Richard Saperstein Movies
- 2011
Writer/director/rocker Rob Zombie brings his gritty backwoods style to this Worldwide Entertainment Corporation remake of the first-rate 1958 horror film The Blob. The franchise includes the Larry Hagman-directed sequel, Beware! The Blob, in 1972, and the 1988 remake, scripted by Frank Darabont. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- 2010
Veteran Saw franchise helmer Darren Lynn Bousman continues his foray into the macabre with this remake of the 1989 Troma B-film classic Mother's Day. The revamp will still center on a demented mother (Rebecca De Mornay) and her two sons, but will focus on them terrorizing a couple that is residing in their old home rather than the original's theme of a group of hikers being tortured in the woods. Jaime King, Shawn Ashmore, Briana Evigan, and Deborah Ann Woll topline the cast. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jaime King, Patrick Flueger, (more)
A hard-drinking lush finds himself thrust into superhero mode in director Peter Berg's unconventional look at the private life of a crime-fighter. Will Smith stars as the embittered do-gooder whose lifestyle is more akin to a rock star than a role model, and who has grown as disillusioned with his once-admiring public as they have of him. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Smith, Charlize Theron, (more)
A writer renowned for debunking infamous paranormal events is confronted by a force that he cannot explain upon checking into room 1408 of the notoriously haunted Dolphin Hotel. Mike Enslin (John Cusack) is an author who specializes in horror, but who only believes in what he can see with his eyes and touch with his hands. Having constructed an entire career on his ability to dispel superstitious "haunted house" rumors, Mike is convinced that the afterlife is a manmade construct designed to offer false comfort to the weak minded. Mike's latest project is a book entitled "Ten Nights in Haunted Hotel Rooms," and it seems that in room 1408 of the Dolphin Hotel, this skeptical scribe may finally find proof of the supernatural. Implored by the hotel manager (Samuel L. Jackson) not to enter room 1408, Mike defiantly procures the key and prepares to dispel yet another spectral sham. Now, as is the case with many of life's most profound epiphanies, the writer who thought he knew it all is caught entirely off guard at the precise moment he least expected it. Subsequently faced with undeniable proof of an afterlife, Mike may have a best-seller on his hands if he can simply survive until sunrise. Mary McCormack and Jasmine Jessica Anthony co-star in director Mikael Håfström's (Derailed) adaptation of an original short story by horror icon Stephen King. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, (more)
Frequent Stephen King collaborator Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) teamed with the celebrated horror author once again for this tale of terror concerning a small town engulfed by a malevolent mist, based on a story originally published in King's 1985 horror anthology Skeleton Crew. When a thick fog descends upon a rural community and claims the lives of anyone unfortunate enough to be caught outside, a small band of survivors seeks refuge in a local grocery store. Now trapped in a darkened cloud of pure horror, the frightened denizens of the town are forced to fend off an advancing horde of murderous monsters. Punisher star Thomas Jane heads up an ensemble cast that includes Andre Braugher, Laurie Holden, William Sadler, and Marcia Gay Harden. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, (more)
An ordinary lawman goes outside the law to carry out his own brand of justice in this dark-themed thriller. Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) is an FBI agent who deeply loves his wife and son, but is also strongly devoted to his work. Castle's investigation of a powerful crime cartel leads to a gunfight which claims the life of a young boy, whose father is underworld kingpin Howard Saint (John Travolta). Furious and eager for revenge, Saint arranges for Castle and his family to be murdered in retaliation. However, while Castle's wife and son are killed, he somehow survives, even though he's believed to have perished. Bent on stopping Saint once and for all, Castle remakes himself as The Punisher, a ruthless and heavily armed killing machine who will not rest until Saint and his crew have been wiped clean from the Earth. Based on a Marvel Comics character first introduced in 1974, The Punisher also stars Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Laura Elena Harring, Roy Scheider, and Kevin "Big Sexy" Nash. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thomas Jane, John Travolta, (more)
A national health care crisis in the United States yields this tense drama from screenwriter James Kearns and director Nick Cassavetes, who experienced a real-life dilemma with his daughter's congenital heart disease that mirrors the one in this film. Denzel Washington stars as John Q. Archibald, a factory worker facing financial hardship as a result of reduced hours in his workplace. When his young son, Michael (Daniel E. Smith), is stricken during a baseball game, John and his wife, Denise (Kimberly Elise), discover that their child is in need of an emergency heart transplant. Although the Archibalds have health insurance, they are informed by hospital administrator Rebecca Payne (Anne Heche) that their policy doesn't cover such an expensive procedure. Unable to raise the money himself, John persuades the hospital's compassionate cardiac surgeon, Dr. Raymond Turner (James Woods), to waive his lofty fee, but is still left with too much of a financial burden to bear. With no recourse but to take his son home to die, John snaps and holds the staff and patients of the hospital's emergency room hostage at gunpoint. John is soon a media hero, the focus of intense news coverage, even as police chief Gus Monroe (Ray Liotta) and hostage negotiator Frank Grimes (Robert Duvall) try to resolve the situation before it leads to bloodshed. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Denzel Washington, Robert Duvall, (more)
Known more for his dark, psychological crime thrillers Primal Fear (1996) and Fallen (1998), director Gregory Hoblit surprisingly created this Frank Capra-meets-Rod Serling-style fantasy that mixes several genres of storytelling into a likable stew. James Caviezel stars as John Sullivan, a New York police detective who has never recovered from the death of his father Frank (Dennis Quaid), a firefighter who died heroically when John was a boy. Experimenting with his dad's beloved ham radio one summer night, extreme sunspot activity allows John to contact Frank 30 years in the past. Since he's able to warn Frank away from danger, his father's death never occurs. Then the unthinkable happens: John's altered future is one in which his mother Julia (Elizabeth Mitchell) has been murdered by a serial killer. Now John in the present and Frank in the past must try to solve the riddle of the killer's identity and change the time line again. Frequency was written by Toby Emmerich, the brother of actor Noah Emmerich, who appears in a supporting role created specifically for him. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Quaid, James Caviezel, (more)
This $90 million science fiction adventure is adapted from the television series, created by Irwin Allen, which originally ran on CBS from 1965 to 1968. The original series employed a Swiss Family Robinson in outer space premise; sent to colonize a planet in the Alpha Centauri system, the Robinson family was thrown off course by a stowaway and was left wandering from planet to planet (and changing along the way from a black-and-white series to a color series). The 1998 remake is set in the year 2058, when the United Global Space Force sends Professor John Robinson (William Hurt) and family -- wife Maureen (Mimi Rogers), daughter Judy (Heather Graham), teen Penny (Lacey Chabert), and 10-year-old Will (Jack Johnson) -- on a promotional space jaunt to herald the "offshore" future for the human race (now saddled with eco problems on Earth). Major Don West (Matt LeBlanc), more accustomed to fighting menacing Global Sedition forces, is reluctant to sign on as the Jupiter II pilot but quickly changes his mind after he gets a good look at Judy in her fetish-fashioned space togs. Space spy Dr. Smith (Gary Oldman), hired to sabotage the mission, programs in problems but winds up aboard the craft unconscious. Once awake, he summons the Robinsons from suspended animation, and they save the ship just in time, passing through hyperspace to arrive near an Earth ship where they encounter space-pet Blawp and hordes of teethy spiders. A spider bite makes the villainous Smith mutate, one of some 750 special effects, from animatronics (Jim Henson Creature Shop) to CGI, and other adventures await throughout the galaxy. Cameos include actors from the original series, including June Lockhart and Robot Voice Dick Tufeld. In a curious coincidence, the TV series took place in the future of 1997, the year this movie was produced. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hurt, Mimi Rogers, (more)
A man's brief fling threatens to ruin what he values most in life in this drama. Max Carlyle (Wesley Snipes) lives in California, where he has a successful career directing television commercials and is happily married to Mimi (Ming-Na Wen), with whom he has two children. While visiting New York City, Max meets Karen (Nastassja Kinski) by chance after missing a flight; circumstances keep bringing them together over the course of the evening, and they end up spending the night making love. When he returns home, Max seems distant and unhappy, though Mimi can't tell why and Max won't say. A year later, Max and Mimi fly to New York to visit his close friend Charlie (Robert Downey, Jr.), who is in the last stages of an AIDS-related illness. Max meets Charlie's brother Vernon (Kyle MacLachlan) and is introduced to his new wife -- Karen. Facing Karen sends Max into an emotional tailspin, and he realizes that he must tell Mimi the truth about his indiscretion. Writer/director Mike Figgis adapted One Night Stand from a screenplay by Joe Eszterhas, though Figgis' changes were so extensive that Eszterhas chose to remove his name from the project. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wesley Snipes, Nastassja Kinski, (more)
An ordinary woman discovers that her life was not always ordinary in this action thriller. Samantha Caine (Geena Davis) is a typical, well-mannered single mother working as a schoolteacher when she isn't looking after her children. Nothing on the surface would seem to be remarkable about Samantha's life, but every once in a while she has vague memories and unexplained impulses that don't add up with her current life experience; she has scars but no idea of how they got there, she suddenly displays a deadly talent for knife-throwing while chopping vegetables for dinner, and when she sees a deer, she suddenly attacks it with her bare hands. When an auto accident and a television news broadcast stirs some more uncomfortable memories, Samantha hires private investigator Mitch Hennessey (Samuel L. Jackson) to look into her past and see what he can find. Mitch learns that Samantha isn't really Samantha after all -- her name is Charley and she used to be a professional assassin with a secret government intelligence program. After a severe head injury, Charley developed a case of amnesia, and in time she developed her new personality as Samantha. However, her old boss has kept tabs on her, and now that it looks as if the old Charley is starting to come out again, he sends a pair of hit men after her to see to it that she doesn't remember anything else; soon Samantha and Mitch are on the run, trying to outdistance the killers as they get to the bottom of Charley's secret life. The Long Kiss Goodnight was directed by Renny Harlin, husband of leading lady Geena Davis; this was their second project together, following Cutthroat Island, released the previous year. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, (more)
Director David Fincher's dark, stylish thriller ranks as one of the decade's most influential box-office successes. Set in a hellish vision of a New York-like city, where it is always raining and the air crackles with impending death, the film concerns Det. William Somerset (Morgan Freeman), a homicide specialist just one week from a well-deserved retirement. Every minute of his 32 years on the job is evident in Somerset's worn, exhausted face, and his soul aches with the pain that can only come from having seen and felt far too much. But Somerset's retirement must wait for one last case, for which he is teamed with young hotshot David Mills (Brad Pitt), the fiery detective set to replace him at the end of the week. Mills has talked his reluctant wife, Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow), into moving to the big city so that he can tackle important cases, but his first and Somerset's last are more than either man has bargained for. A diabolical serial killer is staging grisly murders, choosing victims representing the seven deadly sins. First, an obese man is forced to eat until his stomach ruptures to represent gluttony, then a wealthy defense lawyer is made to cut off a pound of his own flesh as penance for greed. Somerset initially refuses to take the case, realizing that there will be five more murders, ghastly sermons about lust, sloth, pride, wrath, and envy presented by a madman to a sinful world. Somerset is correct, and something within him cannot let the case go, forcing the weary detective to team with Mills and see the case to its almost unspeakably horrible conclusion. The moody photography is by Darius Khondji; the nauseatingly vivid special effects are by makeup artist Rob Bottin, best known for more fantasy-oriented work in films like The Howling (1981). ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, (more)
