Tag Archives: James Rebhorn

October Hacks: He Knows You’re Alone (dir by Armand Mastroianni)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

198o’s He Knows You’re Alone opens with a young couple making out in a car.  (The guy, who is named Don, is played by Russell Todd, the devastatingly handsome actor who played the first victim in Friday the 13th Part II.)  A report comes over the radio.  There’s a killer on the loose.  The girl is concerned.  The guy is cocky.  It’s hard not to notice that both of them look a little bit too old to be playing high school students.  Suddenly the killer attacks and….

We sitting in a movie theater, watching as two friends, Ruthie (Robin Lamont) and Marie (Robin Tilgham), watch the film.  Marie covers her eyes while Ruthie announces, excitedly, that the couple is going to die.  Marie, uncomfortable with the onscreen violence, goes to the washroom.  She splashes water on her face.  She catches her breath.  When she returns to the theater, Ruthie is excited because the girl on screen is about get slashed by her stalker.  Marie hides her eyes.  Just as the girl onscreen screams, the man sitting behind Marie drives a knife into the back of her neck, killing her.

It’s a brilliantly edited sequence, one that comments on how audiences love depictions of violence while fearing it in real life.  It’s also a genuinely scary sequence, especially if you’re someone who frequently goes to the movies.  (Would the sequence have the same impact on someone who has grown up almost exclusively in the streaming age?  Probably not.)  It’s a sequence that shows a hint of a self-awareness that was lacking in many 80s slasher films.  It’s also so good that the rest of the film struggles to live up to it.

The killer in He Knows You’re Alone is Ray Carlton (played with wild-eyed intensity by Tom Rolfing), a serial killer who preys on women who are engage to be married.  While Detective Len Gamble (Lewis Arlt) tries to track down Ray and get revenge for the murder of his fiancée, Ray stalks Amy Jenson (Caitlin O’Heaney) and her bridesmaids, Nancy (Elizabeth Kemp) and Joyce (Patsy Pease).  (Why Ray focuses on the bridesmaids before going after Amy is never really explained.)

We also meet a few red herrings, all of whom would probably be suspects if the film hadn’t already shown us that Ray is the murderer.  Joyce is having an affair with a married professor named Carl (James Rebhorn).  While we don’t really get to know Amy’s fiancé, we do spend a good deal of time with her ex-boyfriend, hyperactive morgue attendant Marvin (Don Scardino).  We also meet Nancy’s date for the weekend, a psych major named Elliott (Tom Hanks).  This was Hanks’s film debut and, even though he doesn’t get much screentime, he’s  so instantly likable that it’s easy to understand why he became a star.

As I mentioned earlier, the rest of He Knows You’re Alone struggles to live up to its opening moments.  That doesn’t meant that He Knows You’re Alone is a bad movie.  Though there are a few scenes that comes across as being filler, it’s still an effective slasher film.  The fact that the killer is just some anonymous loser as opposed to a Freddy Krueger-style quip machine makes him all the more frightening.  Ray Carlton is a killer who you can actually imagine siting behind you, preparing to strike.  The film also makes good use of its chilly Long Island locations.  There’s a grittiness to the film that leaves the viewer feeling as if the world itself is decaying along with Ray’s victims.

And then there’s Tom Hanks, a ray of cheerfulness amidst the drabness of the Mid-Atlantic hellhole that is New York.  At one point, his psych student talks about how scary stories and movies can help people deal with the horrors of the real world, another hint that this film was more self-aware than the usual slasher flick.  Originally, Hanks’s character was meant to be one of Ray’s victims but director Amand Mastroianni (who later went on to direct several episodes of Friday the 13th: The Series) said that Hanks proved to be so likable in the role that no one could stand the thought of killing him off.

He Knows You’re Alone is an effective little slasher flick.  Watch it with the lights on.  You never know who might be behind you.

