Word: sams
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Persian rugs are complemented by original art on the walls. A vintage yellow icebox opens to reveal liqueurs, whiskeys and port glasses. On top sits the couple's decanter collection. This one is Danish, 1890s; these two are French, 1920s. Duke Ellington's jazz floats from the bedroom, and Sam's latest purchase, a gold jacquard smoking jacket, hangs behind the door. Caitlin, an ad copywriter for Bon Appetit, stirs the polenta, while Sam, who works with a caterer favored by fashion shoots, serves goat cheese on pizza bianca. The two have a dinner party at least three times...
...mysterious incident involving celebrity anchor Kevin Hollander (Alan Alda, in a stonier version of the egomaniacal media mogul he played in Crimes and Misdemeanors). The worldly, ambitious Brackett is earger to regain his position at the network. So when he finds himself locked in a museum with unstable gunman Sam Baily (John Travolta at his raunchiest), a class of rowdy schoolchildren and a developing hostage situation, he's overjoyed to have found his ticket back to the big leagues...
Hoffman is superb, underplaying even the punchiest lines for maximum effect. A spotlight line such as, "You're the best show in town, Sam," might have amounted to little more than a melodramatic leer in the hands of a less talented actor; Hoffman delivers it quietly, almost swallowing the words, and the effect is chilling. To its own detriment, the script fails to learn from his example. Writers Tom Matthews and Eric Williams, journalists themselves, cannot resist hammering home their message. "I don't want to cross the line," Brackett tells his boss; Lou, at the beginning of the movie...
...Baily is the sweetest, most lovable terrorist ever created for the screen: a made-to-order innocent for the media to crucify. His childlike naivete is charming at first, but after a while, one begins to wonder if he could successfully floss his teeth without injuring himself. In short, Sam Baily is just a little too vulnerable. The film might have been more interesting had he been portrayed as a troubled adult instead of a confused child...
...come up with are: the Boston Massacre would be The Big Boston Whup-Ass; the Declaration of Independence would include 37 uses of the word "ain't" and contain the phrase "mighty displeased;" "Vermont" would be pronounced "Varmint:" instead of "Liberty or Death," some revolutionary flags would resemble Yosemite sam "Back Off" mudflaps; and there would be two major hurdles for presidential candidates: Electoral College and Chili Cook...