clevelandbill-66860 Is Malice one of the last films of the 1980s?Strange question for a movie made in 1993, right? But no ... I think movies take a long, long time to get made, and they reflect what was in their creators' minds at the time of the creation. Easy to think that Malice was a product, literally, of the late 1980s.What I saw was Yuppies. Doctors and Lawyers and College Deans. Big city apartments, waterfront houses on the point. That 80's hair and 80's clothes. Not a sighting of (soon to be de rigueur) flannel shirts to be seen. No beards. No trust fund or startup company kids starting grunge bands.I also saw an "end of the 80's" message, tiny, a little veiled, but there. Let's get to that (and it is our tiny little spoiler). The 1980's was about conspicuous consumption, of stretching the limits of experience in everything, fine clothing, fine automobiles, interesting food, wine, drugs, etc. It didn't really matter how you got there, so long as you were a consumption machine, consuming the finest of everything ... you were "King of the 80's".SPOILER ABOUT TO HAPPENSo, just as 1987's Gordon Gekko said "Greed is Good" and we were starting to doubt that truth ... Bill Pullman's character let's slip a final nail in the 1980's Yuppie coffin. This is right at the end of the movie, where he needs some ice for a wound he received: "I'll have mine in a glass with some scotch...single malt, nothing blended. Blended whiskey is crap. Someone told me that once."But the way he said, "Someone told me that once" comes off as very dismissive. It is said with a little tiny bit of derision. Enough to say, F the scotch, let's drink a Busch beer, jump in the mosh pit, and get the 1990's grunge scene rolling ...Where Ordinary People (a 1980 film) is one of my early 1980's films, the transition from the 70's to the 80's ... Malice is now my transition to the 1990's film, or at least the last of the 1980's films.I hope comments from you and others may improve upon my judgment here. I came of age in the 1980's, graduating high school in 1985, and the good and bad of that decade are really interesting to me ... especially as we become the rulers of the universe, for real, this time. Are we going to bring our bad or our good 1980's ideas with us?

statuskuo It's not a bad movie, only marginal. Better than today's movies, but still...it feels dated. I like the performances of the leads. But it gets frustratingly mean spirited as it gets to the end. Overall, it's a nostalgic watch very reminiscent of Hitchcock, but falls short when the people we want to suffer, don't. And there are inexplicable moments that draw out the story, such as the riddle- ladened drunken mother. There is NO reason she couldn't just come out and confess about her daughter.Also, they throw in an attorney to misguide you. There are plenty of moments where you do want to just shake the lead character's shoulder and tell him to leave. Or that the payoff to the comeuppance of the antagonist was to reveal an "a-ha!" moment. This seems forced.It's a good watch on a slow night.

kalibeans I watch "Malice" about once a year and always come and look at IMDb at some point while viewing. I'm continually amazed that this great suspense flick is not rated at least an "8". Excellent performances by Nicole Kidman, Anne Bancroft (albeit a very small role for her), even Alec Baldwin, whom I generally do not care for. Bill Pullman even pulls off his role perfectly as the mild mannered college prof. The only role I thought was not very strong was Bebe Neuwirth, who could not quite manage the accent. Malice is a first rate thriller all the way through. Tight script with just the right amount of build up of each of the characters and twists and surprises that I never saw coming. Even a very tiny role for a young Gwyneth Paltrow. Excellent supporting performances by George C. Scott and Peter Gallagher! Their roles were not very large but each gave a first rate performance that added strength to the film. Malice is best watched alone on a dark and stormy night. But I would not watch it with a fairly new significant other, it will leave you wondering.....

morrison-dylan-fan After a fellow IMDb'er recently told me that she is a fan of the Erotic-Thriller Basic Instic,I decided to go on the IMDb List and Recomandation board,to ask if there were any other Erotic- Thriller's,that a fan of Basic Instinct would enjoy.Checking the very kind lists of recs that I received from the board,I was surprised to find out that one of her fav actress's (Nicole Kidman) had made an Erotic-Thriller.Taking a look at the info of the movie,whilst also taking part in a poll that was being held on the IMDb Classic Film board for the best titles of 1993,I was disappointed to find out that Malice had come out in 1993,due to there not being enough time for me to get hold of the movie before the poll closed.A week later:With having stayed pretty quiet about my disappointment over not being able to watch Malice for the poll,I was completely caught by surprise,when a very kind IMDb'er gave me the great offer of being able to borrow the title,which led to me excitingly getting ready to come face to face with Malice for the first time.The plot:Rushing to the local hospital after being told that one of his students has been found brutally raped and left for dead,college professor Andy Safian talks to the hospital's leading doctor:Dr Jed Hill.To Andy's relief,Jed tells Hill,that although the patient was very close to dying,he has thankfully been able to save her.Joining her husband at the hospital,Andy introduces his wife Tracy Kennsinger to Jed Hill,who Andy praises for saving the life of one of his students.Strugling to think of a way that he can fully say thank you to Hill,Safian decides to ignore the objection's raised by Tracy,and offers Jed to become a tenet (for free) of the top floor in the new house that Andy and Tracy have recently brought.Astonished by Safian's display of kindness,Hill accepts the offer,and tells Andy that he will do everything he can to help the couple with the pregnancy problems the Safian has recently told Jed that he and his wife are suffering from.A few days later:Playing some darts and sharing a round of drinks with his work mates,Jed suddenly gets a call from the hospital,who tell Hill that he needs to come in right away,so that he can perform an emergency operation on a patient who has just been brought in to the hospital.Arriving at the hospital,Jed is horrified to discover that the dying patient is in fact Tracy Kennsinger,who is suffering from a raptured ovaries,due to a cyst.Taking X-Ray's shortly before operating to remove the ovaries,Hill discovers that Tracy is in fact 5 weeks pregnant…View on the film:Avoiding the easy option of turning the movie into a simple "skin" show, (with the only main showing of flesh in the film being a naked,possibly body doubled,Nicole Kidman) director Harold Becker instead takes the film into a slivering Neo-Noir direction.For the first 30 minutes of the movie,Becker and cinematography Gordon Willis use Autumn colours to create a strong feeling of a varnish being added to the cheerful lives of Andy and Tracy.As Any and Tracy start to develop a friendship with Jed Hill,Becker rips the varnish off shred by shred,to reveal,that underneath the "shiny" appearance,lays wood that is covered by decaying greed and betrayal.Whilst Scott Frank and Aaron Sorkin's (with future Sorkin regular Joshua Malina also featuring in a small role) screenplay does feature a serial killer, (played by future "Jigsaw" Tobin Bell) who seems to have been chucked in just because the writer's seemed to suspect that the movie was lacking a needless serial killer angle,Frank and Sorkin smartly decide to use the first half an hour of the film to build up the relationships between the character's,so that they can then delightfully spend the rest of this Neo-Noir's time revealing the dark betrayal's lurking beneath,with Sorkin showing an early ear for whip-smart dialogue,as Sorkin gives Jed Hill cracking lines,that makes the character sound like a walking mega manic.Entering the film in blistering form,Alec Baldwin gives a delightfully scenery cheering performance as Dr.Jed Hill,thanks to Baldwin delivering the terrific dialogue with an irresistible relish,and Baldwin also showing Jed slowly change,from a mild-mannered,good hearted doctor,into something much more sinister.Along with Baldwin,Bill Pullman gives the film some real folk-like charm,as the very out of his comfort zone Andy,whilst Anne Bancroft gives a great,deranged,Miss Havisham style performance,and Nicole Kidman gives a strong,icy Femme Fatle dame performance,which unleashes the full malicious darkness contained within this varnished Neo-Noir.