Irma St. Paule Movies
- 1987
Joe (Carmine Capobianco) is a bartender and a psychotic killer who falls in love with the woman of his dreams in this horror comedy. Kate (Debi Thibeault) is a manicurist who shares Joe's penchant for committing gruesome murders. The two meet, fall in love, and make plans to combine forces in the murder of Nikki (Cecilia Wilde), a topless dancer in a local club. Stabbed repeatedly, the victim stays alive and spurts copious amounts of red corpuscles until Joe hits her in the head with a frying pan. When the garbage disposal breaks after being stuffed with too many body parts, the couple calls for the plumber Herman (Frank Stewart). Fortunately for Joe and Kate, Herman is a fellow psycho and cannibal who agrees to work for body parts. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carmine Capobianco, Debi Thibeault, (more)
- 1990
In this drama a bride, widowed on her wedding day when her husband was shot, investigates her late groom's past. She soon discovers why he was killed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Lucci, David Soul, (more)
- 1992
The frozen body of a baby is found, whereupon the child's mother falls under suspicion for causing the infant's death. The woman insists that the real villain is slumlord Iris Colman (Karen Lynn Gorney), who cites the "rent laws" as her excuse to deny proper heating to her tenants. But another resident of the same apartment building offers up an entirely different story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
- R
Danny Glover plays Jerry, a caring street person who takes a mentally retarded Matthew Dillon under his wing, teaching him the survival smarts so necessary to society's left-overs. The two team up with three other vagrants in an attempt to build a nuclear group-support community and find little lasting security in the cold NYC street world. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Glover, Matt Dillon, (more)
Based on the play by Ivan Menchell, this drama concerns three friends, Doris (Olympia Dukakis), Lucille (Diane Ladd), and Esther (Ellen Burstyn). All three live in the same Jewish community in Pittsburgh, are in their mid-to-late 50s, and have become widows within the past few months. Once a week, they gather to visit their husbands' graves and meet at a deli afterward to talk about their lives. Doris remains fiercely devoted to her late husband and takes her responsibilities as a widow seriously. Lucille is eager to get her feet back in the waters of dating, partly as revenge against her late husband, who often cheated on her, and partly because she's very lonely by herself. Esther is also not used to being alone after 39 years of marriage, but she doesn't feel ready to start dating again, at least not until she meets Ben (Danny Aiello), a former cop turned cab driver who gradually but firmly eases his way into her life. Doris is appalled when she discovers that Esther is dating again and loudly protests that she's being disrespectful to her late husband, while Lucille is more than a bit jealous that Esther snagged a good man before she could. Jerry Orbach and Lee Richardson appear in a brief prologue sequence. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ellen Burstyn, Olympia Dukakis, (more)
- 1993
- R
Household Saints is a leisurely-paced portrait of three different generations of working-class, New York-based, Italian women. Carmela Santangelo (Judith Malina) is an elderly immigrant whose son (Vincent D'Onofrio) wins a wife, Catherine Falconetti (Tracey Ullman), during a pinochle game. The pair have a daughter, Teresa (Lili Taylor), who becomes obsessed with religion, eventually believing that she will become the bride of Christ. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tracey Ullman, Vincent D'Onofrio, (more)
Based on Paul Rudnick's hit Off-Broadway play, this romantic comedy centers on the chaotic love life of Jeffrey (Steven Weber), a gay man who swears off sex only to fall in love with his ideal man (Michael T. Weiss). Jeffrey's vow of chastity is inspired by a fear of AIDS, a prospect which has started to terrify him so much that he decides he'd be better off never making love again. He is happy and relieved for a time, until he meets Steve, a handsome, charming dreamboat who also happens to be HIV-positive. Jeffrey wants nothing more than to be with Steve, but his anxiety over the disease and fear of commitment stand in the way. Much of the humor falls to Jeffrey's friends, including the sharp-tongued Sterling (Patrick Stewart), an outwardly catty but surprisingly good-hearted interior decorator, and his young boyfriend Darius (Bryan Batt), a performer in the Broadway musical Cats. Nathan Lane also contributes a memorable cameo as a questionable priest. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steven Weber, Michael T. Weiss, (more)
An intense film about time travel, this sci-fi entry was directed by Terry Gilliam, a member of the comedy troupe Monty Python. The film stars Bruce Willis as James Cole, a prisoner of the state in the year 2035 who can earn parole if he agrees to travel back in time and thwart a devastating plague. The virus has wiped out most of the Earth's population and the remainder live underground because the air is poisonous. Returning to the year 1990, six years before the start of the plague, Cole is soon imprisoned in a psychiatric facility because his warnings sound like mad ravings. There he meets a scientist named Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe) and Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt), the mad son of an eminent virologist (Christopher Plummer). Cole is returned by the authorities to the year 2035, and finally ends up at his intended destination in 1996. He kidnaps Dr. Railly in order to enlist her help in his quest. Cole discovers graffiti by an apparent animal rights group called the Army of the Twelve Monkeys, but as he delves into the mystery, he hears voices, loses his bearings, and doubts his own sanity. He must figure out if Goines, who seems to be a raving lunatic, holds the key to the puzzle. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, (more)
Character actor Steve Buscemi made his debut as a writer and director with this seriocomic tale of a guy who is going through something but doesn't know just what it is. Tommy is a 31-year-old auto mechanic who lost his last job after "borrowing" 1,500 dollars from the cash register and heading to Atlantic City, where he wasted no time losing it all at the tables. The fact that he can't get his own car to run isn't impressing any prospective employers, so Tommy spends much of his time at the Trees Lounge, a local watering hole conveniently located downstairs from his apartment. Eventually Tommy lands some work driving an ice cream truck and becomes acquainted with his ex-girlfriend's 17-year-old niece, Debbie (Chloë Sevigny). When they half-heartedly fall into a romance, it's just one more thing for Tommy to be confused about. Buscemi draws upon a rich cast of supporting actors, including Elizabeth Bracco, Anthony LaPaglia, Carol Kane, Debi Mazar, Samuel L. Jackson, and Mimi Rogers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Buscemi, Mark Boone, Jr., (more)
- 1996
Season Seven of Law & Order begins with the good news that Assistant D.A. Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy) was not immediately killed in the car accident which took her out of commission at the end of Season Five (though actress Hennessy would not return to the show, necessitating a later episode which confirmed beyond doubt that Kincaid was never going to come back). New to the D.A.'s office is Jamie Ross (Carey Lowell), an ambitious young woman whose approach to her job does not always meet with the approval of her partner Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston). In the season's first episode, Ross intends to use a gruesomely graphic audiotape to put the noose around the neck of carjacker-murderer Fernando Salva (Victor Sierra). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1998
Season seven of Homicide: Life on the Street begins not long after the Baltimore homicide unit's squad room has been renovated as a means of expunging all memory of the Mahoney shoot-out. Fully recovered from their wounds, detectives Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor), Stuart Gharty (Peter Gerety), and Laura Ballard (Callie Thorne) are back on the job -- but Frank Pembleton and Tim Kellerman have resigned from the force and are gone forever (or at least Pembleton is). Among those expressing an interest in the department's newest detective, sexy ex-beauty queen Rene Sheppard (Michael Michele), is Meldrick Lewis (Clark Johnson), who has recently separated from his wife. The first case on the board concerns a series of slayings in Little Italy, including the murder of skipper Al Giardello's (Yaphet Kotto) cousin Mario. At the funeral for his cousin, Giardello endures an uncomfortable reunion with his son Mike (Giancarlo Esposito in his first series appearance), an Arizona-based FBI agent. It will, of course, not be the last time that the senior and junior Giardellos are brought together professionally. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Belzer, Giancarlo Esposito, (more)
An alienated young man begins to question his own sanity in the wake of a horrible crime in the psychological thriller Fever. Nick Parker (Henry Thomas) is an aspiring artist who spends his evenings working on paintings and teaches art at the local YMCA to make ends meet. Nick has an apartment in a run-down building, where he often finds himself arguing with the landlord, Sidney (Sandor Tecsy). One night, Nick is disturbed by loud noises from the apartment above; he soon discovers the room has been rented to Will (David O'Hara), a threatening character who doesn't particularly care that Nick asked for an apartment without upstairs neighbors so he could work in peace. When Sidney is soon found murdered, Nick is questioned by a police detective (Bill Duke); Nick tells him he saw Sidney arguing with a drunk he evicted a few days before. However, when Nick passes the story along to Will, Will angrily replies that the old rummy wasn't capable of such a brutal crime. Before long, Nick starts sinking deeper into paranoia, wondering if his occasional rages might have something to do with his building's sudden crime wave. Fever was directed by Alex Winter, best known for his role opposite Keanu Reeves in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure; the film was screened in the Directors Fortnight series at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Thomas, David Patrick O'Hara, (more)
- 1999
In this offbeat and original horror opus, 16-year-old Bobby has been traumatized both by the death of his mother at an early age, and a brutally repressive Catholic upbringing. After Bobby accidentally causes the death of a nun, the boy finds himself sent to Hell, where he encounters his mother and causes a chain-reaction of terrifying spiritual and supernatural consequences. Desecration was the debut feature for 30-year-old auteur Dante Tomaselli. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irma St. Paule, Christie Sanford, (more)
An ailing criminal and his excitement-starved nurse decide to knock over a bank for fun and profit in this comic suspense story. Legendary bank robber Henry Manning (Paul Newman) pushes his luck too far and ends up in prison, where he suffers a massive stroke. He is transferred to a nursing home, in the care of Carol Ann McKay (Linda Fiorentino), a high school prom queen who married her boyfriend Wayne (Dermot Mulroney), the star of her school's football team, and whose glamour days are well behind her. After a few of her personal effects mysteriously disappear, Carol Ann starts to suspect that Henry isn't as sick as he seems, and she and Wayne are soon working with Henry to plan his last and greatest score. The title comes from the remark attributed to the outlaw Willie Sutton, who when asked why he robbed banks, replied, "Because that's where the money is." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Linda Fiorentino, (more)
Amos Kollek directs this quiet, understated comedy about lonely hearts and empty pockets in New York. Pushing 40, Bella (Anna Thomson) works as a waitress at small downtown diner in Manhattan. Her elderly regulars include Paul (Robert Modica), a lovelorn retiree who scours the personal ads and his ill-tempered buddies Seymour (Victor Argo) and Graham (Mark Margolis), who are more than a little disparaging toward Paul's attempts at finding love. Involved in a 12-year relationship with married Broadway theater director George (Austin Pendleton), Bella craves marriage and children. On a blind date set up by her mother, Bella meets Bruno, a divorced cabbie and fledgling novelist with two young children. Meanwhile, Paul meets ready-and-willing widow Emily (Louise Lasser), while Seymour shacks up with Wanda (Valerie Geffner), a stripper with a master's degree. This film was shown in competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Thomson, Jamie Harris, (more)
- 2000
This drama about a family of Italian-American apple farmers sees New York entertainment publicist Bob Tredici (Marc Grapey) return to the family farm in Indiana after learning that his father, Franco (Robert Breuler), has been in an accident. Since Bob rejected farming duties long ago to pursue a career in showbusiness, his cousin Greg (Jeff Puckett) assumes that he will take over the farm when Franco dies. Bob, however, discovers that he likes farming, and he convinces his secretary Happy (Rebecca Harrell) to come to the farm and pose as his wife to help him win back his father's trust. A Piece of Eden also features Tyne Daly and Frederic Forrest in supporting roles. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rebecca Harrell, Robert Breuler, (more)
Writer/director Dante Tomaselli's horror picture Satan's Playground (2005) -- the filmmaker's third feature outing -- subverts horror expectations and genre clichés by deliberately suspending point-by-point logical threads, carefully steering around gore, and enlisting an acting ensemble not of teenagers, but of actors who are predominantly well into middle age. The picture involves the Bruno family -- siblings Donna (Felissa Rose) and Paula (Ellen Sandweiss), Donna's hubby, Frank (Salvatore Paul Piro), and autistic son, Sean (Danny Lopes), and newly single Paula's baby, Anthony -- who are en route to a vacation in the New Jersey Pine Barrens when their car gets stuck in the middle of nowhere. In an effort to solicit help, they inadvertently fall prey to a clan of white-trash, backwoods psychotics, while several are picked off, one at a time, by a strange, unknown predator from out of the night sky. Cast with veterans of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Evil Dead movies, Tomaselli pays loving tribute to slasher movies of cinema past. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Felissa Rose, Ellen Sandweiss, (more)
A man finds himself caught between several worlds -- rough real life and a number of parallel fantasy lands -- in this blend of drama and fantasy. Jorge (Octavio Gómez Berríos) is a painfully shy young man from Ecuador who has immigrated to the United States. Jorge keeps body and soul together by washing dishes at a greasy-spoon diner in a Queens, NY, neighborhood that's dominated by a wide variety of fellow immigrants. Jorge spends most of his days at work being harassed by Rick (Mandy Patinkin), the diner's owner, and loud-mouthed manager Jerry (Aaron Paul). One of the only people at the diner who shows any kindness to Jorge is Amy (Eugenia Yuan), an Asian waitress, and Jorge has become deeply infatuated with her. However, Jerry also has his eyes on Amy, only adding to the tension between him and Jorge. As Jorge struggles to escape his grim circumstances, he passes into a variety of alternate realities, ranging from a pastel-colored wonderland ruled by animated bunnies to a grassy sylvan past a fence. Choking Man was written and directed by Steve Barron, best known for his groundbreaking work in music videos; the film received its world premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Octavio Gómez Berríos, Kate Buddeke, (more)
