02/18: Wild Things

So...did you do it?
No.
Then you got nothing to worry about....

That's one of my favorite conversational quotes. It was between Bill Murray's lawyer character and Matt Dillon's character Sam. Sam is a high school guidance counselor who is accused of rape by two female students, Suzie (Neve Campbell) and Kelly (Denise Richards), after they go to his house. It is later revealed that the whole thing is a set-up and numerous accusations and suits come up and the three of them hope to split the dough, which is 8 million.

There are several plot twists throughout the movie, as well as several backstabbing events, with not to GIVE IT AWAY (SPOILER), but until there is one person left standing. Of course, I'm not going to give it away who, but as you watch the movie, you'll pretty much get an idea. Greed and manipulation play important parts of the movie. The film is also described as trashy yet likeable.

I remember during the late 90s during the prime of the film's stars. Neve Campbell was 'the girl next door' and she seemed unstoppable with her endless string of hit films. But it all came to an end. (Reminds me of Alicia Silverstone) Same goes for Denise Richards and Matt Dillon. But you also have Hollywood veterans who play minor roles (Murray, Robert Wagner and Kevin Bacon) so I guess you can say this had an all-star cast.

This film is not for children, but for teens who are used to watching sexual situations, then hey, go ahead. The film is notorious for its overly usage of sex scenes, as well as the lesbian kiss, etc. If you would like to watch it for a late-90s trip in time, this would be great too. This was not much of a hit at the box office at the time (Spring of '98) but it became more popular post-theatrical run.

My rating: 6 out of 10

02/02: Groundhog Day

Yes, it was intended to be that way. Groundhog Day is one of the worst times of the year for people who live in winter-suffered areas such as the Midwest (where I live). Most cases it is predictable if the groundhog has seen its shadow. This time around though, yeah I think we will be seeing 6 more weeks of winter weather. It's gonna be a long trip.....

Getting to the movie, this was brilliantly well acted by Bill Murray and well written by Harold Ramis. Where do I start? Bill Murray plays a TV weatherman Phil Connors who is arrogant, self-centered and grumpy (sometimes on-camera!) who seems to have the worst day of his life....on Groundhog Day! Him and his technical crew head to the weather capital of the world, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover the annual celebration of the groundhog. Just about everything that goes wrong that day does. Whether it be running into people he dislikes or arguing with his crew, the ultimate icing on the cake is being trapped in that town (which Phil despises) by a fast-moving blizzard. He goes to bed in anger.

The next day, he wakes up and it is February 2 again. He suddenly realizes he is re-living his day as the same events happen as they did previously. And the next day, and so on, he re-lives February 2. Phil doesn't have a clue why this is happening, but he does catch on that he has the opportunity to take advantage of the situation. Suicide attempts? Done. Overeating? Done. Stealing money? Done. But no matter what, he wakes up to Sonny and Cher every morning. But Phil eventually realizes this is probably happening for a reason. Wake-up call! Its his time to re-think his life situation.

This was named one of the Top 10 movies in the 'Fantasy' category by AFI, and for good reason. No matter what day it is, wouldn't you want to re-live it? You would at least know you'd be living forever if you did. Until its time for you to go to the next day, I guess. I have read some of the behind-the-scenes drama for this movie and apparently Ramis and Murray would never want to work again after this production. They never did.

I totally recommend this movie. As pointed out above, only Ramis would write such a great story like this and put together a movie so brilliantly.

My rating: 9 out of 10