John Strong Movies
In this first sequel to 1989's Batman, the Caped Crusader (Michael Keaton) is up against the Penguin (Danny DeVito), the hideously deformed scion of a wealthy Gotham City family. The Penguin plots with evil businessman Max Schreck (Christopher Walken) to become mayor and then turn Gotham into a cathedral of crime. Upon overhearing these plans, Schreck's mousy secretary Selena Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer) is tossed from a high-rise window by her boss. Rescued by a covey of kittens, Selena transforms into the leather-clad Catwoman. In this guise, she teams with the Penguin and Schreck to divvy up their ill-gotten gains and help discredit Batman-but she also has her own scores to settle. Paul "Pee-Wee Herman" Reubens, Vincent Schiavelli and Jan Hooks play significant bits, while Pat Hingle and Michael Gough make returns as, respectively, Commissioner Gordon and Alfred the Butler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, (more)
- 1992
Originally made for cable-television, this thriller centers on the attempts of an innocent teenage girl to prove that the boy she has her eye upon is not a ruthless serial killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In this thriller, television reporter Kate Ryan de Melendez (Amy Irving) investigates the death of two radical Puerto Rican activists, whom she begins to believe may have been framed and murdered by undercover American agents. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amy Irving, Robert Duvall, (more)
- 1987
- R
An alcoholic Vietnam vet who has lost both his wife and his job as a cop while struggling to adjust to civilian life in southern California heads out for unintentionally hilarious revenge against the newly immigrated Vietnamese drug lord who slaughtered his best friend and his family in this campy "Rambo-esque" actioner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1980
- PG
Despite its title, The Earthling is not a science fiction opus. Instead, it's a low-key character study about a doomed man who finds a new lease on life by helping another lost soul. Suffering from terminal cancer, Patrick Foley (William Holden) returns to his native Australia. Intending to live out his last few months alone, Foley comes out of his shell long enough to teach impressionable young orphan Shawn Daley (Ricky Schroder) a few Bush Country survival skills. Ironically, director Peter Collinson was himself a cancer victim, who died shortly after the film's completion. The Earthling works best on a kiddie-matinee level, with Holden's performance and the gorgeous photography its chief assets. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Holden, Rick Schroder, (more)
- 1978
- R
This exploitation film oddity, inspired by the success of The Godfather, attempts to create a personalized variant on the mob movie genre. The story, concocted by star/director/producer Duke Mitchell, focuses on the life of Mimi Miceli (Mitchell), the son of a vanquished mafia chieftain who returns to America with the dream of reviving his father's past criminal glory. Teaming up with old friend Jolly Rizzo (Vic Caesar), he kidnaps Los Angeles mob chieftain Chucky Tripoli (Louis Zito) and ransoms him to get back into the California mob. The scheme results in Miceli winning his own piece of the Los Angeles territory, but the tensions he creates in the crime family soon result in an bloody war between Miceli and the rest of the mob. Miceli eventually returns to Sicily to reunite with his father, only to discover that the destiny he discovered in America has followed him home. The premise of The Executioner is the stuff of a promising action-drama, but it becomes something surreal thanks to Mitchell's impassioned yet deranged filmmaking, which transforms the finished product into something that feels like a three-way collaboration between Samuel Fuller, John Cassavetes, and Ed Wood Jr. The end result is strange, to say the least. As a result, The Executioner never found favor with a major audience, but has become an underground cult favorite amongst patrons of bizarre filmmaking. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- G
A small-time crook (Byron Mabe) hits upon the clever plan of training Dobermans to substitute for criminals in a bank-robbery scheme. He hires a military dog-trainer (Hal Reed) and pulls off the heist, though problems arise due to the dogs--perhaps trained too well. The 1972 film spawned two sequels. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Having trouble finding work thanks to his criminal record, Tony Polk (Steve Harris) finally lands a job going door to door and dispensing free gifts to viewers of a bizarre game show called "The Bad Buccaneer." This assignment requires him to wear a pirate costume, complete with a hook-shaped artificial hand. Unfortunately, while taking over a fellow worker's customer list, Polk is accused of murdering one of his customers, Grace Knapp (Kathleen Crowley), with that selfsame hook. In his efforts to defend Tony, Perry Mason discovers that the dead woman was a blackmailer--and that one of her victims was a performer on "The Bad Buccaneer"! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
