Jill Silverthorne Movies
Missing Brendan stars Edward Asner as George Calden, a man whose son Brendan has been missing since Brendan served in the Vietnam War. Along with his other son, Bob (Robin Thomas), and Bob's son, Patrick (Adam Brody), George goes to Vietnam in order to see if he can discover what happened to his missing boy. They are joined by an archeologist played by Illeana Douglas. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ed Asner, Robin Thomas, (more)
Singing transsexuals, car crash mayhem, dancing truck drivers, and a certain midriff-baring teen pop idol are all part of the campy fun in Dutch director Ludi Boeken's fairy tale/road movie/drag extravaganza. Mark Borschardt and Mike Schank, previously seen in American Movie, star as independent filmmakers Dude and Mike. Hired by a Milwaukee TV station to interview none other than Britney Spears, they dream of using their pay for the gig to finance their dream project. Unfortunately, the interview does not go well, with the Dude asking Brit a very inappropriate question that gets the interview terminated before it even begins. Despondent, the intrepid -- and incompetent -- pair repair to a restaurant, where they have the good fortune of running into none other than a Britney look-a-like who just happens to be a drag queen (played by Robert Stephens, aka Angel Benton, whose experiences the movie was based on). Before you can say 'not a girl, not yet a woman,' the Dude decides that all of his problems can be solved by having Stephens pose as a the real singer, and to film the drag diva on a road trip whose footage will reap in big bucks. Britney, Baby, One More Time was screened at the 2002 Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Borchardt, Mike Schank, (more)
In the Roaring '20s Chicago, three young men newly arrived from Liverpool find themselves working for Al Capone (Julian Littman). Capone's ruthless right-hand man Georgio (Al Sapienza) exploits Jimmy's (Marc Warren) explosive right uppercut by scheduling him in a boxing match against the local champ; in preparation, Georgio has Jimmy train with the aging coach Boom Boom (Richard Roundtree). Only later do they realize the fight is fixed and Jimmy is ordered to take a dive in the fifth round, something he's reluctant to consider. Jimmy makes things worse by having an affair with Georgio's girlfriend Edith (Kirsty Mitchell), and hot-tempered Georgio is not happy. Meanwhile Jimmy's mates are implicated in the kidnapping of Capone's young son, an accusation they compound by robbing the mob safe. Can these adventures possibly have happy endings? ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
David Portlock's darkly comic film about race, The Gristle, concerns a pair of struggling medical technicians who get a moonlighting gig to deliver kidneys to a Senator. Complications ensue when a drug deal set to go down in the same place and at the same time leads to the wrong deliveries being made to the wrong groups of people. Soon the pair of kidney deliverers hatch a plan to get the drug money all for themselves. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Dorn, Barry Corbin, (more)
Marc Forster directs this chilling psychological drama about a young mother trying to come to terms with the loss of her first born. Angie (Radha Mitchell) and her husband Russ (Justin Louis) live a quiet suburban life. At the film's opening, Angie, along with her best friends Judith (Catherine Lloyd Burns) and Barbie (Megan Mullally), who also happen to be pregnant, gleefully discuss morning sickness and baby showers. After her textbook delivery to a healthy boy, the doctor pulls Russ aside and whispers something in his ear. Angie's worst fears are confirmed when she learns that her child suddenly died, a victim of sudden infant death syndrome. In spite of loving support from her husband and friends, Angie quickly spirals into a deep depression and begins developing morbid obsessions, such as going to morgue to examine her baby, visiting the place where her child's toys are buried, and watching children at play in the park. Shot on digital video, the film features an intense emotionally immediacy. This film was screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Radha Mitchell, Megan Mullally, (more)
Barbara Hershey stars in this understated road movie. Kate (Hershey) flags down a cab one rainy night in Times Square and tells the British-Indian cabbie (Naveen Andrews) to drive until they get to the desert. Fleeing from an abusive relationship, she offers the driver $300 a day for a week. As they wend their way through America's wide expanse, these two lonely souls begin to talk and understand one another. Drowning on Dry Land was screened at the 1999 Flanders Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Hershey, Naveen Andrews, (more)
A man finds himself wondering just what he wants from a relationship after his personal ad gets a very unexpected response in Sweethearts. Arliss (Mitch Rouse) is a single guy in his early 30's who has placed a personal ad, hoping to find the woman of his dreams. One night Arliss heads to a coffee shop called The Asylum to meet a woman named Jasmine who has answered his ad. He's been told to expect a slender blonde woman in sandals and a flowered dress, and isn't sure what to think when an idiosyncratically attractive brunette dressed in black (played by Janeane Garofalo) begins badgering him with questions about himself, his "ideal" woman and what he's looking for from life. After a while, Arliss is convinced he's been stood up, until he discovers the woman who's been pestering him for the last hour is actually Jasmine. She tells Arliss she liked the sound of his voice and fudged on personal details about herself, convinced if he knew the truth about her, he wouldn't be interested. She also lets him know she wants someone to help her celebrate her birthday -- and she has a gun. However, what becomes disturbingly clear is that she doesn't intend to use the gun on Arliss, but on herself. Stephen Malkmus of the alternative rock band Pavement makes a cameo appearance as a singer at the coffeehouse; songs by Joe Henry and Alejandro Escovedo are featured on the soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janeane Garofalo, Mitch Rouse, (more)
- 1997
A woman fleeing the man in her life discovers a city of women in this revisionist western. Chrysty (Amy Brenneman) is passing through the Nevada desert when she happens upon the small town of Silver, currently populated entirely by women and children, while the men in the community are gone -- working on a dam building project. When Chrysty discovers June (Bridgette Wilson) alone and in labor, she helps her as she gives birth; Chrysty opts to stay around, and she takes a job delivering milk. Silver is ruled by McGill (Kirstie Alley), the village's self-appointed sheriff who doesn't trust Chrysty; McGill discovers that Chrysty is actually an Idaho housewife running away from her husband, West (Angus MacFadyen). However, June's husband Rip (James Wilder), back in town after the birth of a child that may not be his and troubled by his wife's chronic infidelity, has fallen in love with Chrysty, and when West arrives to Silver to retrieve his spouse, Rip opts to fight for her hand. Nevada also features Saffron Burrows as June's sister-in-law, and Dee Wallace Stone and Kathy Najimy as a rough-and-tumble lesbian couple. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
A touching and unusual love story, The Whole Wide World was based on a memoir by Novalyne Price Ellis, in which she recalled her brief romance with Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian and one of the finest and most prolific pulp writers of his day. In 1933, Novalyne Price (Renee Zellweger) is a pretty but shy Texas schoolteacher who would like to be a writer some day. A friend offers to introduce her to Howard (Vincent D'Onofrio), who writes broad, bold yarns about superhuman heroes and damsels in distress and has little patience for writers of more pretentious fiction. Novalyne likes Howard and he seems to like her, but she finds him a hard man to deal with. He lives in the world of his stories, and he devotes as much time as possible to his bedridden mother, which leaves him little time to pursue a romance. But when Howard discovers that another man has been courting Novalyne, he's heartbroken -- even if they didn't have a conventional romance, he felt there was a special emotional bond between them, and he hates to see it thrown away. Renee Zellweger and Vincent D'Onofrio both deliver fine performances and are a believable (if unconventional) romantic couple; D'Onofrio also co-produced. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent D'Onofrio, Renée Zellweger, (more)
Two vengeful assassins are loose on the streets of New Orleans and are looking to systematically murder some of the elite Special Crimes Agents responsible for sending them to prison. Now only the two leaders of the highly trained corps will be able to stop the slaughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Davi, Brigitte Nielsen, (more)
- 1994
- NR
Filled with plenty of fisticuffs and karate, this actioner follows a tough New Orleans police officer on his personal quest to solve a series cop killings. The cop hires a mercenary biker to help with his private investigation. Their research reveals that the culprit is the town's biggest drug lord and his reason for the killings is revenge for the death of his henchmen. Things get more complex when the good guys realize that the drug lord has made a mistake. The cops aren't killing his thugs, but someone else certainly is. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Davi, Michael Paré, (more)
- 1993
- R
A killer who strikes only during Mardi Gras turns out to be a supernatural demon (Michael Ironside) who has sought human sacrifices ever since the original festival began as an occultist ceremony. The New Orleans cop assigned to the case (Robert Davi) tracks the demon around the city with his partner (Mike Starr) and must save the girl he loves from being the next victim. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Davi, Michael Ironside, (more)
- 1993
Action genre veteran David A. Prior wrote and directed this thriller that unfolds like a B-movie version of Midnight Run (1988). David Keith stars as Mace, a former cop now working as a bounty hunter or "skip tracer." When his daughter is murdered, the mayor (Charles Napier) of a small Southern town hires Mace to find the killer, who's suspected to be Mitch (Robert Hays), the victim's date from the evening of her death. Mace tracks down his target but when Mitch is nearly killed in an explosion, it becomes clear that he's innocent and the real killer is trying to wipe him out. After being ambushed and nearly killed, Mace and Mitch are joined by Sarah (Pamela Anderson), a hooker who witnessed the attack. As the three of them try to stay alive, they uncover a political conspiracy involving the deputy mayor (Stacy Keach) and the corrupt police force that Mace once quit in disgust, led by a crooked detective (Leo Rossi). Also known as Skip-Tracer. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- 1991
In this made-for-television horror outing, a young married couple and their daughter are terrorized by a pride of ferocious feral felines. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Busfield, Kathleen Quinlan, (more)
- 1971
A drug addict seduces his lover into sharing his chemical joys and together they begin a wrenching downward spiral into destruction in this unflinching, well-wrought drama. Before getting hooked on speed, the woman had a successful career. But, despite the efforts of those who would help her, the couple cannot seem to kick their habit. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
