‘Sleeping with the Enemy’ Download and Reviews
“Sleeping with the Enemy” Movie Details
Sleeping with the Enemy tagline: Self-Defense is not murder
 Sleeping with the Enemy DVD Cover |
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| Directors: Joseph Ruben | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IMDB Rating: 5.7/10 out of 13,827 votes |
“Sleeping with the Enemy” Movie Review
“Sleeping with the Enemy” Plot Summary
Laura and Martin have been married for four years. They seem to be the perfect, happiest and most successful couple… add synopsis
I can’t live without you. And I won’t let you live without me!
After Julia Roberts hit big with the vastly overrated Pretty Woman, she tried to broaden her palette and move from the bubbly, frothy rom-coms she began in. First up was Flatliners, the disappointing life after death thriller that had no idea how to tackle its subject without lapsing into cliche, and then the much better Sleeping with the Enemy
Sleeping with the Enemy has faded somewhat over the years, even though it was a reasonable success at the time. But I think its a film well worth reexamination. It deserves commendation for having the guts to dig into domestic abuse, seen through the eyes of a wife, running for her life from an abusive husband
The opening scenes are the best, because this is where we get to see something of they’re marriage. Laura (Roberts) has been married to Martin (Patrick Bergin) for over three years (eight months, six days). Martin is handsome, wealthy, an attentive husband and he and Laura enjoy an active sex life. Director Joseph Rubin uses considerable subtlety in the early scenes to illustrate there’s trouble in paradise. Like when Martin and Laura are getting ready to go to a party. Laura is all ready, but after Martin’s remark about wearing a different dress, in the following scene at the party, Laura’s not only changed her dress, she’s changed her whole look. Her hair. Her earrings. Everything
This continues into the next scenes. The hand towels aren’t arranged properly. Something Martin has to remind Laura of. Prompting Laura to hastily rearrange the cans in the cupboard so the labels all face forward. It all builds to its crescendo when Martin talks to a neighbour. After hearing something he doesn’t like (‘that must be your wife I’ve seen staring out the window’), he suddenly hits Laura. Its a scene that shocks you into numbness. Its the first time that Martin drops his mask of smooth charisma, and reveals himself as the impulsive control freak he really is
I wish there had been more scenes like that. I would have liked to have seen more of they’re marriage. The rest of the film falls into a much more obvious stride. Laura fakes her own death, because nothing else would ever get Martin out of her life. And when he learns the deception, he begins an obsessive hunt for Laura. Its only a minor disappointment. That doesn’t get in the way of a suspenseful, psycho-thriller. And Joseph Rubin keeps the screws turning with an unbearable relentlessness
Rubin’s direction is so polished the film glides at a frightening pace. SWTE loses momentum a little in the scenes without Martin, but it isn’t long before he’s back in the picture again, and when he is, the tension level jumps right back into the red. His whole investigation into the too many clues Laura has left behind are terrifying the way he follows them like a trail of breadcrumbs right to her new front door. In fact SWTE often reminds me of the Robert Mitchum classic Night of the Hunter. They both share a similar structure. Of someone on the run, trying to start a new life but a crazed psychotic from the past is on they’re trail
Julia Roberts is OK, if a bit too quietly played. Certainly she can be an engaging screen presence. She won a well deserved Oscar for Erin Brockovich. But she never really brings Laura to life. You never get the impression she’s slowly emerging from her shell, and blossoming into a confident new woman. And her scenes with Kevin Anderson, her next door neighbour who wants to help are dreadfully twee, and drag the film right down. There’s never that much chemistry between them. Besides, everyone in the cast gets completely upstaged by Patrick Bergin
Patrick Bergin is a greatly underrated actor. With his handsome looks and winning charisma, he has all the qualities necessary to be a perfect leading man. But sadly, Bergin has never had the career he so richly deserves, even though he has talent to spare. Still, whenever someone has the brains to cast him, he never fails to steal the show, and Sleeping with the Enemy is no exception
Bergin is a powerful presence whenever he’s on screen. Like a black storm cloud on the horizon, he’s come to turn Laura’s sunny new life upside down. With his imposing height, silky voice and persuasive charm, he captures the attention effortlessly. He makes Martin utterly charming one minute, and then perfectly sinister the next. Clearly enjoying every minute of this, he relishes playing the irredeemable bastard. He’s quite funny at times too. Martin delights in his own cruelty. He even seems privately amused by it. Why Bergin never became a major star after this is a genuine mystery. His dark magnetism propels the entire film. Without him, it would be nothing
It all ends a bit predictably, but Sleeping with the Enemy is a worthwhile addition to the psycho-genre. The familiar story is buoyed by Bergin’s captivating performance, and Rubin’s dexterous direction. There’s also a great musical score from the late Jerry Goldsmith. Seemingly innocuous one minute. Edgy as hell the next. Symphony Fantastique by Berlioz is put to great effect too. It chills to the bone, and works its way into your psyche so well that whenever you hear it in the future, its guaranteed to make you think of Sleeping with the Enemy.
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‘Total Recall’ Download and Reviews
“Total Recall” Movie Details
Total Recall tagline: They stole his mind, now he wants it back.
 Total Recall DVD Cover |
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Bartender |
“Total Recall” Movie Review
“Total Recall” Plot Summary
When a man goes for virtual vacation memories of the planet Mars, an unexpected and harrowing series of events forces him to go to the planet for real, or does he?
One of Arnie’s genuine best performances ever.
I remember when I was about 12 years old I used to watch this movie a lot and it had a strange effect on me because it is so bizarre and so violent, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Also, that woman with three boobs was enough for me to sit through the rest of the movie just to see again!It takes place in a dismal future where colonies have long since arisen and decayed on other planets and mutations are as rampant as corruption. Schwarzenegger plays a construction worker named Douglas Quaid who has recurring dreams about a trip to Mars and a mysterious brunette there. His hottie wife (Sharon Stone) is unimpressed by this brunette who keeps turning up in her husband’s dreams, but mostly he just can’t get over this strange need to go to Mars. I have to say, however, that based on his dream, which we see at the beginning of the movie in which he falls down a hill and breaks his face mask and then his eyes pop out of his head, doesn’t exactly seem like the kind of thing that would make me want to go to that place, but no matter. The movie really gets going as soon as Quaid goes to a company called Rekall that sells implanted memories, so basically you can travel anywhere you want to go in the world and be anyone you want. There’s no danger because you never leave the Rekall offices, but there’s always the chance of an accidental lobotomy. Almost immediately after hooking him up to their machines, he wakes up a completely different person, convinced that he is no longer a happily married construction worker but a secret agent on the run from an evil dictator of Mars named Cohaagen. At this point all hell breaks loose and the movie gets really good. It’s a little confusing, but for the thickness of the plot it’s amazing how well presented it is. Quaid is suddenly unsure who he really is, and when at one point he is receiving instructions from his other self, the self on the other side of the Rekall implantation, about how to remove a tracking device from his nose (in one of the movie’s most memorable moments), it doesn’t make things any easier for him to understand. There are tons of great characters, impressive sets, amazing special effects and brilliant performances despite the occasional cheese moment (such as that bizarre mutant at the end chanting ‘Open your miiiiiind..’ over and over). Read Volume 2 of my 50 Amazing Movie Facts on Hollywire and you’ll know what I really mean. The movie has the same brutal feeling as RoboCop, and director Paul Verhoeven has really shown that he knows how to do action sci-fi. This is definitely one of the genre’s best!
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