 

Basic Instinct (1992, directed by Paul Verhoeven)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) is a San Francisco police detective who, along with his jolly partner Gus (George Dzundza), finds himself investigating the ice pick-stabbing of a rock star.  The main suspect is glamorous writer Catherine Trammel (Sharon Stone), who is obviously guilty but manages to outsmart all of the men investigating her by not wearing panties during her interrogation.  Nick finds himself drawn to Catherine, despite his own relationship with with psychologist Elizabeth Garner (Jeanne Tripplehorn).  The more Nick digs into Catherine’s past, the more he becomes obsessed with her but also the more he suspects that she may be a serial killer.  This is mostly because Catherine obviously is a serial killer and anyone should have been able to figure that out.  Instead, Nick, an experienced homicide detective, just gets turned on.

It’s strange to remember how seriously people took Basic Instinct when it was released in 1992.  People debated whether it was a throwback to Hitchcock or just a dirty movie.  Feminists debated whether it was empowering or exploitive.  For several years afterwards, every show from The Simpsons to Seinfeld parodied the interrogation scene.  (In Seinfeld’s case, it helped that Wayne Knight appeared in the film as the district attorney who kept shifting in his seat to get a better view.)  Sharon Stone was described as being the new Grace Kelly and, for a period of years, was the subject of fawning profiles in which she was asked about the future of sex in movies.  For a while, she was inescapable.

Sharon Stone, to be fair, did make the role of Catherine her own.  It’s impossible to imagine some of the other actresses considered — Michelle Pfeiffer, Geena Davis, Mariel Hemingway, or Meg Ryan — in the role.  After a decade of not getting anywhere with her film career, Stone was hungry to be a star and was also willing to do things on camera that other name actresses would have refused.  Sharon Stone was not the next Grace Kelly and Catherine Trammel was ultimately more of a sexual fantasy than an actual character but Stone still deserves a lot of credit for her uninhibited performance in the role.  Though Stone later said that she didn’t realize what was actually being filmed during the interrogation scene, it’s her confidence and her unapologetic sensuality that makes the scene compelling.  Her performance has the energy that the sleepwalking Michael Douglas lacks.

Today, Basic Instinct is best-viewed as a satire.  Director Paul Verhoeven sends up both the cop film and the erotic thriller with a movie that turned everything to eleven.  The film’s sensibility is established by the fact that Michael Douglas’s “hero” is nicknamed Shooter because he killed two innocent people while high on cocaine.  The film’s main joke is an obvious one.  Everyone is too busy staring at Sharon Stone to notice that she’s about to stab them in the back with an icepick.  Joe Eszterhas’s script was vulgar to the point of parody and, fortunately, director Paul Verhoeven understood that even more than Eszterhas did.

Basic Instinct has been imitated countless times but it’s never been equaled.  To that, the credit is owed to Sharon Stone and Paul Verhoeven.

 

Brad reviews REGARDING HENRY (1991), starring Harrison Ford!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

I noticed that today is Harrison Ford’s 83rd birthday. Like most people born in the early 1970’s, I’m a big fan of Harrison Ford. My formative years included the Star Wars movies, the Indiana Jones movies, and many other great films like BLADE RUNNER (1982) and WITNESS (1984). He would go on to make more classics like THE FUGITIVE (1993) and AIR FORCE ONE (1997) as I got older and moved into adulthood, but one of my personal favorite films starring Harrison Ford is REGARDING HENRY (1991).

In REGARDING HENRY, Harrison Ford stars as Henry Turner, a ruthless bastard, who also happens to be a hugely successful and cutthroat attorney in New York City. This horrific approach to being a human being does seem to provide plenty of money for his wife Sarah (Annette Bening) and his daughter Rachel (Mikki Allen), but you don’t get the feeling there’s that much actual love being shared between the three. Then one night, after another successful day of sticking it to the masses, Henry’s world is turned upside down when he’s shot in the head at the corner convenience store by a guy sticking up the place (John Leguizamo). The bullet to the brain doesn’t kill Henry, but it does leave him with severe brain damage and extremely impaired motor skills. This turns out to be a nice turn of events for Henry, and his family, for several reasons. First, he meets Bradley (Bill Nunn), his physical therapist and all around nice guy, who really helps him get headed back in the right direction in health, and in life, again. Second, he begins to reconnect with his wife who likes this more thoughtful, caring and affectionate version of Henry that seems to be emerging. Finally, he starts to show his daughter some much needed love and attention, rather than just wanting to ship her off to boarding school as quickly as possible. Wouldn’t you know it though, just when things are going so perfect, the sweet, innocent Henry stumbles up some very uncomfortable truths about his former life. Will these revelations upend his new life, or will he be able to move forward with a fresh start and a household filled with love?!!

