Chris Cooke Movies
The inventive and prolific Bill Plymton (The Tune, Mondo Plympton) scripted, directed, and animated this 73-minute Italtoons animated feature. Newlyweds Grant and Kelly encounter an ongoing parade of surreal situations after energy eruptions from a TV satellite dish raises a lobe on the back of Grant's neck. The lobe makes any fantasy come true, heightening the couple's sexual experiences, but media mogul Larson Giles wants the lobe in order to control TV viewers. Heading Giles' army is Colonel Ferguson, who also desires the lobe for himself. Grant turns Ferguson into a lizard and renders the soldiers helpless so they begin shooting sandwiches instead of missiles. Kelly and Grant flee as the violence escalates. Shown at 1997 film festivals (Toronto, Palm Springs, Sundance). ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Charis Michaelson, Tom Larson, (more)
- 1992
Trent is a commercial artist with a lot of problems with the conflict between his sense of artistic integrity and what he has to do for his clients. One day, he confides his troubles to a young nun working at a youth center. What he doesn't know is that she has been deciding that she doesn't want to be a nun anymore. He's black, she's white. It's not a problem to either of them, but Trent's family feels otherwise, especially after the two of them get married. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Vinessa Shaw
A pair of brothers dodge the law while trying to locate their long-lost father in this third feature from independent New York filmmaker Hal Hartley. Robert John Burke stars as Bill McCabe, a failed computer thief who's just been doublecrossed by his girlfriend and partner. Vowing revenge on the next beautiful blonde he encounters, Bill meets up with his younger brother Dennis (William Sage), a philosophy student concerned about their father William (John A. MacKay). It seems the McCabe paterfamilias was a former major league shortstop who became an anarchist bomber in the 1960s, nearly blowing up the Pentagon. On the run for twenty-three years, William was recently caught by the FBI but escaped again. Based on information from their mother, the McCabes travel to Long Island, where William may be hiding. Along the way, the brothers meet the epileptic Elina (Elina Lowensohn) and her friend Kate (Karen Sillas), a beautiful blonde with whom Bill is instantly smitten. While Dennis figures out that Elina is somehow connected to William, Bill contends with Kate's ex-con husband Jack (Joe Stevens) and Jack's best friend Martin (Martin Donovan), both of whom are also in love with her. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert John Burke, Bill Sage, (more)
- 1991
- PG13
One-time film editor Barry Brown helmed this serio-comedy about an East Indian native (Ranjit Chowdhry) who immigrates to New York City and stumbles his way onto the corporate fast-track. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ranjit Chowdhry, Tirlok Malik, (more)
- 1990
- R
The unlikely relationship between a pregnant high school student and a brooding electronics repairman lies at the center of this droll comedy from writer-director Hal Hartley. Intelligent but unconventional, Maria (Adrienne Shelly) has more to worry about than her pregnancy, as her expectant state drives away her boyfriend and triggers a fatal heart attack in her father. Meanwhile, Matthew (Martin Donovan) has his own problems: an abusive father, a heightened sense of morality that prevents him from taking semi-lucrative television repair jobs, and a suicidal streak that causes him to carry around a potentially deadly grenade. The meeting of these troubled minds at first promises to be beneficial for both, but sours as they are forced to interact with each other's dysfunctional families. As in all of Hartley's pictures, the narrative is filtered through an amusingly detached sensibility that some may consider an acquired taste. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
- Starring:
- Adrienne Shelly, Martin Donovan, (more)
Writer-director Hal Hartley's first feature -- shot in less than 12 days in his backyard for a mere $200,000 -- is a dry and dark comedy about the dangerous undercurrents that exist below the surface of normal middle class existence. Over the credits, Josh (Robert Burke), a man garbed in black, is seen hitch-hiking back to his Long Island home. People ask him, "Are you a priest?" and Josh responds, "No. I'm a mechanic." Back in Long Island in the town of Lindenhurst, beautiful and somber 17-year-old Audry (Adrienne Shelly) is busy worrying about the forthcoming apocalypse. Josh arrives in Lindenhurst and is hired by Audry's father (Chris Cooke) as a mechanic at his garage. But Audry's father worries about him, particularly when he falls in love with Audry. Her father's problems compound when Audry dumps her old boyfriend and rejects an invitation to attend Harvard. The whole town is now gossiping about Audry's new boyfriend, with rumors spreading that Josh is a mass murderer who killed two members of the family of local waitress Pearl (Julia McNeal). Pearl tells Audry, "He seems like a nice man." Audry responds, "Even though he killed your father and your sister?" Audry finally makes her father happy when she tells him she won't see Josh again, but dad's relief is short-lived when Audry informs him she's moving to New York to become an underwear model. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Adrienne Shelly, Robert John Burke, (more)
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