Dennis Lipscomb Movies
Lead actor, onscreen from the '80s. ~ All Movie GuideBailey (Scott Wolf) gets jealous when his pal Will (Scott Grimes, in his last regular series appearance) bends over backward to be nice to his geeky new college roommate (Peter Simmons). Kirsten (Paula Devicq) decides to pursue her academic and professional career far from home, causing a rift between herself and Charlie (Matthew Fox). Griffin (Jeremy London) once again demonstrates his utter lack of financial responsibility, prompting a stern lecture from Julia (Neve Campbell)...who, as it turns out, is in no position to preach. And the romance between Claudia (Lacey Chabert) and her "summer love" Byron (Rider Strong) hits a snag when he evinces more interest in Julia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this Emmy award-winning episode, Greene (Anthony Edwards) takes a potentially career-destroying risk after he misdiagnoses the condition of a woman (Colleen Flynn) and her unborn child. Although Greene's OR battle to save his patients' lives is the episode's focal point, several other subplots wend their way through the story. Among these is the ever-deteriorating condition of Benton's (Eriq La Salle) mother, and the accidental poisoning of young Joey Page (Theodore Borders). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A kickboxing cyborg security agent accidentally kills a corporate officer who was trying to rape a blonde employee in this sci-fi copy of Die Hard. The head of the corporation orders his security teams to kill both the cyborg and the employee to prevent word of the attempted rape from getting out. The cyborg and the victim must make their way out of the building with two teams of killer cyborgs after them. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olivier Gruner, John Glover, (more)
Forget the Hollywood-heavy sci-fi flash of Armageddon and Deep Impact as you experience the terror of a destructive asteroid impact firsthand in this startlingly realistic faux news broadcast from filmmaker Robert Iscove. The unthinkable has happened, and it's not long before television news cameras across the globe bring images of death and destruction to the evening news. With advanced news technology that allows for the kind of extensive coverage never before possible, viewers will be riveted as veteran journalist Sander Vanocur, author Arthur C. Clarke, and Malcolm in the Middle star Jane Kaczmarek step before the camera for a startling piece of speculative science fiction that may be a bit too realistic for more sensitive viewers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Nick and Nora Charles are updated to a touchy-feely couple of the 1990s who take a break from the action to raise their eleven-month-old child. Kathleen Turner and Dennis Quaid star as Jane and Jeff Blue, two CIA super-agents who have abandoned the daily grind to devote quality time to their baby but find trouble on vacation in New Orleans. First a group of muggers try to take advantage of Jeff as he walks down the street with his baby in tow. Jeff teaches the boys a humiliating lesson, but one of the creepy bad guys, Muerte (Stanley Tucci), vows revenge, and he spends the rest of the movie dogging Jeff and Jane and getting kicked in the teeth in the process. But Muerte is small potatoes compared to Novacek (Fiona Shaw), a former Czech agent. Convinced to return to work by their superiors, Jeff and Jane have to catch Novacek red-handed buying illegal explosives from a New Orleans traitor so that the government can send her back to the Czech republic. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kathleen Turner, Dennis Quaid, (more)
Andrew Davis directed this exciting thriller starring Steven Seagal, sans ponytail, and featuring electric, over-the-top performances by Gary Busey and Tommy Lee Jones. This action saga takes place on the battleship USS Missouri, about to be decommissioned from service after a visit from George Bush. When Bush departs the vessel, a band of terrorists overcome the remaining skeleton crew and take over the ship, under the ruse of holding a surprise birthday party for the ship's commander, Captain Adams (Patrick O'Neal). The band is led by Strannix (Jones), a disgruntled ex-CIA operative, and his right-hand man, the psychotic Krill (Busey). The terrorists plan to steal the ship's store of nuclear warheads, transfer them to a stolen North Korean submarine, and sell them to a Middle Eastern country. Unfortunately for Strannix, he has overlooked the ship's cook, Casey Ryback (Seagal). Ryback is a much-honored Navy SEAL who, because of a minor scandal, is quietly completing his twenty-year tour in the galley of the Missouri. Forced into action, Ryback, along with the woman who jumped out of Captain Adams' birthday cake (Erika Eleniak), knocks off the bad guys one-by-one while crawling inside the bowels of the ship. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steven Seagal, Tommy Lee Jones, (more)
In this entry in the long-running mystery series, Perry Mason proves that a famous illusionist is innocent of deliberately killing his assistant during a spectacular stage stunt. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This lackluster attempt at blending equal parts action movie and supernatural thriller ends up sacrificing the merits of both genres. The plot finds baby-faced homicide detective Logan (Lou Diamond Phillips) on the trail of "Pentagram Killer" Patrick Channing (Jeff Kober), negligibly assisted by lots of occult mumbo-jumbo espoused by various doomsaying members of the Catholic Church. Channing is eventually captured and executed, but this turns out to be a big mistake: one of the Satanic powers Channing managed to acquire through ritual sacrifice is the power to transfer his soul into other living bodies, allowing him to roam about incognito and continue his killing spree. There is little overt horror on display, as we usually see only the aftermath of Channing's evil deeds; there is scarcely enough mystery to propel the police-procedural elements either. Worse, the producers apparently decided to toss in a romantic subplot involving Phillips and psychic Tracy Griffith to keep things interesting, but fail to sustain credibility even in this department. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lou Diamond Phillips, Tracy Griffith, (more)
In this comedy-drama set in Washington, D.C., an ex-burglar and a dumbbell detective must team up to solve several puzzling murders. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meredith Baxter, Robert Urich, (more)
In this thriller, sisters Charlotte (Judith Ivey) and Lucy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) Bonnard reside in the Louisiana home left to them by their parents. As Charlotte cares for her troubled younger sister, the two make a living by renting out rooms in the huge, gloomy mansion. However, when Matt Rutledge (Eric Stoltz) comes to stay, he stumbles across a number of the Bonnards' dark secrets that were best left hidden. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Stoltz, Jennifer Jason Leigh, (more)
When young Chuck Murdock (Joshua Zuehlke) visits a nuclear missile site, he learns that one bomb would destroy the earth in less time than it would take a piece of silverware to drop from his hand to the floor. This information sends the sensitive boy into existential angst. Wondering why anybody should do anything when the world can be destroyed so quickly, and hoping to raise consciousness about nuclear weapons, Chuck quits his Little League team. He gains a little bit of local press. One of those stories is read by NBA star "Amazing Grace" Smith (Alex English), who is so moved by the boy's story that he too quits playing his sport. This produces a great deal of national press, as well as a handful of stars from other sports that decide to join the ranks of Amazing Grace and Chuck. Some powers that be in the sports world, as well as the government, do not look kindly upon these "strikes" and set about to end the movement. Amazing Grace and Chuck came near the end of a cycle of nuclear anxiety films that included Testament, The Day After, and Threads. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie Lee Curtis, Alex English, (more)
Dorian Harewood stars as real-life Texas engineer Lenell Geter, who in 1982 was accused of armed robbery. Beyond the fact that both he and the suspect are African-American, Geter looks nothing at all like the actual robber; still, he is identified as the culprit in a police lineup. Despite the testimony of six character witnesses, all of whom were with Geter at the time of the robbery, he is sentenced to life imprisonment. He very likely would have remained in prison had not the CBS investigative series 60 Minutes told Geter's story to millions of viewers. The authorities refuse to acknowledge the possibility that they have erred, and attempt to block a re-opening of the case. Even Geter's court-appointed attorney (Dabney Coleman) is unsympathetic to his client's plight. But Geter's somewhat ingenuous faith in the American justice system is eventually rewarded, and he is finally set free. Guilty of Innocence was originally telecast February 3, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A suicidal artist tries to end his miserable life on Halloween night and fails after jumping off the roof of a ramshackle LA boarding house. After the fall, his soul has somehow become possessed by the spirit of a murderous criminal. This horror movie explains how and why. Now the poor bum finds himself haunted by terrible dreams of places he's never been and atrocities he could never think of committing. The dreams take an even darker edge when he begins reading about of a series of murders. Each victim was killed in exactly the same way he dreamed they were; he also learns that each was involved in the killing of the crook. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Lipscomb, Leslie Wing, (more)
