 |
Friday
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
|
|
|
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.+.
|
| Tuna
|
|
"Jagged Edge"
Jagged Edge (1985) is a wonderful courtroom thriller starring Glenn Close and
Jeff Bridges. Bridges is a San Francisco newspaper tycoon, whose wife is the
actual owner of the paper. Nonetheless, he is a very prominent personality. Both
she and her maid are murdered, mutilated by a hunting knife with a jagged edge,
and Bridges in the only suspect. The DA, Peter Coyote, has political
aspirations, and has a history of doing whatever is necessary, even if
unethical, to get a conviction. Glenn Close knows this better than most, as she
worked for him, and discovered that he had withheld evidence to gain a
conviction on a case they wore working on together. The evidence proved the man
was innocent. While she didn't come forward, she did leave criminal law forever,
and took a job with a corporate law firm, the very firm that represented
Bridges. Bridges requests that she handle his case. She will only agree to do so
if she is convinced of his innocence.
Those who have seen this don't need more to remember the plot, and those who
haven't should, so I will avoid writing a spoiler. This film looks at times
like a romance, sometimes like a courtroom drama, and other times like a
thriller. Close was excellent in the role, and Bridges played his character
perfectly as well. We see breasts from Bridges wife, Maria Mayenzet, during her
murder, and breast exposure from Close in three scenes. The first is an
ultra-dark sex scene. In the second, she is running down a hallway and removing
her blouse, and we see her right breast from the side. The third is a hint of
nipple in a shower scene that is only visible in the 4/3 version.
IMDB readers have this at 6.5 of 10. US gross was $40.5M. Robert Loggia, as an
investigator, received a supporting actor Oscar nomination. Ebert says 3 1/2
stars, and Berardinelli 3. Rotten Tomatoes gives an 83% positive, with 100%
from the top critics (2 guys: Ebert and Berardinelli).
I loved this film the first time I saw it several years ago, and enjoyed it
nearly as much the second time through. It is somewhere between a B- and C+.
Scoop's note: Jagged Edge was directed by Richard Marquand,
the same guy who did Return of the Jedi! He died not many years after this film, while still in
his 40's.
Thumbnails
Thumbnails
Maria Mayenzet (1,
2)
Glenn Close
(1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11)
"Johnny Handsome"
Johnny Handsome (1989) is a traditional film noir starring Mickey Rourke in
the title role. He was born with a seriously deformed skull of a
prostitute/addict mother, and grew up to become a petty thief to survive. An old
friend comes to him, and asks him to arrange a robbery, so he can get out of
debt, and the two of them team with three others, who double-cross them, and
kill his best friend. Rourke is caught, and the bad guys try to get him whacked
in prison. While he is in the hospital recovering from his stab wounds, a doctor
offers him a chance at reconstructive surgery, speech therapy, and a new
identity as part of an inmate rehab program.
The surgery goes well, and he is eventually allowed out on a work furlough
program in a shipyard, where he meets Elizabeth McGovern, who works there in
accounting. After he is granted parole, he must decide whether to live a normal
life with his new looks and new girl, or to return to crime and revenge the
death of his friend. You already know this is a noire, so you know which he
chooses. McGovern shows her breasts in a very dark sex scene. Although breasts
and face are not visible in the same frame, it is a continuous pan from breasts
to face, so it is not a double. The cinematography captures the atmosphere in
the New Orleans setting perfectly, and Ry Cooder's score also sets the mood.
IMDB readers have this at 5.5 of 10, while Ebert gives it an enthusiastic 3 1/2
stars, calling it a perfect noire. He admits that it is probably not a perfect
match to current filmgoer's tastes. I have mixed feelings about the genre in
general. While dwelling on the dark side is a plus, they are usually darkly lit,
which I am not fond of. The proper score for this one is C+, excellent genre
effort with little crossover appeal.
Thumbnails
Elizabeth McGovern (1,
2,
3, 4)
|
| Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy)
|
|
Movies:
Twilight has a great
cast. Susan Sarandon, Stockard Channing, Paul Newman, Liev Schreiber, Gene Hackman, Reese Witherspoon, Jim
Garner. Unfortunately, while it isn't an awful movie, it really isn't much good
either. It does feature a
beautiful topless scene from Reese Witherspoon, and she's now (4 years later) hotter than a
pistol.
- Witherspoon (1,
2,
3,
4)
- Susan Sarandon - all of her other nudity was done by a body double. I
think this frame might actually be Sarandon. Unfortunately, she isn't in focus.
Sorority Boys is the usual
awful fraternity stuff. Three colorful characters are ejected from a rowdy
fraternity because of a frame-up. They end up dressing like girls and bedding down in a
sorority - in full drag. As usual, they learn the abuse that women must endure
at the hands of scumbags like themselves.
I don't know who these women are. There is some male nudity in a couple of
scenes, and these
anonymous females. As you can see, the female nudity was a cop-out. One was a
breast close-up with no head. One was out of focus. One was an anonymous girl
on a tape-within-the-movie. The only really good one is #2, which has no actual
nudity, but some great see-through action.
Updates:
-
Plowing through the w's, we have new encyclopedia
volumes for Estella Warren, Diane Webber, Barbara Williams, Edy Williams,
Jobeth Williams, Kathy Williams, Michelle Williams, Rachel Williams,
Vanessa Williams, and the tennis-playing Williams sisters
- Honte's celebrity site is also updated. Large
update this edition.
Other crap:
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 Lawdog or
Junior or C2000 or Realist or ICMS or Mick Locke, or somebody else besides me)
- If there is no asterisk, I wrote it, but am too ashamed to admit it.
|
|
ICMS
|
|
Hi dear Scoopy !
While browsing Amazon I stumbled upon a movie called "Naked Acts" (1997). The
title sounded promising, I looked it up in the IMDb and decided to go for it.
Now let's see what it is all about.
Well, first of all I would like to say that this independent film with an an
all black cast and taking place in New York's black community, should be
compulsory viewing for all actresses who refuse to do nude scenes. Because
that's exactly what this film is dealing with and in a manner that celeb
nudity lovers can approve, as you can see in the collages. The main character
in the movie is CC (Cicely), a young actress who landed her first film role in
an art movie. There is only one small hiccup, however. The script requires her
to take her clothes off. And that is something CC definitely won't do because
basically she feels very uncomfortable about her body, so much so that she
even keeps her clothes on in bed making love to her boyfriend/director. The
film spends a great deal explaining why she feels that way about her body. It
is because her mother starred in blaxploitation flicks and didn't have much
time for her daughter who was sexually abused as a teenager by her manager,
something she never told her mother. She then gained weight to become
unattractive and now she just has lost 57 pounds and is still feeling insecure
about herself. To keep slim she drinks 10 to 12 glasses of water a day, and
that is, according to her boyfriend, a lot of pissin' but she knows every
public toilet in Manhattan, so that's not an issue. The film makers chose this
premise as a reason for her shyness but you could easily replace it by
religious or moral objections.
Now why should every actress who refuses to do nude scenes view this, you
might ask. Because as the film meanders along - there are quite a number of
dead moments in this flick - CC finally sees the light. First she's told that
giving her everything in a film role on an emotional level can expose her a
lot more than when she simply takes her clothes off. Secondly because she
finally acknowledges that not all nudity is exploitation like she thought
because of her mother's past. She finally sees that nudity can also be a form
of art or a way to tell or develop a story in a movie. So what does she do ?
She goes to a friend's photostudio and photographs herself in the nude with
the intention of giving the pictures to her mother to pardon herself because
she despised her mother and hadn't spoken to her in 4 years. No, I am not
making this up, it's all in this film.
The movie deals with an interesting theme but the script is too thin to really
make it something special. I've got the impression that they somehow fell
short of ideas as to why nude scenes should be done and in order not to make a
short, they had the story meander way too much into the direction of CC's
reasons why she felt so uncomfortable about her body. It would have been more
interesting if they had also developed the reasons for the nudity some more.
The lighting and the camera work are adequate but nothing special. The actors,
mostly one time performers, all put in decent performances but I'm afraid it's
not award winning stuff either. Despite all this the movie explores an
interesting theme and manages to hold one's attention, despite the
aforementioned dead moments, so I can give this one a C-. The IMDb rates this
one 6.8 with only 9 votes however. The DVD has quite a lot of drop-outs for a
movie that is only 5 years old. And before I forget to mention it, Scoop, as a
bonus there's also a 5 questions quiz about the film. I somehow managed to
answer all questions correctly, but got no reward for it at all, like maybe a
nude photograph of the lead actress. What a stupid bonus that is, I did all
that thinking for nothing ;-)
The nudity in "Naked Acts" comes from Jake-ann Jones ( 1,
2) as Cicely, who goes full
frontal, Sandy Wilson as Winsome
is topless for a short moment and Renee Cox ( 1,
2) as the photographer-friend shows
breasts and buns in the sauna and is full frontal in a selfportrait hanging on
the wall in her studio. There is also a quick side topless glimpse of
Patricia DeArcy as Lydia Love,
the blaxploitation queen and CC's mother, in one of her films on video.
This is the end my review of this mostly unknown film. I haven't checked it
out, but it could possibly be the lengthiest review ever written about it :-)
Yours faithfully,
ICMS
|
| Variety
|
Monica Bellucci
|
More amazing nude scans of the Italian super-babe. This one was
not linked right yesterday.
|
| Terri Dwyer |
The paparazzi catch a breast from the Hollyoaks lady
|
|
Natalia Woerner
(1,
2, 3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10)
|
She's a big star in Europe, but virtually unknown in the
States. Here she is in Die Sieger (first 8), Zum Sterben schoen (#9), and Um die
30 (#10)
|
Uschi Digard
(1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9)
|
The big breasted Swede is a living legend. She's seen here,
late in her career, in C.B. Hustlers.
|
| Senta Berger |
in La Pedrona e servita
|
| Kate Moss |
a new paparazzi slip from the svelte supermodel. Check out the
bones in Kate's feet!
|
| Stephanie Schmidt |
in Ploetzlich wird es dunkel - which just aired two days ago
|
| Valeria Golino (1,
2) |
in The Last Summer in Tangiers
|
| Rachael Stirling (1,
2,
3) |
in the controversial new British carpet muncher mini-series,
Tipping the Velvet
|
| Jamie Lee Curtis (1,
2) |
in The Last Summer in Tangiers
|
| Pat Reeder The Comedy Wire
|
|
Pat's comments in yellow...
PRISON HOLDS BEAUTY CONTEST
No Horizontal Stripes! - Lithuania's only female prison is holding a beauty
contest to crown "Miss Captivity." Top fashion designers will make their clothes
and local VIPs will judge. The producer said the winner will be based on "beauty
and elegance," adding, "The prisoners are, after all, women first and foremost."
36 women have signed up so far. All contestants get the week off from the prison
sewing factory, and the winner gets over $2,000 (US) in prizes, but only after
her release.
* That's because the prizes include a nail file.
* Just like the Miss America Pageant, these women would KILL to win.
* The talent competition will feature target shooting, check forging and
beating a lie detector test.
* Know where you DON'T want to win a beauty contest? At the male prison.
A judge dropped drug charges against Winona Ryder, but ruled she will have to
stand trial for shoplifting starting next Thursday
...That'll give her time to pick up a new wardrobe
... By the time this trial finally starts, the only
drug she'll be on is Geritol.
Scoop's note: he would have set the date sooner, but his robe and gavel were
missing.
Some props stolen from the set of Mike Myers' "Cat In The Hat," including a
200-pound golf ball and an eight-foot-long pair of glasses,
were found abandoned in a field
...You can only play with them for so long before
they become boring
...Police profilers believe the thief was a
nearsighted golfer about 40 feet tall.
|
|
 |
|
