Gordon Currie Movies

Discharged from Vietnam, John Lithgow and his army buddies have trouble fitting into a hostile home-front society. Rather than endure dirty looks and taunts of "baby killer," Lithgow and his friends wander aimlessly all through the Pacific Northwest. Several years pass, during which time Lithgow's estranged son Ralph Maccio grows to manhood. Finally emerging from his self-imposed exile, Lithgow begins searching for the son he's never known. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The worst in a string of increasingly pointless sequels to Sean S. Cunningham's crude slasher hit, this installment provided clear evidence that the "slasher" subgenre, already creatively dead, was no longer financially viable. This time around, unstoppable supernatural thug Jason Voorhees -- imprisoned at the bottom of a lake by his telekinetic foe Tina in the previous film -- is reanimated yet again after being goosed by an underwater electrical cable, freeing him to stow away aboard a shipload of standard-issue obnoxious teenagers en route to Manhattan. The title ultimately proves a bit of a cheat, since the majority of Jason's homicidal hijinks take place aboard the ship until the film's final reel, during which he pursues a handful of survivors through the streets of the Big Apple. Thanks to heavy MPAA cuts, the mayhem is more subdued here than in any other films of the series -- splatter fans primed by the previous chapters' copious bloodletting will be left high and dry. Despite a very amusing "teaser" trailer that suggested that the film might be a semi-parody, writer/director Rob Hedden and company play things tediously straight. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Stephanie Zimbalist stars in this made-for-cable thriller as a L.A. detective who decides to re-open the case of a murder she herself witnessed as a child. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

This is the first mainstream film to deal with the harrowing true story of a Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes mountains in October of 1972 and who were forced to resort to cannibalism to survive more than two months of isolation. (The only other film to tackle the subject, Rene Cardona's Survive! was a seedy little mess that delighted in exploiting the cannibalism aspect.) The events depicted are primarily based on the novel of the same name by Piers Paul Read. The interview-style prologue features an uncredited John Malkovich as one of the survivors, whose spiritual ruminations on the disaster kick off the film's main action. We are briefly introduced to the characters before disaster strikes, in the film's most horrifying set-piece -- the depiction of the crash in grueling detail. The handful of survivors who manage to extricate themselves from the twisted wreckage seem incapable of working through their panic as they hope against all odds that a rescue party will locate them. One of the survivors, Nando (Ethan Hawke), awakens from a coma and makes a remarkable recovery -- enough to demonstrate level-headed leadership after team captain Antonio (Vincent Spano) begins to lose his nerve. As the weeks wear on and rations are depleted, the survivors are forced into a moral dilemma: the only remaining source of food seems to be the bodies of the dead. Those who choose for religious reasons not to consume their former companions must face the realization that they will soon starve or freeze to death. In the end, three men who choose survival above all else find the strength to set out on a treacherous mission to a ridge, where hopefully one of them will make it to civilization. Director Frank Marshall infuses the proceedings with sufficient intensity to keep the story moving, but the film fails to fully explore the often-recounted spiritual aspects of the ordeal as established in the opening monologue. Ironically, the writers' apparent attempts to remain true to Read's account of events -- resulting in some rather odd stretches of dialogue -- impede the drama even more than the Hollywood glamorization of the story's nominal "heroes," who remain rugged and handsome despite months of malnutrition and severe frostbite. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

In this gory horror outing, the hellish little self-motivated puppets are back, but this time they working for good to prevent brain-fluid sucking demons from stealing their master's secret. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A woman is hunted by a killer in this made-for-TV drama. Jennie Garth stars as Meg Crane, a beautiful and strong woman who escapes a serial killer (Costas Mandylor). Neither are through with each other yet though -- she is determined to catch him and he is determined to finish the job. Peter Outerbridge stars as her boyfriend and Billy Dee Williams is the city-slick cop. Garth also served as a creative producer. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

Set in San Francisco, this drama cautions those who would eavesdrop on other people's sexy telephone calls to think twice. Sarah is a bisexual ad executive who has left a relationship with her close pal Krista for one with handsome but troubled writer Jake. Though she craves a committed heterosexual relationship with him, she is not sure she is capable of settling down. To help her cope, she listens in, via a cheap cordless telephone, to the phone-sex calls of a nearby masher. From there she spies on an actual night of lovemaking between a woman and the caller. When the same woman turns up dead, and the police suspect a serial killer, Sarah begins to fear for her life, especially when it seems that Jake just may be the killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A teenager who cried wolf now has to warn his neighbors that ill-tempered aliens are on the way in this sci-fi adventure. Zach (Jason James Richter) is a high school student who, in hopes of impressing the other kids, fakes some video footage of a UFO landing which is aired on local television. However, Zach's prank is soon revealed to be just that, and he finds himself an outcast among his peers. When Zach begins seeing evidence of real UFO activity -- strange lights in the sky, school busses disappearing and materializing again -- no one is willing to believe him, except Kara (Melissa Galianos), who is also on the outs at her school. With the help of an eccentric comic book artist and a patient at a nearby mental institution, Zach and Kara try to save their town from an oncoming alien invasion. Mark Hamill also makes a brief appearance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Another in a series of NBC TV movies originally telecast under the umbrella title "Moment of Truth", Playing to Win stars Lisa Dean Ryan as 17-year-old Dana Erikson, whose new boyfriend Marshall (David Lascher) is a compulsive gambler. Drawn in to Marshall's "special" world, Dana finds that she herself is unable to stop gambling--in fact, she is even more obsessive and self-destructive in he. In short order, Dana loses her money, her job and her reputation, and is reduced to cheating and stealing to feed her habit. Clearly, a visit to Gamblers Anonymous is called for--but is it too late for Dana to save herself? Playing to Win: A Moment of Truth Movie was first broadcast on February 11, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The wooden monster that terrorized a group of psychiatric patients in The Fear returns in this terrifying sequel starring Gordon Carrie, Brendan Beiser, Stacy Grant, and Betsy Palmer. This film was the feature-length directorial debut of Chris Angel, who won an Academy award for his short film Mr. October. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Office workers existing in varying states of disgruntlement/insanity, Tom, Sandra, Randy, and Curt bet a month's salary to see who can stay indoors the longest. Since their office is located in a downtown area, where almost all of the buildings are connected by a system of glass-enclosed bridges, this doesn't seem like such a difficult proposition. However, the longer they stay indoors, the stranger things get. Waydowntown, which was screened at the 2000 Vancouver International Film Festival, was directed and co-written by noted Canadian filmmaker Gary Burns, and features celebrated actor and filmmaker Don McKellar in a role as a cubicle drone.


~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

In this tense thriller, Peter Connelly (Gordon Currie) is an American security expert attached to the State Department who is assigned to the United States embassy in Paris. Peter reports to Lou Fairchild (Peter Weller) and learns he's to work alongside fellow security man Earl Miller (Roy Scheider). As Peter becomes accustomed to his routine at the embassy, he begins to notice things that seem a bit strange, and he finds himself making the acquaintance of a beautiful but mysterious Russian woman named Kateryna (Yekaterina Rednikova). In time, Peter discovers that his colleagues at the embassy have a lucrative and potentially dangerous sideline -- they sell forged American visas to people who are eager to enter the United States but cannot do so legally. Despite its French setting, Falling Through was actually filmed in Luxembourg. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Four people of faith must take it upon themselves to save the soul of humanity in this sequel to Left Behind. When millions of people around the world suddenly disappear into thin air, the entire globe is thrown into chaos, and in the midst of this confusion and uncertainty, Nicolae Carpathia (Gordon Currie), international media magnate and president of the United Nations, steps forward as the leader who will guide all the world's nations in this difficult time. However, television journalist Buck Williams (Kirk Cameron) knows the truth behind what has happened -- the mass disappearances were the result of the Rapture, predicted in the Holy Bible as the beginning of the End Times, and Carpathia is, in fact, the Antichrist. Williams falls in with three remaining believers -- pastor and biblical scholar Bruce Barnes (Clarence Gilyard Jr.), airline pilot-turned-believer Rayford Steele (Brad Johnson), and Steele's headstrong 20-year-old daughter, Chloe (Janaya Stephens). Calling themselves the Tribulation Force, the foursome travel the world, attempting to spread the word about Carpathia and tending to the needs of the wounded; in the course of their work, Buck and Chloe fall in love, while Barnes comes to terms with the loss of his wife and child. But when sinister events occur in Israel at the site of the Wailing Wall, the Tribulation Force suspects Carpathia may have some more unpleasant surprises up his sleeve. Adapted from the popular series of Christian thrillers by Rev. Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, Left Behind II: Tribulation Force, like the first Left Behind picture, was produced by Christian production company Cloud Ten Productions; both films were first marketed on home video, and later released to theaters to widen their public profile. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide