Movies Watched -- The Fugitive (1993)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

130 minute running time so 30 minutes too long … 90s action movie, bus crash, train crash, dam dive, helicopters, subway fights, one-armed men, evil Big Pharma, Ralph “Who-are” Cifaretto, Tommy Lee Jones playing a jerk, which he does naturally … some nicely done twists, but this was just too damn long. John Farr recommended this one: “Over two three decades after its initial release, it's worth another peek if you haven't seen it since. As to first-timers — well, it'd be a crime to miss it.”

Provasic

Movies Watched -- Basic Instinct (1992)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

128 minute running time so 28 minutes too long … as if Hitchcock had made a soft-core porn thriller … this movie made a 22-year-old boy I know pretty horny at the time, but it just makes me laugh now … Verhoeven really went to town with all the Hitchcock stuff, the music, San Francisco, the blonde, the brunette, the rivalry, etc. Gorgeous police shrink has fake eyeglasses, Newman as D.A. in the classic leg-crossing scene, black and white Lotus Esprits (see why we had that poster of a red one on the bedroom wall?), lesbian love (super risqué in 1992), Lieutenant sniffs Douglas’s gun after the I.A. guy is shot (big laugh), no way a cop could afford that apartment in S.F., even in the early 1990s, lots of mentions of cocaine, Pizza Hut box for product placement, Michael Douglas age 48 in da club wearing a V-neck sweater with nothing underneath (another big laugh), Miss Crawford County, Pennsylvania’s bod still good at age 34, Douglas beat the hell out of that Mustang driving it up those S.F. steps, and he’s just fine after being hit by a car and then backed over … “magna cum laude pussy” (another big laugh), “She’s evil! She’s brilliant!” (another big laugh). Michael Douglas has a fantastic smoker’s voice, so much so that I think he got throat cancer (let me google that), so yeah, this is a classic in many ways (but not a John Farr reco). It’s way too long and dumb to get a green-go, though it’s good for laughs 30 years after the fact, and should be seen for nostalgia reasons.

Exactly what do you have in mind, Newman?.

Movies Watched -- Mystic River (2003)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

138 minute running time so 40 minutes too long … cellphones fairly new in 2003 and smartphones non-existent … Terrible fake Boston accents throughout … Sean Penn is sort of a so-so actor, I don’t know why he’s showered with praise, and he even won an Oscar for this?!? Give me a break. Big goofball Tim Robbins as best supporting actor a little more believable, but nah … hated the ending of this with Laura Linney saying her husband was a king and they’d rule this town, it’s just so dumb, cut all that out. Also cut out the storyline of Kevin Bacon and his silent wife, and cut out Dave’s wife losing her mind at the end, becoming a mumbling village idiot … the story is basically good (Dennis Lehane), abduction, trauma, childhood bonds, damaged adults, could he be a killer etc., but the movie was way too long and the acting was lame, Clint Eastwood needs a firm editor. John Farr recommended this but I sure wouldn’t.

Movies Watched -- The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

110 minute running time so ideally I could have cut out about 10 minutes, but I thought this movie was GREAT and I enjoyed every minute of it … I have no idea how it got into my queue, it’s not a John Farr recommendation, but I’m glad that it did … it’s a green-go for sure. Good story, well written, good acting, attractive people … loved it. Bitchy Julianne Moore with her bob cut smoking up a storm and driving a big Beemer. Surprised that I’ve never heard of this movie before.

Don’t f*ck with me, retard.

Movies Watched -- Gosford Park (2001)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

137 minute running time which means FORTY minutes too long, can you imagine sitting through all of this? It was like a full-employment act movie for old fogey British actors… I was very pleased to see Emily Watson though, who astonished me in Breaking the Waves (a great movie), and there was Kelly Macdonald, who is a brilliant actress … I can’t stand these Upstairs Downstairs period dramas… but John Farr liked it (predictably).

Movies Watched -- Body Heat (1981)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

113 minute running time so 13 minutes too long, but this was good, a green-go for sure. Alan Ladd had the good sense to underwrite Larry Kasdan in his first W.D. By movie … William Hurt with his 70s porn ‘stache, young Ted Danson with black hair … good dialogue, well written, film noir brought into the 80s … Hurt drives a ‘64 Corvette Sting Ray convertible … and I think Mary Ann Simpson drives a TR6, but I couldn’t really tell … lots of smokin’ and drinkin’ … “Please, Ned, do it.” He doesn’t ask, “Are you sure?” like I would have, ruining more than the movie … jogging and smoking, Pete Suttmeier style … young Mickey Rourke with earring (non fag ear) … look at the size of the rock that crooked bastard bought her … good story, well told, I enjoyed it though I definitely could have shaved 10 minutes off … John Farr recommends it too.

I can't stand the thought of him... He's small and mean... and weak.

Movies Watched -- Crash (1996)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

99 minute running time … weird, ridiculous, perverse, dumb… I have no idea how this ended up in my queue, it is NOT a John Farr recommendation. I don’t know anything about Cronenberg or Ballard, but this was just bad … oh, I remember now, Jessica Kiang loved this movie, which makes me wonder about her. Don’t see this, run away, er, drive away… two thumbs down.

Poor little Miata sacrificed for this terrible movie

Movies Watched -- Deliverance (1972)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

109 minute running to so 10 to 20 minutes too long … this is a classic though which everyone should see for the “squeal” scene alone, green-go … gorgeous Burt Reynolds may have been the sexiest man alive at age 35 and there’s young Jon Voight (Angie’s dad, talk about a nepo baby) … a “game of survival” in Northern Georgia, that’s southern Appalachia… John Farr also recommends this.

Where’s the law?

Movies Watched -- Duel (1971)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

90 minute running time … this was a made-for-TV movie shot in 12 days and I think 90 minutes is actually too long, it would have been better at 60 or 75 minutes … this is early Spielberg, his first full-length movie. It’s a classic in a way and deserves a green-go, I suppose. Dennis Weaver is well cast as the every man and he drove a 1970 Plymouth Valiant. John Farr recommends this movie too.

Get that fat-ass truck out of my way.

Movies Watched -- Single White Female (1992)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

108 minute running time so at least 10 minutes too long, but this is a classic, a psycho roommate tale, and I’m shocked that John Farr didn’t include it on his Best Movies list, it’s certainly a green-go. Maybe the gay neighbor getting smacked with a golf club put John off?

Scrawny Bridget Fonda (Peter’s daughter, talk about a nepo baby) and the wonderful Jennifer Jason Leigh both look great in their twenties … Barbet Schroeder said they had to tone down the sexiness to get nationwide release, but there’s still plenty of nudity.

Loved the cutting edge technology on display here, with an old Apple Macintosh and Compuserve getting a plug. Schroeder said he had a friend who lived in The Ansonia (2109 Broadway) so as he read the script he could picture all the scenes in the building (of course it was all filmed on set). I forgot how graphically violent it gets at the end, pretty over the top girl fight.

Movies Watched -- Sweet Country (2017)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

113 minute running time so 20 minutes too long … the Australian Outback in the 1920s and the roughnecks who lived out there and the poor native people they enslaved (and raped and murdered) … I liked this movie, but because of its length, I can’t give it a green-go, though John Farr did. Solid yellow rating though (consider).

Some sweet country out there. Cattle country. [said upon returning from Outback where his colleague had been murdered by savages]

Movies Watched -- Get Carter (1971)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

111 minute running time so about 20 minutes too long … gritty early 70s Newcastle, Michael Caine as tough guy, a hit man for the London mob who travels back to the north to investigate and then avenge his brother’s murder … about the criminal class, pornography, and there’s some humor in this to leaven the violence, which is always good. Shock ending. If they had shaved off 20 minutes then this would be a recommended movie, but it runs too long so I have to give it a yellow rating. John Farr recommends it though.

Be good. And don't trust boys.

Movies Watched -- Primal Fear (1996)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

130 minute running time so at least 30 to 40 minutes too long. Smarmy Richard Gere with his close-set eyes and expensive haircut. Laura Linney and her resting bitch face. Frasier’s dad playing a bad cop. Chinless Francis McDormand as gullible shrink. Star of the show was Edward Norton, who plays a very believable baby-faced dolt with fake southern accent.

Did the story make any sense? No. Why did Edward allow himself to get caught? How did he know Gere would defend him? Was he going to use the Jekyll and Hyde thing with a $40K a year public defender?

By the way, Gere’s car is a 1978 Mercedes-Benz 300 CD. Linney: “I don't need an old Mercedes. I don't need to see my resting bitch face on the evening news.”

But what a breath of fresh air that the Catholic archbishop was simply directing the kids from Savior House in his pr0n productions instead of molesting the altar boys himself.

They were able to check off two boxes by making the pushover judge both black and female, check check! John Farr recommended this, but it was way way too long and dumb for me (but funny in its own way).

It’s raining!

Movies Watched -- How To Have Sex (2023)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

91 minute running time … I saw this in the theater and interestingly it was subtitled, which was essential since it featured these working-class British kids on holiday in Malia (which is on Crete, a Greek island) and I wouldn’t have understood half the dialogue without subtitles … anyway, I wasn’t thrilled with this … the blurb says it’s about these kids “navigating the complexities of sex, consent and self-discovery … and how first sexual experiences should – or shouldn’t – play out.”

It also touched on the topic of female jealousy and rivalry among “friends,” which I always find interesting. I guess it was realistic, but what was the message here? Tara’s experience was sort of awful, but not really that awful, as it is for a lot of, even most?, girls. I guess I was too dense to get that Tara’s “consent” wasn’t really consent. (See Jessica Kiang’s review below.) It’s complicated for sure. I thought the girls were all 18 years old, not 16 … the actresses were all in their 20s anyway.

It’s a W.D. By movie … “Molly Manning Walker” looks like a gay Millennial trust fund kid, but who knows. There was a homosexual relationship casually thrown in, which is a very Millennial thing to do.

From Jessica Kiang’s excellent review: “‘How to Have Sex’ is a different kind of Greek tragedy — no grand myth, just a heart-sore, everyday observation of what the world does to girls and what the world makes girls do to themselves.”

Movies Watched -- Dead Man Walking (1995)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

122 minute running time so 30 minutes too long … disc didn’t have subtitles so I was unable to watch / read it on fast forward … looked heavy and depressing and apparently based on a true story. This was a W.D. By movie by that goofy pinko Tim Robbins (half joking) … Susan Sarandon has nice even features and a terrible fake southern accent … this was a John Farr reco, but I couldn’t watch it, esp. at over two hours long. I did spend 25 minutes fast forwarding so I’m counting it as “watched.”

Lots of niggers down where you live. They knock each other off like beer cans off a fence.

Movies Watched -- Queen & Slim (2019)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

132 minute running time so around 40 minutes too long … this was way way too long, they tried to cram in all kinds of ideas and scenes and side stories (including a love story!) … it started out OK, sort of interesting, this innocent young couple chattering away, but everything quickly spiraled out of control once the key tragedy happened and it became a fugitives on the run thing … none of it was realistic, I mean their reactions, etc. I wasn’t thrilled with the politics of it either — a bunch of mixed and confusing messages and when the SPOILERS little boy shoots the black cop, it just took an awful turn. This was a bad recommendation from John Farr, who wrote it was “sadly all too believable.” Yes, the awful traffic stop was believable, but none of what followed was. Badly done movie about racism (that’s what it was about, right?) and just way way way too long.

Movies Watched -- Thieves Like Us (1974)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

123 minute running time so 30 minutes too long … another Robert Altman movie from the 70s, a re-make of They Live By Night (which is a classic Nick Ray movie I own) … Shelley Duvall plays a good “picayune” dimwit “Keechie” and Keith Carradine is good as lucky crook “Bowie” … this wasn’t terrible, but it was just too darn long. John Farr recommended it for it’s “breezy, old-timey feel,” but it was just too darn long for me. Breaking Chickasaw out of prison was a pretty classic scene though, as was throwing him out of the car when he was complaining too much, I laughed hard there.

I already am mixed up with you.