Cherie Franklin Movies
Mel Brooks does it again with this send-up of vampire films. That Leslie Nielson plays the great blood-sucking count gives viewers a good idea as to what they are in for. This Dracula takes himself very seriously despite the fact that he's a bit of a klutz with a tendency to slip in the bat guano that adorns his castle floor. Staying very close to Bram Stoker's original story, Brooks also pays sly homage to other major vampire film classics, including Nosferatu. Though silly but subtle gags abound in this outing, Brooks has taken great care to recreate the late 19th-century atmosphere in rich detail and harkens back to Hammer horror movies popular during the '50s and '60s. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Nielsen, Peter MacNicol, (more)
An ordinary woman is driven to the point of violent revenge in this tense thriller. Karen McCann (Sally Field) is a suburban wife and working mother with two daughters. Karen's life is turned upside down when her 17-year-old daughter is raped and murdered, a crime she overhears on her cellular phone. Sgt. Denillo (Joe Mantegna), a bright and resourceful police detective, soon tracks down the culprit, an especially sleazy criminal named Robert Doob (Kiefer Sutherland). However, due to a minor technicality, Doob escapes conviction, even though he's clearly guilty. Karen's husband Mack (Ed Harris) suppresses his grief and tries to go on with his life, but Karen doesn't find this quite so easy; she joins a support group for parents of murdered children, and she discovers that within the group is an underground society that seeks vigilante justice against killers who've slipped through the net of the judicial system. Karen buys a gun, learns how to use it, and begins training in martial arts. She starts keeping tabs on Doob, and learns that he not only intends to kill again, he's targeting her younger daughter. Beverly D'Angelo co-stars as Karen's best friend Dolly, and Philip Baker Hall plays Sidney Hughes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Field, Kiefer Sutherland, (more)
Though the direction of Hellbound is sometimes erroneously credited to editor Michael J. Duthie, the actual director was Aaron Norris, brother of the film's star, Chuck Norris. The story begins with the ritualistic murder of a Chicago rabbi. Detectives Shatter (Norris) and Jackson (Calvin Levels) are assigned to the case, and are compelled to follow the trail of evidence all the way to Israel (where the film was lensed in its entirety...even the Chicago sequences). Once in the Holy Land, Shatter and Jackson discover that the murderer is a centuries-old supernatural entity, a malevolent creature determined to "cleanse" the world. The premise is workable and Norris is in fine form, but the dialogue in Hellbound is too Ed Wood Jr.-esque. (Wait until you hear that conversation about a missing heart!) Filmed in 1992, Hellbound went directly to video in 1994. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Norris, Calvin Levels, (more)
- 1992
- R
A magic-obsessed New York waitress (Rosanna Arquette) is persuaded by a colorful group of characters to help her rob the restaurant where she works. Along the way, she falls in love with the eatery's bartender (David Bowie), who just so happens to be looking for someone who will make him a permanent resident of the U.S. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosanna Arquette, David Bowie, (more)
- 1992
- PG
Set in 1969 Los Angeles, this movie aims at nostalgia but really is more a depiction of the tragedy of a dysfunctional family. Young Andrew, a 13-year-old male on the brink of manhood, is saddled with a Father who is a compulsive gambler and a Mother who is immersed in constant battle with him because of it. Often desperate for money, their dependence on Andrew's older sister for money is one more cause of tension and anxiety in an already unhappy household. As Andrew cares for himself and his younger sister, the symbol of his coming of age--his approaching bar-mitzvah--comes to symbolize more than just a rite of passage. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Mantegna, Anne Archer, (more)
- 1990
Jason (Alan Thicke) and Maggie (Joanna Kerns) are in for quite a few surprises--and shocks--when they attend Parents Night at Dewey High. For starters, they learn that their son Ben (Jeremy Miller) has been dating a girl named Rhonda (Andrea Barber) for several weeks. But this news is a lot easier to take than the revelation that Ben, hoping to impress his pals, has been spreading mendacious rumors that Rhonda is "easy". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- R
In this adolescent-oriented comedy, a handsome young man gets a job as a counselor at a military summer camp so he can be near his dream girl. He isn't there long before he turns the formerly well-run outfit into a riotous all-day party. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrew Ross, Kerry Brennan, (more)
- 1972
- R
Dirty Little Billy thankfully does not try to glorify its subject. Instead, Billy the Kid (Michael J. Pollard) is depicted as the homicidal mental defective that history has proven him to be. The film recounts Billy's formative years, exploding legends and myths all along the way. The Old West is not prettied up in the least; there seems to be mud everywhere, even in the houses. Dirty Little Billy was the last production to be supervised by legendary mogul Jack L. Warner, who had severed his ties with Warner Bros. in 1972 and was releasing through onetime arch rival Columbia Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
