Missy Crider
- 2008
Anxious dreams give way to a paranoid reality as a tormented man struggles to accept the recent loss of his wife. As madness, addiction, and affairs send writer/director Rufus Williams' bizarre story spiraling towards a shocking conclusion, the awful truth about what really happened to Rob's wife gradually comes into focus. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrew Bowen, Missy Crider, (more)
Steve Mudd's thriller Seclusion concerns a politician who has planned a romantic getaway with a woman who is not his wife. The situation gets very complicated when the wife shows up just as the mistress mysteriously vanishes. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Stapleton, Missy Crider, (more)
- 2005
Faced with the choice of firing one of his team or losing his own job, House (Hugh Laurie) is given a way out by Vogler (Chi McBride). If he will give a speech on behalf of a new drug developed by Vogler's pharamaceutical firm, House will be completely off the hook. The upshot of all this only serves to deepen the animosity between House and Vogler--but in the meantime, the doctor must tend to the business at hand, including a senator (Joe Morton) with presidential aspirations who is diagnosed with AIDS, and a young woman (Missy Crider) who insists that she can't have suffered a miscarriage because she hasn't had sex in over a year. As expected, both of these patients will soon develop a whole set of confusing and contradictory symptoms...but no one expects the startling turn of events at episode's end! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Young, self-absorbed attorney Matt Fleming (Jason London) is sent out of the city and into the woods by his mother, who is worried over the welfare of Matt's crusty, eccentric nature-loving grandfather Jack (Ed Asner). Not surprisingly, Matt is in for quite a culture shock. Not only does Jack do without any modern conveniences, but he also enjoys wandering in the great outdoors completely naked. Even worse -- at least as far as Matt is concerned -- Jack has spent the entire family fortune on a patch of land that he intends to donate to a local Native American child. In trying to curb Jack's enthusiasm and control the old man's behavior, Matt instead ends up learning about how to fend for himself in the wilderness, a skill that comes in very handy during a serious mid-film crisis. Matt also applies what he has learned from Jack in his efforts to make a lasting commitment to his own girlfriend Linda (Meredith Salenger). Produced for cable's Hallmark Channel, Out of the Woods debuted April 2, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ed Asner, Jason London, (more)
The collapse of two dysfunctional relationships brings a pair of unhappy people together in this downbeat independent drama. Elizabeth (Kathleen Robertson) is a successful business executive who is outwardly strong and confident, but inwardly she's buckling under the emotional strain of her failing marriage to Daniel (Michael T. Weiss), an actor whose career is in a tailspin, and a short-lived affair only makes her all the more vulnerable. Meanwhile, Robert (Norman Reedus) is a once-promising writer who is smothering his talent in drugs and alcohol, though the visible shards of his gift are just enough to frustrate his emotionally troubled girlfriend, Mina (Missy Crider). With their relationships all but over, Robert meets Elizabeth, and these two damaged souls struggle to find solace together despite the oppressive weight of their emotional and romantic disappointments. Until the Night was the first directorial credit for filmmaker Gregory Hatanaka. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norman Reedus, Kathleen Robertson, (more)
- 2003
Christian Otjen's small-town drama Reeseville begins with David Meyer (Brad Hunt) returning to the title town for the first time in many years. That same morning, his father is found hanged to death in the family house. The local coroner (Mark Hamill) suspects that the death was not a suicide, and the case is taken up by policeman (Brian Wimmer), who begins to question David even more strongly after David flirts with both the officer's sister and his girlfriend. The film was screened at the Cinequest Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brad Hunt, Majandra Delfino, (more)
Larry Gigli (Ben Affleck) is a low-level Los Angeles mob enforcer. His volatile boss, Louis (Lenny Venito), hires Gigli to kidnap Brian (newcomer Justin Bartha), the mentally handicapped younger brother of a federal prosecutor who's about to bring Louis' boss to trial in New York. Gigli gets the kid home without a hitch. Then a beautiful woman (Jennifer Lopez) shows up at his door. She says her name is Ricki, and Gigli soon learns that the nervous Louis has hired her to keep an eye on him. "In every relationship," Gigli soon finds himself expounding to his unwanted partner, "there's a bull and a cow." His efforts to maintain control of the situation are further hampered by the brief appearance of the insane Detective Stanley Jacobellis (Christopher Walken) and a forced visit to his overbearing mother's (Lainie Kazan) house. To make matters worse, when Gigli expresses his attraction to Ricki, he learns that she's a lesbian. She, meanwhile, proves herself considerably more capable than the lunkheaded Gigli, winning their war of words and even scaring off a rowdy group of high school kids. As Gigli and Ricki continue to look after the young, innocent Brian, they find themselves increasingly attracted to one another. But their potential budding romance is put on hold when Starkman (Al Pacino) arrives from New York, angry about how his affairs are being handled. Director Martin Brest, in his first film since 1998's Meet Joe Black, returns to the crime comedy genre that made his reputation. Brest also wrote the script for Gigli, his first since 1979's Going in Style. Stars Affleck and Lopez began a well-publicized romantic relationship on the set of the film. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, (more)
Actor Bill Paxton made his directorial debut with Frailty. The bulk of the story is told through flashbacks, as a mysterious man (Matthew McConaughey) tells a terrible tale to an FBI agent (Powers Boothe) investigating the "God's Hand" serial killer case. The man grew up in a small town in Texas, where he and his brother lived a bucolic life with their kindhearted widower father (Paxton). One night, the father awakens the two boys, Fenton (Matthew O'Leary) and Adam (Jeremy Sumpter), and tells them he's had a vision, and God has chosen him and his sons to help Him slay demons who walk the earth in human form. He tells the boys they can never tell anyone about this task. Before long, he comes home from work with a list of names that he claims an angel has given to him. He then begins abducting people, bringing them home, one by one, and having the boys watch while he lays his hands on them. After having proven, to his mind, that they are demons and not human, he chops them up with an axe while the boys look on. Young Adam is eager to participate, seeing his family as "kind of like superheroes," while the older Fenton is distraught, believing that his father has lost his mind. He contemplates running away, but is reluctant to leave his little brother behind. Eventually, he goes to the authorities, which results in disaster. As he tells the story, McConaughey takes Boothe out to the public rose garden near his old home, where he claims his brother, the "God's Hand" killer, buried the bodies. Paxton dramatizes the mayhem while leaving almost all of the gore offscreen, and Brent Hanley's script leaves the true motives of several characters unclear until the very end. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Paxton, Matthew McConaughey, (more)
A man convinces his wife to participate in one of his sexual fantasies and lives to regret it in the farcical comedy The Sex Monster. Marty (Mike Binder) is a building contractor who is married to a beautiful woman named Laura (Mariel Hemingway). While reasonably happy in his marriage, Marty has always had a fantasy about having a menage a trois, and when he starts to feel his sex life with Laura is getting stale, he suggests they bring in another woman and give it a try. Laura is reluctant at first, but Marty refuses to drop the subject and eventually she relents, and a second woman is introduced to the bedroom. However, Marty is soon too tired to continue with the fun, and Laura and her new friend go on without him. While she's coy about it at first, it quickly becomes obvious Laura enjoys adding another woman to the mix a lot more than Marty does, and she starts aggressively pursuing new female companions. While Laura doesn't mind if Marty joins in, she and her partners seems to be enjoying themselves enough that's he feels like a fifth wheel, since Laura seems to have much clearer ideas about female eroticism than he does. Mike Binder wrote and directed The Sex Monster, as well as playing the male lead; Stephen Baldwin also appears in a supporting role. Despite its subject matter, this film features little nudity, with the sexual escapades discussed or inferred rather than shown. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mariel Hemingway, Mike Binder, (more)
- 1999
- PG
The crew of a ship traveling to Mars awakens from space hibernation to find a serious problem on board. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason London, Simon Westaway, (more)
- 1997
The actress Peg Entwistle (aka Lillian Millicent Entwistle) appeared as Hazel in David O. Selznick's Thirteen Women (1932), and tragically, on September 18, 1932, she leaped from the letter "H" of the Hollywood sign. An opening re-creation of Peg Entwistle's fatal plunge establishes the mood for this dark Hollywood drama, and then the action moves to a bar, operated by Jack (Costas Mandylor). The bar is the haven for a group of aspiring actresses who came in search of the Hollywood dream but instead serve as stand-ins for well-known screen stars. After three days on pills and alcohol, Garbo stand-in Shirley (Daphne Zuniga) has a run-in with mean-spirited Bette Davis-double Monica (Jordan Ladd). The stand-ins assemble at Jack's bar to stage a bitchy birthday party for Jean Harlow-look-alike Martha Anne (Sammi Davis), dysfunctional at age 30. Mae West-stand-in Peggy (Charlotte Chatton) and Dietrich-double Rhonda (Missy Crider) are also on hand for the festivities. The screenplay by Ed Kelleher and director Harvey Keith expands and embellishes Kelleher's one-act play. Shown at the 1997 Hamptons Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daphne Zuniga, Costas Mandylor, (more)
Body parts take on a life of their own in these two below-par horror stories made for television. In one story, a pair of teeth bite into a nasty hitchhiker at an opportune moment, and in the other, an artificially attached hand leaves the body it belongs to and takes off for a series of adventures. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Lloyd, Matt Frewer, (more)
- 1997
A once loving, devoted mother changes dramatically after suffering major head trauma during an auto accident. This made-for-television drama is based on a true story and follows the family as they try to cope with their mother's drastic transformation -- caused by severe damage to the area of the brain that controls impulses. The control for the need for sex was particularly damaged, and soon she is behaving in a most unseemly matter. Before long, her sexual craving destroys her family, and only her father remains loyal to her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Missy Crider, Mike Farrell, (more)
- 1996
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Telemovie mainstays Richard Crenna and Patty Duke (who co-starred in the 1982 sitcom It Takes Two) reteamed for this 1996 prime-time docudrama. Crenna is John Porter, a husband and father whose emotional isolation from his wife (Duke) and children springs from his own ingrained fear of mortality. When the Porters' twentysomething daughter, Sarah, is kidnapped, crisis pulls the family together in a desperate attempt to find the young woman before time runs out. It also forces John to overcome his fear of intimacy and connection, by reaching out to his family at an intensely difficult time. This feature, unsurprisingly, was based on a true story. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Crenna, Patty Duke, (more)
The fishing industry of a small Northwestern coastal town is nearly destroyed when a mysterious giant sea creature takes up residence. Based on a novel by Peter Benchley, the story bears more than passing resemblance to the author's most popular story, Jaws in that a few, including a scientist, learn the terrifying truth and try to convince a skeptical community that they are all in danger should they go too near the water. Once the town believes, it is up to the hero, a lady coast guard officer, and the scientists to stop the beast. This feature originally aired as a two-part miniseries on network television. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William L. Petersen, Karen Sillas, (more)
- 1995
In this thriller, a soon-to-be-married woman is distraught when someone kidnaps her baby. Things get even worse when the police accuse her of orchestrating the abduction. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tracey Gold, Kyle Chandler, (more)
- 1995
- R
This drama chronicles the troubled life of a teenage boy living with his father in an L.A. suburb. Young Steve tattooed the word "hate" upon his arm after a brief skirmish with the police. It has become his nickname. His dad is neither an example nor much help for the boy. He spends his days scamming worker's compensation for a fake injury. Hate encounters more trouble when one night he is riding around with his motorcycle gang shooting billboards. Beneath one he see what seems to be an attempted rape. He shoots the nicely dressed middle aged man. The teenage victim, Cindy rides off with Hate. She asks him not tell anyone. More trouble ensues as the rapist did not die. It turns out that he is the assistant D.A. He goes to the cops and tells them Hate attempted to rob him. Now Hate and Cindy must get out of town. The frightened teens are stopped by a motorcycle cop who only wants to return a purse she left at a restaurant. The panicky Hate shoots him dead. Later Cindy tells him the rapist was her uncle who had been abusing her for years. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scott Caan, Missy Crider, (more)
This unusual modern-day fable concerns a super-powered teenager who inspires nothing but hostility in the small-minded folk of his hometown. Sean Patrick Flanery stars as Jeremy Reed, nicknamed "Powder" because he is an albino. Powder has been living his entire 16 years in his grandparents' basement, but they have both passed away. The boy is removed from his home and placed in a school. There, science teacher Ripley (Jeff Goldblum) and psychologist Jessie Caldwell (Mary Steenburgen) discover that in addition to being an albino, their new student is the smartest person who ever lived with an IQ off the charts -- and that he is electrically super-charged, which renders him hairless. Powder also has miraculous powers of perception, ESP, and healing, which he uses to ease the death of the terminally ill wife of local Sheriff Barnum (Lance Henriksen) and to give a bigoted redneck hunter (Brandon Smith) a firsthand demonstration of the pain suffered by a deer he's just shot. Powder's gentle nature attracts a pretty coed, Lindsey (Missy Crider), but in spite of his Christ-like demeanor, Powder's abnormalities inspire hatred on the part of many bigoted citizens, especially school bully John Box (Bradford Tatum). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Steenburgen, Sean Patrick Flanery, (more)
Sex, drugs, and rock & roll are all tied into this tangled (and campy) tale of the sordid side of the music business in the 1950s. Aggie (Missy Crider) is a young pop singer whose career is on the verge of a major breakthrough before she's framed for the murder of a record producer by the devious Jennifer (Anne Heche). Aggie finds herself sent up the river to the California State Penitentiary for Women, where she's befriended by a pair of fellow convicts, Carol (Ione Skye) and Melba (Bahni Turpin). Together, they struggle to survive under grim circumstances as they plot their escape. Will Aggie be able to clear her name? Will Carol find the kind of love she's been looking for? And most importantly, will the inmates get to take a long, hot shower? Girls in Prison was co-scripted by legendary director Samuel Fuller and directed by John McNaughton; the film, an in-name-only remake of the 1956 exploitation classic, was produced for the Showtime premium cable network as part of their Rebel Highway series. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Missy Crider, Ione Skye, (more)
- 1994
Psychotherapist Jesse Newman is a psychic. When she learns that the criminal who brutally murdered a cop has been captured, she feels distress for according to her visions, the police have the wrong man. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Eden, Michael Nouri, (more)
- 1993
Horrified and angered when she learns that the boy who brutally raped her daughter is free to do it again thanks to ineffectual laws and courtroom rigamarole, a mother vows to get her own kind of justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lesley Ann Warren, Bruce Davison, (more)
