Jon Sklaroff Movies
Enigmatic rock legend Bob Dylan stars as an enigmatic rock legend (talk about a casting coup!) in this purposefully eccentric satiric comedy. Uncle Sweetheart (John Goodman) is an unscrupulous concert promoter who has figured out a way to cash in on the feelings of doubt and uncertainty that plague his nation, which is being torn apart by civil war and political revolution. Sweetheart has decided he will stage a massive benefit concert, though the unnamed charity would appear to be his checking account. Sweetheart hires television producer Nina Veronica (Jessica Lange) to help promote the show and sell it as a nation-wide cable-cast event, while Sweetheart pulls a few strings to arrange for the perfect headliner -- Jack Fate (Bob Dylan), a legendary songwriter who is currently serving a term in prison. With Fate out from behind bars, Sweetheart and Veronica set out to sell their grand spectacle to the world, though one determined investigative journalist (Jeff Bridges) has set out to throw a spenner into the works of Uncle Sweetheart and his epic fundraiser. Marking the directorial debut of comedy writer Larry Charles, Masked and Anonymous also features Penelope Cruz and Luke Wilson; the film was shown in competition at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bob Dylan, Jeff Bridges, (more)
- 2002
During the magic act of an illusionist known only as Zephyr (Tom Noonan), a young woman volunteer from the audience disappears in the magician's on-stage cabinet. Unfortunately, the disappearance is permanent, and traces of blood inside the cabinet lead Grissom (William L. Petersen) to suspect that the woman has been killed. The trail of clues leads to a mysterious and spooky mansion, owned by the family of the missing woman. And on another front, Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) is convinced that the apparent fatal drug overdose of rock star Gus Kenyon was actually a meticulously staged murder. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 2002
When teenaged auxiliary officer Heather Peterson is murdered, she leaves behind a diary which details explicitly the sexual habits of the uniformed officers of the 15th precinct. These revelations result in a lot of suspicion and recriminations volleying back and forth between the uniforms and the detectives. Meanwhile, McDowell (Charlotte Ross) and Ortiz (Jacqueline Obradors) deal with an uncooperative stabbing victim; Jones (Henry Simmons) and Haywood (Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon) team up to trap a con artist specializing in phone-scamming senior citizens; and Andy's son Theo (Austin Majors) balks at sharing a room with baby Michelle. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Henry Simmons
A couple running a rideshow discover the find of a lifetime, only to realize it could well be the death of them in this horror story. Angus Shaw (Rufus Sewell) and his wife, Lillian (Carla Gugino), run a travelling carnival which barnstorms the countryside in the early 1900s. The Shaws' circus includes a sideshow which promises much in the way of monsters and human oddities, but for the most part delivers second-rate actors dressed up in costumes or using smoke-and-mirrors effects to fool the customers. Lillian herself offers the most spectacular illusion, posing as a fake mermaid. One night, Angus offers a helping hand to an aging sailor (Aubrey Morris), and the old salt offers to show Angus and Lillian something truly amazing -- a real, honest-to-Pete mermaid (Rya Kihlstedt). Astounded by what he's seen, Angus decides the fortune he could make exhibiting a real mermaid is too great to resist, and he steals the creature from the sailor. Angus and Lillian waste no time booking passage to the United States with their find, but en route to America they discover this mermaid is hardly a benign creature -- she has a taste for human blood, and soon the ship's crew is shrinking at an alarming rate. Lillian also finds herself developing a strange psychological bond with the mermaid, a connection more powerful than her vows to her husband. She Creature was produced for the Cinemax premium cable service as part of a series of "Creature Features" produced by special effects wizard Stan Winston and former American International Pictures head Samuel Z. Arkoff, most of which were inspired by horror films AIP made in the 1950s. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rufus Sewell, Carla Gugino, (more)
- 2001
A well-publicized murder case involving a former TV detective-show star was the blatant inspiration for this episode. It all begins when the wife of has-been singer Tommy Vega (Gary Busey) is shot to death a few blocks from the couple's favorite restaurant. Early suspects include Tommy's manager and his estranged, embittered son. But several credibility gaps lead the detectives and the D.A.'s office directly back to Vega himself. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
A band of black-garbed bank robbers packs up the loot from their latest bloody heist and heads for Mexico aboard a commercial airliner with passengers on holiday. When bad weather compels the pilot to turn the plane around, the bandits highjack it, taking it straight into a tremendous storm which causes the plane to crash into fiery pieces in a swamp. The survivors include only a few passengers, most of the bad guys, and a pretty flight attendant (Heidi Noelle Lenhardt), whose fiancé in Acapulco hires a renegade professional tracker (Martin Kove) to help him find the downed plane when the authorities prove useless. The rescuers had better hurry: The swamp is the home of a prehistoric-sized crocodile, and she's 1) angry, and, 2) hungry. ~ Buzz McClain, Rovi
- 1997
Back on active duty, Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) reteams with Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) to investigate a bar shooting. The suspect, an off-duty corrections officer, turns out to be terminally ill, and may not have been responsible for his actions. In another development, the squad converges upon the hideout of a serial rapist. And although she hasn't formally announced her pregnancy, Gina (Lourdes Benedicto) accepts Martinez' (Nicholas Turturro) marriage proposal. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
