Radiant_Rose Reviews

Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)

Hidden Depths

[10/10 · 7 February 2011]

I was disappointed by this film the first time I saw it, but for some reason I gave it another chance. And now it has found its way into my affections as my favourite film.

On the surface, it seems that nothing much happens. Apart from Graham (James Spader) slowly running out of the ingredients for iced tea ... Yes, the characters talk a lot and there is some sex, but compared to most films, everything is rather humdrum ...

(I believe that a rival director described the film as being about a man ... masturbating.) But if you look more closely, all sorts of things are happening. Cynthia (Laura San Giacomo) is an atypical 1980s heroine: she knows what she wants (financial independence, sex, her artwork, her plants) and she goes for what she wants. And gets it. She even ends up on reasonably good terms with the sister with whom she has clearly had problems dating back to their childhood.

Ann (Andie MacDowell) is an unassertive character who ends up taking back some of the control over her life which she handed over to her husband John (Peter Gallagher - good in a rather thankless role).

And writer-director Steven Soderbergh has such an unusual twist on themes. You hear the words "sex, lies and videotape" and think that a lot of films contain those three ingredients. True, but how many also contain blackmail? Almost all of them. It is the presence of the items, minus the expected element of blackmail, that makes this special. Plus, what do you think when you hear a film is about a man who is impotent (unless alone) and has no job? Were you thinking it was a grim British film, probably set up North somewhere? I would have been.

Although the film is well-written and well-edited, there are still some small mysteries for fans to pore over. Where does Graham get his money from? Do he and Ann have full sex on the occasion when she decides to seduce him? I rather like the hints that Graham may have experimented with his sexuality (reference to being impotent in the presence of another person, rather than specifying a woman; saying he preferred taping women to taping men).

There are lots of little mysteries about the accessories: Cynthia and Graham each own a dart board. Does this mean anything? Is so, what? (Spader's then-wife was one of the people who decorated the set.) Really, my only quibble is that we never find out what Ann does in the job she ends up with. Does she, perhaps, recycle the garbage that allegedly concerned her when she was a rather desperate housewife? I would like to think that the job meant more than just a pay cheque, and maybe it does.

That is such a tiny point. Spader and San Giacomo are both, in my opinion, very sexy in this film, and that would be reason enough to watch it over and over again.

The Stick Up (2002)

Stick With it, You Will Be Rewarded

[10/10 · 7 February 2011]

This is one of my favourite films. Yet it started unpromisingly, as I am not particularly interested in car chases. Or, for that matter, films bank robberies. (Rose, you ask, did not the title alert you to the fact that this was a film about a bank robbery?) James Spader (my reason for watching the film) is excellent in it. Part of the reason was continually having to revise my views as to whether his character (Parker) was basically a "good guy" or much more sinister. Spader, who has worked with writer-director Herrington before ("Jack's Back") and since ("I Witness") knows better than to give the audience any clues ahead of time. When he grabbed ambushed Natalie (Leslie Stefanson) and grabbed her by the throat, my attention was riveted.

Plus, when his character was shot, he actually looked like he was both in a lot of pain and going into shock. That seems surprisingly unusual.

There were some subtle details to satisfy those of us who want to watch the film over and over again. For example, Parker seems to have a Catholic background (despite being separated from his wife); Natalie has a cross on her wall.

I liked the part near the end with the injured bad guys limping away. Having lots of dead bodies is a little dull and, well, it is over-kill.

Natalie is feisty, which is always a good quality in a screen heroine. The whole cast is good.

There are a few flaws with the story: a couple of parts are confusingly edited and I still cannot work out the bit about the cars. I would also have liked to have seen the priest rewarded for his good deed.

But these are minor quibbles. This is a very good film, curently very underrated. If you like it, spread the word, maybe we can change that!

The Vanishing (1988)

Rex's Choice

[8/10 · 22 August 2009]

This is a creepy film, in a subtle way. The odd thing is that almost all the actual images could safely be seen by almost anyone. If you plonked a small, impressionable child in front of the screen with the sound off, hardly any of it would give her/him nightmares.

For example, quite a large chunk of the film just shows people at a service station in France, in the 1980s. There are toilets, there are frisbees on sale for 13,50 francs (they use a comma as a decimal point in France), people are talking, cars come and go, everything seems sunny and normal. It looks very realistic, maybe because I've been to France (in the 1980s) and haven't been to some countries where a lot of films are made.

Yet, despite being low on scary images and devoid of gore, an air of real menace is created.

There is some philosophising, but not too much. The points about random chance are made without being laboured.

