Sunday

Tuna
"Dirty Pretty Things"

Dirty Pretty Things (2002) is nominally a thriller about blackmarket sale of organs by illegal immigrants in London, but is really more of a character driven drama about these characters. Chiwetel Ejiofor was a doctor in Nigeria. When he refused to cover up a murder by a government official, they burnt his house with his wife inside, then charged him with the murder of his wife. He is now hiding in London, and working two jobs, one driving a mini-cab, and the other as night clerk in a hotel. One night, he is attempting to unclog a stopped toilette, and find a human heart. He can't very well go to the police, and when he tells his supervisor, he is told to ignore it.

He eventually discovers that his Russian boss is buying kidneys from illegals in return for forged identity papers. His love interest, Audrey Tautou, is in the country seeking political asylum, and is not allowed under law to work, but she has a job as maid at the hotel. Ejiofor is staying with her, which causes immigration to begin investigating her, and forcing her to change jobs. When the sweat shop owner at her new job requires a daily blow job from her, she decides that selling a kidney is worth the price for a passport and a US visa.

This is a wonderful story, and shows in great detail what life is like for illegals who do things nobody else will do for a living, but are in constant danger from immigration, and from those that exploit them. The international cast was uniformly excellent, and Tautou proves that Amelie was not a fluke. We get a very brief look at her left nipple.

IMDb readers have this at 7,8 of 10, and critics loved it. Ebert and Berardinelli both awarded 3 1/2 stars, and it has a 91% positive at Rotten Tomatoes. The only negatives complained that the director didn't focus on the thriller aspect. To most, that was one of the best things about it. This was a very fast watch, and a film I will be recommending to friends. B.

  • Thumbnails

  • Audry Tautou (1, 2, 3)

  • Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy)

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    MOVIE REVIEWS:

    Here are the latest movie reviews available at scoopy.com.

    • The yellow asterisks indicate that I wrote the review, and am deluded into thinking it includes humor.
    • If there is a white asterisk, it means that there isn't any significant humor, but I inexplicably determined there might be something else of interest.
    • A blue asterisk indicates the review is written by Tuna (or Junior or Brainscan, or somebody else besides me)
    • If there is no asterisk, I wrote it, but am too ashamed to admit it.

    Shiloh

    Words from Scoop.

    .avi's from Shiloh.

    .wmv files made by Scoop from Shiloh's .avi's.

     

    Various:

     

    Perhaps these tips will help if you have trouble with the codecs for these movies:

    Shiloh says:

    FYI when I hypercam vids to make the file size smaller I use DivX MPEG-4 Fast-Motion for the video compressor, then I use virtualdub to compress the audio. The properties for the vids says the video codec:  DivX Decoder Filter & audio codec:  Morgan Stream Switcher which I'm not familiar with. When I compress the audio with virtualdub I use MPEG Layer-3.  A friend of mine told me about compressing the audio about (6) mos. ago. Like I said previously, only been capping for a year & a half & I'm no expert. Hopefully this info will help members with the proper codecs for my vids.
     
    When I cap big brother's I use hypercam mostly & sdp & asfrecorder if the set up allows me. I stopped using camtasia cause the file sizes were always too big, could never figure out the process, over my head lol, plus it cost too much to buy in my opinion.

    A reader says:

    You mentioned that some users were having trouble with the videos on your site. There is a tool designed to determine what codec is needed for a video. http://www.headbands.com/gspot/ Hope this is useful to you or your users.

    Scoop says:

    I made the .wmv versions of each video. The codecs for these: Windows Video V8, Windows Audio 9. The upside of these is that you know the codecs, and they'll play in the Windows Media Player. The downside is that they are slightly larger, and slightly lower quality.

    PAL
    From the movie "The Men's Club"


    From the movie "Heartbreakers" (1984)

    Crimson Ghost
    Today the Ghost takes a look at the 1990 T and A flick, "The Invisible Maniac".

    • Dana Bentley playing a newscaster who has her clothes removed by the Invisible Maniac.
    • A .wmv of this scene with Dana Bentley

    • Debra Lamb, the Fire Eating exotic dancer you've probably scene is several no-budget movies. Here she topless, but without the fire. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
    • Debra Lamb .wmvs (1, 2)

    • Kalei Shallabarger, topless in scenes from her one and only film. (1, 2, 3, 4)
    • A .wmv of this scene with Kalei Shallabarger

    • Locker room nudity featuring the ladies of "The Invisible Maniac". (1, 2, 3, 4)
    • The locker room nudity in .wmv form (1, 2)

    • Melissa Anne Moore, the tall busty blonde shows off her jumbo jacks. (1, 2, 3)
    • .wms of Moore. (1, 2)

    • Shannon Wilsey...better known of course as 90's porn star Savannah. Here she is topless. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
    • .wms of this rare non-adult film appearance. (1, 2)

    • The ladies of "The Invisible Maniac" showing their bums in a shower scene
    • Shower scene .wmvs. (1, 2, 3, 4)

    • Stephanie Blake, exposing her breasts in two scenes. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
    • .wmvs of each scene (1, 2)

    • Tracy Walker, breasts and bum in scenes from her one and only screen appearance. (1, 2, 3)
    • (1, 2)

    Dann
    'Caps and comments by Dann:

    "21 Grams"
    This 2003 drama is an excellent movie. While I wasn't a big fan of the "jump-around" technique used to tell the story, I thought it was a great film with top-rate performances and terrific production overall.

    A tragic fatal traffic accident brings together three people from very different ways of life. How they interact and the eventual outcome makes this a very worthwhile film. This one is a must-see for most folks. Incidentially, 21 grams is not a drug reference. Supposedly a body loses 21 grams when you die.