In this entry in the long-running mystery series, Perry Mason takes the case of a publisher implicated in the strange murder of a horror novelist. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
A passion for blues music is evident in this drama based on a contest-winning script by former blues musician John Fusco -- and featuring one of the decade's best-received motion picture soundtracks, written and performed by Ry Cooder. Eugene Martone Ralph Macchio is a classically trained guitarist who desperately wants to locate a long-lost blues song. At a Harlem nursing home, Eugene finds Willie Brown (Joe Seneca), a legendary blues man who may be able to help him. Eugene becomes part of the master guitarist's scheme to reclaim his soul from the Devil, which he sold in exchange for musical greatness at a rural crossroads many decades before. Making their way across the Mississippi Delta, the duo meets Frances (Jami Gertz), a runaway who becomes a love interest for Eugene. After launching his career with the sale of his script for Crossroads (1986), which is loosely based on the mythical character of Faust and a fable involving real-life blues legend Robert Johnson (played in the film by Tim Russ), Fusco went on to write the highly successful Young Guns (1988). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Macchio, Joe Seneca, (more)
Slow Burn, directed by Matthew Chapman, a well-above average, made-for cable-TV mystery thriller tells the story of a detective and his search for the missing son and ex-wife of his client. Based on a novel by Arthur Lyons, and well-directed by Matthew Chapman this intelligent thriller follows detective Jacob Ash (Eric Roberts) as he investigates the disappearance of Donnie (Johnny Depp) the missing son of his client Gerald McMurty (Raymond Barry) and his ex-wife artist Laine Fleischer (Beverly D'Angelo) during a routine visit to Las Vegas. As the investigation continues Jacob discovers an intricate web of deceit and betrayal that leads to a murder which Jacob must solve. D'Angelo, frequently underrated, is top notch in her role of the frightened woman who may have secrets. Roberts, who can be uneven, is successful in creating an engaging and sexy character who has a good deal of appeal and a good chemistry with D'Angelo. Slow Burn is a surprising, engaging thriller with good performances and an intelligent premise and is highly recommended. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
"Not since Columbo has catching a killer been this clever!" That was the ad come-on for Diary of a Perfect Murder, a 1986 TV movie starring Andy Griffith as a homespun Georgia defense attorney. Griffith takes the case of a TV reporter (Steve Inwood) who has been accused of the murder of his ex-wife. In the tradition of Perry Mason, Matlock plays his cards close to the vest, then reveals the identity of the true murderer right in the courtroom. Sound familiar? It should: Diary of a Perfect Murder was the pilot film for Andy Griffith's still-running Matlock series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this youthful fantasy, a young boy, learns how to time travel and decides to try and save the life of his grandfather, a pilot who tragically died while attempting to fly across the Atlantic. The trouble is, the boy does not stop to think about the historical ramifications of his actions. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Cheated out of her fortune by a crooked business manager, former fashion model Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) has but one asset to her name: the Blue Moon Detective Agency, an incredible unprofitable concern run by cocky P.I. David Addison (Bruce Willis). Maddie is all for liquidating the agency as quickly as possible, but David manages to flummox her into keeping it up and running. Though it is hate at first sight for the mismatched couple, Maddie and David almost immediately begin collaborating on a crimesolving career, beginning with the case of a dying client and a broken watch. Originally telecast as a single 97-minute "TV movie", this pilot episode of Moonlighting has since been divided into two hour-long segments for syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In the concluding half of Moonlighting's pilot episode (originally telecast as a single 97-minute TV movie), impoverished former fashion model Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) has been talked out of liquidating her sole asset, the Blue Moon Detective Agency, by flippant private eye David Addison (Bruce Willis). She has also been plunged into a baffling mystery involving a dead man and a broken watch. As reluctant partners Maddie and David face numerous perils together, a relationship of sorts develops--namely, they can't survive without each other, and they can't live with each other! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
