Conrad Coates Movies
An aspiring medical student whose drug-addicted sister has recently died and who may be forced to relocate from her posh private school to the crime-infested neighborhood in which she was raised enters a step-dancing competition in hope of securing the funds needed to continue her education. Unable to afford the tuition needed to fund her private-school education, ambitious teen Raya returns to her family home in the city and is reluctantly forced to reevaluate her future. Upon learning that the top prize for an upcoming step-dancing competition is 50,000 dollars, Raya uses her impressive moves to earn a coveted slot in her good friend Bishop's predominately male JSJ crew. Isolated from the local females due to jealousy and separated from her fellow dancers by gender, the ambitious dancer is subsequently kicked off the team for showing off during a preliminary competition. Now, if Raya has any hope of realizing her medical-school dreams, she will have to either earn back Bishop's trust or organize her own dance crew and start over from scratch. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rutina Wesley, Tracey 'Tre' Armstrong, (more)
Her latest heist having gone horribly awry, a professional thief heads back to her quiet hometown in order to maintain a low profile, only to find herself recruited to watch after her young nephew and nice when her sister is stranded in a tropical storm and unable to make it home for Christmas. Cate Dove (Shannen Doherty) isn't exactly the kind of woman most folks would hire to watch after their kids. In fact, the only reason she's come returned to her hometown of Comfort, Connecticut is to avoid the authorities after botching an elaborate jewel heist and getting stabbed in the back by Clive (Conrad Coates), her once-faithful partner-in-crime. Upon receiving word that her sister is stuck on an island in a tropical storm and won't be able to catch a flight out for days, Cate reluctantly agrees to look after her nephew Parker and her niece Annie. But familial responsibilities quickly take a back seat to criminal scheming when Cate realizes that her sister's quaint little neighborhood is a virtual treasure trove just waiting to be mined by such a resourceful criminal as herself. But just as Cate begins to craft the perfect plan to take the locals for all they're worth something strange begins to happen. Could it be that the thief who once thrived on the chaos of the city is finally growing accustomed to small town life? As Cate reconnects with her friends and family while developing a playful relationship with handsome local sheriff Hank (Ty Olsson), she begins to wonder if it's finally time to give up her life of crime and as herself what really matters most in life. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shannen Doherty, Ty Olsson, (more)
Jigsaw, the diabolical criminal who captured the imagination of horror fans in the 2004 hit Saw, returns in this equally bloody sequel. Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) is a police detective who, after discovering the aftermath of a particularly gruesome murder, is convinced that Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) is up to his ugly tricks again. Matthews's hunch turns out to be correct, but the master criminal proves to be disconcertingly easy to capture. As it happens, Jigsaw is eager to be put behind bars in order to throw the authorities off his trail as he once again punishes people who in his eyes have transgressed the boundaries of acceptable moral behavior. But instead of trapping two people in a filthy dungeon where they must engage in a terrible contest in order to win their freedom, eight people have been locked away by Jigsaw, and they must torture their bodies and minds to achieve the terrible justice Jigsaw seeks. Saw II was written by Leigh Whannell, who also scripted the first film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donnie Wahlberg, Tobin Bell, (more)
In this crime-seasoned road movie, Luca (Antonio Cupo) is an Italian expatriate who is living in the United States. His high-spirited sister, Martina (Bianca Guaccero), comes to Las Vegas to visit America for the first time; wanting to see California, Luca hits the highway, and Martina impulsively demands they pick up a pair of hitchhikers, Sean (Vinnie Jones) and Jamie (Brad Renfro). However, it turns out Sean and Jamie are on the run from the law for murder and armed robbery, and Luca and Martina find themselves in a very dangerous position. Things become even more complicated when Luca gets mixed up with Cherie (Caprice), a beautiful woman trying to get away from her violent and unstable boyfriend, Ray (Conrad Coates). Casper Van Dien also stars. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Based on a novel by William H. Armstrong, the made-for-TV Sounder was a remake of director Gordon Parks' 1972 theatrical feature of the same name. This is the story of 11-year-old black youngster David Daniel Lee Robertson III, known throughout the film as "Boy." When his sharecropper father is arrested and sentenced to five years at hard labor after stealing food to feed his family, Boy embarks upon a journey to find out where his father has being imprisoned. Accompanied by his dog Sounder, Boy also makes the arduous crossover from boyhood to manhood with the help (and sometimes hindrance) of various people along the road. Kevin Hooks, who played Boy in the original film, directed the remake, while Paul Winfield, the original Father, is here cast as Teacher. Sounder first aired January 19, 2003, as a component of the ABC anthology The Wonderful World of Disney. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl Lumbly, Suzzanne Douglas, (more)
- 2002
The battle between "real" and holistic medicine was dramatized on a weekly, 60-minute basis in this PAX Network series. Peter Strauss headed the cast as Dr. Isaac Braun, eminent head surgeon at a prestigious Ohio hospital. Braun's rigid, rules-are-rules approach to medicine is spectacularly challenged by a new member of the staff: Dr. Rachel Griffin (Larissa Laskin), who in addition to being a stalwart advocate of "alternative" healing processes was once Braun's most brilliant protégée. Scheduled to run for 13 weeks (with the option for more episodes if the producers were able to stretch their premise past the first season), Body and Soul premiered September 16, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Strauss, Larissa Laskin, (more)
The price of fame is murder -- or at least it is in the mind of one woman in New Hampshire. Suzanne Stone (Nicole Kidman) has spent most of her life wanting to be famous; she's attractive, speaks well, and imagines herself to be intelligent ("imagines" is the key word here), so she has set her sights on becoming a TV anchorwoman. However, opportunities for female broadcasters are hard to come by in Little Hope, New Hampshire, and she's convinced that her husband, the once handsome but now flabby restaurant manager Larry Maretto (Matt Dillon), is just getting in her way. Suzanne gets herself a spot hosting a weather report on a local public access station, and is preparing a documentary called "Teens Speak Out," which puts her in touch with a trio of high school students -- Jimmy (Joaquin Phoenix), Russell (Casey Affleck), and Lydia (Alison Folland) -- who are even more desperate for attention than she is. When Suzanne hatches a plot to get Larry out of her life once and for all, she uses Jimmy, who has developed a serious crush on her, to do her dirty work, but Larry's sister Janice (Illeana Douglas), who has long believed there was something fishy about Suzanne, eventually begins to realize what happened to her brother. Nicole Kidman won a Golden Globe award for her work in this film, which represented something of a comeback for director Gus Van Sant after the commercial and critical disaster of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Screenwriter Buck Henry plays a small role as a high school teacher. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon, (more)
In this campy, nostalgic comedy based on a popular TV series from the early '60s, the two bungling cops Toody and Muldoon are assigned to guard a key witness who is planning to testify against a crime lord. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Johansen, John C. McGinley, (more)
- 1992
Tim Matheson plays a zealous prosecutor named Peter Hudson in the made-for-cable thriller Trial and Error. After sending a petty criminal to death row, Hudson pursues a political career, eventually becoming attorney general. Just before he is to be nominated for Lieutenant Governor, the criminal is about to be executed, and due to his wife's beliefs Hudson starts to suspect that the man was innocent. Hudson doesn't want to pursue his suspicions, since his political career is at stake. However, he is forced into action when the real killer begins stalking his wife. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
Goldie Hawn delivers a surprisingly understated performance (allowing the audience to shift their laughter from the usually comic Hawn to the unbelievable storyline) in the unsuccessful thriller Deceived. Hawn plays Adrienne Saunders, a successful art restorer who is married to Jack (John Heard), a devoted husband who is also an expert in the antiques business. Married for six years and parents of a charming 5-year-old daughter Mary (Ashley Peldon), the Saunders appear to have everything going for them. But after a series of odd occurrences that even an idiot would notice, Adrienne finally comes the conclusion that her husband is not the man she thought he was when she married him. After Jack tells Mary that he was in Boston but Adrienne's friend tells her she saw him in New York, the mysterious clues begin piling up and are too numerous to ignore: there's a call from a department store concerning some sexy lingerie that Jack purchased; a friend is found murdered after checking on the authenticity of an Egyptian necklace; and there are indications that Jack was involved with a scheme to steal artifacts from a museum. Adrienne is finally convinced that something is fishy about her husband when he mysteriously dies is an auto wreck, and she discovers that Jack has been using the name of a man who had died 16 years earlier. Adrienne proceeds to polish her magnifying glass and conducts some detective work on her own to find out who her husband really was. This is when the danger really begins. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Goldie Hawn, John Heard, (more)
Based on Jim Butcher's best-selling novels, "The Dresden Files" chronicles the cases of no ordinary detective. Harry Dresden (Paul Blackthorne) is a wizard, the only one listed in the Chicago phone book. He's got a handle on the crimes that can't be solved by anyone else. Paranormal? No problem. Dresden deals in all matters of supernatural threats. If you need a little hocus pocus or some other worldly advice, Dresden's your man.
- Starring:
- Paul Blackthorne, Valerie Cruz, (more)
