Anthony Mannino Movies

When a man returns to Brooklyn, he finds his brother a gang member under the leadership of an old rival who framed him for the murder of a policeman ten years prior. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

With the ultimate throw-down, "There can be only one," Highlander captured the imaginations of fantasy fans seeking a well-executed swordplay epic, becoming a cult classic in the process. Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) is one of a waning few survivors of a clan of immortals. The breed have been dueling each other for centuries in the quest to be the last one remaining, and hence achieve a supreme enlightenment that would be dangerous in the wrong hands. The immortals can only die by decapitation, so they hunt each other through time and across continents to meet for each decisive duel, which will bring one of them a step closer to ultimate power. In present-day America, the troubled hero MacLeod lives a brooding and lonely existence, having lost his true love centuries ago. The evil Kurgan (Clancy Brown), an immortal who plans to use his power toward unspeakable ends, has fought MacLeod before but is still trying to finish him off. After emerging victorious from a parking garage skirmish with the third-to-last immortal, MacLeod knows that only Kurgan is left, and the two are on a collision path toward the inevitable. In the film's numerous flashbacks to the past, Sean Connery plays Ramirez, the immortal who first tutors MacLeod after the hero survives a mortal battle wound, prompting his fearful village to banish him. Roxanne Hart plays MacLeod's modern-day love interest, who tries to help him while struggling to believe his incredible story. The director's cut runs four minutes shorter. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide

Bruce Dern stars in this disturbing shocker about a mentally unbalanced tattoo artist named Karl Kinski, who is hired to put a series of fake tattoos on fashion model Maddy (Maud Adams) as part of an advertising campaign. But Kinski becomes obsessed with Maddy and decides to kidnap her. Keeping her a captive, he uses her body as a living canvas for his tattoo designs. During its initial release, the film raised the ire of feminist groups because of the ad campaign that featured a naked woman bound at the ankles. The film was scripted by Joyce Bunuel, (Luis Bunuel's daughter-in-law). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Obviously a labor of love for all concerned, Those Lips, Those Eyes is set in the 1950s. Pre-med student Thomas Hulce takes a job as a prop boy at an Ohio summer-stock theatre. His ineptitude nearly costs him his job, but Hulce is protected by Frank Langella, the troupe's leading man. Langella's character is instantly recognizable to anyone who's ever worked in community or summer theatre: possessed of more charm than talent, he is a "star" only so long as he remains a big fish in a small pond. While any other film might turn this character into a loser or villain, Langella emerges as the most likeable person in Those Lips, Those Eyes, especially when he orchestrates a romance between Hulce and chorus dancer Glynnis O'Connor. Almost as good as Langella, though not quite as lovable, is Jerry Stiller as Hulce's abrasive father. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Chuck Norris plays John T. Booker, a Vietnam vet who finds out that several of his army buddies lost their lives in a mission that was intended to fail. Seeking answers, Booker quits his school-teaching job and tracks down the surviving members of his unit. One by one, his old friends are being knocked off by sinister forces, orchestrated by a crooked, and legally untouchable, politician. Amidst a plethora of martial arts, gunfire and explosions, the film briefly pauses for a comic-relief scene involving over-aged bellboy Jim Backus. Good Guys Wear Black did so well at the box-office that it warranted a sequel, A Force of One (1979). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Conspiracy film specialist Alan J. Pakula turned journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's best-selling account of their Watergate investigation into one of the hit films of Bicentennial year 1976. While researching a story about a botched 1972 burglary of Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate apartment complex, green Washington Post reporters/rivals Woodward (Robert Redford, who also exec produced) and Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) stumble on a possible connection between the burglars and a White House staffer. With the circumspect approval of executive editor Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards), the pair digs deeper. Aided by a guilt-ridden turncoat bookkeeper (Jane Alexander) and the vital if cryptic guidance of Woodward's mystery source, Deep Throat (Hal Holbrook), Woodward and Bernstein "follow the money" all the way to the top of the Nixon administration. Despite Deep Throat's warnings that their lives are in danger, and the reluctance of older Post editors, Woodward and Bernstein are determined to get out the story of the crime and its presidential cover-up. Once Bradlee is convinced, the final teletype impassively taps out the historically explosive results. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide