed with a drill-sergeant-from-hell classic like An Officer and a Gentleman, with Simmons in the Lou Gossett Jr. role.
For Darkest Hour, he emulates Churchill’s speech so perfectly, it’s one of those rare moments in cinema history, up there with Jamie Foxx’s performance in Ray.
The new film offers much more of the mood and texture of "Angel Heart," the under-rated detective thriller (also from 1987) in which Robert De Niro created a powerfully disturbing Lucifer.
What follows are guerilla war sequences that are brilliantly and convincingly staged by the director, Taylor Hackford ("The Devil's Advocate", 1997; "When We Were Kings", 1996), who went to well-deserved pains to keep all the relationships clear and maximized.
Shortbus (2006)
Directed by John Cameron Mitchell
influenced by An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
Themes
Even the legendary sex scenes in “An Officer and a Gentleman” are calculated and stuffy.
But he doesn't play it like a lord and master, and if you think of other Marine sergeants -- John Wayne in "Iwo Jima," R. Lee Ermey in "Jacket," Louis Gossett Jr. in "An Officer and a Gentleman" -- Foxx's Sykes will surprise you.