Paul Brooks Movies

One woman's rocky road to the altar gets played for laughs in this comedy, adapted from the one-woman off-Broadway show written by and starring Nia Vardalos. Toula (Vardalos) is a Greek-American woman who is in her early thirties and single, with no immediate prospects of changing that status any time soon. This bothers Toula a bit, but not half as much as it distresses her mother (Lainie Kazan) and father (Michael Constantine), who want to send her to Greece in hopes of finding a husband in the old country. Toula isn't interested in leaving the country to find a man, but since she works in the family business -- a Greek restaurant in Chicago called Dancing Zorba's -- she has to hear about it whether she likes it or not. One day, after seeing a handsome stranger in the restaurant and not having the courage to talk to him, Toula decides she needs a bit of self-improvement. Despite her dad's misgivings, Toula signs up for a night-school class studying computers, trades in her glasses for contact lenses, gets a different job at a travel agency, and spruces herself up with a new look and a new attitude. To her very pleasant surprise, she once again encounters the handsome stranger, who soon asks her out on a date. Schoolteacher Ian Miller (John Corbett) is seemingly perfect -- he's tall, handsome, smart, good-natured, and soon in love with Toula -- except for two little things: he's not Greek, and he's a vegetarian, both of which horrify Toula's family. When Ian pops the question (and Toula says yes), the bride-to-be has to negotiate a reasonably peaceful meeting between Ian's upper-class parents and her own working-class extended family. There's also the matter of the wedding, which Toula's mother is planning around the notion that quantity IS quality. My Big Fat Greek Wedding also features Ian Gomez (Vardalos' real-life husband), Louis Mandylor, Andrea Martin, and Joey Fatone (from the pop group *NSYNC). Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson helped produce the film through the auspices of their production company, Playtone. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The torturous production of the classic 1922 vampire film Nosferatu is recreated in this stylized account of director F.W. Murnau and his obsession with creating realistic horror by any means necessary -- even if those means include actual bloodletting. The film begins as Murnau (John Malkovich) is ready to take his unauthorized interpretation of the Bram Stoker tale on location in Czechoslovakia. There, the director has arranged for his cast and crew to live in the same castle in which they will shoot their parts, as they all wait for their co-star, Max Schreck (Willem Dafoe) -- Murnau's choice to play Count Orlok -- to arrive. Their leader has warned them that Schreck is a student of the Stanislovsky method of performance and will not respond to them out-of-character. Nothing, however, can prepare them for the real thing: when the actor arrives, he's already in full Gothic regalia, asserting that he is indeed a vampire. Schreck makes good on his claims by terrorizing the cast and crew, attacking Murnau's original cinematographer (Wolfgang Muller) and plucking bats out of the air for midnight snacks. Director E. Elias Merhige previously made his name with his experimental theater productions and with his horrific film school thesis, Begotten. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

British director Vadim Jean helmed this British-Canadian family comedy about former private eye Howard Spitz (Kelsey Grammer), who writes hardboiled detective novels. Unfortunately, Spitz's creative juices are drying up. His agent Lou (Joseph Rutten) suggests a switch to self-help manuals, but after Howard meets children's author Theodora Winkle (Kay Tremblay) and gets input on kid lit from Samantha Kershaw (Genevieve Tessier), he begins writing about cow detective Crafty Cow, and the character is a success. However, Howard doesn't like children, so he hires an actor (Patrick McKenna) to substitute for him at public appearances. Howard, Samantha, and Samantha's single mom Laura (Amanda Donohoe) then leave on a trip to find Samantha's dad in L.A. Shown at the 1998 Mill Valley Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

This compelling low-budget horror-fantasy from Welsh filmmaker Julian Richards made a splash at several fantasy film festivals, where it often garnered a more favorable reception than Hollywood big-budget product. The plot follows the investigations of English journalist Frazer Truick (Craig Fairbrass) into the disappearance of a colleague's brother in South Wales. His snooping unearths the elaborate political machinations of a long-standing, ultra-conservative faction known as "Regeneration," whose followers, under the leadership of businessman David Keller (Jon Finch), intend to return Wales to its ancient Celtic ways... including the practice of human sacrifices. Insidious plot twists abound, all of which point to Truick's unknowing role in the sect's master plan. Richards' excellent script may draw its thematic inspiration from The Wicker Man, and those familiar with that film may not be entirely surprised by the climax; the story nevertheless contains many unconventional surprises, and it maintains an effective balance between political allegory and pure suspense. Further enhanced by excellent photography and an intense performance from Fairbrass, Darklands represents a remarkable debut from an assured genre talent. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

This syrupy British drama stars Ian Hart as an English teacher assigned to a "special needs" school. Faced with a classroom full of angry, unruly children, Hart hopes to bring about order and unity by sharing his love of cross-country running. As is generally the case in films of this ilk, the teacher must wear down the resistance of the class' most difficult and obstreperous kid (Ruaidhri Coroy). Disaster looms on the horizon when the boy's father dies, prompting him to indulge in a series of dangerous running stunts that threaten the wellbeing of all concerned. Wending its way throughout Clockwork Mice is a romantic subplot involving Ian Hart and fellow teacher Catherine Russell. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This British romantic comedy examines a trouble relationship between a behavioral psychologist and a paleontology lecturer with serious sexual hang-ups. Currently Dr. Daniel Becker is holding seminars for teaching body language to executives. Katie, the lecturer, seems to defy all he seems to know with her habit of knocking out any male she suspects of harboring sexual thoughts about her. They go out on a dinner date. Immediately, Katie-the-mind-reader smacks the waiter. Intrigued, Daniel blindfolds her to see if she really can read thoughts. Katie, who sees no future in their relationship, plans to go on a research trip to India with her peer, Sandip. Daniel tries to thwart her plans. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Like Paul Henreid's For Men Only (1951), The Pledgemasters sets itself up as a "shocking expose" of college fraternities. The cruelties of the hazing process are captured in gritty 16 millimeter. The participants are not actors (which is fairly obvious), but genuine, bonafide college students. If all frats were as sadistic as this one, it's amazing that anyone has ever graduated-much less survived their freshman year. We'll take Animal House any day. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi