Jonny Solomon Movies
The naughty little monkey from Margret Rey and H.A. Rey's beloved children's stories makes the leap to the big screen in this animated adaptation. Ted (voice of Will Ferrell) is an explorer with a large yellow hat who is good friends with Bloomsberry (voice of Dick Van Dyke), who runs a natural history museum. Bloomsberry's greedy son, Bloomsberry Junior (voice of David Cross), wants to tear down his dad's museum and put a parking ramp in its place, but the elder Bloomsberry is convinced that a spectacular new exhibit could save the museum from the wrecking ball. Ted heads to Africa on an expedition to find some special artifacts that will keep his friend in business, but while he's there he befriends a playful monkey he calls George (voice of Frank Welker). While George is friendly, he has a taste for mischief and seems to always get Ted in hot water; Ted thinks he's seen the last of his simian friend when his ship heads back to America, until he discovers that George managed to hide aboard the boat before it set sail. Ted's search for a eye-catching exhibit proved to be a failure, and Ted and his good friend Maggie (voice of Drew Barrymore), a schoolteacher who's sweet on him, struggle to find of a way to save Bloomsberry's museum. But time becomes precious for Ted when George has an entire new city to explore. Curious George features a handful of original songs composed for the film by surfer-turned-singer/songwriter Jack Johnson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, (more)
An Asian-American woman and her mother both find their private lives are becoming a family matter in this romantic comedy-drama. Wilhelmina Pang (Michelle Krusiec) is a surgeon living in Manhattan whose mother (Joan Chen) is eager for her to settle down with a nice man and get married. What Ma doesn't know is that Wilhelmina happens to be a lesbian -- or rather, Ma prefers not to acknowledge it, since she once walked in on Wilhelmina and her girlfriend several years before. As it happens, Wilhelmina is looking for someone special in her life, and thinks she may have found her in Vivian (Lynn Chen), a beautiful dancer, but a fear of commitment and a desire to keep her medical career on track is making their relationship problematic. As Wilhelmina tries to get her love life in order, her mother's shifts into crisis mode. Ma, a 48-year-old widow, has just discovered she's pregnant, and her staunchly traditional father (Li Zhiyu) will not allow her back into the home they share until she's married someone respectable. Unwilling to name the father of her baby, Ma is forced to move in with Wilhelmina, and while enduring the emotional roller coaster of pregnancy she is being pressured by friends and relatives to marry Cho (Nathaniel Geng), a sweet but boring man she doesn't especially like. Saving Face was the first feature film from writer and director Alice Wu. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michelle Krusiec, Joan Chen, (more)
America's leading titan of bad taste, John Waters, returns to X-rated territory (well, actually NC-17-rated territory, but you get the idea) for this wildly over-the-top comedy. Sylvia Stickles (Tracey Ullman) is a wife and mother living in Baltimore who, along with her husband Vaughn (Chris Isaak) and mother Big Ethel (Suzanne Shepherd), operates a local convenience store. One day, Sylvia receives a sharp blow to the head, which leaves her with a concussion. However, the concussion comes with an unexpected side effect -- Sylvia has suddenly become a sex addict, and is soon attended to by the perverse and lascivious sexual evangelist Ray-Ray (Johnny Knoxville). When it becomes evident that Vaughn can't keep up with her sensual appetites, Sylvia throws herself into the strange netherworld of Baltimore's community of erotic overachievers, which includes her daughter Caprice (Selma Blair), who is living a double life as über-buxom exotic entertainer Ursula Udders. A Dirty Shame also features supporting performances from Waters regulars Patricia Hearst, Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pearce, Channing Wilroy, and Jean Hill. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tracey Ullman, Johnny Knoxville, (more)
- 1994
In this movie, the position of trust a psychiatrist holds is clearly being bent, if not broken, by a prostitute with the doctor's active encouragement. It seems that he enjoys seeing her have sex with his clients. At home, he has a very, very close relationship with his sister. In fact, it looks like it may be just plain old incest. It's never entirely clear, though. When a police detective begins nosing around in the head-doctor's affairs, it is because he is suspected of something entirely different than either of these offenses: he may be connected with a whole series of child murders. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rick Dean
- 1992
Low television ratings can take a heavy toll on talk show hosts, and Larry (Garry Shandling) begins to feel the heat as viewers tune out in this episode of HBO's The Larry Sanders Show. Worried that this may be the result of waning quality, Larry hires a focus group to tune up the show. Special guest stars include Dick Simmons and Pamela Sue Martin. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1988
- R
This low-budget fusion of erotic vampire tale and hard-boiled detective thriller pits Roger Sutter, a tough-as-nails, Dirty Harry-style L.A. detective (Jason Williams, who also directs) against Victor Radkoff, a strange and charismatic pop psychologist (Gustav Vintas). Sutter is convinced of Radkoff's role in a spate of gruesome murders, and he soon takes on the mantle of vampire hunter in pursuit of his elusive suspect. Bucking the annoyances of standard police procedure, he sets out to destroy Radkoff before he can transform his next target, a concert pianist (Leslie Milne), into his undead bride. Though Williams owes a sizable creative debt to Hammer's Count Yorga: Vampire, this is still an entertaining and sexy tale, kept afloat by interesting characters and good performances. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Williams, Gustav Vintas, (more)
