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jkt1219
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Lace II (1985)
Much Inferior Sequel to Lace
The original Lace was silly and cheesy, which is what made it so fabulous. The sequel, Lace II, is just boring.
As in Lace, where Lili finds out who her mother is, in Lace II, she finds out who her real father is. Judy is on assignment in Asia, there to interview the head of a revolutionary force. When she gets there she is told that she will be held for $1 million in ransom. Lili is unable to get the money together, even from Pagan and Maxine. Lili decides that the only other person that she can get the money from is her father (we learn in a flashback that her father could not have been Neil the banker from Lace I). She finds a three stories that were written by her mother. In all three, Judy is raped by a different man (two of the stories take place on the evening of the Valentine's dance from Lace I, and the other takes place during a school break). The people in the stories all have aliases, but Judy kept the same initials as the real person. Lili, along with Maxine and Pagan, each take one story and try to determine who her father is. Of course, as in the original, you don't really find out who it is until the very end.
I liked the premise of Lace II, I just disliked the execution. Several actors from the original (including Bess Armstrong who played Judy), do not show up for the sequel. Phoebe Cates thankfully drops the atrocious accent from the first film, but the actress playing Pagan still stumbles her way through a bad English accent. Some other things that really bugged me: 1. Pagan and Maxine are very reluctant to help Lili at all, not just with the search for her real father, but with the entire situation all together. They act very unconcerned with they find out Judy has been kidnapped and only agree to help after Lili bitches them out. 2. In the original, Judy has a long time boyfriend. In the sequel he appears very briefly, and when he does, he acts as if he and Judy are just friends. 3. When Lili decides to get the ransom money from her father, how does she know he has money? And even if he did, this was the early 80's. How many people, even wealthy ones, can drum up $1 million in just a couple of days? All in all, I was disappointed. But if I were to watch it again, I would only watch the three flashbacks that play out Judy's three stories of how she was raped, and the ending that tells you which man is her father.
Lace (1984)
So bad it's good
This is one of those cheestastic 80's movies that is so bad that it's good. I turned this on one day to have as background noise while I cleaned my apartment. Six hours later, I was still on my couch and my apartment was still dirty.
Lace is about a young, internationally famous, French actress named Lili. As a child she was told by her foster parents that one day her mother would come for her. They are killed when she is six, and Lili is left to fend for herself. She becomes a model, a nude model, then a porn actress. As an adult, she finds out that her foster parents had been receiving money. When she tracks down the source of the funds, she is told that her mother thought that Lili had been killed with her foster parents. The source of the funds cannot tell her exactly who her mother is, all she knows is that the mother is one of three women who were the best of friends in Switzerland.
Judy (American), Pagan (English), and Maxine (French) are best friends at a boarding school in Switzerland. One of them gets pregnant, and the three of them tell each other that they will stick together. After graduation, they hide out in the country until the delivery date, then give the girl to a foster family. They make a pact that they will go out into the world and the first one who gets on her feet will send for Lili. For the next few years, they each become established, but each makes excuses for not sending for Lili until they hear that she has been killed. After that, they no longer keep in touch until Lili invites all of them together to find out which one of them is her mother.
The story is told through flashbacks, focusing on how each of the three girls could be the mother. You don't even find out who she is until the last two minutes of the movie. There are also small flashbacks of Lili's life (luckily, there aren't many). This movie is mainly about the lives of these three women.
BTW, the title Lace, comes from the name of Judy's magazine. As a teenager in Switzerland, she was continuously writing a book that featured her alter-ego, Lucinda Lace.
Phoebe Cates, while very beautiful, is hilariously awful as Lili. As someone brought up in France, you think her accent would be French. Instead, it's this strange affected accent. It's too bizarre to explain. Her character is whiny, diva-ish, and obnoxious. Lili is supposed to be a woman that men desire and lust after, but I don't know how anyone could feel that way about a girl who acts like a brat and is rude to everyone. The actress who plays Pagan is supposed to be English, but I didn't realize that she was until someone made some comment about where she was from. Her accent comes and goes throughout. Angela Landsbury also has a nice little cameo as Maxine's Aunt Hortense.
The dialogue can be awful, the clothes very Dynasty-like (apparently, every woman wore hats in the 80's), and the makeup looks like it was slapped on with a trowel. But, it is great fun. I hope the powers that be release it on DVD.
Persuasion (1971)
Eh...
Okay, if you discount the production value, the ugly outfits, and the big hair, this adaptation is still far inferior to the 90's version. First Ann Firbank (playing Anne Elliot), is literally ten years too old to play this role and her acting leaves much to be desired. Amanda Root (playing the same role in the 90's version) can express more in her big, brown eyes than Firbank can with her entire face in a four hour production. Anne is turned into a peevish, whining, boring character (and what was with the scene during the `long walk' where she stops to spout off poetry?). Henrietta and Louisa looked so much alike that the only time I could tell them apart was when they stood next to each other (Henrietta was taller). And Louisa! Never was there a more obnoxious character! It was ridiculous to think that Wentworth was supposed to be interested in her. She is supposed to be high spirited and pretty and charming, not stupid and silly with her ridiculous laugh that's like nails on a chalkboard. When she starts to chant, `to Lyme, to Lyme, to Lyme,' I started yelling, `shut up, shut up, shut up!' The best part of the movie was when Louisa falls those three feet at the cobb because I knew I wouldn't have to see her anymore in the movie. Speaking of the fall at the cobb scene; it was the mose poorly acted, badly directed and edited scene of the entire film. How does a person fall three feet down, land on her feet, and still be knocked unconscious?
On the plus size, the character of Elizabeth was much closer to the book than in the 90's version. They also put in many more scenes with Anne and Frederick at the end.
I'll admit, I have bought this movie, even though I knew how sub par it was, but I'm a huge Austen fan, so I'll buy any movie adapted from one of her novels. Watch this move if you're morbidly curious, or to appreciate the 90's version even more.
The bottom line is, this version may follow the letter of the novel, but the 90's version follows the spirit.
Return to Peyton Place (1961)
No where near as good as the original
This review contains spoilers from the original movie Peyton Place.
As a stand alone movie, RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE was okay. What really ticks me off about this movie is how so few of the characters in the original are in this movie. The whole point of a sequel is to find out what happens to the original characters. I want to know what happened with Allison's boyfriend Norman Page after he came home from the war. What happened to Betty Anderson after she and her father-in-law found out that Rodney Harrington had died in the war? But my biggest pet peeve is the way they handled the Selena and Ted affair. In this movie they acted as if they had never been anything more than friends. Well that's a big load of crap! And I don't remember Ted being rich in the first movie. Where did all this fabulous wealth suddenly appear from? The best part of the whole movie was Mary Astor as Mrs. Carter. You just wanted to smack her, she is such a bitch!