Carl Ciarfalio Movies
A remake of Jacques Tourneur's noir classic Out of the Past (1947), in this version a labyrinthine web of corruption touches on the world of pro football. When an injury-riddled body causes pro football player Terry Brogan (Jeff Bridges) to be cut by his team, Jake Wise (James Woods), a shady gambler friend, hires him to locate his spoiled, erratic girlfriend Jessie (Rachel Ward). Terry's attempt to glean Jessie's whereabouts from the girl's coldly aristocratic mother (Jane Greer) leads to a lucrative counteroffer to keep Jessie away from Jake if he finds her. After refusing, Terry heads for scenic Cozumel, where he eventually runs down the stunning young woman. A mutual attraction quickly develops and the pair are less than eager to return to California. Painfully, Terry tells Jessie about his involvement in a betting scandal which has put him under Jake's control. Meanwhile Jake, who is angered by the delay, senses that something is going on, and sends Terry's conditioning coach, Sully (Alex Karras), to find the couple. When he finally locates them, sweatily making love in a Mayan temple, tragedy ensues, spinning the ill-fated Terry into a world of boundless deceit and corruption. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rachel Ward, Jeff Bridges, (more)
A John Carpenter story served as the launching pad for Black Moon Rising. Veteran thief Quint (Tommy Lee Jones) is hired by the FBI to steal some politically volatile computer tapes. The owners of the tapes are displeased, and begin chasing Quint all over the countryside. Just when he's about to surrender his booty, Quint's car -- wherein the tapes are stored -- is stolen by Nina (Linda Hamilton). She delivers the car to her corporate-villain boyfriend Ryland (Robert Vaughn), who runs a hot auto ring. Nina then has second thoughts and decides to throw in with Quint...and round and round we go. The "Black Moon" of the title is the name Quint's high-tech, low-slung vehicle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Hamilton, (more)
- 1986
Kicked out of school once again, R.J. Masters (Tate Donovan), punkish nephew of Robin Masters, is sent to Robin's Nest for the summer to learn the finer aspects of gentlemanly behavior from Jonathan Higgins (John Hillerman). Unfortunately, R.J. has no intention of reforming, as he quickly demonstrates by posing as Magnum (Tom Selleck) and accepting an investigation job from a beleagured widow (Meredith MacRae). Before long, the kid is up to his neck in danger, and it looks as if the "real" Magnum may not be able to bail him out! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- R
Detective Berzak (Robert Carradine) and his suave partner Hazeltine (Billy Dee Williams) combine forces to track down a notorious drug lord in this routine action feature. Captain Ferris (Peter Graves) monitors the progress of the decidedly different detectives. The trail leads to Dacosta (Barry Sattels) a respected member of the social elite and the community. Valerie Bertanelli plays Berzak's daughter Teresa, who is pumped for information by her father about his ex-wife (Doris Roberts). ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Carradine, Billy Dee Williams, (more)
- 1987
A blushing bride (Melissa Gilbert) doesn't catch on that something's fishy when her new husband (Joe Penny), last name "Moran", introduces her to his distinctly Italian family, who kiss each other's hands a lot. In fact, she doesn't tumble to the fact that her "perfect" spouse is a Mafiosa until it's Too Late. Before she knows what's happening, the wide-eyed (and soft-headed) girl is swept up in drug trafficking. To keep the Italian anti-defamation league at arm's length, the producers of this film contrive to have Tony Franciosa portray an Italian-American FBI agent who comes to the heroine's rescue. Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife was originally telecast January 18, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
If you've seen TV wrestling, you know what a "caged" bout is. In Cage, it's for real; two testosterone-pumped behemoths are placed in a cage where they duke it out to the death. Lou Ferrigno plays Billy Thomas, the muscle-bound Vietnam vet who is finagled into cage-fighting by a group of mobsters. Scott Monroe (Reb Brown), the man whose life Billy saved in Nam, finds himself (through a series of ludicrous plot twists) facing his former savior in the dreaded cage. We suppose this was meant to be taken seriously, but audiences didn't get the hint; Cage has been greeted with raucous, derisive laughter ever since its 1990 release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lou Ferrigno, Reb Brown, (more)
Timothy Dalton is better in Licence to Kill than in his first James Bond endeavor (The Living Daylights), but he still seems uncomfortable on the right side of the law. This time around, Bond is working on his own rather than on behalf of the British Secret Service. His American friend Felix Leiter (David Hedison), an agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration, has been seriously injured by drug dealer Robert Davi, and 007 is out for blood. There is precious little time for the usual Bondian quippery and directorial campiness, resulting in a marked increase in bloodletting (including the "implosion" of secondary villain Anthony Zerbe). A climactic highway chase involving an oil tanker and a helicopter is stretched slightly beyond its value, but is still one of the best action setpieces in any Bond film. Licence to Kill was a refreshingly serious change of pace for the series, albeit one that tended to lessen Bond's box-office value. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Dalton, Carey Lowell, (more)
In this off-beat sci-fi adventure, a female scientist creates a sexy android version of herself and equips it with both the passionate emotions she lacks and a nuclear bomb. The trouble begins when the android is taken out for a test run and it ends up in the midst of a bank robbery where its internal bomb is accidentally activated. Things get worse, when the robot comes emotionally unglued and launches into a destructive rampage while enacting out its repressed creator's darkest desires. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregory Hines, Renée Soutendijk, (more)
Steven Seagal plays a good if troubled man living in a corrupt world (sound familiar yet?) in this action drama. Gino Felino (Seagal) is a cop who grew up in a tough Brooklyn neighborhood, and while many of his old friends now live on the other side of the law, he retains a fierce loyalty to the community. When his partner, a friend since childhood, is murdered -- in broad daylight, and in clear view of his wife and children -- Gino is assigned to investigate, and he soon learns that the shooter was Richie Madano (William Forsythe), his life-long nemesis and now a low-level wise guy with an addiction to crack. Gino swings into action to bring Richie to justice, though he discovers that he's not the first in line -- the Don who oversees Richie's crew is appalled by this crime, and Gino has to bring Richie in before the Mafia can put a bullet in his head. Out for Justice also features Jerry Orbach, Jo Champa, and Gina Gershon; keep an eye peeled for John Leguizamo and Julianna Margulies in small roles. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steven Seagal, William Forsythe, (more)
- 1991
- R
A woman who is trying to recover from a sexual attack is locked in a posh apartment with a dead corpse who's the very man she's been dreaming would murder her. She's barely able to hang on to reality when the objects that surround her seem to be coming to life. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sharon Stone, Steve Railsback, (more)
- 1991
- R
Featuring plenty of high, hard kicks, and flailing furious fists, this martial arts actioner tells an exciting tale of vengeance as a tough American street fighter stalks the streets of L.A.'s Chinatown in search of the organized criminals responsible for his guardian's death. Movie newcomer Jeff Speakman makes an appealing action hero, with fluid direction from genre veteran Mark DiSalle. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Speakman, John Dye, (more)
- 1991
The most fascinating thing about Beastmaster 2 is how well the cartoonish sword-and-sorcery characters blend in to contemporary Los Angeles -- it may as well be documentary. Marc Singer plays Dar, a muscle-headed barbarian whose main claim to fame is his ability to communicate with a wide array of animal friends. Dar is informed that his evil brother Arklon (Wings Hauser) has nefarious designs on the universe. Arklon has teamed up with Lyranna (Sarah Douglas), a sexy witch who cracks wise in Valley Girl vernacular, a parlance picked up during her travels through the portal of time to a netherworld called L.A. Arklon has to find a quick way to decimate the universe, so Arklon and Lyranna travel through the portal to steal a neutron detonator from a military base close to Los Angeles. Dar and Southern California teen Jackie Trent (Kari Wuhrer) -- who had gotten stuck in the portal and ended up in Togaland -- pursue Arklon and Lyranna as they make their way through the time hole. Once in La-La land, Dra and his companion find themselves pursued by the LAPD, which considerably slows up their race to catch Arklon. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marc Singer, Kari Wuhrer, (more)
Geoff Murphy directed this time-travel chase movie. Emilio Estevez stars as Alex Furlong, a racecar driver from 1991, who is just about to experience a deadly crash in his Formula Atlantic. But at the last moment Alex finds himself transported to the streets of New York in 2009. He is saved from certain death and zapped into the future by 21st-century bounty hunter Vacendak (Mick Jagger), who wants to take over Alex's body. Alex escapes Vacendak's clutches and decides to look up an old girlfriend. When he locates Julie (Rene Russo), he enlists her support to help him from being captured by Vacendak. Much to Alex's surprise, he discovers that Julie now works as a top executive for a giant corporation presided over by McCandless (Anthony Hopkins). Julie, separated from Alex for almost twenty years, must decide whether to renew their relationship. But there is not much time for thought by either party, since Vacendak is still coming after Alex. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emilio Estevez, Mick Jagger, (more)
- 1992
It's the 18th birthday of Bud Bundy (David Faustino), and mom Peggy (Katey Sagal) intends to celebrate the occasion with a kiddie party, complete with ponies and a psychotic clown named Sticky (Roger Hewlett). But dad Al (Ed O'Neill) insists that Bud undergo the Bundy family "rite of passage"--specifically a night at a nudie bar ("where the music stinks and they water the drinks"), capped by Bud's first bar fight. As a bonus, "Grandmaster B" makes a return appearance, by unpopular demand. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this lively crime thriller, luckless ex-con Harry Talbot wins several thousand dollars and a luxury car in a poker game. He is delighted, having no idea that the others let him win because the trunk of the Lincoln contains the remains of Gordo. No, Harry is finally feeling lucky and in his shiny convertible sets off across the country in search of more card games. While driving, he picks up a lovely hitchhiker named Kit. She is out on a personal vendetta and is pursued by her grandmother, a crime boss, and her dim-bulbed cousin Danny. Realizing that he is a gambling addict, Kit manipulates him into driving to a certain mob-operated casino where she plans to off her father's killer. Things get more sticky when a gangster informs the card sharps who put Gordo in the trunk, that the deceased is carrying a key to a safe-deposit box containing a vast amount of money. They immediately set out after Harry as he fatefully heads for the gambling house. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Madsen, Patricia Arquette, (more)
- 1992
- R
This taut suspenser juggles perspectives of patriotism, media roles and the relationship between government officials and their economic interests. After a journalist covers a story about a secret military transaction between an American aerospace engineer and a Japanese agent, she continues her investigation with the help of a private eye. Before long, she figures out that she is merely a pawn and nothing around her is as it seems to be--including the people she has trusted. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
In this epic Ron Howard film, Joseph Donelly (Tom Cruise) is an impoverished 19th-century Irish tenant farmer who has recently lost both his father and his home to the agents of his unscrupulous landlord. On a mission to avenge his family's injustice at the hands of the ruthless land baron Joseph meets the landlord's daughter and the two run off to America together where the girl expects to claim a piece of land for herself in the Oklahoma Land Rush. After she is robbed on the boat that carries them to America, they arrive with nary a penny and struggle just to keep their heads above water in the slums of Boston. After a series of serious set-backs they do eventually work their way out West, where Joseph must fight to realize his dream and claim a piece of the American Dream for himself -- and where they finally acknowledge their love for each other. Shot in wide-screen Panavision, the movie was filmed on-location in Ireland and Montana. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, (more)
- 1992
Originally made for cable-television, this thriller centers on the attempts of an innocent teenage girl to prove that the boy she has her eye upon is not a ruthless serial killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Hit List is a thriller about a professional hit man (Jeff Fahey) who is hired by an attorney (James Coburn) with the intent of killing drug lords. However, the attorney then introduces the assassin to a sexy widow, asking him to execute the man who killed her husband. Soon, the hit man can't separate his professional life from his personal life. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
Clint Eastwood delivers one of his finest performances, as a secret service agent haunted by his past in Wolfgang Petersen's taut thriller In the Line of Fire. Eastwood plays Frank Horrigan, a secret service agent who keeps thinking back to November 22, 1963, when, as an agent hand-picked by President Kennedy, he became one of the few agents to have lost a president to an assassin. Decades later, psychotic Mitch Leary (John Malkovich) is stalking another president (Jim Curley) running for re-election. He has spent long hours studying the psyche of Frank Horrigan, and he taunts Horrigan (feeling that there is a bond between them), telling him of his plans to kill the president. After his conversation with Leary, Horrigan makes sure he is assigned to presidential protection duty. Horrigan has no intention of failing his president this time around, and he is more than willing to take a bullet. But everything goes Leary's way -- he is smart and cagey and the president's aides refuse to alter the itinerary. As the election draws closer, Horrigan's chances to catch Leary look to be less and less a possibility, and he begins to doubt his own abilities -- both now and in the past, when Kennedy was murdered. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich, (more)
- 1993
- R
Lorenzo Lamas plays a bounty hunter who seeks revenge on the crime syndicate responsible for killing his brother and sister-in-law in this actioner. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
Martial arts hero Thomas Ian Griffith wrote, produced, and starred in this action thriller. Terry McCain (Griffith) is a Chicago police officer who is bent on revenge after his partners are killed by Mafia gunmen. McCain knows that he won't be able to get the justice he demands within the system, so he persuades his boss, Devlin (Lance Henriksen), to keep him off the list of suspects after he kills mob kingpin Sal DiMarco (Burt Young). McCain changes his mind about killing the crime boss, but someone else with a grudge guns down DiMarco instead; however, when he tries to meet with Devlin to explain what's happened, he's met by a squad of killers. McCain learns that his partner Frankie (Tony Todd) is actually still alive and was in cahoots with Devlin to steal $3 million in drug money away from DiMarco, a deal scotched by McCain's desire for revenge. The supporting cast includes James Earl Jones and Charlotte Lewis. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thomas Ian Griffith, Lance Henriksen, (more)
A ruthless drug lord must be stopped, pronto. Three able-bodied cops go undercover to bring the drug dealer to justice -- or, preferably, to kill him. Once in a while, the bad guys call a halt to the film's bloodshed to allow a sex scene to play itself out. Otherwise, this is essentially cable-TV stuff, blown up (sometimes literally) for the Big Screen. A good cast, headed by Michael Nouri and John Saxon, is the film's most tangible asset. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
- R
Martial arts abound in this taut adventure, yet another version of the 1924 classic story "The Most Dangerous Game," by Richard Connell. Big-game hunter Danton Vachs and his pals live on a remote island off the Mexican coastline. The island is densely jungled and Vachs makes a good living staging hunts involving human victims. His latest victim is an exceptional athlete and Vietnam veteran. To get him to the island, Vachs has his girl friend kidnapped and will not release her until the vet, Matt Collins agrees to play. He is given a four hour start upon his pursuers. While making his way through the jungle, he runs into John Blackwell, his predecessor, a survivalist who faked his death, and who has been hiding out on the island ever since. Together the two team up to make it back to the big house, get deadly chopsocky revenge and save Matt's girl friend. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mike Norris, Chad McQueen, (more)
Stunt man Corey Michael Eubanks plays a repo man in Forced to Kill. While claiming a Jaguar, Johnny (Eubanks) is captured by a strange family. Before long, he's in the thick of a subrosa boxing tournament, where bare fists are de rigeur and the participants are obliged to kill one another. A question: if Eubanks is such a crackerjack stunt man, how'd he allow himself to get into this mess? (and he wrote the script, too!) Check your brains at the door: the action is terrific. The supporting cast of Forced to Kill includes filmmaker Ron Howard's father Rance and brother Clint. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
