Filmography
2006 The Lake House…. Alex Burnham
Two people develop an unusual relationship that bends the boundaries of time and place in this romantic fantasy.
Kate Forster is a doctor who lives in a beautiful home by a lake. Forced to move elsewhere, she requests that any correspondence that arrives at the lake house be passed on to her new address. To her surprise, she soon receives a romantic note from Alex Burnham, an architect who lives in the cottage she once called home. However, a look at the postmark on the letter reveals that he lived at the home two years before she did, and that somehow they’ve come in contact with one another through a space in time.
2006 A Scanner Darkly …. Fred/Bob Arctor
The war on drugs has been lost, and when a reluctant undercover cop is ordered to spy on those he is closest to, the toll that the mission takes on his sanity is too great to comprehend in director Richard Linklater’s rotoscoped take on Philip K. Dick’s classic novel. With stratospheric concern over national security prompting paranoid government officials to begin spying on citizens, trust is a luxury and everyone is a suspected criminal until proven otherwise. Bob Arctor is a narcotics officer who is issued an order to spy on his friends and report back to headquarters. In addition to being a cop, though, Arctor is also an addict. His drug of choice is a ubiquitous street drug called Substance D, a drug known well for producing split personalities in its users.
2005 Constantine …. John Constantine
An ordinary man with an extraordinary gift must save the planet from evil in this action-packed fantasy. Unknown to most people, the world is crowded with spirits both good and evil who walk among us in human guise. One of the few who can see these spirits is John Constantine, but the responsibility of his vision is more than he can stand, and he tries to kill himself. Saved from death, Constantine must now atone for his actions by acting as a guardian in the middle ground between Paradise and Hell. Constantine also makes the acquaintance of Angela Dodson, a police detective who becomes aware of his unusual gift while looking into the death of her sister; he leads her into the unknown world of the spirits and soon circumstances demand that they join forces in a desperate bid to save humanity from evil.
2005 Thumbsucker …. Perry Lyman
A high-school senior finds that fate (and modern medicine) plays some interesting tricks with his personality in this dramatic comedy. Justin Conn is a neurotic teenager who has a difficult time with his peers, especially Rebecca, a cute girl in his debate class with whom he is somewhat mutually infatuated. It isn’t much better at home with his obnoxious younger brother Joel, his father, Mike, who is busy having a midlife crisis, and mother Audrey, who’s infatuated with one of her favorite TV actors. All this anxiety has to go somewhere, and Justin’s manifestation of his troubles comes in the form of sucking his thumb, which makes him even more of an outcast. Dr. Perry Lyman, an orthodontist who seems to double as a new age therapist, treats Justin with hypnosis; meanwhile, the school psychologist decides he has Attention Deficit Disorder, and treats him with medication. Suddenly, Justin stops sucking his thumb and becomes an outgoing overachiever, single-handedly taking his school debate team to the state championship. But Justin’s relationshop with his debate coach, Mr. Geary, becomes strained, and the boy tries to mold yet another new identity for himself.
2005 Ellie Parker …. Dogstar/Himself
Ellie is young enough to still schlep to auditions back and forth across L.A., changing wardrobes and slapping on makeup en route, but just old enough that the future feels “more like a threat than a promise.” She lives with her vacant musician boyfriend, who leaves her just about as dissatisfied as any other part of her life, and has a loose definition of the word “fidelity.” Helping make sense of their surreal and humiliating Hollywood existence is her best friend Sam, another out-of-work actress trying her hand at design, who attends acting classes with Ellie to stay sharp. When Ellie gets into a fender bender with a guy who claims he’s a cinematographer, her perspective on her work and the dating world starts to change.
2003 Something’s Gotta Give …. Dr. Julian Mercer
Harry Langer, is a swinging sixtysomething entertainment executive surrounded by plenty of young girlfriends. His latest romance is young petite sophisticate Marin, who takes him to her mother’s beach house in the Hamptons for a weekend fling. However, Marin’s successful Broadway playwright mother Erica Barry is already vacationing at the house with her sister Zoe. Marin and Harry stay anyway, and Harry ends up having a heart attack. He goes to the hospital and is looked after by thirtysomething doctor Julian Mercer. Impressed by her writing, Dr. Mercer finds himself pursuing a romance with Erica. Because of his serious health condition, he orders Harry to stay near the hospital. While Marin returns to Manhattan, Erica agrees to stay on and look after Harry. Of course they are repulsed by each other at first, but they end up falling in love throughout the recovery process.
2003 The Matrix Revolutions …. Neo
Neo remains unconscious in the real world, caught in a mysterious subway station that lies between the machine world and the Matrix, and Bane is still a conduit for Agent Smith, who continues to grow out of control, threatening to destroy both worlds. Meanwhile, as the sentinels get closer and closer to Zion, the citizens of the earth’s last inhabited city prepare for the inevitable onslaught. By bargaining with The Merovingian, Trinity and Morpheus are able to free Neo who, after meeting with The Oracle, decides that he must leave Zion and head for the machine mainframe. As Neo and Trinity venture into the dangerous machine world, with hopes of stopping both the machines and Agent Smith, their comrades in Zion attempt to fight off the attacking sentinels with the odds stacked greatly against them.
2003 The Matrix Reloaded …. Neo
Neo and Trinity have been summoned by Morpheus to join him on a voyage to Zion, the last outpost of free human beings on Earth. Neo and Trinity’s work together has been complicated by the fact the two are involved in a serious romantic relationship. Upon their arrival in Zion, Morpheus locks horns with rival Commander Lock and encounters his old flame Niobe. Meanwhile, Agent Smith has returned with some surprises for Neo, most notably the ability to replicate himself as many times as he pleases. Neo makes his way to The Oracle, who informs him that if he wishes to save humankind, he must unlock “The Source,” which means having to release The Key Maker from the clutches of Merovingian. While Merovingian refuses to cooperate, his wife, Persephone, angry at her husband’s dalliances with other women, offers to help, but only in exchange for a taste of Neo’s affections. With The Keymaker in tow, Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus are chased by Merovingian’s henchmen: a pair of deadly albino twins.
2001 Hardball …. Conor O’Neill
Conor O’Neill, is an underachiever and inveterate sports gambler who needs a bailout loan from a friend to pay off his mounting debt. As a condition for receiving the necessary funds, Conor is saddled with coaching a corporate-sponsored Little League baseball team for underprivileged youth in Chicago’s notorious Cabrini Green housing project. Reluctant at first, Conor slowly begins to enjoy his new authority role, especially when he makes the acquaintance of his players’ attractive teacher, Elizabeth Wilkes.
2001 Sweet November …. Nelson Moss
Sara Deever is a beautiful young woman who begins a new romantic relationship with a man each month, then helps him to evolve into a better and kinder human being before she moves on to the next partner. Although she’s remained friendly with some of her former lovers, she’s never broken her one-month rule. November’s candidate is a particularly heartless business exec named Nelson Moss, who takes a while to come around. Once he does, however, Nelson falls deeply in love, hoping to woo Sara for good; eventually, her resolve weakens. What Nelson doesn’t know is the tragic secret behind the brevity of Sara’s romances.
2000 The Gift …. Donnie Barksdale
Set in Georgia, the film concerns a widowed mother named Annie who is blessed with the ability to have psychic visions. When Annie is asked to use her powers to investigate the murder of a rich society girl who was engaged to a local high school principal, she finds her “gift” is as destructive as it is helpful. Many of the townspeople have mixed regard for Annie’s abilities, including an abusive husband and his brutalized wife (the former threatens Annie and her children with taunts that she is a devil) as well as a deeply troubled auto mechanic who may hold a key to the events in question. The Georgia residents soon find themselves all suspects in the investigation, and Annie is forced to confront past demons while still trying to help solve the mystery.
2000 The Watcher …. David Allen Griffin
Joel Campbell is a police detective who has recently relocated to Chicago after spending eight frustrating years trying to track down a vicious serial killer who has been terrorizing Los Angeles. However, the slayer, David Allen Griffin, doesn’t want the game of cat and mouse to end; even though he previously put his murderous activities on hold, Griffin has started murdering young women again — and is sending clues to Campbell, mailing him photos of his intended victims and urging Campbell to save them while he still can.
2000 The Replacements …. Shane Falco
The Washington Sentinels are one of the strongest teams in pro football, and coach Jimmy McGinty and quarterback Eddie Martel look like they’re on the road to the Super Bowl — until contract negotiations break down and the Sentinels go on strike. Determined to play the team’s schedule, McGinty and owner Edward O’Neil recruit a ragtag band of scab players, headed by quarterback Shane Falco, a promising athlete until a catastrophic defeat dashed his confidence. Joining Falco on the team are Clifford Franklin, a receiver who can’t catch the ball; Nigel Gruff, a chain-smoking Welsh soccer player; Bateman, a former cop with anger management problems; Fumiko, a sumo wrestler new to football; and Wilkinson, a convict on parole to the Sentinels. Can McGinty mold his new squad of misfits and no-hopers (who truly love the game) into a winning team?
1999 Me and Will …. Dogstar/Himself
Melissa Behr and Sherrie Rose wrote, directed, and star in this offbeat road comedy about two women with a passion for motorcycles who meet while going through rehab. When they discover they’ve both longed to ride Captain America’s red, white, and blue chopper from Easy Rider, they escape the rehab clinic and hit the highway in search of their dream bike. Me and Will features cameo appearances by Traci Lords and the band Dogstar, whose bass player is Keanu Reeves.
1999 The Matrix …. Neo
What if virtual reality wasn’t just for fun, but was being used to imprison you? That’s the dilemma that faces mild-mannered computer jockey Thomas Anderson in The Matrix. It’s the year 1999, and Anderson (hacker alias: Neo) works in a cubicle, manning a computer and doing a little hacking on the side. It’s through this latter activity that Thomas makes the acquaintance of Morpheus, who has some interesting news for Mr. Anderson — none of what’s going on around him is real. The year is actually closer to 2199, and it seems Thomas, like most people, is a victim of The Matrix, a massive artificial intelligence system that has tapped into people’s minds and created the illusion of a real world, while using their brains and bodies for energy, tossing them away like spent batteries when they’re through. Morpheus, however, is convinced Neo is “The One” who can crack open The Matrix and bring his people to both physical and psychological freedom.
1997 The Devil’s Advocate …. Kevin Lomax
Attorney Kevin Lomax doesn’t heed the Bible-based warnings of his mother, who views New York City as “the dwelling place of demons.” Instead, he leaves Gainesville, Florida, with his wife Mary Ann to put his legalistic skills to the test at a leading Manhattan law firm run by John Milton. It all goes smoothly — with Milton urging them to stay, putting Kevin on a $400-per-hour salary, and moving the couple into a luxurious apartment in his own building on Fifth Avenue — where Mary Ann falls under the influence of neighbor Jackie. After Kevin defends a weird animal sacrificer, he moves up to an important case with an apparent murderer, real-estate tycoon Alexander Cullen. Ignored by Kevin, the troubled Mary Ann has some disturbing experiences, verging on the occult, while Kevin, at work, becomes attracted to redhead Christabella. Dazzled by his entrance into paradise, Kevin doesn’t grasp who handed him this Big-Apple success.
1997 The Last Time I Committed Suicide …. Harry
While Neal Cassady never gained fame as a writer, he was a pivotal figure among the Beat poets and novelists of the 1950s. A close friend of most of the seminal figures in the Beat movement, Cassady’s free-wheeling, larger-than-life personality was a major influence on Jack Kerouac, who used him as the inspiration for the character Dean Moriarity in On the Road, and he was a founding member of Ken Kesey’s post-Beat, pre-hippie “Merry Pranksters,” driving their now-famous psychedelic bus (whose destination, then as now, was “Furthur”). The Last Time I Committed Suicide is loosely based on several incidents from Cassady’s life, as well as an eight-page letter that he wrote to Kerouac about some complicated events in his love life. In the late 1940s, 20-year-old Cassady was living in Denver and working the late shift at a tire factory when he became involved with Joan, a sad young woman with a suicidal bent, and befriended Harry, a cheerful but past-his-prime alcoholic. Cassady also found himself the target of the affections of Cherry Mary, a sexy 16-year-old whose mother, Mrs. Greenway, doesn’t much care for him; he also encountered Ben, a shy young poet whose interest in Cassady seemed to be more than just literary. Footage of the real Neal Cassady can be found in the documentary on the Beat Movement, The Source.
1996 Feeling Minnesota …. Jjaks Clayton
Freddie, a pretty but hard-as-nails stripper, dreams of some day dancing in a Las Vegas revue, but for the meantime she works at a seedy dive in Minnesota. Freddie is forced by the owner of the club, Red, to marry his accountant, the less-than-charming Sam Clayton, as punishment for supposedly stealing from the strip joint’s till (as a further indignity, Red has also had the word “slut” tattooed on her arm). Sam has a rocky relationship with his brother Jjaks — his curious name is the result of a typing error on his birth certificate — but Jjaks receives an invitation to the nuptials from their mother Nora, and he arrives at the wedding reception only a few hours after he’s released from prison. When Freddie and Jjacks meet for the first time, there’s an immediate chemistry between them, so immediate that before the evening is out, the new in-laws are making love in a bathroom and Freddie has persuaded Jjacks to run away with her; Freddie has also grabbed Sam’s bankroll to finance the unscheduled vacation. Sam, understandably enraged, vows to track them down and enlists the help of Ben Costikyan, a sleazy career criminal.
1996 Chain Reaction …. Eddie Kasalivich
Just as the university research team is about to prove that their new technique will permit water to be used as a fuel, their laboratory is sabotaged and the lab manager is killed. Eddie Kasalivich stumbles onto the scene and manages not only to witness the sabotage, but to escape from it. When he tries to talk about it to authorities, he discovers that they think he and the other project survivors committed the crime. In reality, a group of energy companies have conspired with interested parties in the government to completely erase all notion of the existence of a way to use water as fuel. The project sponsor wants Eddie to turn himself in, but before he can do that, he must find enough evidence to clear himself and his friends. But in order to succeed, Eddie must avoid assassination attempts by the real perpetrators.
1995 A Walk in the Clouds …. Paul Sutton
Paul Sutton, has just returned home from a stretch in the Army during World War II. Still reeling from the horrors of war, Paul wants to settle down and start a farm, but his wife Betty, whom he met and impulsively married shortly before shipping out, has arranged for him to take a job as a salesman peddling chocolates. While taking a sales trip to another town, he befriends a beautiful but distraught young woman, Victoria Aragon. While away at college, Victoria met and fell in love with a young man and soon became pregnant; however, when her boyfriend discovered she was expecting, he abandoned her. She returns home full of shame and fearful of her father’s reaction. But Paul gets an idea — he’ll pose as her husband and leave after a day or two, so when she’s left alone with the child, the disgrace will be on him, not her. Victoria agrees, and Paul joins Victoria as she arrives at her family’s estate in the California wine country. Most of the Aragon family take to Paul readily enough, especially Grandfather Don Pedro, but Victoria’s father, Alberto, senses something amiss between the young couple.
1995 Johnny Mnemonic …. Johnny Mnemonic
In a near-future world in which the fast-paced digital lifestyle has given rise to a worldwide plague called Nerve Attenuation Syndrome, Johnny, a data courier, accepts an assignment that he hopes will allow him to pay for the restoration of the childhood memories he dumped in order to outfit his brain with the microchip necessary for him to carry out his profession. Narrowly escaping a Yakuza ambush in which his employers are killed and the mnemonic trigger capable of unlocking the data in his brain is partially destroyed, Johnny travels from Beijing to New Jersey, where he hopes to recover the data before “neural seepage” destroys his mind. Teaming up with would-be bodyguard Jane and a rebel group known as the LoTeks who live in an abandoned bridge, he tries to outrun the assassins of mysterious businessman Takahashi — and the Street Preacher, a bionic madman. Along the way, he meets a mysterious electronic entity, a sentient dolphin, and Spider, a cybernetics expert, all of whom attempt, with various degrees of success, to learn why the data in Johnny’s head is so important.
1994 Speed …. Officer Jack Traven
LAPD cops Jack Traven and Harry Temple rescue a group of executives trapped in a sabotaged elevator, thus foiling mad bomber Howard Payne’s ransom demands. In retaliation, Payne sets a new challenge for Traven: a bomb on a city bus which will arm itself when the bus reaches 50 mph, and which will explode if the bus drops below that speed or if any of the passengers try to escape.
1993 Little Buddha …. Siddhartha
When Dean Conrad, a Seattle architect, comes home from work one day, he finds two robed Buddhist monks sitting in his living room talking with his wife Lisa. Guided by a series of disturbing dreams, the monks have traveled from Nepal to Seattle because they believe that the Conrad’s ten-year-old son, Jesse may be the reincarnation of a legendary Buddhist mystic. The Conrads are initially skeptical, particularly when the monks want to take their son back to Bhutan with them. But after Dean’s partner commits suicide, Dean has a religious awakening (”I’ve been doin’ some thinkin’,” he says) and permits Jesse to go away with the monks. Then the Lama Norbu gives Jesse a children’s book about the Buddha Siddhartha. Siddhartha leads a sheltered life until he comes upon a couple of all-knowing beggars who introduce him to poverty and hunger. After this revelation, Siddhartha decides that it is his destiny to relieve all human beings from pain and suffering. Back in present day, Jesse is now knowledgeable about the basis of Buddhism. Much to Jesse’s and his father’s surprise, however, they find that there are two other children at Bhutan who show signs of being the reincarnated Buddhist mystic.
