I'm at work today, but maybe you decided to stay at home and watch some movies on a rainy day. Monsoon season is here, and it could be raining somewhere right now.
Here are some suggestions, both old and new...
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 version)
I never saw the original with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, so I can't compare that version with this one, which stars Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo.
Brosnan plays Thomas Crown, a businessman with an appreciation for art who seems to have gotten a bit bored with the corporate world. While visiting his "favorite" Monet painting at a museum, a spectacular heist takes place. Rene Russo plays Catherine Banning, an insurance investigator who is brought in to crack the case. Crown is very quickly pegged as the main suspect by Banning and the movie proceeds to become a game of cat and mouse, albeit a very glamorous one. Denis Leary also appears in the movie as an NYPD detective who's somewhat annoyed by having to work with Banning, or as he cracks when Rene Russo makes her entrance into the museum: "I love this neighborhood. Some of these broads are wearing my salary!"
I will also add that Rene Russo's look in this movie influenced me for many years and apparently continues to influence others today. I was watching a news piece about Caitlyn Jenner's Vanity Fair photo shoot, and the stylist on set mentioned that Rene Russo's look in the movie influenced her choices of clothing for Caitlyn to wear.
Cold in July
This came out in 2014 in limited release and is based on the book Cold in July by Joe R Lansdale. It's a crime thriller, but not in a shoot 'em up kind of way (for the most part). On a summer night, Michael C Hall (from the TV show Dexter) kills an intruder in his home. Not long after, the intruder's father (Sam Shepard) shows up in town. Without giving too much away, things get rather complicated, and there's a pretty dark--and yet somehow morally justified, in my opinion--twist at the end.
Don Johnson arrives with some comedic relief about halfway through the movie. I burst out laughing at his opening scene and by the end of the movie was rather touched by his stalwart willingness to stand by his old friend, no matter what.
The Two Faces of January
We have a bit of a waiting list on this one right now, but it's worth the wait.
Kirsten Dunst and Viggo Mortensen play a couple traveling through Greece in 1962 who meet a tour guide played by Oscar Isaac. Let's just say Viggo Mortensen's character has something to hide. The movie is based on the novel written by Patricia Highsmith, who also wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley. So if you enjoyed that movie you'll probably like this one as well.
Happy rainy day viewing!
-GingerMusicKid