I quibble with the choice of "The Vanishing" as the English title. In my opinion, "vanishing" does not sound right as a noun. The Dutch title could have been translated as "Without a Trace", as the TV series of that name came much later than this film.

The English subtitles on the DVD I saw were slightly clunky at times (why put 62 miles rather than 100 km?). I suspect that the discussion about surnames influenced Tarantino, and the ending was not a million miles (1.6 million km) from the "CSI" double episode he wrote.

I would say this was proof that a film can succeed with a low budget and relatively obscure cast, if the script is right.

Baby Boom (1987)

You've come a long way, baby

[6/10 · 7 February 2009]

I had read about this film long before I ever saw it. Susan Faludi slated it in her book "Backlash" for being anti-feminist. Perhaps naively, I pretty much took her word for it.

I eventually got around to seeing it because James Spader has a small role in it (during the "devious blonde yuppy" phase of his career - he really seems to have it in for yuppies). I was amazed by how completely I disagreed with Faludi.

JC (Diane Keaton) is a very determined, resourceful woman. I am not sure how likely it is that she would be able to expand her business without sacrificing her quality time with her adopted daughter and new boyfriend, but I think she'll give it a good try. In my opinion, it is the career-obsessed men who are missing out.

This film is saying that women can successfully combine a career and a private life. It may be corny and unrealistic (especially the method by which JC "acquires" baby Elizabeth), but Ms Keaton's character triumphs over adversity.

In my opinion, that makes it a feminist film.

Wall Street (1987)

Stripping whilst remaining fully clothed

[4/10 · 7 February 2009]

There are three things we learn about capitalism from Oliver Stone's film. They are that:

1 Insider trading is bad and illegal and wrong. 2 Asset stripping is bad, because some people lose their jobs. 3 Only bad guys think that "greed is good". Or maybe the message is that only bad guys like Gordon Gecko believe lunch is for wimps. I am not sure. If I were going to make a film about capitalism, I might have more to say about the human and environmental costs.

One good thing about this film is James Spader's brief appearance, as one of the bad guys who likes insider trading and asset stripping. He demonstrates how it is possible to screw people whilst remaining fully clothed. This, alongside the rather similar character he played in "Baby Boom", epitomise the "devious blond yuppy" phase of his career. I once googled "devious blonde yuppy" to see if his name came up - and it did, three times in the first ten hits. Later, with "Dream Lover" and "Wolf", we can see this phase of his career go from merely playing devious men to characters that are actively deviant and (in the case of those two films, evil).

This is not a bad film, but it is not the film that I would have made had I been given the budget and the stars.

Tuff Turf (1985)

Well, that's tuff

[7/10 · 7 February 2008]

I suppose that if both your parents are teachers, being in a film with a misspelt title is a pretty good way to rebel. IMDb says that both of James Spader's parents were teachers, and he left school in the 11th grade, so ... well, make up your own mind. To make up for the possible lack of difficulty in playing a rebellious New Englander, this role is all singing, all dancing, all cycling ...

... well, I think he sings the line at the start of the film, but the song he sings seems to be dubbed (despite the credits failing to clarify this point either way). And there is absolutely no attempt made to make it seem he is really playing the piano.

Spader has never been in anything musical since this, but I will say that his dancing is very good.

This is a cross between a rather sweet romantic comedy and one of those films that is unbelievably, mindblowingly idiotic. I particularly liked the line, "This is the 80s!" No kidding! So that would account for the outfits and the hairstyles.

amazon.co.uk deleted part of my review (without my knowledge or consent) because I noted that Kim Richards's hair was unusually long. But it was: especially by the standards of the 1980s. Nor did Amazon like my comment that Spader looks as if he is wearing eyeliner during the fight scene at the end. But he does. With his flicked fringe and apparent eyeliner, he resembles the late Princess Diana, IMHO.

Most of the songs are ones that aren't played much now, but "People That Died" was used in a retrospective on the drama series "Six Feet Under". It was played during a montage. Amazon didn't want that in the review either.

I recommend this to all of Spader's fans. You'll laugh, you'll lust, you'll cringe with embarrassment.

It was the 80s.

Very much so.

Speaking of Sex (2001)

Naughty but nice

[9/10 · 14 January 2008]

Amazon.co.uk declined my initial review of this film. This is why.

