played by Tom Behringer as your typical unemployed mercenary soldier.
I'm looking for Miss Hetsco's room.
My name's Smith, I'm her substitute.
Ha, long relay. I'm the principal.
Oh, good to meet you.
You're not one of our regular subs.
That's Ernie Hudson as the school's principal.
There have been a lot of movies about teachers
dealing with tough classes, but this class
is in a league of its own.
Today, we're going to talk about Vietnam.
Yeah, who?
Oh, shit.
It becomes clear that the school administration
is hiding a massive secret, and that the
good guys, like the teachers played by
Behringer and Plummer, might find their lives
in danger if they look too deeply.
Now, I'm cool, so this is a personal
mission or a joint operation between
the CIA and the PTA.
The substitute is one of those movies
I don't even know why they bothered to make.
The screenplay is completely devoid of any
originality, and it's simply a clothesline
for a series of boring action scenes
in which guys shoot at each other, throw hand grenades,
and run down darkened corridors.
We've seen that stuff a million times before.
Behringer and Venora have some nice
warmth in their scenes together, and all I could
think of was, why couldn't they have found
an intelligent movie to appear in?
You know, I like them too as a
couple, and one thing I was noticing, because
this is not a tough screenplay
to follow, was how
gorgeous both of their skin was.
You know, the movie's in trouble.
Gee, they look so tan.
Perfectly tan. Where do they fly?
They really work, you know?
Well, they spent a lot of time out in the sun while the screenwriters were
trying to rewrite the script. Can you believe that
the principal is using school
buses to smuggle cocaine, which he hides
in the boiler room in order to sell to the
students? Talk about a vertical business plan.
The other thing is, there is one good
scene where Behringer talks to the kids
and talks about the opportunities
that they're losing
by going through this life of crime
and all that, and the kids respond with some
like, what else can we do? What else are our options?
There was a kernel of sweetness
and warmth in that scene that
unfortunately the movie throws away with a third
action finale. Could have been a different movie.
Mark Wahlberg plays a stranger who
terrorizes a suburban family in Fear,
coming up next.
Chevy Blazer.
The only sport utility vehicle with
a driver control system.
It's nice
to know it's there.
This is more like it.
Soon I'll be far away from anyone who's ever even
heard of Ten Cents a Minute from Sprint.
Ten cents a minute? One thin dime.
A dime a minute is a wonderful deal.
And it's good forever.
It's as simple as that. Simple as that. Simple as that.
To think. After all my work,
I'll be remembered as the dime lady.
But I'm not going to think about that. That's why I'm taking this little
trip to Hawaii.
Call now to get
Ten Cents a Minute across the U.S.
and now even to Canada.
Our next film is the Don't Date
Strangers thriller called
Fear. And what an inspired title
that is and what a trashy movie too.
It's about a teenage girl from Seattle
who has just moved in with her divorced
dad, his new wife.
She befriends a strange young man in town
who has already helped her violate one curfew
and comes over now to pick her up
for a second date. Nicole!
Yeah? Get me a coat.
Okay, I'll be right there.
Thank you. You almost ready?
That's Mark Wahlberg,
the former rapper as The Creep
and Reese Witherspoon as
the daughter. He turns her on
but turns off her dad played by
William L. Peterson. I know about things
coming apart at work.
I also know you ain't keeping up
so to speak here under the bargain with the Mrs.
Walker. Relax Steve.
We're friends.
We're practically
family. But the third act
of the film is pure mayhem
as The Creep and three of his even
creepier thug buddies
come looking for vengeance at
William Peterson's home.
Hell could have been different Mr. Walker.
It should have allowed nature to take its
course.
In the end it will anyway.
So let me down!
I was shocked that Fear
was made by the fine filmmaker
James Foley and
get a load of his credits.
Edgy pictures like At Close Rain,
After Dark My Sweet and also
Glengarry Glen Ross. This film
Fear is not worthy of his talent
or your attendance. I completely
disagree with you. I was really surprised by
how effective this movie was. I thought Mark Wahlberg
and Reese Witherspoon were
so effective as this couple and the way
that he was able to smooth talk her
and kind of get her confidence
and seem like such a nice guy.
The scene
between Wahlberg and Peterson
outside the school when the two men are threatening
each other that was really riveting because
that young creep had a way to
really get underneath the older man's skin. He
really knew how to stick it in and twist it
and I felt that this movie was
surprisingly suspenseful and also
psychologically very much
on target. I don't think it's on target because
I don't think, first of all, it doesn't
get difficult to get a father
anxious about his daughter. You don't have to be
clever to do that. But think of
the frustration when you can't get your daughter to
believe that this guy that she's in love with
might be dangerous. That's such a universal
feeling. Roger, how about a sit down
sequence where they talk it out?
They do try to do that. There was a lot
of good dialogue in this movie. I was surprised how
well it went around. I think it was
so obvious that this guy was a phony to
the father at the very least.
Of course, it's always obvious to the father and
it's never obvious to the daughter. That's the whole
point. And did you like the conclusion?
The third act, you didn't think that was just
run through him? Part of it was movie making
and part of it, as a matter of fact, was
plausible, believe it or not.
Oh, including the house, the fortress-like
house? Sure, because he's an architect
and he's built this house out in the woods
and he wants it to be. Entering the fortress, it's
a traditional movie cliché.
When we come back, Michael Iterioli and Oscar winner
Mira Sorvino in Sweet Nothing.
Cometress John Penn eats a Reese's peanut
butter cup. After a thorough examination,
I very precisely
eliminate the inner area until
I create some really nifty
frames. See?
There's no wrong way to eat a Reese's.
Your eyes. Every day
they open on a hostile world which
can make them itchy and red. Now
from the eye care experts at Bausch & Long
comes doctor prescribed medicine
now available without a prescription.
OPKON-A eyedrops.
OPKON-A goes beyond ordinary
eyedrops to relieve both redness and
itching. It blocks your eyes' reaction
to pollen, ragweed, and animal hair.
Calm and clear your
eyes with OPKON-A.
From Bausch & Long, the
relief your eyes have been looking for.
Do you know which
grass and weed killer works faster?
The weeds do.
Weeds can't hide.
Spectracide.
Displeased odor canceled. All vehicles now
available to the general public. Get a 97 F-150
and save $3,000 to buy for $13,995.
Only at the Liquid Foretrain Clearance Center.
Join the Colorado Rockies
and other Major League Baseball players
to strike out childhood diseases.
To get free or low cost shots for your
child, call the number on your screen for
the clinic nearest you.
So do your own thing. In California.
Whatever kind of thing that is.
It's an emergency liquidation
at Douglas Toyota. Get a 96 Carola
for $88 a month. Emergency liquidation
means you buy like a dealer only at Douglas
Toyota, the Toyota warehouse.
The Century Plaza.
Offering the finest in luxury
service in Southern California style, adjacent
to Beverly Hills on L.A.'s fashionable
west side. The Century Plaza Hotel and Tower,
a western hotel.
Our next movie is one of the most insightful
and intelligent I've seen about the subject of
drugs and how they use people.
The name of the movie is Sweet Nothing and it
stars Michael Imperiali as a young Wall Street
office worker who's happily married
and the proud father of a new child
when a friend convinces him to try crack
cocaine. I just remember the overwhelming
feeling and thinking to myself.
So that's what I've been missing.
Because it somehow
felt right.
Like we belonged together. Like I
had found a long lost friend I had
never met before. He quits his job
and tells his wife that from now on their financial
crunch is over. He's going to just
sell enough crack so they can take it easy,
he promises her. Life is played
by Mera Sorvino.
I don't want you to get shot or anything.
Nobody's going to get shot.
But soon he's smoking as much crack as he's selling
and instead of raking in the cash, he's desperately
in debt to dealers who will hurt
him and his family. Jersey
first. New Jersey first stop.
They only buy in quantity.
I know I'm going to tell them it's a sample, then if
they like it they're going to like it. They come back,
they meet the man personally.
You better not
be an angel. I know what your kids play.
A lot of movies say they're based on true
stories. All this one says is that it's based
on injuries found in a diary in a
Bronx apartment in 1991.
And somehow I believe that because
Sweet Nothing has the ring of truth. It's not
an action picture, it doesn't glamorize
drugs. It's about a long, slow
slide into addiction and how its crack
victim loses the love and respect of his
wife, his children, his family, and finally
even himself. The performances
are strong and true and the direction by
Gary Winnick finds the sadness and
desperation in the soul of one more addict
who has gotten trapped and doesn't even
know how. It's a good film and I'll
tell you, first of all, I think it's going to get a little
attention because of Mira Sorvino
and coming out after her
Oscar win. And she's
very good and it proves that that was a real
performance that we saw if we didn't know it in
Woody Allen's picture.
But this Michael Imperioli carries
the film. It's his story
and he's really
wonderful. I mean, you're
fascinated by him. It's just that as a
introduction to an
actor, I don't remember seeing him before.
He's been a character actor in movies before. This is his
first leading role. And boy, is he equal to
it. It's a very good picture. It has played
off apparently in New York City.
It's coming, I believe, next week to Los
Angeles, moving out wider in Los
Angeles. And I hope it gets spread
around the country. This is the kind of film that can be
thrown away to video if its distributor
doesn't have enough faith into it. So let's encourage
them to spread it around the country.
What he does in this film is so interesting.
I mean, it takes place over a period of three or four
years. It's not like it all takes place
in three weeks. And it's about a gradual
disintegration. I mean, the scene where he comes
into the house and grabs the
television set out of the wall while his kids are watching
it and takes the TV to sell it
to get some money for crack. I mean, moments
like that. Those are, you know, the
flamboyant moments. I want to talk about
the writing of this picture.
First of all, you have an addict who
is an excellent writer.
So he describes how it makes
him feel. Yes, and those things are
plausible. And so it's a smart picture
about addiction. Okay, now let's take another
look at the movies we reviewed this week.
Two thumbs down for Celtic Pride, the comedy
about a couple of fanatic Boston fans.
Two thumbs up, though, for Mystery Science Theater
3000, the movie, the feature-length version
of the TV show where the audience is actually
encouraged to talk during the screening.
Two thumbs down for Mrs. Winterborn,
an old-fashioned romantic comedy, even though
the actors generated a certain charm.
Two more thumbs down for
The Substitute, another one of those formula action
pictures where the whole plot is basically a set
up for violence at the end.
We split on the thriller Fear.
I think it generates some genuine psychological
interest in its portrait of a family under siege.
Gene feels it's just predictable
trash. And two thumbs
up, way up, for the insightful and powerful
Sweet Nothing, the strong performance
by Michael Imperioli as a man
who loses control of his life to drugs.
And Marisa Arvino as the wife who loves
him but can't help him. So
that's a good one, isn't it? If people can
possibly get a chance to see it, Sweet
Nothing, yeah. And then, of course, MST
3K. Okay, you got it. That's it
for this week. Next week we'll be back with reviews
of more new movies, including Mulholland
Falls, starring Nick Nolte and Melanie
Griffith in a murder mystery set in post-war
L.A., and also
the truth about cats and dogs
with Uma Thurman, Daniel Garofalo, and
Ben Chaplin in a romantic comedy
about mistaken identity. That's
next week, and until then, the
balcony is closed.