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Monday
Contact junior by writing junior@scoopy.com. Contact Scoopy by writing unclescoopy@msn.com. Contact Tuna by writing tuna@scoopy.com Send submissions to scoopy@scoopy.net
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Use this search device to seek additional information from amazon.com about any of the books or movies you read about here.
To see and use all the Funhouse features, you need Netscape 6.+ or MSIE 5.+.
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| Tuna
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"Ali"
Ali (2001) is a terrific film. It was an interesting choice to slow the pace in
act 3, which starts after Ali lost a decision to Frazier in his comeback attempt. I can only assume
they did it to build the suspense slowly for the finale, and to show exactly everything he was fighting for. It worked, as the finale is enough to have you off the sofa and shouting Ali ... Ali ... Ali. In the first two acts, there was far too much happening too quickly to grasp in one sitting. For instance, I think they showed us the King assassination, but it was a 20 second segment.
Act three also showed that his single biggest moral failure was his weakness for women. Scoops review did hit the real primary theme on the head when he quoted: "No Vietcong ever called me nigger." This single statement which so angered the American military/industrial establishment really crystallized the idea that, to understand Ali, you had to look at his life from his frame of reference. Arguable the greatest prize fighter of all time, his greatest battles and victories were not in the ring. I understood this film, and Ali, so much better than I did when I was living through it. Age and perspective really helps. If the film has a failing, I think it is that they crammed way too much into it, and assumed knowledge and intelligence on the part of the audience.
Will Smith, at least for me, generally plays the Fresh Prince of Bellair, no matter what film he is in.This time, he was Ali, from the opening scene where he is jogging and training for his first title fight, to the final victory. Scoop is also correct that this film is a C+, as it is too long and too cerebral for some tastes, but, if I was using the usual stars system, it would be at least 3 1/2. As you remember from Scoop's coverage, there is no nudity, but Jada Pinkett shows cleavage in a bra making love as his first wife. The scene is very hot, even though it is not explicit. This is a case where nudity would not have added anything.
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Jada Pinkett
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"Blind Heat"
Blind Heat (2000) has several pluses. It is shot in Mexico City, which has some lovely areas. There are several good action sequences. Easily the biggest plus is extensive nudity from star and executive producer Maria Conchita Alonso including full frontal. There are a few negatives. The bad guys are one-dimensional, and just way too evil. Also, some characters are playing both sides, probably to help explain some of the stickier plot points. Alonso and her husband, a computer company owner, come to Mexico for a merger. She is kidnapped by professional kidnappers, and held for $5M. Her hubby hires a negotiator rather than paying.
ALonso shows breasts in a sex scene with her husband, all three Bs bathing in a wash tub, and breasts again in a sex scene with one of her kidnappers. Alonso's facial odometer has logged a lot of miles since Moscow on the Hudson, but her body still looks great. As near as I can tell, this is a direct to vid, and is a so so 4/3 ratio transfer. It is an ok genre effort, and no more C+.
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Maria Conchita Alonzo
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"Best Men"
Best Men (1997) is a robbery hostage comedy that I did not find especially funny. A bunch of long time friends pick up one of their buddies who is released from prison, and go back to their small town for his wedding to Drew Barrymore. One of their number is the FBI's most wanted "Hamlet" bank robber, and son of the local sheriff who is running for mayor. The others have no idea. He stops in to rob the bank on the way to the wedding, and the rest interrupt to see what was taking him so long. They all end up as accomplices. They gain a friend in the bank, who, luckily for them, is an anti-establishment Vietnam vet and helicopter pilot who had been planning to rob the same bank. Everyone in the bank, and in town, knows them, but the arrival of the FBI sends things out of control.
A popular internet celebrity nudity site lists this film as an un-reviewed film with nudity, which is why I watched it. In fact, we have lots of cleavage from Barrymore, and an up-skirt that reveals her white bloomers on top of a moving bus trying to get on a hovering helicopter. IMDB readers have tis at 5.8 of 10, and Apollo says 62. For me, it wasn't awful, it was just not special. C.
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Drew Barrymore
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"The Deep End"
The Deep End (2001) was covered by Scoop when it was first released, and I am finally getting to it. Scoopy is exactly right that the film is way over-rated by the critics, especially since the plot premise doesn't work. The dead guy was not only only dating Swinton's son, but told everyone in his club , the Deep End, that he was going there that night. Even police in a jerkwater town like Tahoe City would question the son. Second, we are asked to believe that two hoods would really take a homosexual porn tape showing the dead guy and a minor to the police. With such a stupid premise, upon which the entire plot hinges, the film lost me before it was well started. Not only that, Swinton showed a dramatic range not quite as great as a dead stump.
The Lake Tahoe location was lovely, and the photography was top notch. It is a shame the story wasn't tighter. IF you can turn off your mind, there are pluses, including Swinton swimming in her underwear. I can't give it more than a C, although, in most cases, I am a half step lower than Scoop on this type of film.
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Tilda Swinton
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| Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy)
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Updates
Honte's site is updated - issue 101.
Links
Here's a tip for you evil youngsters. Perhaps you want to be
the next Magneto or Red Skull, but you just don't have a plan for world domination? The
evil plan generator writes
one for you. Funny stuff.
Movies
Catching up on reviews:
Star 80 is the
continuation of my (unscheduled) Mariel Hemingway tribute. An eerie and
multidimensional portrait of murdered Playmate Dorothy Stratten. Unique because
it dug deep into the embarrassment and shame that Stratten felt for having
walked out on the man who was single-handedly responsible for her fame.
Her husband and discoverer, Paul Snider, was a
small time sleazeball who could never fit into her new world. He was angry and
humiliated because he created her from scratch, forced her into a career she
resisted, and then was abandoned when she started hitting the big time.
It would have been simple to show the story
completely from Dorothy's POV, showing Snider as completely in the wrong, and
completely psychotic. But that would have lost much of the emotional impact.
Snider had good reason to feel like he got the shaft, and our feeling for him
vacillates between pity and contempt. We despise him, but the film keeps
reminding us that he was right about many things.
- Mariel Hemingway
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Politically incorrect joke of the day
Same joke as yesterday - but
suitable for all occasions:
Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter
and Richard Nixon are on an ocean liner when it hits an iceberg.
Nixon: We have to get off the ship! Run for
the lifeboats!
Reagan: What's a lifeboat?
Carter: What about the gentlemanly
principle of "women first"?
Nixon: Fuck the women!
Clinton: Do we have time?
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 I inexplicably determined
there might be something of interest.
- A blue asterisk indicates the review is written by Tuna (or Lawdog or
Junior or C2000 or Realist or ICMS or somebody else besides me)
- If there is no asterisk, I wrote it, but am too ashamed to admit it.
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| Graphic Response
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- Jane Fonda, very nice topless and rear nudity from 1978's "Coming Home".
- Lara Flynn Boyle, much heavier here than she is now, in fact she's practically a blimp in comparison. Yup, I bet she tips the scales at about 115lbs in these 'caps of her baring her bum in 1994's "Threesome".
- Lori Singer serious pokies in scenes from "Made in USA".
Be sure to pay Graphic Response a visit at his website. www.graphic-barry.com.
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| Scorpion
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| Aleksandra Kanrak and Araceli Jover |
Both show Breasts, Bum and Bush, in scenes from an episode of the late night series "Women: Stories of Passion".
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Julie Smith
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Great topless, and frontal scans of the ultra busty, B-movie babe! Links #3, 4 and 6 are excellent shower shots.
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| Hankster
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Scoop,
More from "Justine:Crazy Love". Daneen Boone is still all wet in the hot tub with a steroid abusing bad guy, and as well as a scrawny one. Then Bo Zena gets a little lovin' in the tub.
- Daneen Boone topless.
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- Bo Zena topless.
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| Variety
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Rachael Leigh Cook
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Showing some cleavage and pokies in the surprisingly entertaining "Josie and the Pussycats". Written and directed by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, who also wrote and directed "Can't Hardly Wait" (1998), as well as writing "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas" (2000), and "A Very Brady Sequel" (1996).
The plots for all of their films are very basic, but where I think they succeed is by injecting clever wit, offbeat humor, and many references that poke fun at pop culture. They definitely have a unique writing style that I enjoy.
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| Nicole Kidman |
Full frontal nudity in scenes from "Billy Bathgate" (1991), by Jotell.
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| Mila Kunis |
Great cleavage from the "That 70's Show" co-star in scenes from the straight-to-video flick "American Psycho II: All American Girl" (also starring Bill Shatner). Vidcaps my nmd.
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| Tawny Kitaen |
Yikes! Here is Tawny's mugshot from her recent arrest after beating soon-to-be-ex-husband Chuck Finley (pitcher for the Cleveland Indians). Hard to imagine this is the same Tawny that we all knew and loved in "Bachelor Party"!
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| The Funnies by Number 6
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| From the Mail Bag
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Scoops
Now that Jason X is out at the theaters, do you know if Lexa Doig shows some skin?
-W
Jr's reply:
I didn't make it out to "Jason part 2000" this weekend because I chose to spend my $8.50 on booze instead. But all the reports I have seen so far say that Lexa Doig does NOT show any skin.
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| Internet News
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A little FYI for all the surfers out there. Due to the recent legal action, Adult Check announced that as of Monday (April 29th) they will be removing ALL celebrity sites from the links page, and start disabling AC sites with celeb content.
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