BEFORE: I was out last night with my BFF Andy, who visited NYC for a press thing, and we tried out a new BBQ restaurant - well, new to the Upper East Side, anyway. I've been trying to visit this restaurant's East Village location since they were profiled on that BBQ show on the Food Network, but it took me so long to get around to it, they opened another location in the meantime. Well, either one is just as good as the other, I figured, so I indulged in the most expensive item on the menu, a giant beef rib named after a brontosaurus. And a half chicken. And some sweet potatoes with pecans and maple syrup. And some of Andy's beans with burnt ends, because he'd ordered a too-large portion. Yeah, I was a happy camper after all that, plus I think I impressed the servers with the amount of food that I ordered and consumed. Restaurant people really seem to like me when I order big.
But I came home and tried to watch this movie, only to find a scratch on the DVD that prevented it from playing in my computer, except for the first 10 minutes. I could have switched to the downstairs TV, but I didn't want to disturb my houseguest, so I had to play catch-up with this film on Friday night, rather than the intended Friday morning (post-midnight hours). Which is only a problem since I intended to double-up this weekend, because my wife and I are taking a 2-day road trip on Sunday, so now I either have to skip catching up on TV this weekend, or watching a movie while on vacation. Or I could fall behind, except I saw a neat potential tie-in to St. Patrick's Day, and I just established what will be Movie #2,300, so I don't want to skip a day OR a film.
The Watchlist is down to 140 films, for I think only the second time ever, but I've still got to get it down to 130 if I want to reach the point where I left off last November, before the list built back up at the end of the year. That was the lowest point, and with two or three more weeks of effort, maybe I can get back to there. It sounds crazy, but I don't know if I can finish this year, even with 228 more slots to watch 140 films.
Gene Hackman carries over from "Under Suspicion".
THE PLOT: A Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney is sent to protect a woman who accidentally witnessed a Mafia murder.
AFTER: This seemed like a very basic thriller movie, but I have to question the entire premise - would an L.A. District Attorney really travel to Canada to find a witness? He'd have no jurisdiction there, right? And neither would the cop he traveled there with. Other than that, I don't have many quibbles.
It's not really a NITPICK POINT that the D.A. tracking this woman down causes her to be found by the mobsters, too, because the movie eventually does point this out. He's a real bad-luck charm, if you ask me, because eventually the woman has to point out that her savior has actually put her in danger, repeatedly, even if he won't admit it.
Of course, I've developed an affinity for character actors, these are people who appeared in a LOT of films without ever really breaking big - there are three notable character actors here, two of whom share the same last name (but I believe they are unrelated). For all of the films they each appeared in, this was the only time they were in the same movie (however, they do not appear in any scenes together).
Also starring Anne Archer (last seen in "Clear and Present Danger"), James Sikking, J.T. Walsh (last seen in "Tequila Sunrise"), M. Emmet Walsh (last seen in "Sunset"), Harris Yulin (last seen in "Murder at 1600"), Susan Hogan, J.A. Preston, Nigel Bennett.
RATING: 5 out of 10 trips to the cafe car
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