moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (11/18/85)
I'm not sure exactly HOW I got through net.movies over the last month
without reading the ending -- some of you haven't been too careful about
that, you know. Anyway, a true suspense thriller, as it combines three
things: a real whodunit; characters who have captured your attention and
are manipulating your affections; and some genuinely scary moments (though
not gorey or particularly violent -- these are left, for the most part, to
the audience's imagination). The acting is excellent, in particular Jeff
Bridges (Glenn Close looks like my mother, so I always abstain from
commenting on her performances). Peter Coyote is wonderfully nasty as the
corrupt DA, and I liked the fellow who plays the SF detective who is Close's
investigator -- nice to see a tough, foul-mouthed PI in a trenchcoat again.
Still, it never moved to the level of excellence I had heard hyped up about
it; this is probably because Close & Bridges relationship always appears to
be more passion than love (at least on the part of Bridges). Bridges is not
quite as sypathetic a character as I would have liked him; but he is a very
well-developed, well-acted character, and in a film like this, a convincing
plot, dialogue and acting report card is more important than likeable
characters by far.
A pretty good movie for bargain matinee prices; good film for full price.
"But in calling Moriarty a criminal you are
uttering libel in the eyes of the law, and
there lies the glory and the wonder of it.
The greatest schemer of all time, the
organizer of every devilry, the controlling
brain of the underworld.... That's the man."
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
ARPA: fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA
UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, sb6, lbl-csam}!fluke!moriarty
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