Jon Thompson Movies
- 1991
- PG
- Add Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze to QueueAdd Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze to top of Queue
The crime-fighting Turtles -- Michaelangelo (Michelan Sisti), Donatello (Leif Tilden), Raphael (Kenn Troum), and Leonardo (Mark Caso) -- return in this quickly made sequel to the popular superheroes' first film. The story concerns arch-enemy Shredder, who kidnaps nutty professor Jordan Perry David Warner, the man who invented the infamous ooze, in order to use the ooze to destroy the Turtles. Shredder enlists his hapless German shepherd puppy named Rahzar and a baby snapping turtle named Toko and dips them in the ooze to turn them into horrible and imposing ninja warriors. But on the Turtles' side is proficient kick-boxing pizza boy Keno (Ernie Reyes Jr.), who uses his moves to help the Turtles stop Shredder and his monster warriors. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paige Turco, David Warner, (more)
British director Mike Hodges brought an extra measure of integrity to this made-for-TV thriller. Rosanna Arquette stars as Martha Travis, a psychic who travels the rural American South with her alcoholic father, Walter (Jason Robards), plying her mystical trade for credulous yokels. In reality, Martha is a con woman whose only gift is the ability to defraud those who seek messages from dead loved ones. However, one night the bogus medium intercepts mental images of a murdered man whose wife is in the audience -- and indignantly proclaims that her husband is still very much alive. Within hours, however, Martha's vision becomes reality. Martha has suddenly developed the ability to see murders before they happen, but her newfound ability to prognosticate puts a professional contract killer on her trail. In the meantime, Martha becomes lovers with Gary Wallace (Tom Hulce), a small-town reporter who's intrigued enough by Martha to write a story about her, although he's skeptical about her supernatural talents. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosanna Arquette, Jason Robards, Jr., (more)
- 1988
- R
This cliché-ridden car-racing feature doesn't even get off the blocks. The unshaven villains have greasy hair and black T-shirts, while the clean-shaven good guys are blonde and sport light-colored action wear. Andrea (Marla Heasley) invents a revolutionary new car engine and goes to the Charlotte Motor Speedway to try it out. She meets driver Al Pagura (Joseph Bottoms), and the two fall in and out of love. George Kennedy plays the heavy, and somewhere an underdeveloped plot about racetrack corruption appears. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Bottoms, Marc Singer, (more)
- 1988
Ryan White was the teenaged hemophiliac who contacted AIDS through a blood transfusion, then was barred from attending school in Kokomo, Indiana. All but ostracized by the community, Ryan's mother (Judith Light) engages the services of a high-powered attorney (George C. Scott) to win back her son's basic rights. While the film ends with Ryan triumphing over his human adversaries, no effort is made to sugarcoat the situation. Even after he has been welcomed by another school, we see how the boy is shunned by certain students and their parents; nor is there any glossing over the fact that Ryan's days are numbered, despite the boy's enthusiastic plans for the time he has left (young White died shortly after this TV movie was first telecast in 1989). Despite its inherent sadness, The Ryan White Story is a celebration of an exceptional young human being whose short life touched so many others in a positive, uplifting manner. While Lukas Haas portrays the title character, the real Ryan White appears in the small role of Chad, another hemophiliac AIDS victim. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- R
This comical adventure pokes fun at Rambo as it chronicles the exploits of Traxx, a Texas Highway patrolman who leaves the state police to become a soldier-of-fortune in Hadleyville where he gets into baking funky cookies and working as a sort of town bouncer helping to clean up the burg. While there he and the Mayor, Alexandria Cray have a passionate affair. Real trouble comes to town in the form of the fearsome Uzi-toting Guzik brothers who have come to throw the do-gooder out. To draw him out, the nefarious brothers kidnap the town Little League team. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shadoe Stevens, Priscilla Barnes, (more)
Director Bob Clark, whose previous cinematic endeavors ran the gamut from Porky's to A Christmas Story, called the shots on From the Hip. Fresh out of law school, Robin Weathers (Judd Nelson) is hired by a law firm not known for its ethics. Weathers' first client is a man who, up to trial time, was perfectly willing to cop a plea. Instead, the novice lawyer sharkishly secures a "not guilty" verdict--not to mention a public reputation as a live wire. His jealous older colleagues decide to get even with Weathers by assigning him a case that cannot possibly be won. Thus it is that Weathers is assigned to defend insufferable murder suspect Douglas Benoit (John Hurt), who refuses to cooperate with his attorney even though he's facing a death sentence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Perkins, John Hurt, (more)
