Mrs. Winterbourne

Mrs. Winterbourne (1996)

Directed by Richard Benjamin

Screenplay by Phoef Sutton and Lisa-Maria Radano

Based on the novel, "I Married a Dead Man" by Cornell Woolrich 

Stars: Ricki Lake, Brendan Fraser, Shirley MacLaine,  Miguel Sandoval, Loren Dean, Peter Gerety, and Susan Haskell

One of my favorite YouTube channels recommended this movie. I tried watching this movie a year ago, and only watched thirty minutes or so. Watching the whole, this is an experience.

A down on her luck young woman, Connie (Lake) is pregnant and has been kicked out by her loser boyfriend, Steve (Dean). Connie stows away on a train bound to Boston from NYC. She befriends Hugh (Fraser) and his wife, Patricia (Haskell). The train derails, Connie goes into a coma and people are thinking that she is Patricia Winterbourne. She has to keep the lie going to Winterbourne family.

Maybe it's my memory, but I did not remember the parts of the movie that I saw. Looking at the movie now, it was wild ride. I didn't like Steve at all. His motives, his character, everything. He was not written well. I love Ricki Lake, but an actress she is not. The cold line reading. Oof.

The lifeblood of the film are MacLaine and Fraser. The endless charisma and presence that they possess could elevate the most awful schlock into something watchable.

I thought this movie would be a middle of the road romantic comedy. It took a turn into being a black comedy. Not expecting it.

The movie is not that good, but it's one of those movies that is so bad that you kinda love it. I have that feeling when I finished the movie.

Rating: 5/10

Pride Month Movie - Day Eighteen: Bound

Bound (1996)

Written and directed by Lilly Wachowski and Lana Wachowski

Stars: Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon, Joe Pantoliano, John P. Henry, Christopher Meloni and Richard C. Sarafian

This movie was in the queer movie lexicon ever since it premiered. My thinking was that it was going to be a movie with S&M vibes. Nope. It was not.

Corky (Gershon), an ex-con fresh out of jail gets a job working as plumber in an apartment. She meets Violet (Tilly), who happens to be the girlfriend of a gangster, Caesar (Pantoliano). They begin to have an affair where Violet wants out of her relationship, and enlists Corky in a plan to steal laundered money from Caesar.

I was back and forth with this movie. The relationship between Corky and Violet was good. There are some things that I didn't like about the movie. 

The Wachowskis love weird camera angles and such. It works for The Matrix and its subsequent sequels, but it doesn't work here. Seeing the barrel of a gun or following a telephone wires is not appealing to see. The thin plot is very transparent. You knew what was going to happen. The tension was not there in order for me to be invested in it.

Rating: 5/10

Sling Blade - The Director's Cut

Sling Blade (1996)

Directed by Billy Bob Thornton

Screenplay by  Billy Bob Thornton

Based on his play of the same name

Stars: Billy Bob Thornton, Lucas Black, John Ritter, Natalie Canerday, Dwight Yoakum, James Hampton and Robert Duvall

This movie has singlehandedly solidified Billy Bob Thornton's career as it introduced audiences to an undeniable character of Karl with his simple nature and his sniff upper lip. Awesome. BBT won the Oscar for adapting his play -- which I didn't know -- to the big screen. The movie has the making of a great film, but it has flaws.

Karl Childers (Thornton) is a mentally challenged man that is being released from the mental institution that he spent the last twenty years in for killing his mother and her lover. After he is released, Karl feels lost in the town that he grew up. The director of the institution Jerry Woolridge (Hampton) sets Karl up with a job at an auto repair shop. Karl becomes friends with a boy, Frank Wheatley (Black). Frank wants Karl to live with him, his mother Linda (Canerday) and her abusive boyfriend, Doyle (Yoakum).

I am not gonna bash this movie. I am not going to do that. That being said, the movie felt disconnected to me. BBT was fantastic in the movie. He was unrecognizable in the role. The biggest problem I had with this movie was the pacing. It was a huge problem, because I was engaged with that monologues that Karl was retelling about his past. There are some instances that the momentum grind to a halt and my attention waned. It seriously did.

I wanted to love this movie, but the pacing was its biggest downfall.

My Rating

Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hills

Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hills (1996)

Directed by Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky

Stars: Jesse Misskelley, Jr, Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols

I heard about this movie from Tassoula from the Cinebanter podcast when they recently had a discussion about the now trilogy series of documentaries from HBO films. It was shown on VOD over the weekend and I had to see them.

The first movie tells the story of three outcasts from West Memphis, Arkansas that are accused of committing the murders of three 8-year-old boys in May 1993. Directors Berlinger and Sinofsky follow the trails of the accused.

First, it was Jessie Misskelley Jr that tried first, because of a coerced confession that would admitted into evidence that said that Echols, Baldwin and himself committed the murders. Even though, it seems that the Jessie's story didn't fit the timeline of when the murders occurred. The subsequent trails of the three teenagers seemed to be a media circus.

It was a modern day witch hunt. Accusing these three boys of a crime that they may not have commit. I understood the families of the murder victims when they said that they want the accused burn in hell. Personally, I was a little sketchy if they were actually innocent or not. It seemed the evidence or lack thereof was all circumstantial evidence and here say. There was no physical evidence that linked the trio to the crimes.

After the credit rolled on the movie, I was flabbergasted by the outcome of the trial. How could this be possible? The judicial is a joke if this was the outcome. Did I have my doubts about the verdict? Absolutely. Did I believe that they were all innocent? No. I had my doubts about Echols in the last moments of the movie.

This movie had me shaking my head in disbelief. The filmmakers' cameras were an impartial jury to the people who may not have known about what really happened. Unprecedented access was more astonishing them the OJ Simpson trial or Michael Jackson's. It amazes me that the filmmakers could make a film that did not pass judgment on anyone. It cast reasonable doubt on other potential suspects that the WMPD did not bother to investigate. Amazing.

My Rating: