John Miller Movies
Lynne Ramsay's debut feature Ratcatcher is a gritty but often lyrical portrait of a boy growing up on the wrong side of the Scottish tracks. James (William Eadie) is a 12-year-old coming of age in a rough working-class section of Glasgow. Something of a misfit, James has only two close friends, Margaret Anne (Leanne Mullen), an older girl whose need to be loved often leads her into ill-advised sexual episodes with the neighborhood boys, and Kenny (John Miller), a half-bright kid who loves animals but isn't sure what went wrong when he tried to send his pet mouse into space. One day, James gets into a fight with another boy near a canal that runs through town. James accidentally knocks the boy into the water and he drowns; James is too scared to tell anyone, but the incident weighs heavily on him, adding further tension to an already strained relationship with his alcoholic father. Lynne Ramsay's previous short films won awards at the Cannes Film Festival, which led to Ratcatcher's being screened in the "Un Certain Regard" series at Cannes in 1999. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Eadie, Tommy Flanagan, (more)
A serial killer is transformed into a computer virus out to destroy more than your hard drive in this sci-fi thriller. Terry Munroe (Karen Allen), a single mother, is looking for a gift for her boss and visits a computer store, where one of the employees demonstrates a hand-held scanner than can transfer the information from her address book into a software program that will store the information on her PC. Unknown to Terry, one of the employees of the store is Karl Hochman (Ted Marcoux), known in the press as "The Address Book Killer," who likes to steal other people's address books and murder all the people listed within, including the book's owner. Terry accidentally leaves her book behind at the store, and Karl lifts it, but as he drives to her house to strike her off the list first, he is injured in a serious accident and taken to a hospital. While Karl is being given a CAT scan, lightning strikes the building and Karl is transformed into a series of electrical impulses that can travel as computer code from one system to another, or as current through power lines. Soon Terry begins to suspect something is wrong as her friends succumb to attacks by microwave ovens, hot-air blowers, and other household objects. Terry and her computer-savvy son, Josh (Wil Horneff), realize that they're at risk after Karl appears in Josh's virtual reality games; it's up to Bram Walker (Chris Mulkey), a brilliant hacker-turned-computer maintenance technician, to isolate and destroy the Karl virus before it can kill again. The film's soundtrack features such hip-hop stars as D-Nice and Too Short, Schoolly-D, Grandmaster Slice, and Kool Moe Dee. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karen Allen, Chris Mulkey, (more)
- 1993
- R
Statuesque martial arts doyenne Cynthia Rothrock stars in Undefeatable. As in most of her films, Rothrock's principal motivation is revenge. When her sister is murdered by a serial killer, she lays a trap for the villain. Unfortunately, the killer is also well-versed in martial arts. This Undefeatable should not be confused with the 1994 adventure flick of the same name starring Stan Kang. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cynthia Rothrock, Don Niam, (more)
- 1992
- R
Action heroine Cynthia Rothrock stars as FBI agent Tracey Pride, who teams with her sister Joyce (Donna Joyce), an Interpol operative posing as a TV newswoman, to take down an evil executive (John Miller) with plans to buy a nuclear detonator. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cynthia Rothrock
- 1991
This effective made-for-TV supernatural thriller (based on the novel Virgin by James Patterson) involves the travails of a Catholic priest (Anthony John Denison) who is ordered by his superiors to investigate the prospect of two separate virgin births -- one of which will bring the Son of God into the world, the other the Son of Satan. Unfortunately, there is no overt indication as to which child is which. Omen-style apocalyptic portents abound as the forces of Evil throw a variety of obstacles in Denison's path, even possessing the soul of the nun (Sela Ward) who is assisting him. Potent, gripping stuff -- and very intense for a TV movie -- this retains much of the metaphysical punch of its source material. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
