Al Cerullo Movies

Deke DaSilva (Sylvester Stallone) and Matthew Fox (Billy Dee Williams) are New York police officers specially assigned to a special multi-national team dedicated to tracking down terrorist Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer). Wulfgar planted a bomb in a London department store, killing several children and he is now an outcast, hunted by both the police and his fellow gang members. He has extensive plastic surgery and resumes his activities aided by Shakka (Persis Khambutta), a completely psychotic fellow outcast. Soon DaSilva and Wulfgar are engaged in a violent battle of wits as Wulfgar resumes his terrorist activities and threatens New York . This very effective thriller features a chilling performance by Rutger Hauer as the handsome, ruthless cold-blooded killer who charms women into helping him and then kills them. Sylvester Stallone gives an unusually understated emotionally vulnerable performance as a man trying to save lives while he saves his own marriage. The film makes excellent use of New York locales, particularly during a terrifying hijacking of a cable car where Wulfgar coolly decides which of the hostages will live or die. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

This comedy is set upon a remote Greek island and is very loosely based on Shakespeare's classic play. The tale centers on a middle-aged New York architect who abandons his wife and moves to the island with his teen-age daughter and his new lover, a Greek singer, in hopes of finding meaning in his life. The only resident of the island is an old hermit, and the father is finally happy until his wife, her lover, his son and others get in a shipwreck and end up marooned on the island with him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The 1982 film version of the John Irving novel The World According to Garp attempts to captures the quirky spirit while condensing the Irving original. Robin Williams plays the title character, the son of unmarried, unorthodox feminist Jenny Fields (Glenn Close, in her film debut). Every effort made by Jenny to broaden Garp's outlook on life -- she even arranges for him to spend the night with a hooker (Swoosie Kurtz) -- crams more fears and phobias into his psyche. Aspiring to become a novelist, Garp succeeds in this goal at the same time that his mother publishes her first feminist manifesto. Though successful and happily married to college sweetheart Helen Holm (Mary Beth Hurt), Garp remains envious of his fearless mother, who has taken in the radical "Ellen Jamesians," a group named after a young woman who had her tongue cut out by a rapist. Mutilation, in fact, becomes something of a leitmotif in Garp's life, climaxing (in every sense of the word) in an auto accident brought about by Helen's tryst with Michael Milton (Mark Soper). There is, of course, much more to the story than this: standing out amongst the dozens of offbeat supporting characters is John Lithgow as Roberta Muldoon, a transexual ex-football jock. John Irving appears as a referee during a college wrestling match, while director George Roy Hill plays the pilot whose low-flying plane crashes into Garp's new home. The World According to Garp didn't attract as large an audience as other, more conventional Robin Williams vehicles, though Close and Lithgow would both be nominated for Best Supporting Actor statues. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Everyone knows that teenagers are smarter than adults, and if given a chance the kids could save the world--if they don't blow it to bits first. The Manhattan Project tells of how 16-year-old Christopher Collet tries to alert his community to the dangers of nuclear energy. John Lithgow, a doctor in a pharmaceutical research plant wherein covert plutonium experiments are taking place, is the boy friend of Cowlet's mom Jill Eikenberry. While Lithgow is romantically occupied, Cowlet and his girl Cynthia Nixon steal the plutonium and construct their own atomic bomb. They do this, of course, as a warning to foolhardy grownups--none more foolhardy than the folks who put up good money to make this film. Manhattan Project was directed by longtime Woody Allen collaborator Marshall Brickman, whose expert sense of comic timing obscures the thickheaded "message" of this picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This gentle comedy drama explores aspects of love and relationships by featuring two parallel tales, both occurring in the same Vermont town. In one, the boredom faced by a married pair of high-school sweethearts leads to the destruction of their marriage. At the same time, their closest friend finally finds the love of his life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Ernest Thompson, the playwright responsible for the Pulitzer Prize winning On Golden Pond, makes his directorial debut with 1969. Kiefer Sutherland plays a draft-age youth who undergoes an epiphany when one of his friends is killed in Vietnam. Sutherland's subsequent antiwar stance causes a great deal of tension within his own family, though his mother, Mariette Hartley, tries her best to understand. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between star Gene Wilder and director Leonard Nimoy resulted in the charmingly haphazard and anachronistic Funny About Love. Wilder plays political cartoonist Duffy Bergman, who falls in love with much-younger Meg (Christine Lahti) during a book-signing session. Once married, the old "clash of careers" bugaboo arises: Meg wants to continue working as a chef in a fancy New York restaurant, while Duffy would prefer that she think about starting a family. When it seems as though Meg may be incapable of bearing children, the self-involved Duffy impregnates earthy college coed Daphne (Mary Stuart Masterson). How a happy ending can grow from this complication is a puzzlement. Funny About Love was based--extremely loosely--on a speech once delivered by Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene. The laughs tend to be sporadic, though Stephen Toblowsky scores high marks as a jocular fertility doctor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Eddie Murphy plays Marcus Graham, a hotshot ad exec who's also an insatiable womanizer. He is thus hardly prepared for his new boss, Jacqueline, played by Robin Givens. In terms of things romantic, Jacqueline is nothing more or less than a female version of Marcus -- and now, for the first time, he's getting the runaround. Boomerang boasts supporting-cast contributions from Halle Berry, David Alan Grier, Martin Lawrence, Grace Jones, Eartha Kitt, Geoffrey Holder, and Melvin Van Peebles. Watch closely and you'll see director Reginald Hudlin in a bit role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Michael J. Fox stars as Doug Ireland in this romantic comedy about a brash concierge at a swanky New York hotel who always makes it a point to go out of his way for the hotel guests. But Doug doesn't want to be a concierge forever. What he would really like to do is build a swanky hotel of his own, and all he needs is $3 million to do it. When haughty and patronizing tycoon Christian Hanover (Anthony Higgins) comes to the hotel for a rendezvous with his mistress Andy Hart (Gabrielle Anwar), Doug sees the opportunity to convince Christian to invest the $3 million in his dream of a hotel. So, Doug willingly agrees to baby-sit Andy when Christian has to leave her to see his wife. But the more time he spends with Andy, the more affectionate he feels toward her, until finally he has fallen in love with her. Now Doug must make a choice concerning what he really wants -- his dream of a hotel or the love of Andy. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

There's a real murder and a real mystery in Woody Allen's Manhattan Murder Mystery, but these plot pegs are used mainly to allow Allen to explore modern urban relationships. Allen plays a N.Y.C. book editor, Larry Lipton, married to Carol (Diane Keaton, who replaced Mia Farrow at the last minute, for reasons well publicized at the time). Carol is a free spirit, ever willing to try new experiences, but Larry is a wet blanket. When it begins to look like a neighbor has killed his wife, Carol is eager to investigate the mystery, but Larry thinks her suspicions are nonsensical and doesn't want to leave his apartment. Undaunted, Carol finds another "Nick Charles" in the form of family friend Ted (Alan Alda), who joins the investigation, and feels attracted to Carol and isn't afraid to let her know. Meanwhile, a writer under Larry's aegis (Anjelica Huston), who feels romantically drawn to him, also decides to join in the fun. Slightly jealous of Carol in the face of her budding relationship with Ted, Larry reluctantly agrees to go along on her clue-hunting expedition -- and it is he who discovers the corpse, who as it turns out was killed after Carol started poking around the apartment building. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Three brothers who are inept criminals butcher one last attempt to pull off a big heist in this caper comedy. Bill Firpo (Nicolas Cage) is sick of thievery and has retired from crime to run an upscale restaurant in New York. But when his two brothers, Alvin (Dana Carvey) and Dave (Jon Lovitz), get out of prison, Bill is sucked back into their world of crime. The three end up on the run and hide out in the small town of Paradise, PA. The friendly townspeople include a bank president (Clifford Moffat) whose trust in people has left his bank an easy target. The brothers can't resist lifting $275,000 from the vault. Unfortunately, Alvin drives their getaway car in circles and they end up back in town and get in an accident. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Hawk-like Marine Corps officer Benson Payne (Damon Wayans) attempts to whip into shape the usual assortment of misfit JROTC kids in this minor remake of The Private War of Major Benson. Of course, both the major and his pint-sized recruits have something to teach one another. Payne teaches them the value of self-discipline and instills self-confidence in them, and the recruits teach him to stop and smell the roses (not to mention the fact that kids sometimes need coddling rather than screaming). And, of course, there is the annual JROTC statewide competition, which the kids are obligated to win before the movie can end. While there are some funny moments (the major's exhibition in full-dress whites at a school dance, for example), the script seems too color-by-numbers to be interesting to anyone other than undiscriminating younger viewers. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide