Category Archives: Saturday Matinee

Saturday Matinee: The Long Kiss Goodnight

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The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), Lookback/Review

Overlooked, underappreciated, Geena Davis headlining an action flick with Samuel L. Jackson as her wisecracking, foulmouthed sidekick. White girl, Black guy buddy movie. Some of us here LOVE this movie.

By Tony Sokol

Source: Den of Geek

There are rumors and rumors of rumors that a sequel to Renny Harlin’s The Long Kiss Goodnight is in the works. I inexplicably missed the original when it came out and dismissed it as just another action flick. I was more than surprised at how prescient a movie it was at the time. The nineties was an adventurous time for filmmaking. Increasingly influenced by music videos, a lot of the art showed dark overtones, in bright colors and quick cuts. Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs brought a sense of low-budget high-octane fun and breakaway banter back into the movies. He also expanded on the naturalistic acting styles in Barry Levinson’s conversational film Diner that let everyday small talk happen while allowing the plot to move along as it might. On the surface, The Long Kiss Goodnight is a fast-paced adventure movie with a quick wit, an accelerating pace, famous locations, and a female hero that performs too many impossible physical feats. Underneath it is an allegory to the growing paranoiac conspiracy theories that are now flooding into the mainstream. The movie references the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and Samantha Caine’s transformation into the regrettably-named Charly Baltimore can be seen as an allusion to sleeper-agent multiple personality assassins.

1996’s The Long Kiss Goodnight was the second movie in a row that director Renny Harlin made with his then-wife Geena Davis. Davis played a pirate in the previous year’s Cutthroat Island. Harlin previously directed The Adventures of Ford Fairlane and Die Hard 2 which were edited simultaneously and released just a week apart. Die Hard 2 was a huge hit and Ford Fairlane starred Andrew Dice Clay.  Harlin started his career by directing Finland’s most expensive film and the slashers Prison and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. The screenplay was written by action movie pioneer Shane Black who also wrote Lethal Weapon, Lethal Weapon 2, The Last Boy Scout and The Last Action Hero. Alan Silvestri composed the Original Music and the Cinematography was by Guillermo Navarro.

Geena Davis plays Samantha/Charly, the ultimate sleeper agent. Davis was probably best known as Thelma from Thelma and Louise, but had also made Dustin Hoffman stutter in Tootsie and acted in a string of movies including The Fly, Beetlejuice, A League of Their Own, Quick Change, Earth Girls are Easy and won an Oscar for Accidental Tourist. Besides being an actress, Davis is also a late-blooming Olympic archer and a member of Mensa. According to the Gene Mustain and Jerry Capeci true-crime book Murder Machine, Geena Davis occasionally babysat for mobster Dominick Montiglio’s kids. Montiglio was a member of Roy DeMeo’s assassination crew. The DeMeo crew hired  sociopathic family guy Richard “The Iceman“ Kuklinski (who lived across the street of a friend of mine when I was a kid) for wet jobs and Hollywood made a movie out of The Iceman in which Geena Davis snorts coke in a cameo. Davis was nominated for a Saturn Award for her performances as Samantha/Charlie. Samuel Jackson seems to be lit by some inner fire. He brings a damaged humanity and vulnerability to the wildest of roles. He brings more than wisecracks to private detective Mitch Hennessy. He puts tangible fear and uncertainty behind the bluster.

Amnesia chick Samantha Caine thinks she is a single mother and schoolteacher living in the small, suburban town of Honesdale, Pa. who is dating a nice guy. She suffers from “focal retrograde amnesia.” She has a daughter, Caitlin (Yvonne Zima), but she can’t remember the father. She hires Mitch Hennessy, a private detective who pulls small extortion cons, to find out who she used to be. An automobile accident activates Samantha’s “inner landscape” and she begins to remember her other personality, Charly, the woman she used to be. Originally mistaking herself for a chef, because she’s very handy with large kitchen knives, she begins to have more realizations of her past. Hennessy’s partner, Trin (played by Melina Kanakaredes, who has gone on to become a TV fixture as Dr. Sydney Hansen on Providence and as Det. Stella Bonasera on CSI: NY ), gets a major clue to her identity from a suitcase left in the attic of a boarding house. Saved from an assassination attempt by a very durable refrigerator door, Samantha takes off with Hennessy to unravel the clues and assemble a Remington rifle. They contact Dr. Nathan Waldman (Brian Cox) who tells Samantha that she never existed, that she was created as a cover identity for Charlene Elizabeth “Charly” Baltimore, a CIA assassin who disappeared eight years ago to resurface as a one of Santa’s elves on a parade float. Samantha and Hennessy take a trip to the Garden State to see her former fiancé Luke (David Morse), who turns out to be Daedalus, her last assassination assignment. Awkward. Charly kills Daedalus for reminding her who she is, grabs Hennessy and goes after her old CIA boss Leland Perkins (Patrick Malahide) who’s now working with an old nemesis from PsyOps Timothy (Craig Bierko), who is probably Caitlin’s daddy, to do a fund raiser for the CIA. No, they’re not gonna bake cookies. They’re going to tease conspiracy theorists for years:

Hennessy:

Fund raiser?

Perkins:

1993, World Trade Center bombing, remember? During the trial one of the bombers claimed the CIA had advanced knowledge; the diplomat who issued the terrorists visa was CIA, it’s not unthinkable they paved the way for the bombing, purely to justify a budget increase.”

Hennessy:

You’re telling me that you’re gonna fake some terrorist thing just to scare some money outta congress?

Perkins:

Well unfortunately Mr. Hennessy I have no idea how to fake killing 4,000 people, so we’re just going to have to do it for real. Oh, blame it on the Muslims naturally, then I’ll get my funding.

Sound familiar? It should, dozens of 9-11 references are supposedly found in movies and TV shows (Short-lived X-File spinoff Lone Gunmen’s pilot was about a thwarted World Trade Center bombing) made before 2001. There is a movement of people who believe that Hollywood power brokers knew all about it.

Geena Davis does a magnificent job playing the dual roles of Samantha and Charly. Although we are led to believe that Charly is the real person that she used to be, there are enough hints that she may be a Delta programmed assassin with multiple personalities. This might explain her enhanced abilities. Charly’s almost a superhero, she can grab a gun from a burning man while in free-fall and shoot a target dead in the eye, she can shoot open a block of ice for a soft landing with an automatic weapon, she can outrun an incendiary bomb, she’s better than Xena. She has an epiphany while standing naked in front of a mirror. A lot of people who say they are MK Ultra mind control survivors use mirror imagery. She switches between alters, from gleefully skewering a tomato into a wall with a carving knife, because “chefs do that” to threatening her kid to skate, “Life is pain, get used to it.” We learn that Charly has been around the intelligence community from the time she was a kid, her father was in the Irish military. Recruited into spy work in spite of her violent tendencies, Charly sometimes also changes into a sex kitten personality, another theme from MK Ultra conspiracy threads.

The Long Kiss Goodnight was prescient about quite a few things besides the growing trend to female action heroes. For every “the last time I got blown candy bars cost a nickel” there is a subtle nod to mind-blowing paranoid possibilities. This is a conspiracy movie posing as an adventure flick.

Watch The Long Kiss Goodnight on Pluto TV here: https://pluto.tv/en/on-demand/movies/the-long-kiss-goodnight-1996-1-1?utm_medium=textsearch&utm_source=google

Saturday Matinee: Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

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By Roger Ebert

Source: RogerEbert.com

At a time when so many movies show such cold-blooded calculation, here’s one heedless enough to be fun. “Little Shop of Horrors” arrives with enough baggage to make it into a thoroughly timid project – what is less likely to make a fresh movie than a long-running stage hit? – and yet the movie has the offhand charm of something that was concocted over the weekend.

This is not only a musical and a comedy, as we expected, but also a revue of sorts: Comic actors such as Bill Murray, John Candy and James Belushi have walk-ons, and Steve Martin almost steals the show as a sadistic, motorcycle-riding dentist. Yet at the heart of the movie is a basic sweetness, an innocence that extends even to the centerpiece of the story, which is a man-eating plant named Audrey II.

The plant makes its appearance one day in a flower shop window, having arrived from another planet. It immediately begins to grow, to look around itself, to attract attention and to exhibit an appetite for human blood. It also changes the lives of the three people who work in the store: the shop assistant, Seymour (Rick Moranis); the salesclerk, Audrey (Ellen Greene), and their kindly, blustering old boss, Mr. Mushnik (Vincent Gardenia). Suddenly, they have the sort of fame thrust on them that is usually reserved for lottery winners and people who survive freak accidents.

There are all sorts of people with ideas about how to exploit the wonderful plant, and others who wish it no good. The movie uses them as the occasion for gentle satire and broad comedy, and there’s the sense that “Little Shop” is amused by just about whatever comes into its mind. There is also a romance; Seymour falls in love with Audrey (I), but must win her away from the evil dentist (Martin), who roars around on a motorcycle and gives her black eyes.

Meanwhile, Audrey (II) inexorably grows, nourishing itself with blood from a nick on Seymour’s finger and developing a taste for human flesh. The progressive growth of the alien plant was, of course, one of the glories of the stage version of “Little Shop,” and the movie’s Audrey, designed by Lyle Conway and directed by Frank Oz, is a marvel of technique. The plant actually does seem to have a personality and is remarkably accomplished during its musical numbers.

Moranis also has developed a personality in this movie and, in a way, that’s as surprising as Audrey II’s achievement. After being typecast as a nerd on SCTV and in such limited and predictable films as “Strange Brew,” he emerges here as a shy, likable leading man in the Woody Allen mode. The movie sometimes makes his work look easy. But he has to carry a lot of the exposition and hold most of the conversations with the plant, and without him the movie might not have been half as confident.

Greene repeats her New York and London role as the human Audrey, and by now the wide-eyed, daffy blond with the pushup bra has become second nature. Her big musical number, “Suddenly Seymour,” has the bravado of a Broadway show-stopper even while undermining itself with satire.

The show is punctuated by musical commentary delivered by a Supremes-style trio (Tichina Arnold, Tisha Campbell and Michelle Weeks), that bounces around the flower shop’s inner-city neighborhood with a message of hope that seems somewhat optimistic, inspired as it is by a carnivorous plant, but fits right in with the movie’s good heart.

All of the wonders of “Little Shop of Horrors” are accomplished with an offhand, casual charm. The movie doesn’t labor its jokes or insist on its virtuoso special effects, but devotes its energies to seeming unforced and delightful. The big laughs, when they come, are explosive (such as the payoff of Martin’s big musical number), but the quiet romantic moments are allowed to have their coy innocence.

This is the kind of movie that cults are made of, and after “Little Shop” finishes its first run, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see it develop into a successor to “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” as one of those movies that fans want to include in their lives.

Watch Little Shop of Horrors for free here: https://soap2day.cool/watch-movie/watch-little-shop-of-horrors-free-10873.5306743

Saturday Matinee: The Package

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By Paul Willistein

Source: The Morning Call

“The Package” is not a neat little present, but rather one wrapped in a plain brown wrapper – and ticking.

What’s explosive about this thriller set in the glasnost era are the performances of Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones. As the movie races to its conclusion, it discards plot like bumpers and fenders flying from a car in a chase scene. Preventing the movie from coming to a crashing halt are Hackman’s and Jones’ performances.

Inside “The Package,” you’ll find Hackman quietly strong and Jones edgy. There’s a surprise: a steadfast Joanna Cassidy.

“The Package” begins in East Berlin where a disarmament conference between the Soviet Union and the United States is shattered by a terrorist attack which occurs on Sgt. Johnny Gallagher’s (Hackman) watch. Reprimanded, he’s given a more menial assignment, delivering a “package” (military parlance for a court-martialed serviceman) back to the United States to serve time.

Hackman and the serviceman (Jones) arrive while the president of the United States and the secretary general of the Soviet Union are meeting just before Christmas in Chicago (where Enrico Fermi’s experiments in the late 1930s led to the nuclear age) to celebrate the Cold War’s end. But Gallagher is brutally beaten in an airport men’s room. His “package” is gone. Checking service records through his ex-wife (Cassidy), Gallagher finds that he delivered the wrong man. Who, then, was the soldier he brought back to the States?

That’s when the twisted web of this political thriller unravels, with an ending worthy of “No Way Out,” another Orion Pictures release in which Hackman starred. “The Package” keeps you guessing, not unlike the Michael Caine starrer, “The Fourth Protocol” (also an Orion release; this studio is almost single-handedly preserving the political thriller genre). Not since “The Manchurian Candidate” has a movie provided so many chilling moments.

“The Package” does get bogged down by plot. A political thriller is nothing if not a well-oiled machine when it comes to plot – the more complex the better. But the plot must be internalized in the psyches of its main characters. Director Andrew Davis (“Above the Law,” “Code of Silence”) doesn’t show us enough of the interior life of Hackman and Cassidy, nor of Jones, for that matter.

Hackman, who’s played Lex Luthor, Superman’s nutty arch fiend, has Superman strength and determination in his heroic efforts in the movie’s latter third. It’s a credit to Hackman’s abilities that he makes it believable. Jones (“Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Stormy Monday,” TV’s “Lonesome Dove”) again plays a hateful character who you’ll find oddly appealing. Cassidy (“Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” “Blade Runner,” “Under Fire”) has a smallish role but elevates it handsomely (and she looks great in a uniform). There’s also John Heard (“Betrayed”) as the tight-lipped colonel, and Dennis Franz (Lt. Buntz of TV’s “Hill Street Blues”) as a likeable Chicago policeman.

“The Package” is slick and shiny. It will appeal to fans of Hackman, Jones and Cassidy, as well as those who enjoy political thrillers.

Saturday Matinee: The Thousand Faces Of Dunjia

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“The Thousand Faces of Dunjia” (2017) is a Chinese fantasy film directed by Yuen Woo-ping; scripted and produced by Tsui Hark, and starring Chengpeng Dong, Aarif Lee, Ni Ni, and Zhou Dongyu as the central core of a ragtag group whose mission is to defend humankind from ancient aliens. It’s a remake of Yuen’s 1982 film The Miracle Fighters.

Watch The Thousand Faces Of Dunjia on Hoopla here: https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/12064080

Saturday Matinee: Land of the Blind

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By Ms Mary Lou

Source: The News Blender

“A stale piece of bread is better than nothing.”

LAND OF THE BLIND is a 2006 film directed by Robert Edwards, and written by Edwards five years before. Its message about political corruption and complacency is so resonant that, even though it takes cues from historical figures throughout the centuries, we can still see our current climate reflected in it .

The film starts “Five Years Before” during the reign of President-For-Life Maximilian II (Tom Hollander). Having inherited the position from his father, Maximilian is equal parts politically clueless and personally gluttonous. He doesn’t understand why his constituents aren’t grateful when he commutes those sentenced to the gallows…by sending them to firing squads instead. Unable to stand any critique of himself, he murders his opponents when he can get away with it and sends them to the not-so-secret prisons when he can’t.

One of these prisoners is the de facto leader of the resistance, playwright turned political prisoner Thorne (Donald Sutherland). He’s been imprisoned for years for the crime of being critical of Maximilian. Despite having nearly all communication with the outside world cut off, his followers “The Citizens for Justice and Democracy” continue the movement he inspired. While they wage wars against the administration outside, Thorne is left to write his manifesto on the walls of his cell using any means available.

One of the guards assigned to him, Joe (Ralph Fiennes), serves as our everyman narrator. In the beginning he doesn’t consider himself political, just a man doing his job. The more he has conversations with Thorne, however, the more he sees the corruption in Maximiliam’s regime and becomes determined to help achieve change. From his cell Thorne runs for–and is elected to–parliament and is thus released to serve his term. Now that their leader is accessible the Citizens for Justice and Democracy spring into action.

Quickly Joe helps Thorne and his followers get into Maximilian’s castle. Within minutes Thorne puts Maximilian and his wife through a two minute trial in their bedroom, convicts, and executes them. The Maximilian II regime is over.

“Nothing is better than a big, juicy steak.”

With Thorne in the position of President-For-Life, change definitely happens. Maximilian’s indulgences are replaced with a strict moral code. All females are now forced to wear hijabs when outside the house. Re-education camps are opened to make sure everyone is in line with the nation’s moral code. This includes teachers, doctors, people who insist on wearing glasses, and anyone else not in line with the new morality. Children are separated from their parents in order to “fight the narcissism of family.” The revolution has occurred. Long live the revolution.

Joe is retired from the military and held up as a hero for his part in the revolution. He isn’t as thrilled with Thorne’s changes. When pressured to sign a loyalty oath, Joe refuses out of principle. He points out to Thorne that “before the revolution man exploited man. Since the revolution it’s the other way around.” That is enough to get Joe sent to the re-education camps.

What happens in the camps would be unfathomable if I didn’t know how much of this movie was based on historical events. There is physical torture, psychological torture, relentless pressure to accept anything and everything he’s told to believe. Can Joe survive with himself intact and is it worth it if he does?

“Therefore, a stale piece of bread is better than a big, juicy steak.”

LAND OF THE BLIND is not a movie for everyone. There are a lot of questions left unanswered. We don’t learn the characters’ histories. In the end there is no comfortable resolution. The movie will be fascinating for those who know history; they’ll be able to recognize the patterns that have happened and even recognize some that are still going on. Even those who can’t see when Idi Amin or the Khmer Rouge are referenced can still appreciate the movie on its own. The actors are all well cast in their roles and their journeys are completely believable. The music, composed by Guy Farley, is appropriately unsettling and comes in at just the right moments to keep the viewer on edge. Robert Edwards is a master at balancing actual history with a compelling story. I like to watch this movie whenever I find myself getting politically complacent. It’s a reminder that it’s not enough to stand against something; you have to also know what you’re standing for.

Watch Land of the Blind on Hoopla here: https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/14779187

Saturday Matinee: Dragons Forever

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By Chrichton

Source: Chrichton’s World

If the majority of the Peking Opera School brothers are involved then you just know it is going to be good. Next to usual suspects Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao Yuen Wah (on screen) and Corey Yuen (off screen) are brought into the mix to deliver this martial arts gem. The combination of action and comedy is nothing new to these guys. But romance? That one surprised me because that is not something they do often. And even when it borders to the more sentimental and cheesy kind I could appreciate it since most of it seemed sincere and convincing.

But there are other little surprises that makes Dragons Forever a lot of fun. The first one that sticks out is Yuen Biao’s character Timothy Tung. Timothy is not quite right in the head. No real explanation is given other than that even friend Jackie Lung is surprised by his insanity.  When Jackie visits his friend he is met with a lot of hostility. At first he thinks it’s because he doesn’t recognize him. But even when saying who he is and showing his face up close Timothy still has trouble recognizing him. It’s so weirdly disturbing that it becomes hilarious. Especially since throughout the film he seems to be living in his own little world and his friend Jackie just leaves him be. Dismissing his behaviour as quirky and lovable. For example his Goldfish don’t live in aquariums but in tubes placed all over in his home. Actually it looked really cool. It did look like the fish were enjoying themselves. The other surprise is Jackie as a ladies man. I remember him playing a character like this in City Hunter but prior to this I had never actually seen him coming on to women in this fashion. Because usually he plays the straight and righteous guy who rarely crosses the line and in this film he has no trouble being unethical or hiring his friends to do some spying on the plaintiff. Even going so far in allowing friend Luke Wong (Sammo Hung) to seduce the plaintiff and he himself to become more than amicable with the plaintiff’s niece who also is a witness in the court case. This is where the romantic elements come in. Surprisingly these elements gave this film an edge. That and the tone change in the third act. Up until that time Dragons Forever is pretty light and comedic. But then things become real serious and super dark. In most films tone changes like this don’t work. But here they do since in the first two acts you have gotten to know the main characters and that despite their silly antics they do have their hearts in the right place. 

On top of that the action is top notch. Mostly combat based and the kind I really like and enjoy. It’s beautifully choreographed and exciting. The fights between the three dragons also are delightful since they seemed to be having a lot of fun beating each other up. What I really liked was how this action was blended with the comedy and romantic elements. The film flowed incredibly well and not once did I think that any of the elements fell out of place. Even when it became super dark at the end. But I think we got Sammo Hung and Corey Yuen to thank for that since they both directed this film. 

I don’t think I am the type who uses this term very quickly but when I do you can be sure that I mean it wholeheartedly. Dragons Forever is a masterpiece. If you never have seen this film you owe it to yourself to do so. It is easily one of the best films in the genre. 

Saturday Matinee: Natural Born Killers

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By Richard Propes

Source: The Independent Critic

Is “Natural Born Killers” an indictment of our current society that is so completely fascinated with crime, criminals and everything that waxes dramatic? Or, is it simply a glossy, stylized romp through random acts of violence?

Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers” takes the life of two of society’s rejects, Mickey and Mallory, and allows them to fall in love and embark on a nationwide killing spree that becomes fodder for the press, an obsession for law enforcement and, ultimately, they become folk heroes to the common man across America.

The film, which on the surface appears to be incredibly and over-the-top violent, is actually far less violent than many films with a lesser rating. While we see shootings and killings, the vision is seldom graphic in nature. These events are much more about attitude and atmosphere than they are the violence itself.

The word “intoxication” is the word I think of most when I think of the film “Natural Born Killers.” Mickey (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory (Juliette Lewis) become intoxicated by killing and the fame it brings…Reporter Wayne Gale (Robert Downey, Jr.) becomes intoxicated by the story, the ratings, the spotlight…Warden McClusky (Tommy Lee Jones) is intoxicated by his power and justice.

The script, by Stone and Quentin Tarantino, vividly brings to life this intoxication in scenes that often resemble television shows and other times take on such a psychedelic feeling that it almost feels like we’re in the middle of one of those lava lamps where you look through the hole and you see different visions every time you look in it.

“Natural Born Killers”, for me, is a visionary film because it sees the truth of our society and where we are headed. We are living in a world where celebrity allows you to get away with most anything, such as in the O.J. Simpson trial, and where even the most heinous criminal becomes an overnight celebrity. In “Natural Born Killers,” Stone and Tarantino are, to me, clearly saying that we can’t just blame the criminals for the deterioration of our society…it’s all of us who buy into the drama, the glamour and the excitement that allows the cycle to perpetuate.

Stellar performances, a powerful, insightful script, groundbreaking camerawork and the unique vision of Oliver Stone combine to make “Natural Born Killers” a bold, visionary film that may shock, may offend, may alienate…but, in the end, it is a film you will remember.

Watch Natural Born Killers on Hoopla here: https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/14507250