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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.

    • Anonymous (1, 2, 3, 4)

     

    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.