Monday

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To see and use all the Funhouse features, you need Netscape 6.+ or MSIE 5.+.

• Netscape 6..2.1 is available free for download or on CD.
• MSIE 6.0 is available free.

Risk (2000) is an Australian made crime noir about a trio working to defraud an insurance company by paying fraudulent claims. Bryan Brown is a senior claims adjuster and leader of the scheme. Tom Long is a recent graduate and new adjuster in training, who has a personality trait that would normally cost him the job, but, in this case, is exactly what Brown needs. Long cares about the victims, and has the sympathetic face and manor to convey that to the victims. The third is Claudia Karvan, who is an attorney, and bed mate of Brown. The scam is simple and believable. Long is given the disputed claims to settle out of court. He convinces the victims that they would be better off settling for 80% of what they are asking, than going to court and paying more than the 20% to lawyers. Brown then settles for 90%, and uses the 10% to settle fraudulent claims handled by Karvan, who stages accidents, and represents the supposed victims.

When Long figures out what is going on and wants to bow out, Brown convinces Karvan to keep him entertained and happy. When Karvan starts sleeping with Long, and gets greedy and tries to escalate the scan, the plot really thickens. We see Long's breasts in two lovemaking scenes with Long, get several shots of her in a bra, and one scene of her in a bikini. IMDB readers rate this 6.6 of 10. Karvan, known for The Big Steal, The Heartbreak Kid, Paperback Hero nailed the part, and obviously enjoyed playing a bad girl. Brown was superb in the role. The few reviews on line are mixed, with most loving the film, but a few complaining about Long's character. I enjoyed it. C+

QUESTION FOR YOU GUYS:

I notice that the A&E version of Tom Jones is in next week's DVD releases. Has anyone seen that? Should Tuna and I look at it? Is there any nudity?

MOVIES:

Soul Man (1986) As I promised, I listened to the commentary track on the Soul Man DVD, which consists of narration by. C. Thomas Howell and director Steve Miner. ("It seemed like a good idea at the time")

They address the fact that the film was controversial, but they don't really seem to recognize why. For example, they didn't seem to notice the improbability of Rae Dawn starting up again with a white guy who had been wearing blackface for months, who had stolen her scholarship, and who had been cheating on her with a nympho white girl. If you remember, the Rae Dawn character had told him to get lost even after he made restitution, but she then changed her mind instantly because he punched out some racist white guys in the cafeteria!

Yeah, right. This is about as likely as a Jewish woman forgiving Hitler because he sent her brother a nice bar mitzvah gift. "Aw, c'mere, ya big Nazi 'Nucklehead"

Miner points out that Richard Pryor called him and told him the movie was really funny, but the flip side of the story is that Eddie Murphy supposedly refuses to work with Miner because of this film, and Spike Lee found the film completely offensive. If the part about Murphy is true, I'm not entirely sure that Eddie is on solid ground here, since he has impersonated white people in his films, and not very flatteringly. I suppose sauce for the goose ought to be sauce for the gander as well. I'd like to hear Eddie's explanation.

According to Miner and Howell, the original reviews were mixed, but the reviews on line 15 years later don't include any praise.

The most interesting piece of inside information in the commentary is that Tim Robbins was originally signed to do the lead in this film, but shooting on the infamous Howard the Duck went months past deadline, so Howell was hired. If the ever-PC Robbins is embarrassed by Fraternity Vacation, how would he explain this movie?

This movie might have been a brilliant value if the commentary had been done by the director and Eddie Murphy, each explaining his position. Now THAT would be worth listening to.

Say Anything (1989) is new to DVD this week, with 28 additional scenes and a full-length commentary by Cusack and Crowe. Simple, real movie, but no nudity.

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 I inexplicably determined there might be something of interest.
• A blue asterisk indicates the review is written by Tuna (or Lawdog or Junior or C2000 or Realist or ICMS or somebody else besides me)
• If there is no asterisk, I wrote it, but am too ashamed to admit it.

The only real exposure in Play It To The Bone comes at the beginning of the flic with a pair of zoned-out uncredited babes, in bed with a foaming-at-the-mouth boxing promoter. How very attractive.

• Zoned-out babes

And then in the early rounds of the fight, Woody Harrelson's character hallucinates a trio of babes in the buff. They are lumped together as "Fantasy Girls" and are credited as Tamara Gibler, Fulvia Sanchez and Faye Mangabang.

The first collage devotes a row of frames to each babe (the middle of which sports the worst boob-job in the history of medical malpractice); the second collage has two of the babes gettin' friendly in the middle of the ring. They include some distant gyno-cam views that came onto the screen as single frames, bracketed by blackness. But thanks to the miracle of DVDs....

• Fantasy Girls (1, 2)

First up, some Hardcore Hankster....

I found an old beta tape (yes, I still have a Beta!) with The Ivory Snow Girl doing the nasty back in 1983!

• Marilyn Chambers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Plus some left over nudity from Cheri Caffaro (topless and rear) & Jeramie Rain, topless and whipping a guy. Both in scenes from "The Abductors".

• Cheri Caffaro (1, 2)
• Jeramie Rain