There are two main reasons that I love REGARDING HENRY. The first reason is undoubtedly the feel-good story at the heart of the film. This is J.J. Abrams second writing credit and his screenplay takes Henry from being an arrogant, selfish jerk who is only interested in his own glorification, to a sweet-natured man of integrity who elevates his wife and his daughter to the prominent positions they rightfully deserve. Is this transformation grounded in reality… no, but I love movies because I want to escape reality and live vicariously through the heroes on the screen. Henry may not be a hero in the same way as Superman, Charles Bronson, or Chow Yun-Fat, but he is someone that I can relate to. I want to be a better dad. I want to be a better husband. I want to be a man of principle and integrity in the workplace. I may not always be perfect, but watching Henry navigate his life and correct past wrongs is very satisfying and uplifting to see. I love the look in the eyes of his wife and daughter as they are so proud of him. I want my family to look at me in that same way. This movie just makes me feel good. When I want realism, I’ll go visit a shrink and watch documentaries about men and women dealing with traumatic brain injuries. 

The second reason I love REGARDING HENRY stems from the performances of several of the cast members. Harrison Ford is so good in the title role. His transformation from a cold hearted lawyer to a simple-minded family man is one of those things that could be really bad with the wrong actor, but I’ll gladly follow Ford through the process. He’s believable on both sides, and he has to be for the movie to work. Annette Bening is also great as his wife, Sarah. Her transformation isn’t a physical transformation, but an emotional transformation, and she’s just as convincing. The love she conveys toward Henry as he embraces his new life, followed by the way she plays the scenes when Henry uncovers some of the painful truths of their former life, are actually some of the strongest moments in the film. Finally, I want to give an extra shoutout to Bill Nunn as Bradley, possibly the greatest physical therapist on earth. If dictionaries had pictures, the word “likable” should have a picture of Bill Nunn from REGARDING HENRY. Nunn was a fine character actor, with many credits to his name, but I will never see him in a role that doesn’t take me back to his performance in this film. 

Overall, I highly recommend REGARDING HENRY to any person who enjoys a well-made and well-acted feel good story. It’s not the most realistic film in the world, but it’s one that I truly love. 

Brad’s Scene of Day – Al Pacino in SCENT OF A WOMAN (1992)

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Al Pacino finally won his long overdue Oscar with his excellent performance as Lt. Colonel Frank Slade in SCENT OF A WOMAN. This scene where he’s “just getting warmed up” is a personal favorite and no doubt helped him bring home the gold.

Happy 85th Birthday, Mr. Pacino! 

MY COUSIN VINNY (1992) – Joe Pesci heads way down south!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

There are certain movies in my life that I consider “comfort movies.” These are the movies that I love so much that they always help me relax because I feel better just by watching them. I often turn on a comfort movie when I really need to fall asleep. Examples in my life include most of Charles Bronson’s filmography, RIO BRAVO, the ZATOICHI films, THE OTHER GUYS, and pretty much anything directed by Alex Kendrick. MY COUSIN VINNY fits comfortably under my categorization of a comfort movie.

The movie opens with friends Bill Gambini (Ralph Macchio) and Stanley Rothenstein (Mitchell Whitfield) taking the scenic route down south as part of a cross-country trip to attend college at UCLA. Unfortunately, while in Alabama, the two are arrested soon after leaving a convenience store. Thinking they are being charged for accidentally shoplifting a can of tuna, it turns out the actual charges are robbery and murder as the place was robbed and the clerk killed soon after they left. Knowing they are in big trouble, Bill calls his cousin Vinny Gambini (Joe Pesci), who’s pretty much the only lawyer that he knows. The problem, Vinny has never actually tried a murder case. Vinny heads down south with his fiance Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) where he must contend with a judge (Fred Gwynne) who doesn’t like him, a prosecutor (Lane Smith) who has way more experience than him, and a mountain of circumstantial evidence that he has almost no hope of contradicting. Will Vinny be able to prove his cousin’s innocence before they end up with life in prison, or even worse?

There are many reasons that I love MY COUSIN VINNY. The cast consists of a couple of my personal favorite actors in Joe Pesci and Ralph Macchio. GOODFELLAS is certainly one of the best movies ever made, and Joe Pesci gives an unbelievably powerful performance, a performance that would win him the Academy Award. Pesci took a short break from filming MY COUSIN VINNY to attend the Acadamy Award ceremony and pick up the gold. He even took the statue to the set to show the cast and crew. Maybe that helped inspire Marisa Tomei to give her own Academy Award winning performance in this film. My favorite scene of the entire movie is when Vinny is treating Mona Lisa as a hostile witness on the stand, just before she proceeds to prove that nobody knows more about cars than she does. It’s such a satisfying scene as she makes the prosecutor’s “expert” look like a novice. As for Ralph Macchio, many times in my life I’ve made the statement that I wanted to be the karate kid when I was growing up. I think I was in the fifth grade when I saw the film for the very first time. I’ve been a fan of Ralph Macchio, and in love with Elisabeth Shue, ever since. It’s the kind of movie I’d just sit around thinking about when I was a kid. I even wanted to learn karate, but being just a little over 4 feet tall at the time, I didn’t need to be getting into any fights. I also like that MY COUSIN VINNY was partially filmed in the town of Covington, GA. My wife and I were driving from Arkansas to Myrtle Beach back in 2020 and we stayed the night in Covington. I had done a little research while I was looking for a place to stop for the night, and I found out that Covington is sometimes referred to the “Hollywood of the South” due to the large number of movies and TV shows that are filmed there. We snapped a couple of shots of the downtown before heading on down the road. But I think the thing I love most about MY COUSIN VINNY is also the reason I love movies like THE KARATE KID and ROCKY so much. I love movies where a person is completely underestimated, and rightfully so. But then, through some combination of intelligence, hard work, heart, and will, that same person is able to rise to the occasion and prevail against those very same people who underestimated them. Vinny has no business in the courtroom, but somehow, he’s able to win the case, and he does it in a smart, funny and exciting way. I love an underdog, and MY COUSIN VINNY just makes me feel good!  

8 SECONDS – Luke Perry channels bull riding phenom Lane Frost

Posted on by Bradley Crain

I watched the 1994 film 8 SECONDS today for the first time in close to 30 years. The movie is based on the life of Lane Frost, the world champion bull rider, who tragically died when a bull gored him at the Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1989 at just 25 years of age. I’ll go ahead and say that I’m about as opposite from a rodeo cowboy as a person can possibly get. I won’t go into all the hows and whys, but I’m actually a little scared of cows and horses. I have my reasons, and I’ll leave it at that. We did attend a rodeo in Cody, Wyoming featuring professional bull riders in the summer of 2023 when we were vacationing in Yellowstone. We enjoyed the evening at the rodeo, but it’s also a brutal sport where professional cowboys were getting thrown off more often than not, and sometimes with some rather serious looking injuries. Even though I’m not a rodeo guy, I do enjoy movies based on real stories and people. The short, but spectacular life of Lane Frost makes for a compelling story.

Our story opens in Oklahoma with a little boy and his dad watching a cattle drive. The boy tells his dad that he isn’t scared of the bulls they are watching. We then see that boy, a young Lane Frost, growing up at the rodeo, first riding sheep and then bulls until he’s being played by Luke Perry. At this point in his life, Lane and his two best friends, Tuff and Cody, are riding the weekend Texas rodeo circuit in towns like Amarillo and Nacogdoches. Lane is a better rider than his buddies, and he’s also great with his young fans. One day Lane notices a beautiful barrel racer named Kellie and asks her to go eat with him. Since they’re in Texas, I enjoyed that he took her to Whataburger. I’ll pause for a quick tangent about why I enjoyed the choice of restaurant for their dinner. Our son grew up in Arkansas on McDonalds as the fast food of choice, but he went to college in Texas. When he first got to East Texas Baptist University, he’d suggest to his buddies on the golf team that they go to Mickey D’s. His buddies, the ones from Texas, would give him hell and say that Whataburger is the ONLY place to go for burgers and fries. His buddies were down right snobbish about it and put down McDonald’s like it was completely second class to the gold standard that is Whataburger. When he told me about it, I just thought it was funny. Tangent over and back to the movie. After this amazing Whataburger experience, we see Lane rising in the rodeo world, while simultaneously romancing and marrying Kellie. From this point forward, the movie settles in with the ups and downs of Frost’s professional life and personal life. We see really high moments like his ascension to world bull riding champion at just 24 years of age, and we see really low moments like their temporary marital separation due to the temptations of being on the road too much. Lane and Kellie eventually reconcile and are in a great place in their relationship when we arrive at that tragic day in Cheyenne. 

