The Last Supper

Rating:
Summary: They're not people! They're people who hate!
Review: "What if you kill someone whose death makes the world a better place?" That's the question that Luke, the political science grad student asks his fellow grad students, all politically liberal and roommates in the same house in the aftermath of their killing an aggressive right-winger in self-defense?

The philosophical question has been demonstrated before. Mark asks if anyone went back in time to 1909 and met a certain Austrian artist with one testicle by the name of Adolf, would you kill him and save six million Jews from being burned in the Holocaust? To that end, the five propose to invite certain people to dinner, give him/her a chance to logically state their rightist views, and if they pass, they drink a toast with wine from the safe green carafe. If not, they get the fatal blue carafe with arsenic, and that's their "last supper." As Luke says, "think of all the right-wing <expletives> the world would be better off without if somebody wasted them before any of them did any damage." I thought about it, and I felt like a groom after a particularly satisfying wedding night.

The movie itself starts with Norman Arbuthnot (Ron Perlman), a bearded werewolf-looking politician with his rants on TV: "What we need in this country, my friends, is leadership, someone who can stand up to the liberals, a return to the promise of the Reagan/Bush years, a time of unequalled growth in our country. Be careful folks, you might just get me [elected to office]." While Paulie is visibly offended, Mark merely comments that Norman "takes anything trivial and turns it into a national debate." Luke is calm about it: "always good to keep track of what the enemy is doing." In fact the ever-calm Luke seems to be the voice of reason and persuasion. At first, anyway.

Among the people who get the blue carafe is a reverend whose antihomosexual views extend to his response to AIDS being a disease by saying "homosexuality is the disease. AIDS is the cure." Another insists that women are the weaker sex and therefore need to be dominated. Guess which carafe he gets?

Courtney Vance has some witty lines. On the Gulf War, he says, "That was a war? I thought it was a Republican commercial campaign." On their first victim: "I say we bury the cracker and eat dessert." Annabeth Gish's rationalizing their actions is that "they're not people, they're people who hate."

One repeated motif that comes up are the jars of tomato juice that appear, symbolizing the blood the five have spilled. The names of the five grad students are also interesting. Paulie (Annabeth Gish), Jude (Cameron Diaz), Marc (Jonathan Penner), Luke (Courtney Vance), and Pete (Ron Eldard), which are synonymous with Paul, Judas, Mark, Luke, and Peter, five of Jesus's disciples.

This does bring to mind, despite their good intentions, do they actually have the right to take someone's life, even if that someone offends their political sensibilities? Granted, the five are stung into action into doing something, in response to the right's argument that all the left do is protest, complain, and criticize, which kind of mirrors Richard Rorty's argument on the left's needing to be active.

I have leftist sympathies and after seeing the previews, I figured I'd enjoy this twist on Arsenic And Old Lace, reasoning mirroring the students in Hitchcock's Rope, with a politically left picture frame. And I was right, but what a twist ending!

Rating:
Summary: They're not people! They're people who hate!
Review: "What if you kill someone whose death makes the world a better place?" That's the question that Luke, the political science grad student asks his fellow grad students, all politically liberal and roommates in the same house in the aftermath of their killing an aggressive right-winger in self-defense?

The philosophical question has been demonstrated before. Mark asks if anyone went back in time to 1909 and met a certain Austrian artist with one testicle by the name of Adolf, would you kill him and save six million Jews from being burned in the Holocaust? To that end, the five propose to invite certain people to dinner, give him/her a chance to logically state their rightist views, and if they pass, they drink a toast with wine from the safe green carafe. If not, they get the fatal blue carafe with arsenic, and that's their "last supper." As Luke says, "think of all the right-wing the world would be better off without if somebody wasted them before any of them did any damage." I thought about it, and I felt like a groom after a particularly satisfying wedding night.

The movie itself starts with Norman Arbuthnot (Ron Perlman), a bearded werewolf-looking politician with his rants on TV: "What we need in this country, my friends, is leadership, someone who can stand up to the liberals, a return to the promise of the Reagan/Bush years, a time of unequalled growth in our country. Be careful folks, you might just get me [elected to office]." While Paulie is visibly offended, Mark merely comments that Norman "takes anything trivial and turns it into a national debate." Luke is calm about it: "always good to keep track of what the enemy is doing." In fact the ever-calm Luke seems to be the voice of reason and persuasion. At first, anyway.

Among the people who get the blue carafe is a reverend whose antihomosexual views extend to his response to AIDS being a disease by saying "homosexuality is the disease. AIDS is the cure." Another insists that women are the weaker sex and therefore need to be dominated. Guess which carafe he gets?

Courtney Vance has some witty lines. On the Gulf War, he says, "That was a war? I thought it was a Republican commercial campaign." On their first victim: "I say we bury the cracker and eat dessert." Annabeth Gish's rationalizing their actions is that "they're not people, they're people who hate."

One repeated motif that comes up are the jars of tomato juice that appear, symbolizing the blood the five have spilled. The names of the five grad students are also interesting. Paulie (Annabeth Gish), Jude (Cameron Diaz), Marc (Jonathan Penner), Luke (Courtney Vance), and Pete (Ron Eldard), which are synonymous with Paul, Judas, Mark, Luke, and Peter, five of Jesus's disciples.

This does bring to mind, despite their good intentions, do they actually have the right to take someone's life, even if that someone offends their political sensibilities? Granted, the five are stung into action into doing something, in response to the right's argument that all the left do is protest, complain, and criticize, which kind of mirrors Richard Rorty's argument on the left's needing to be active.

I have leftist sympathies and after seeing the previews, I figured I'd enjoy this twist on Arsenic And Old Lace, reasoning mirroring the students in Hitchcock's Rope, with a politically left picture frame. And I was right, but what a twist ending!

Rating:
Summary: A good movie I never remember hearing about
Review:

I rented this movie and was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it. The story was demented and there were a few laughs, mostly as the groups victims argued their opposing positions, not knowing they were literaly debating for their lives. "A toast..." *thud* The cast was excellent - Courtney B. Vance and Nora Dunn both get big thumbs up, while Ron Eldard's whining got on my nerves towards the (surprise) end. All in all, a pretty good movie.

Rating:
Summary: It's murder for dinner...with impeccable table manners.
Review: A group of upper class liberal college students decide to kill people who disagree with their political beliefs via arsenic laced wine at their weekly Sunday dinners. Power drunkenness and guilty consciences rifle through the group and come to a head when they get their political "Hitler" seated at the head of their table.

This is an intelligent black comedy with a unique style, exceptionally well written dialogue, strong performances and very eclectic music choices. A gem.

Ron Perlman has a small but pivotal role as a loud conservative tv personality. He has some great small moments throughout the movie but really gets to shine at the end when he puts the students in their place.

Favorite line(spoken by Ron Perlman's character): "This was in the paper today. They want to do another Gay Pride Parade. I mean do you really think a bunch of Gays and Lesbians strutting through town constitutes a parade? Does anybody remember what it was like when we were kids and we had parades that meant something, that were about real wonderfully festive events with people dressed in wonderfully inventive costumes like kings and queens...you know, actually now that I think about it, that does sound a little bit like a Gay Pride March."

Rating:
Summary: A class of its own
Review: A rare jem of a movie. Intelligent script, talented actors, and a thought provoking subject matter. This movie takes the meaning "brillance" to another level. Amazingly well done except for the chessey party scene, that could have been a lot less stereotypical, and much more real according to the characters of the movie.

Rating:
Summary: Want to see everyone "get their due?"
Review: An entertaining weekend movie, though it has moments that make you feel like you are putting yourself through it!

Five liberal grad students' favorite activity is dinner with a stranger-they enjoy the copmany of a guest they disagree with, over one of Cori's homecooked meals. We begin the movie with the night that dinner went wrong. After a guest too conservative for the conservatives (it was later revealed that he was more evil that they imagined)is killed, they decide to save the world by eliminating hosts of ultra-conservative, prejudiced and/or ignorant people.

Naturally, everything unravels...after one ignorant guest finds their liberal opinions convincing, they get nervous and quickly convince him not to change his mind, hence another body in the back yard. The meals get simpler (the fancy meals shrivel up into unembellished white bread sandwiches), the garden becomes a jungle (each grave is covered with tomato plants, a cover-up), and the blood (and tomatoes!) is everywhere!

Yes, I am biased to recommend this. I love all the point-of-view shots and humor that makes fun of everyone from every view point. Yes it's funny-if not QUITE sick!

Rating:
Summary: Why can't Hollywood be this good?
Review: Bottomline: When a film like "American Beauty" wins that many Oscars -- don't you wish the academy would have recognized the film, "The Last Supper"? Believe me, this is brilliant!

Rating:
Summary: Evil can make tomatoes sinister!!
Review: Everyone -- including the clerk at Blockbuster -- kept saying this movie was "sooo funny!!!" It is not "ha ha hee hee" comedy so much as it is dark, black, satirical comedy.

Six graduate students live together and pose the question "If you could travel back in time and meet Adolf Hitler when he is a young housepainter, long before he ever thought of killing all the Jews, would you kill him, knowing what he is capable of doing?" They invite strangers into their homes for supper and pose the question. If their answer is unstaisfactory, they kill him or her and bury the body in the backyard under the tomato plants.

Do these people have to right to kill anyone they please because of a hypothetical question? As with any group, not everyone is in agreeance of whether they should do this or not. The group starts to divide and turn on each other, all the while inviting more and more people to supper. Even a young Girl Scout is not safe!

Cameron Diaz looks gorgeous in this film, and there are small roles by Jason Alexander and Mark Harmon. It may not make you laugh, but it will make you think.

Rating:
Summary: the last supper...A MUST SEE FILM
Review: GREAT, GREAT, GREAT, GREAT, GREAT, FILM. i have seen this movie at least 100 times and it gets better each time. its funny, disturbing and it actually made me think about my some of my views(on politics, homosexuality and MURDER). the cast is great, especially courtney b. vance and annabeth gish. i wasnt thrilled with the ending but thats only because i loved the characters so much. still in the end this film shows that what goes around comes around.

Rating:
Summary: An All-Time Favorite
Review: I don't know if this was originally written as a stage play or not, but I believe it would translate well into a dark comedy (even a musical!) Amazingly well-written, thought provoking, and filled with stand-out performances by the entire cast - as well as plenty of fun cameo appearances. I was never a big Cameron Diaz fan, but this has got to be her best performance in a movie to date. My only regret is that it isn't available on DVD yet! I really want to own the film, but I'm trying to be patient enough for the DVD edition -- not sure I can hold out much longer... I've rented it enough times to have BOUGHT a couple copies already! Also: Great soundtrack ~ especially the cut by Shonen Knife. (pardon the pun)