Rocky Carroll Movies

Absolutely nobody is who he or she seems in this stylish thriller about a guy who wants to get out of his fly-speck hometown, the girlfriend who wants to help him, and the successful friend who just might make it possible. When Bryce (Josh Brolin) returns to his tiny hometown of Tropico, NV, he finds pal Nick (Alessandro Nivola) still living there unhappily. One night the pair meets a beautiful blonde at the bar and eventually Bryce takes her back to the house where he's staying. When the girl, Lissa (Reese Witherspoon), reveals that she's under age and threatens to turn Bryce in for statutory rape, he panics, ties her up in the basement, and puts in an anguished call to Nick. Little does Bryce realize, however, that Lissa is actually Nick's very grown-up girlfriend, and that the two lovers have decided Bryce and the ritzy house where he's staying will play a major role in their bid to leave behind dead-end Tropico forever. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Boxing is more than just a sport -- it's also a business and a con game in this satirical comedy. Rev. Fred Sultan (Samuel L. Jackson) is a shrewd boxing promoter and manager whose meal ticket is heavyweight champion James "The Grim Reaper" Roper (Damon Wayans), a fighter whose skill and confidence significantly outstrips his intelligence. While the top-ranked contender for Roper's title is Marvin Shabazz (Michael Jace), Sultan isn't too keen on the idea of Shabazz fighting Roper -- it seems that both fighters are black, and Sultan's figures show that mixed race matches stir up a lot more media attention and pay-per-view customers. Eager to find a white challenger for Roper, Sultan digs up Terry Conklin (Peter Berg), who won a Golden Gloves fight against Roper many years ago but is now out of the game and fronting a rock band called Massive Head Wound. Thanks to a few bribes and a couple of fixed fights, Sultan is able to arrange for Conklin to be next in line to battle "The Grim Reaper." However, Conklin is taking his renewed career as a boxer quite seriously, while Roper, convinced that Conklin doesn't stand a chance, has let himself go and gained a lot of weight. Suddenly Sultan realizes that Roper might just lose the piece-of-cake fight he's so carefully arranged, while journalist Mitchell Kane (Jeff Goldblum) smells a rat in Conklin's sudden rise to ranking status. Jon Lovitz, Cheech Marin, and Corbin Bernsen highlight the supporting cast, while members of the well-regarded alternative rock band Local H appear as Massive Head Wound. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This high-speed action comedy stars Charlie Sheen as Jack Hammond, who has been given a life sentence for a bank robbery that he didn't commit. Hammond manages to escape, and while trying to avoid capture at a gas station, he ends up kidnapping Natalie Voss (Kristy Swanson); he threatens her with what she thinks is a gun, although it turns out to be a candy bar. Jack and Natalie take off in her BMW, with Jack unaware that his "victim" is actually Dalton Voss (Ray Wise), one of California's richest and most powerful land barons. Soon half the state's law enforcement officers and every member of the media is on Jack's tail as he races down the highway; in the meantime, Natalie and Jack get to know each other, and while she doesn't much care for him at first (as you might imagine), before long her attitude has softened quite a bit. Alternative rock fans might want to keep an eye peeled for Henry Rollins, playing a policeman, and Anthony Kiedis and Flea from The Red Hot Chili Peppers as a pair of yahoos with a very large truck. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this quirky romantic comedy about soul transference, Alec Baldwin plays Peter Hoskins, the straight-laced head of the microfiche department at a company that publishes scientific journals. When he meets a free-spirited, sleep-deprived bartender named Rita (Meg Ryan), the opposites attract and launch into a round-the-clock romance characterized by private jokes and an intense connection that defies description. When the two decide to marry, however, an unforeseeable cosmic occurrence entirely alters the nature of their relationship. Those who claim that marriage changes a person couldn't be more right in this case, as a confused old man (Sydney Walker) wanders into the wedding reception and plants a single kiss on the lips of the new bride. Longing for the youthfulness he sees in the happy couple, the man inadvertently causes the two to switch bodies during the smooch. Thinking no one will believe the story, Rita (now hidden inside a cancer-ridden octogenarian) leaves the premises before causing any more of a stir, while the old man in Rita's body is whisked off with Peter on their honeymoon before anyone is the wiser. Soon, Peter begins noticing that his new bride is an entirely different person, but can't figure out why -- and wonders if it's just a natural dose of cold feet. When he can no longer ignore the total dissimilarity, Peter begins suspecting that something supernatural has occurred, and wondering how he can restore his wife to her former self, especially when her body's new occupant resists the effort and goes on the lam. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

The second of three films by co-writer/director Oliver Stone to explore the effects of the Vietnam War (Platoon and Heaven and Earth are the others), Born On The Fourth Of July tells the true story of Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise), a patriotic, All-American small town athlete who shocks his family by enlisting with the Marines to fight in the Vietnam War. Once he is overseas, however, Kovic's gung-ho enthusiasm turns to horror and confusion when he accidentally kills one of his own men in a firefight. His downfall is furthered by a bullet wound that leaves him paralyzed from the chest down. He returns home, spends an appalling, nightmarish stint in a veterans' hospital, and follows an increasingly disillusioned and fragmented path that ultimately leaves him drunk and dissolute in Mexico. However, Kovic somehow turns himself around and pulls his life together, becoming an outspoken anti-war activist in the process. The film is long but emotionally powerful; many consider it Stone's best work and Cruise's best performance. Both were nominated for Oscars, as was the film itself, but only Stone, who co-wrote the film with Kovic from the latter's book, won for Best Director. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi