Renee Rousselot Movies

A man who leaves humanity behind to live with animals returns to society under unpleasant circumstances, but with valuable lessons about human and animal relationships. Anthony Hopkins stars as Ethan Powell, a noted anthropologist studying the behavior of mountain gorillas in Rwanda. The longer Powell follows the apes, the more he comes to admire their simple but peaceful society. He begins to spend most of his time with the apes until one day he ventures into the jungle and doesn't return. Powell throws in his lot with the gorillas and lives among them as primitive man once lived in the wild with animals. However, two years later, poachers kill several of the gorillas, and Powell flies into a murderous rage, killing two of the men who attacked his friends. Extradited to the United States, Powell is sent to a grim maximum-security prison in Florida, where he will be held while awaiting trail. A psychological evaluation must be performed on Powell, and the task falls to Theo Caulder (Cuba Gooding Jr.), an ambitious young psychiatrist who sees this as a case with the potential to make him famous. However, since Powell initially won't speak to anyone, getting through to him will be a challenge, and Powell's daughter Lyn (Maura Tierney) has little insight on the father she barely knew. As Caulder slowly builds a rapport with Powell, he comes to realize what Powell has learned from his experience with the gorillas -- and how much Powell can teach him about living with others. Loosely adapted from the novel Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, Instinct also features supporting performances from Donald Sutherland and George Dzundza. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Devout Pentecostal preacher Eulis "Sonny" Dewey (Robert Duvall) of New Boston, Texas, has a lovely wife (Farrah Fawcett) and two children. But not only has Jessie been cheating on him with a younger minister, Horace (Todd Allen), she has pulled a few strings to gain control of his church. Sonny goes into a violent rage, attacking Horace with a bat during a softball game. With Horace in a coma, Sonny leaves town on a bus, headed east for a new life. He changes his name to E.F., baptizing himself as "The Apostle" to God. Arriving in the black community of Bayou Boutte, Louisiana, he meets Brother Blackwell (John Beasley) who helps him start anew. E.F. works as a garage mechanic and preaches on the streets and a local radio station owned by Elmo (Rich Dial). He leads the community in remodeling a rundown church and gains supporters as he seeks his own salvation. In sorrow from the deaths of both his mother (June Carter Cash) and Horace, he encounters more problems when a racist (Billy Bob Thornton) attempts to drive a bulldozer into his church. Eventually, Jessie finds out where he's living and informs the police. Duvall wrote, directed, and financed this exploration of the evangelical world, shown at the Toronto Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. Filmed in Texas (Denton County, Collin County, and Dallas) and Lafayette, Louisiana. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Based on the book Matilda, by British children's author Roald Dahl, this film moves the setting from the U.K. to the U.S.; otherwise it follows the original closely. Matilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson) is an extremely curious and intelligent little girl who is very different from her low-brow, mainstream parents (Danny DeVito and real-life wife Rhea Perlman), who quite cruelly ignore her. As she grows older, she begins to discover that she has telekinetic powers. Not until a teacher shows her kindness for the first time does she realize that she can use those powers to do something about her sufferings and help her friends as well. Villains from the awful Miss Trunchbull (Pam Ferris), headmistress of her miserable school Crunchem Hall, to her parents and older brother begin to feel her ire. Look for Paul Reubens (aka Pee Wee Herman) in a small part as an FBI agent investigating Matilda's shady father. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

An unflinching drama of frustrated ambition and troubled siblings, Georgia examines the relationship between a self-destructive, would-be rock singer and her sister, a successful folk musician. Sadie (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is the younger, more troubled sister, a wild child with a taste for reckless behavior, from her dangerous romances to her attachments to drugs and alcohol. Hopping between low-rent clubs, Sadie struggles to make it from gig to gig, delivering rawly emotional performances that lack technical skill. Her repeated career failures drive her further into addiction, sending her life into a downward spiral. Ultimately, she is forced to seek help from her sister Georgia (Mare Winningham), who is everything Sadie is not: married, financially secure, and blessed with a smooth voice that has won her popular success. A clash of seemingly opposite personalities follows, as Georgia attempts to help Sadie without becoming damaged herself. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Television sitcom star Tim Allen made his big screen debut with this light, family-friendly holiday comedy. Allen stars as Scott Calvin, the divorced dad of Charlie (Eric Lloyd). Scott is distressed to learn that his ex-wife Laura (Wendy Crewson) and Charlie's psychiatrist stepfather Neal (Judge Reinhold) have informed his son that there is no Santa Claus. While a sullen Charlie visits his dad on Christmas Eve, a noise on the roof brings them outside, where Scott startles the intruder, who tumbles from the roof. It turns out that there is a Santa after all, and Scott has just accidentally killed him. Because of a legal technicality known as "the Santa clause," Scott inherits the jolly old elf's job. As the next year passes, Scott rapidly gains weight, grows a white beard and meets the elf Bernard (David Krumholtz) -- who is the one who really runs the North Pole -- while Charlie regains his Christmas spirit. However, Neal becomes concerned about Scott's sudden change in appearance and insistence that he's Santa, and he forces him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Director John Pasquin previously directed Allen in the TV series Home Improvement and would team with him again for Jungle 2 Jungle (1997). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

In the sequel to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, a bumbling but brilliant scientist (Rick Moranis) accidentally makes his two-year-old son into a giant who becomes larger every time he comes in contact with electricity. Though he and his wife try to control their son, the child inevitably escapes and wreaks havoc, eventually terrorizing the streets of Las Vegas. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide