"They say I look bigger with my clothes off."

September 25th, 2012
The Boy in Blue, (1986)
Nicolas Cage is Ned Hanlan

I'm not sure what the buzz around The Boy in Blue was on its release but I have to imagine that audiences were a little surprised when they discovered that, despite the movie's promotional poster and dramatic trailer, The Boy in Blue is not some sort of antiquated, Canadian Rocky.


It does have some of the Rocky hallmarks - at least a fourth of the movie is Nicolas Cage, shirtless, training for the "next big race" and there's a driving synth score pushing the whole thing forward, despite its 1880's setting - but The Boy in Blue doesn't just want to thrill and inspire you. In fact, thrilling is probably third on its list of prerogatives. The first and second are to educate and instill a sense of pride in Canadian heritage. Funded by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Telefilm Canada, BIB shows its hand from the first frame as text appears, reading:

"Before baseball, football, or soccer, one sport alone captured the imagination of both rich and poor - - sculling."

Sure, you kids have heard about all the baseball and football and soccer greats a thousand times but let me hip you to the original cool: sculling: the sport of kings. And who do you think was the greatest sculler of all time? Why, Ned Hanlan, Canada's favorite son and, in 1880, the first world sporting champion in an individual or singles event! Can-a-DA! Can-a-DA! Can-a-DA!

“Just wait'll those Japs see me and my eagle come chargin' over the hill!”

September 10^th, 2012

Racing with the Moon, (1984)

Nicolas Cage is Nicky

All this talk of nostalgia is a perfect segway into Racing with the Moon, another film that looks to the past to explore how youth slips away. It's the story of two young men killing time during the Christmas of 1943 awaiting induction into the US marines. The debut film of writer Steve Kloves - who would go on to write Wonder Boys and all but one of the Harry Potter movies – Moon has such a lived-in specificity of place and time that I was surprised to learn that Kloves was born in 1960. Maybe some of that credit goes to director Richard Benjamin who was born in 1938 and would go on to direct The Money Pit and, um, My Stepmother is an Alien.

Anyway, Racing with the Moon kicked up my own memories of times gone by - namely, Fast Times and The Best of Times. Which is an irritating way of saying that it stars Sean Penn and features Crispin Glover as an asshole rich kid that Nic Cage clocks in a bowling alley before wiping the blood of Glover's girlfriend's blouse. It's kinda pretty awesome.