Dennis Burkley Movies

A man who lives what many would consider to be the perfect life begins to see the cracks forming on the surface of his porcelain smooth façade in director Stu Pollard's paranoid tale of deception and betrayal. David Dailey (Gil Bellows) has a picture-perfect home, a career with a promising future, and a key role in the community -- but all of that is about to change. With the sexual obsessions of his lusty wife Susan (Kim Raver) gradually taking their toll on David and his longtime assistant blatantly setting his sights on the established professional's job, the stress of his personal life eventually drives David into the arms of beautiful stranger Melody Carpenter (Jennifer Westfeldt). Despite outward appearances, Melody's charming and rich ex-boyfriend Sean (Christian Kane) hasn't taken too warmly to her new relationship with David and sets into motion a devious plan to win her back at any cost. Meanwhile, Sean's powerful and overprotective father (Stacy Keach) has hired a sexy spy (Elizabeth Peña) to keep close tabs on all involved. As the relationship between David and Melody grows increasingly intense, so do their mutual suspicions of being watched, and David soon realizes that the only thing worse than having nothing at all is having it all swept out from under your feet when you least expect it. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

J. Max Burnett made his directorial debut with this family drama about a small-town sports announcer and a high school football team, the Possums. In the dying town of Nowata, Oklahoma, the giant retail Maxi Mart threatens to destroy the local hardware store run by Will Clark (Mac Davis), a lifelong Possums supporter. Life in Nowata is such that mayor Charlie Lawton (Andrew Prine) is on the brink of cancelling the school sports program. To save the Possums, Will goes on the air at the local radio station, fabricating fantastic Possum plays that never happened. In these imaginary games, the phenomenal fantasy team goes on a winning streak and is headed toward the finals. Ignoring the reactions of his wife Elizabeth (Cynthia Sikes) and others, Will soon has the support of the locals. As the Possums peak, the legit champions in neighboring Pratville are not pleased -- and the final showdown happens in a gridiron confrontation. Shown to an enthusiastic audience at the 1998 Seattle Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) is more edgy than usual as the pregnant Sylvia's (Sharon Lawrence) due date approaches. Donna (Gail O'Grady) considers leaving the precinct for a better job opportunity on the West Coast. The nephew of a robbery-homicide victim is suspiciously in possession of the stolen swag. A bouncer at a strip club is beaten to death. And as the final scene of this episode approaches, the world is introduced to a new arrival named Theo Sipowicz. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Will (Will Smith) relates an incredible, hair-raising story of how he once witnessed a mob killing, forcing himself and the Banks family into the Witness Relocation Program, whereupon everyone is bundled off to the Alabama boonies (in a town called Deliverance!) Truth to tell, however, Will's tall tale has been concocted to distract Jazz from continually winning at poker against Will and Carlton. A pre-Everybody Loves Raymond Brad Garrett appears as a VERY tall hit man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A teenager daydreams of getting some payback from the bullies who menace him in this hybrid of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) and The Karate Kid (1984). Barry Gabrewski (Jonathan Brandis) is an asthmatic schoolboy who can't participate in sports, much to the delight of a bullying classmate (John Buchanan) and his sadistic gym teacher (Richard Moll). Miserably unhappy, Barry escapes into a world of fantasy, where he imagines himself the tough, karate-proficient sidekick of action movie hero Chuck Norris. Trying to turn his dreams into reality, Barry visits dojo master Kelly Stone (Joe Piscopo), but Stone only mocks his aspirations. A supportive teacher introduces Barry to her uncle, Mr. Lee (Mako), a cook and martial arts teacher who takes Barry under his wing and teaches him the secrets of karate prowess. When Barry becomes good enough to enter a tournament, he needs a fourth athlete to complete his team, and who should be in the stands making a publicity appearance but the real-life Norris, who steps in to fight side-by-side with the plucky teen. Sidekicks was directed by Norris's brother and frequent collaborator Aaron Norris. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Despite his status as a major action star, Sylvester Stallone has made a number of attempts to remodel himself as a comic actor; one of his more infamous efforts in this direction was Stop! or My Mom Will Shoot!. Police detective Joe Bromowski (Sylvester Stallone) has just broken off his relationship with his girlfriend (and fellow police officer) Gwen Harper (JoBeth Williams), so Joe's mother Tutti (Estelle Getty) decides it's time to pay him a visit. Tutti proceeds to make Joe's life miserable by nagging him about his clothes, cleaning his apartment, washing his gun, tagging along on investigations, and somehow getting involved with a gun-running organization that the police have been trying to infiltrate. After this film, Stallone would stay away from comedy until 1997, when he played a cameo in another unenthusiastically received film, An Alan Smithee Film -- Burn, Hollywood, Burn. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A vehicle for popular wrestling celebrity Hulk Hogan, Suburban Commando is an inoffensive science-fiction fantasy. Hogan plays Shep Ramsey, a well-sculpted if somewhat dimwitted intergalactic hero. On vacation from fighting crime on other planets, he has a fight with an alien enemy and his spaceship is damaged. He seeks refuge on Earth until his ship can be revived. Trying to look inconspicuous as an ordinary human being without special powers, he is befriended by a suburban family headed by Charlie Wilcox (Christopher Lloyd) and his wife Jenny (Shelley Duvall). Ramsey's stay isn't peaceful because he has such a keen sense of justice, which he dishes out to muggers, reckless drivers, and even smart-aleck paper carriers. In the end, he has to defend the family against his bold nemesis. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Based on a gritty, semi-autobiographical novel by author Kim Wozencraft, this crime thriller was adapted for the screen by noir novelist Pete Dexter and marked the directorial debut of producer Lili Fini Zanuck. Jennifer Jason Leigh stars as Kristen Cates, a rookie police officer recruited to partner with Jim Raynor (Jason Patric), an undercover Texas cop trying to infiltrate the criminal ring of major drug dealer Will Gaines (Gregg Allman) in the 1970s. What Kristen isn't told is that, as part of his deep cover masquerade, Jim must take drugs in order to be convincing and, unsurprisingly, has become an addict. Although this dangerous practice is not acceptable police procedure, Jim and Kristen's zealous superiors Larry Dodd (Sam Elliott) and Donald Nettle (Tony Frank) are obsessed with taking Gaines down because he has corrupted the daughter of a prominent local citizen. Jim and Kristen, who fall in love and move in together, befriend a petty car thief, Walker (Max Perlich), who has ties to Gaines. Since they both become drug addicts, Jim and Kristen's case makes little progress, until they clean up and convince Walker to turn on Gaines. Their investigation becomes tainted, however, when they are pressured from above to manufacture false evidence against their target. The soundtrack for Rushcontained the hit song "Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

In Peter Yates' crime drama An Innocent Man, Tom Selleck plays Jimmie Rainwood, a stock figure airline maintenance supervisor with a perfect family. Then, one day, Jimmie decides to take a shower. While scrubbing himself clean, two crooked cops are getting themselves dirtier. Mike Parnell (David Rasche) and Danny Scalise (Richard Young) are the kind of bad cops who bust the drug dealers, steal their supply, and sell it back to the local drug lords. On this day, unfortunately for Jimmie, they get the wrong address and bash down his door. When Jimmie comes out of the bathroom wielding his hair dryer, Parnell and Scalise think it is a gun and shoot him. Realizing their mistake, they cover themselves and frame him as a drug dealer. Jimmie refuses to take a plea and he is sentenced to six years in the slammer. In the brutal prison environment, he is taken aside by long-timer Virgil Kane (F. Murray Abraham), who gives him a bleak collection of options to chose from in order to survive prison. After seeing a prison gang rape, Jimmie chooses the kill-or-be-killed selection and stabs to death the nasty black convict who has been bothering him. After three years, Jimmie is released on parole, and he tries to pick up his life again. But Parnell and Scalise return to threaten Jimmie and his family. Realizing that his prison lessons must be carried over into civilian life, he sets up a situation in which the bad cops' drug dealings are revealed, and Jimmie prepares for a final reckoning between the cops and himself. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

One of several films released to trade on the short-lived Lambada craze (it was an especially sexy Latin dance in case you don't remember), Lambada stars J. Eddie Peck as Kevin Laird, a mathematics teacher at an exclusive Beverly Hills high school who by night puts away his slide rule and shuffles down to the barrio where, as Blade, he frequents a disco called No Man's Land and cuts loose, instructing the thermal-heated females on how to dance the lambada. After the bumping and grinding, he takes the ladies to a back room where he helps them get their GEDs. It appears that all is well with Kevin; he is appointed head of the mathematics department by principal Singleton (Keene Curtis) and his family never questions why he goes out at night dressed in leather and earrings. But then one of his students, Sandy (Melora Hardin), spots Kevin's gyrating pelvis when she heads to No Man's Land after an argument with her boyfriend Dean (Ricky Paull Goldin). Sandy begins to frequent the club and it is not long before Kevin's double-life is revealed. Dean comes to the club to take Sandy back and a disgruntled member of Kevin's barrio entourage, Ramone (Shabba-Doo), tells Dean the truth about Kevin. The result is a rumble between the posh high school kids and the barrio dropouts. Kevin is promptly fired, but a petition by Sandy reinstates him as the two opposing groups of kids square off in a math competition. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Malone (Burt Reynolds) has been a "wet" operative for the CIA for many years, serving his country by performing assassinations. He is tired of his job and wants to get out of "the company" (as it is called) and live a normal life. He is looking along the Pacific Northwest for a place to settle down when his much-cherished classic Mustang breaks down outside the town of Comstock. He manages to get to a small gas station and is treated like family by a Vietnam veteran, who is the station's owner, and his daughter. They are suffering from the nefarious activities of a local bigwig (Cliff Robertson) to take over all the land in the city in a hare-brained development scheme. He soon runs afoul of the town sheriff, who is basically an employee of the developer, but eventually wins his respect. Meanwhile, the CIA is none too pleased to hear of Malone's intended retirement and send a succession of hit-men after him to ensure that he divulges none of their dirty secrets. Malone destroys the first two killers at some cost to his own well-being. The next assassin turns out to be a woman who is susceptible to his charms. Meanwhile, he has a thorough-going local scoundrel to put out of business. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A year after appearing in the box-office sleeper Shanghai Surprise, pop superstar Madonna starred in the screwball comedy Who's That Girl? She plays Nikki Finn, who is being released from prison after serving a four-year sentence for a murder she didn't commit. Meanwhile, wealthy lawyer Loudon (Griffin Dunne) is about to get married that afternoon to the snobby Wendy (Haviland Morris), the daughter of Simon Worthington (John McMartin). Worthington does not approve of the wedding and he wants Nikki out of town as soon as possible, so he sends Loudon to collect Nikki and take her to the bus station. Instead, the flamboyant Nikki seeks her revenge while trying to find out what happened to her friend Johnny, which causes Loudon a lot of trouble. Naturally, wild action ensues -- some of it involving an escaped Cougar belonging to Loudon's boss, the millionaire animal collector Montgomery Bell (John Mills) -- and Loudon having to choose between the prim Wendy and the unpredictable Nikki. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide