Today I want to talk about something revealing. No not about me, well probably about me a little bit, but more about those movies you really can only enjoy once. That first viewing is where the magic is, and after that you are just looking for all the clues along the way.  I mean it is fun to see how well-crafted the story was after you know the final destination. Its like the first view over the mountain top or out over the ocean. That first experience that is just so overwhelming. those twist endings and turns that seem out of nowhere but if you look at the film it is all right there for you to see. Nothing is just dropped in, and you are expected to buy it. This is my top five list of movies you really only get the one shot with.

These movies have been out for years, and you really should have seen them already. Many of these twists are pop culture icons now so I apologize, and warn, of spoilers ahead. The newest movie on this list is from 2000 so I will do my best not so spoil the movies for you so that if, and that is a big If, you have not seen them you can still see them. I promise that with all of these movies the journey is well worth it. many of these I have seen a few times. No, they do not meet that first watch, but you can see it is all there. So thar be spoilers ahead, continue at your own risk.  

Jacob’s ladder (1990) is another in a long line of films that deal with all of the secrets of the cold war, specifically Viet Nam. I am going to be focusing on the original from ninety. It seems like in the eighties every movie had some sort of forced tie in with Viet Nam; some good some not so good. This one seems to conceal how much it is tied to Viet Nam. So, what is this film about? We start simple enough. Classic shot of the guys in the hot sun just hanging out in the LZ. We have seen this. They are cracking jokes, smoking weed, and just getting along.  Ving Rhames cleaning his weapon. we all know Ving Rhames from the mission impossible movies as well as pulp fiction, and of course I remember him from Tour of Duty, in what was probably one of that series’ best episodes. We got a lot of shots that seem to mimic old photographs that really build the nostalgia factor. It is like we are seeing a memory. Then everything pops off. We hear gun fire everything erupts and just as quickly ends in silence. Now we have jumped ahead a few years and we get Tim Robbins, top gun, the player and the wonderful hbo series the brink. That was an excellent show, as a postal carrier. This is all set up to make you think it is just another Vietnam movie, I mean we had a lot of them in the eighties. This one is set apart. Yes, we get shots of Vietnam, but we also get his life at home after thew war. He is now with Elizabeth Pena, you know her from Rush Hour, and La Bamba. She really is Tim Robbins’s rock. Danny Aiello, form Do the Right Thing, Moonstruck, Hudson Hawk, and Leon: The Professional, he plays Tim Robbins chiropractor. We see Tim Robbins getting adjusted and they have this conversation where Tim Robbins tells Danny Aiello that he looks like a Cherub. This quiet peaceful life starts to unravel as we start seeing faceless people around. At one point a car full of faceless people try to run down Tim Robbins. We get another seen of Tim Robins and Elizabeth Pena at a house party where he starts to see actual demons in the room. After all this he tracks down his buddies from his old unit after another member of the unit has died. It is clear all these men are suffering from something, and they do not know what. They contact an attorney, played by a young Jason alexander from Seinfeld, pretty woman, and a wonderful role on criminal minds, to take their case. He quickly drops the case as all the other guys pull out. This is when Tim Robbins meets the mysterious stranger. He is the man with all the answers played by Matt Craven form a few good men, x men first class, and justified. Apparently, he was a chemist in Vietnam trying to develop a serum that would get soldiers to fight in an almost primitive manner. More aggressive and more fierce fighters to put an end to the war. A “Ladder straight to the primitive center of the brain” or some such. We also start to see flashbacks to before the war. Tim Robbins is now having visions of his dead son from his first marriage, played by MacAulay Culkin, home alone American Horror Story, and Saved! I got to stop here I really do not want to give it all away. Listen this is good. The ending really does bring all of it together in a wonderful way. You can find Jacob’s Ladder on Amazon Prime, included with your subscription, as well as VUDU for purchase. It is a bit of a head trip and worth the watch.

This next one is kind of the exception that disproves the rule. Not only is this an intricate movie in the story and plot idea but it is also done in a way that makes you acutely aware of our protagonist’s journey. I am talking about Memento (2000). This is a wonderful film expertly crafted story, great acting, and a concept that will put you on your feet throughout the entire film.

Alright let me see if I can explain this in as nonspoilery way as possible. We have your run of the mill murder mystery. One man alone is trying to solve the murder of his wife. Guy Pearce plays Leonard, an insurance investigator who has suffered a trauma experiencing his wife’s death. You know Guy Pearce from the remake of The Time Machine, L.A. Confidential, and Iron Man 3. In classic film noir style Leonard is thrust into the criminal underbelly of the city and is helped along the way by a local cop of questionable morality. Enter Joe Pantoliano, joey pants! I think I might need to keep a count of how often he shows up in films I like. You probably remember him from such great things as Guido the killer Pimp in Risky Business, probably the first place I remember seeing him, he was also on The Sopranos, and of course the Matrix. Anyway, Joey Pants plays the detective helping Leonard track his wife’s killer. Always with a lead at just the right time.

Leonard also meets Natalie, a bar tender, in his investigation into his wife’s death. Something is not right with Natalie. You can tell she is only interested in using Leonard for personal gain, much like Joey Pants detective Teddy. Carrie-Anne Moss plays Natalie very well. You know Carrie Ann Moss from the Matrix, Jessica Jones and the wonderful show Chuck. You can tell this is not who she is but who she has become due to her life choices.

Sounds like your run of the mill murder mystery. If you know then you know but those of you who do not know are about to find out a little bit. Leonard has an issue relating to his wife’s murder. Quite simply put he suffers from Antegrade Amnesia. This prevents him from making new memories. He can do the ordinary things, brush his teeth comb his hair, and he can even remember things from before the incident. However, since the incident he is unable to make new memories. As he investigates, he finds more and more clues and the only way he can keep tack of them is by tattooing them all over his body. He has polaroid pictures and maps all over his hotel room.  He uses these Polaroids to remember people and places on the go.

And now I know you are saying alright but how is that a twist? Christopher Nolan takes the chance of giving the audience antegrade amnesia and shows the film from the end to the beginning. You get these ten- or fifteen-minute scenes that make absolutely no sense until you get to the next ten- or fifteen-minutes scene, and of course that asks all sort of new questions. This is done wonderfully through the film. I got to believe this is a rough draft for Tenet as well. We get these black and white portions that seem to be there to remind us that this is running from end to beginning, but the black and white scenes are actually running from beginning to end. Yes, we get the reminder, but we also get more background here. This is where we learn about Sammy Jankis, played so well by Stephen Tobolowsky. You Know Tobolowsky from his run-on Glee, he was in Groundhog Day, and Mississippi Burning, I mean talk about range. See Sammy Jankis has this condition where he can’t create new memories. Guy Pearce’s character was an insurance investigator and declined Sammy Jankis’s disability claim. Now Guy Pearce’s Leonard has the very same disability.

Not only do we get a moment where Leonard comes to in the middle of parking trying to get his bearings. He looks and sees some and the voice over states” oh I must be chasing him”. As Leonard stands to chase the man the man shoots at Leonard “nope he is chasing me”. I love that bit. We also see Leonard’s car get cleaner as the movie progresses, I did not spot this until my second or third watch. Another item of note is as the movie progresses, or is regresses, he has fewer of the Polaroids to refer to. And of course, we get a wonderful twist, beginning? which of course sets up the entire movie. Even though you have already seen the end this is still a wonderfully powerful scene that brings the film to a close. Every time I see this I think, “oh yeah, this is going to be good” then it is over.

If you like a good murder mystery check this one out. It does all the who done it stuff excellently but it also has a twist on the genre that is so mind bending no one tried to copy it. remember when Blair which came out and suddenly there were like 20 other movies with the same sensibility? Well, no one tried to duplicate this. Check this one out. You can find this one on HBO/MAX.

Alright this next one definitely has to be on this list, but the twist here is I do not have it at number one. The Sixth Sense (1999) was a cultural phenomenon. I can only think of one other movie that everyone worked so hard not to spoil. The twist was so obvious, on the second viewing, that you almost feel dumb watching it. my daughter picked it up on her first viewing in the first fifteen minutes.

This is really two movies at once, and we do nice job transitioning. So, to begin Bruce Willis plays a child psychologist who has been honored by the city for his hard work. We see his wife getting a bottle of wine from the cellar as they sit in darkness just drunkenly staring at the award Bruce Willis has just received. A lot of this is shot in the reflection, so much so you almost spend most of the time looking in the negative space for what ever the jump scare is going to be. These two head for bed in a drunken stumble. This is when we see Donnie Wahlberg standard practically naked in the bathroom waiting for Bruce Willis. I always enjoy seeing Donnie Wahlberg, I mean his career, for me anyway, has gone from “That’s the guy form New Kids, right?” to “Oh I always forget he was in New Kids on the block”. So good for you Donnie Wahlberg. I know he is just waiting for my approval on his career. And he has done a lot of stuff. I personally love him on blue bloods. So, Donnie Wahlberg ends up shooting Bruce Willis and we are off. Now we jump to Next Fall. No real explanation as to what season it was before. So, no real information other than time has passed. Is it next year or maybe shorter? Who knows and it really is not important, unless I have missed the point with that transition? So anyway, it is next fall, and we see Bruce Willis sitting across the street from Haley Joel Osment. This is his first role, or at least the first role we all know him from. He is a seemingly normal child. He is having some issues adjusting to his parent’s divorce, but he seems to be coping well. Why would he need a child therapist? Well, he drew some not so nice pictures, and it is alluded to this is the reason he is seeing Bruce Willis. The first half of the film we are watching the psychological drama. Bruce’s Willis’s character’s family life seems to be falling apart. He is late to the anniversary dinner with his wife. He sees some guy from his wife’s work clearly flirting and hitting on her. He has issues and needs to fix them. So, he tries to end his relationship with his client, Haley Joel Osment, so he can focus.

Hailey Joel Osment ends up in the hospital after an incident at a birthday party. He was locked into a dumbwaiter and passes out. The er doc thinks mom is abusing her son. What we do find out is he is ready to reveal his secret to his therapist. So, he tells Bruce Willis he sees dead people and they do not know they are dead. Bruce Willis seems to think this may be early onset schizophrenia or something. Then it is revealed to us the viewer that he is actually seeing dead people. And he keeps telling his therapist about it, and finally Bruce Willis’s character goes back through an old case, the case of the patient who shoots him in the beginning of the movie. This is where he discovers this person may also have seen dead people. He hears a voice in Spanish recorded on the tapes from one of the sessions. Bruce Willis decides that perhaps helping the ghosts would allow them to move on, so they set out to help one of them and it seems to work. A little girl was being poisoned by her mom and they are able to give proof to the dad. This seems to be helpful to Haley Joel Osment’s character and they decide he does not need to see Bruce Willi’s character anymore. This simple act seems to fix everything.

This movie is wonderfully shot. You feel like you are in this world. And when the ghosts start showing up it is very unsettling. You spend half this movie thinking the child is working on his issues only to find out he actually does see ghosts. They are everywhere. It really does get to you as you turn a corner and some one is there. Sometimes they are mean and coming at you other times they just seem to be normal people. You got a kid in his house saying come with me I will show you where my dad keeps his gun. As he turns to walk away you can see briefly that there has been a gunshot through his head. That one always gets me. There is a scene at the school, which used to be an old courthouse and we see the bodies of people being hung. Really is disturbing, and that is intensified because we are able to get into the world before this revealed to an actual thing for the audience. You need to see this, even if you know the twist you need to see it. the reveal of it all is wonderful. And when you go back through on your second watch, which I did immediately after, you will see this is expertly craft4ed as everything is there.

This next one is AWESOME! My first watch had my jaw on the floor as I did not see it coming, but if you rewatch it is all right there in front of you. Great writing, excellent acting, and the pacing is almost perfect. You get the family drama, you get a mystery to solve, and believe it or not, our protagonist learns a little bit about himself. I am talking about The Game (1997).

Michael Douglas is Nicholas Van Oton; a well-off CEO from a wealthy family whose birthday is approaching rapidly. You know Michael Douglass from a ton of things. Maybe I should consider an episode focusing on him. Anyway, you know him form Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction, the Antman movies, and my favorite Romancing the stone. He is turning the ripe old age of 48, the same age, incidentally, as his father when he took his own life. Not sure when 48 became a milestone but okay, I guess. Sean Penn plays the younger brother of our protagonist, Conrad Van Orton, and has gotten him an early birthday present. Here is another one, but just in case you have not been to the movies in the last forty years you know Sean Penn from Fast times at Ridgemont High, Milk, Hurly-burly, At Close Range, and Falcon and the Snowman. Just excellent in everything.

While yes, these two are brothers they clearly have not seen each other in a while. They do a wonderful job of setting up the strain between these two characters. Sean Penn’s Connie has had some troubles in his life, we talk about rehab and the like, while Douglas’s Nicholas has been the steadfast brother who took up the family business. Focusing on making money leave very little time for play and you see it on Nicholas.

So, the story. Connie purchases a gift for his older brother who never takes any time for e himself really. I mean we see Michael Douglass’s Character at nice dinners, in a house with a staff, and just generally living the good life, but you have to ask is he even living. So, what is this gift. It is The Game. Apparently, Connie played in London and decided to set up his brother. Nicholas sort happens upon the offices of CRS and decides to check it out they hold him all day for test after test. Physical, mental and medical.  So many tests. Then of course after all that they reject him. He is not “good’ enough for the game. You know the one that his younger nare-do-well brother was good enough for. Nicholas has been in charge of every room he has ever walked into and now he is being told no you can not do this. He immediately calls his younger brother and lies. He tells Connie he has decided against it. WOW! And it is at this point that every thing sort of jumps off. They have snuck a camera into Nicholas’s house and then they proceed to ruin his life. This always on top of its businessman is now at the mercy of the world in every turn.

This is a wonderful movie. Nicholas’s character goes on a journey of self-discovery over the course of a few days. This seems better than therapy. By the end of the ordeal Nicholas has dealt with his worry about being like his father. He has even gotten over not taking time for himself, I mean real time for himself. This is a wonderful journey and once you have completed it there really is no going back. I usually only get to see this now when one of my friends reveals they have not seen it. for me this is almost as good as watching it the first time. And of course, the entire plot is given away with a bible verse near the beginning of the movie. This is so good that really tell you flat out that the entire movie hinges on this very specific idea. Then you get to the end and realize that yes that was actually true. If you want to see this, you are going to have buy it or rent it online. Check at Vudu, google play, and amazon. This is definitely worth the rental fee.

This next movie was presented to me by my wife. It was early on in our dating, and we decided to rent some movies. Well, she did not have a vcr, so we drove to get mine from my apartment and then back to her place to set it up. What did we get?  The Usual Suspects (1995) and seven. both are excellent, but I am talking today about the Usual Suspects.  

This is a classic heist film, but better. Why you ask? Because instead of one heist we get three. Alright so how do we explain this without giving too much away, talk about a challenge. So, the movie opens with the end. There is something that has happened on a ship in port. People are dead and bodies are everywhere. Gabriel Byrne drops a lighter on a stream of gasoline igniting it only to have it put out by a mysterious stranger. Now we jump back a way to see our cast getting arrested. This is our introduction to our group. Stephen Baldwin is rousted from a sleep with a group of swat guys pointing guns at him. You know Stephen Baldwin from, Bio-Dome with Pauly Shore Last Exit to Brooklyn, and the Flintstones Viva Rock Vegas. Next, we get Kevin Pollack, you know him from a Few Good Men, Indian Summer, plus all his stand up. He does the best Alan Arkin ever!!!! Kevin Pollack is a mechanic and sees the cops coming for him in a mirror, so he is ready. And again, we got a whole team coming at him. Next is Benicio Del Toro as Fenster, probably my favorite in this group. As a side note whenever I see Benicio Del Toro in a movie where he is not playing Fenster, I do not recognize him until I see his name in the credits at the end. Then I am always like, “right that was him”. So, you will have to look for him in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Fearless, Sicario, Traffic, Guardians of the Galaxy, and so many more. He is so good. Fenster gets arrested on the street. He comes out of a doorway walks around the corner and then quickly comes back as an unmarked cop car is following him as he walks right towards another unmarked cop car. Lastly, they pick up Gabriel Byrne. He is clearly at a business luncheon pitching a restaurant idea. This one feel odd until Chaz Palminteri sort of runs his resume a little bit. So, you get the sense that Byrne’s Character has gone, or at least tried to go, straight. You are going to know Byrne from Miller’s Crossing, Vikings, and Stigmata, jus to name a few. Now they are being filed into a police station together with our narrator Verbal Kent. He is a low-level guy compared to the heavy weights he has been brought in with. He is also a bit of an unreliable narrator too, but you do not really get a sense of that till later in the movie. So, we have these career guys all put into a cell together and to quote the narrator,” what did they think was going to happen”. Baldwin’s character announces he has a job. And this is our first heist. Apparently, the cops are running a taxi service for criminals. High level criminals, not those street level guys. You know the people we all know about in the criminal underground. I love how these movies suppose that criminals have this under world network, like they go to conventions and such. Gabriel Byrne’s character is a bit of a legend, and everybody is impressed to meet him. Imagine if every job was like this. “Wait you’re Mrs. Lawson? The one who raise AP Chem Score 12.5 percent in one semester?”. Yeah, like that is thing. Anyway, our guys successfully trap the cop car and steal not only the jewels but any cash on hand and set the cop car on fire. This is heist number one. and I got to tell you it sounds like they are using the music from psycho for this first heist. After they take all the jewels, we discover that the fence, a friend of Baldwin’s character is in California, so our entire team go to meet the fence. This is where they get another job. Another jewel heist, or so they think. Turns out to be a load of heroin and of course this one goes bad and they end up killing everybody. This brings them to the attention of the leader of the underworld, a man named Keyser Söze. He is the boogeyman story thieves tell their children to keep them in line. He is just a legendary bad ass. Now he is after our crew. So, they have to do one more job for him to clear their names and debt to him. And this is the job that starts the film.

The entire story is told in flashbacks. Verbal Kent is being questioned by Chaz Palminteri, you know him from Hurly-burly, A Bronx Tale, and the short-lived series Wiseguy. Palminteri’s character has been tracking Byrne’s character like Captain Ahab from Moby Dick. He really is just trying to confirm that Byrne’s character is really dead. Now I do not want to give too much away. If you have seen it, you know the ending is wonderful, if you have not seen it get out there and see this. It is currently on Amazon Prime.

Please make sure you find the podcast That and a Dollar where you listen to podcasts.