T. Ryder Smith Movies
Directed by Jonathan Glazer, Birth takes place in New York's Upper East Side, where Anna (Nicole Kidman), a 35-year-old widow, resides. Just as Anna has shaken off what she thought were the final remnants of her old life -- she has even found love with a new man, Joseph (Danny Huston), whom she plans on marrying -- Sean (Cameron Bright), a ten-year-old boy, comes into her life insisting that he is the reincarnation of her late husband. Though she initially brushes off the boy's claims as the result of a crush on her, his grave demeanor and uncanny knowledge of her life leads Anna through a self-reevaluation that not only threatens her marital plans with Joseph (Huston), but also strains her relationship with her mother, Eleanor (Lauren Bacall). ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nicole Kidman, Cameron Bright, (more)
- 1995
An autistic youth dies while in custody, leading Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Logan (Chris Noth) to investigate the clinic where the victim was being treated. The clinic's head, Dr. Alan Colter (Lawrence Pressman), has been known to use radical and possibly illegal therapies on his patients, most of these "treatments" involving electric shock. The D.A. office's efforts to tie Colter together with the victim's death are complicated by the lack of cooperation from the parents of Colter's patients. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Unlike most teen horror movies, Brainscan relies more on atmosphere and plot than gore and bloodsoaked effects. Edward Furlong plays Michael, a 16-year-old horror movie fan, computer whiz, and misfit who responds to an ad for Brainscan, an CD-ROM virtual reality game that promises to "interface with your unconscious." Once involved with the game, Michael dreams that he brutally stabs a stranger and slices off his foot -- only to awaken and find the foot in his refrigerator. Out of Michael's computer comes Trickster (T. Ryder Smith), a sardonic, malevolent creation who advises Michael to keep playing new editions of Brainscan to evade capture by a suspicious cop (Frank Langella). With a death count that is relatively low and mostly offscreen (amputated feet notwithstanding), Brainscan doesn't make up for its lack of onscreen violence with a particularly original script, although it should be commended for not taking the easy way out. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edward Furlong, Frank Langella, (more)
- 1990
Martin (T. Ryder Smith) is gay, and it has taken him a long time to come to grips with that fact. In this story, he is a professional pianist who is finally ready to try and find some companionship. At first he is attracted to Gino (Gabriel Amor), a boy he meets in Central Park who is clearly gay, clearly masculine (leather-clad), and is interested in the same sorts of literature he is interested in. Alas, he hasn't a clue what constitutes attractiveness in the gay subculture, and is crushed when Gino spurns his advances. Curiously for such a repressed fellow, Martin has a gay roommate, a real screamer named Ron (Mark Woocock). He confides his situation to him, and they become genuine friends. He also discusses his travails with a woman-friend, Lisa (Lisa Allyn Worth. None of this solves his romantic problem (i.e., the lack of it), but it does comfort him. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- T. Ryder Smith, Mark Woodcock, (more)
