Clayton Halsey Movies
Jonathan Blank (Sex, Drugs, & Democracy) directed this satirical slap at the media, centered around a reverend (Alan Thicke) who objects to public-access station Channel 69, where his daughter (Jessica Hecht) and other young radicals program such shows as Conspiracy of the Week. The reverend's solution is to buy the station and kick everyone out. They retaliate with protests and a fake bomb threat, barricading themselves in the studio to stage telecasts minus clothing. This film features one of the last film appearances of the late Timothy Leary. Shown at the 1998 Cinequest San Jose Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jonathan Penner, Jessica Hecht, (more)
A popular television lifeguard show faces cancellation when the crew is forced to find a new director on short notice in this sexy satire filled with skimpy bikinis and lots of fun in the sun. Thanks to a healthy display of skin and a cast that includes some chiseled hunks and lovely lifeguards, "Bikini Squad" draws some of the highest ratings on television. After the original director walks and a female is brought in to finish the season, she finds that sticking to the shooting schedule is harder than it appears when you're dealing with a crew whose collective IQ is that of a bag of beach balls. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucky O'Boyle, J.C. Palermo, (more)
In this comedy with dramatic overtones, Susan "Soosh" Teagarden (Moira Kelly) is an aspiring artist with plenty of emotional baggage. Her father Theo (Christopher Lloyd) is a famous painter; he's also an alcoholic who has never been able to express his affection for his daughter. Soosh's mother died when she was young, and she still cherishes her memory but also feels deep loss. These days, Soosh has trouble with men, her job at a clothing store, her art, and her landlord, after she's caught shoplifting. Looking for somewhere to stay, she goes to a nearby convent and tells them a sob story that moves the Mother Superior (Eileen Brennan) to take her in. Soosh discovers that Christian charity isn't the easy street she expected; she has to work alongside the sisters at the convent and follow their schedule, and Soosh isn't accustomed to rising at 5 a.m. and having to be in by 11 p.m. But the Mother Superior sees Soosh's paintings and realizes that she has a true gift; she encourages her in her art and tries to help her put the broken pieces of her life together. Along the way, Soosh also falls in love with Felix (Dylan Walsh), who happens to run the art supply store where she steals most of her supplies. Changing Habits also stars Shelley Duvall as a speechless nun and Teri Garr as one of Soosh's co-workers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Moira Kelly, Christopher Lloyd, (more)
In this erotic thriller a Hollywood porno director does far worse than seduce aspiring starlets upon his casting couch. His favorite trick is to tape them to chairs, focus a live camera on them and a monitor in front so they can watch while he strangles them to death. The strange series of deaths puts Detective Lewis and his partner Barry on the case. Meanwhile, the psycho director's beautiful neighbor, Nola Carlisle gets rid of her boy friend and begins eyeing the rather shy killer. She approaches him about putting together a promo video for her art and he agrees to it. They eventually end up making love and afterward, he confesses all. He does try to clean up his act, but by then it is too late. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Four young women are on the verge of becoming the new darlings of indie rock, if they don't kill each other first, in this independent comedy drama. Fauna (Zoe Poledouris) has been a minor fixture on the Portland, OR, indie rock scene for a while as lead singer with neo-goth rockers the Snogs, but after a quarrel with her boyfriend Paulo (Mikael Jehanno), Fauna is given her walking papers, and soon the brazenly careerist Fauna looking for a new vehicle to launch her latest bid for rock stardom. Opportunity presents itself in the form of the Paper Dolls, an all-female three-piece -- guitarist Kali (Nicole Barrett), bassist Lavender (Melody Moore), and drummer Reggie (Kinnie Starr) -- in need of a lead singer. Fauna can give the fledgling Dolls some much needed cred, and when she learns that Kali's boyfriend is Levi (Coyote Shivers), the frontman for rising pop-punkers the Suicide Bombers, Fauna sees a relationship that can be profitably exploited. Eager to get their act together, the four Paper Dolls rent a house together, imagining that living together will help them tighten up fast. The plan works, and soon the Paper Dolls are the fastest rising band in the Northwest. Things look even rosier when the Suicide Bombers sign a deal with Pop-Up Records, an indie label poised to sign a distribution deal with a major label, and Levi suggests to Pop-Up that the Paper Dolls would make good label mates. The Dolls score the much-coveted record deal, but all is not well at the Doll House -- Fauna and Kali soon find themselves battling over Kali's affections and the group's musical direction, Reggie treats her boyfriend Mulder (Brendan O'Hara) like dirt while cheating on him with a handful of female fans, and Lavender isn't sure if the band is more important than her relationship with her longtime beau Clark (Shawn Robinson). Down & Out With the Dolls was written and directed by Kurt Voss, who previously explored the West Coast rock scene in two collaborative features with Alison Anders, Border Radio and Sugar Town, while Zoe Poledouris, Melody Moore, Kinnie Starr, and Coyote Shivers have all performed and recorded with a variety of rock bands. Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead also appears in a supporting role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zoƫ Poledouris, Kinnie Starr, (more)
A teenager considers an opportunity that could save her life or end it in this streetwise drama from director Alan Jacobs. Rascal (Jessica Romero) is fifteen years old and attending high school in East Los Angeles. Rascal is also one of the leaders of a gang of young Latinas who inherited their turf from older girls from the neighborhood. Rascal's gang often fights with a rival band of African-American teens, and as the long standing territorial battle goes on, the violence increases and the stakes grow higher. But Mr. Shannon (Danny Glover) is an English teacher at Rascal's school who believes she has a real talent for writing, and wants to offer her a chance to escape the cycle of crime around her. Mr. Shannon is lobbying for Rascal to be accepted in a writing workshop for promising young students in Iowa. However, Mrs. Castro (Elizabeth Pena), the principal, knows Rascal best as a severe disciplinary problem, and is against having her represent the school. Even if Rascal is able to persuade Mrs. Castro that she's worth a chance, she knows that loyalty is very important to the gang, and trying to leave could be even more dangerous than staying. Down For Life also features Snoop Dogg, Kate del Castillo and Emily Rios. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
As their tour of duty in Iraq draws to a close, four American soldiers learn that they are scheduled to embark on one final, fateful mission that will forever change their concept of war. Shortly after receiving the news that they will soon be reunited with their families back in the United States, a unit serving in Iraq is deployed on a humanitarian mission to deliver medical supplies to a remote Iraqi village. Upon arriving in the village, the unit is viciously ambushed and many lives are lost. Now, as the surviving members of the battalion return home and attempt to readjust to civilian life, the physical injuries and psychological scars sustained during that tragic event continue to take a heavy emotional toll on the war-torn soldiers. Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Biel, and rapper-turned-actor 50 Cent star in an affecting psychological war drama from Academy Award-winning director Irwin Winkler. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Biel, (more)
Jon Jacobs wrote, directed, and stars in this fantasy drama set amid Beltane, a Druid celebration. Seeking a mate, wizard descendant Jason (Jacobs) returns to Earth, arriving in New Orleans where members of the local witch coven concoct spells to attract Jason. Eight years earlier, Jason had a child with witch Lucinda (Christina Fulton), now a coven dropout and a prostitute who seeks legal custody of their child. With a clever blend of coven comedy and supernatural social drama, this film won the Golden Warrior prize at the "Cannes You Dig It" alternative sidebar event held during the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Jacobs, Christina Fulton, (more)
Three HIV positive robbers play PC Robin Hoods when they begin stealing a high-priced drug and sharing it with their afflicted, impoverished peers and AIDS centers. The drug, manufactured by Apothecary Industries, is said to stave off the development of AIDS in HIV patients and could be effective for up to ten years. This comedy chronicles their adventures. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Mercurio, Debi Mazar, (more)
Jon Favreau, George C. Scott, and Judd Hirsch star in this biography (produced for the Showtime premium cable network) about the life and career of Rocky Marciano, who rose from a childhood of poverty through the often corrupt ranks of professional boxing to become the only undefeated heavyweight champion of the world. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Favreau, Penelope Ann Miller, (more)
The drama Shackles stars D.L. Hughley as a teacher who, desperate for employment, takes the one job he is offered. The job involves teaching inside a prison, a place that is not hospitable to him or to the idea of bettering oneself through education. The teacher stands up to a variety of forces that are against him. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- D.L. Hughley, Jose Pablo Cantillo, (more)
Israeli-born director Isaac H. Eaton spins this thriller about a Mephistophelean writer luring an impressionable young man into L.A.'s seamy underside. Stuart Chappell (Peter Weller) persuades gas station attendant Michael Holloway (Balthazar Getty) to abandon the straight and narrow and accompany him on a prowl of increasingly kinky haunts -- including stripclubs, S&M dungeons, fight clubs, and Russian roulette joints. This film was screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Balthazar Getty, Peter Weller, (more)
Six months after one of the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, crime and corruption sink to new levels of depravity as a pair of New Orleans cops work to clean up the streets. New Orleans has been ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, opening the floodgates for a sea of criminals seeking to assert their control over the city's seedy underworld. But when the stakes are this high, there's sure to be corruption within the ranks of the local police force, too. When a veteran detective with a violent history (Val Kilmer) is assigned a new partner with a dark secret (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson), the perceptive police psychiatrist (Sharon Stone) suspects that the officers may have become morally compromised by the chaos that threatens to consume the city that's already synonymous with vice and decadence. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Val Kilmer, Michael Biehn, (more)






















