Its funny that I would've never really watched a John Cusack movie if Joan Cusack wasn't an actress. I've always thought Joan was so beautiful and such an amazing woman, I love everything she's done..if not because the movie appeals to me..then just because shes' in it. It wasn't until later on that I decided to give some of John Cusack's older movies a look, they're so unique in the sense that hes' got this killer acting personna as the classic underachiever. I'd say that my favorite John movies are 'Say Anything' from '89, 'The Sure Thing' from '85 (another crime when they didn't make a soundtrack), 'One Crazy Summer' from '86 and yes..even his part in 'Sixteen Candles'. What would some of you choose as far as your favorite movie of his?..There are still some I've never seen like 'Tapeheads' and 'Money for Nothing'..wait, I could be wrong that could've been early 90s'.
Posted by cindymancini (Member # 679) on :
Hello OConner!
I was never a really big John Cusack fan until I saw Say Anything a few months ago. I don't know how I missed this movie back in the 80's...I absolutely love him in this! Especially the scene where he's trying to tell Joe not to mess with Corey's head and that she's a human being with feelings. As for Joan, I loved her in Mr. Wrong, eventhough it was a 90's flick. How about the Allnighter? Wasn't she in that as well? I haven't seen that one in years :)
Posted by cindymancini (Member # 679) on :
Oh yeah, one more thing...How about John Cusack in the movie Class?? There's a blast from the past...that movie was chock full o' goodies...Andrew McCarthy, Rob Lowe, John Cusack and the guy who played Cameron in Ferris Bueller!! Whoo-hoo :)
Posted by Janette (Member # 252) on :
I've always enjoyed John Cusack. He has the underachiever thing down, that's for sure. One of my favorites for him is "Better off Dead". That's such a funny movie. I've been a fan of Joan's too. She makes it all look so easy. I really enjoyed watching her in Toys. I know it's not an 80s movie, but I've seen her a lot more in the early 90s films. Like "Nine Months"...she was great in that too! And who can forget her Oscar nod for "In & Out"!
Posted by jonesy (Member # 867) on :
my all time favorite movie moment is in say anything when he is holding the radio up in the air so she could hear him. I love that movie and John is just....hot.Even though it's not an 80's movie, i loved him in Con Air. especially when him and NIck Cage are riding the motorcycles. I like Joan too. She is a great actress and fun to watch.
Posted by P_a_u_l (Member # 1022) on :
I've got many John Cusack movies on tape, and try to rerun one on a fairly regular basis. I guess my all time favorite of his is gonna be High Fidelity, although it's a 2000 movie. It's just one of those flicks that you CAN see over and again, the way that many of the 80's movies are. Also, The Sure Thing and Grosse Point Blank are really good.
It's a little (un)surprising that John and Joan were in so many movies together (Class, Sixteen Candles, GrandView USA, Broadcast News, Say Anything, Grosse Point Blank, High Fidelity, Cradle Will Rock) given that they know each other so well off screen, they always interact very well in front of the cameras.
Posted by OConner880 (Member # 415) on :
I hated 'Broadcast News'..I also hate saying that, but the movie sucked 'richard'. That beautiful smile of Joan's always did something to me though, whenever the camera is on her, its a good movie to me. She did that the same year as 'The Allnighter', right before 'Working Girl' and her being robbed at the Academy Awards by Geena Davis's horribly cheese-grating role in 'The Accidental Tourist. Not only that, but her role in 'In and Out' was a leading-lady role of hers' about 10 years too late for such an amazing and deserving actress, not even John had any consecutive awards won for roles like Lloyd Dobbler and his performance in 'The Sure Thing'...lets all storm the next award ceremony and take hostages (joke, no need to report that to the Feds).
Posted by StevenHW (Member # 509) on :
Paul Shrimpton wrote, in part: << I guess my all time favorite of his is gonna be "High Fidelity", although it's a 2000 movie. It's just one of those flicks that you CAN see over and again, the way that many of the 80's movies are... [snip] >>
Absolutely agree! I'll be the first to admit that I'm a music and movie snob who likes to make "lists", and can easily identify with John Cusack's Rob Gordon character in that film. In fact, I have always thought that the Rob Gordon character was more or less an extension of his Lloyd Dobler character in "Say Anything..." in 1989. (Mind you, I'm not saying that the two films are sequels, though!)
"High Fidelity" is my favorite film that came out in 2000, an otherwise weak movie year.
I like many of his movies. But what I admire Cusack the most is the way he managed not to let his 80's Brat Pack image become a liability in the 90's and today. Some of his 80's contemporaries saw their careers falter, but Cusack insisted on changing with the times and getting interesting juicy roles and not limiting himself to just sympathetic characters.
And I'm surprised nobody has yet mentioned "The Grifters" (1990), a fine film, although it's not from the 80's and certainly more darker than a lot of his earlier efforts. But that movie showed that he was a serious adult actor.
Posted by cindymancini (Member # 679) on :
Hey Paul,
Joan was in Class? I love that movie but I don't remember her at all...what scene(s)???
Posted by P_a_u_l (Member # 1022) on :
Not sure - it's a while since I saw the movie. But according to IMDB, her character name was Julia (although she's a ways down the credit list.....)
Posted by OConner880 (Member # 415) on :
She was in it but had a small cameo type part that might have been uncredited in the movie itself. Her first actual role was small part as a classmate in 1980s' My Bodyguard with Matt Dillon and Chris Makepeace. Her father Dick Cusack was also in it as the pricipal..his hay-day as an actor was in the 40s' and 50s' I think. I'm so glad Joan was the one out of five to make it so big, she brightens up everything she appears in.
