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smsc22
Reviews
Orange Is the New Black (2013)
Much more graphic and raw than I like
All the actors are great. Totally believable. All the prison stories and back stories are fascinating.
But the show is incredibly raw in its depiction of sex, nudity, menstruation, urination, masturbation, and the like.
I'm surprised that none of the major reviews have mentioned how raw many of the scenes are.
If the graphic nature of these scenes were in a movie, it would be rated R, but might have to change a few scenes.
It's hard to appreciate the comedy and poignancy when every episode has all these shock scenes.
The Spanish Prisoner (1997)
I confess, I'm stumped as to when the "con" happened
I love this movie. I've poured over every frame to see exactly what happens when, but there are two things that totally confuse me:
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!
First Puzzle: When Joe signs the paper to apply for the Club, the top clearly says "Club Membership Decree." How, then, did that paper have Spanish writing on it later? The way most of these cons work is that the people use their hands to hide what the victim is signing. But we can definitely see the English on the top of the paper. So how did the Spanish paper get signed?
Second Puzzle: When did the book containing the process actually get switched? Once again, in a real con, there would be some sort of stumble or moment when the book would be switched. But from the moment Joe shows the book to the FBI man, the red book is in each frame or in Joe's sight. So when exactly did the swap happen?
I ask these questions because Mamet was really careful to follow all the rules of a con in House of Games, but breaks them here. Or am I wrong?
House of Games (1987)
Very enjoyable, but not really a con movie
House of Games is a good movie. And it does explain many short cons such as the Western Union con and the found money.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
But I also have problems with the ending. Cons don't let things get out of hand. Cons don't let the victim figure it out. That's the hallmark of a good con--the victim doesn't know she's been conned until it is way too late. And even then the victim can't find the con artists.
But two much better con movies are Matchstick Men and Criminal (2004). Those are fantastic long cons. Matchstick Men is not bad, but I figured out the con a little before Nicolas Cage's character did.
Criminal is the PERFECT con movie!!! I never saw the long con until the very last moment, when it was revealed.s