Cathryn de Prume Movies
Party-hard skydiving teacher Ditch Brodie (Charlie Sheen) has a knack for getting himself into trouble, but his booze-babes-and-planes shenanigans hardly prepare him for an international plot that pits Brodie and a mysterious KGB agent against a post-Cold War Russian villain called Kerr (Chris McDonald) and an American heavy named Ben Pinkwater (James Gandolfini). Aerial set pieces alternate with tongue-in-cheek flirtation and conspiracy-theory suspense as Brodie meets a beautiful new student, Chris Morrow (Nastassja Kinski), then must try to explain to the authorities how he allowed her to fall out of a plane to her death. Soon Brodie -- on the run from both Kerr and the police -- begins to realize that in espionage, as in romance, often nothing is as it seems. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlie Sheen, Nastassja Kinski, (more)
Goldie Hawn makes a change of pace in this downbeat drama about a mother' sacrifice for her family, and her son's attempts to save her from herself. When John Cross (Keith Carradine) returns home to Key West, Florida in 1969 after a tour of duty as a fighter pilot in Viet Nam, he's an emotionally shattered man; he begins drinking heavily and, in an desperate effort to find himself, abandons his wife Tracy (Goldie Hawn) and their 12-year-old son Chris (David Arnott) to live in a monastery, where he takes a vow of silence. Left with no means of support for herself or her son, Tracy takes a job as a bartender at a sleazy strip joint, but when she finds out how much more money the dancers are making, she reluctantly moves on to a career as a go-go girl. When Chris finds out about his mother's new job, he wants to rescue her from a shameful and humiliating (if profitable) career and stars taking odd jobs, including running fresh catch from a local fisherman to the restaurant in a resort hotel. However, Chris soon discovers that's he's actually being making cocaine drops, with the drugs hidden inside the fish; Chris makes the dangerous decision to steal the drugs and sell them himself. The supporting cast features Arliss Howard and Steve Buscemi. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Goldie Hawn, Arliss Howard, (more)
- 1991
- PG13
Love, Lies and Murder is based on a true story that began its tragic unspooling on March 19, 1985 in Garden Grove, California. 23-year-old wife and mother Linda Brown is murdered. She leaves behind her computer-consultant husband Clancy Brown, her 17-year-old sister (Sheryl Lee), a 14-year-old stepdaughter (Moira Kelly) from her husband's previous marriage, and an 8-month-old infant. When police investigate, the stepdaughter confesses to the killing. This closes the case--until Mr. Brown callously marries his late wife's sister, and doubts begin to stir as to whether or not the stepdaughter was coerced into confessing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clancy Brown, John Ashton, (more)
This exercise in patriotic, high-tech action centers on a select group of Navy commandos and their battles against a Middle East terrorist group. This particular squadron is led by a pair of rivals: cocky, fiery Hawkins (Charlie Sheen) and stoic, unflappable Curran (Michael Biehn). When an anti-terrorist mission goes awry, allowing an enemy leader to escape with a supply of stolen American missiles, both men are certain that, given another chance, they can redeem themselves and the squad. Their rivalry plays out against a background of high-powered amphibious battles, allowing the film to revel in dangerous stunts and advanced weaponry. Joanne Whalley-Kilmer provides brief romantic relief as a journalist with important information, but the focus remains on the macho interplay between Hawkins and Curran. Co-written by former Navy Seal Chuck Pfarrer (with Gary Goldman), the film presents authentic details about the elite unit, but the bulk of Navy Seals tends to rely on familiar combat film conventions. Viewers seeking rapidly paced action sequences will not be disappointed, though other viewers may be less likely to overlook the predictable storyline and routine characters. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlie Sheen, Michael Biehn, (more)
Produced for theatrical released by PBS' American Playhouse, Bloodhounds of Broadway is not exactly a remake of the 1952 film of the same name, though both pictures use the same Damon Runyon stories as inspiration. The scene is Broadway: the time is New Year's Eve, 1928. Madonna plays small town girl-turned-hoofer Hortense Hathaway, who loves gambler Feet Samuels (Randy Quaid) more than somewhat. Since it is known far and wide that Feet has not a penny to his name, he must find some way to pay off his debts in a hurry. So he offers to sell his huge feet to a demented-an operation which will, alas, cost Feet the use of his life. Upon waking up to the fact that Hortense loves him, Feet decides that he prefers breathing to pushing up daisies. Meanwhile, a society doll named Harriet MacKyle (Julie Hagerty) turns on the spigots when her pet parrot is laid low by a clumsy gunman. And while all this is transpiring, high-roller Regret (Matt Dillon) has to beat a murder rap. Even while Regret is sweating it out, "The Brain" (Rutger Hauer), who is bleeding profusely after confronting the business end of a shiv, searches high and low for someone willing to donate blood to save his life. If you can, keep an eye out for author William Burroughs as a butler. Bloodhounds of Broadway was the first non-documentary effort of filmmaker Howard Brookner-and the last, since he died before the film was released. To gloss over the film's plot holes, the distributors added a Winchell-like narrator to the proceedings, courtesy of actor Joseph Sommer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Hagerty, Randy Quaid, (more)
Quirky comedy, intense drama, and warm nostalgia are all combined in this eccentric look at one night in 1964 amongst the residents of the Five Corners neighborhood of the Bronx. The bulk of the film concerns Linda (Jodie Foster), a young woman who finds herself stalked by a disturbed rapist fresh out of prison. Needing protection, she turns to her formerly tough ex-boyfriend, only to discover that a recent political awakening has transformed him into a pacifist. The tension of Linda's situation is leavened by the film's attention to its bizarre subplots, which include a stolen penguin, partying teenagers who encounter trouble with an elevator, and a pair of detectives investigating a series of mysterious bow-and-arrow attacks. The script by John Patrick Shanley, who won the 1987 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Moonstruck, manages to (for the most part) bring these seemingly unrelated stories together into a fairly logical conclusion. Even though numerous critics felt that Five Corners' mixture of widely disparate tones was not completely successful, the end result is a surprisingly charming and unique tribute to a time and a place. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jodie Foster, Tim Robbins, (more)
Inspired by traditional fairy tales, this trio of gruesome and darkly-comic vignettes is framed by the story of a lethargic uncle who can't seem to alleviate his bratty young nephew's fear of the dark, trying his hand at a few warped, testosterone-fueled versions of his favorite bedtime tales. The first installment, "Peter and the Witches," tells the story of a young fisherman (Scott Valentine) enslaved by two shape-shifting witches who are trying to bring their sister back to life; he later rebels against his masters after falling in love with the virgin they've captured as a sacrifice. The goofy second chapter involves "Little Red Running Hood" -- a somewhat shapelier modern version of the classic heroine -- whose jog to Granny's house leads to a showdown with a pill-popping weirdo whose anti-werewolf remedy got switched with Granny's prescription. Still unable to satisfy the demanding tyke, the exhausted uncle pulls out all the stops for the final tale, in which the Three Baers -- a family of murderous crackers -- encounter the telekinetic Goldi Lox, a malevolent cutie who shares the Baers' penchant for death and dismemberment. Originally titled Freaky Fairy Tales, this plodding, pedestrian film wandered in distribution limbo until Valentine's role in "Family Ties" lent some degree of marquee value. The cynical closing (in which the nephew's fears turn out to be justified) is rather satisfying, though. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scott Valentine, Nicole Picard, (more)
