Re: What Did You Watch? 2024-05-19 (Sunday)

On 5/20/2024 10:23 AM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
 

. . .

 

True Lies (4K disc) 1994 spy comedy directed by James Cameron and
starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a spy who must save the world.  Jamie
Lee Curtis co-stars as his wife who gets mixed up in his latest spy
caper.  A very young Eliza Dushku co-stars as their daughter who is also
reluctantly mixed up in his latest caper.  And Bill Paxton costars as a
wisecracking comic relief character.

 I don't recall his character at all.

He's a car salesman pretending to be a spy.  He uses this trick to hit on women.  He tricks Jamie Lee Curtis into "helping" on one of his secret missions.  Of course neither he nor Curtis know Curtis is married to an actual spy.  And when Schwarzenegger finds out about a possible affair that sets things in motion for the dirty trick Schwarzenegger plays on her.
I've seen this movie once. I didn't

like the Jamie Lee Curtis character but the trick played on her by
Ah'nold and Mr. Roseanne Barr was so over-the-top, dangerous, and mean
that I sympathized with her.

Yeah, while watching I was thinking this is awfully close to sexual assault.  It doesn't matter that they're married.

 I hated the script.
 

At the time I was a teenager and this seemed like peak Schwarzenegger. Watching it again after all of these years, the script does seem fairly weak.

Best part of the movie was the opening set piece. The rest of the movie
did not live up to it. But to the extent that Tom Arnold can act, this
movie was a career highlight for him, despite the script.
 

I have not watched this movie in
decades.  I was very eager to finally see it again.  I don't care how
glossy this new 4K transfer is, I'm just glad I could finally watch the
movie again!  Although while watching I was also aware that Dushku, who
was only 12 when the movie was made, has made allegations that she was
molested by the stunt coordinator and at the time she did say something
about and the next day was seriously injured during a stunt that the guy
was responsible for setting up.  I have to ask why after she came
forward with the allegations was he allowed anywhere near her?  And why
didn't anything happen to him at the time, especially after she was
seriously injured after making the allegations?

 My ghod that was a terrible story. Makes you wish Faith were real and
she could have her revenge.
 

+1

Where were her parents? How was no one at all looking out for a pre-teen
child? Why weren't the police called in to arrest this dangerous man?
 Yeah, yeah, I know. It would have delayed very expensive setups for the
rest of the stuntwork.