Kim Wilson Movies

The United States Congress named 2003 the "Year of the Blues" as part of an initiative by several musical education groups to make more Americans aware of the history and heritage of blues music, one of America's most important homegrown art forms. To kick off this celebration of the blues, a special concert was held at New York City's historic Radio City Music Hall, and Lightning in a Bottle documents a memorable evening of music from a star-studded roster of artists. Offering a glimpse at the rehearsals and preparations that went into putting the show together as well as the evening's best performances, Lightning in a Bottle includes appearances by B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Macy Gray, Buddy Guy, Chuck D., Solomon Burke, David Johansen, Jimmie Vaughan and Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Alison Krauss, and many more. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The All-American Girls' Professional Baseball League was founded in 1943, when most of the men of baseball-playing age were far away in Europe and Asia fighting World War II. The league flourished until after World War II, when, with the men's return, the league was consigned to oblivion. Director Penny Marshall and screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel re-create the wartime era when women's baseball looked to stand a good chance of sweeping the country. The story begins as a candy-bar tycoon enlists agents to scour the country to find women who could play ball. In the backwoods of Oregon, two sisters -- Dottie (Geena Davis) and Kit (Lori Petty) -- are discovered. Dottie can hit and catch, while Kit can throw a mean fastball. The girls come to Chicago to try out for the team with other prospects that include their soon-to-be-teammates Mae Mordabito (Madonna), Doris Murphy (Rosie O'Donnell), and Marla Hooch (Megan Cavanagh). The team's owner, Walter Harvey (Gary Marshall) needs someone to coach his team and he picks one-time home-run champion Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks), who is now a broken-down alcoholic. After a few weeks of training, as Dugan sobers up, the team begins to show some promise. By the end of the season, the team has improved to the point where they are competing in the World Series (which is no big deal, since there are only four teams in the league). ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

In WWII, many men who were professional athletes went to war. The women filled in on the baseball field like they did in the factories. See the ten teams and the women who made up the women's baseball league. ~ Rovi

The Naked Cage offers a glimpse of the stark realities of prison life while at the same time acknowledging the issue of prison corruption. Young and naïve Michelle (Shari Shattuck) has just been thrown in the slammer for a bank heist she definitely did not commit. The inmates warn her about the warden (Angel Tompkins), whose lesbian lifestyle is forced on inmates of her choosing. No one has to warn Michelle about the guard who rapes and kills the inmates, or about the woman who framed her and is now also in jail. These three threats to Michelle's inherent virtue are nothing she can fight off alone, and so some new characters step into the picture to help tip the scales. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Originally made for television, this delightfully sordid women's prison film has a pair of co-eds (Deborah Raffin and Lynne Moody) traveling through a small town, where they are arrested by a sleazy sheriff (Chuck Connors) and sent to a work-farm. The usual sadistic goings-on result, including rape, murder, and white slavery, but this is a bit more interesting than most similar offerings just for the oddball cast. Ralph Bellamy appears as a judge, Brady Bunch dad Robert Reed is the warden, and Gilligan's Island star Tina Louise is a prison guard. A highpoint of a year in which television seemed almost like a Southern drive-in, Nightmare in Badham County is a must for fans of smarmy small-screen exploitation. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi