Movies

Two decades have passed since Adrian Lyne made “Unfaithful,” maybe his best film, though not his best known. (That would be his 1987 sizzler, “Fatal Attraction.” ) A slickly accomplished purveyor of the erotic thriller, Lyne doesn’t make love stories so much as lust stories — specifically, the way an incorrigible sexual appetite can rip a life apart. On paper, then, he seems the perfect choice to direct “Deep Water,” an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1957 novel about a dangerously sick suburban marriage. Vic (Ben Affleck) is retired, enjoying his tech-derived fortune by mountain biking and raising snails. (Glistening gastropod close-ups suggest this hobby has some ominous narrative purpose; let me know if you find one.) Vic’s gorgeous wife, Melinda (Ana de Armas) — rarely seen without a glass in one hand and a lover in the other — favors little black dresses that shrug off as easily as her sobriety. Vic might be tortured by her flagrant infidelities, but how can you stay mad … [Read more...] about ‘Deep Water’ Review: Love and Loathing in New Orleans

See the article in its original context from September 18, 1987 Section Page Buy Reprints View on timesmachine TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. YEARS hence, it will be possible to pinpoint the exact moment that produced ''Fatal Attraction,'' Adrian Lyne's new romantic thriller, and the precise circumstances that made it a hit. It arrived at the tail end of the having-it-all age, just before the impact of AIDS on movie morality was really felt. At the same time, it was a powerful cautionary tale. And it played skillfully upon … [Read more...] about Film: ‘Fatal Attraction’ With Douglas and Close

See the article in its original context from May 8, 2002 Section Page Buy Reprints View on timesmachine TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Sex is such a profoundly disruptive force in Adrian Lyne's film ''Unfaithful'' that as you watch it with your heart in your throat, you realize the degree to which Hollywood has succeeded in reducing screen sex to a fashion accessory. Its purpose in most movies nowadays is to embellish a story with enough (but not too many) discrete fillips of titillation and soft-core fantasy to quicken the pulse without causing palpitations. ''Unfaithful'' crashes through that mold by acknowledging that sex, especially reckless adulterous sex, can rock people's lives and have catastrophic consequences. The lovemaking in ''Unfaithful'' leaves deep emotional imprints. In the most extraordinary scene, Connie Sumner (Diane Lane), a beautiful, happily married suburban housewife and mother of a young … [Read more...] about FILM REVIEW; Day in Town Takes an Unexpected Tryst

The bunny almost was broiled. In the most notorious scene of the 1987 thriller “Fatal Attraction,” the spurned Alex (Glenn Close) terrorizes her ex-lover Dan (Michael Douglas) by boiling the family pet on the stove. “Initially, I had her grilling the bunny,” the screenwriter James Dearden said in a recent telephone interview. “But I thought that was too grotesque. So we boiled the bunny instead.” The result remained fairly gory. “The stench was unbearable,” the film’s director, Adrian Lyne, recalled of shooting the scene with a rabbit purchased from a butcher. “It permeated the whole house.” Three decades after it became an Oscar-nominated cause célèbre and grossed $320 million worldwide, “Fatal Attraction” continues to pervade the culture. “Bunny boiler” has become synonymous with a female stalker, and a “Saturday Night Live” sketch last season depicted the Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway cooking a CNN anchor’s rabbit. Thirty years after the film’s Sept. 18, 1987, release, I … [Read more...] about ‘Fatal Attraction’ Oral History: Rejected Stars and a Foul Rabbit

A slick executive drives a cherry red convertible. A nightclub owner carries a coke spoon and wears his hair in a rat tail. A troubled pop star masturbates while choking herself. Those images might have come from an erotic thriller made by Brian De Palma, Paul Verhoeven or Adrian Lyne, directors who were prominent in the 1980s and 1990s thanks to movies like “Body Double” (Mr. De Palma), “Basic Instinct” (Mr. Verhoeven) and “9 ½ Weeks” (Mr. Lyne). But those scenes were actually part of “The Idol,” the HBO series that made its debut on Sunday with the apparent intention of reviving an all but dead genre. Filled with close-up shots of luxury goods and body parts, “The Idol” also recalled the works of lesser filmmakers whose R-rated creations populated the late-night lineups of HBO and its rivals long before the advent of prestige television. It was a style that died out over the years — the death blow might have been Mr. Verhoeven’s infamous “Showgirls,” an expensive … [Read more...] about Can HBO’s ‘The Idol’ Bring Back ’80s Sleaze?

An Oregon man who rigged his lost home with an "Indiana Jones"-inspired booby trap of a "round hot tub that was on its side set to roll down the hill" was found guilty of charges stemming from that 2018 incident where a federal agent was injured, officials said Tuesday. A federal jury in Medford found Gregory Lee Rodvelt, 71, guilty of assaulting a federal officer and using and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Oregon. Rodvelt lost his home in a lawsuit and after he "learned that a receiver had been appointed to sell that property, he proceeded to booby trap it," federal prosecutors said. Bomb specialists with the FBO and Oregon State Police were asked to inspect the property after Rodvelt was arrested in Arizona in April, 2017 and charged with unlawful possession of explosives, according to an affidavit written by FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Gray. When bomb specialists got to … [Read more...] about Jury convicts Oregon man who injured federal officer with home using rigged ‘Indiana Jones’ booby trap