Nancy Paloian-Breznikar Movies
First-time filmmaker Omar Naim writes and directs the sci-fi drama The Final Cut. Set in the near future, the story concerns a microchip that is capable of recording a person's entire life. Robin Williams plays Alan Hakman, an editor who cuts together the footage to make pleasant movies for funerals. Tormented by his job and his own memories, Alan also has a troubled romantic relationship with bookseller Delilah (Mira Sorvino). While looking through footage for his next project, Alan discovers a man whom he believes is from his own past. Meanwhile, former editor Fletcher (James Caviezel) wants the footage for his own purposes. The Final Cut was shown at the Berlin Film Festival in 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Williams, Mira Sorvino, (more)
The directorial debut of Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington, Antwone Fisher is an autobiographical drama written by the real-life Antwone Fisher. Played by newcomer Derek Luke, Antwone is a volatile young sailor in the Navy, getting into trouble for his constant fighting. When he gets appointed to see naval psychiatrist Dr. Jerome Davenport (Denzel Washington), he begins to reveal the emotional problems behind his rage. Through an introduction to anger management, Antwone is able to confront some secrets of his past and eventually search out his family for a confrontation. Also starring model-turned-actress Joy Bryant as Antwone's girlfriend, Cheryl, and Salli Richardson as Davenport's wife. Antwone Fisher's memoir, Finding Fish, was released to book stores right before the film's theatrical release. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Derek Luke, Joy Bryant, (more)
Love, sex, and food combine in this sensuous romantic comedy. Isabella (Penelope Cruz) is a master chef who suffers from severe motion sickness, requiring her to be in control of her movements at all times. This need extends to the bedroom, but her husband Tonino (Murilo Benicio), who owns the restaurant where she works, doesn't like to make love in the fashion suggested by the title. This is hardly the only thing about their relationship that she finds stifling, and when Isabella discovers Tonino in bed with another woman, she leaves for America, where with the help of cross-dressing friend "Monica" (Harold Perrineau Jr.), she becomes a star as the host of a TV cooking show, Passion Foods Live. Woman on Top was the first American film from Venezuelan director Fina Torres. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penélope Cruz, Murilo Benicio, (more)
The startling effects of chemically induced short-term memory loss provide the backdrop for this resinous teen comedy. Jesse (Ashton Kutcher) and Chester (Seann William Scott) are two hard-partying dudes who wake up after a very long night on the town to discover they've forgotten the presents they bought for their girlfriends Wanda (Jennifer Garner) and Wilma (Marla Sokoloff), twins who are more than a bit miffed that the stoners they've come to tolerate appear to have forgotten their anniversary. The presents are in Jesse's car, but they're so fuzzy on the details of the previous 24 hours that they have no idea where they left said automobile. Jesse and Chester set out to find their wheels, and along the way they discover that they had an even more eventful evening than they imagined, as strippers, aliens, a suitcase full of money, and a kitchen full of pudding become important pieces in the puzzle of the missing car. Dude, Where's My Car? also stars Hal Sparks, Kristy Swanson, Kevin Christy, and Fabio; it was written by Philip Stark, previously a writer for the TV series That 70's Show, which also features Kutcher in its cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ashton Kutcher, Seann William Scott, (more)
Absolutely nobody is who he or she seems in this stylish thriller about a guy who wants to get out of his fly-speck hometown, the girlfriend who wants to help him, and the successful friend who just might make it possible. When Bryce (Josh Brolin) returns to his tiny hometown of Tropico, NV, he finds pal Nick (Alessandro Nivola) still living there unhappily. One night the pair meets a beautiful blonde at the bar and eventually Bryce takes her back to the house where he's staying. When the girl, Lissa (Reese Witherspoon), reveals that she's under age and threatens to turn Bryce in for statutory rape, he panics, ties her up in the basement, and puts in an anguished call to Nick. Little does Bryce realize, however, that Lissa is actually Nick's very grown-up girlfriend, and that the two lovers have decided Bryce and the ritzy house where he's staying will play a major role in their bid to leave behind dead-end Tropico forever. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alessandro Nivola, Father Terrance Sweeney, (more)
Based on the novel, How I Created My Perfect Prom Date, by Todd Strasser, Drive Me Crazy stars Melissa Joan Hart as Nicole, a trend-conscious teenager living next door to Chase (Adrian Grenier), a self-conscious, downbeat type who reads poetry and spouts political platitudes. Needless to say, Nicole and Chase have nothing in common and little to say to each other. But when the boy of Nicole's dreams asks someone else to the prom, she decides to remake Chase into worthy date material as a way to make her old flame jealous. Before long, Nicole and Chase aren't just pretending that they like each other. Drive Me Crazy presented Sabrina, the Teenage Witch star Melissa Joan Hart in her first leading role in a feature film; it was produced under the title Girl Gives Birth to Prom Date and test-screened as Next to You before the producers settled on Drive Me Crazy. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melissa Joan Hart, Adrian Grenier, (more)
Rita Rudner was both co-writer and co-star of this multi-plotted romantic comedy, set in a bed and breakfast in the middle of Southern California's wine country. In the course of the film's 90 minutes, a number of curiously matched couples will find true romance -- and sometimes even true happiness. Standout performances amongst the star-studded cast include Rita Rudner's turn as a pregnant food critic, Jack Lemmon as a desperate concert promoter, and Dudley Moore as a lonely vintner. Made for cable television, A Weekend in the Country debuted June 12, 1996, on the USA network; a mildly R-rated version was later prepared for home video release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faith Ford, Christine Lahti, (more)
Sex and science fiction are again combined in this sophomoric fantasy set somewhere in the future in an unnamed US city. The tale begins as the media announces the unwelcome arrival of an alien spacecraft, from which a beautiful Asian woman disembarks. She has come to the gang-ravaged city for a little vacation. The head of the city's police regime, General Hayden, wants to catch her and get rid of the gangs simultaneously. To do so, he sounds an earthquake alarm and then orders a mass evacuation of the town. Only the police and the gangs remain, and it is lucky Officer Weed who gets to meet the toothsome alien Amelia first. Since her arrival, Amelia has changed herself into a seductive black woman in a silver metallic suit. Unable to resister her bountiful charms, Weed and she do the nasty, and he learns that among her many talents is her ability to change into any kind of woman she wants to be; he also learns that she needs sex like he needs food. Lucky her, she found a veritable banquet in the lusty Weed. Meanwhile, the gang wars rage on. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
They say that men are from Mars, but one woman finds happiness when her boyfriend is taken over by visitors from another part of the galaxy in this sexy sci-fi comedy. Amanda (Nicole Eggert) is an aspiring artist who supports herself working at a clothing store; she doesn't care for her job, and her boyfriend Charlie (Michael Bendetti) is chronically unfaithful to her. A pair of government agents, Emmitt (Stacy Keach) and Vint (Michael Dorn), have captured a space alien and are guarding it in a secret safe house; however, the alien escapes, and takes over the body of Flores (Alex Maneses), a woman working as a domestic at the house. Amanda meets "Flores" in a coffeehouse and realizes that the runaway alien lurks within; sympathetic to the space creature's plight, she offers to help it escape, and even gives it a new body to travel in -- Charlie's, which suddenly makes him a lot easier to get along with, and even a bit sexier. Onetime scandal queen Jessica Hahn makes a cameo appearance as the host of a TV show. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicole Eggert, Stacy Keach, (more)
In the sequel to Waxwork, young Mark Loftmore (Zach Galligan) and his girlfriend Sarah (Monika Schnarre) manage to escape the deadly wax museum before it is destroyed. However, one deadly wax hand escapes destruction and follows Sarah home, murdering her stepfather before she manages to destroy it. When Sarah is accused of the murder, she and Mark must travel back in time to stop the still-present evil. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zach Galligan, Sophie Ward, (more)
In this family-fun type of film, two brothers who have apparently inherited their recently deceased father's inventor-type genes decide to finish their pop's robot invention, sell it for big bucks, and keep mom out of the poorhouse. They put together the metal man named Newman who somehow has absorbed the dead dad's spirit and can talk. The boys are wowed to find that Dad's back! But then the bad guys arrive (of course) in the form of an electronics company wanting in on the Newman-robot invention and by an abrupt gal reporter who wants the big scoop. Looming out in the troubled fringes too, are the dopes responsible for the kids' dad's demise. These kids are up to all of this and, along with the robot, they're out to rack up one for the 'good guys.' ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joshua Miller, Edan Gross, (more)
One of the few sleaze-horror movies that actually delivers on the lurid promise of its title (and what a title!), this trashy treasure from the irrepressible Fred Olen Ray also sports a classic exploitation cast, toplined by "Scream Queen" Linnea Quigley. Quigley plays a cute young runaway whose desperate dive into the Hollywood prostitution racket lands her smack in the middle of a demonic chainsaw death-cult, presided over by none other than Texas Chainsaw Massacre's "Leatherface," Gunnar Hansen. This deliberately over-the-top item makes no pretense about its primary mission -- the display of female nudity and severed body parts -- and comes through with flying colors, so to speak. Highlights include a decidedly un-subtle cross-dressing hooker, an Elvis-loving cultist who covers her movie posters with plastic before chainsawing her next john, a victim's-eye view of a chainsaw attack, and a body-painted Quigley performing the "Virgin Dance of the Double Chainsaws!" ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gunnar Hansen, Linnea Quigley, (more)




















