Roy Cooper Movies

A man brings new life to a small town by announcing that he's killing himself in this low-key comedy-drama that marked a significant change of pace for star Christian Slater. Julian Po (Slater) is a quiet, unassuming bookkeeper -- so quiet and unassuming, in fact, that most people hardly notice that he exists, as his life quietly slips by. Julian has few friends and little to look forward to in life, so one day he decides to commit suicide. One of his few ambitions in life has been to see the ocean, so Julian plans to take one final vacation in which he'll visit the seashore before doing himself in. En route to the coast, Julian's car breaks down in a small town so obscure that the name isn't even posted at the city limits. Julian's plan is to spend the night, get the car fixed, and move on, so he stops to get a room at Vern's Boarding House, where Vern himself (Michael Parks) informs Julian that he almost never has guests. In fact, the town gets so few visitors that most of the locals view Julian with tremendous suspicion, especially the Mayor (Harve Presnell) and the Sheriff (Frankie R. Faison). After his car disappears, Julian decides to tell everyone, while eating at the only diner in town, that he means them no harm and has not come to cause any trouble -- he's merely decided to go somewhere to kill himself. Suddenly, everyone's attitude towards him changes; at once expressing admiration for his determination and concern for his well-being, the whole town tries to leap to his rescue, and as they gently try to convince Julian to go on living, they gain a new lease on life -- especially Sarah (Robin Tunney), a beautiful but lonely woman who has fallen in love with the quiet stranger. Julian Po was the first feature film for writer and director Alan Wade; it was also released as The Tears of Julian Po. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Very loosely based on the memoir of the same name, The Basketball Diaries transposes the late '60s adolescence of writer/artist Jim Carroll to some unspecified time period at least 15 years later, further confusing the timeframe with three decades of rock music, some by Carroll himself. Jim (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his Catholic school chums are on the hottest basketball team in New York, but their friend Bobby (Michael Imperioli) languishes in the hospital with leukemia. In-between typically boyish adventures, Jim scribbles in his notebook and experiments with sex and drugs. His group of friends begins to disintegrate after coach Swifty (Bruno Kirby) not only makes a pass at Jim, but also catches him and his pals using drugs on the court and kicks them off the team. Out of school and on the streets, Jim turns tricks, betrays friends, robs stores, and deals drugs to feed his heroin addiction. Not even the efforts of former addict Reggie (Ernie Hudson) can cure Jim. Mark Wahlberg appears as one of Jim's basketball and drug buddies, while Carroll himself makes a memorable cameo as an addict who describes the almost Catholic rituals of shooting heroin. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

This drama chronicles the real-life story of Native America's first declared saint, Elizabeth Bayley Seton. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

Novelist William Peter Blatty based his best-seller on the last known Catholic-sanctioned exorcism in the United States. Blatty transformed the little boy in the 1949 incident into a little girl named Regan, played by 14-year-old Linda Blair. Suddenly prone to fits and bizarre behavior, Regan proves quite a handful for her actress-mother, Chris MacNeil (played by Ellen Burstyn, although Blatty reportedly based the character on his next-door neighbor Shirley MacLaine). When Regan gets completely out of hand, Chris calls in young priest Father Karras (Jason Miller), who becomes convinced that the girl is possessed by the Devil and that they must call in an exorcist: namely, Father Merrin (Max von Sydow). His foe proves to be no run-of-the-mill demon, and both the priest and the girl suffer numerous horrors during their struggles. The Exorcist received a theatrical rerelease in 2000, in a special edition that added 11 minutes of footage trimmed from the film's original release and digitally enhanced Chris Newman's Oscar-winning sound work. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi