Robert Weiss Movies

The 1987 portmanteau comedy feature Amazon Women on the Moon lampoons several film genres in general and the 1954 sci-fi cheapie Cat Women of the Moon in particular. Other sketches in Amazon Women include an opening bit with Arsenio Hall; a vignette titled "Son of the Invisible Man" wherein a naked Ed Begley Jr. runs around in full view of the nonplussed supporting cast; the It's Alive parody "Hospital", which offers the spectacle of Michelle Pfeiffer giving birth to Mr. Potato Head; and a Siskel & Ebert takeoff, featuring Arche Hahn as a TV viewer whose entire life is given a "thumbs down." Directed by several hands, including Joe Dante, Carl Gottleib, Peter Horton, John Landis, and Robert K. Weiss, Amazon Women on the Moon also features a satire of the Kroger G. Babb school of "sex hygiene" exploitation cheapies, with syphilis victim Carrie Fisher being counseled by unctuous doctor Paul Bartel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dudley Moore stars as Emory Lesson, an advertising genius whose finds himself committed to an insane asylum in Tony Bill's Crazy People. Emory becomes tired with creating phony ad campaigns and decides to create his own campaigns that tell the brutal truth. Since sex sells, Emory designs an explicit ad campaign consisting of unadorned sexuality. The campaign is so offensive that his colleagues have Emory put in a mental institution. At first Emory resists, but under the tutelage of a concerned psychiatrist, Dr. Liz Baylor (Mercedes Ruehl) and the tender love of Kathy (Daryl Hannah) a beautiful patient, Emory begins to like it in the mental home. Befriending the cute and lovable patients in the mental ward, Emory discovers that the crazy people are natural-born advertising geniuses and Emory utilizes their genius for a new ad campaign. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A college professor (Dan Aykroyd is forced to go undercover as a Chicago pimp disguised by a bushy wig -- the height of hairlarity in this anemic comedy. When Smooth Walker (Howard Hesseman) is hunted by his gangster rival, Mom (Kate Murtagh), he foists his bevy of hookers on the professor -- and then ends up dead. Among the four hookers who are suddenly in his undercover life are Fran Drescher in an early role as an archetypal Jewish princess, and Donna Dixon as another of the high-class call-girls (Dixon and Aykroyd were later married). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Page Fletcher stars as the title character in this 1983-1988 made-for-cable suspense anthology. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

This made-for-cable romantic drama was based on the book Fishing with John by Manhattan journalist Edith Iglauer. Jaclyn Smith stars as Iglauer, who is on assignment in British Columbia to write a flippantly satiric piece about the Canadian salmon industry. A "meet cute" scene unites Edith with taciturn, reclusive fisherman John Daly (Tim Matheson). She's sophisticated, he's earthy; she throws up at the sight of a gutted fish, he was born with a fishing pole in his hand; she never stops talking, he never starts. In other words, Edith and John are made for each other, and before the story ends, the two of them have joined forces to save all the other salmon fishermen in the Dominion from ruination and despair. Described by one journalist as the world's first eco-romance, Navigating the Heart made its Lifetime network debut on February 14, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While star Anna Faris returns for the third film in the Scary Movie series, the power behind the camera has shifted from the Wayans brothers to one of the Zucker brothers. The Zucker in question is David Zucker, and he's brought along his partner in movie-parody crime, Leslie Nielsen. This time around, aim is taken at such horror blockbusters as Signs and The Ring, while films of other genres, including Independence Day, 8 Mile, and The Matrix, are also lampooned. The plot finds Cindy (Faris) trying to help the president (Nielsen) thwart an alien attack while also facing crop circles and a mysterious video tape. In the spirit of the two Matrix sequels, Scary Movie 3 was shot back-to-back with Scary Movie 4. Queen Latifah, Charlie Sheen, and Eddie Griffin also star. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

First seen over the Fox network on March 22, 1995, the weekly, hour-long Sliders was a sci-fi-fantasy opus about a group of people who visited bizarre parallel worlds by means of a device that could open wormholes in the universe. Jerry O'Connell starred as Quinn Mallory, the San Francisco-based college student who invented the device, a timing mechanism that resembled an ordinary TV remote. Together with his physics professor Maximillian P. Arturo (John Rhys-Davies), his computer-store co-worker Wade Wells (Sabrina Lloyd) and washed-up soul singer Rembrandt "Crying Man" Brown (Cleavant Derricks), Quinn continually popped up in infinite alternate versions of San Francisco, some only subtly different than the world the travelers were familiar with, others radically changed. In one episode, Frisco was a Communist city; in another, the town was in the throes of the Ice Ace; in still another, the city is a tributary of "the country of Texas"; and in yet still another, dinosaurs roam throughout the city's streets and hills. In these other worlds Elvis still lived, the British had won the Revolutionary War, psychics and hippies controlled the government, and Rembrandt Brown was still the biggest singing star on Earth. In each episode, it fell to the four protagonists -- the sliders -- to right various wrongs in these crazy-quilt worlds, and to find a way to return to their own San Francisco. Beginning with the series' third season, the sliders moved beyond San Francisco and visited alternate worlds all over the Earth and the rest of the universe. In the course of their journeys they picked up another slider from another world, Maggie Beckett (Kari Wuhrer). The series ended its Fox run on August 8, 1997, with Professor Arturo being killed and Wade disappearing from view. Beginning June 8, 1998, Sliders was picked up by cable's Sci Fi Channel, with Jerry O'Connell, Cleavant Derricks, and Kari Wuhrer still in the cast. It was explained that Quinn's home Earth had been overrun by a race of warrior sliders called the Kromagg, who had conquered the planet and shipped Wade off to a breeding farm. It also turned out that Quinn's own parents had been sliders from another world, and that he'd been implanted with a micro-dot which would not only enable him to find a super-weapon with which he could destroy the Kromagg, but also locate his long-lost brother Colin (Charlie O'Connell) -- who, when found, became the newest member of the sliders' team. At the outset of the series' final season, both of the Mallory brothers perished in a bad slide, but Quinn's "life essences" were manifested into another slider (played by Robert Floyd), who was immediately re-christened Quinn Two. Ultimately, Quinn Two linked up with Rembrandt, Maggie, and another new slider, a scientist named Diana Davis (Tembe Locke). The last episode of Sliders -- which rather perversely brought the whole saga full-circle -- was originally aired on February 4, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Two of the Fox sci-fi-fantasy series Sliders finds college student Quinn Mallory (Jerry O'Connell) and his friends Wade (Sabrina Lloyd), Arturo (John Rhys-Davies), and Rembrandt (Cleavant Derricks) using the timing device he has invented to hopscotch around dozens of alternate versions of his native San Francisco, as the foursome desperately seek a way to return to their own world. In the season opener "Into the Mystic", the sliders pop up in a contemporary San Francisco ruled by magicians, whereupon Quinn becomes a hunted man when he refuses to pay his witch doctor's bill. Other typical episodes this season include "The Good, the Bad, and the Wealthy", in which San Francisco is part of the Nation of Texas; "Obsession", depicting a bizarro Frisco controlled by evil psychics; and "Greatfellas", in which the foursome emerge in a modern world where Prohibition has never ended, with San Francisco in thrall of old-fashioned gangsters. And foreshadowing of season three, wherein Quinn and company move beyond San Francisco and slide throughout the world and the universe, our heroines (and heroine) meet a band of fellow sliders from another planet in "Invasion." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After completing a three-year run on the Fox network, the sci-fi series Sliders appropriately resurfaced on cable's Sci-Fi Channel for an additional two seasons. When last we saw Quinn Mallory (Jerry O'Connell) and Maggie Beckett (Kari Wuhrer), the two sliders who had used Quinn's timing mechanism to travel to alternate worlds and universes throughout the time-space continuum, they had been hurtled centuries into the future. As the series' fourth season begins, Maggie and Quinn have reached his home earth, now in the thrall of the Kromaggs, a fascistic race of warrior sliders. As for the other former series regulars, prof. Arturo was killed near the end of season three, and Wade Wells has been shipped off to a Kromagg breeding camp; only Rembrandt Brown (Cleavant Derricks) is able to link up with Quinn and Maggie. Before long, Quinn discovers that his own parents had been sliders from a different world, and that he has been implanted with a microdot that will enable him to locate a powerful weapon capable of wiping out the Kromagg. As icing on the cake, this microdot will also ultimately reunite Quinn with his long-lost brother, Colin (Charlie O'Connell), who upon being rescued joins sliders Quinn, Maggie, and Cleavant in their quest to topple the Kromagg and save their world. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After spoofing disaster films in Airplane!, police shows in The Naked Gun, and Hollywood horrors in Scary Movie 3 and 4, producer David Zucker sets his satirical sights on the superhero genre with this anarchic comedy lampooning everything from Spider-Man to X-Men and Superman Returns. Shortly after being bitten by a genetically altered dragonfly, high-school outcast Rick Riker (Drake Bell) begins to experience a startling transformation. Now Rick's skin is as strong as steel, and he possesses the strength of ten men. Determined to use his newfound powers to fight crime, Rick creates a special costume and assumes the identity of The Dragonfly -- a fearless crime fighter dedicated to keeping the streets safe for law-abiding citizens. But every superhero needs a nemesis, and after Lou Landers (Christopher McDonald) is caught in the middle of an experiment gone horribly awry, he develops the power to leech the life force out of anyone he meets and becomes the villainous Hourglass. Intent on achieving immortality, the Hourglass attempts to gather as much life force as possible as the noble Dragonfly sets out to take down his archenemy and realize his destiny as a true hero. Craig Mazin writes and directs this high-flying spoof featuring Tracy Morgan, Pamela Anderson, Leslie Nielsen, Marion Ross, Jeffrey Tambor, and Regina Hall. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Expanding on their Saturday Night Live characters, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd star as Jake and Elwood Blues, two white boys with black soul. Sporting cool shades and look-alike suits, Jake and Elwood are dispatched on a "mission from God" by their former teacher, Sister Mary Stigmata (Kathleen Freeman). Said mission is to raise $5000 to save an orphanage. In the course of their zany adventures, the Blues Brothers run afoul of neo-Nazi Henry Gibson, perform the theme from Rawhide before the most unruly bar crowd in written history, and lay waste to hundreds of cars on the streets and freeways of Chicago. In case you aren't swept up in the infectuous nuttiness of the brothers Blue, you might have fun spotting film's legion of guest stars, including James Brown, Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, John Candy, Carrie Fisher, Steve Lawrence, Twiggy, Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman), Frank Oz, and Steven Spielberg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Comedy writers David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams of Airplane and The Naked Gun fame got their start at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, when they formed a theatrical group known as The Kentucky Fried Theater. The Kentucky Fried Movie is based on the KFT's gag-filled theatrical skits. Including well-known stars such as Bill Bixby, Donald Sutherland, Tony Dow, George Lazenby and Henry Gibson, the film has over 22 different segments of varying lengths. Some are seconds long. Longer segments include such highlights as: "Zinc Oxide," which spoofs school educational films; "Cleopatra Schwartz," a spoof of female blaxploitation action films, whose heroine is married to a rabbi; "Sex Record," which depicts a couple who are attempting to follow the step-by-step instructions of a how-to-do-it record; "Catholic High School Girls In Trouble," and "A Fistful of Yen," (the longest episode), which is an elaborate spoof of martial-arts films. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide