Mary Marsh Movies
They say you can't miss what you never had, but one woman wants to put that idea to the test in this comedy. Kathy Whiting (Harley Jane Kozak) is a housewife and mother of two who enjoys a happy but unexciting relationship with her husband Peter (Bill Pullman), while her best friend Emily Embrey (Elizabeth McGovern) runs an art gallery and is living with a good-looking artist, Elliot Fowler (Brad Pitt). Both women feel that a sense of romantic adventure is missing from their lives, and Kathy has never been able to forget Tom Andrews (Ken Wahl), a football player that she was in love with in high school but never slept with (she was saving herself for marriage at the time). So when Kathy learns that Tom is living in Denver, and Emily will be going there on business soon, she asks Emily for a very big favor: find Tom, seduce him, and then give her a full report on what she's been wondering about these 15 years since graduation. The Favor was filmed in 1991 but went unreleased until 1994, after A River Runs Through It and Legends of the Fall had made fourth-billed Brad Pitt a box-office draw. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harley Jane Kozak, Elizabeth McGovern, (more)
Hear No Evil, while based on the interesting premise of a deaf woman stalked by a relentless killer, is a well-crafted but predictable mystery thriller. Jillian (Marlee Matlin), a physical trainer is unknowingly given a valuable stolen coin. The theft of the coin was planned by a corrupt and sadistic police lieutenant (Martin Sheen) who needs the coin to fund his retirement, and he pursues Jillian in order to get it. Director Robert Greenwald, who also directed The Burning Bed, does a good job in showing the victim's courage and resourcefulness in her desperate situation. Matlin is good as Jillian, and does not use her deafness as a crutch to generate sympathy but portrays Jillian as an independent and strong woman. The plot gets bogged down with too many cliched twists and subplots, including a romance which slows the movie and adds nothing of interest in the development of the characters and their motivations. Hear No Evil, similar in theme to the excellent Wait Until Dark, lacks the focus and intensity necessary in a good thriller and wastes its excellent cast. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlee Matlin, D.B. Sweeney, (more)
The Temp is yet another installment in the 1990s thriller genre of "the conniving woman who gets back at all who stand in her way to success," as seen in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Single White Female, Basic Instinct, The Crush, The Babysitter, et al. In this rehash of the perennial formula, Peter Derns (Timothy Hutton), a marketing executive for a cookie company that has recently been bought out by another firm, is forced to hire temporary help when his regular office assistant takes maternity leave. Into the breach comes Kris Bolen (Lara Flynn Boyle), whose efficiency saves the day for the clueless Peter. Unfortunately for Peter's associates, her efficiency extends to killing off Peter's regular assistant upon her return to work by arranging an accident with a paper shredder. But Kris doesn't stop there, and Peter begins to notice a high body count of dead employees falling around him. Peter suspects Kris may be the culprit, but since he has just emerged from treatment for acute paranoia, he can't decide if he is imaging things or not. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Lara Flynn Boyle, (more)
- 1993
- G
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Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, Disney's 1993 remake of the 1963 hit The Incredible Journey, follows three household pets as they travel across mountains and plains on their way to find their owners. A misunderstanding leads the animals to mistakenly believe that they have been abandoned by their loved ones, when in reality they have been left in the care of a friend while the family has moved from the country to the city for the father to take a temporary assignment . All three pets--a golden retriever (Don Ameche), a cat (Sally Field), and a bulldog puppy (Michael J. Fox)--can talk, and they bicker and crack jokes as they set off on a truly incredible journey chock full of misadventures as they wend their way back to their owners. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Hays, Kim Greist, (more)
An innkeeper in a small Midwestern town is concerned about strange boarders, whom he believes are visitors from the future. He struggles to save his daughter from being taken by the aliens and to keep the town from being destroyed. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Daniels, Ariana Richards, (more)
- 1991
Deception: A Mother's Secret premiered as a made-for-TV effort during Thanksgiving week, 1991. There's little reason for leading man Steven Weber to offer thanks for the events which transpire in this heavy-going soap opera. Upon the death of his wife, Weber discovers that his entire marital relationship was founded on lies. In particular, he learns that even his young son has an unsavory past--and that Weber may have to give up his child to strangers before long. Though not indicated by the title or the ad campaign, Deception: A Mother's Secret is at base the story of a single father's right to adopt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steven Weber, Katherine Helmond, (more)
- 1991
This effective made-for-TV supernatural thriller (based on the novel Virgin by James Patterson) involves the travails of a Catholic priest (Anthony John Denison) who is ordered by his superiors to investigate the prospect of two separate virgin births -- one of which will bring the Son of God into the world, the other the Son of Satan. Unfortunately, there is no overt indication as to which child is which. Omen-style apocalyptic portents abound as the forces of Evil throw a variety of obstacles in Denison's path, even possessing the soul of the nun (Sela Ward) who is assisting him. Potent, gripping stuff -- and very intense for a TV movie -- this retains much of the metaphysical punch of its source material. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
The made-for-TV Murder C.O.D. has a plot almost as complex and clever as its psychotic "protagonist." William Devane plays an adroit hitman who selects his victims before he's been hired to kill them. His modus operandi is to approach the person or persons who'd most benefit from the murder, then charge a $100,000 fee to go through with the plan. Patrick Duffy is the cop on the case, who periodically runs out of breath trying to keep up with the slippery Devane. While Duffy loses the acting sweepstakes to Devane, the viewer can be assured that Duffy's character in Murder C.O.D. will emerge triumphant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
This fact-based youth-oriented drama chronicles the courage and determination of a teenage girl who stands tall in the face of sexist traditionalism and fights for her right to play on the varsity football team. Not only does she succeed, she also manages to become the homecoming queen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Hunt, Don Murray, (more)
- 1935
Though Busby Berkeley is the director of I Live for Love, there isn't a dancer or dance number anywhere to be seen. Dolores Del Rio stars as hot-tempered South American stage favorite Donna Alvarez, who is brought to America to headline a Broadway show. The film details the backstage romance between Donna and her handsome co-star Roger Kerry (played by Everett Marshall, an opera star who'd last been seen on-screen in 1930's Dixiana). They fight, make up, fight again, make up again, and fight and make up again. And that's all, folks. The film's singular highlight is the barbershop-quartet lampoon "A Man Must Shave". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolores Del Rio, Guy Kibbee, (more)
