Scudder-3

Sweeping all five major Academy Awards ("Oscars" for Best Movie, Director, Actor, Actress, Screenplay) is quite an accomplishment. Doing it nearly a year after a film was released is a miracle considering the notoriously short attention span of Oscar voters. It is a powerful example of how great a movie can be when superb writers, directors, actors, and others work at the top of their craft.

`Silence of the Lambs' is the story of a young FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) who is summoned to help find one serial killer called `Buffalo Bill.' by interviewing another. Foster's performance is absolutely brilliant. While Anthony Hopkins receives most of the (well-deserved) praise for his chilling portrayal of incarcerated serial killer `Hannibal ‘the Cannibal' Lector', it is Foster's performance that holds the movie together. The fear she shows just behind her eyes makes Clarice's outward courage all the more interesting and vulnerable. This is the perfect way to play the part because it explains Lector's interest in Clarice. Her only bargaining chip in getting Lector's help is to let him `feed' on her innermost secrets and fears in exchange for his brilliant insights into the psychotic mind. The title of the movie comes from these exchanges and is very poignant.

Director Jonathan Demme is masterful. There is one scene late in the movie that I will not spoil. It is one of the most simply brilliant scenes ever staged in a movie. I don't know if all the credit goes to Demme or the writers, but there is a moment in the film where the suspense builds beautifully to a what seems to be a common movie scene. However, through skillful timing of the direction, the audiences assumptions are used against them and when the truth is revealed (hint: it involves a doorbell) it is shocking and induced a collective gasp from the audience I saw it with at the theatre. It set the stage for an edge-of-your seat climax.

Do not miss this movie.

The movie is incredibly suspenseful and an absolute must see.

"Heathers" is a movie for anybody who has ever known the terror of trying to find a seat in a crowded, friendless high school cafeteria. It also is one of the most quotable movies of all time ("What's your damage!?"). Winona Ryder is terrific as the former everygirl ("Veronica") who sells her soul to join the popular girls and then decides she wants to buy it back.

The titular "Heathers" are the three reigning bitch goddesses of Westerburg High whose favorite pastime is torturing the unpopular kids. One early scene has the Heathers writing a fake mushy love note to popular jock. They forge a signature from an unpopular, heavy girl and send the note so they can watch her be humiliated by the jocks. Tell me you didn't know people just like them in high school.

This early scene is when Veronica starts to realize she's sold her soul to the devil. "It's like they're people I work with and our job is being popular," she laments. Enter a mysterious young man named J.D. (Christian Slater), who helps give her the courage to break away from her new clique. Unfortunately, J.D. is a bad influence of a different kind and Veronica's life quickly gets out of control.

"Heathers" is well-acted dark comedy that somehow manages to have something to say about teen suicide, homophobia, self-esteem, murder, and parenting without losing its razor sharp wit. See it, if for no other reason, than to hear Wynona Ryder yell at Shannen Doherty `Why are you such a mega-bitch?' and hear Shannen reply `Because I can be.'