Roger Cudney Movies

Inspired by author Eric Schlosser's New York Times best-seller of the same name, director Richard Linklater's ensemble drama examines the health issues and social consequences of America's love affair with fast food and features an all-star cast that includes Greg Kinnear, Ethan Hawke, Kris Kristofferson, Patricia Arquette, and Luis Guzman. Mickey's is the most popular fast-food chain in America, and The Big One is the top-selling burger that put them on the map. When the higher-ups at Mickey's corporate offices learn that the frozen meat patties used to make the wildly popular burger have somehow been tainted with contaminated meat, they send marketing executive Don Henderson (Kinnear) on an urgent mission to ensure quality control and find out precisely how their product became compromised. It's a long way from the Southern California boardroom to the immigrant slaughterhouses, though, and the further Henderson works his way through the bustling feedlots and toward the ubiquitous restaurant sites that have become a staple of modern culture, the more he begins to realize just how dangerous convenience can become when it leads to blissfully ignorant complacency. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A shy radio telescope operator named Zane Ziminski (Charlie Sheen) picks up a series of regular signals coming from space -- and deliberately pointed toward Earth. Convinced that he has discovered alien transmissions, Ziminski is first chastised and then fired by his boss (Ron Silver). Obsessed, he builds a makeshift radio telescope in his house to find out where the signals were sent. Convinced that they're intended for aliens already hidden on Earth, he tracks them to a bleak, isolated Mexican village, where he joins forces with a female scientist (Lindsay Crouse), who has suspicions of her own after witnessing an acceleration of global warming. The villagers turn out to be aliens, and the village a front for an underground alien complex. The aliens are here to "terraform" Earth and prepare it for the arrival of the rest of their race, who will die unless they leave their homeworld and colonize elsewhere. Only Ziminski can stop them. Written and directed by David N. Twohy, The Arrival is a throwback to the genre chillers of the '50s. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

Cisco and his pal Pancho return in this made-for-cable nostalgic and comical reworking of the once popular western adventure series. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

It's Lana Clarkson again as Amathia, the Amazon Queen in this sequel film to Barbarian Queen. Here's she is betrayed by her nasty brother Ankaris (Alejandro Bracho) and is imprisoned and scheduled for the hangman's noose. Luckily for lovers of bountiful bosoms everywhere, she escapes and heads to the woods where she befriends another Amazon gal named Ziela (Rebecca Wood). Together they set out to regain Amathia's rightful rule and outbattle the heathen he-men who'd ousted her. There's plenty of violence and nudity in this second Barbarian Queen fiesta. ~ Rovi

For his second outing as James Bond, Timothy Dalton is working on his own rather than on behalf of the British Secret Service in this follow-up to The Living Daylights). When his American friend Felix Leiter (David Hedison), an agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration, is seriously injured by drug dealer Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi), 007 is out for blood. There is precious little time for the usual Bondian quippery and campiness, resulting in a marked increase in bloodletting (including the "implosion" of secondary villain Anthony Zerbe). A climactic highway chase involving an oil tanker and a helicopter is the highlight, as well as Benecio Del Toro in an early role as the psychotic henchman Dario. Licence to Kill's intensified taste for violence lessened Bond's box-office value, and helped keep 007 off the screen for another six years before Pierce Brosnan took up the mantle. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this slapstick horror comedy, two goofy African-American cops are sent to a rundown, lonely Southern plantation to evict the residents so the mansion can be razed and a freeway erected in its stead. Unfortunately, the "residents" are all ghosts, who have been there since the Civil War, and they are not about to leave. When the film was distributed, director Lee Madden billed himself on the credits as Alan Smithee, the approved pseudonym of the Directors Guild of America that has been used since 1967 by directors not wanting to give their real names on certain films. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Adapted from the "Destroyer" series of novels and comic books (not exactly the level of Ian Fleming), Remo Williams (Fred Ward) is a New York cop who works for a top-secret government agency accountable directly to the President of the U.S. After his reluctant induction into this agency, Remo is trained in a near-magical Korean martial arts form by Chiun (Joel Grey) in great sequences where walking on water is taken in stride. After his training, Remo goes after a corrupt arms manufacturer with connections in the U.S. military and acquires the necessary help-mate in the form of Major Rayner Fleming (Kate Mulgrew). Antics at the Statue of Liberty and other stunts enliven the action, but cannot make up for comic-book level characters. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Academy award-winner Tim Robbins makes his feature film debut in this 1984 thriller concerning a group of seven American college students held ransom by a rogue band of Central America guerillas. Ignoring the advice of their captain while taking a cruise around Central America, Beverly Hills rich girl Amy and her clueless friends unwisely venture off of the beaten path and deep into the vast jungle. Subsequently abducted by guerilla fighters and sentenced to death, the girls await their grim fate as Captain Sarge prepares to stage a daring rescue mission. Against all odds, Captain Sarge does manage to rescue Amy, though as the lucky survivor makes her way back to California she can't help thinking about the rest of her friends. When her efforts in convincing her wealthy father to fund a rescue mission fails, Amy rounds up a group of fearless neighborhood kids and implores Captain Sarge to lead them straight into the lion's den. With time quickly running out for the frightened hostages, seven American students and one hardened soldier of fortune rescue their friends and save the day. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

This is the second sequel in the saga of an English aristocrat who was captured by the Sioux in 1825 and eventually became their leader. This version centers on Man Called Horse's warrior son Koda as he tries to keep avaricious European settlers and prospectors from overrunning their land and destroying their way of life. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This offbeat and atmospheric western is set in 1893, as a gang led by longtime outlaws Bill Doolin (Burt Lancaster) and Bill Dalton (Scott Glenn) is on the verge of falling apart due to time and fatigue. A pair of teenage girls who long to be part of the outlaw mythos of the west meet up with Dalton and Doolin: Jenny (Diane Lane) and Annie (Amanda Plummer). The girls brings an unexpected second wind to the gang, as they help them plot a new series of robberies and escapes, but this burst of new activity also attracts the attention of law officer Tilghman (Rod Steiger), who is determined to put them behind bars. While Cattle Annie and Little Britches was a box office flop thanks to poor handling by the distribution company that released it, it's developed a strong reputation among film buffs and western fans; it also featured Plummer's first screen appearance. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Based on a true story, Home of Our Own is about a Roman Catholic priest in Mexico who builds an orphanage for abandoned boys ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

A typical gangland killing has an unusual outcome when the victim's son comes looking for justice in this violent blaxploitation action drama. Slaughter (Jim Brown) is a former Green Beret who is a decorated war hero, but while he's devoted his life to fighting for right, his father followed another path as a gangster. However, while Slaughter's dad was a career criminal, his mother played no part in his actions, and when they're both killed in a car explosion, Slaughter is determined to get revenge. Slaughter is convinced a rival crime boss ordered the bombing, and plans a daring raid where he kills the suspect. Slaughter is captured by police, and angry detective A.W. Price (Cameron Mitchell) tells Slaughter he had the right idea but the wrong man. Slaughter is persuaded to team up with undercover detectives Harry (Don Gordon) and Kim (Marlene Clark) as they travel to Puerto Rico in hopes of infiltrating the operations of hot-headed mobster Hoffo (Rip Torn). The cops have learned that Hoffo and his cronies are computerizing their operations and they're looking for hard evidence, but Slaughter is more interested in taking down Hoffo, and he'll do whatever it takes. The rivalry between Slaughter and Hoffo becomes all the more bitter when Slaughter becomes involved with Ann (Stella Stevens), the gangster's beautiful girlfriend. Featuring a dynamic theme song by Billy Preston, Slaughter was a major box-office hit in 1972 and one of the most popular films of Jim Brown's screen career; it spawned a sequel, Slaughter's Big Rip-Off, which appeared in 1973. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi