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"Under Suspicion" (2000)
Under Suspicion (2000) should have been a great film, it stars Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman (who were the executive producers, is shot in picturesque San Juan Puerto Rico, and has a sultry female lead in Monica Bellucci. Two young girls have been murdered, and police chief Freeman suspects wealthy lawyer Hackman. Nearly the entire film takes place in Freeman's office. To take advantage of the lovely location, each narrative answer to interrogation is depicted, with Freeman seeing the scene as Hackman or Bellucci "showing" him what happened. This is pretty disconcerting to try and follow, and the director makes it even worse by having the story change radically as the movie goes on. I felt manipulated by the director, as he had to mislead the audience several times to make
the surprises work. It is more like you see that he is pointing guilt first to one person, then another.
I should have known what I was in for from the opening credits. There were some lovely panoramas of San Juan, which they chose to string together in a series of fast forwards and quick cuts. They calmed down a little during the film itself, but still had way too much hand held camera, and too many quick cuts. This is the first film in a while to make me seasick. Bellucci flashes a breast in about 4 frames, and shows the top of her but, and her breasts in the obligatory mirror shot near the beginning of the film. Other than that, there is no sex or nudity. What there is is a lot of talking, and a convoluted story. IMDB readers are overly generous at 6.3/10. Rotten Tomatoes praises the cast and blames the director for a dull film. Apollo says 70, but their readers say 66. This peeked at 19 screens, and the US gross was a miserable $258,691.00. I can think of no good reason to see this film.
Thumbnails
Monica Bellucci
(1,
2,
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6)
"The Wicked Wicked West" (1998)
The Wicked Wicked West (1998), which IMDB calls Painted Angels, is the story of a whore house in the American West. We learn that everything happens in slow motion, most hookers have a heart of gold, and life really sucked for hookers then, especially after they got older or committed suicide or had illegitimate children. The entire film is dark, and washed out. This was probably done intentionally to show how dusty and lifeless the frontier really was. The cast was actually reasonably talented, and did a good job of looking miserable and being resigned to their fate. The hookers were played by Brenda Fricker ( Annie Ryan), Kelly McGillis (Nettie), Meret Becker (Katya ), Bronagh Gallagher (Eileen), Lisa Jakub (Georgie) and Anna Mottram (Ada). McGillis and Mottram showed their
breasts in enough light to capture.
The pace of this film is languorously slow, and nothing particularly surprising is revealed. IMDB readers have it right at 4.2/10. One of the comments at IMDB suggested that it was the lack of sound track that made it dull and boring. In my opinion, 1812 Overture couldn't have brought this to
life or caused any excitement. If you look at this film as a documentary, it is still boring. It may be real, but I would prefer a little entertainment with my historical reality.
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Kelly McGillis
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2)
Anna Mottram
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2,
3,
4)
"Cockfighter" (1974)
Cockfighter (1974), aka Born to Kill, Wild Drifter, and Gamblin' Man, is a Roger Corman exploitation film about cockfighting, which was still legal at the time in the state of Georgia. Warren Oates stars as a man who has vowed not to speak again until he wins the coveted "cocksman of the year" medal. Someone told him that he had two problems, he talked too much and he drank too much. He agreed, and stopped talking. The exposure comes from his girlfriend, Mary Elizabeth, played by Patricia Pearcy. Although not a household name, she has 10 credits at IMDB, mostly TV.
This is an interesting, well made, and well photographed look at one of the most violent sports ever to exist in the US, and gives what feels like an honest portrayal. The film is about evenly split between actual fights, cock training, and the ever present gambling. Animal rights folks should
definitely avoid this one. DP Nestor Almendros (Sophie's Choice, Still of the Night, Kramer vs. Kramer, The Blue Lagoon, etc.) gave this the look and feel of a real film with a real budget. Corman's knack for recognizing talent is evident again with this film.
Maltin found it unusual and well made in awarding it 3 stars. The handful of IMDB readers who voted give it 6.3/10. If the subject is of any interest, the film will not disappoint you.
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Patricia Pearcy
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| Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy)
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Movie trivia - what is the biggest bomb of all time - defined as the worst opening weekend for movies distributed to 3000 screens or more? If you guessed Battlefield Earth or Blair Witch 2,
those weren't bad guesses, but there have been two worse than BE. The second worst of all time was Flintstones 2- Viva Rock Vegas, but that did almost twice as much as the all-time reverse champion, Quest for Camelot.
If you change the definition to the eventual total gross for the film, then Battlefield Earth just edges out Quest for Camelot, with Blair Witch 2 a strong third.
The strangest track record was held by The Prince of Egypt, which looked to be a bomb on opening weekend (about the same as Battlefield Earth), but ended up taking in a hundred million (five times as much as Battlefield Earth)
By the way, the all time record for most screens at one time belongs to MI2, at 3,653. Its predecessor, Mission Impossible, held the record at one time, and was the first film ever to be shown on 3000 screens.
The last time I discussed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, about a month ago, you probably didn't know what the hell I was talking about. Now that the movie is out and has reached semi-hit status, here are some new images of Zhang.
I looked at Mountains of the Moon, the historical epic about the Burton/Speke expeditions searching for the source of the White Nile. I spent altogether too much time on this, because it led me to an interesting historical controversy. Burton claimed the White Nile had multiple sources. Speke claimed the source was Lake Victoria. The
end of the film says that Speke proved to be correct. The end of the film is wrong!
It's a mistake that's easy to understand, because Speke's fantasy is still propagated as the truth in many textbooks, including the Encyclopedia Britannica. But Burton was correct. The White Nile flows out of Lake Albert. Lake Albert does receive inflows from a river system coming from Lake Victoria, but it also receives a great inflow of water from the Semliki River, which is hydrated by the streams flowing from the rain-soaked Mountains of the Moon as well as by Lake Edward. The other inflows to Lake Albert were known as early as the 1880's, when Stanley traced the route of the Semliki, but some textbooks to this day identify Lake Victoria as the sole source of the White Nile! Some modern maps still do not show the Semliki River connecting Lake Edward and Lake Albert!
Speke was lucky in that he was right about a lot of things that he had no business being right about. He was proved correct in that Lake Victoria was a source of the Nile, a claim that he made without proper documentation. Speke proved to be incorrect, however, in asserting that it was the sole source. What amazed me is that many people, including textbook authors and the makers of this film, still do not know he was wrong. Such
is the might of a powerful and romantic illusion, which proved to stand up against all the facts which disproved it. (Speke was English, and the English really wanted an Englishman to have discovered the source of the White Nile.)
Interestingly, the Rutshuru river, which feeds Lake Edward, which in turn feeds Lake Albert, is one of the true headwaters of the White Nile, yet it is almost impossible to find any information about it outside of scientific articles. Such is still the limited nature of our information about Africa.
In 150 A.D., Ptolemy claimed that the Mountains of the Moon were the source of the Nile. That was no fantasy. He was just as correct as Speke!
By the way, this film is generally well photographed, but the nude scenes are awful, so dark that almost about gave up on them, and what I have here doesn't look like what you will actually see in the film. On number 1, for example, I stripped out all the colored filters and brightened the daylights out of them. Of course, when you do this much light manipulation, you create noise distortions, so I shrunk the kids in order to minimize the distortion. It ain't purty, but at least you can see wazzup.
The Fifth Chapter of Volume C is updated.
| | Graphic Response
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Susan Anspach, topless and far off frontal nudity in scenes from "Montenegro" (1981).
Teresa Ann Savoy. Scans of the British actress best known for her role as Caligula's sister in 1980's "Caligula".
| Uco
| | Angelina Jolie |
A nip slip and a little groping. Vidcaps of Angelina in her bra in scenes from 1998's "Hell's Kitchen"
| Daneen Boone
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2,
3)
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Vidcaps from "Seduction of Innocence". Daneen did shed all of her clothing, but only let us see the goods upstairs, and her bum. In typical Skinemax fashion, everything else is just out of sight.
| Sherilyn Fenn
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2,
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A very nice batch of 'caps from "Two Moon Junction". Sherilyn's nudity in this movie has been well documented by a variety of imaging dudes. Really, can you blame them? She looked great in the 1988 Zalman King movie!
In this round, Uco not only features the more familiar shower scene and full frontal scene, but also 'capped a few scenes that we have not see as much. In particular, link #3 shows a love scene with great lighting, and link #5 shows some posterior views of Sherilyn, which are even more rare. Nice Job!
| | Kristy McNichol |
Another bit of a rarity from "Two Moon Junction"...Kristy's topless scene.
| Tawny Kitaen
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2)
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Going topless in 1995's "Playback".
| | Julianne Moore |
A companion 'cap from yesterday's Madonna collection...Here's Julianne topless and bare bummed in the first DVD vidcaps from 1993's "Body of Evidence"
| | Victoria Abril |
Topless, far off frontal, and very nice bare bum vidcaps from 1995's "Gazon maudit"
| | DB
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Hi Scoopies,
Question : What do Yanks(and anyone else come to think of) make fun of when they get bored with Republicans or Democrats (I could never tell them apart)?
Answer : The Welsh
So just for fun here are some famous Welshmen
Dylan Thomas - drank himself to death cos he got bored
Richard Burton - probably drunk himself to death at the prospect of marrying Liz for the (insert your own number here) time
Anthony Hopkins - would have drunk him silly at the prospect of being found out at being Welsh so he became a US citizen
DB - got drunk at the thought of no more Nekkid Opera
Get my drift? - not all Welshmen are stupid, we just appear so
What follows are the highlights of a new show from Italian TV called "Saloon". And you ask why is a Welshmen like myself (who cannot speak Welsh by the way) watching Italian TV when he cannot speak Italian either.
The answer to that is in the caps...
Eva Grimaldi
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Milena Miconi
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Nathalie Caldonazzo
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Pamela Prati
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All 4 Ladies |
With each of these Italian babes, the first is a before picture, and the second link is after. In the group shot, only Eva Grimaldi is topless.
| | Dann
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Today's 'caps from "Red Letters" (2000)
| | Fairuza Balk |
Looking much less stanky then usual, but only showing a little cleavage.
| | Layla Roberts |
The former bunnybabe not taking her clothes off for the camera. Perhaps Brainscan should continue his post-bunny nudity series.
| | Nastassja Kinski |
If you think a woman's back is sexy...then you're in luck. Dann also 'capped a close up of Nastassja is her panties.
| | Mystery Babe |
Topless and full frontal nudity from an unnamed actress.
| | and ...
| Marie Ann Chazel
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2)
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Topless images of the French actress in "Les Babas cool", PhD
| | Hanne Klintoe |
A B&W scan with nice see-thru nipple exposure by Daysleeper.
| | Angelina Jolie |
Another see-thru B&W by Daysleeper.
| | Sandrine Bonnaire |
Breast exposure by the French actress in 1983's "À nos amours".
| | Tiffani-Amber Thiessen |
A HUGE, but gorgeous scan of Tiffani-Amber in a mesh top!
| | News and Stuff...
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Denise Richards said she was looking forward to doing a hot tub scene in the new horror movie "Valentine." But then, it took four days and left her all pruny. Richards also refused to do it nude and wore a black bikini instead, although she said she'll do nudity if it's "pertinent to the part and all that jazz."
According to the late psychic Jeanne Dixon, the Antichrist was born on February 5, 1962, which would make him 39 today. He's surely moving slowly on those evil plans for his life. At this rate, Charles will get a kingdom before Anti.
| The Funnies
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From Number 6, our most outspoken Republican viewer.
A friend of ours was watching a video of that old 1948 thriller "Key Largo" with Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart and Lionel Barrymore. She practically fell out of her chair at one point when Robinson (playing a gangster as only he could) says to the good guy (Bogart): "Let me tell you about Florida politicians. I make them out of whole cloth, just like a tailor makes a fine suit. I get their name in the newspaper. I get them some publicity and get them on the ballot. Then after the election, we count the votes. And --- if they don't turn out right, we recount them, and recount them again until they do."
Remember, THIS WAS IN 1948!
Here's a non-political joke from Number 6...
I, the penis, hereby request a raise in salary for the following reasons:
1. I do physical labor
2. I work at great depths
3. I plunge head first into everything I do
4. I do not get weekends off or public holiday
5. I work in a damp environment
6. I don't get paid overtime
7. I work in a dark workplace that has poor ventilation
8. I work in high temperatures
9. My work exposes me to contagious diseases
Sincerely,
The Penis
**********************************
Dear Penis
After assessing your request, and considering the arguments you have raised, the administration rejects your request for the following reasons:
1. You do not work 8 hours straight
2. You fall asleep on the job after brief work periods
3. You do not always follow the orders of the management team
4. You do not stay in your allocated position and often visit other areas.
5. You do not take initiative - you need to be pressured and stimulated in order to start working.
6. You leave the workplace rather messy at the end of your shift
7. You don't always observe necessary safety regulations, such as wearing the correct protective clothing
8. You're unable to work double shifts
9. You sometimes leave your allocated position before you have completed the days work.
10.You have been seen constantly entering and leaving the workplace carrying 2 suspicious looking bags.
Sincerely,
The Management
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