"Sexy and Stylish"
Added 10/6/2009
Probably one of the biggest critical failures in the history of motion pictures, "Sliver" centers around a woman (played by Sharon Stone) who moves into a highrise apartment in downtown Manhattan when suddenly many tenants start to get murdered. The owner of the buliding (played by William Baldwin) experiments with voyeuism by videotaping the goings on in the tenant's apartments. The movie is pretty much forgotten today, but many do remember the film for the extreme amount of sex scenes between Stone and Baldwin as well as the amount of male nudity Baldwin shows; in the original cut of the film there was even a frontal shot of his body. The film is pretty empty on plot, but buy the film if you want to see the gorgeous body of William Baldwin; he is not shy in showing his assets. Despite the critical failure of the movie "Sliver" grossed over $166,000,000 at the boxoffice. The DVD has no bonus features but comes in widescreen. One critic did enjoy the film, however; David Sheehan from NBC says, "Don't miss it! Goes beyond "Basic Instinct"...super, sexy, super-stylish, super suspenseful."
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You like to watch--but don't watch this
Added 11/21/2008
As Carly Norris said: "You like to watch, watch this!"
But seriously, don't watch this, unless you are fascinated by train wrecks, and enjoy seeing a movie spin totally out of control. Joe Eszterhas has recently been born again, after a bout with throat cancer he has given up tobacco, booze, writing trashy but successful scripts, and instead he's taken up the cross. I wish him luck. So far, he has yet to sell any scripts, but he has written a few books. Looking over his oeuvre, there are some successes and some spectacular failures. I'll get to 'Sliver' in a minute, but first a brief recap:
'Flashdance' was rather ridiculous in premise, nevertheless, a huge success. 'Jagged Edge' I haven't seen, but from the afterbuzz I sense that it was a taut courtroom drama that may have been ridiculous in premise, but was no doubt entertaining. 'Music Box' may have been the rare Eszterhas film that was both serious, well received by critics and public alike. The story of a daughter who discovers that her father was a Nazi may have resonated for Eszterhas due to personal reasons. 'Basic Instinct' was very trashy, but it worked, even though you knew you were being manipulated, you liked it. Admit it, you did. A guilty pleasure--and Sharon Stone's interrogation scene? It made a big impact. If you have seen it, you remember it, and if you haven't seen it, you've heard about it. 'Showgirls' won several Razzies and is renowned for being one of the worst films of all time. It was supposed to be a box office bomb, but actually it is the highest grossing NC-17 film of all time, probably from DVD sales I would surmise. 'Jade' is notoriously bad. David Caruso quit a lucrative TV career to make this, and his film career went nowhere and he's back on the small screen. Finally, 'An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn' ended Eszterhas' screen writing career. It is ironic, because "Alan Smithee" is a name that directors use when they make a movie so bad that they don't want to have their name attached to it, and the film was about a director who made a bad film and didn't want his name attached to it, but his name actually was Alan Smithee, so he did not have that option. Further irony is piled on by the fact that "Alan Smithee" as a pseudonym was retired after this movie because the name became too well known, so it was no longer effective as a subterfuge when trying to duck responsibility for a project gone wrong. Like the film within a film, 'An Alan Smithee film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn' itself was also a disaster, and Eszterhas' career took a nosedive. No more multi million dollars for ideas he pitched at lunch or scribbled on a napkin.
Which brings us to 'Sliver,' another disaster. Nothing left but to dissect the cadaver. Based on a book by Ira Levin, who also wrote Rosemary's Baby, The Boys from Brazil, and The Stepford Wives, Ira was reluctant to sell the film rights because Hollywood always trampled on his dreams. The one exception was Rosemary's Baby, which was directed by Roman Polanski. Producer Robert Evans sent Ira a book by Polanski with the passages where he (Evans) had saved the project highlighted, and this convinced him to let Evans produce 'Sliver.' Unfortunately, Polanski was forced to leave the country, and though at first they planned to film a few exterior shots in New York and have Roman finish it up in Paris; it ended up being directed by Philip Noyce. Though he was no Polanski, Noyce was no hack, as proved by 'The Quiet American;' but he was unable to salvage 'Sliver.'
For a movie with such a titillating premise, 'Sliver' managed to extract all the juice. For a movie about high tech voyeurism, it sure managed to turn down the heat. Though 'Basic Instinct' was trashy, it was much more fun. In 'Instinct' there is a kind of cat and mouse, love/hate thing going with Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas. She is a murder suspect/novelist, and he is the cop investigating her. Talk about good cop, bad cop, he is a very bad cop. He shoots tourists, and has numerous bad habits. Stone plays him like a Stradivarius, pushing his buttons, making him dance to her tune, and all the while, he thinks he is in control. Total trash, but the audience, like Douglas, is also played like a Stradivarius. The Sharon Stone of 'Sliver' has no chemistry with either Tom Berenger or William Baldwin.
'Sliver' doesn't deliver on any of its promises, and it squanders its titillating premise. It also botches the ending, because focus groups found the first ending incomprehensible. Eszterhas wrote five new endings in three days, but the one they picked changed the killer and tried to make sense of the botched attempt, and failed again. It makes no sense. Don't want to spoil it by revealing the ending, but it would be hard to spoil it any more than the writer, director, producer, and actors have already. Neither Ira Levin, Joe Eszterhas, the critics, film audiences, nor Tom Berenger were pleased with the result. I tend to agree with them.
Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1998) (written by Joe Eszterhas)
Jade (1995) (written by Joe Eszterhas)
Showgirls (1995) (written by Joe Eszterhas)
Basic Instinct (1992) (written by Joe Eszterhas, and Sharon Stone was Catherine Tramell)
Music Box (1989) (written by Joe Eszterhas)
Jagged Edge (1985) (written by Joe Eszterhas)
Flashdance (1983) (screenplay by Joe Eszterhas)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) .... Tom Berenger was Gary, AKA Mr. Badbar
The Muse (1999) .... Sharon Stone was Sarah Little, the muse
Bulworth (1998) (uncredited) .... William Baldwin was Constance Bulworth's Lover
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Carly Norris: Get a life.
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Voyeurism - seen or be seen?
Added 11/2/2008
Which is more fun? Depends on you. Hard to decide? Check out both sides of the story. Always carry a camera.
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Stone... Hot. This movie... not.
Added 11/1/2008
Back in the day Sharon Stone was the hottest thing in Hollywood. She is still very pretty and hot in this movie but... this movie is a turd. Billy Baldwin is a horrible actor and this movie seems to want to show Baldwins naked butt and hide Stones completely. I like Tom Berenger but he doesn't do much with the crapfest that is this script. This movie stinks. Stone is hot but you don't see her being hot enough or at all.
Did I mention this movie stinks?
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What does Unrated Edition mean?
Added 7/14/2008
I have the "Unrated Edition" but I can't figure out what that is supposed to mean. There are no special features, no content that would merit a rating more restrictive than R. I don't get it.
I understand the ending is different from the book and apparently some of the famous plot holes would not be if the book's ending was used.
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basic instinct
Added 11/17/2009
no review would would not play in blu- ray player. Helena mt
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Beyond good and evil...
Added 11/10/2009
I had not seen this film in years, but it certainly looks good on blu-ray. This film has been remastered and it looks fabulous. It also comes with commentary by noted author Camille Paglia, and a documentary about the making of the film. One thing that struck me after not seeing this film for so many years was the beauty of the scenes that are set around San Francisco. This film is also a homage to Alfred Hitchcock, with many of the shots referring back to one of Paul Verhoeven's favorite movies, Vertigo, with shots looking down spiral staircases, or the characters often being shown near edges of cliffs, such as when they are traveling by car.
But what struck me most of all about the film was the animal sexual rawness found in the film. The characters appear to be acting out their basic instincts, and moving beyond the normal codes of society. Catherine (Sharon Stone) is a tigress, a sexual predator, who is interested in sex for its own sake, not for procreation. She's not interested in settling down and having a family. It is only when Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) mentions that he's not interested in having children that Catherine apparently backs off from using the ice pick on him. She's also bisexual, as she is shown to have many partners, male and female, which again reiterates her freedom from society's common notions about what is right or wrong. She lives in a society that urges its members to create stable family units that can then be useful in creating a stable, conforming society. But she doesn't conform, she has no boundaries, she is beyond good and evil. She engages with those around her, manipulating and doing as she pleases. This is a highly entertaining film that holds up over time because it does push the envelope and continue to challenge the viewer on various levels.
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basic ice pick
Added 10/4/2009
the ice pick at the end is not like the others. this movie is not like the others, esp not basic 2, which sucks the grand cahuula big time. beautiful scenery, beautiful people, beautiful writting, in a pervert-directed movie which makes everybody's list as best 10, or best 100, or best 1000, depending on what you are gathering together. sharon stone very gifted and very beautiful.
razor sharp film worth keeping and watching again time after time, like all the great ones, at least once every five years. evil women, men who are not whimps and therefore do not die of natural causes, and views into the very rich who are more fun to look at, and who live in better settings, often along the water.
it's too bad more women do not review this film, or films like it, because every man will own this movie one day, and perhaps only every third woman. but maybe not.
i was hoping rush limbaugh would play gus in basic instinct three, but after two, we all gave up.
i recommend this adventure to all who have realized an instinct or two sometime in the recent past...........
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