Clint Lienau Movies
- 2004
Gary Cole stars in this delightfully improbable TV movie as Jerry Harden, a conservative husband, father, and bank loan officer. Harden's well-ordered existence is turned upside down when a scruffy-looking guitarist named Izzy (David Jensen) shows up at the bank, hoping to get a loan in order to re-organize the legendary KISS-like heavy metal band Rock Toxin. When Jerry sees Izzy, his heart sinks: It looks as though his "cover" will be blown, and that the whole world (including his children) will discover that, 20 years earlier, Jerry had been "Dagger", Rock Toxin's lead singer! At first turning down Izzy's loan request, Jerry is forced to reconsider when he finds that he hasn't enough money to send his 17-year-old daughter to college. Thus, Jerry not only bankrolls the revived Rock Toxin, but he also embarks upon a hectic double life: Nerdish pillar of society by day, heavily-made-up rock singer by night. Further complicating matters is the fact that Jerry's wife Allison (Sherilyn Fenn), is the campaign manager for Helen Hunter (Shannon Eubanks), the politician wife of Jerry's boss Carl (Joe Inscoe)--and the cornerstone of Helen's campaign is her crusade against heavy-metal music! Pop Rocks debuted over the ABC Family Channel on September 10, 2004. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2002
- PG13
- Add Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood to QueueAdd Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood to top of Queue
Screenwriter Callie Khouri makes her directorial debut with this adaptation of a pair of popular novels by author Rebecca Wells, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Little Altars Everywhere. Sandra Bullock stars as Sidda Lee Walker, a New York playwright who opens a can of emotional worms with her estranged, boozy mother, Vivi (Ellen Burstyn), when she discusses her painful childhood and particularly Vivi's less-than-enviable mothering skills in a Time magazine article. The eccentric Louisiana drama queen Vivi has already been barred from her daughter's oft-delayed wedding to her fiancé, Connor (Angus Macfadyen), so the article sends her into a rage. Coming to the rescue of the relationship are Necie (Shirley Knight), Caro (Maggie Smith), and Teensy (Fionnula Flanagan), a trio of bickering women, who, along with Vivi, formed a secret society of feminist empowerment and friendship 60 years earlier that they dubbed the "Ya-Ya Sisterhood." The Ya-Yas kidnap Sidda and bring her home to Louisiana, where they reveal to Sidda via a carefully maintained scrapbook her mother's painful past (with Vivi portrayed in flashback by Ashley Judd), effecting a rapprochement between mother and daughter. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood also stars James Garner. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, (more)
