The Good, The Bad and the Ugly Films

Posts Tagged ‘The Long Kiss Goodnight’

We’re a man down today as Johnny was called in to work. He won’t be giving his two cents to today’s topics (and we get to make fun of him). We start off by examining a few of the blog posts we made and some of the news in the past week. Here’s a brief rundown of what’s in store for you:

• Movies I Wish I Could Un-See: Ross wants all recollections of Hook gone, and Allen would like to have Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom expunged from his memory
• Movies to Introduce People To: John chose the Todd Solondz film, Happiness as the one he likes to show his friends for the first time, while Allen wants to show you The Long Kiss Goodnight, by Renny Harlin
• Helen Mirren joins the Arthur remake
• Avatar breaks even more records, this time in DVD/Blu-Ray sales
• Against the odds, Blockbuster’s stock rises thanks to the sweetheart studio deals
• With MGM’s financial woes, the fate of James Bond is up in the air
• Joss Whedon in line to direct Marvel Comic’s Avengers movie
• Ross nerds out talking about Star Wars

The movie we review this week is Michael Bay’s Armageddon. With it getting a brand new Blu-Ray release, we thought we’d bust out the old DVD of it and watch it again. We give our thoughts about what works and what doesn’t, but pretty much end up at the same place in the end. Johnny’s input would have been really appreciated for this because I think he might have a different perspective.

If you think that we’reway off in our opinions, or you’d like to tell us what you think, how about sending us an email to podcast@goodbaduglyfilms.com, adding a comment to this article, or leaving us a voice mail with Skype.

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Our task in this series was to choose a movie we like introducing to someone that hasn’t seen it before. Man! You would think this would be easy, but given a little thought, it is quite a task.

Introducing someone to a film they are unfamiliar with is like introducing a couple of your friends that don’t know each other in that you have worry about how they will click, and how it reflects back on you. You don’t want to choose something too heady or too arty and come off as an asshole, or something so bizarre you come off as a freak (check out the 1975 – part two podcast to hear about a first date derailed by bad movie choice!). So something a little more crowd pleasing is in order – something fun, easy to follow and thoroughly entertaining – which is why I chose the 1996 Renny Harlin action flick, The Long Kiss Goodnight.

Samantha Caine (Geena Davis) seems like the typical mother, girlfriend, teacher and active citizen in her idealized community. With an exception… she only remembers the last eight years of her life beginning when she woke in a hospital, pregnant with her daughter. All of this is revealed to us with a quick voice-over, and we are moved into the story…

We are introduced to a  low-rent detective, Mitch Henessey (Samuel L. Jackson), who is making his living entrapping and blackmailing married men with their pants down. Hired by Samantha long enough ago to almost been forgotten, Mitch has stumbled onto a lead to her past.

A series of events, including an amazingly shot accident that throws Samantha through the windshield of the car she’s driving when it hits a deer, puts Samantha and Mitch on the road to follow the leads to her apparently dangerous past. As the journey continues, more of the old Samantha emerges… Until we discover she was/is in fact Charly Baltimore – the Spy!

Written by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), The Long Kiss Goodnight is in many ways just like any other big-effects action flick, but where it departs from the pack is in its use of gender reversal. From the beginning of the film we get hints that Samantha has the potential to be a bad-ass, but as Charly emerges, more and more, there is no doubt that this is a woman that can handle herself and any situation thrown at her. At the start of the film we see Mitch as rough and tough hard-ass, but again, as the film progresses he falls into “the girl” role – unprepared for the the danger he finds himself in, and often being drug along at the arm by Samantha/Charly. Now, if this caused a knee-jerk reaction and made you think this is piece of feminist propaganda, think again! This is a balls-out action movie that happens to have a female lead.

The movie excels in almost everything it attempts.  Director Harlin really puts his actors (and then-wife Davis) through the paces in some truly amazing action sequences, keeping the pace brisk and maintaining the crackling, snappy dialogue from Black.

Davis and Jackson are supported by a strong cast including Craig Bierko and David Morse, and a hilarious appearance from Brian Cox (above).

Really, the only misstep the film takes is by trying to wedge a maternal side to Charly’s persona in some kind of Ripley-esque way that just comes off heavy-handed and ham-fisted.

Otherwise, the film is so much fun to watch, especially with someone new. It is engaging and lively, and has a lot of laughs – a great film to break the ice (and show you how to do so with an automatic weapon while jumping from a high window)!

In Part Two of our Spotlight on the films of 1996, we cover the worst of the worst with the Uglies, and the best of the best with our Top Five lists.

Feel free to leave comments on out lists, or submit you own, here in the comments section, or email them to us at podcast@goodbaduglyfilms.com .

NEXT WEEK: We take a look at movies that flopped.

The Ugly

John

Broken Arrow

Executive Decision

The Rock

Eraser

To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday

Mark

Solo

Beavis and Butthead Do America

High School High

Bio-dome

Rumble in the Bronx

Ross

Up Close and Personal

Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy

Mystery Science Theatre 3000

Thinner

Jack

Allen

Phenomenon \ Michael

Kazaam

An Eye For An Eye

The Evening Star

The Fan

Top 5 Lists

Mark

1. The Frighteners

2. Kingpin

3. Kolya

4. When We Were Kings

5. Last Man Standing

Ross

1. Special Effects: Anything Can Happen (IMAX)

2. Tales From the Crypt: Bordello of Blood

3. The Celluloid Closet

4. Basquiat

5.I Shot Andy Warhol

Allen

1. The Long Kiss Goodnight

2. Grace of My Heart

3. Crash

4. Bound \ Evita

5. Jude

John

1. Fargo

2. Bound

3. Trainspotting

4. Beautiful Thing

5. Scream

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