Robert J. Maxwell "Thelma and Louise" was an entertaining movie about two women who shed their men and take off on a vacation in their convertible, during which they kill one man and humiliate and rob innumerable others. It's all okay, though, because all men are brutes anyway and deserve what they get. The climax has Thelma and Louise sailing off into the cerulean sky above the Grand Canyon, laughing gaily all the way.Demi Moore and Glenne Headly are pals too, and it has its comic moments, but it's not a cartoon but rather a reasonably well thought-out narrative of friendship, love, hypocrisy, marriage, betrayal, morality, and community. I don't mean to make it sound more complicated and pretentious than it is. It really boils down to a murder mystery.Moore is being questioned by the police and she tells the story in a series of flashbacks. Her girlhood friend, Headly, is married to the most abusive and obnoxious man you could ever hope to meet (Willis) and one night apparently cuts his throat and kills him. Moore helps Headly out, dumping Willis's body, getting rid of evidence, lying to the cops, and so forth. The murder is blamed on car jackers.Here's an example of what I meant before when I referred to comic moments. At Willis's wake, Moore's father, an old-fashioned, working-class, urban type, blames the killing on black kids, going into this extravagantly angry, hand-waving rant about how they should take all of them, line them up against a wall, and shoot them. Then immediately he asks about Willis, "Did he rent or own?" All the writing, comic or otherwise, is pretty clever and convincing. And the dialog coach should get a medal. Bayonne, New Jersey, is an ugly little industrial town but it's just across the Hudson from Manhattan and has a grand view of the city's majestic skyline.I don't think I'll reveal the ending because it comes as something of a surprise. Maybe a little too much of a surprise, like an Alfred Hitchcock television episode with a twist at the end. The director, Alan Rudolph, sometimes lapses into self indulgence with split-second flashbacks, mirror shots, and that sort of thing, but not often enough to distract the viewer. It may be Demi Moore's best performance in an adult movie; Glenne Headly has the most curious epicanthic folds; fascinating to see Bruce Willis as a thoroughly rotten villain; Harvey Keitel (who also tried to reason with Thelma and Louise) pronounces the name of "Joyce" as "Jerse."

paul2001sw-1 Bryan Singer's 'The Usual Suspects' was itself a rather unusual thriller: almost the entire plot consisted of a criminal suspect telling the police a lie. By literally representing the character's words in images, the film exploited the trust that any movie-watcher has to put in what they see; the very concept of cinema only works if the audience can believe their own eyes, so it's a somewhat underhand trick to take advantage of this. But 'The Usual Suspects' nonetheless worked as a film, for three reasons. Firstly, the lie was extraordinarily entertaining in itself. Secondly, it's essentially falsity was brilliantly revealed. And thirdly, this revelation forced the viewer to reconsider everything they had seen in the film. If all movies were like this, cinema would die, but as an isolated film, it definitely made the grade.Alan Rudolph's curiously named 'Mortal Thoughts' (surely "morbid thoughts" are actually what feature in this film) is a kind of precursor to 'The Usual Susepcts', but less acclaimed, and with good reason. The basic tale is less interesting than in the later film; there's no cleverness in the revelation, and the actual truth does not anyway fundamentally change one's opinion of the characters. The film doesn't even try and fool the audience: Harvey Keitel's policeman tells the witness throughout that he doesn't believe what she is saying, and once you accept that the woman may be lying, then the possibilities are limitless (something Singer dealt with deftly by only uncovering the lie at the very end, before it truly sinks into the audience that if the story was a pack of lies, then the truth could be anything). The result is a film that is reasonably watchable, but hardly distinguished. Yet in the true story, revealed at the end, there's actually a tale of human drama that might have driven a pretty strong film. The secondary tale of someone merely lying about such a story, however, is comparatively dull.

Claudio Carvalho The hairdresser, wife and mother Cynthia Kellogg (Demi Moore) is in police department being interrogated by the experienced detective John Woods (Harvey Keitel) and his partner, Detective Linda Nealon (Billie Neal). Through flashbacks, she reveals how her best friend and colleague Joyce Urbanski (Glenne Headly) married the scum and nasty James Urbanski (Bruce Willis); how hard Joyce's life with James was; and why Joyce became a criminal. The smart detective finds some contradictions in her statement and presses Cynthia, trying to disclose the truth of two murders."Mortal Thoughts" is an intriguing and underrated low budget thriller. The storyline is simple but the tight screenplay and outstanding performances of the cast are impressive. Demi Moore performs a mother living in the dilemma between disclosing a secret and hiding the truth. Harvey Keitel in the role of an astute detective is amazing, finding the controversies in the testimony of Cynthia. Glenne Headly is also great, in the role of an abused and unsecured low class woman. Bruce Willis has a different role, performing a disgusting drug addicted. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Pensamentos Mortais" ("Mortal Thoughts")Note: On 15 May 2016, I saw this film again.

topcat-1 I'm not a big fan of the genre but this one is very well done. The flashback technique works beautifully. The acting is good by Headly, an awesome actress who should be A-list by now. Willis, who is a bit underrated because of the action blockbusters but does comedy well, is pretty believable here in a stereotypical type character that he manages to get something more out of than your average actor. Keitel is marvelous and you have to appreciate the nuances he brings out as the pro that he is. John Pankow is good and should be working more than he is. Moore has the largest role and as usual, she's the weakest actor, but decent enough to carry off the role. The story is riveting; you always can't wait to see what happens next. The touches of humor are really funny and come naturally from the characters and situations rather than being jokes. The plot has plenty of twists. The ending, while a little unsatisfying to me, does leave it up to the viewer to make the moral decisions. If you like suspense movies and great acting, you'll love this and even if you don't, you'll enjoy it anyway.