Latest / Average Home Theater Reviews / To Die For (1995) Movie Review
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- speaker-0: Average home theater reviews. ⁓ speaker-1: you speaker-0: She's got a smile made for TV screens Perfect hair but her hands ain't clean Chasing fame on the evening news Smoketown life with a dark side view truth gets blurred say it once then twist the word is prime time crime yeah she's crossing the line 15 minutes she'll make it shine cold ambition and design and pearls she burn it all just to rule the world lights camera nothing's too far when you're dying to be speaker-1: shit. star speaker-0: Where the girl with a loaded plan Pretty lies and a teenage fan Love turns deadly behind the scenes Cut to black on the American dream Everybody's watching, nobody sees The price you pay for celebrity speaker-1: See you speaker-0: Selling the love speaker-1: See you speaker-0: before goodbye Average home theater reviews what you dying for speaker-1: Hey, welcome in average home theater. am Nelson. speaker-0: Hey, what's up? It's producer Nick. speaker-1: producer Nick and today we are going to be talking about an oldie. 1995. To die ⁓ for with featuring Nicole Kidman. So my first question is as a very crazy person, but my first question is what made you decide to want to watch this? speaker-0: That's right. Yeah. Amen. as a crazy person. So it's a movie that I've heard you talk about a bunch of times ⁓ for various reasons. And I had always wanted to see it again. It's one of those ones that I felt like I had seen and I saw it pop up on Netflix and like I need to watch that. I need to watch that again to see how good it is or if it's just all right or whatever. And as I'm watching it, I realize I don't think I had ever seen it. all the way through. I don't think I had seen it, but I think I just remembered you talking about it a bunch. So I knew the premise. Maybe I had seen clips, but I had definitely never seen it all the way through. And again, it it was, popped up on Netflix. ⁓ I felt like it was one of those kind of forgotten movies. So I decided I was going to watch it and I'm very glad I did. speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ so I saw this, man, it's, it's been a long time, but let's say 15, 20 years ago. ⁓ I watched it kind of like whenever I moved out of my parents' house and started living in an apartment, I saw a lot of movies that I hadn't seen, you know, cause when you grow growing up, we kind of watched the same thing over and over, right? We had this. catalog of movies and that's pretty, we would just watch that right over and over and over. But whenever I got older, I started branching out more and just watching more stuff. And I think this is one of those that I just happened to see one day. And I do know that we had a cassette. I don't remember which movie it was, but the trailer for this movie was on that cassette. So I've seen the trailer dozens of times. And it featured that song dirty laundry by Don Henley or whatever his name is. So I really remember that sticking out. So it's a D it's a decent trailer. ⁓ speaker-0: Was there something like visually that you remember while that song was playing or? speaker-1: Not really. There was nothing. ⁓ They showed a little bit of how hot she was, but you don't really see exactly how attractive Nicole Kidman was until you start really watching the movie. Then you're like, ⁓ God, you know. But it wasn't that it was just a neat trailer and like the scene where there are all the reporters and everything are taking pictures of her and she's just loving the cameras and all of that. that's in the trailer and stuff. I just remember being intrigued as a kid, but never really getting to see it until I was an adult and watching. was like, and I really enjoy it. I don't think it's like a masterpiece or anything, but it's a fun little movie. speaker-0: Yeah, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Nicole Kidman was unbelievable. I mean, she's quite attractive, but the acting the the crazy that she played was, I mean, I was I was I was convinced. Nicole Kidman, a youngish Joaquin Phoenix did a great job is like the weirdo kind of he speaker-1: was 20 years old in this movie. She was 28. That's how young they are. I 1995, this was 31 years ago. speaker-0: And I mean, he played he played a high school kid she played I could have seen her being 28 maybe a little younger. But um, yeah, I mean, Kevin Dillon's in it. Some other Casey Affleck. Yeah, he's the only actually he was the only one that kind of annoyed me for some reason. I think it was just the character that character. speaker-1: Affleck. character was an annoying person. Yeah. Dan Hedaya. Smith. Kurt Wood Smith. the mom was, forget her name, but she's the mom in Two and a Half Men. speaker-0: Yeah, I know who you're talking about. She's married to ⁓ Sarah Paulson. I can't I'm blanking on her name. ⁓ As soon as I saw her name, I recognize who she was, but I'm blanking on the name right now. Yeah. speaker-1: Yes, that lady. It's and the style of the movie. want to touch on that before we start. This is not a spoiler free review. Like we're going to be talking spoilers. It's a 31 year old movie. So if you are interested in it, it's on Netflix. Go ahead and watch it. It is worth a watch. It's only what an hour and a half. It's not this crazy long movie. Yeah. No, it's not. It's like an hour and a half. I want to say like an hour and 36 minutes. It's not long. So, ⁓ speaker-0: So we now have two hours. speaker-1: It's definitely worth a watch. It's satire. It's labeled as a black comedy, but I didn't find any part of this movie funny. Like maybe one or two little lines might've been funny, but overall I didn't find the situation funny or I just think it's a, I think it's just a crime story thing. You know, I, it's, I don't know. It's weird. speaker-0: It's a, it's an hour and 46 minutes for anyone. But it goes about Holland Taylor is the lady's name. speaker-1: That long? God. It goes by pretty quick. speaker-0: Those but it doesn't seem like an hour and 45 minutes. Yeah. Yeah. speaker-1: because she's so crazy and the things that she's doing and saying is like, I really get boring. speaker-0: What are they? You know, this is another one. I made the comment ⁓ on our on our old Henry movie. But this is another one where I could have done with another 1015 minutes of her doing crazy crap. She was so good that ⁓ she was so ⁓ she was so she didn't know what she was doing was nuts. You know? Yeah, she wasn't she was she was speaker-1: Right. speaker-0: she just wanted to be a star and she was a manipulator and she was she was happy with what she was doing she was okay with it she didn't know that she was well she has done lost her mind speaker-1: Before we get off the rails, let's go ahead and yeah, the synopsis is, she is, her name is Suzanne stone and she grows up idolizing television personalities and she just gets obsessed with wanting to be a TV star. speaker-0: She wants to be on TV. speaker-1: Yeah, she wants to be on TV and she wants the fame. She doesn't want to be an actress. She wants to be like a, a news reporter, you know, the, like that person. Right. and she obviously is willing to do whatever it takes to get there. ⁓ she starts with getting married just because she knows that I have to be married, right? Like there's no way that TV personality. speaker-0: Switch. speaker-1: can be single, like I have to be married. I have to have a different last name than what my married name. So she was always gonna keep her name Stone, but what was her other last name? Moreto. Her name was Suzanne Stone Moreto, but she would only go by Suzanne Stone because that's what you do. And the fact that she's saying all this, she's saying this to the camera, you're like, this chick is crazy. speaker-0: Yeah, because a lot of it, a lot of the movie is shot like a like a documentary like they're not documentary, but they're interviewing family members and her and people involved in whatever's going on. speaker-1: Call it a mockumentary. speaker-0: They're basically interviewing them for a TV. I read something about it's, breaking the fourth wall. didn't, I didn't see it that way. I thought it was part of the shtick of they're being interviewed for something for a TV show, like a hard copy or something like that. speaker-1: looks like she's breaking the fourth wall talking to you, but she's at the end, you see she's just recording herself. She's speaking to the camera. So she's not really breaking the fourth wall, but they make you think she's breaking the fourth wall. That makes sense. Yeah. So she starts after she gets married to Matt Dillon, who's like head over heels for her. speaker-0: ⁓ And they're complete opposites. Yep. He's she's kind of glamorous and wants to be fancy. He he works at his dad's restaurant. He's a bartender. He's in a band, those kind of things kind of happy go lucky bouncing around from girl to girl all the girls like him. Yeah, he he sees her and he's he's hooked. It's it's instant. Out of all the girls in the bar or whatever that night that he could have gone home with or whatever he sees her and speaker-1: He just loves family. speaker-0: And it's part of it was because she wasn't going after him. speaker-1: Because that's what the sister says. sister was great. I don't know her name, but anyway, she was saying how he could have had any girl he wanted. All the girls want him. But how many times have you heard that between men and women? It's always the one that seems whenever they get all the attention, ⁓ she's not interested in me. Like all these other girls will do whatever I want, but she's kind of I like her. speaker-0: I love the system. speaker-1: You know, it's like a challenge type of thing. Yeah. Yeah. So. speaker-0: that's attract and hard to get. Yeah. Please come back home theater for all of your relationship advice. speaker-1: So things start to kind of, she gets a job at, ⁓ at a local TV. She basically begs for a job. Yeah. it's a. speaker-0: Hello, local. After being ⁓ inappropriate with a TV producer type personality guy on their honeymoon. speaker-1: Yep. ⁓ speaker-0: That kind of goes just how that shows how gets off the bat shows how far she's willing to go to get what she wants and to be famous. speaker-1: Well, I think she really wanted to do it, but kind of like what happens obviously in Hollywood is, she did it because she felt like this is the only way I'm going to get in. So, but the fact, you know, she did it and so, but after she starts working at the TV station, she gets more and more obsessed. And that's where she comes up with the idea of doing this. speaker-0: But she did. She was willing to. speaker-1: documentary on teens, but I don't remember what it was supposed to be about. Do you remember? speaker-0: I think it was just following teens around and getting their opinions on modern issues. She talked to them about like AIDS and, and like, sex and like she talked to them about things that were things that were going on at the time, just getting the youth's perspective basically on the world events of the time is what it was. ⁓ yeah. And then, ⁓ she runs into speaker-1: Okay. What I found interesting about what starts happening with her and Joaquin Phoenix is Did she, cause they don't really say, did she have it on her mind the whole time to manipulate him into doing what she wanted or did she really just decide one time to hook up with him and then things kind of ⁓ went that direction? speaker-0: think she kind of could see that he was infatuated with her. And she knew at that time, I can give this dude to do whatever I can, I can manipulate him. He's into me. I'll use him. I'll get what I want out of him. And then after she does that, she drops him immediately. Like there was no period. ⁓ speaker-1: Hey, you, I guess I didn't find that she wanted to manipulate him into killing Matt Dylan. ⁓ immediately. felt like. I was perving on him. Yeah. It seemed like she was just perving on him at the beginning. And then when she realized that she wanted Matt Dylan gone, she made up the, he beats me. speaker-0: No, because they came in with that. speaker-1: type thing and then it kind of snowballed from there. speaker-0: When then they were, I don't know. Cause he was, she was trying to get kids to sign up for the project and he signed up because he was infatuated with her. And then the girl signed up because, well maybe, maybe this would be something cool to do. And then Casey Affleck signed up because he was inappropriate. And it was kind of like a penance, like, because they mentioned her, her dad, ⁓ or, his dad, Matt, ⁓ Matt Dillon's dad possibly having mob ties and like, You, you disrespected his wife. You're to have to do something to make it up for it. So that's how those three ended up signing up for the project. And then, yeah, you're right. After that, after that is how she realized she could manipulate them. Cause I don't think that ever came up until the little girl was talking about speaker-1: Right? I just watched it last night and she was banging Joaquin Phoenix for a while before they were in the car. And it was right before it started raining and she gets out and starts dancing. She started crying and saying how she was unhappy. And he was like, I would do anything for you. then she starts to, it's like the wheels start to turn at that point. I don't, I think. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah, she was just banging him because it was fun and adventurous. speaker-0: And she was unhappy in the marriage because, know, he didn't want to focus on her career. He wanted to have kids and she did. And, and she was super hyper fixated on appearance and like backhanded compliments to everyone and putting people down about their appearance and those kinds of things. And like, they just, they obviously were two different, they should have never gotten together. And she was starting to realize that. So she was starting to get disinterested. And that's what drove her to a. to, to Joaquin Phoenix and he was accessible because he signed up for the, for the thing. Yeah. Yeah. The project and he was an idiot. speaker-1: So I just found, yeah, he was, he was a complete moron. ⁓ but I found it interesting, especially in today's day and age with, mean, I just saw a nether, another incident today of another teacher, female teacher that just got busted for doing that with a student. Like what's going on? So when this movie came out in 95, that was like, ⁓ I mean, that hardly would ever happen with female with a young male student, now it happens every day. speaker-0: Hey, it was something you could satire at the time and you can't make that movie today. speaker-1: Yeah. mean, it's like, wow, dude, it's, it's rampant right now. It's, it's, it's very strange. Yeah. But anyway. speaker-0: probably is one of those things that maybe it's been going on and people were just getting caught now. speaker-1: Yeah, maybe so. speaker-0: Okay, it's hard to get away with anything nowadays, ever. speaker-1: ⁓ yeah, mean electronics, mean you're it's everywhere. Yeah. speaker-0: Everything you do is recorded and tracked. speaker-1: So eventually she gets them, what the three kids to stage a robbery. speaker-0: Yeah, she gets the gun from the girl and then Joaquin and Casey Affleck do the deed. speaker-1: Yeah, they commit the robbery and then they shoot him in the hallway. speaker-0: And look, I felt, I felt so sorry for Matt Dillon. Like he was, he was so innocent in all of it. He just wanted to have a family and have a good life and be good to his wife. And like he was getting tired. He had a conversation with her. He tried to handle it the right way. And these guys, he has no idea what's going on. These guys break into his house and he's like, you know, take the white, like he was strangely calm. Like none of this stuff means anything to me. Just. let me live so I can live my life and whatever. Right. And yeah, they they murder him in cold blood, which you know from the beginning, like the first scene is his his murder scene and then they speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, he's dead on the floor, Yeah. ⁓ speaker-0: ⁓ and then it unravels there. It unravels, it unravels for the kids from there and then unravels for her later. speaker-1: Well yeah, because the police just started watching them and they're so stupid. All of- speaker-0: Yeah, they go to their house and speaker-1: Yeah, they're watching surveilling at night and they can hear everything. Then they, they scare the little girl into wearing a wire. And so it doesn't take long. mean, that whole, that's only like a little 10 or 15 minutes. They have everything solved. Yeah. speaker-0: Yeah. The end of movie happens very fast. ⁓ And then like she admits they get her on the wire, but then something happens and it's not admissible. So she's, you know, the case is dismissed. So you think she's going to get away with it. The, ⁓ what, is Joaquin Phoenix say? ⁓ he said he got a life sentence plus 30 years. He said, man, I hope I don't know if I'm going to live that long. He was such a dummy. He was such a simpleton. And then Casey Affleck cuts a deal. only got 16 years and then the girl got probation because all she did was help them acquire the weapon. ⁓ yeah, she cooperated. And then you think Nicole Kidman is going to get away with it. Don't you? speaker-1: Yeah, wire and stuff. Yeah. And I guess this, this was the only part that I really did not remember this. Yeah. ⁓ she meets up with this man, you know who that was, right? speaker-0: The actor or the character? The actor. speaker-1: The actor, man that meets her at the ⁓ speaker-0: at the lake. Was that Kronenberg? Was that him? Yes. speaker-1: Yeah. It's like this dude is coming up everywhere. We watched Jason X and then we watched ready or not to. And then now this it's like, dude, I didn't realize that Cronenberg was all over the place. So anyway, she meets up with him and he's pretending like he's going to help her get some job at ⁓ some ⁓ news. speaker-0: Well, that's the thing. She was was was that the tape that she's recording throughout the movie? Yeah. And that's to him. Yeah. Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah, she's bringing it to him. And he takes her around the corner and it's something they flashed it for like a second at the beginning of the movie where they show that that house or that building on the lake and you hear a scream. But you're like, what was that? And then at the end you find out it was Cronenberg, I guess, strangling her and then throwing her under the. speaker-0: ⁓ huh. Yeah. Yes. Puts her under the ice. And we I told you about this the other day. One of the most satisfying movies endings I've ever seen. She's under the ice. You know, she didn't get away. She she got justice. Yeah. No one's ever going to see her ever again. No one's going to know what happened to her. And then you see the sister who knew something was up for the for the whole entire movie. And she was the one that got probably the most upset and all this other stuff. She's she's ice skating, dancing on her. on her frozen ice grave. And that's the entire credits. It's awesome. speaker-1: It also is the big reveal that the dad really does have mob ties. Kurt, Kurt with Smith makes the, the, the joke at the beginning of the movie. ⁓ so you just don't really think anything about it then, but then at the end, ⁓ and then like you said, the teacher kind of makes hints of who, know, who the dad is. And you're just thinking, ⁓ he's kind of a powerful restaurant owner or something. No, he really did have mob ties. speaker-0: He had mom ties. owed him. He gets the call. He gets to call at the restaurant. ⁓ he tells Cronenberg. Thank you. And then he looks at the wife and he just kind of gives a little nod like it's done. And then they know it's over. That was so good. That was so good. speaker-1: ⁓ yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was really neat. I had no recollection of that whatsoever. I did not remember her dying either. Like I don't remember any of that. speaker-0: Right. ⁓ That's why I asked you, do you remember the end of this movie? Cause it was, it was awesome. Yeah. speaker-1: I did not remember it. I remembered Joaquin Phoenix and the kids being arrested, but I did not remember her getting off on the, it was something they threw the evidence out with the, with the recordings, something about in that state, you can't record without a warrant. speaker-0: It was in trap bed and it got thrown out. speaker-1: Yeah, which that would not in Louisiana, that would be perfectly fine. What happened? But, so yeah, I had no recollection of that. So that was, that was pretty neat. speaker-0: When when I realized what was going on and when I saw her skating on the lake I was spoiled from ear to ear throughout the entire ending credits. Yeah, it was very very satisfying. speaker-1: The music was Danny Elfman. So the music really made this movie feel a lot quirkier than it would if it wasn't for the music. ⁓ I love Danny. Anytime I see Danny Elfman at the beginning of a movie, I know I'm going to enjoy it. It's something about his style. just, I don't know. I can hear hints of different, I even heard like little hints of men in black in there. Just, you just hear different, his style. speaker-0: So. speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ it goes with, kind of felt almost like a Tim Burton movie at times with all the colors and all of that, you know? Yeah. It just, it just kind of felt like that. ⁓ I don't know. It's a good movie. It's, know, if I have to give it a rating, it's probably a six and a half, you know, maybe a seven. ⁓ speaker-0: I would have gone a little higher just because I wasn't expecting to like it and for it to be as enjoyable as it was. speaker-1: For me to go eight or above, it's got to be something rewatchable. And I don't know how rewatchable this one is. mean, I could see myself watching it again, but not like on an annual basis, you know? So that's why I really can't go too high with it. speaker-0: No, definitely not an eight, but I would go as high as a seven. I'd go as high as a seven just for the performances. It was visually stunning. speaker-1: Yeah, I read a lot of reviews last night and the biggest consensus is the acting is outstanding on everybody's part. speaker-0: I believe she got a Golden Globe. I believe she won the Golden Globe for best actress for that movie, I think. speaker-1: I mean, she deserved it. She was great. speaker-0: Yeah, fantastic. And I understand it now. She was very, very good in the movie. And her acting was also... speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ her acting? speaker-0: Yes, or acting skills. speaker-1: I remember as a young man telling you, dude, you need to watch the die for. Probably for different reasons than now. speaker-0: Yeah, well. look, I can't, I can't say that I could ever, I could ever let someone like that talk me into ⁓ homiciding someone. But I understand. Maybe if I would have maybe if I would have been a high school student at the time, and Nicole Kidman would have been asking me nicely, do terrible things and maybe what speaker-1: you're saying, think about what you're saying how that's how that stuff happens. Yes. I mean, you have, yeah, you have it, whether it's male or female, goes both ways. How easy it is for adults to prey on kids that are 15, 16, 17 years old. And that's why this happens all the time. It's, it's pretty, it's pretty sickening and pretty sad, but, that's how easy it is, you know. speaker-0: Manipulation? Like you said, it's been happening. The one you were talking about earlier, you read about, is that the local one? Because there's been a local one. speaker-1: Yeah, no, it's a local one that just got arrested yesterday, I think, but I saw it this morning. I was like, another one? Yep. And it's all it's always women like, probably seven out of 10 that you're seeing nowadays is women. And it's kind of wild, you know. speaker-0: It's kind of Here I am single as they get and you got these women going after high school kids. Come on, ladies. speaker-1: Come on, lady. Don't you watch this podcast? ⁓ speaker-0: ⁓ my goodness, sorry. speaker-1: All right, man. Well, think that's about it. ⁓ speaker-0: Yeah to die for if you haven't seen it very good movie as always let us know what you think about it speaker-1: Well, I sure hope they saw it after we just gave away the whole damn movie. speaker-0: Yeah, well, mean, none of this one's very much of a mystery. Like you kind of know what's going on. speaker-1: If you watch the trailer, you pretty much know exactly what's going to happen in the movie. Because I watched the trailer after the movie was over. said, let me go back and watch that trailer. I saw it a ton of times as a kid. And I was like, wow. Aside from what actually happens to her, the movie just, the trailer tells you everything. speaker-0: Yeah, yeah, you watch this one for the for the performances. speaker-1: sure. ⁓ yeah. Yeah. And that's what everybody was saying, the performances of what carry the movie, because the actual story is pretty generic. Yeah. Type thing, you know, she gets she gets what what's coming. But overall, it's a pretty generic story. It's nothing really complex. speaker-0: Not a whole lot of mystery and not a whole lot to figure out. Yeah. Good movie though. I enjoyed it. I don't regret taking the time to watch it. ⁓ May or may not have been part of my Amazon haul that I, that I. Did you? Yeah. speaker-1: Get it? Yes. You I really want to get because you saw the 4k review, like it got five out of five on audio and video. Like apparently it's a great, I mean, just that digital copy on Netflix looked good. I was impressed at how good it looked. speaker-0: Yeah, so I'm looking forward to looking forward to slapping it in the old player speaker-1: They must've had a very, like the source material must've been very well taken care of for them to get this good of a transfer out of it. know? speaker-0: I'm surprised this isn't one that's not still, still talked about, like of all the movies that have like, this was really, it's really good. And Nicole Kidman is a great actress in this. I can't say that I've seen a ton of her movies, but I can imagine this is one of her best. ⁓ yeah. And you don't, you don't hear, you don't hear about this movie a lot. speaker-1: Yeah, it is. I want to watch Eyes Wide Shut. ⁓ I'm very intrigued by it right now. Well, especially with everything that's gone on with like Epstein and all of that. Like, I'm really, really curious in watching this. I mean, I know the basic premise of it. know for the most part what's going on, but ⁓ everybody talks about it. They say it's really good. So. speaker-0: And especially I watched it a long time ago and I remember thinking it was kind of neat I guess but I don't I don't ever remember I do remember the last line not gonna say not gonna say anything but I do remember the last line for some reason well you'll see it's it stuck with me but ⁓ yeah it's not something that ever is like okay I gotta watch that again ⁓ yeah but it was yeah I mean it was it was all right it was it was it's very interesting kind of makes you feel weird one of those movies speaker-1: Yeah, kind of. speaker-0: You need to take a bath when you're done with that one. speaker-1: Yeah, I might actually watch it tonight. I don't have nothing going on and tomorrow is chock-a-block full with things for my daughter and then Sunday I get to interview a very special guest so I can't wait for that to happen. Or guests, two guests. So that'll be a fun one to release. speaker-0: be looking for that. All right, man, you know, watch it. Let me know. Let me know if it's worth a rewatch nowadays. speaker-1: Okay. All right guys. Well, like subscribe, tell your friends and we'll catch y'all in the next one. speaker-0: See you.