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BC’s Back With Our First Review Of Halle Berry and Bruce Willis In PERFECT STRANGER!!

A Perfect Stranger movie without Bronson Pinchot? by Shermdawg	Sep 28th, 2006 06:36:07 AM
Don't be ridiculous!
Get out of the city! by Scorp88	Sep 28th, 2006 06:36:57 AM
I love Balki. And Cousin Larry. But seriously, I don't want to see this movie.
It's about fucking time! by rbatty024	Sep 28th, 2006 07:01:58 AM
That was easily my favorite show when I was a kid. Maybe Bronson Pinchot's spot on the Surreal Life sparked interest in this masterpiece of a sit-com. If they decide to put new actor's in the same roles, I hope they at least give cameos to the originals.
Different Endings by pammybabe	Sep 28th, 2006 07:05:23 AM
How can you have three different endings with different killers? That would mean the whole of what happened previously is spurious to the plot. Don't think i'll be seeing this one.
Sherdawg vs. Balki by FearlessJay	Sep 28th, 2006 07:37:44 AM
Dammit, you beat me to the joke! Oh, I wonder how many more Balki references we'll see on this one?
pammybabe... by rev_skarekroe	Sep 28th, 2006 07:51:42 AM
...apparently you missed a little film masterwork called "Clue".
I hate when movies try and incorporate new technology. by brycemonkey	Sep 28th, 2006 07:52:28 AM
It just looks lame and pathetic. Anything that features 'virtual reality', laptops, IM, ipods, or myspace is asking to be kicked in the nuts. Hard. Take note Romero with your ass-hat myspace Zombie flick. You have been warned Sir.
Head injury? by TheJake	Sep 28th, 2006 08:18:34 AM
I'm curious... can anyone pinpoint the exact moment when movie execs became so completely retarded that films like this actually get made? This sounds like the plot of some straight to DVD movie starring Dean Cain and Tara Reid or Ice-T and Alyssa Milano.
Sitcom by Pandas-R-Us	Sep 28th, 2006 08:27:13 AM
Are you guys being sarcastic about that being your fave show back in the day? I remember when they showed it for a while across the pond here and everyone in school used to laugh at how terrible it was.
I don't get the idea of the focus group?? by Big_Bubbaloola	Sep 28th, 2006 08:30:28 AM
Am I missing something, but surely you'd want a focus group made up of people who liked and disliked the movie so as to get a structured opinion. Select the most intelligent ones (ones that actually critique rather than 'needs more tits!!') from the audience and ask them to stay behind, regardless of their feelings toward the film. Just don't get it!
Saying what they type. by godzillasushi	Sep 28th, 2006 08:44:36 AM
I love that, makes me feel like the director knows the audience is full of complete morons that cant read. Seriously, do they really think people cant think for themselves? If you dont want people constantly reading computer screens in a theatre, maybe its a bad idea to have it at all...
"Standing TAAAALL... by waylayer	Sep 28th, 2006 08:45:07 AM
...on the wings of my dream! Rise and FAAALLL, on the wings of my dream! The rain and thunder. The wind and haze. I’m bound for better days. (la laaaa) It’s my life and my dream! Nothing’s going to stop me noooow! " friendswithbenefits.com
Big_Bubbaloola: Hold on there. by brycemonkey	Sep 28th, 2006 08:45:40 AM
What is wrong with wanting 'more tits'? Hmmmm? I know I do...
Berry used exploding Bibbibabkas to kill. by durhay	Sep 28th, 2006 09:01:37 AM
I hope during the computer screens they "hovered" instead of actually touching the screens.
I hate the concept of focus groups by CTU Mole	Sep 28th, 2006 09:32:31 AM
Especially when they're used to decide the entire point of the film. That's a part of why movies suck so much, they run everything through the Joe 6-pack prism. Using test audiences and allowing them to influence your filmmaking is the #1 example of how the whole process has become a crass money grabbing business proposition with all concept of art or originality gone.
Halle Berry *and Bruce Willis? How can this be shit?!?! by brycemonkey	Sep 28th, 2006 09:35:15 AM
It's just not possible. Berry won an Oscar for crying out loud! She won it for showing her tits in that groundbreaking movie Swordfish. And Swordfish starred John Travolta. Bruce Willis killed Travolta in Pulp Fiction. You know what that means? It means this POS movie is destined, DESTINED, to win even more Oscars than Swordfish. QED. Now where are my pills...?
Yes but is it better than The Last Boy Scout? by TheAFLACDuck	Sep 28th, 2006 10:02:49 AM
Well? ... is it?
bryce, you may wanna brush up on your Oscar history. by Shermdawg	Sep 28th, 2006 10:03:50 AM
Seriously.
Here's the origin of these types of movies: by Christopher3	Sep 28th, 2006 10:13:32 AM
Some 80 year old studio head who's on his fifth wife going, "What's this AOL thing I hear my teenage son going on about?" Seriously, when it comes to tech trends, Hollywood's further behind the curve than even the New York Times Magazine, and when stuff shows up there, you know it's already over.
"The godforsaken town of Northridge"... by SubliminalJones	Sep 28th, 2006 10:14:11 AM
What a completely idiotic thing to say. There's probably almost as many studio execs and their money residing in Northridge as there are on the west side. "Very north of LA"..yes, like 7 minutes on the freeway. It's not some cow town above Bakersfield, you fool. Spare us the faux "insider" bullshit and stop basing your perceptions on of the world on episodes of "Entourage".
Sherm: People bash the Oscars... by brycemonkey	Sep 28th, 2006 10:19:55 AM
But if Berry won one for showing her tits then I would respect them (Oscars, not Berry) a lot more ;-)
On Screen Computer Screens by Big Bad Clone	Sep 28th, 2006 10:21:24 AM
what's wrong with saying everything you type? I always do that. I'm doing it now. Of course, i whisper when I'm typing something personal.
Focus Groups by Kid Z	Sep 28th, 2006 11:01:39 AM
CTU Mole, you hit it! Where do they get the braindead mutants that sit for these things anyway? My guess is it's people that don't know the proper response to someone who approaches you while holding a clipboard is a harsh "F*** off!"
7 minutes from LA? by BitterMan23	Sep 28th, 2006 11:04:35 AM
Try closer to an hour. Its 25 min from Valley Village (where I live) to that theater, and im 20-25 min north of LA proper. And screenings are at the worst time of the day for freeway traffic. If he was coming from downtown area, or even like, Echo Park, he probably had at least a 50 min drive.
Why are ad agencies always the business of choice? by Garbageman33	Sep 28th, 2006 11:19:05 AM
Trust me, I work in one and they aren't the hip, cool places the movies make them out to be. It's just a bunch of pseudo-hipsters, wearing old-school Pumas, listening to Mad Lib and bemoaning the fact that no one will even look at their screenplay.
Is the Meditteranean island of Mypos in this? by Orbots Commander	Sep 28th, 2006 11:33:39 AM
Do any of the characters in PERFECT STRANGER use Balki's famous cold medicine that made Cousin Larry sleep for a week?
I don't understand why Willis makes this crap. by Nate Champion	Sep 28th, 2006 11:35:30 AM
I really feel sorry for Willis... whenever he gets a real movie, he knocks it out of the park. (Note that pretty much every review of Fast Food Nation mentions his performance.) But he's stuck doing the same old shit year after year after year. He's like a modern day Charles Bronson... a good actor trapped into an image that will carry him through countless throwaway movies until his death.
PS -- AFLACDuck by Nate Champion	Sep 28th, 2006 11:38:36 AM
That was a trick question. NOTHING will ever be as good as The Last Boy Scout. Smile, you fuck.
Hey, the Last Boyscout was good. by CTU Mole	Sep 28th, 2006 12:10:08 PM
RW eats the tape. I think that was Halle Berry's first movie, before she became a bitch. And she didn't win the Oscar for Swordfish, she won it for the borderline porno with Bad Santa. But that really doesn't count because that was the year all the winners were black, after Spike Lee's little tirade.
If he was driving all the way from downtown... by -guyinthebackrow	Sep 28th, 2006 12:16:46 PM
he'd still be driving to Northridge. And Northridge isn't "Godforsaken"... it's just one of those places that people never go. Like Pasadena. That's right, Pasadena! I'm calling your "old town" ass out! WESTSIDE! (West L.A.; anything East of Robertson Blvd is East L.A. HA!)
James Foley is only as good as the script he works with by triplefive	Sep 28th, 2006 12:29:29 PM
He's a pretty boring director, and really doesn't know a good story if it kicked him in the ass. The best thing he's done is Glengarry, and thats just cause Mamet's genius shines through the performances, and not because of Foley's pedestrian directing.
Where are the good leads? by Dollar Bird	Sep 28th, 2006 12:45:09 PM
Triplefive is right. I've seen Confidence and Glengarry, and to do a dare to compare, Glengarry is great because it was a good script and the actors were solid. (Though Baldwin's balls line is pretty rediculous.) Confidecne had some nice lighting (or was that just the poster?) and pretty people, but I'll never watch it again. Even if Coldplay's "Clocks" plays at the end as the most out of place musical non sequiter ever. I really kept trying to read this review as though it was a comedy—a new take on "Perfect Strangers"—but it wasn't even good that way. This is just lame.
Willis gets off in the end and does the "Dance Of Joy" by Darth Bauer	Sep 28th, 2006 12:54:15 PM
And "Last Boy Scout" was awesome!
GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT BEFORE ASSIGNING BLAME by K2	Sep 28th, 2006 12:54:29 PM
I also was at last night's Northridge screening of "Perfect Stranger". I also agree that it's a bad movie. But I also have been close to a lot of the project's history, know the facts -- and you were way off base blaming the writer of "Taking Lives" for this mess. In full disclosure, he is a friend of mine. But that has nothing to do with my point. He was hired about six years ago to write a film for Julia Roberts called "Perfect Strangers", which bears some resemblance to what we saw on the screen last night. But not much. He delivered what was, in my opinion, a very strong thriller script with nuanced, full characters, was very sexy and had a lot of great moments. It would have been a terrific role for Julia Roberts. The producer, in her infinite wisdom, decided to throw out that script and hired several different writers, eventually Todd Komarnicki (who you will notice is getting the sole screenplay credit if you check out imdb, and with good reason), who turned it into the unrecognizable mess they eventually shot with Halle Berry. A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to re-read Jon's original draft back to back with the production draft by Komarnicki. I hope he publishes it someday, because to read those two scripts together is a classic lesson in Hollywood idiocy. Komarnicki's script had superficial people, plot holes galore, a complete lack of urgency and absolutely no soul, which you saw last night. Jon's script drew you in, had characters that crackled, poetic storytelling, great movie star moments, good suspense and some real heart to it. Reading the two side by side, all I could do was scream, "Why in the hell didn't they just shoot THIS?" Watching that film last night was, for me, like watching a bad movie version of a book I really liked. I disagree with you about "Taking Lives"; I really liked it. But even in that film, the director, producers and another writer made many arbitrary changes to his original script which took much of the heart out of the characters (the relationship between the characters eventually played by Jolie and Hawke was much more romantic and believable on the page, and Ethan Hawke's choice to play that character as creepy and mannered was an absolutely bizarre choice; the role was intended for a suave George Clooney-type), made certain scenes make no sense and completely re-worked his original ending. Details matter. A lot. To place no blame on the director for the mess that "Perfect Stranger" is shows a complete lack of understanding of the filmmaking process. Interpretation is everything. Casting is everything. To place no blame on the producer - who threw out a perfectly good script and spent hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars - to turn it into that soulless piece of junk - is beyond my comprehension. For God's sake, they were asking the audience which of three different endings they would like to see; a script is ABOUT its ending, so they clearly had no idea what film they were even making anymore. And if you hate the script, blame the guy who wrote it -- not the guy who was rewritten beyond all recognition. In Jon's script, the Julia Roberts/Halle Berry role was not the killer; she was on a mission to solve her close childhood friend's murder, and the film had a lot more in common with "Presumed Innocent" and was much more thematically infused with the subject of marital infidelity and jealousy. Komarnicki gutted the entire thing and turned it into two soulless repulsive hours of watching a killer get away with two murders. Few things piss me off more than seeing people getting blamed for something they didn't do and over which they had absolutely no control. Since you have no way of knowing all of this, I can't blame you for not having the information -- but I can blame you for pointing fingers without having all the facts. If you don't know what you're talking about, please have the decency to hold your tongue until you do.
"To place no blame on the producer " by BitterMan23	Sep 28th, 2006 01:02:29 PM
I believe he does, right after he blames the writer.
Halle Berry by conniebrean1	Sep 28th, 2006 02:43:46 PM
didn't win for Swordfish. The academy doesn't give awards for showing tits. She won for Monster's Ball, in which she showed much much more. Seriously, get your facts straight. You sound like an idiot.
I liked Taking Lives... by BigTuna	Sep 28th, 2006 03:18:00 PM
Yeah it was stupid, but it entertained me. I don't get the hate it receives. Oh and Last Boyscout freaking rocked! for bad Willis films, please see Hudson Hawk or North
conniebrean1: It's called humour. by brycemonkey	Sep 28th, 2006 03:32:37 PM
To take the statement that Berry won an Oscar for Swordfish, on a movie fan site like this seriously? I think it is you that sounds like an idiot :-P
Perfect Strangler by The Ender	Sep 28th, 2006 03:49:10 PM
Way cooler title
Am I wrong for really liking The Net? by Zeldas	Sep 28th, 2006 03:54:46 PM
I'm feeling that's a yes.
Am I too late to make a Last Boyscout joke? by pokadoo	Sep 28th, 2006 05:34:17 PM
Yes, it appears so. Oh well, while i'm on the subject, Isn't it weird when you watch it now, and Halle Berry basicly auditions for the role of Catwoman? "you're making me Purrrrr"(or something along that line). She was destined to play that role!
K2...thanks by Bob Cryptonight	Sep 28th, 2006 08:17:26 PM
Don't know if you can be believed, but it all SEEMS true. I like reading about stuff like this. The facts behind the making of a horrible movie are more interesting that those of a good one. Thanks for the insight.
Great job K2... by Alonzo Mosely	Sep 28th, 2006 08:50:56 PM
Excellent job defending yourself, erm I mean your 'friend'...
Go straight to DVD-Catwoman 2? by filmbug	Sep 28th, 2006 11:50:28 PM
Some of your points are very well taken. Thought the whole idea of test screening the flix with three endings was a little lame. I hope they decide to send it straight to DVD after the release or do some miracle editing before the March/May 2007 official release so it's not another marketing/film debauchal like Catwoman (which had some elements to be a fair to decenet movie but the script and director and marketing sucked). Wonder what the reviews will be when it comes out and what flack or excuse Halle will use this time. Agree the original script was much better. Also the reviewer and other posters made no mention of the guy from CSI playing Halle's on again off again bf in the movie.
Can't believe people took bryce seriously about Sword.. by Jugs	Sep 29th, 2006 12:25:10 AM
..fish! She won her Oscar for Catwoman of course!
K2's post by Shivv	Sep 29th, 2006 04:12:26 AM
is exactly why we need an easy way to add paragraph breaks to posts. Seriously, that wall of text just made my eyes bleed. Oh, and Taking Lives sucked hard. But I actually like Confidence.
Shivv by Shermdawg	Sep 29th, 2006 04:49:52 AM
We do have an easy way to add "paragraph breaks".
Agency by filmbug	Sep 29th, 2006 07:45:52 AM
Another bad choice for Halle? Think when she signed on to the picture when she didn't have an agent at the time. Think she signed with CAA in March or April. Then there was some talk she signed on ICM this summer. So I really don't what's up. She can't blame her manager who I don't think always has her best interest at heart. She signed the contract. Just like she signed the contract to do those hideous Versace ads.
Yeah "K2" by BitterMan23	Sep 29th, 2006 02:17:39 PM
Can we see this original draft of your- i mean, HIS? Im curious to see what changed. I cant honestly believe if it was that good they would turn it into something so lifeless. usually rewrites UP the action/sex/thrills (at the expense of character and story), not just remove everything.
"Revolution Studios," Because Our Movies Are Revolting by HostileOrganismX	Sep 30th, 2006 05:40:09 AM
Let's blame Joe Roth. I looked up "Hollywood Idiocy" on Wikipedia, and it had his picture. Joe doesn't worry about scripts, he thinks Movie Stars can fix everything.

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BC’s Back With Our First Review Of Halle Berry and Bruce Willis In PERFECT STRANGER!!

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