Marcus D'Amico Movies
Supporting and character actor Marcus D'Amico is primarily associated with the stage in Europe and the U.S., but he has also made the occasional, memorable foray into film. Born in Germany to an American father and a British mother, D'Amico was raised in the U.K. He first performed on stage, making a name for himself, in a 1977 revival of Oliver! in London. From there on, D'Amico specialized in musicals. In 1980, D'Amico made his film debut with a small supporting role in Superman II. He later moved to Los Angeles, took a break from acting, and spent a while as a clothing retailer. He returned to the British stage in the mid-'80s, but still continued to have a sporadic film career that included small roles in Jon Amiel's The Silent Twins (1985) and Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987). Fans of the PBS miniseries Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City (1994) will remember D'Amico for his vivid portrayal of the perennially lonely, would-be lover Mouse Tolliver. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
Author Armistead Maupin's serialized tale of sexual infidelity and identity in 1970s San Francisco becomes a sprawling comic melodrama in this much-acclaimed miniseries. Produced by PBS and Britain's Channel 4, Tales of the City covers in its five hours the interlocking stories of more than a dozen main characters, many of whom reside at 28 Barbary Lane, a quaint multi-apartment house overseen by the open-minded but enigmatic Mrs. Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis). Among her stable of residents are the acerbic, unlucky-in-love Mona Ramsey (Chloe Webb) and her occasional roommate Michael Tolliver (Marcus D'Amico), who's her constant companion -- that is, when he's not shacked up with one of an endless series of short-term boyfriends. Mrs. Madrigal's newest charge is the apple-cheeked Mary Ann Singleton (Laura Linney), a naïve young woman from the Midwest who's come to San Francisco to visit her friend Connie (Parker Posey), but ends up staying, in search of both a career and a husband. It isn't long before she finds the former; unfortunately, along with it comes the unwanted advances of her boss Beauchamp Day (Thomas Gibson), a philandering executive unhappily married to his boss Edgar's daughter, DeDe (Barbara Garrick). Meanwhile, the regal Edgar (Donald Moffat) happens to be conducting an affair of his own with none other than Mrs. Madrigal. Also starring Bill Campbell and Paul Gross, Tales of the City was first aired on Channel 4 in the spring of 1993 and made its PBS premiere in the winter of 1994, when it garnered some of the network's highest ratings ever, amidst vocal protest of the show's risqué content. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi
- Starring:
- Laura Linney, Olympia Dukakis, (more)
- 1989
Independent filmmaker Gregg Araki has probably set a record for low budgets in this current feature The Long Weekend. It came in at around $5,000 and yet was shown in legit moviehouses to respectful (if not overwhelmingly positive) reviews. As with his other movies, the central characters in this one are gay, lesbian or bisexual, and the setting is in Los Angeles. The story concerns the efforts of angst-ridden gay man to cope with his bisexual lover's antics, and the parallel efforts of a lesbian woman to ditch her dimwitted girlfriend. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bretton Vail
Stanley Kubrick's return to filmmaking after a seven-year hiatus, this film crystallizes the experience of the Vietnam War by concentrating on a group of raw Marine volunteers. Based on Gustav Hasford's novel The Short Timers, the film's first half details the volunteers' harrowing boot-camp training under the profane, power-saw guidance of drill instructor Sgt. Hartman (R. Lee Ermey, a real-life drill instructor whose performance is one of the most terrifyingly realistic on record). Part two takes place in Nam, as seen through the eyes of the now thoroughly indoctrinated marines. Ironically, Full Metal Jacket was filmed almost entirely in England. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin, (more)
Between giving up his super powers, confronting criminals from outer space, and having problems with his girlfriend, it's a bad time to be the Man of Steel in this sequel to the 1978 blockbuster. When terrorists threaten to destroy Paris with a thermonuclear device as they hold reporter Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) hostage, Superman (Christopher Reeve) comes to the rescue and flings the weapon into space. However, its blast outside the earth's orbit awakens Zod (Terence Stamp), Ursa (Sarah Douglas), and Non (Jack O'Halloran), three villains from Superman's home planet of Krypton who were exiled to outer space for their crimes. Zod and his partners arrive on Earth and use their powers in a bid to take over the U.S., and then the world. However, when Lois realizes that mild mannered Clark Kent and Superman are actually the same person, he brings her to his Fortress of Solitude, where his decision to marry Lois costs him his remarkable strength. Without his super powers, how can Superman vanquish Zod and save the world? Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty, Susannah York, and Jackie Cooper return from the first film, which was shot at the same time as parts of the sequel. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, (more)
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