Richard Smith Movies
For anyone curious to hear about the miraculous events that unfolded during our nation's darkest hour, this documentary exploring the stories largely ignored by the mainstream press explores the many strange "coincidences" that occurred on and around September 11, 2001. From the woman whose husband was on United flight ninety-three and who prophesized that he would perish in some tragedy related to the White House to the man who survived despite being on the top floor of the first building hit, the woman who died while being rescued and came back to life, and the Hispanic woman who begged the lord for help only to find him intervening in the most unlikely of manners, this release will prompt viewers to question everything they every thought they knew about that fearful and fateful day. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Something of a Ghostbusters without the laughs (or the high-end special effects), the direct-to-video thriller Phantom Force involves a prehistoric rock which holds the power to revive ancient demons. Long buried in the ocean, the rock is found by the crew of a nuclear submarine--which is immediately demonized and transformed into a floating weapon of mass destruction. Counter-terrorism expert and part-time psychic Mark Dupree (Richard Grieco) and his crack Phantom Force team are summoned to save the day, and the world. Dupree and company end up duking it out with malevolent spirits in an alternate dimension. Rated "R" on home video, Phantom Force nonetheless looked like the pilot for an unsold TV series, and as such was perfect fare for cable's Sci-Fi Channel, where it made its premiere on March 27, 2004. (Incidentally, director Christian McIntire tried but failed to have his name removed from the credits. Take heed). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Gigantic, intelligent electric eels are preventing the submarine crews of a United Nations mission to detonate nuclear charges in a growing fissure under the North Pole that is causing the Pole to melt at a disastrous rate. Capt. Andy Raines (David Keith) is brought in to help scientists Dr. Anne Fletcher (Simmone Jade Mackinnon) and Chomsky (Mark Sheppard) figure out how to defeat the eels and save the planet. Little do the rest of them know, but Dr. Fletcher has been communicating with them, and maybe on the side of the slippery fish. ~ Buzz McClain, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Keith, Simmone Mackinnon, (more)
In the dark waters of the Gulf of Mexico, several great white sharks complicate things for a secret U.S. military mission. Once enough sailors are lost to the surprisingly cunning beasts, MIT drop-out marine biologist Robin (Simmone Jade MacKinnon) and renegade fish expert Dane (Lorenzo Lamas) are taken to a classified submarine where they are to help the Marines get rid of the dorsal-finned predators. But there's more than that happening on the sub, and before long Dane and Robin don't know the good guys from the sharks. Bullets fly, sharks attack. ~ Buzz McClain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lorenzo Lamas, Simmone Mackinnon, (more)
Phillip Roth's action/disaster film Maximum Velocity concerns the efforts of a group of military men and scientists to thwart an oncoming storm that would devastate the planet. He group must utilize a still unproven new weapon to dissipate the storm before all is lost. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Wendy Carter, Gregor Toerzs, (more)
U.K. filmmaker Marc Evans directs the psychological thriller Trauma, produced for the Ministry of Fear division of Little Bird Productions. Colin Firth stars as Ben, a man who wakes up from a coma to discover his wife, Elisa (Naomie Harris), has been killed in a car crash. He tries to start a new life on his own, but he's haunted by images of his wife and strange happenings in his apartment. Having no family connections left, he reunites with old friend Tommy (Tommy Flanagan). He also makes friends with neighbor Charlotte (Mena Suvari), who takes him to psychic Petra (Brenda Fricker). Trauma premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Colin Firth, Mena Suvari, (more)
A race with a 25-million-dollar prize is at the center of this action film starring Antonio Sabato Jr. Tensions are rising as the big event draws near, and with a monster hurricane threatening to strike, the potential for a violent confrontation between man and nature is growing. Produced and directed by Phillip Roth, Hypersonic also stars Adam Baldwin and William Zabka. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
- Starring:
- Antonio Sabato, Jr.
