GOSFORD PARK (2001)

Sir William McCordle is throwing a dinner party/shooting weekend at his massive country estate.  All of the upper class guests gather upstairs, while all of their servants are busy downstairs preparing for the weekend.  The first half of this intriguing film sets up the back stories of all of the characters stories and since there's probably a dozen main characters, there's not a wasted moment or shot.  Every second the overall story is moving forward and getting more and more interesting until there's a double murder!  And I don't mean two people getting murdered, but one character getting murdered twice!!  Who could have possibly done it?  Well, as we learn more about the murder victim, it ends up he was actually such a brutal and dastardly fellow it's probably easier to guess who didn't have a reason for wanting to see him dead.

GOSFORD PARK is a delightful film that is so rich that it can been seen over and over again and still pick up little things you missed before.  One interesting thing the filmmakers did was have the story told from the aspect of the downstairs staff.  So that way we, the viewer, only gets to see what's going on upstairs if there is a service member present.  That's a very clever idea.

An impressive ensemble cast overflowing with talent, a great little whodunnit mystery, beautiful locations and sets, quick pace, GOSFORD PARK is a great film.  The only weak part, to me, was Ryan Phillippe.  He's not bad by any means, but next to such an outstanding cast he just can't hold his own.  From what I've read Jude Law was originally suppose to to be in that role and I agree, he would have been a better choice.

Now I'm in the mood to watch some "Midsomer Murders".

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (1997)

Four teens go out partying during the last summer before they set off the conquer the world. While driving back from the beach, the driver is distracted by the drunk asshole hanging out the sunroof screaming his brains out and they run some dude over. So what do they do? Call the coppers and risk ruining their lives or just dump the motherfucker in the ocean? They decide on option #2, but unfortunately right as they're tossing the dude in the ocean...he's still alive! Yikes! Shit happens and they make a pact to never tell anybody ever. That works out alright for a little while, then the bodies start showing up. And by "bodies" I mean five total.

If you're looking for a badass horror movie then go watch INSIDE, because IKWYDLS is pure 90's teen soap opera cheese with some horror elements tossed in.  It's awesome. After the tragic event, Jennifer Love Hewitt gets all guilt-ridden and haggard looking; shit-talkin Ryan Phillippe doesn't become the big football star like he was boasting; Buffy Summers doesn't go to NYC and has to get a job at a department store and Freddie Prinze, Jr. ends up working on a fishing boat. Ohhh, so sad! And if all that wasn't crappy enough, now some dude in a fisherman jacket starts killing people with a big hook. Life just isn't fair!

Compared to other cheesy 90's teen horror movies like SCREAM or URBAN LEGEND, IKWYDLS is a little bit more light-weight (I'm surprised it got an R rating), but I have a soft spot for it because it stars a "Buffy"-era Sarah Michelle Gellar! I'm guessing she filmed this between Seasons 1 and 2. The two things that bothered me the most (besides the lack of violence and nudity) was JLH's god-awful screaming and the killer's almost supernatural abilities...the gym locker room scene and the cleaning up of the car trunk are the two biggest things that made me think "Bullshit!".

Worth watching if you're into this sort of thing, but don't expect anything profound. It's pure junk food for the brain.

[Update 07/03/2024: Just got home from a movie theater screening of I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER and I really, really enjoyed myself. I've seen the film many times obviously, but seeing it (again) in the theater was a lot of fun.]

Part 2 - I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
Part 3 - I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006)