- Casino Royale Review
- Carrie (1976)
- Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
- Trainspotting (1996)
- Rain Man (1988)
- Fatal Attraction (1987)
- Targets (1968)
- An Education (2009)
- Mirror, The (1974)
- Fargo (1996)
- Fight Club (1999)
- Do The Right Thing (1989)
- Report (1967)
- Is "The Sting" The Best Gambling Film Ever Made?
- Pink Flamingos (1972)
- Ox-Bow Incident, The (1943), Or 28 Angry Men
- Rome, Open City (1945)
- Spring in a Small Town (1948)
- Drive (2011)
- Vinyl (1965)
- Seconds (1966)
- Rosemary's Baby (1968)
- A Hollywood Invasion of Casino Halls
- Thin Man, The (1934)
- In The Heat of the Night (1967)
- All In: The Poker Movie, Player’s Best Tricks
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
- 1001 Club - Skyfall (2012)
- 1001 Club - When Harry Met Sally... (1988)
- 1001 Club - Rain Man (1988)
Crying Game, The (1992) * Favorite Review *
This poster hurts my soul
Genre: Thriller (UK, Japan)
Starring: Stephen Rea (Feardotcom • V For Vendetta), Jaye Davidson (Stargate)
Directed By: Neil Jordan (Breakfast on Pluto • The Butcher Boy)
Overview: When a soldier kidnapped by the Irish Republican Army faces possible execution, he asks his captor, Fergus, to protect his girlfriend should it end badly. Fergus enters Dil's life in hopes of keeping that promise.
Warning: There's a dick-load of mid-film twist spoilers in this one.
The jism of the story stems around the kidnapping of a soldier. Fearing the worst, the kidnapped Jody asks Fergus, the head guard, to protect his girlfriend should he get screwed. When the situations goes nuts, Fergus escapes, trannyforms his name to Jimmy, finds Dil and falls for her. With people hot on his tail, he realizes that he needs to protect Dil from the past that will catch up to him.
Before the famed appearance of Blacksnake and the Harry Nutz brothers, one telling hint is dropped by kidnapped soldier Jody. "[The woman who seduced me today] isn't really my type," says Forest Whitaker as he shows Fergus a photo of himself with Dil.
Later when Fergus first sees Dil in the bar, she performs a song about as gay as any nut-tucked Queen would ever sing, flailing her arm about awkwardly. I watched intently, expecting to see other drag queens in the bar or at least a gay man, but no visual clue is revealed. Later Fergus snakes his hand up Dil's skirt as they make out, and she promptly takes his hand away.
A couple dates later and Dil invites Fergus back to her place, and with Fergus poised for Minnie's clam bake, he is instead introduced to Willie and the Steamboats. After some flipping out and light yarking, Fergus, feeling badly, returns to the bar to apologize.
The worst kind of filmic manipulation happens in the following bar scene. Instead of the bar we've seen before, full of beautiful women and everyday folk, we're shown a carnival ride of horror. As we pan through the place, cheap blond wigs sit atop five o'clock shadowed patrons in gold lammé and men shriek wildly all while acting like overripe fruits.
Did I mention the Title Song was covered by Boy George? GOD! HOW OBVIOUS CAN ONE GET?!
Performance: 7 Cinematography: 7 Script: 7 Plot: 7 Mood: 5
Overall Rating: 66% (Tears Will Indeed Spring)
Aftertaste:
In a film where the storyline is book ended by I.R.A. terrorist plots, you'd think there'd be a touch more action. I would go so far as to say that the action scene just before the climax was overall a boringly rote one and poorly imagined. Clearly the plot is the love angle, and everything else around it merely filler. In short, Ebert was right in getting mad at Siskel for ruining the twist, because without it, the movie is nothing more than an interesting first act.