Editorial Review

Fresh from his huge success with the beloved Read more

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Intelligent, mesmerizing mystery
I saw this several years ago and noticed it was on a late movie recently.This time I was more struck by the quality of the work than the first time.It seems that almost every aspect of this film reeks with elegance and subtlety. First of all, Meryl Streep is great.This is before she became so affecting as she was wont to do in her later films. Then Roy Schneider as the psychiatrist turns in a brilliant understated performance.The villianess was incredible in her chameleon-like personality and actions. (The scene at her apartment where the camera slowly slides to reveal the mutilated detective will stay with you for a long time.) One of the few movies that still sends chills down my spine
I remember I saw this movie when I was a kid, and it gave me nightmares.Robert Benton was a genius when he directed this movie.The way he builds up the suspense in certain scenes gives you that creepy feeling.Although the ending is very quiet and somewhat contrived, it has a certain originality to it. A memorable movie
I saw this movie years ago, forgot the name, and have been looking for it ever since. If you like a good old scary suspense movie with characters you care about this is for you.It is a movie that is better than the sum ofit's parts and they are darned good. For once I really couldn't tell if shewas bad or not, but I'm not telling! ... Read more

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Editorial Review

Campbell Scott plays a green young technocrat who invents a secret and highly successful high-tech process that, it appears, most of the free world would like to get their hands on. His own company may not be dealing with him fairly, and competitors are lurking around every street corner and kiddie carousel in New York (not to mention Caribbean hideaways) hoping to steal, cajole, or trick him out of the formula. The plot is as full of switchbacks as a mountain highway, and the delights are in watching it unfold around Scott, who is not so much of a naif that he doesn't catch on that not only his formula, but his life, are in dire danger. Steve Martin is consummately assured--and scary as hell--as a wealthy big shot determined to come out on top. David Mamet's script is refreshingly free from his trademark mannerisms; it's his most satisfying film since 1987's Read more

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Reviews (143)

Not worth it!
The Spanish Prisoner had a great storyline but the acting was terrible. Not to mention the lightening in the film made it seem like a Lifetime movie (no offense). Rent at best, but not worth buying.

Perfect
Loved this movie.It had great mystery and tongue and cheek humor at the same time.I really don't want to give anything away because I knew nothing about this film when I saw it, which was great because there were so many twists that kept me completely interested throughout.The main character, Joe, can't trust anyone and you'll see why.Enjoy.

Good movie
This movie is really good. The actors and the plot of the story are good. The movie is really long. The idea behind this movie is smart.
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Editorial Review

While scoring high-profile credits as a screenwriter (including Read more

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Reviews (60)

Film-Noir at It's Best
Film-noir is hard to do. Film-noir isn't about plot; It's about mood, tone, and look. When it was originated in the 40s, it was all very well done by directors who didn't know they were making "noir." Now that directors actually set out to do that, it usually doesn't succeed. In "Body Heat," the directorial debut of Lawrence Kasdan and the screen debut of Kathleen Turner, he crafts noir in a 40s-ish way but never fails to remind you in almost every scene that the film takes place in the 1980s. William Hurt, in his second film (just a year or two before he'd win an Oscar for "Kiss of the Spider Woman") plays a lawyer named Ned Racine. Ned lives in Florida (where a heat wave seems to be occuring), is lazy and cocky and has a way with women. Then he meets Matty (Turner), a married woman that manages to exert sexiness with her clothes on rarely seen since Marilyn Monroe died. Ned and Matty being a passionate love affair, but soon Matty explains that her husband needs to die.
Awesome edition to anyone's collection
REVIEW DISCLAIMER: My review is based on the VHS release, and anticipation of this Deluxe edition DVD, to be released October 24, 2006.
You're Not Too Smart, Are You? I Like That In A Man.
I don't want to age myself--but I fell in love with this movie when it came out some 25 years ago.I have owned both the VHS and the cheapie DVD and have seen the film dozens of times through the years.While I was thrilled to see a Deluxe Edition headed my way--in truth, the features don't really seem all that Deluxe.Disappointing, really, but with this film I'll take anything I can get.
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Editorial Review

Guy Pearce (Read more

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Reviews (983)

Possibly the best movie I've ever seen
I watched the entire movie with my mouth open, glued to the screen. (Well, almost :) ). I have never before, and not afterwards, found a movie that was quite as good as this one in terms of captivation, plot, and the idea. The story sucks you in, and your brain is working the entire movie trying to figure out exactly what's going on. On my first take, I didn't quite get the outcome, so it took me some time and watching it again to really figure it out.
If not the greatest, then the most original thriller ever put on film.
"Memento" eclipses everything which preceded it, and set the bar so high it may never be topped.And all for $5 million in production costs.
"We all need a mirror once in a while to see who we are"
Memento is the ultimate whodunit mixed with time-space conundrums.It swallows up the competition in this department, but maybe that is because it's near overload.Forward, back,.Two steps back one step forward. After a while it feels like I'm watching Jeopardy!I'm always getting the answers, and finding out how they turned out that way can end up being half the fun.
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Editorial Review

Oliver Stone used such words as "liberating" and "fun" to talk aboutRead more

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Reviews (90)

My two-cents worth...
This is a great, dark, funny, scary, roller-coaster ride of a modern noir B-movie that felt like it was discovered in Jim Thompson's waste paper bin.It might be pastiche, but it's entertaining pastiche.I don't know!Give you people a good film and, firstly, you don't go and see it and, secondly, if you do catch it on DVD, all you do is moan, moan, moan, not even like would-be critics but distributors or accountants.Everyone knows by now that the B pictures are usually much better than the A pictures.Now, of course, they make B pictures with A budgets.True pulp should be made for chump change, not $20 million, with big stars.For me, Stone is interesting but deeply flawed.He just loves the big subject.Here he has virtually no subject at all, and it's great fun seeing him take a breather and let his hair down.I understand this did no, or little, business but now has cult status, which is justice of a sort and probably the best you can hope for these days.Hay, lighten up.Have a few beers and slip it on the DVD.If you're disappointed then you have no taste and deserve what the studios throw at you.By the way, I'm an English noir fan.What do I know?

soundtrack ruined it
Oh man, this movie was so hard for me to stay interested in. The story had potential to make a adequate drama/thriller, if only it had been directed right.
Did I really just watch this? 2.5 stars
U Turn is an extremely bizarre movie from Oliver Stone. It has a great cast and god plot. After the plot is introduced, a man wanders into a crazy town..well everything then goes to hell.
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Reviews (8)

Wait a moment and read this before purchasing
The other reviews of this movie are way too kind.There is very little "steam" in this movie.Not a bad plot, but let's be honest, that's not why we watch these direct to video / cinemax softcore movies.Joan Severance does look good as usual.However, the erotica scenes are few and far between and there is virtually nothing more revealing in the unrated version so don't spend your $ here.Joan looks at her best putting on shiny white thigh highs underneath a tight yellow dress, but nothing happens with her and this luscious outfit.A complete waste.This is bound to disappoint so don't be misled by the other reviews.

Joan Severance in noir type thriller
It's Joan Severance. Yeah, she's blonde in this one, but it's still Joan Severance. Black Scorpion. Need I say more? Three stars for the appearance by Joan Severance.

Average erotic thriller, made more delicious by Severance
I saw the unrated version of this movie a few years back and I've been leery of buying the R-rated version for fear of significant edits. It's an average B-movie potboiler about an ex-con who finds work and a lot more than he bargained for at a diner in the middle of nowhere.Read more

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Editorial Review

Set more than a decade after the story in Read more

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Reviews (32)

As Good As It Gets
Usually sequels are not as good as the original films they follow...one need only think of,say"Jaws"to get this point..But with "The Two Jakes"the sequel to"Chinatown"the sequel is every bit as good as the original...The film follows the main charecter from "Chinatown",detective Jake Gittes,who has a new and disturbing case that has threads reaching back into time and inter-connecting with the original plotline..Many of the stars from the original reprise thier roles,most notably Jack Nicholson,who also directed..At the time of its original theatrical release the critics were not kind to the film,or to the director/star...Perhaps this was to have been expected,inasmuchas "Chinatown"ranks high on the list of"Best ever"films..
Not Better Than Chinatown, But What Is?
"The Two Jakes" is the sequel to "Chinatown." Chinatown is one of my favorite films, it's number 19 on AFI's Top 100, it won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Robert Towne. A sequel didn't seem necessary, and it's not, but this somehow managed to work. This movie has the formula for a bad sequel; different plot, different actors, different director. Well, not different actor's...Only one character returns from Chinatown, the plot is semi-related, and Jack Nicholson is the director. He's not bad either. The script is by Robert Towne, which is even more surprising. I can't believe he would be inspired to write a sequel. The Two Jakes was made 16 years after Chinatown (in 1990) and it does take place a significant amount of years later; But Jack is still Jake. Nicholson returns as Jake Gittes, our protagonist who walked away from a death at the end of Chinatown. The events from that movie still plague him, but he still does what he does best...He's a private investigator and frequently investigates what got him caught up in all the trouble from the first movie...Marital infidelity. Gittes is investigating whether Jake Berman's (Harvey Keitel) wife is cheating on him, and she is. When Gittes schedules the confrontation, Jake (the Keitel one) shoots his wife's lover...Who also happens to be his business partner. Now Jake (the Nicholson one) is caught up in another conspiracy, which might be directly linked to his past. If you haven't seen Chinatown, don't see The Two Jakes.
Can murder or suicide ever be truly altruistic?
This is the kid sister of Chinatown.She is not as clever or as pretty as her elder, but she raises the same question:Why do we go to Jack Nicholson movies anyway?There are many allusions to Chinatown and lots of characters to figure out how they fit in.Be careful and don't take it any more seriously than it takes itself and it is reasonably amusing. ... Read more

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Editorial Review

Of all the Philip Marlowes, Robert Mitchum's in Read more

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Reviews (20)

Lots of dark scenes in old L.A.
If you know the story it doesn't matter. The moody noir atmosphere is everything in this film. It is the type of movie that can be viewed multiple times. The acting by the veteran actors are authentic for the period. The pacing is right on target and viewing this picture is like going back in a time machine. It captures a time and place in L.A. of the early forties and the story proceeds without any pretense or glamor. They must re-release this film at all costs.

Somebody please release this!
That this film is not currently available on DVD is a dirty shame, as it is among Mitchum's best performances, certainly of his later career as a grizzled vet of the vestiges of life.The film-makers manage to effectively incorporate Mitch's advanced age into this fine adaption of Chandler's novel, giving the film a melancholy, borderline-nostalgiac feel.One can fantasize of John Huston directing Mitchum, say, twenty years earlier, but never mind:"Farewell" is a classic in its own right, benifiting from the success of Polanski's "Chinatown" and the baby boomer's appreciation of film noir and Bogart-era private-eye pictures.Excellent supporting performances abound:John Ireland (one of his best turns), Harry Dean Stanton (in a small role), Anthony Zerbe (before he became almost a cliche).Charlotte Rampling is a deliriously sexy mix of class and trash, and do not miss a couple of scenes with Mitchum and Sylvia Miles that are just perfect.Hey, that is none other than pulp-noir genius Jim Thompson in a tiny but memorable role.His one and only acting job allowed Thompson was able to get much-needed medical insurance.

She was a charmingmiddle aged lady with a face like a bucket of mud.
Apparently, many people regard this movie as a classic.I loved it when I first saw it.
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Editorial Review

Psychological twists and turns strangle the plot of this disappointing effort from the director of Read more

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Reviews (69)

Truly Impressive
A psychological thriller that glazes over every serious psychological issue it remotely touches. If you can't figure out the surprise plot twist after the first twenty minutes, get your eyes checked. Jane March embarrasses herself as the femme fatale, while Bruce Willis actually isn't too bad as a psychiatrist. Still, an appallingly inept and often laughable whodunit.A very guilty pleasure and entertaining trash.
Lots of skin, not a lot of brains
I give this movie 4 stars for one reason...skin...Janes and Bruces...I have to say that each of these attractive individuals shows off more than one can chew...Miss March may not be much of an actress but she looks good naked, and while this is not Mr. Willis's finest performance, he sure had me standing at attention (good god is he hot)...anyways, the plot is good but the script was wack...would have been much much better had the script been tweaked a bit.Bruce is a great actor and I feel did what he could with what he had to work with (which wasn't much) but the sex scenes were hot and did I mention theres a lot of skin...my only dissapointment with Bruce's nudity was that his butt cheeks were whiter than white (although he still looks good and you do see a full frontal shot).No complaints about Miss March because she showed alot and was smoking hot the entire movie...noce rack sweetheart...ANyways, if you want a good movie skip this one...if you want to see to extremly hot people having gratuitus sex in a pool in a bed on a table and in a shower with male and female nudity then get this movie...

One of the dumbest movies that I've ever seen.
Back in the early 90's, Jane March made a big splash internationally with her uninhibited performance in the sexually explicit The Lover. Granted, the role didn't give her much to work with, but from a physical standpoint she made a big impression on a lot of filmgoers, including me. The movie garnered her a lot of notoriety and she had every opportunity to use that as a spring-board into a legitimate movie career. Unfortunately, choosing the unbelievably stupid Bruce Willis vehicle Color of Night as her follow-up probably killed any chance at a career that she had.
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Reviews (6)

As a former New Orleanian....
...I find this a very entertaining film. Growing up in another state, this was my first introduction to southern Louisiana in any form and a teasing glimpse of the city I knew I must one day call home...at least for a while. I find the acting in this movie exquisite from the ENTIRE cast; this being almost the one time that I found any of Melanie Griffith's work to remotely resemble her talented mother's. As for the characters, having lived and travelled often in that part of the country I find them most believable and their dialogue quite adequate. True, some of the plot is a bit of a stretch, but this is a drama and even the Greeks jazzed up their work; no pun intended. This is a good glimpse into the world of a people who guard their secrets like they guard their family names and community status. A world that still exists in New Orleans.

Paul Newman delivers a great performance...
This mystery is a great way to showcase Paul Newman's superb acting skills. Without him, this film, would not have worked. The film is an odd mystery that takes many odd turns, without subtle hints that are few and far in-between, so, you'd assume figuring out who the killer is would be difficult. Yet, towards you get it right at the beginning, despite the fact they never investigate the suspcet you get a feeling of who it is. Paul Newman, none theless gave it all, as always. He is an amazing actor, and the movie is worth seeing just for his baby blue eyes, and intelligent police work. Without him, as I said, it wouldn't work. I would have had to give it a 1 or 2 stars without him

Newman in N'awlins...or at least Louisiana!
This fine film is not a mystery, though some methodical detective work occurs.It is not a drama, though some very broken lives are exposed.It is Paul Newman exploring the backwoods and bayous of Louisiana, meeting a host of eccentric--but not, as another reviewer suggested, unrealistic--characters driven by greed, envy, selfishness, and in Newman's case, personal integrity.Read more

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Editorial Review

Destined for cult status, this provocative thriller offers a grab bag of genres (gangster movie, comedy, sexy romance, crime caper) and tops it all off with steamy passion between lesbian ex-con Corky (Gina Gershon) and a not-so-ditzy gun moll named Violet (Jennifer Tilly), who meets Corky and immediately tires of her mobster boyfriend (Joe Pantoliano). Desperate to break away from the Mob's influence and live happily ever after, the daring dames hatch a plot to steal $2 million of Mafia money. Their scheme runs into a series of escalating complications, until their very survival depends on split-second timing and criminal ingenuity. Simultaneously violent, funny, and suspenseful, Read more

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Reviews (138)

Betrayal
Action and intrigue in this sexy movie underline the power of love to overcome the greatest fear- betrayal.Corky is the jaded jailbird just trying to live in the world again who meets and is seduced by the voluptuous Victoria - much smarter than her glamour girl visage would suggest.As they plot together the opening scene sets the tone for someone getting caught but all guesses are off as to who turns on whom with a surprise ending for the jaded set who believe that trust is the last element of the underworld.Ultimate greed and evil shine through a high level mobster Caesar, Victoria's very dangerous boyfriend.It is a clever plot with a redeeming ending to a sometimes gory mobster film with tense moments throughout and few expected outcomes.Great plot, great acting, great ending!

Love and greed
The best part of this movie is Joe Pantoliano's performance as an ingratiating, numbingly vicious gangster, convincingly interposing the smarminess with the cruelty.There are a number of ganagster characters exhibiting horrifyingly graphic viciousness.Pantoliano's moll is Jennifer Tully, and her lover is Gina Gershon.Both turn in adequate performances, making this a fairly entertaining movie.The sex scenes are predictable, and Gershon's performance as a blue collar lesbian who is a pretty good handyman seems a trifle contrived.The pair scheme to steal 2 million dollars.Will they get away with it?Will they betray each other?The suspense is not exactly nail biting, but on the whole the movie delivers.

100% Excitement, Danger, and Interest
This movie isn't just for one kind of audience, I think any kind of person would appreciate this amazing film. "Bound" is full of everything that I believe makes a film great: Money, sex, violence, danger, and women who rock. After I put it into my DVD player, I was hooked.
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Editorial Review

Annette Bening twists like a mink on a leash through Stephen Frears's adaptation of Jim Thompson's novel. This may be the perfect trope for the moral hysteria that coils around a mother, her son, and his girlfriend in this slender but highly pleasurable neo-noir. Small in effect and local in scope, the film is about small-fry, attractive, bloodless con artists who view the world as neatly split between ropers and suckers, grifters and squares. "Grifter's got an irresistible urge to beat a guy that's wise," an old-timer tells Roy (John Cusack). And yet the three characters here--played by Angelica Huston, Cusack, and Bening--only beat the innocent: Lilly (Huston) gigs at the track for a mobster named Bobo, putting wads of cash on long-shot horses to even out the odds. Roy, her son, swindles citizens by dimes and degrees, flashing twenties at bars then paying for his beer with tens. His girlfriend, Myra (Bening), is hustling herself, her salad days as a long-con roper behind her. Theirs is a world of gut punches and smart lines, and the adrenaline these cheats and chiselers live by is palpable onscreen. But a larger canvas? Maybe it's there as a parallel universe. "What do you sell again?" Myra asks Roy, the matchbook salesman. "Self-confidence," he says, a wry allusion to the confidence game all three of them are playing. The movie boasts dazzling turns by Bening, Cusack, and especially Huston, whose Read more

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Reviews (45)

Perhaps the best of the 90s genre
Perhaps this was the best directorial accomplishment for Stephen Frears. Perhaps it was the roles of a lifetime for Huston, Cusack and Bening. Perhaps, no definitely, it was the best crime film of its time.
I want to keep my teeth.
To me, The Grifters reminded me of a plain cheese sandwich.While you specifically order the sandwich for the "cheese" element, without the bread there would be no sandwich at all.When you take a bite, the softness and delicate nature of the bread will give you your first impressions of the rest of the sandwich.It is the first and last thing you taste, so it needs to remain consistent, tasty, and fresh.The Grifters was the bread to your average sandwich.The beginning and end of this film was innovative and creative as was the darkly depressing ending, just like a slice of fresh bread, but the center of the film left much to be desired.The center of the film ruined the entire cinematic experience due to its lack of direction, consistently poor filler, and sub-par feeling that this wasn't the best cheese sandwich ever made, but instead just one created for the masses.It was disappointing to see this film implode from the inside, but one cannot shake those breathtaking moments that anchored this film out of their mind.Director Frears did a decent job, but I think that if Scorsese would have helmed this project, it would have been something entirely different ... and enjoyable.
The Grifters: the undercraft of pretendeds
We watch the opening titles against a series of black and white stills of a 1950's Los Angeles. The music is nervous and bleak like the droning business of an impassive throng of insects. The last shot is of the city at night, from a distance--only so many halo-ed points of light in a black that pushes the skyscrapers into an unaffecting doom. We then cut to the film proper and to a sensational opening set-piece: the camera is following Lily Dillon as she enters a race track. She steps onto an escalator and the camera falls back and watches her rise. The screen splits and, while the camera looks up at Lily, it is looking down at her son Roy who is getting out of his car. As both cameras begin to rise and lower to their respective subjects, the screen then splits in three and we now see Roy's girlfriend Myra approaching a jewelry shop. The cameras are now level with all three characters and slowly move in as they stand before the entrance of the betting parlor, the bar and the jewelry store. Lily, Roy and Myra all turn around, look right and then left, and then turn to enter. They are grifters, con-artists, masters of short performances in charm and diversion. Lily places bets on long shots at the track to lower the odds and the pay-outs of the bookies for whom she works. Myra specializes in big-time investment scams, but she's short a partner, down on her luck and looking to seduce her mark. Roy works on another and lower order, short-changing bartenders, rolling trick dice for a soldier's pay or making bar bets for quarters and dimes. But whatever the dimensions of their grift--their con--they all feel the same need to take that one last look before going under.
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Reviews (15)

Harper on DVD in November. Deserves another IT'S ABOUT TIME!
For those who are wondering why "Harper" (maybe Paul Newman's most important film) is not out on DVD well, the wait will be over: Warner Brothers announced that it will FINALLY release "Harper" in November as part of their Paul Newman Signature Collection box set. As that weren't enough the set will include the "Harper" squeal "The Drowning Pool", which will also be making its debut on disc. Expect "Harper" to be loaded with features including an audio commentary from its screenwriter William Goldman who has already done the A.C. to Newman's "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." I can't wait and bravo to Warner Brothers for having the guts to release two important films from the 60's on DVD: This movie and "Petulia." Hope "Any Wednesday" or "Kaleidoscope" would be next.

Paul Newman as Lew Harper/Archer

The school of cool...
Based on Ross McDonald's The Moving Target--one in a long series of crime novels featuring southern California PI Lew Archer--1966's Harper is a perfect complement to Point Blank, released the next year, in which Lee Marvin is tough first, cool second. Paul Newman as Harper is cool first, tough second.Neat trick.
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Editorial Review

David Mamet's Read more

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Reviews (113)

If you are a smart thief don't ever overawe or overlook another one!
David Mamet is a winner scriptwriterHe has always those hidden aces bellow the sleeve to surprise us with his enigmatic twists and turns.
Love of Gold...and Gene Hackman in Heist!
Heist great Movie.If you enjoy Danny Devito and Gene Hackman there is no doubt in my mind that you will enjoy watching Heist, a con movie about a gold heist big enough to retire the crew for life.There twists and side plots that will keep you completely engulfed in this movie.If you liked con (heist) movies like "Ocean's 11" or the more recent release "Criminal"(<---Another Good One), this is a must buy/rent.

One double cross too many...
Mamet does not write reality in my opinion. You hear some of the quotes and you tend to think: "Who talks like that?"