An invisible, shape-shifting extraterrestrial has invaded a Russian nuclear power plant with the aim of causing international chaos, and now the only hope for the human race lies in one tough soldier. When Lieutenant Sean Lamber (Oliver Gruner) learns that the alien's aim is to bring about a devastating nuclear winter, he makes it his personal mission to prevent the extraterrestrial menace from executing its diabolical plan. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Olivier Gruner, Roger R. Cross, (more)
In this made-for-cable sequel to Pythons, the U.S. Army's Colonel Jefferson (Marcus Aurelius) has successfully neutralized the horrific 12-ton, 57-foot python that had been developed as a jungle weapon by a top-secret intelligence organization. Unfortunately, still another synthetic "Beta Snake" has escaped from Sub-Basement 9 of the Russian-American Joint Military Operations -- and this one is 85 feet long, and even meaner and more invulnerable than the original python prototype. When the slimy predator slithers into the Ural Mountains, it is up to disgraced ex-ballplayer Dwight Stoddard (Dana Ashbrook) and his Russian wife Nadia (Simone Jade McKinnon) to capture and kill the monster. Alas, mysterious American Greg Larson (Billy Zabka), who claims to be a "biotechnician," proves to be the real snake in the grass in this melodramatic Bulgarian-American coproduction. Pythons II was first telecast in the U.S. by the Sci-Fi Channel on August 17, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- William Zabka, Dana Ashbrook, (more)
Phillip Roth directs Dean Cain in the action film Dragon Fighter. As part of an experiment, the military takes a DNA sample from a creature believed to be a fire-breathing dragon and creates a clone of the beast. When the thing escapes, the only person who stands between the dragon and his desire to destroy the world is security officer David Carver (Cain). ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
A covert US/Soviet military experiment designed to create the ultimate telepathic and telekinetic soldier backfires when the sole successful test subject goes AWOL in an explosive tale of action-packed conspiracy starring Judge Reinhold. It was a risky venture from the onset, and when only one of the five test members emerged from the top-secret military experiment suitable for battle they could never have imagined the trouble he would cause after learning the real purpose of his training. With time running out before the powerful soldier called Mindstorm decides to turn on his handlers in an attempt to get revenge for their deception, it's up to former Black-Ops officer Evan Mink (Reinhold) to find and contain the unstable warrior and ensure that the government's dirty little secret doesn't hit the headlines. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Wilfred Schmidt's suspense film Dark Descent stars Dean Cain as Will Murdack, a member of the Deep Submersible Division. Murdack is sent to investigate why people are dying in an underwater mining installation. Between the physical pressures of being 35,000 feet underwater, the psychological ravages of never seeing sunlight, and the constant claustrophobia, Murdack must work quickly to rescue himself as well the workers. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
Science must confront a power greater than our own in this unusual sci-fi-thriller. As seismic activities around the world begin going haywire, causing untold damages in major cities and claiming thousands of lives, the President of the United States orders Kasia Czaban, one of his top scientific advisers, and Mason Rand, a leading weapons expert, to investigate the phenomenon and see if it can be stopped. Kasia and Mason's investigation leads them to the Himalayas, where they discover a strange object of otherworldly origin that can generate its own power and water, spawn and support its own life forms, and either extend or extinguish human lives at will. What is this strange item? What is its role in the history of our universe? And can Mason and Kasia unlock its secrets without falling prey to its dangers? Epoch stars David Keith, Stephanie Niznik, Ryan O'Neal, and Shannon Lee. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Keith, Ryan O'Neal, (more)
When a top-secret governmental experiment to harness the power of hurricanes goes awry, the city of Los Angeles is threatened with a windstorm of apocalyptic dimensions. Renegade Air Force officer Gen. James Roberts (Martin Sheen) finds himself working in concert with meteorologist and "storm tracker" Dr. Ron Young (Luke Perry) to prevent the oncoming disaster. Unfortunately, certain functionaries in the CIA have other ideas -- and those ideas do not necessarily include the salvation of L.A. Telecast as Storm and later syndicated as Storm Tracker, this Fox Family Channel cable-TV movie originally aired on September 11, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
In this campy, nostalgic comedy based on a popular TV series from the early '60s, the two bungling cops Toody and Muldoon are assigned to guard a key witness who is planning to testify against a crime lord. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Johansen, John C. McGinley, (more)
Sylvester Stallone is a tough but essentially decent convict in a relatively humane prison. He's on such good terms with the authorities that he's occasionally allowed a weekend furlough. This idyllic situation ends abruptly when he's transferred to a nasty prison run by sadistic warden Donald Sutherland (remember way back when Sutherland played good guys and Stallone played secondary hoodlums?) Harboring a grudge against Sly over an unfortunate incident at another prison, Sutherland does everything he can to make Stallone's term a Hell on Earth. But in the end, it is Sutherland who is Stallone's prisoner--and, since Sly's name comes first on the credits, it is Sutherland who blubberingly confesses to a string of crimes perpetrated on the helpless inmates. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Donald Sutherland, (more)
A team of international specialists are assigned to take out a group of Palestinian terrorists in this actioner. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi
Apology stars Lesley Anne Warren (with a Stefanie Powers hairdo) as a Manhattan-based sculptor/performance artist. To enhance her latest project, Warren invites the participation of anonymous phone callers, whose voices she records. One of her unseen "collaborators" calls her up to confess to a murder--several murders, in fact. Warren strongly suspects that the mystery caller may be intending a little "performance" involving her own demise. Peter Weller co-stars as a sympathetic detective who ends up Warren's lover--but can he be trusted? Made for HBO, Apology was originally telecast July 27, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lesley Ann Warren, Peter Weller, (more)
A woman fears that her amnesia-stricken husband may be a serial killer in this made-for-cable thriller. After family man Ed Vinson gruesomely murders his wife and kids and skips town, police investigator Joe Steiner (Richard Widmark) becomes obsessed with capturing the monster -- even after he's forced to retire from the force. Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, a traffic accident kills one man and leaves another (Keith Carradine) a hideously disfigured amnesiac. Police can't figure out who the survivor is, so he takes the name Allen Devlin and, after reconstructive surgery, falls in love with and marries his recently divorced nurse, Chris Graham (Kathleen Quinlan). Several years later, Steiner shows up in town, convinced Devlin is really Ed Vinson; his dogged pursuit threatens the happiness the Devlins have carved out for themselves and their children -- especially after a series of gruesome rapes begins to occur. The evidence seems to implicate Allen in the attacks, but Chris suspects that her old boyfriend, cop Mike Patterson (Michael Beck), is trying to frame him. The tension escalates as Chris suffers through a series of anonymous phone calls from a man who seems to think he's Ed Vinson; when her son finds a grotesque fetish mask in the garage, even Chris begins to doubt her husband's innocence. Directed by British horror veteran Douglas Hickox and written by Amityville 3D scribe David Ambrose, Blackout premiered on the Home Box Office network in 1985. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Widmark, Dameon Clarke, (more)

- 1980
- Add The Last of the Blue Devils: The Kansas City Jazz Story to QueueAdd The Last of the Blue Devils: The Kansas City Jazz Story to top of Queue
Last of the Blue Devils is an affectionate backward glance at the Kansas City "blues" scene of the 1930s. Established as a mecca for jazz musicians during the Prohibition Era, K.C. spawned some of the best musical talent of the era. The film's nostalgia is leavened with mild outrage in noting that, while many of the best blues men were permitted to strut their stuff before white audiences, none were allowed to utilize anything other than "colored only" facilities. Count Basie is the biggest "name" represented in the film, though this should not diminish the contribution of such dynamos as Big Joe Turner, Walter Page and Jay McShann. Last of the Blue Devils was produced and directed by Bruce Ricker, who later turned out a praiseworthy documentary on Thelonious Monk. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

- 1974
- R
- Add Can You Keep It Up for a Week? to QueueAdd Can You Keep It Up for a Week? to top of Queue
In this romantic comedy a young women will only marry her boyfriend is he can hold a job for seven days. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeremy Bulloch






















