Benz Antoine Movies
This loose update of John Griesemer's biting and satirical 2001 anti-war novel No One Thinks of Greenland features American Pie starrer Jason Biggs as Corporal Rudy Spruance, a young man enlisted in the U.S. military in the late 1970s, at the height of the Cold War between the States and the Soviet Union. Though he's supposed to be transferred to Hawaii, Rudy is instead thrown out of a plane on a quasi-vacant airstrip in an unspecified location. He hits his head, loses consciousness, and comes to in a local infirmary - only to have doctors inform him that: A) He isn't in Hawaii, he's on a military base in icy Greenland, and B) His name isn't Rudy Spruance, it is Martin Pederson. The bombastic, ignorant base commander, Corporal Lane Woolwrap (Jeremy Northam) dismisses Rudy's assertions of mistaken identity and hands him his mission: to start a propagandistic newspaper used to generate morale among the troops. Instead of doing this, Rudy happens upon an isolated, top-secret building that houses some long-kept secrets related to government malfeasance - well aware of the implications of his discovery. Natascha McElhone co-stars as Woolwrap's girlfriend. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jason Biggs, Jeremy Northam, (more)
- 2005
Produced for cable's Lifetime network, this overwrought cautionary drama could be described as "Reefer Madness" for the PC generation. Healthy, clean-cut 16 year old Justin Peterson (Jeremy Peterson) all but destroys himself and his family via his hopeless addiction to Intenet porn. In the tradition of those old WW2 venereal-disease movies, Justin's obsession even ruins his athletic prowess (he was a champion swimmer before his descent into hell began). And of course, whereas he previously adopted a "hands off" attitude towards his virginal girlfriend Amy (Lyndsy Fonseca), poor Jeremy has been twisted and warped into a junior sex maniac--all because of those lustful images dancing across his monitor. This is the sort of film in which everyone but the hero is "computer illiterate", and thus incapable of figuring out how to block his access to porn until it is almost Too Late. Curiously, it is established early on that Justin's kid brother (Jake Scott) loves violent video games like "Grand Theft Auto", over which no one raises any objections! Entertaining enough if one is in the right frame of mind, Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life debuted June 20, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
A woman sets out to stamp out unscrupulous baby brokers in this made-for-cable drama. Nathalie Johnson (Dana Delany) is a woman edging into middle age who has an eight-year-old stepdaughter with her husband Steve (Hart Bochner). Nathalie would like to have a baby of her own, but after discovering to her frustration that she is unable to conceive, she and Steve choose to adopt an infant. While investigating adoption options online, Nathalie sees a listing for a beautiful baby girl from Hungary, and immediately contacts Hungarian adoption agent Gabor Szabo (Bruce Ramsay). Nathalie soon learns that Szabo is less interested in the welfare of his children than in padding his bank account, and that the Hungarian is a black-market broker who essentially auctions off children to the highest bidder. Nathalie is suitably outraged and pledges to put Szabo and his kind out of business, though she soon discovers that the laws regarding adoption are neither as stringent or as easily enforced as she imagined. Originally produced for the Lifetime cable network, Baby for Sale first aired on July 12, 2004. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dana Delany, Hart Bochner, (more)
A woman is taken on a voyage to the other side of sanity in this moody thriller. Dr. Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) is a clinical psychologist who works alongside her husband, Dr. Doug Grey (Charles S. Dutton), in the mental ward of a top security prison, where Miranda has been devoting much of her attention to a clever but deeply disturbed murderer named Chloe (Penélope Cruz), who shares gruesome tales of torture and violence that may or may not be based in fact. One night, Miranda has a hideous nightmare in which a chance meeting with a strange young girl leads to a terrifying journey into madness. Once she wakes, however, Miranda discovers that the real horror has just begun -- Doug has been brutally murdered, and the evidence points to Miranda as the prime suspect. She soon finds herself a patient in the same facility where she once treated others, and finds that her claims of innocence and sanity do little to convince Dr. Pete Graham (Robert Downey Jr.), the psychologist assigned to her case. Gothika marked the American debut of acclaimed and controversial French filmmaker Mathieu Kassovitz. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Halle Berry, Robert Downey, Jr., (more)
- 2001
Noted filmmaker Euzhan Palcy, who made a name for herself by directing a series of socially minded films about racism and oppression -- including Sugar Cane Alley and A Dry White Season -- continues in the same vein with this gritty courtroom drama about the bloodshed and the coverup of the Attica prison uprising of 1971. Protesting the dreadful conditions at the state penitentiary, 1200 inmates -- mostly African-American -- took control of Prison Yard D. After a half a week negotiating with the prisoners, the police burst into the jail with guns ablaze. Reportedly 2,200 rounds were fired, 39 people killed, and 80 wounded. Fearing an investigation, the State Department indicted a number of prisoners for murder, including Shango (Morris Chestnut), a former law student and activist against the prison administration. Crack lawyer Ernie Goodman (Alan Alda) agrees to defend him, but before he can keep him from the gallows he has to allay Shango's distrust. Meanwhile, civil liberties activist Linda Borus (Rose McGowan) uncovers the truth and the elaborate layers of deceit that the state erected. This film was first screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Morris Chestnut, Alan Alda, (more)
- 1998
The SG-1 team heads to Nasya, there to rescue survivors of the recent Goa'uld attack. In the course of this mission, the body of team member Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) is taken over by a Goa'uld--and the only one who realizes that this has happened is another former Goa'uld "host", a little girl named Cassandra (Katie Stuart, repeating her role from the first-season episode "Singularity"). But things are not as dark as they seem: Carter's possessor turns out to be Jolinar of Malkshur, who claims to head a resistance movement against the Goa'uld System Lords. Even so, there is trouble ahead for Carter in the form of the Ashrak (Peter Lacroix), an assassin forsworn to kill Jolinar. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Traumatized by the death of her sister, who smashed through a loose railing and plummetted down a steep cliff, Carla Engel (Megan Ward) has developed a debilitating fear of heights. On the advice of a therapist, Carla joins a support group consisting of others suffering from acrophobia. Then, one by one, the members of the group are killed--each of them falling to his or her death. A bizarre coincidence? Or is someone deliberately, and literally, trying to literally push Carla completely over the edge? With the name Wes Craven in the film's title, that question virtually answers itself. Don't Look Down first aired October 29, 1998, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