A doctor finds out the hard way that there's more to medicine than skill in the operating theater in this emotional drama. Jack McKee (William Hurt) is a gifted but arrogant surgeon who cares little about the emotional welfare of his patients and is little more than a benign stranger to his wife Anne (Christine Lahti) and his son Nicky (Charlie Korsmo). Jack has been suffering from a nagging cough for some time, and when he begins coughing up blood one morning, he finally allows another doctor to take a look at him. The doctor discovers that Jack has a malignant tumor in his throat that could rob him of the ability to speak, or even kill him. Suddenly, Jack is a patient instead of a doctor, and he learns first hand about the long stretches in the waiting room, the indignity of filling out pointless forms, and the callous attitude of the professional medical community. Jack also gets to know June (Elizabeth Perkins), a terminal cancer patient whose joyous embrace of life as her time draws to a close is an inspiration to him. Restored to health, Jack is determined to be a more caring healer and strives to be a better husband and father, but his new lease on life also earns him an enemy in fellow surgeon Murray (Mandy Patinkin), who wants Jack to lie under oath for him in a major malpractice case; and a new respect for Eli (Alan Arkin), an ear-nose-throat man he used to ridicule for his empathetic treatment of his patients. The Doctor was based on the memoir of real-life surgeon Ed Rosenbaum, entitled "A Taste of My Own Medicine." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hurt, Christine Lahti, (more)
- 1991
Actress Susan Ruttan, who played the quietly efficient legal secretary on LA Law, does an artistic about-face in the TV movie Deadly Medicine. She plays a Texas pediatrics nurse who may have committed several "mercy killings" of her charges. 43 babies die under mysterious circumstances, with Ms. Ruttan seemingly always lurking in the corridor. When confronted by doctor Veronica Hamel, Susan threatens to accuse Ms. Hamel of the murders--and she does, with astonishing success. Though constructed like a network "mystery of the week", Deadly Medicine is founded on fact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
- R
Penn & Teller are magicians who are known for putting on a jet-black, fake blood-soaked comedy magic show. This inky comedy is imbued with their off-beat humor as it chronicles Penn's newest scheme to have a fan try to kill him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penn Jillette, Teller, (more)
Over half of the cast in this horror send-up is either a vampire or a zombie. The conniving Mayor Ranson (Geoff Gibbs) is selling off rural property to the Japanese who plan to build a cartoon theme park. When he orders a memorial and graveyard to Vietnam servicemen to be removed, the dead come back as vampires and zombies to exact their macabre revenge on the living. Connoisseurs of carnage may be disappointed that there is not more excessive and gratuitous gore and violence. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Moore, Khym Lam, (more)
- 1988
James Woods stars in this biographical portrait of war hero--and future Ross Perot running mate--James Stockdale, a naval pilot held as a POW by the Vietnamese for over eight years. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Shootdown, based on a controversial book by R. W. Johnson, examines the aftereffects of a politically sensitive air disaster. Angela Lansbury portrays the real-life Nan Moore, a US government employee whose son (Kyle Secor) is among the 269 people killed when Korean airliner KAL 007 is shot down by the Russians on September 1, 1983. The official story is that the plane accidentally invaded Russian airspace, then was mistaken for a spy plane when the crew did not identify itself. Ms. Moore doesn't swallow this, but in seeking the truth she runs up against a stone wall of bureaucracy. This film adheres to Ms. Moore's theory that KAL 007 was engaged in an actual spy mission, a theory dramatized in a "reconstruction" assembled by investigator John Cullum. Reportedly, the original telecast date of Shootdown was delayed because of its criticism of the Reagan administration; the real Nan Moore insisted that the film's production was slowed down because she didn't want to offend any members of her family. The intention of Shootdown was to put pressure on the US congress to inaugurate a hearing for the benefit of Ms. Moore. In 1989, a second TV movie based on the KAL 007 tragedy was released: Tailspin, which tells the story from the point of view of the government investigators. Since the original telecast of both films, new evidence has surfaced indicating that Flight 007 was not on an espionage mission, and that the Russian fighter pilots had acted on the orders of their over-zealous superiors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
An aspiring writer faces up to the responsibilities of marriage and family in this romantic comedy from writer, director, and producer John Hughes. Despite the misgivings he pours out to best friend Davis McDonald (Alec Baldwin), Jake Briggs (Kevin Bacon) marries high-school sweetheart Kristy (Elizabeth McGovern). After an abortive attempt at graduate school in New Mexico, the couple settle in suburban Chicago. Jake fakes his way into a job as an advertising copywriter, while Kristy settles into her own corporate job. The couple face the typical ups and downs of any new marriage, especially after Davis visits with a bimbo on his arm, regaling his pal Jake with tales of the good life. A few years later, Kristy decides to stop taking her birth-control pills -- and tells Jake about it three months later. Plagued by doubts, unfulfilled ambitions, and images of a fantasy girl (Isabel Lorca) he once spotted in a club, Jake resists the idea of fatherhood. Then he finds out he has low sperm count and, his manhood thus challenged, lines up for fertility clinic-assisted stud duty. The birth doesn't go as smoothly as Jake expected, however, setting the stage for climactic realizations. Edie McClurg, who played the nosy school secretary in Hughes' Ferris Bueller's Day Off, makes a cameo appearance as an officious neighbor. In addition, a who's who of other Hughes alums and Hollywood stars lend their faces and voices to a series of closing-credits shots in which each suggests a name for the titular baby. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth McGovern, (more)
Forest Whitaker stars as the brilliant jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker in this elegiac biopic. Director Clint Eastwood pays full homage to Parker's musical genius, but also devotes ample time to the musician's twin demons--drugs and alcohol-which accelerated his death at the age of 34. In his struggles to gain widespread acceptance for his music, "Bird" is forever stymied by his own self-destructiveness, and forever bailed out by the love of his life, Chan Richardson Parker (Diane Venora). The film bemoans the decline of the brand of jazz fathered by Parker, which came to be replaced by more conventional material -- as illustrated by the "descent" into the mainstream of Parker's mentor Buster Franklin. Also starring in Bird is Samuel E. Wright as Dizzy Gillespie. That's the real Charlie "Bird" Parker on the film's soundtrack, though most of the background music has been re-orchestrated. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Forest Whitaker, Diane Venora, (more)
Billionaire Boys Club is the two-part TV adaptation of a book by Sue Horton (unpublished at the time of the film's first telecast). In flashback form, the story recounts the murder of Beverly Hills con artist Ron Levin (Ron Silver). The culprit is yuppie Joe Hunt (Judd Nelson), a sharp young commodities trader who has organized an investment firm with several of his prep school buddies, known as the Billionaire Boys Club. Part one, originally telecast November 8, 1987, traces Hunt's meteoric rise to wealth and power, and the means by which Levin worms his way into Hunt's confidence. In part two, shown the next evening, Hunt has already murdered Levin and carefully disposed of the body. The next step of the scheme is take over where Levin left off by conning an Iranian millionaire out of a huge sum of money. Meanwhile, other members of the Club begin to have qualms over Hunt's finagling. Their whistle-blowing leads to Hunt's arrest and convinction for murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judd Nelson, Ron Silver, (more)
- 1986
The manager of a chemical plant and a city manager rise up against their respective bosses to keep a town safe in this ecologically conscientious made-for-TV disaster film. It all begins when the owners of Citichem order the plant manager to enact dangerous cost cuts that compromise the safety of the plant. He protests, but it is to no avail and a worker dies. At the same time, the city manager tries to warn the people that a deadly disaster is imminent, but he ends up gagged by the local politicians. Meanwhile, just when the community is at its most unprepared, a melt-down occurs and the town is drenched in deadly chemicals. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1985
In this drama, a disturbed teenager turns to arson in order to vent his anger and frustration over his parent's upcoming divorce. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Hot Moves lives up to its title: naked males and females (mainly females) on sizzling beaches run in slow motion through the surf, while teenage guys put forth Herculean efforts to bed down the women of their choice. Young, chubby Barry (Michael Zorek) swipes his father's telescope to scope out the scene at the nearby beach-in-the-buff. While Barry is thus entertained, his friend Mike (Adam Silbar) has running argument with his girlfriend Julie Ann about whether or not their relationship should remain virginal -- true to form, Julie Ann says yes and he says no. With these kinds of profound decisions at hand, pre-pubescent boys will probably be the most enthusiastic audience for this teen comedy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Zorek, Adam Silbar, (more)
- 1982
Bionic Woman star Lindsay Wagner is here cast as Joanne Tilford, who six years after attempting suicide, is discharged from an upscale mental clinic. Returning home to care for her husband Howdy (Gerald McRaney), who has suffered a heart attack, Joanne soon discovers that her role in the Tilford family unit has been usurped by housekeeper Louise Lowry (Barbara Babcock), who regards herself as the "second mother" to Joanne's children. Adding to the heroine's woes are her brother Everett (Richard McKenzie) and sister-in-law Rita Jean (Barbara Cason), who fully expect that the still-fragile Joanne will suffer a mental relapse at any moment. Officially based on Zoe Sherburne's novel Stranger in the House, this made-for-TV film also bears a passing resemblance to the 1958 theatrical feature Home Before Dark. Watch for Peter Billingsley, then best known as Messy Marvin on a series of popular TV commercials and soon to be the star of A Christmas Story, in the role of Joanne's son. Memories Never Die made its CBS network bow on December 15, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
Jean Stapleton stars as Eleanor Roosevelt in this made-for-TV biography, first telecast May 12, 1982. The film recounts Mrs. Roosevelt's life after the 1945 death of her husband, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. At the request of new president Truman, Eleanor serves as a United Nations delegate, spending much of her time tilting with dedicated anti-FDR politico John Foster Dulles (E.G. Marshall). She goes on to spearhead the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proving to Dulles--and to Soviet delegate Freddie Jones--that she's anything but soft on Communism. The winning teleplay for Eleanor: First Lady of the World was by Caryl Ledner and Cynthia Mandenberg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
Although the scripting, acting, and plot lines are less than ideal, this dramatized documentary merits attention since it is the first Australian initiative to chronicle the experiences of Aboriginals from their own perspective, allowing the audience to view the behavior of the white majority from the "wrong side of the road." As the real bands "Us Mob" and "No Fixed Address" make their way through the country on a road tour, they encounter mistreatment from an arrogant hotel manager, physical and verbal abuse from the police, and are ignored by uncaring government officials. One outlet for their plight is music, and their lyrics praise their skills at survival in a hostile world. This film won the Jury Prize at the 1981 Australian Film Festival. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
In the tradition of his earlier work in Grapes of Wrath and Twelve Angry Men, Henry Fonda played another social-protest role in the Hallmark Hall of Fame TV presentation Gideon's Trumpet. Clarence Earl Gideon (Fonda) is a poor, ill-tempered Florida handyman who is arrested for petty larceny in 1961. Unable to afford a lawyer, Gideon is sentenced to five years in prison. His treatment by the Florida judicial system, a clear violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, is brought to the attention of the Supreme Court. As a result, a landmark decision is reached, assuring free legal representation for anyone accused of a crime in the United States. Also appearing are Jose Ferrer as Gideon's attorney Abe Fortas, John Houseman (who also produced) as the Chief Justice, and Fay Wray as the owner of the lodging establishment where Gideon lived. Gideon's Trumpet premiered on April 30, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Fonda, John Houseman, (more)
Having lived his life as the gardener on a millionaire's estate, Chance (Peter Sellers) knows of the real world only what he has seen on TV. When his benefactor dies, Chance walks aimlessly into the streets of Washington D.C., where he is struck by a car owned by wealthy Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine). Identifying himself, the confused man mutters "Chance...gardener," which Eve takes to be "Chauncey Gardiner." Eve takes him to her home to convalesce, and because Chance is so well-dressed and well-groomed, and because he speaks in such a cultured tone, everyone in her orbit assumes that "Chauncey Gardiner" must be a man of profound intelligence. No matter what he says, it is interpreted as a pearl of wisdom and insight. He rises to the top of Washington society, where his simplistic responses to the most difficult questions (responses usually related to his gardening experience) are highly prized by the town's movers and shakers. In fact, there is serious consideration given to running Chance as a presidential candidate. Both a modern fable and a political satire, Being There was based on the novel by Jerzy Kosinski and costars Melvyn Douglas, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as Eve's aging power-broker husband. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, (more)
The Corvette Ken Dantley's (Mark Hamill) class has been restoring in their high-school shop class is nearly completely fixed up. One day, the students walk in and it is gone - apparently stolen. Ken is larking about in Las Vegas when he spies a car that looks suspiciously like the Corvette he knows so well. He begins looking for the car, but in the meantime Vanessa (Annie Potts), propositions him on the street. Intrigued, he follows the girl back to her van, which is equipped with a waterbed. She hopes to use the van as a travelling brothel, with herself as the bill of fare. Instead, she helps him look for the missing car, and as they search, the two of them fall in love. Though praised by critics, Mark Hamill's second starring feature did poorly at the box-office, and stalled his career. Corvette Summer marks the first star appearance by Annie Potts, perhaps better known for her role in the U.S. television show Designing Women. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Hamill, Annie Potts, (more)
