the groundhog day project

From the opening slasher moment I mentioned yesterday , Jack's Back cuts to a cheap knockoff of Peter Gabriel's "Red Rain"--and they purportedly wanted "Red Rain" but couldn't get it. And, it's obvious that 1) this movie is taking itself seriously, which will be good later, and 2) this movie is going to feel fairly generic if you've seen enough movies, and will be even more generic if you watch it a few decades later and write about it. And then the movie goes from the knockoff song to jumping to the day of the final copycat murder, which is a waste of a far more interesting plot, but I will get to that below. Roger has a great Line about the plot of this film: All of this sounds contrived. Of course it is contrived. A movie like this is nothing without contrivance, and one of its pleasures is to watch the plot gimmicks as they twist inward upon themselves, revealing one level of surprise after another. Roger may have bought Jack a...

I remember two things about Jack's Back even though years ago I watched it many times. The premise and the twist. If I spoil the twist I will warn you. Opening scene is a little too slasher, and the first scene after the rather plain titles sets up the premise--someone is copying the Jack the Ripper murders 100 years after the fact--too explicitly and also we're already at the night of the last murder? What is this movie even about? Spader is a med student, or maybe a doctor already, and he helps administer aid to homeless people, and stops by a free clinic (he may work there) and I have no memory of any of this but for his Cubs hat.           Oh no, his boss' speech reads like every police captain in every 80s movie. John (Spader) talks himself out of getting fired and then he's on a news report talking about the homeless situation in LA and I am intrigued, because plotwise this is a thriller, but I suppose a little social commentary is not o...