Duane Matthews Movies
- 1996
His obsession with winning at all costs causes friction between Bailey (Scott Wolf) and Coach Petrocelli (Dan Lauria). Likewise fed up with Bailey's selfishness is Callie (Alexondra Lee), who walks out on him at a crucial moment. The emotional strain takes its inevitable toll, and before long Bailey is drinking more than ever. Elsewhere, Julia (Neve Campbell) sees a whole new side of Sam (Ben Browder) when she joins him at dinner with his ex-fiancee. And while Charlie's (Matthew Fox) new "enlightened' attitude has its compensations, Grace may not be among them; she seems far more interested in going out with Michael Garber (Michael Garber), a man capable of fulfilling her political dreams. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Two pilots go against the rule book in a bid to win the war in Viet Nam in this speculative military drama. Lieutenant Jake Grafton (Brad Johnson) is a U.S. Navy pilot stationed aboard an aircraft carrier after the death of his one-time flying partner Morgan McPherson (Christopher Rich), who perished during a recent, ill-advised mission. Lt. Grafton, who has become cynical about the current state of military affairs, is convinced that if the war were left to the soldiers rather than the politicians overseeing the Pentagon, United States victory would be swift and assured. Grafton shares this opinion with Virgil Cole (Willem Dafoe), a supremely confident new pilot under his command, and together they commandeer an A-6 Bomber, known as The Intruder, for an unauthorized bombing raid against Hanoi. The city had been declared off-limits because it was believed that it would have a negative impact on the Paris peace talks, so the raid lands Grafton and Cole in hot water. However, when the talks break down, President Richard Nixon authorizes the pilots to lead a new strike against Hanoi with everything they've got. Ving Rhames and David Schwimmer both appear in small roles that predated their respective rises to fame (in fact, this was Schwimmer's first movie). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Danny Glover, Willem Dafoe, (more)
Forest Whitaker stars as the brilliant jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker in this elegiac biopic. Director Clint Eastwood pays full homage to Parker's musical genius, but also devotes ample time to the musician's twin demons--drugs and alcohol-which accelerated his death at the age of 34. In his struggles to gain widespread acceptance for his music, "Bird" is forever stymied by his own self-destructiveness, and forever bailed out by the love of his life, Chan Richardson Parker (Diane Venora). The film bemoans the decline of the brand of jazz fathered by Parker, which came to be replaced by more conventional material -- as illustrated by the "descent" into the mainstream of Parker's mentor Buster Franklin. Also starring in Bird is Samuel E. Wright as Dizzy Gillespie. That's the real Charlie "Bird" Parker on the film's soundtrack, though most of the background music has been re-orchestrated. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Forest Whitaker, Diane Venora, (more)