"In regards to the review for 'Speaking of Sex', it was not posted due to to the following content 'I am delighted that James Spader accepted the role of Roger. Spader's screen personae have, er, explored many aspects of sexuality. These include voyeurism ("sex, lies and videotape"); hitting a brunette called Lee ("Secretary"); being hit by a totally separate brunette called Lee ("Storyville") and experiments with saddles and carrots ("Secretary", again). His alter egos have done it with a hooker and a psychotic killer ("The Music of Chance" and "Driftwood" respectively). They deflowered a human virgin on an alien planet in "Stargate" and an alien virgin on Earth in "Starcrossed". They were videotaped in compromising situations in "Bad Influence", "Storyville" and "Critical Care". They have had sex in outer space, in a bath and possibly on a table top, in public ("Supernova", "The Stickup" and "White Palace"). Spader made werewolves sexy in "Wolf" and let us not forget "Crash" (1996), a tale of orgasms, cars and scars.

"'We at CHERISH (Campaign to Holistically EnRIch our lives with Spader's Help) value all these diverse sex scenes. We also firmly believe that LITBM: Laughter Is The Best Medicine. We are delighted when Spader finds a role which enables him to poke fun at his stereotyped image: notably in the TV series "Boston Legal". However, "Boston Legal" has its serious side.'"

This is a really fun, funny film. I wish Megan Mullalley's character had found a new love interest, but apart from that, I cannot fault it. It reinforces every stereotype we have about Americans, and was filmed in Canada.

Crash (1996)

oddly intriguing (but the "auto erotic" joke has been done already)

[8/10 · 8 October 2007]

The best thing about this is the music Howard Shore composed for it. It is exactly right for this film. It sounds like the heartbeat of a cyborg.

I was expecting to be more shocked by this film than I actually was. The injuries are not particularly stomach churning. In the original novel by J G Ballard, the hero (whom he named James Ballard after himself) suffers a scalp laceration and some kind of stomach injury that involves a description of what happened to his bowel contents.

In fact, the novel contains a lot about bodily fluids, including a poetic description of vomit and much, much more. This element is rather lacking from the film.

I saw the film before I read the novel, so I was not sure what to expect from it.

The characters never get out of their depths. I wondered if one of them would find himself or herself stuck in a situation he or she could not handle: too badly injured, or in too much pain, but that never happens.

Given Cronenberg's history as a director of horror films, I did wonder about one of the characters actually dying and wondered what sort of afterlife they might find. Again, any concept of the afterlife was missing.

Reviewers often bracket this together with two of James Spader's other films, "sex, lies and videotape" and "Secretary". I think one of the big differences between this and those films is that in them, there is a heroine who breaks through the barrier Spader's character has erected (pun intended) around himself. In "Crash", his character stays firmly in his own weird little world.

It is odd that he shares his first name with the character he plays, but that can only be coincidence.

I am not sure if the script girl we briefly see near the start of the film is fully naked, but of the main cast, Deborah Kara Unger is the only one who is completely fully frontally naked.

I wasn't very impressed by the film the first time I saw it, but there is something about it that is quite haunting. Parts of it stay in the memory.

Jack's Back (1988)

Twice as nice?

[6/10 · 8 October 2007]

Writer/director Rowdy Herrington seems to want to say something about homelessness, but then the theme trails off.

The best reason to watch this, for most people, is that James Spader plays two roles. (Identical twins, and one of them has an earring!) It may be this film that inspired me to embark on my project of cloning Spader. No luck yet, but I will keep you posted.

Considering the title refers to Jack the Ripper, this film is surprisingly even handed when it comes to the ratio of female to male victims of violence.

There isn't much to dislike about the writing or the acting, but there isn't anything that really jumps out as outstanding.

Secretary (2002)

Three little words

[9/10 · 30 September 2007]

It would be worth seeing for the interior decor alone.

I also love the work of the costume department. They certainly know how to help tell the story. I love the part where Lee was told to fasten her hair back or stop fiddling with it, and she turned up in a beaded snood.

This film also very funny in many places. My favourite recurring joke involves peas.

I am totally impressed by the way E Edward never tells Lee he loves her, yet we know he does. The nearest he gets to saying those three little words is "Des Moines, Iowa"! I love the whole sequence from him carrying her upstairs, and washing her, and seeing her scars, to the bit where he utters these words, to the part with the tree and the black wedding dress.

(I did remember to click the button about including spoilers, didn't I?)

My favourite accessory was the humane mousetrap.

The incidental music was great, and the soundtrack well-chosen. I am no longer able to listen to "I'm Your Man" by Leonard Cohen without grinning.

The only part where I felt uncomfortable was in the moment at the end when Lee has waved goodbye to Edward. For a split second, she looks as if she is going to miss him terribly whilst he is away at work. However, she is a resourceful young lady and will doubtless find a way to combine her passion for her new husband with his need to earn a living.

I love the way IMDb expects me to press "submit" to present them with the review. It is because of women like Lee that I realise that a person can submit without losing the essence of who they are.

Pretty in Pink (1986)

Wear pink even if it doesn't suit you

[8/10 · 28 September 2007]

In reply to two of the most frequent IMDb topics on this film.

1 Yes, I think Andie's prom dress looks hideous. It isn't because pink clashes with her red hair. I think it's brave of her to wear a colour she likes regardless. But the shape is horrid.

2 Given the choice, I would go for Steff. He is the best looking of Andie's options. But only if I could gag him or get him to drug himself so he wouldn't be able to say horrid things to me. If it's a question of personality, Andie should go for Iona. She is just as loyal as Duckie, but less clingy and with an adventurous sense of style (mostly).

The Music of Chance (1993)

Risk watching it

[7/10 · 6 September 2007]

This was a bit mysterious for my tastes, but there are some interesting moments in it.

Joel Grey seems to have cornered a bit of a market in sinister characters, since I recall his being involved not only in the death of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (later revived) but also in the demise of JR Ewing.

James Spader, by contrast, seems to have wanted to escape from playing devious blonde yuppies by playing a dark-haired person with no money and no class. Probably the best part of the film is the interaction between him and Mandy Patinkin's character. Note that Patinkin is male: there is a distinct shortage of female characters in the film.

I disliked not knowing who died at the end and who survived.

My favourite accessory is the fake tiara.

I find it interesting that Paul Auster, who wrote the book on which the film is based and who has a cameo at the end, bears a close resemblance to Mandy Patinkin.

Team-Mates (1978)

Not 70s soft porn

[5/10 · 14 June 2007]

A friend of mine read in a book that this was a 1970s soft porn film, and that made me laugh. Although the cover refers to nudity, I watched it with a friend and neither of us actually spotted any! This story is very disjointed. It is very uneven in tone.

On the plus side, the heroine wants to play on the boys' football team. On the negative side, she is a bit of a wimp and easily gives up her dream on condition that they let her play in one game that doesn't even count.

The tale of how she gets to that match is supposed to be hilarious, but it's very broad comedy. Much of the rest of the film is not presented as a comedy. I don't know what it thinks it is.

Like most people (judging by how this is billed on ebay), I bought this because it is James Spader's film debut. He plays a bright, good-looking teenager called Jimmy who (like most teenagers) gets drunk at parties. It probably was not the most demanding role of his life. Plus, he is only in about 3 scenes.

I just wanted to set the record straight and say that he didn't make his film debut in soft porn.

Supernova (I) (2000)

Supernova

[7/10 · 7 February 2007]

Despite everything (the irritating low-level lighting; the flashing lights that make this unsuitable for epileptic viewers; the undeveloped ideas), I like this film a lot.

There are some good lines. I also like James Spader in it. I think it's interesting that I find him almost as attractive in this as I do in "Stargate" even though his character is much more assertive and has much shorter hair. Hmmm. Maybe I have more than one "type" after all ...

However, there are some questions which remain unanswered.

Was Nick really likely to turn Benji in to the authorities, or was Sweetie merely using reverse psychology (thus making Nick feel the need to prove his loyalty to his colleague) in order to be 100% sure of protecting Benji?

Would it not have been better if we had been kept in suspense for longer regarding whether or not Nick was one of the "good guys"?

Why were there not more DSUs for injured people?

Why did the captain decide it was worth the risk jumping?

Is Sweetie programmed to respect human life or not? Her behaviour towards Danika and Yerzy seems ... careless to say the least. She seems to have more inconsistencies than a "pro-life" politician calling for the return of capital punishment!

The eye thing at the end would make more sense if Spader had had really blue eyes throughout. On the other hand, it might be that Kaela and Nick were each carrying a recessive blue eyed gene ...

Is it just me, or is Flyboy a rather camp robot?

Did Karl literally make Kaela infertile or was she merely banned from having a child because of her association with him?

Why do Kaela and Danika both have short hair? Is this just a random coincidence or is it a sign that they come from a society where everyone is seen in a very androgynous gender-neutral way?

I'm sure I'll think up more questions the moment I've submitted this. Finally, I want to say that I love the ending. I'm so pleased Nick took the news so well. I'm glad he didn't jump up and call Kaela a sperm bandit!