First telecast in early 1985, the 2-hour pilot film for the lighthearted TV detective series Moonlighting opens with fashion model Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepard) discovering that her business manager has skipped with her fortune. The only asset she has left is the ramshackle Blue Moon Detective Agency, manned by acerbic David Addison (Bruce Willis). Maddie takes an immediate dislike to David, while he considers her a sexual conquest-to-be. The twosome continues to bicker their way through their first case, pausing for amenities only when it appears that both of them are about to be bumped off. Once safely back in the office, their verbal guerilla warfare resumes, leading the viewer to expect marvelous things from the subsequent Moonlighting TV series. Little of the series' fabled self-consciousness (talking directly to the audience, making references to the quality of the scriptwriting, etc.) surfaces in the Moonlighting pilot, but the film works well despite this "drawback." The series itself ran (or, as it turned out, limped) until May of 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cybill Shepherd, Bruce Willis, (more)
Inspired by the Herman Melville novel Billy Budd, writer Charles Fuller created the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier's Play, which he then adapted into this film drama in 1984, for socially conscious, liberal director Norman Jewison. In the racially-divided 1940s, Fort Neal, Louisiana, is a military base where black soldiers are sent not to fight in WWII but to play baseball against other armed forces teams. The murder of a black sergeant, Waters (Adolph Caesar) brings an investigator, Captain Davenport (Howard E. Rollins, Jr.) to the base. Davenport, the first black officer that most of the men have ever met, suspects that a pair of white men were responsible for Waters' death, but his probe reveals that nearly everyone, regardless of skin color, had ample reason to kill the loathsome but pitiable Waters. The cast of A Soldier's Story features early supporting performances from several African-American actors who would go on to greater prominence, including Denzel Washington, David Alan Grier, and Robert Townsend. The film was nominated for three Oscars: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Caesar) and Best Adapted Screenplay. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Howard E. Rollins, Jr., Adolph Caesar, (more)
An interesting diversion for the genre, this stylish but leaden supernatural period piece tells the tale of an 18th-century minister (Dennis Lipscomb) and his flock who are exiled to the wilderness after being accused of witchcraft by the citizens of Dalton's Ferry. The small community settles briefly in an eerie valley in Shawnee territory -- which is also the domain of a powerful demon and his earthen underlings. As horrific apparitions and bizarre events begin to haunt the party in increasing frequency, a young madwoman believed to be a witch brings her own formidable powers to bear against the demonic menace. Good performances and beautiful location cinematography help to create a mood of encroaching doomretentious dialogue, leaden pacing and an overabundance of clunky religious allegory causes the entire project to collapse under its own ponderous weight. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Lipscomb, Rebecca Stanley, (more)
Once more, a wise-guy teenager tries to prove he's smarter than any adult-and nearly destroys the whole world in the process-in WarGames. Computer-game aficionado Matthew Broderick inadverently taps into a hush-hush Pentagon computer, then proceeds to inaugurate his favorite game, "Global Thermonuclear War". What we know, but Broderick doesn't, is that the Pentagon, hoping to eliminate the chancy "human element" in the event of an actual war, has given its computer total, irreversable control over the launching of nuclear weaponry. Broderick and government official Dabney Coleman race against time to reverse the computer's resolve to send bombers to Russia. WarGames scored a hit, especially with teenage filmgoers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, (more)






















