Angel Heart - 1987

This was a suggestion from a friend. A friend who is a Mickey Rourke fan. Classic Mickey Rourke, before apparent excessive drug use. Anyway, that said, this is a classic P.I. piece, with all the eager clichés ("Detective Harry Angel?" Seriously? Awesome.) Here's the deal, since it was made in '87 it has a sort of era-specific, dirty, jazzy, "Miami Vice" feel to it. But once you get over that, you can appreciate this supernatural who-dunnit, for what it is. Fun, and telling and, in a way, significant. I'm told that one of these scenes was so out-of-bounds that it got Bonet in major trouble with the Cos', on our beloved Cosby Show. That little nugget of pop-cultural knowledge alone, is a fun enough reason to watch this movie. Now, let's just call 'em like we see 'em, if you're gonna stick your neck out, why not do it like this, with Mickey at career full-mast. Released as his first film after 9 1/2 weeks, and not long before Wild Orchid, this one met up to his skin-emax criteria, for sures. And I'll tell you what, if you're screening a script, and one detail is that De Niro has signed on as the Devil? You have your agent duel with muskets for that shit, if ya gotta! (A side thought: I couldn't help but compare this to Pacino's Satan, in The Devil's Advocate. He was great. But in spite of a sadly limited amount of screentime, De Niro's obscure look carries a classically blantant presence through a great perfomance. 'ts why he's Robert De Niro and you're not.) The ending is pretty cool, which is a pleasant suprise, but honestly, being set in 1930's New York and Louisiana, I thought the soundtrack could have been better. For the controversy, I say rent it, if you're grabbing a few titles with a group of friends for the night. If not, catch it on TV (if anyone still does that). Oh, and keep your eye for the "nose shield": "Mrs. Mulwray, I goddamn near lost my nose. And I like it. I like breathing through it." Dig it.