Valentina Quinn Movies
Miguel Pinero became a leading figure in New York's art scene during the 1970s as a poet, actor, and playwright whose vibrant, often pointed, work spoke directly to the lower classes and to disenfranchised minorities. As a founder of the influential Nuyorican Poets Cafe, his poetry soon became recognized as a forerunner to rap and hip-hop music. TV screenwriter turned director Leon Ichaso spins this impressionistic biographical look at this artist. Raised in an abusive family, Pinero (Benjamin Bratt) turns to streets for solace. Soon he is engaging in petty crime, drug dealing, and addiction. When he finds himself in Sing-Sing, he turns his experiences in prison into the play Short Eyes, which eventually garners him seven Tony awards in 1974. Uncomfortable with his new fame, he clings to his girlfriend, Sugar (Talisa Soto), and his childhood buddy, Miguel Algarin (Giancarlo Esposito), who is a literature professor and who co-founded the Nuyorican Cafe. Though Pinero makes cameos on such shows as Kojak, his art begins to suffer as he starts to succumb to his drug addictions. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benjamin Bratt, Giancarlo Esposito, (more)
- 1990
- PG13
A husband goes middle-age bonkers and leaves his wife in this comedy. Now she is determined to show him that she doesn't need him anyway. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valerie Harper, Elliott Gould, (more)
This adaptation of Hemingway's classic story adds a few characters but keeps the basic plotline of an old fisherman's greatest battle intact. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Quinn
High-priced hooker Barbra Streisand has been arrested for the murder of one of her clients. The attorney engaged by Streisand's parents hope to cop an insanity plea so that she can avoid a trial and manslaughter conviction. But she refuses this, citing a proviso in New York law that may result in her spending the rest of her life in an institution. Against all odds, struggling lawyer Richard Dreyfuss tries to prove that Streisand is not crazy and capable of standing trial. Dreyfuss certainly has his work cut out for him: from what we've seen in the film thus far, the violently impulsive Streisand is not only "nuts," but certifiably so. Though she has plenty of opportunity in Nuts to give out with her usual bravura Streisandisms, Streisand (who also produced the film and wrote the songs) is surprisingly restrained through most of the proceedings. And then there's that extended-monologue climax. Nuts was adapted by Tom Topor, Darryl Ponicsan and Alvin Sargent from Topor's stage play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbra Streisand, Richard Dreyfuss, (more)
- 1977
Ingredients essential to this made-for-TV movie are a famous former pro football player, an interracial romance, and a brutal murder. Yes, the football player is O.J. Simpson, but the film was made a full 17 years before the death of Nicole Brown Simpson. In A Killing Affair, Simpson is cast as police detective Woody York, who is partnered with white female cop Viki Eaton (Elizabeth Montgomery) to solve a mysterious killing. In the course of the assignment, Woody and Viki fall in love. Also known as Behind the Badge, A Killing Affair premiered September 21, 1977, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dean Stockwell, Elizabeth Montgomery, (more)
