The Loved Ones … not one for the squeamish … the tag line is Prom Night Can Be Torture (the wags).
Fires of damnation and the cawing crow, etc. And don’t forget the white horse killed at the train crossing. Still, I liked it.
Notes on The Sessions
The Sessions
1 hour 25 mins
Helen Hunt, William Macy
Polio victim
rides around prone on this gurney (no snow tires)
iron lung
voiceover of his poetry
Berkeley 1988
fat caretaker gives sponge bath, ejaculates, whoops
goes to church
William Macy as long-haired priest
“you need me more than i need you”
Mark O’Brien
Pretty new girl attendant, Amanda
handsome boyfriend
pole dancer?
“I love you.” … now he’s blown it
Also said he wanted to marry her… she left.
“Father, I need a hug.” That’s what hippie priests are good for.
Who is bankrolling this guy’s care?
New attendant, Vera … pulled back hair, glasses, she has contrived severe look
“Sex and the disabled”
Center for Sexuality and Disability at Berkeley
Your problem is that you can’t masturbate.
“Sex surrogates”
Priest troubled by sex outside of marriage
“He’ll give you a free pass on this one.” — hippie priest
A very gaunt Helen Hunt appears, she’s keeping young through starvation
“Your money’s on the desk over there.”
Bad intermittent Boston accent
Six session limit
Is this actor really disabled? Or just acting?
Helen Hunt gets naked, bod still good for an old lady, has she had kids?
Blue eyeshadow
touch tits
ejaculates, that was quick
“Next time we’ll start to work on intercourse.”
Vera isn’t Chinese, why are they saying she’s Chinese
Degree hanging on Helen Hunt’s wall, this means she’s a pro :)
Married to bruiser with tattoo who says she’s a saint
Hunt hasn’t had her tits enlarged, fortunately.
Instant ejaculation this time
Afraid it won’t fit from the textbook
Instant ejaculation again
Google Vera this actress, is she a hunxue?
Love helen hunt’s hippie dippie shirts, Indian things, don’t know what they’re called
Chinese hotel manager
Cunnilingus is a failure as he chokes
She’s more than a sexual therapist, she does cognitive therapy too, a shrink.
ejaculates more or less immediately
Raised Catholic, converting to Judaism
House husband philosopher
Inside me for five or six seconds
“Cheryl, did you come?”
Priest with six pack of beer labeled Beer
Therapist sitting at circa 1988 computer, not much money for props
Husband looks like a white haired Bill Bishop with a crew cut
Invites her to coffee, that’s a no-no
There’s the diploma on the wall again, bah
Schmaltzy music means they’re falling for each other
“Who’s that gimp with that beautiful blonde.”
Husband opens love poem letter and reads it, threw it out, uh oh
teenage son, should be safe to split up, no little ones involved
she retrieves love letter from trash
Amanda visits… is she Jewish? or Italian?
Amanda says “I love you.” Kisses him goodbye.
Hotel manager invites Vera out.
Working on simultaneous orgasm… “What’s that.” First laugh out loud moment
Schmaltzy piano music and strings, oh dear
He says “I love you,” she says, “I love you.”
This isn’t going to end well, only six sessions, yes?
How old is Helen Hunt? Probably does yoga.
challenging movie, won’t be a mainstream audience for it
Hunt drives monster station wagon with fading faux wood paneling … they haven’t made those in ages
Power goes out, iron lung stops
Has three hours
drops pencil dialer, predictably
“So this is how it ends.”
wakes in hospital
Rod got to him in time
Meets Susan a volunteer in hospital
Tells her he’s not a virgin
hippie priest smokes predictably
spent five years with susan
ends with his death
“three beautiful women all loved me”
49 year old
Susan is Jewish
Read his love poem at his funeral
Won’t be a big box office hit, this one, but I enjoyed the challenge
In memory of Mark O’Brien
Notes on West of Memphis
West of Memphis
Documentary
2 hours 27 minutes
1993 … triple murder of eight year old boys
teenage suspects
“never warshed it”
“Where’s Bubba?”
“I’m scared to death.”
“Three children missing”
kids in a ditch
they have scene on camera (mother being told son dead) that’s very hard to watch
hog tied, thrown in water, “genitals mutilated?”
satanic cult?
jesse misskelley (odd surname)
jesse “confessed”
“we kill dogs and stuff”
lots of courtroom footage
Damien as mastermind?
Jury finds guilt on three counts of capital murder
Jesse life in prison, Jason life in prison, Damien gets death by lethal injection
“community relieved”
Jump to 2009
Paradise Lost HBO documentary about the case, original one
Devil’s Knot — book about the case
“Memphis Commercial Appeal”
“I didn’t know nothing about it.”
Jessie borderline mentally retarded, “kinda slow minded”
Police (Gary Gitchel) asked leading questions of Jessie, then he told the story back
Jurors “not paying attention” during alibi (which was rock solid)
“Free the West Memphis Three”
Henry ROllins got involved, benefit concert
Peter Jackson got involved (movie guy)
Suspects were “bottom of the barrel, poor white trash”
No physical evidence
Prosecutor got ahold of juvenile inmate who said Jason confessed murders to him (not true)
John Douglas, FBI profiler involved
“Lust Murder” — blunt force trauma, sexual mutilation to one, hog tied … appeared to be sexually motivated
First suspects are family, stepfathers
30 pubic hairs plus the roots
Paradise Lost 2 … accused John Mark Byers, no motive, no opportunity — just as bad a witch hunt as original case
“I lied on the stand.”
Counsel for the defense says he was inexperienced
John Fogelman prosecutor … political ambition?
Diver given description and location of knife, reporter told to come to lake to report on “discovery”
Fogelman “had a hunch” … thrown into lake a year before the crime
Prosecutor-controlled crime lab in Arkansas
Peretti incompetent … nothing in photos shows a knife was used
Animal activity caused post-mortem scratching
Turtles will go for scrotum, penis, nose, lips — soft tissue
Not a lust murder, post-turtle finding … “personal cause” murder, against one of the kids
Nothing matched DNA of Damien, Jason, or Jessie
Hair found inside a ligature
Lots of file photos of dead kids shown, not easy to look at
Stepfather Terry Hobbs now the focus of the case
lady Private Investigator hired
Stevie Branch …
Want to get Terry Hobbs’s DNA, stole cigarette butts from ashtray
2007 DNA match for Terry Hobbs
Hobbs won’t give DNA voluntarily
Amanda, Stevie’s sister, druggie, tats of parents’ names on wrist
David Jacoby, friend of Terry Hobbs
Barry Scheck — Innocence Project
Judge Burnett denies DNA appeal
No way Burnett can be unbiased
Johnny Depp, Patti Smith, Eddie Vedder? got involved (celebrities embraced)
Burnett becomes state senator, Henry versus Fogelman for judge’s seat, Henry wins
Terry Wayne Hobbs (middle name Wayne key)
Hobbs sues Dixie Chicks, gives opportunity to depose him
2009 deposition
Hobbs neighbor Mildred French, broke in, grabbed out of shower. ”He’s sick.” Arrested.
“He creeped me out.”
“He’s got a look of plum evil.”
Aggravated assault
Backhanded Pam Hobbs, “paid more attention to son than husband”
whipped Stevie with belt, held his hands up in there
locked Stevie up in the closet
Would make Stevie watch him masturbate
Would make Stevie mess with Amanda
Amanda blocked out sexual abuse? Stevie hit her with a belt
“He loves Amanda but he don’t love me.”
Pam and Terry Hobbs on Geraldo
Played guitar before starting “search”
David Jacoby calls Terry Hobb on camera, tries to entrap? Hobbs but he doesn’t crack
“Stevie, I’m gonna bust your ass.”
Kids drowned, despite blunt force trauma
18 years to think up answers
Appeals court now appear sympathetic
“Hobbs Family Secret”
Uncle Michael knows truth, kids know
2010 Arkansas supreme court has ruled in favor of new hearing
“never ending bureaucracy” … hearing delayed indefinitely
Go straight to a new trial, no evidentiary hearing needed
Attorney General … Alford plea … “maintain innocence, plead guilty”
State doesn’t want embarrassment of a new trial
Jason would rather stay in jail and fight, so plea fails
Another sort of prisoner’s dilemma
Jason was 16 years old … didn’t throw friends under bus then
Jason eventually decides in best interest to accept Alford plea
“Tragedy on all sides”
No civil law suit can be filed
August 2011, free
Get three hours a week for visits in prison
18 years in jail for a crime they didn’t commit
Tiny Men of Hollywood … I knew a lot of these guys were super short, but Javier Bardem and Jason Statham are a surprise … I thought they were both big guys.
Random Notes on Plunder Road
Plunder Road (1957)
Overwraught, hyper opening music during credits
“They hit a bump, we’re all angels.”
creepy white stocking masks
leaps onto the slick top of a train moving at high speed
gassing the guards through roof vent
boxes conveniently marked “US Mint”
blew the door with aid of cigarette lighter
heavy boxes — gold?
[why not transfer boxes to a station wagon? dump trucks,split up]
ah, they are concealing the loot with boxes of coffee(?), splitting up
“ABC Truck Rentals”
hiding other boxes in house moving truck
also hiding boxes in tanker truck (smart)
drowning out a noisy gum chewer with the radio
“that’s a college education for ya.”
“over $10,000,000 in gold to the San Francisco depository.”
“the best wheelman in the business”
“the ghost-faced bandits”
“oh, i don’t smoke, i just want to make sure i don’t start”
shot him in the back
ok, one truck caught
“just follow orders, fella”
[why do they have to move the gold at all, just store it somewhere]
“nowadays everything’s got a system, it’s pretty hard to beat”
dropped his handgun while checking the oil, gas tank overfilling, splashing on the ground (nice effect)
had to shoot the old guy, didn’t have a choice
“had to”
Sexy waitress at the taco shop
“Driving back this way soon?”
“You want to be scared, Frankie, go ahead. But don’t be stupid.”
“He’s 4500 pounds overweight, better check him.”
“what’s the matter, pal?”
brought her suitcase to the office
she fires up the smelter
ambulance siren had ‘em scared
“a stinking, lousy ambulance”
“Columbia Foundry”
“air pollution control”
“smog ticket”
“let’s forget the whole thing”
chrome the gold cast parts (bumpers, hubcaps, grille, trim)
[Fran looks like a man.]
“Relax, Frankie, we got it made.”
fender bender, rear ended
“Hey George, look at that bumper, it’s gold!”
Frankie shot
drops off bridge onto truck top, rolls off, squashed
Crime couldn’t pay in 1957 (there was The Code)
“Crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor”
Random Notes on The Asphalt Jungle
John Huston 1950
Sterling Hayden (again)
overwrought opening music
lonely squadcar
hide handgun in cash register
“we’ll book him on vag”
witness chickens out
give you one more chance…
“you better be on the legit, pal”
“well, here’s to the drink habit”
girlie calendar
“don’t bone me!”
“Dix, it’s me, Doll.”
running mascara
fence will take 50%
Lawyer Emmerich
Norma Jean!
“it’s the water that makes the whiskey fit to drink”
big hick
“one way or another, we all work for our vice”
Emmerich is broke
stuffs a bill in the lieutenant’s pocket
“behind the walls”
“if you want fresh air, don’t look for it in this town”
“don’t worry doc, we’ll collect”
bedridden wife, mae
crawled under the “electric eye”
safecracker
nobody heard a thing
alarm bell ringing though
“a store cop? let me worry about him”
safecracker shot by the watchman’s dropped gun
chorus of sirens
“i’d just like to see the color of your money”
Dix shot
Insurance company might pay 25%
sirens “sound like a soul in hell”
police detectives in buttoned-up trenchcoats
“just good old dirty politics”
“you’d spill your guts in half an hour”
slapfest with “Cobby,” crying like a baby
the commissioner is here … to arrest Emmerich
“you big banana-head”
“crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor”
Doc got a knock in the train yards
Love the bloody head, nod
“what can you do against blind accidents”
“greed made me blind”
“Consorting with a woman young enough to be his granddaugher is disgusting!”
“I’m sorry, Unlcle Lon”
“Don’t worry, baby, you’ll have plenty of trips.”
blast of suicide gun ruffles ripped-up note, a nice touch
“you dirty fink”
“For $50 I’d drive you to the North Pole”
Interesting exchange with German cabbie, 1950 not a long time from WWII
dancing to the juke box
sort of a wonderful dance as the cops wait for Riedenschneider - beautiful scene
“that’s a darn funny question”
Dix dying waiting at the RR crossing
Dix runs from the Doc’s
Commissioner’s big speech — “the jungle wins”
Dix has made it back to Kentucky horse country
Dix can die on the old farm, horses curious - bad guys couldn’t win in 1950 (there was a code)
The End
Random Notes on Killer Joe
Love the zippo lighter opening and closing (sound only)
Blue filter
trailer park
pit bull named t bone
world’s most soundproof trailer
love the bare bush door opening
oh it’s his mama, er stepmama
superhero villain in one piece long johns
needs 6K or he’s dead
more blue filter
guys can’t deliver their lines - amateur actors, esp this kid
gonna put a contract out on his mama
dallas tx
sleepwalking sis
braless dottie
matthew mcconaughey as the hitman
braless dottie in faded denim short shorts, spaghetti string tank top
“he set his genitals on fire”
superhero sprays spittle
dodge charger?
dottie as Lolita character
dottie is dotty
monster trucks on the tv
matthew mcconaughey too effeminate looking. not a realistic tough
guy
bare-ass matthew mcconaughey
bad make-up for the beaten boy who can’t act
kid inexplicably has second thoughts
bad dialogue badly delivered
mama’s in the trunk, dead
nothing suspicious about that fire
car explodes in a very non-mythbusters way
wore his best ballcap
Rex is beneficiary
the kid doesn’t have white trash teeth
Gotta go to… Peru
Kid’s gone pigeon-toed following his beating
token black guy shows up to sell kid handgun
“K Fry C”
More monster trucks on the TV, monster truck channel
“Is that your dick, Ansel.”
Smeared mascara
violence against women, makes me queasy
suck the chicken leg or else
becoming hard to watch, must ffwd, no dialogue
Busch beer in a can
Kid doesn’t say, gee, what happened to your face?
braless dottie in nightie says grace
pumpkin can face smash
gutshot
“I’m gonna have a baby.”
Sheesh, that was about as bad as it gets. Terrible.