Endless Love (1981)

A cross star-gazer, in love

[5/10 · 20 January 2006]

My viewing companion, Calico Cat, and I both saw this film in the 80s. I remembered the astronomical models hanging from the ceilings of our hero and heroine better than any of the characters. Cat remembered Brooke Shields was in it, but wondered if there might also be a blue lagoon? Looking at the film now, it is surprising we did not remember it more. For a start, there is the weird costume Jade wears when we first see her. She isn't just wearing a lacy white dress, she actually has her hair pinned up with white roses, exactly as a bride would do. Despite her mother's eccentric sartorial taste, the party is clearly not a fancy dress one. So, what is going on with that? Why is Jade's father cuddling her like that? What on Earth is up with Jade's mother's voyeuristic tendencies? Cat and I even failed to remember that James Spader is in this (as Jade's older brother, Keith). His acting is good. Oddly, in the light of his subsequent career, none of the strange sexual undercurrents involve Keith. Spader does, however, embark on his habit of getting his shirt off even when the script does not require him to be topless! What did we dislike about the film? Certainly, I did not like the duck shooting scene. It made me feel highly unsympathetic to the three characters involved, and I am not sure that was the intended effect. I considered deducting a star or two from the rating I gave the film, but could not be sure if an actual duck had been shot. We hear a noise resembling a gun. We see something in the distance falling from the sky. I couldn't be sure if it was a real duck.

However, our real problem is with "starcrossed" lovers David and Jade. I see why someone would love Jade. She is very sweet, and it is quite refreshing to see a female film star with thick eyebrows. It is also pleasing to see her name listed before that of her male co-star, as so many romance films list the male lead first.

However, David (Martin Hewitt) just seems like a cross-star gazer. (He's into astronomy, hence the ceiling models.) Endless love? I wouldn't have stayed in love with him for the duration of the theme song (which certainly seems endless, and goes on beyond the end credits, accompanying a blank screen)! David even whines endlessly about the sentence he is given for arson. Come off it! Five years in a benign, if dreary, institution is lenient! It is only one year for each of the five lives he endangered. It is even worse that he committed arson because he didn't want to stay away from Jade for a paltry 30 days, during her exams.

Hewitt is neither ugly nor a bad actor, but he has an impossible task trying to portray a whiny and reckless character as lovable or even likable. I found myself wishing there was a blue lagoon so that a creature would crawl out of it and eat him! There are things that make this worth watching, even though many of them are inanimate and dangle from ceilings. Oh, and we think Spader looks good in tight jeans.

The New Kids (1985)

Not fair to the chicken

[3/10 · 25 November 2005]

This is a fairly average film, with some suspense and some humour. Eric Stoltz, who is very talented, is not given enough to do. Lori Loughlin is very good. James Spader plays almost certainly the most evil character of his screen career. Also the blondest - he resembles the love child of Dennis Hopper and Marilyn Monroe. That is a simile, not a rumour!

I would have given this 5 points, but I am deducting 5 points for the execution of the chicken. There was nothing in the credits to imply that this scene was faked.

I am, however, replacing one and a half points because at least the film makes the link that people who are gratuitously cruel to animals are likely to harm other humans. I replace a further one and a half because the heroine fights back.

Greasy Lake (1988 Video)

"Greasy Lake, Sleazy Guys": A Review of Greasy Lake

[7/10 · 15 November 2005]

TC (Eric Stoltz) and his friends Digby (James Spader) and Jeff (Tegan West) are intelligent 19-year-olds who have, in TC's words, decided that "it's good to be bad". I wouldn't use the word "bad". Apart from drinking and driving, for which "bad" is an inadequate condemnation, they seem to be merely annoying.

One night, TC "borrows" his mother's car and the trio head off to Greasy Lake, in order to drink, smoke dope, look out for naked women and maybe cause a very small amount of trouble. They find themselves in hot water, or in over their heads, if we are using metaphors.

To be literal, TC finds himself waist-deep in very cold water ... and it seem that Greasy Lake really deserves its name.

The only confusing part of this story is that we do not learn how TC avoids hypothermia. Apart from that, this is a simple but well-acted tale.

The electronic music adds to the air of uncertainty. Despite the humour in the script, adapted by director Damian Harris from a short story by T Coraghesson Boyle, we are not sure whether things will work out alright for our anti-heroes or not.

Note: "Greasy Lake" is one of 4 short films released on a VHS tape called "The Discovery Program: Short Stories". I bought mine from amazon.com z-shops. Although it is American, it will play on a UK VCR that has NTSC Playback, if the VCR is linked to the TV via a SCART cable.