Mira Sorvino Movies
Since her first leading role, as a convict's loyal girlfriend, in her friend Rob Weiss' debut film Amongst Friends (1993), Mira Sorvino has been on the fast track to stardom, playing a wide variety of multifaceted characters. Her breakthrough role displayed her willingness and ability to take on unusual parts; Sorvino shocked and delighted audiences as a crass New York streetwalker in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite (1995). The stretch paid off, not only did her performance steal the show, it also earned Sorvino an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.Born in Tenafly, NJ, on September 28, 1967, Sorvino is the daughter of character actor Paul Sorvino, best known for roles in films like Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990). Initially, her father attempted to steer Sorvino and her two siblings away from the acting profession. He was particularly adamant that his offspring not do any professional acting during childhood, so Sorvino contented herself with appearing in various school productions. Following her high school graduation, she earned a degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard University; she spent one year of her education as an exchange student in Beijing, China, where she became fluent in Mandarin.
Upon graduation, Sorvino still wanted to act and she moved to New York to pursue her career. Between small acting gigs, she waited tables and worked as a production assistant until 1992, when Weiss hired her as a third assistant director on the low-budget, independent Amongst Friends. She proved so adept at her job that he promoted her to associate producer and eventually cast her as his leading lady. She appeared in two short films, Susan Seidelman's The Dutch and the satirical The Second Greatest Story Ever Told (both 1993), in which she played a contemporary Virgin Mary. In 1994, Whit Stillman hired her to play a two-faced party girl in Barcelona, while Robert Redford cast her as Rob Morrow's wife in Quiz Show.
After winning her Oscar for her performance in the following year's Mighty Aphrodite, Sorvino started finding steady work in Hollywood. After a turn as Matt Dillon's anorexic girlfriend in Beautiful Girls (1996) and an Emmy nomination for her performance in the made-for-TV Norma Jean and Marilyn (1996), Sorvino went on her first big-budget outing as a scientist trying to save New York from giant cockroaches in Mimic. Unfortunately, the film was rejected by critics and audiences alike. Her other major project that year, the comedy Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, attained a level of cult status thanks to its 1980s soundtrack and over-the-top costumes. The following year, Sorvino made two small, offbeat features -- Paul Auster's Lulu on the Bridge and Wonsuk Chin's Too Tired to Die, which cast her as Death -- and another big-budgeted action thriller, The Replacement Killers. Starring opposite Hong Kong action star Chow Yun-Fat, Sorvino was able to put her past experiences in China and her fluency in Mandarin to use; unfortunately, critics and audiences alike had little use for the film. In 1999, Sorvino decided to try her hand at romantic drama, starring opposite Val Kilmer in At First Sight. The multi-handkerchief weepie was something of a critical and commercial disappointment, although Sorvino did win some positive attention for her performance as the architect who helps restore her blind lover's sight. Later that year, she won more acclaim for her starring role as John Leguizamo's estranged wife in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam, a story revolving around the long, hot summer of 1977, when New York was terrorized by serial killer David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz.
Little seen performances in a made for television adaptation of The Great Gatsby and the period comedy The Triumph of Love found Sorvino's star dimming in stateside theaters in 2001, though her supporting performance in Tim Blake Nelson's acclaimed holocaust drama The Grey Zone served as a notable reminder of what the young starlet was truly capable of when given the opportunity. A pair of bombs both domestic and foreign dropped in the year that followed, and after appearing opposite Glitter star Mariah Carey in Wisegirls Sorvino's Semana Santa somehow managed to get even worse reviews that even Carey's afformentioned solo effort. Of course by this point Sorvino had almost mastered the art of balancing the bad with the good, and her portrayal of a conflicted war photographer in Between Strangers at least drew fair reviews. By this point stateside fans were likely left wondering whether Sorvino had forsaken her film career for a behind-the-scenes approach to filmmaking, and although she had indeed stepped into the producer's chair with Griffin Dunne's 2000 comedy drama Famous she returned to the silver screen in a big way with a role in the sweeping civil war drama Gods and Generals. As she prepared for roles in the sci-fi thriller The Final Cut and the large scale adventure Instant Karma, Sorvino appeared to be edging towards something of a comeback on stateside screens. Fans eager to catch a glimpse of the actress were pleasantly surprised when Sorvino turned in a winning guest appearance in the popular sitcom Will and Grace in 2003. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Director Robert K. Weiss gives a good accounting of himself in his first feature-length effort Amongst Friends. The film is set in an affluent Long Island neighborhood, the home of boyhood chums Patrick McGaw, Steve Parlavecchio, and Joseph Lindsey. With too much time on their hands, the kids turn to crime for "kicks". Events snowball into a climactic life-or-death drug deal, which threatens to end in disaster when one of the boys capriciously pulls a double cross. Barely released in 1993, Amongst Friends will probably get more play in future years thanks to the presence in the cast of Oscar-winner Mira Sorvino. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Parlavecchio, Joseph Lindsey, (more)
When a mysterious killer turns a small town's annual Easter celebration into a blood-soaked nightmare, it's up to Detective Maria Delgado (Mira Sorvino) to see that the homicidal maniac is apprehended and justice is served. As the winding and narrow ancient streets quickly fill with penitents, Detective Delgado's ominous task becomes as dangerous as it is seemingly impossible. With the body count quickly mounting and the frenzied killer's murderous antics holding the town in a horrific grip of terror, the pressure placed on Detective Delgado by the frightened townspeople plunges her headlong into a nightmarish confrontation with an unrelenting madman. This film also stars French actor Olivier Martinez. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mira Sorvino, Olivier Martinez, (more)
New York architect Amy Benic (Mira Sorvino) meets blind masseur Virgil Adamson (Val Kilmer) and falls in love. As she learns his lifelong blindness may be curable through experimental surgery, she convinces him to undergo the operation. Virgil then learns vision may not quite be what he expected. At First Sight is directed by Irwin Winkler and also stars Bruce Davison, Nathan Lane, and Kelly McGillis. At First Sight is a romance adapted by writer Steve Levitt based upon the story To See and Not See from noted writer Dr. Oliver Sacks' collection, An Anthropologist on Mars. Dr. Sacks' work is also the basis for the Penny Marshall film Awakenings, starring Robert De Niro and Robin Williams and the opera The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat by Michael Morris with music by Michael Nyman. In his original story, Dr. Sacks tells of receiving a call in October 1991 from a retired minister in the Midwest. His daughter was about to marry a fifty-year old man, Virgil, who had been blind since early childhood. He had thick cataracts and been diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a disease which slowly eats away the retinas. As he could still make the distinction between light and dark, it was found he was misdiagnosed and simple cataract extraction could possibly restore his sight. While surgery was a success, Virgil, like his cinematic counterpart, found he would have to learn to use his vision much like an infant would, even though he was adept at relating to the world through touch. In his A New Theory of Vision, written in 1709, George Berkeley concluded there was no necessary connection between a tactile world and a sight world; a connection between them could be established only on the basis of experience. This same story was also adapted into the play Molly Sweeney by Brian Friel. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Val Kilmer, Mira Sorvino, (more)
The second film from writer/director Whit Stillman, Barcelona is a smart, urbane comedy of manners set in Spain at the tail end of the Cold War. Taylor Nichols stars as Ted, an American salesman living in Barcelona. Out of the blue, he is visited by his acidic cousin Fred (Chris Eigeman), a U.S. Navy officer sent abroad to work damage control on rising anti-American sentiment. The textbook "Ugly American," Fred travels through the city in full military regalia, impervious to the constant taunts of "Fascist!" Like the similarly self-absorbed Ted, who has become involved with political activist Monsterrat (Tushka Bergen), Fred also finds romance, with a party girl played by Mira Sorvino. A brittle fish-out-of-water comedy, Barcelona is literate and sophisticated, a knowing essay on cultural identity and perception. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Taylor Nichols, Christopher Eigeman, (more)
- 1996
- R
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A high-school reunion in a snowy New England town brings together a diverse band of former classmates. They include NYC pianist Willie Timothy Hutton who has found only small success playing night clubs and is considering taking a job as a supply salesman. While in town, Willie, who is having relationship problems with his girlfriend, finds himself becoming friends with 13 year-old Marty Natalie Portman. Then there's Tommy Matt Dillon, the aging jock who though seriously involved with Sharon Mira Sorvino, cannot resist the occasional walk down memory lane by sleeping with the former prom-queen Darian Lauren Holly, who is married but believes that her husband won't find out. Paul Michael Rapaport is dumped by his waitress girlfriend Jan Martha Plimpton, in part because of the swimsuit-clad supermodels plastered all over his walls. Paul then becomes attracted to Andera Uma Thurman, who is visiting her cousin Stinky Pruitt Taylor Vince, a local tavern owner. Also among the group -- Gina Rosie O'Donnell, who fancies herself a feminist counselor and who, in one of the film's highlights, delivers a poignant rant against how magazines present unrealistic images of women. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Noah Emmerich, (more)
Three women living in Toronto find themselves confronting emotional crises regarding the men in their lives in this drama. Olivia (Sophia Loren) is a woman who spends her days looking after her husband, John (Pete Postlethwaite), who is confined to a wheelchair. Olivia has long aspired to a career as an artist, but John, not emotionally generous, refuses to hear of her wasting her time on such things. However, Olivia does find encouragement from an unlikely source -- Max (Gérard Depardieu), an eccentric French gardener. Natalia (Mira Sorvino) is a news photographer who, while on assignment in Angola, took a memorable portrait of a crying child orphaned by war. Her father, Alexander (Klaus-Maria Brandauer), also a well-known photojournalist, is understandably proud of Natalia when her photo is used on the cover of a major news magazine, but she is haunted by the knowledge that while she made the child famous, she couldn't save its life. And Catherine (Deborah Kara Unger) is a woman whose father, Alan (Malcolm McDowell), beat her mother to death when she was young. Catherine has never been able to resolve her hatred of her father, and when Alan is released from prison, she's willing to abandon her husband, her children, and her career as a musician to track him down and kill him, unable to accept the notion that he's a changed man. Between Strangers was directed by Edoardo Ponti, whose mother happens to be Sophia Loren; it marks the first time the two have worked together. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Mira Sorvino, (more)
Director Wayne Wang and screenwriter Paul Auster had enough storylines and characters left over from their charming comedy Smoke to make another film, so they shot Blue In The Face immediately after Smoke was completed. The film once again centers on the Brooklyn Cigar Store and manager Auggie (Harvey Keitel), although most of the other characters are different. The store owner's frustrated wife Dot (Roseanne) is one of them, and one of the plotlines follows her attempts to seduce Auggie. Madonna, Michael J. Fox, Lily Tomlin, and Lou Reed (as himself) also put in appearances. Blue In The Face was shot without a complete script and presents a unique combination of distinctive performances, oddball characters, improvisations, and raffish scenes. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harvey Keitel, Lou Reed, (more)
The Swede (Marlon Brando), a prison warden, rules his family and his prison with an iron hand in one of the coldest parts of North Dakota. When an inmate dies under mysterious circumstances, however, the FBI sends in agent Karen Polarski (Mira Sorvino) to investigate. On the home front, the sons-in-law of the Swede, Larry (Thomas Haden Church) and Bud (Charlie Sheen) accidentally discover that a train loaded with millions of dollars of unmarked currency slated to be destroyed will soon be passing through. The temptation is too great and the guys hatch a scheme to rob the train. Of course, the biggest obstacle in their way is the Swede. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlon Brando, Charlie Sheen, (more)
Director Ron Maxwell and producer Ted Turner return to the glory and tragedy of the Civil War in this historical drama, a prequel to Gettysburg, which examines the early days of the conflict through the experiences of three men. Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Jeff Daniels) left behind a quiet life and a career as a college professor to become one of the Union's greatest military minds. Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (Stephen Lang) was, like Chamberlain, a man of great religious faith who served in the defense of the Confederacy. And Gen. Robert E. Lee (Robert Duvall), who led the Confederate army, was a man who was forced to choose between his loyalty to the United States and his love of the Southern states where he was born and raised. As Chamberlain, Jackson, and Lee are followed through the declaration of war and the battles at Manassas, Antietam, Frederickburg, and Chancellorsville, the film also introduces us to the many supporting players in the epic tale of the war between the States, among them the women these men left behind, among them Fanny Chamberlain (Mira Sorvino) and Anna Jackson (Kali Rocha). Based on a novel by Jeff Shaara, Gods and Generals also features a new song written and performed by Bob Dylan. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Duvall, Stephen Lang, (more)
For naïve audiences under the impression that sexual slavery is a thing of the past, director Christian Duguay's Golden Globe-nominated tale of the multi-billion-dollar modern slavery industry proves that even in the 21st century, human life can still be measured in dollars. Four girls from across the world, including a 12-year-old American tourist on vacation overseas, have been kidnapped and thrust into the terrifying world of international sex trade, and a specialized team of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are determined to bring down the global network that sponsors such heinous crimes. A former victim who has dedicated her life to protecting the innocent, ICE agent Kate Morozov (Mira Sorvino) braves the flesh-peddlers of Russia and endures the terror of an urban torture chamber located in the very heart of Queens in order to bring the ruthless kingpin behind these crimes to justice. When the world's most dedicated cop crosses swords with the man who drives one of the most expansive global conspiracies on the planet, the stage is set for an explosive confrontation of epic proportions. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mira Sorvino, Donald Sutherland, (more)
Assembled by the same team responsible for "The Hallmark Hall of Fame", this TV adaptation of Neil Simon's hit play Jake's Woman stars Alan Alda, recreating his Broadway role as Simon-esque writer Jake. Mired in an unhappy marriage with current spouse Maggie (Anne Archer), Jake tries to cope with his wife's insistence on a trial separation by conjuring up images of the other women in his life: his late wife Julie (Mira Sorvino), his confused daughter Molly (Kimberly Williams), his neurotic sister Karen (Julie Kavner) and his analyst Edith (Joyce Van Patten). Putting his literary skills to good use, Jake carries on imaginary conversations with these ladies, hoping that they will help him sort out his problems. The trouble begins when the spectres of Jake's Women begin showing up without his bidding, insisting upon debating and arguing with the poor fellow even as he tries to pursue a new romance with his current flame Sheila (Lolita Davidovich). Neil Simon's Jake's Women (the official title) first aired March 3, 1996 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Alda, Anne Archer, (more)
Actor-turned-filmmaker Griffin Dunne directs this mockumentary about the lives of struggling thespians. The film focuses on Lisa Picard (Laura Kirk), a fledgling actress about to burst on the scene thanks to a bit part in a made-for-TV movie. She is followed around by Dunne as she makes her publicity rounds with her friend Tate Kelley (Nat DeWolf), a writer/actor/militant gay activist. Famous is populated with several direct-to-camera interviews featuring the likes of Penelope Ann Miller, Charles Sheen, and Mira Sorvino. This film was screened at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel London
Writer Paul Auster made his solo directorial debut with this romantic drama about an affair between a middle-aged musician and an aspiring actress. Hit by a stray bullet during a nightclub shooting, jazz saxophonist Izzy Maurer (Harvey Keitel) can no longer play, and he falls into a depression. His ex-wife Hannah (Gina Gershon), now attached to producer Philip Kleinman (Mandy Patinkin), turns up unexpectedly to take care of Izzy. Izzy meets Kleinman, and he also has an encounter with actress-director Catherine Moore (Vanessa Redgrave), who's planning a production of Pandora's Box. Walking around Lower Manhattan, Izzy finds a man's body with a phone number and a stone that emits a blue light with healing properties. When he phones the number, he speaks with actress Celia (Mira Sorvino), who just happens to be listening to his music. They fall in love, and Celia gets Izzy a job as a busboy at the restaurant where she works. Both are fired when he goes into a jealous rage over the attention she receives from one of her customers. After Celia leaves to act in a film in Ireland, anthropologist Dr. Van Hom (Willem Dafoe) turns up, searching for the healing stone. Shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, (more)
A dissatisfied Manhattan sportswriter finds more than he expected when he searches for the biological mother of his adopted child in Woody Allen's comedy. Writer-director Allen also plays Lenny, a slightly more relaxed incarnation of his usual neurotic screen persona. Lenny is trapped in a bad marriage to high-strung art dealer Amanda (Helena Bonham Carter), but he finds solace in his relationship with his adopted young son. Indeed, he grows so fond of the boy that he decides to track down the boy's real mother, expecting to discover a brilliant professional. Instead, he finds Linda (Mira Sorvino), a ditzy prostitute and porno star who mingles casual vulgarity with disarming innocence. Despite his initial disillusionment, Lenny soon develops a fondness for Linda and decides to play matchmaker, setting her up with a handsome young boxer (Michael Rapaport) who is equally good-hearted and scatterbrained. While the contrast between the free-spirited Linda and the uptight Lenny provides the bulk of the laughs, hints of Allen's more literary humor are also present, particularly in the scenes involving a roaming Greek chorus commenting upon Lenny's fate. Sorvino received a supporting Oscar for her title role in a well-received movie that is nevertheless not at the level of Allen's best-known classics. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Woody Allen, Helena Bonham Carter, (more)
While one would imagine that the average New Yorker would be used to dealing with bugs after years of apartment dwelling, a scientific experiment gone wrong results in an insect that even Raid can't handle in this sci-fi/horror thriller. In Manhattan, cockroaches are spreading a deadly disease that is claiming hundreds of the city's children, so entomologist Susan Tyler (Mira Sorvino) uses genetic engineering techniques to create what she and her colleague (and husband) Peter Mann (Jeremy Northam) call the Judas Breed, a large insect that will feed on the disease carrying roaches. Since the Judas bugs have been designed so that they can't breed, the mutated species should die out in a matter of a few years. However, Susan, Peter, and their staff severely underestimated the cockroach's ability to adapt to its conditions. The Judas Breed has indeed found a way to reproduce itself, but more importantly, the insect has grown remarkably large (sometimes reaching six feet in length), has developed a taste for meat, and can mimic the appearance and behavior of other creatures with uncanny accuracy -- including humans. Susan and Peter have learned that huge swarms of the Judas Breed are living beneath the city in the subway system, and with the help of Leonard (Charles S. Dutton), a transit system employee who knows the labyrinth of subway tunnels like the back of his hand, they search out the humanoid insects before they can take over the city. Mimic also features Giancarlo Giannini, Josh Brolin, and F. Murray Abraham. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, (more)
In this action drama a police officer with martial arts expertise is sent undercover into a gang of arms smugglers. There, he and the ring leader form an unexpected alliance. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toru Nakamura, Chad McQueen, (more)
Originally made for cable television, this imaginative biopic chronicles the life of Marilyn Monroe (Mira Sorvino), including the years before she changed her name from Norma Jean Baker (Ashley Judd) and was transformed into the screen persona that made her a legendary sex symbol. The movie employs unconventional, dream-like storytelling techniques in which Marilyn and her former self, Norma Jean, frequently appear in scenes together, with Norma Jean often taunting Marilyn for not living up to her earlier aspirations. Many facets of Monroe's life are examined, including her childhood and adolescence when Norma Jean had to live with foster families because of her mother's psychological problems. In addition to referencing Monroe's work on such films as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), The Seven Year Itch (1955), and Some Like It Hot (1959), the movie explores her marriages to baseball great Joe DiMaggio (Peter Dobson) and famous playwright Arthur Miller (David Dukes), and her romances, including her purported relationship with U.S. President John F. Kennedy (Steven Culp). The film also offers a hard-hitting look at Monroe's struggle with drug- and alcohol-dependency. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1994
Directed by Linda Yellen, this made-for-cable movie originally aired on the Showtime network and featured a star-studded cast including Dudley Moore, Liza Minelli, and James Belushi. The plot centers around several fraternity and sorority graduates who have decided to regroup at their alma mater. Nick (Belushi), a determined but gloomy reporter, attends on the sole hope of finding some good gossip. His highest hope lies within the career ties of his ex-lover Winnie (JoBeth Williams), who now serves as publicist to rising politician Rebecca Ferguson Stone (Patricia Wetig). Fellow alumni Charlie (Ben Gazzara) is returning for equally dishonest reasons--he's hoping to convince his ex Francie (Gena Rowlands) to pay off his gambling debts. Francie, however, has found herself more interested in bonding with a single mom/housekeeper (Ally Sheedy). All of their lives take a turn for the unexpected when the big man on campus mysteriously dies. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
It's 1958, and the producers of the quiz show 21 have a problem. Their current champ, Herbert Stempel (John Turturro), has a phenomenal memory and a broad range of knowledge. He's also a pudgy loudmouth with a grating personality, so Herbert is encouraged to "take a dive" and allow Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), a handsome and charming college professor, to become the show's new champion. Audiences like Van Doren, and he's certainly not averse to the money he's winning, but the ethics of the situation begin to trouble him, especially when the show's producers begin to give him the questions in advance. Director Robert Redford and writer Paul Attanasio paint a telling portrait of how the network heads and advertising men who manipulated the quiz shows were also able to manipulate the responsibility for the scandal away from themselves. While on the surface a story about the scandal itself, Quiz Show is just as importantly about a turning point in the 1950s when TV and advertising began to change American character and culture. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Turturro, Rob Morrow, (more)
The lingering weight of tragedy threatens to pull two men under following a harrowing hit-and-run accident in a quiet revenge drama directed by Terry George and starting Mark Ruffalo and Joaquin Phoenix. When his son is killed in an unsolved hit-and-run accident, a grieving father (Phoenix) spends his waking hours seeking vengeance against the man (Ruffalo) who perpetrated the deadly crime. It was a warm September evening when college professor Ethan Learner (Phoenix), his wife, Grace (Jennifer Connelly), and their daughter, Emma (Elle Fanning), went to see Emma's ten-year-old brother, Josh (Sean Curley), play cello at a recital. As usual, Josh's performance is superb and the rest of his family wells up with pride. Later, a chance stop at a gas station on Reservation Road results in a tragedy that will leave the surviving members of the family forever broken. On that same evening, hours earlier, law associate Dwight Arno (Ruffalo) takes his 11-year-old son, Lucas (Eddie Alderson), to see a Red Sox game. The loving father cherishes the time spent with his young son, and the pair hope to watch their favorite team pave a road to the World Series. When the game ends, Dwight prepares to drop Lucas off with his mother, Ruth (Mira Sorvino) -- who is also Dwight's ex-wife. On the way home, Dwight and Lucas stop at a gas station on Reservation Road. There, the accident happens in a flash -- so fast that Lucas never even realized what his father had done. But this crime wasn't without a witness, because Ethan watched every horrifying second of the tragedy unfold with his own eyes. As the police are called and the investigation ensues, everyone involved responds to the incident in their own ways, and two grief-stricken fathers are faced with making the hardest decisions of their lives. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, (more)
- 2006
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An unknown virus has emerged, and with time running out for all of humanity, it's up to disease expert and former secret agent Colonel Jonathan Smith (Stephen Dorff) to isolate the source of the outbreak and expose the culprit responsible in an action-packed thriller penned by Bourne Identity author Robert Ludlum. Colonel Smith is not only one of the country's best-known disease experts, he was also a top agent in the highly classified Covert One agency that reports directly to the president of the United States (Academy Award-winner Anjelica Huston). Now, as a killer virus gives way to a far-reaching conspiracy which points to corruption in the highest ranks, Colonel Smith is charged with the task of tracing the origins of the super-bug to its shocking source. In the process of saving the world, he's about to find out just how far some people are willing to go to achieve ultimate power. Blair Underwood and Academy Award-winning actress Mira Sorvino co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1997
- R
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Two dimwitted pals attempt to fib their way through their high school reunion with disastrous results in this bubbly comedy from David Mirkin, frequent director of the cult TV sitcom Get a Life!. Los Angeles dim-bulbs Romy (Mira Sorvino) and Michelle (Lisa Kudrow) have been best friends since childhood. Their shared passions include shopping, club-hopping, and creating their own candy-colored fashions. When their tenth high school reunion looms, the friends realize that their lives are not impressive enough to cow the popular crowd that tormented them in their teen years. So Romy borrows a Jaguar, and the duo concocts a story about how they became top corporate executives by creating Post-It Notes. Once they are at the reunion, however, Romy and Michelle's scheme unravels. Saturnine classmate Heather (Janeane Garofalo), who really did make a fortune as an inventor, exposes their fraud, and the girls find themselves mocked again, by everyone except Sandy Frink (Alan Cumming), a nerd millionaire with a lingering crush on Michelle. Kudrow reprised the role of Michelle from her late 1980s stage performance in the play Ladies' Room by Robin Schiff, who expanded both the play and the part of Michelle for the feature film version. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mira Sorvino, Lisa Kudrow, (more)
In the summer of 1977, a serial killer who called himself Son of Sam (real name David Berkowitz) held New York City in terror as he went on a killing spree, periodically writing letters to New York's media in which he took full responsibility for the murders and made clear that he intended to kill again. Spike Lee's Summer of Sam deals in part with this crime spree, but it mostly looks back at the fearful impact of his crimes on New York's collective consciousness. Vinny and Dionna (John Leguizamo and Mira Sorvino) are an unhappy young married couple living in the Bronx; Vinny often cheats on Dionna but is wracked with guilt about it, while Dionna fears she lacks the looks or allure to hold onto a man. Ritchie (Adrien Brody) is a neighborhood kid turned punk rocker (complete with a fake British accent); he has a band and a girlfriend (Jennifer Esposito) but also makes money as an exotic dancer at a gay club. And Luigi (Ben Gazzara), a longtime leader of organized crime in the Bronx, is approached by the police, with whom he generally has a less cordial relationship, to help them find the killer, as the citizens of some neighborhoods barricade their streets in fear that he will strike there next. Meanwhile, a tortured psychopath named David Berkowitz (Michael Badalucco) seethes with rage in his gloomy apartment and receives messages from a demonic dog who commands him to kill and kill again. Spike Lee's first film without a primarily African-American cast (though bearing the unmistakable New York stamp that's one of his hallmarks), Summer of Sam was shown as part of the Directors Fortnight series at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, (more)
