Steven Schub Movies

The doors are opened on a group of misfits living in a seedy motel on the edge of Los Angeles in the comedy No Vacancy. At the run-down Pink Motel, the owner (Joaquim de Almeida) is furious with his daughter when he finds out she's been sleeping with her boyfriend. This doesn't make her very different from most of the people staying at his establishment, where attractive young women wake up with men they don't recall meeting, sleazy guys cavort with hookers, and most of the tenants are ready to clobber each other. The cast includes Christina Ricci, Lolita Davidovich, Gabriel Mann, Steven Schub and Robert Wagner. No Vacancy was screened at the 1999 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In Linda Kandel's comedy-drama Mascara, three friends find themselves dealing with the not always enjoyable prospect of turning 30 at a time when their lives are already unstable. Rebecca (Ione Skye) has trouble holding a steady job and has gone though a long series of affairs with older men. Her latest boyfriend, Nick (Steve Jones), is a middle-aged photographer who shows a less than wholesome interest in his ripening teenage daughter. Laura (Lumi Cavazos) has just ended a seven-month marriage with Donnie (Steve Schub), who helpfully maxed out all her credit cards before she dumped him. Laura works as a therapist, but she doesn't have much patience with other people's problems at the moment. And Jennifer (Amanda de Cadenet) has separated from her husband after discovering he had a mistress for a short time. Jennifer's response is to throw herself into a series of one-night stands with casual acquaintances and relative strangers -- one of whom she beats when their lovemaking gets too rough for Jennifer's liking. Mascara also features a supporting performance from Karen Black as Rebecca's Aunt Eloise, who has a habit of telling her what she either already knows or doesn't want to hear. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Love, lust, loyalty, and betrayal are the themes of this tense adult drama. Joe (Edward James Olmos) and Betty (Maria Conchita Alonso) are a married couple living in Jersey City; Joe runs a fish market, and Betty wishes that Joe showed as much interest in her as he does in his business, since she feels the spark has died in their relationship. They have a grown son, Danny (Steven Schub), who has moved to Los Angeles in hopes of making it big as a standup comic. One day, a guy named Nick (Arie Verveen), who is trying to avoid the police, happens into Joe's store. Joe senses that he's not a hardened criminal, just a kid with a long history of bad luck, so he takes pity on him and gives him a square meal. He genuinely likes Nick and offers him a job in his store; the pay isn't much, but, since Danny's room is empty, he can throw in free room and board. Nick gratefully accepts, and Joe soon discovers that he's found someone special, as Nick shows a natural talent for the fish business. Betty also thinks that Nick is someone special; while Betty loves Joe, and Nick is grateful to him, an attraction between the two leads to a passionate affair. As Nick and Betty both find themselves betraying Joe despite their affection for him, Danny returns from California, hoping to take his room back, and immediately sensing that something is wrong. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Ami Canaan Mann, the daughter of acclaimed filmmaker Michael Mann, follows in her father's footsteps with this, her first feature as a director. Johnny (J.R. Richards) and Trick (Kieran Mulroney) grew up together in a small North Carolina community, but now that they're edging into their thirties and living in New York, their lives have taken different paths; Johnny is still trying to make his mark as a rock musician, while Trick is a low-level advertising man stuck in a failing marriage with Lily (Annabeth Gish). Johnny and Trick have a bitter argument, and Johnny responds by stealing Trick's car; Trick and Lily give chase, with their pal King (Steven Schub), who runs a neighborhood delicatessen, in tow. Eventually, Trick catches up with Johnny, only to discover that he died in an auto accident which he appears to have caused on purpose. When Trick breaks the bad news to Johnny's parents (Tess Harper and Pat Hingle), they express concern that Johnny's strange life and stranger death would make him unfit for a Christian funeral; as a last gift to his friend, Trick sets out to make that possible, though the project soon proves to be a great deal more complicated than he ever imagined. Along the way, Lily begins to develop a new respect for Trick, while King finds romance with Shelly (Laurel Holloman), who works at a supermarket. Morning features an original score co-written by actor J.R. Richards and noted songwriter and instrumentalist Lisa Germano. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Aldous Huxley's 1932 science fiction novel was previously adapted to film (a 1980 TV movie starring Bud Cort) and radio (a 1956 CBS Radio Workshop two-parter with an opening intro by Huxley) and again to TV in this 1998 production. In a high-tech city of a future time, humans are genetically engineered, monogamy is frowned on, and the drug Soma is consumed to eliminate stress in a society where the citizens are niched into rigid classes (Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma). Scornful looks are directed at high-level Alphas Bernard Marx (Peter Gallagher) and Lenina Crowne (Rya Kihlstedt), a couple who have become interested in each other over and beyond the commonly accepted one-night stands. Bernard has climbed to the upper echelons at the Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning Center, while Lenina is employed in the educational conditioning field. When Bernard and Lenina visit an outlying Reservation, their copter crashes, and they are under attack by the locals when Shakespeare-quoting "savage" John Cooper (Tim Guinee) intervenes. When John takes Bernard and Lenina to the house where he lives with his alcoholic mother Linda (Sally Kirkland), Bernard is fascinated by John's retro way of life and his collection of literature. With automatic satellite tracking in play, a craft arrives in short order to return Bernard and Lenina to the city. For research purposes, Bernard takes the two back to civilization -- where John (aka "The Savage") becomes a media celeb, and Linda gets hooked on Soma. The Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning (Miguel Ferrer) considers Cooper a threat to society, but his superior, the Controller (Leonard Nimoy), who thinks the social order is secure, holds a progressive, thoughtful attitude regarding past, present, and future. Meanwhile, Lenina has a sexual attraction for John, who rejects her passionate advances because it "isn't love," and he soon becomes disenchanted with the unspiritual, hedonistic way of life he sees in this "brave new world." Premiered April 19, 1998 on NBC. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi