Mimi Weddell Movies
- 2008
- NR
Filmmaker Jyll Johnstone follows 92-year-old New York actress Mimi Weddell from acting lessons to auditions and all the way back home in this portrait of an aging talent whose boundless energy has graced screens both big and small. In addition to roles in such films as Student Bodies and The Purple Rose of Cairo, Weddell has also appeared in such popular television shows as Law & Order and Sex and the City. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1997
Bloodstains reveal that a model was murdered by one of her closest relatives. The detectives nail a suspect, the model's illegitimate daughter -- who promptly reveals that the chief witness to the crime is her own lawyer. This opens a legal can of worms when the lawyer argues that any communication between himself and the suspect is privileged, and cannot be used in court. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
In a fictionalized replay of the Bernhard Goetz incident, former dancer Laura di Biasi (Cynthia Nixon), a white woman, is arrested after shooting two black youths on a subway. Di Biasi claims that she was acting in self defense, but Assistant D.A. Robinette (Richard Brooks), himself an African-American, suspects that the woman had a hidden agenda. This not only leads to a racially charged murder trial, but also considerable friction between Robinette and his partner Stone (Michael Moriarty). (Trivia note: Guest star Cynthia Nixon and Law & Order regular Chris Noth later starred together on the HBO sitcom Sex and the City.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Anna's early scenes concentrate upon Czech refugee Krystyna (Paulina Porizkova), who arrives in New York in search of her idol, famed actress Anna (Sally Kirkland), who was denied reentry to her native country after the 1968 communist invasion. Unable to recapture her celebrity in New York, Anna is forced to go through a series of humiliating auditions conducted by insensitive directors who have no inkling who she is. She must also endure marriage to a self-involved music video director (Robert Fields). When Krystyna and Anna finally meet, each draws strength from the other, enabling both women to survive whatever indignities life has to offer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Kirkland, Robert Fields, (more)
Woody Allen blurs the the boundaries between the real and unreal in this unique comic fantasy. The scene is a small town in the mid-1930s. Trapped in a dead-end job and an abusive marriage, Cecelia (Mia Farrow) regularly seeks refuge in the local movie house. She becomes so enraptured by the latest attraction, an RKO screwball comedy called The Purple Rose of Cairo, that she returns to the theatre day after day. During one of these visits, the film's main character Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels), pauses in his dialogue, turns towards the audience, and says to Cecelia, "My God, how you must love this picture." Then he climbs out of the movie, much to the consternation of the rest of the audience and the other characters on screen. Liberated from his customary black-and-white environs, he accompanies Cecelia on a tour of the town, eventually falling in love with her. Meanwhile, the other Purple Rose characters, unable to proceed with the film, carry on a discussion with themselves. Desperately, the RKO executives seek out Gil Shepherd, the actor who played the hero of Purple Rose. Shepherd (also played by Daniels), is sent to Cecelia's hometown to see if he can repair the damage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, (more)
In this slasher film parody, a psychotic serial killer called "The Breather" is killing off sexually active high school students when not making threatening phone calls (with a rubber chicken disguising his voice). Among The Breather's weapons of choice are paper clips, eggplants, and wooden horse-head bookends, and one of the murders is committed to commemorate Jamie Lee Curtis's birthday. Student Bodies was written and directed by Mickey Rose, who previously collaborated with Woody Allen on the screenplays for several of Allen's early films. The film had a notoriously difficult production and producer Michael Ritchie (best known as director of such films as The Candidate and Downhill Racer) opted to take his name off the picture, instead using the Director's Guild pseudonym Alan Smithee. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kristen Riter, Matthew Goldsby, (more)
In Last Rites, aka Dracula's Last Rites, the infamous Count employs a tactic first used in Son of Dracula, ensuring his anonymity by spelling his name backwards. This seems to fool the citizens of the upstate New York township wherein a certain A. Lucard is employed as a mortician. Even if they were to see through this facade, they would get little help from the local sheriff since he's a vampire too. Together with the town doctor, they manage to procure fresh blood by falsifying death certificates for still-living accident victims who are then spirited off to Lucard's mortuary to become late-night snacks. The plan eventually comes undone when one of their victims manages to escape, and the town just isn't big enough for one more vampire. Even if one were to overlook the film's pitifully low production values and numerous technical flaws (including what may be a record for boom mikes plunging into frame), one would still find little entertainment value in this dreary, poorly acted mess. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Lee Hammond, Gerald Fielding, (more)