1993 Even Cowgirls Get the Blues …. Julian Gitche
The film tells a story of Sissy Hankshaw, a woman born with very large thumbs. After her parents take her to a doctor, who offers her parents no remedy for their daughter’s condition, the film races ahead to the 1970s. Sissy is now a popular feminine hygiene spray model for a product called Yoni Yum, the product of a company owned by The Countess. Sissy travels to the Rubber Rose beauty ranch, also owned by The Countess, to shoot a Yoni Yum commercial. At the ranch, she makes the acquaintance of the inscrutable Chink and Bonanza Jellybean. But under the nose of The Countess, the cowgirls on the ranch are talking mutiny, with the women trying to liberate the Rubber Rose Ranch from the chains of patriarchal oppression.
1993 Freaked …. Ortiz the Dog Boy
The brain-damaged plot follows self-centered sitcom actor Ricky Coogin, official spokesman for the E.E.S. (Everything Except Shoes) corporation, into the jungle-bound South American nation of Santa Flan. Coogin has been sent as an emissary on behalf of E.E.S. to placate the media uproar over a substance called Zygrot-27, a chief ingredient in many E.E.S. products which has been decried as a fatal environmental toxin. Accompanied by his friend Ernie and environmental activist Julie, Ricky takes a detour into the jungle to a bizarre amusement park overseen by bombastic barker/inventor Elijah C. Skuggs, who specializes in the display of “Hideous Mutant Freekz” (the film’s original title). The trio soon discover that Skuggs manufactures his oddities himself, and they find themselves at the mercy of his hideous freakmaking factory — which coincidentally uses Zygrot-27 as a catalyst. Once he has the hapless heroes strapped down, Skuggs reveals his intention to transform Coogin into an evil mega-freak who will destroy all the others in a slam-bang, standing-room-only closing event. Miffed at the notion of sustaining an acting career as a spine-covered, pus-gushing monster, Coogin joins a rebellion within Skuggs’ captive stable of other man-made freaks — whose ranks include such monstrosities as effete human worm; a bearded lady; a man with a sock-puppet for a head; and Ortiz the Dog-Boy. Their plans to turn Ricky into a zygrot-powered superhero go astray, however, leading to a hilariously apocalyptic finale.
1993 Much Ado About Nothing …. Don John
Don Pedro, the Prince of Aragon, returns victorious from battle to the praises of the Governor of Messina, Leonato. One of Don Pedro’s bravest men, Claudio, falls in love with Hero, Leonato’s daughter, and they plan to marry. However, Don Pedro’s devious half-brother Don John opposes the match, and he devises a plan to turn Hero against Claudio. Meanwhile, Benedict, Don Pedro’s second-in-command, detests Leonato’s niece Beatrice, but Don Pedro cleverly brings them together by making each think that the other is secretly in love with them.
1992 Bram Stoker’s Dracula …. Jonathan Harker
Based on Bram Stoker’s classic 1897 novel, this film from Francis Ford Coppola and screenwriter James Victor Hart offers a full-blooded portrait of the immortal Transylvanian vampire. The major departure from Stoker is one of motivation as Count Dracula is motivated more by romance than by bloodlust. He punctures the necks as a means of avenging the death of his wife in the 15th century, and when he comes to London, it is specifically to meet heroine Mina Harker, the living image of his late wife.
1991 My Own Private Idaho …. Scott Favor
Gus Van Sant’s dreamtime riff on Shakespeare’s “Henry IV, Parts I and II” features River Phoenix as Mike Waters, a narcoleptic male hustler who is first seen drifting on a stretch of highway in Idaho. Mike shifts from Seattle to Portland, where he has taken up with Scott Favor, who is also a hustler. The difference between them is Mike’s sleepy state betrays an uncertain future, while Scott is ready to inherit a fortune from his father within a week. Mike feels a real affection for Scott, but Scott does not believe men can really love each other. Besides, Scott is mostly hustling as a means of slumming and killing time before he inherits his money. Mike, however, delusionally thinks Scott will continue with his life as a drifter after receiving his inheritance. Mike’s belief is shared by the dregs of Portland, who live out of an abandoned hotel with their spiritual leader Bob. They’re convinced Scott’s fortune will benefit them all, when in reality Scott has other plans.
1991 Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey …. Ted Logan/Evil Ted
Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey find the two obtuse pals battling The Grim Reaper, God, robots, great philosophical questions, and girls — although not necessarily in that order. In this loose parody of the Terminator movies, directed by Peter Hewitt, the ultimate has happened — at Bill and Ted University of the future, for many years now the people of the world have been “excellent to each other.” But fed-up with Bill and Ted’s peaceful world and even more fed up with heavy metal, the evil De Nomolos decides to do something about it. De Nomolos creates a cyborg Bill and Ted, who travel back in time to kill the original Bill and Ted, win the Battle of the Bands and pave the way for the hellish reign of De Nomolos. In the past of 1990, Bill and Ted are immediately dispatched by the time-traveling cyborgs. And while the cyborgs Bill and Ted make time with the real Bill and Ted’s girls and prepare to take the real Bill and Ted’s place in the Battle of the Bands, Bill and Ted are forced to deal with Hell (”Just like an Iron Maiden album cover”), the Grim Reaper, and God himself. When Bill and Ted are asked the secret of the universe, they get it right and as a reward a pair of Martians construct a set of “good” Bill and Ted robots to go head-to-head with the “bad” Bill and Ted robots at the Battle of the Bands.
1991 Point Break …. FBI Special Agent John ‘Johnny’ Utah
The film follows FBI agent Johnny Utah as he goes undercover to infiltrate a cache of Southern California surfers suspected of robbing banks. Utah, a former football player, is assigned to Los Angeles. There, four bank robbers, who wear rubber masks and call themselves “Ex-Presidents,” have executed a series of successful robberies which embarrassingly have the FBI stumped. Utah, and his partner Pappas suspect that the robbers are surfers and hatch a plan for catching them.
1991 Providence …. Eric
A talented but disenchanted high school student seeking more advanced instruction sneaks inside the ivy covered gates of nearby Brown University. Masquerading as a college student he is soon matching morals with a young co-ed, and wits with his literature professor. His passion for learning affects and amazes all those around him, but soon his house of cards begins to crumble and the penalties could do more than jeopardize just his academic future.
1990 Tune in Tomorrow… …. Martin Loader
… aka Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter
In New Orleans, circa 1951, a news writer for a local radio station, Martin Loader, meets and falls in love with his aunt Julia, a divorced woman who is looking for a new husband. Meanwhile, new-in-town eccentric radio-soap-opera writer, Pedro Carmichael has been hired to help boost the station’s bad ratings. Pedro begins manipulating Martin and Julia’s affair and using it as the basis for his radio show.
1990 I Love You to Death …. Marlon James
Lawrence Kasdan’s black comedy about a wife’s ultimate revenge against her womanizing husband is based on a true story about the wife of a pizzeria owner who decided to kill her cheating husband. When her attempt to murder him failed, the husband refused to press charges against her because he felt she had done the right thing. Kevin Kline is the pizzeria owner Joey Boca in I Love You to Death. Joey is a smooth Italian lothario, modeled after, who cheerfully dons his plumbers overalls to repair his female tenants’ plumbing in the rental apartments the family owns. Joey feels he is justified in bedding down countless numbers of women because of all the hours he puts in day after day at the pizzeria. Plus, as he tells one of his women friends, “I’m a man. I got a lotta hormones in my body.” His wife Rosalie sweetly ignores her husband’s philandering — that is until she visits the public library and sees Joey fondling one of tenants in the book stacks. At first Rosalie considers suicide, but finally, egged on by her mother Nadja, she determines that Joey must be the one to face the music. But the people Rosalie hires to do Joey in are of the cut-rate variety and are unsuccessful. They then try to knock Joey off by feeding him barbiturate-laced spaghetti, but also to no avail. Rosalie then enlists pizzeria employee Deco Nod, who has a crush on Rosalie, to do the job. But even then, they have no luck. As a last resort, they try to hire professionals. What they get instead are two drugged-out junkies — Harlan and Marlon– who arrive at the home and blast at a slumbering figure in the bedroom. Then, while they report on their progress downstairs, Joey ambles into the living room, very much alive.
1989 Parenthood …. Tod Higgins
Hardworking Gil Buckman and his stay-at-home wife, Karen, have just a few months to help their oldest son, Kevin, overcome his high-strung behavior problems before he’ll be relegated to special-education classes. Gil’s difficult relationship with his own father, Frank, has led him to become a would-be super-dad for his three kids, so he takes his son’s difficulties more than a little personally. Gil’s sister, Helen, is trying to raise a moody, adolescent son and an independent-minded daughter with no help from her well-off ex-husband, who’s more interested in his new wife and family. Gil and Helen’s sister, Susan, meanwhile, must participate in the too-scripted Big Life Plans of her anal-retentive husband, Nathan, whose overachiever zeal infects even their toddler daughter. When long-lost brother Larry show up with yet another get-rich-quick scheme, he brings with him a surprise addition to the family.
1989 Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure …. Ted Logan
With only a few days before their high-school graduation, it looks like airheaded rock star wannabes Bill and Ted are doomed to flunk all their finals. The boys’ long-suffering teacher gives them one more chance. If they can ace an oral exam on the topic of how a famous historical personality might react to modern times, they will be allowed to pass. If not, Ted’s dad will plunk the boy into military school, thereby breaking up the boys’ garage band permanently. Bill and Ted receive unexpected aid from a very unexpected source: Rufus, an Emissary from the Future. It seems that in Rufus’ time, Bill and Ted’s rock music is the basis of all society-and if their band is aborted, Rufus’ world will no longer exist. Thus, Bill and Ted are whisked off in a time machine (actually a telephone booth) to retrieve a few historical characters–including Joan of Arc, Abe Lincoln, Napoleon and Beethoven–as “eyewitnesses” for their crucial oral exam.
1989 Life Under Water …. Kip
A dark comedy about five characters whose lives interweave late one summer in the Hamptons of Long Island. Kip is a bored and frustrated 20-year-old boy trying to break ties with his divorced mother Jinx, who is having an affair with Hank, a married man. Upset by this relationship, Kip decides to leave home, but only gets a few miles down the beach where he is taken in by Amy-Beth and Amy-Joy. A strange triangle develops between the three young people. Meanwhile, Hank and Jinx’s relationship dissolves.
1988 Dangerous Liaisons …. Le Chevalier Raphael Danceny
Adapted for stage and screen several times over the past century, French author Francois Choderlos de Laclos’ 1782 novel Les Liasons Dangeureuses was the basis for this Academy Award-winning Stephen Frears film. The plot is motivated by a cruel wager between the beautiful but debauched Marquise de Merteuil and her misogynistic former lover, the Vicomte de Valmont. The Marquise challenges Valmont to seduce the virginal Cecile de Volanges before the girl can be wed. Valmont offers a more difficult counter-challenge: He bets the Marquise that he will be able to bed the very moral and very married Madame de Tourvel. In the course of carrying out his plan, Valmont is stricken with a sudden case of honor and remorse, while the Marquise becomes all the more vicious.
1988 The Prince of Pennsylvania …. Rupert Marshetta
Set in a remote Pennsylvania coal-mining town, this off-beat comedy follows the friendship between an old hippie woman and a depressive teenage punk rocker who feels like a pariah. The fun begins when the two conspire to kidnap the boy’s crazy father in hopes of getting a hold of the family fortune.
1988 Permanent Record …. Chris Townsend
High school student Alan Boyce has it all: looks, charm, popularity, excellent grades, a promising future. So why does Boyce abruptly commit suicide? As the shock waves of the boy’s death reverberate through the halls of his school, the other students–particularly Boyce’s best friend Chris Townsend–ask themselves if they, too, are capable of self-destruction. As for the adults, Boyce’s suicide is one more of a myriad of mysteries concerning “Generation X” (though it was not yet so labelled in 1988). While the film offers no easy answers, either for the characters or the audience, Permanent Record ultimately demonstrates that there are ways to cope with the pressures of life other than taking one’s own life.
1988 The Night Before …. Winston Connelly
In this unusual teen comedy, the most popular girl in school embarks upon the worst date of her life after she loses a bet and is forced to attend the prom with the school’s biggest nerd. The trouble begins when her doofous date gets lost en route and they end up stranded on the worst side of town.
1986 Babes in Toyland …. Jack/Jack-be-Nimble
11-year-old Lisa has no time for toys; she’s too busy taking care of her siblings and cooking for her mother. During the Christmas Eve blizzard, Lisa travels to Toyland in Wizard of Oz-like fashion and arrives just in time for a wedding. Young Mary Contrary is about to marry mean, old Barnaby Barnacle, despite the fact that she loves Jack Be Nimble. Lisa tries to stop this terrible wedding and, together with her new friends, discovers that Barnaby wants to take over Toyland. Lisa, Mary, Jack, and Georgie Porgie ask the Toymaster for help, but he can’t help them as long as Lisa doesn’t truly believe in toys.
1986 Under the Influence …. Eddie Talbot
Under the Influence is a TV movie about an alcoholic, Andy Griffith plays the head of an outwardly respectable New England family. Griffith drinks heavily, but the rest of the family sweeps his addiction under the rug. When Griffith lands in the hospital, he must come to grips with his illness–and the rest of the family must stop lying to each other and to themselves. Under the Influence is remarkable not only for the intelligent, unsensational handling of its subject, must also for Andy Griffith’s convincing portrayal of a New Englander.
1986 River’s Edge …. Matt
The nude, strangled body of a teenaged girl lies on the edge of the river. Her murderer is her boyfriend, Daniel Roebuck. All the kids in Roebuck’s dismal, dead-end town know who committed the murder. Trouble is, no one bothers to turn Roebuck in; some of the teens don’t know how to react to the crime, while others, strung out on drugs and booze, just don’t give a damn. A study of contemporary alienation, River’s Edge was based on a real-life incident that occurred in Milpitas, California, in 1981.
1986 Young Again …. Michael Riley, Age 17
Michael Riley whishes to be 17 again and which comes true. He goes back to the high school where he fell in love with Laura and still be in love with her. Mick is very happy and excited to be 17 again, he finds Laura who is a widow having 2 children and then realizes the reason why they broke up years ago. Laura makes Mick understand that there is no way to go back. Finally Mick is willing to face who he is and has a new start with Laura when he turns back to a middle age man.
1986 Act of Vengeance …. Buddy Martin
Act of Vengeance reenacts the 1969 murder of United Mine Workers leader Jock Yablonski. Yablonski virtually writes his own death warrant when, after a “safe” mine collapses and 80 miners are killed, he rebels against the incumbent UMW boss Tony Boyle (Wilford Brimley) to campaign for presidency of the union. Boyle gets the word out that one less Yablonski in the world would be preferable. Yablonski is depicted as being fully aware of the danger he faces in challenging Boyle–and is supported in his decision by his courageous wife.
1986 Brotherhood of Justice …. Derek
In a early starring assignment, Keanu Reeves plays the head of a teenaged vigilante society. Reeves and his overachieving buddies intend to rid their school and neighborhood of drug users and vandals. But as their power increases, the vigilantes become more abusive and dangerous. Produced by the powerhouse Hollywood team of Jon Peters and Peter Guber, Brotherhood of Justice was designed as the pilot for a weekly series.
1986 Dream to Believe …. Tommy
Robin and her father have a car accident. Her father dies. Robin is badly injured and cannot compete in gymnastics tournaments anymore. Shattered dreams. She lives with her mother and bad step-father. Robin is accepted to the school athletics team but is not accepted by some other girls, so she works out at a friends house. Eventually Robin and her team compete in the national scholastic meet.
1986 Youngblood …. Heaver
Rob Lowe stars as the title character, a young hockey prodigy with a gift for scoring, but no such penchant for pugilism — when the gloves drop, so does he. Despite his fragility, Coach Chadwick takes him on the roster for his stick-handling ability alone. However, he ends up being sent home after being singled out by a particularly nasty goon, Racki, who pummels the “pretty boy” in brutal fashion. Disheartened, Youngblood heads back to the rural Canadian farm he calls home, where his father and older brother teach him the invaluable lesson that hockey is “no place for a nervous person” (to quote a famous NHL announcer). Overseen by his elders, he immediately begins a combat-training regimen to prepare for his return and imminent showdown with the evil Racki; meanwhile, he strikes up a relationship with the coach’s daughter.
1985 One Step Away …. Ron Petrie
Ron is an adolescent who spells trouble–for himself and those close to him. His friends taunt Ron, calling him gutless, and he reacts badly to this peer pressure. A neighbor calls him delinquent. His mother, who is single, is having a hard time dealing with him. Because Ron is walking a tightrope between proving himself and finding his place, disaster and heartbreak seem inevitable.