Category Archives: 1988

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

From IMDB:

Two con men try to settle their rivalry by betting on who can swindle a young American heiress out of fifty thousand dollars first.

From Kanopy and Amazon Prime you can stream this 35 year old comedy which lasts 1 hour and 50 minutes.

Needless to say, if one of the actors is Steve Martin, we are probably talking about a comedy.  Michael Caine is the perfect matchup against Martin.

Old but still lots of fun and plot surprises.

Apartment 0 (1988)

From NetFlix:

Adrian LeDuc (Colin Firth) is a cash-strapped loner eking out a living running
a revival cinema in modern-day Buenos Aires. With interest in classic films waning,
he’s forced to rent out his insane mother’s room to a seemingly harmless stranger,
Jack Carney (Hart Bochner). They quickly become friends, but as Adrian displays
the same problems that plagued his mother, he also begins to suspect his roommate
is a killer. Is he right, or is he just plain mad?

NetFlix suggested “Apartment 0” to me. Since Colin Firth has been good in every one of his movies that I have seen, I gave it a try. Once again Colin Firth comes through well as a very disturbed person. I had not seen Hart Bochner before (or at least never noticed). He has an impressive resume in IMDB. However, I could not decide if his acting was acceptable. The setting is Argentina. Colin Firth speaks an impeccable British. But the American accent of Hart Bochner really grated on me and sounded cheap. Do we really sound that way ? Colin lives in an apartment building inhabited by a strange assortment: transvestites, etc. (If any one of you is a transvestite, my apology). This is one strange, possible flawed film. But its strangeness and the plot forced me to sit through to the really unexpected ending.

The Accused (1988)

From Net Flix:

Jodie Foster won an Oscar for her portrayal of Sarah Tobias in
this fact-based drama. After being raped by three men in a local
bar, Sarah, enraged at the light sentence her attackers receive,
persuades attorney Kathryn Murphy (Kelly McGillis) to press
charges against the men who cheered on the attack. But it won’t be
easy: Sarah has a shady past that could be used against her in court.

This is a VIOLENT film. Towards the end there is an ugly gang-rape scene. But Jodie Foster’s facial expressions alone are worth the entire film. It’s probably the best Jodie Foster film I have seen.