There are quite a few things that I like about 8 SECONDS, but the main reason is that I like Luke Perry. When I was in college in the early 90’s, I had a standing date with my girlfriend and her older sister to watch every new episode of BEVERLY HILLS 90210. Like most people, that’s where I first got to know Luke. Couple that with his co-starring role on the 1992 film version of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, with the great Rutger Hauer as the head vampire, and I was a fan for life. Our kids got to know him on the Netflix show RIVERDALE, so it was nice to see them discover him as well. It was a real shame that we lost Luke Perry in March of 2019 at 52 years old. I also like that Lane Frost’s mom in the movie is played by actress Carrie Snodgress. Carrie played the evil villainess Joan Freeman who sliced Charles Bronson’s stomach with an axe in MURPHY’S LAW. It made me happy to see her again as I had forgotten she was even in the movie. It’s also interesting to see a young Renee Zellweger pop up as a tempting “Buckle Bunny” a couple of years before she hit the real big time with JERRY MAGUIRE. I like that John G. Avildsen directed 8 SECONDS. Avildsen has directed classics like ROCKY and THE KARATE KID. This may not rise to those heights, but it has its share of touching and stirring moments, which is a specialty of the veteran director. I’ll admit to a couple of tears when Lane’s often critical dad (veteran actor James Rebhorn) finally tells him that he’s proud of him, something that Lane has been needing to hear for years. Additional misty moments occurred when Lane’s longtime buddy Tuff (Stephen Baldwin) dedicates his own national championship ride to Frost, riding his bull for 16 seconds instead of eight. Finally, I like country music and Vince Gill, McBride & the Ride, and Brooks & Dunn all perform in the movie at different times. The early 90’s were an extremely popular time in country music and it’s fun seeing these stars pop up. 

As I close this review, I wanted to point out one last thing about 8 SECONDS that I really enjoy. The film’s credits last for over 10 minutes and they’re played over pictures and videos of the real life Lane, Kellie, Tuff, Lane’s parents, and others. It’s quite touching as we see the real people and many of the real events that inspired what we had just watched in the movie. It’s quite poignant and brings the movie home in a way that feels genuinely special.

Film Review: My Cousin Vinny (dir by Jonathan Lynn)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In the 1992 film, My Cousin Vinny, two college students from New York City, Bill Gambini (Ralph Macchio) and Stan Rothstein (Mitchell Whitfield), make the mistake of driving through Alabama.  The two students stop off at a convenience store.  When the clerk is subsequently shot dead during a robbery, Bill and Stan are arrested for the crime.  The viewers know they’re innocent.  Bill and Stan know they’re innocent.  But the entire state of Alabama seems to be determined to send Bill and Stan to prison for life.

Fortunately, Bill’s cousin, Vinny (Joe Pesci, star of Half Nelson), is a lawyer.  Unfortunately, he just recently passed the bar exam and he has yet to actually try a case.  Still, Vinny and his fiancée, Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei), come down to Alabama.  Vinny takes the case, lying to the judge (Fred Gwynne) about his qualification as a trial attorney.  Vinny is momentarily impressed when the prosecutor (Lane Smith) shares with him all of the files about the case.  “It’s called disclosure, dickhead!” Lisa snaps at him, revealing that she actually has more common sense than Vinny.  That becomes increasingly important as Vinny tries to keep Bill and Stan from spending the rest of their lives in prison.

To be honest, considering how much I complain about stereotypical portrayals of the South, I really shouldn’t like My Cousin Vinny as much as I do.  Almost every character in the film is a stereotype to some extent or another, from the farmers and rednecks who take the witness stand to Fred Gwynne’s no-nonsense judge who rules that Vinny is in contempt of court because he’s wearing a leather jacket.  Fortunately, though, the Southern stereotypes don’t bother me because both Vinny and Lisa are New York stereotypes.  Just as the judge and the townspeople seem to confirm every prejudice that someone like Vinny would have against the South, Vinny seems to be the epitome of everything that people in the South dislike about the North.  When Vinny first shows up on the scene, he’s loud and brash and obnoxious.  But, as the film progresses, Vinny reveals himself to not only be a better attorney than anyone was expecting but he also calms down and adjusts to the more relaxed pace of life in the country.  Just as Vinny reveals himself to be not as bad as everyone originally assumed, both the Judge and the prosecutor are also allowed to reveal some hidden depths.  Neither one is the cardboard authority figure that viewers might expect.  The Judge does sincerely want justice to be done and the prosecutor sincerely wants to keep the county safe, even if he is prosecuting two innocent men.  Just as Vinny learns not to be too quick to judge them, they learn not to be too quick to judge Vinny.  The end message is that everyone is innocent until proven guilty and deserves a fair hearing, whether in a court of law or just in the courts of public and private opinion.  It’s not a bad message.  In fact, it’s one that more than a few people could still stand to learn today.

Of course, the best thing about the film is Marisa Tomei, who not brings a lot of energy to the film but whose hair is amazing and whose clothes are to die for.  Tomei won an Oscar for her performance in My Cousin Vinny, a victory that was so controversial that there were unfounded rumors that presenter Jack Palance had read the wrong name by mistake.  (As we all learned a few years ago when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway actually did read the wrong winner, the accountants aren’t going to let anyone get away with that.)  Watching the film last night, it was obvious to me that Tomei deserved that Oscar because Lisa is the heart of the film.  Pesci, Gwynne, and Lane Smith are all give good performances but, without Marisa Tomei’s performance, My Cousin Vinny would ultimately just be another culture clash comedy.  A lesser actress would have just played Lisa as being a stereotype.  But Tomei turned Lisa into the most believable and sincere character in the film.  While Lisa won the case, Tomei saved the movie.

(And needless to say, I’m a fan of any movie that features a Lisa saving the day.)

My Cousin Vinny holds up as an enjoyable film.  Watch it the next time you’re losing faith in humanity.

In The Line of Duty: Mob Justice (1991, directed by Peter Markle)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

The fourth of NBC’s In The Line of Duty movies, Mob Justice opens with the murder of an undercover DEA agent by a low-level gangster who has just been released from prison.  While the gangster goes into hiding, the DEA mobilizes and starts to make life so difficult for all of the other mobsters in New York that soon, the Mafia is as determined to get justice as law enforcement.

This was the first In The Line Of Duty film not be directed by Dick Lowry.  Lowry’s fast-paced style is missed as Mob Justice takes forever to get going and regularly gets bogged down with scenes lifted from other mafia movies.  The old mobsters talk about the importance of family, play cards in the backroom, and eat big dinners.  Opera blares on the soundtrack when the DEA starts to harass them.  For a movie that is supposed to honor the work and the sacrifice of federal law enforcement, the DEA actually comes across as being thoroughly incompetent in Mob Justice.  A dumb mistake leads to the first murder.  A series of other misjudgments lead to the Mafia dispensing the own type of violent justice before the DEA can arrest their man.

The most interesting thing about Mob Justice is the cast.

The trigger-happy gangster is played by Tony Danza, who I guess was trying to prove himself as a dramatic actor after spending years on Taxi and Who’s The Boss but who still comes across like Tony Micelli having a bad day.  His best friend is played Nicholas Turturro, who later played a straight arrow detective on NYPD Blue.  Frank Vincent and Leonardo Cimino plays the mob bosses who knows that murdering a federal agent is bad for business.

The head of the investigation is played by Ted Levine, who has had a long career but will always be remembered as the killer from The Silence of the Lambs.  Working under him is Dan Lauria, who a generation will instantly recognize as being the long-suffering and frequently angry father from The Wonder Years.  You know that this is a big case is Buffalo Bill and Jack Arnold are working together.  (Dan Lauria actually appeared in several In The Line of Duty films, always playing different characters.)

And finally, the murdered DEA agent is played by none other than Samuel L. Jackson.  It’s never a good thing when the best actor in a movie is killed off after the first fifteen minutes.

The cast is great but Mob Justice is forgettable.  The main problem is that, after Jackson is taken out of the picture, the rest of the movie is just Danza hiding in different apartments while Levine and Lauria annoy Frank Vincent.  Danza’s murderer is never smart nor interesting enough to be a compelling antagonist and there’s never any doubt that, one way or another, he will pay for his stupidity.  There is one memorable scene where Danza freaks out while wearing a blonde wig but otherwise, Mob Justice doesn’t leave much of an impression.

Mistrial (1996, directed by Heywood Gould)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

When a NYPD cop and her partner are murdered, overworked and stressed-out Detective Steve Donohue (Bill Pullman) follows a trail of circumstantial evidence that leads him to the door of the cop’s ex-husband, a community activist named Eddie Rios (Jon Seda).  Donohue’s attempt to arrest Rios goes terribly wrong and results in a shootout that leaves Rios’s second wife and bother dead before the handcuffs are eventually slapped on his wrists.

Rios may be the one on trial but Donohue is now the one facing judgment.  With protesters lined up outside the courthouse and the city’s mayor (James Rebhorn) more interested in his own reelection than in the pursuit of justice, Donohue knows that the only way he’ll be vindicated is if Eddie Rios is convicted.  Unfortunately, that’s not what happens.  Rios’s sleazy attorney (played by Josef Sommer) gets most of the evidence tossed out of court on a technicality and it appears that Rios is going to walk free.  That’s when Donohue decides to take the court itself hostage, pulls out a gun, and demands that Rios immediately be put on trial for a second time, with the jury hearing all of the evidence that was originally thrown out of court.

Mistrial is an example of the good-cop-pushed-over-the-edge genre.  Up until a few years ago, this was a very popular genre.  Today, of course, it feels tone deaf and it’s a lot more difficult to sympathize with a cop, even a fictional one, complaining about being restricted by the constitution.  The main problem with Mistrial is that it’s established early on that Eddie Ramos is guilty so there’s no real tension as to whether Donohue is doing the right thing by demanding a second trial.  If there had been some ambiguity about whether or not Ramos was the murderer that Donohue claims he is, it would have made the film much more interesting and less predictable.  The other problem is that Bill Pullman is just too naturally earnest and clean-cut to be convincing as an overworked cop who has been pushed into doing something crazy.  Remembering back to the 90s, I think someone like Gary Sinise or William L. Petersen could have pulled off the role but Pullman’s just not right for it.

Robert Loggia has a few good moments as Pullman’s sympathetic captain.  This was the 2nd time that Pullman and Loggia co-starred together.  The first time was in Independence Day.  The 3rd time would be in Lost Highway, a film that’s as different from Mistrial as day is from night.

Horror on the Lens: He Knows You’re Alone (dir by Armand Mastroianni)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

For today’s Horror on The Lens, we present 1980’s He Knows You’re Alone!

He Knows You’re Alone is an old school slasher film, which means that it’s basically about one stalking killer and a bunch of people who have absolutely no common sense.  The gimmick here is that the slasher is stalks young brides-to-be.  Admittedly, this is all pretty standard stuff, though the film does have a clever opening and features some good cinematography and —

OH MY GOD, IS THAT TOM HANKS!?

Yes, He Knows You’re Alone is the debut film of Tom Hanks and he’s so young in this film that he still has a chin.  He plays a college student named Eliot.  Nowadays, He Knows You’re Alone is usually described as “starring Tom Hanks” but actually, Tom’s role is pretty small.  But he’s still probably the most likable person in the film.

Anyway, He Knows You’re Alone is an above average slasher flick and it’s definitely not safe for work so stop watching movies while on the clock!  Wait until you get home to enjoy He Knows You’re Alone!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Nbt19ukdg