Steve de Luca Movies
- 1989
- R
Directed by Susan Seidelman and written by Alice Arlen and Nora Ephron, Cookie comes across as an inconsequential piece of fluff, bolstered by a quirky performance by Emily Lloyd. Lloyd is Cookie Capisco, the daughter of mobster Dino Capisco (Peter Falk), who has just finished thirteen years in prison. Dino wants to get out of jail, settle some old scores, and make up for lost time with his daughter. His illegitimate daughter, that is -- since Cookie's mother, Lenore (Dianne Wiest), has been Dino's longtime mistress. Dino's actual wife Bunny (Brenda Vaccaro) has, he thinks, been kept in the dark about Dino's mistress and his daughter. Dino decides that the best way to get to know Cookie is to hire her as his chauffeur. With her ears attuned to the conspiracies floating around Dino, she quickly discovers that her father's old crony, Carmine (Michael V. Gazzo), has been swindling him and that Dino's life is in jeopardy. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Falk, Dianne Wiest, (more)
After Griffin Dunne's wife Brooke Adams is injured in a car crash, Dunne begins an affair with Adams' nurse Karen Young. You think that takes gall? Dunne also becomes best friends with Young's boyfriend Marty Watt. Believe it or not, Griffin Dunne is the most likeable character in the movie. After testing poorly at 110 minutes, Almost You was whittled down to 96 minutes. Those who have trouble wading through this prime example of mid-1980s self-indulgence are advised to keep an eye out for the brilliant monologist Spalding Gray in a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brooke Adams, Griffin Dunne, (more)
Don Murray plays Lacy, a blatantly bigoted New York cop who finds that his rabid hatred forces him into a bloody rampage in order to save himself and his job in the derivative cop melodrama Deadly Hero. At one point in the film, Lacy rehearses a speech to be given to a cadre of right-wingers by intoning, "These are troubled times." This is certainly the case for Lacy, since this 18-year veteran of the NYPD has been demoted from detective to patrol car because of his liberal use of deadly force on nasty perpetrators. When Lacy, a lit fuse of seething anger and racial epithets, encounters nasty black mugger Rabbit (James Earl Jones), who is terrorizing young schoolteacher Sally (Diahn Williams) at knifepoint in her apartment, it doesn't take much for the cop to decide to put the thug on terror alert by shooting him. Is Sally grateful for blowing away the object of her torture? To Lacy's surprise, she instead testifies against him, accusing him of being a cold-blooded killer. Now Lacy has to figure out a way out of this high-shootin' mess. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Murray, Diahn Williams, (more)
