David C. Glasser Movies
Aging museum security guards Charles (Morgan Freeman), Roger (Christopher Walken), and George (William H. Macy) scheme to steal their favorite exhibits before the curator arrives to install a new collection. With no criminal experience to fall back on, the three aspiring larcenists hatch a plan to quietly replace each piece with a convincing replica. When one small mistake throws their carefully crafted plan into chaos, Charles, Roger, and George must scramble avoid spending their golden years behind bars. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken, (more)
A tense political drama ripped straight from the headlines, Rod Lurie's Nothing But the Truth tells the tale of a Washington, D.C. reporter who is targeted by the government after refusing to reveal her source for a story that identified an undercover CIA operative. Rachel Armstrong (Kate Beckinsale) is an ambitious young reporter working at the Capitol Sun-Times, one of Washington, D.C.'s biggest newspapers. When the paper published Rachel's incendiary story revealing the identity of covert CIA agent Erica Van Doren (Vera Farmiga), charismatic special prosecutor Patton Dubois (Matt Dillon) demands that she reveal her source for the story. With the support of her husband, Ray (David Schwimmer); her editor, Bonnie (Angela Bassett); and the paper's in-house attorney, Avril (Noah Wyle), Rachel defies Patton's request and all hell breaks loose. When Rachel likewise refuses to reveal her source even to U.S. District Court Judge Hall (Floyd Adams), she is cited with contempt of court and thrown in the D.C. Detention Center until she decides to cooperate. As Rachel's attorney, Albert Burnside (Alan Alda), argues her case all the way to the Supreme Court, the public begins to question why the embattled reporter would sacrifice both her family and her career to maintain her journalistic integrity. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, (more)
- 2008
- R
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A teenage take on Roman Polanski's post-noir classic Chinatown, The Sophomore stars Reece Daniel Thompson, Mischa Barton, and Bruce Willis in the tale of a Catholic high-school newspaper reporter who stumbles upon a disturbing conspiracy. Prompted by the most popular girl in school to investigate the theft of the SAT exams, an ambitious young fact-finder discovers that the school's president -- a disillusioned Gulf War veteran -- and the top jock are responsible for the crime. As if this information wasn't unsettling enough, it appears that both have been operation under the direction of an even higher power. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mischa Barton, Reece Daniel Thompson, (more)
- 2007
- PG13
Alec Baldwin, Anthony Hopkins, Kim Cattrall, Dan Aykroyd, and Jennifer Love Hewitt star in this re-imagining of Walter Huston's The Devil and Daniel Webster - this time concerning a struggling writer who sells his soul to Old Scratch (Hewitt) in a desperate bid to find fame and fortune on the literary circuit. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Love Hewitt, (more)
- 2004
- PG
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Fifteen-year-old CIA operative Cody Banks (played by Malcolm in the Middle star Frankie Muniz) is back in action in this comedy adventure, which sends the youthful secret agent to Old Blighty. Banks returns to Kamp Woody, the CIA training center disguised as a summer camp, where he's given a new partner, the bumbling but sharp-witted Derek (Anthony Anderson), and a new assignment, to track down a sinister double-agent who has made off with an experimental mind-control machine. The villain has made his way to Great Britain, so Banks is enrolled in an upscale private school in England, where he's forced to join the school band despite his lack of musical talent and finds himself working alongside Emily (Hannah Spearritt), a fellow teenage espionage agent. Keith David, Daniel Roebuck, and Cynthia Stevenson all return from the first film, while British filmmaker Kevin Allen takes over as director. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frankie Muniz, Anthony Anderson, (more)
A teen learns that all the gadgets in the world can't help him overcome his awkwardness around the opposite sex in this big-budget family entertainment. In Agent Cody Banks, Malcolm in the Middle star Frankie Muniz plays a young man plucked from suburban obscurity to be trained as a CIA super-agent. His mission? Get friendly with his classmate Natalie (played by another teen TV star, Lizzie McGuire's Hilary Duff) so that he can uncover her father's diabolical scheme to create indestructible robots. To compound his problems, Cody also has to deal with the same stresses as any adolescent: nagging parents, insufferable classwork, and a fragile sense of self-esteem. Agent Cody Banks was produced by MGM, not coincidentally the studio responsible for another popular spy franchise, the venerable James Bond series. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frankie Muniz, Hilary Duff, (more)
Suspended from the police force following an undercover drug bust gone horribly awry, Detroit undercover narcotics officer Nick Tellis (Jason Patric) is reluctantly goaded back into active duty in hopes that he can help to crack the case of a slain fellow officer. Promised reinstatement in the force in exchange for his efforts, Tellis is paired with the victim's volatile ex-partner Henry Oak (Ray Liotta) and soon begins to actively seek the killer in an increasingly complex case. A recent father whose wife fears for her husband's safety and begs him not to take back to the dangerous streets, Tellis struggles with his conscience as he navigates a twisting road of half-realized truths, shifting loyalties and questionable agendas. With every step closer to Tellis gets to solving the troubling murder, he grows farther away from his wife and newborn son, and edges ever closer to a resolution so complicated that it threatens to devour his soul and shatter every preconceived difference he has ever made between cop and criminal. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Liotta, Jason Patric, (more)
An aging hipster finds that there may be more to life than good looks and fast cars in this introspective comedy from first-time director Danny Comden. Twenty-something Los Angeles womanizer Sol Goode (Balthazar Getty) has been gliding through life thanks to solid genes and a quick wit, but when his car is trashed and the shadow of eviction forces him to consider getting a real job, he slowly begins to realize that some soul searching is in order. Eschewing his unfulfilling ways in a bid to find true happiness, Sol finds himself increasingly attracted to his best friend Chloe (Katharine Towne), who is all too aware of Sol's loose interpretation of the word "relationship." Will Sol ever be able to convince Chloe that he has truly changed and his feeling for her are genuine, or will his past remain a roadblock to the only means of happiness he knows? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Balthazar Getty, Katharine Towne, (more)
This suspense film features Dennis Hopper as JD, a crazed kidnapper who hijacks a school bus (not unlike his crazed kidnapper in Speed) and holds the students hostage (one of the students is played by former Home Improvement star Zachery Ty Bryan). Even if the hostages are able to break free from their captors, they would have to survive the harsh terrain that surrounds the cabin in which they are being held. Lee Stanley's film was sold directly to Blockbuster Video, never gaining a theatrical release in the United States. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 1996
- R
This action-packed crime drama features one of the more interesting motives in the genre: the crooks plan a $1million caper to pay for a another young crook's liver transplant. The mayhem begins as Dexter is yet again hauled to jail after the police catch him attempting to snatch a purse. There Dexter shares his latest scheme with his pal Colin. On New Year's Eve, he is going to rob an exclusive nightclub and steal a cool million. Unfortunately, cocky young James Little overhears the plot and tells his big brother Rupert, also a petty crook about it. Later, Collin shoots James, seriously wounding him in the liver. Rupert, figures the only way to save his little brother is to knock-off the nightclub and so begins to assemble assorted crooked characters to assist him. Unfortunately, professional crook Dexter and his boys are also going through with their original plan and when the pros meet the amateurs fists fly, guns blaze and the blood begins to flow. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Russo, Emily Lloyd, (more)
- 1992
- R
Ellen Carlyle is exhausted and looks forward to her upcoming vacation alone in the woods, but somehow things don't turn out as planned for the hard-working television news anchor, and instead of resting she ends up fighting for her life. The ordeal begins at work the night before her vacation when a madman bursts into her studio and holds her at gunpoint while her cameraman tries to talk him down. Later her pal Joey offers to take her to her cabin. As she settles in, a homicidal maniac escapes from prison, and unknown to Carlyle, whose investigations helped convict him, she is at the top of his revenge list. Though Joey shows up the next day to warn her and beg her to help him with his new report, she refuses because she has a hot date with the town deputy. Eventually the fugitive killer is captured and Carlyle believes she is finally safe. Unfortunately, that is not the end of the her problems. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1991
This isn't a film about a singer from the Lone Star state. "Texas Tenor" is a style of playing the saxophone which brings out its big sound and biggest volume. This documentary does a creditable job of exploring the life and times of the popularly unknown jazz and R&B saxophone legend Illinois Jacquet. He has played with most of the greats and almost single-handedly developed a rompin'-stompin' saxophone sound which has been a feature of great R&B ever since. A virtuoso performer with masterful phrasing, he became a star in the 1940s under the tutelage of Lionel Hampton, who had him change from alto to tenor sax and then gave him the opportunity to record an epochal solo in Flying Home. In addition to past and current performance and backstage footage, many jazz and rhythm and blues greats comment on Jacquet's playing and his place in music history. Some jazz-knowledgeable reviewers, evidently hoping for an entirely different and more erudite treatment, expressed disappointment in this documentary, others lauded it as one of the best ever made. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Teenage angst finds a new voice in this drama. By day, Mark Hunter (Christian Slater) is a quiet, studious student at an ordinary suburban high school in Arizona. But at night, Mark creeps down into his basement, fires up his pirate radio transmitter, and broadcasts to the community as Hard Harry, a sexually obsessed social commentator who passes along angry philosophy about the state of teenage life when not blasting punk rock or gangsta rap cuts. Hard Harry's sworn nemesis is high school principal Mrs. Cresswood (Annie Ross), who keeps SAT scores up at the expense of her students' dignity and individuality by eliminating "troublemakers" from the student body. Hard Harry's broadcasts, however, have become a rallying point for the school's misfit underclass, and Mrs. Cresswood is determined to track down the mystery student and bring him to justice (broadcasting without a license, he's not merely an annoyance, but a criminal). The war against Hard Harry intensifies when he broadcasts data from confidential school board reports; Mark's father is a school commissioner, but he has no idea what his son is doing in the basement. Meanwhile, Mark gains the attentions of Nora (Samantha Mathis), who has figured out who he becomes at night. More serious and intelligent than the average teen film, Pump Up the Volume was written and directed by Allan Moyle, who previously dealt with disaffected, music-obsessed teens in Times Square and would return to them with Empire Records. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, (more)
- 1989
Based on a true story, the two-part TV movie I Know My First Name Is Steven tells the tragic story of Steven Stayner. At age seven, Steven was kidnapped by two men who held him captive in a tiny shed for seven years. One of the men, a habitual child abuser named Kenneth Parnell, sexually assaulted Steven on an almost daily basis during the boy's ordeal. At age 14, Steven finally was able to escape and return to his family. But we are shown that Steven's safe return was far from the happy ending it appeared to be. He's forced to adjust to a family he'd never really known, to convince himself that his parents had never forgotten him, and to put his seven-year hell behind him. While I Know My First Name Is Steven ends on an upbeat note, the real Stayner died in a motorcycle accident only a few months after this film was first telecast in May 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
While at the high-school prom, a group of students find romance and fun, while their parents enjoy the same. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
"Daddy" is Dermot Mulroney--a high-school-age kid who has no clue of what he's in for. Mulroney has gotten his girlfriend Patricia Arquette pregnant, less out of callousness than naivete. Arquette drops out of school, thinking she can drop back in anytime, while Mulroney puts his music lessons on hold for the "duration," also treating the situation as temporary. The film is remarkable in conveying the principles' utter lack of preparedness for their upcoming parental responsibilities. Some critics felt that the film should have been required viewing for teens who think themselves wise beyond their years simply because they've discovered sex. Made for TV, Daddy was first telecast April 5, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Co-written by Paul Reubens and Phil Hartman, Pee Wee's Big Adventure marks the debut of director Tim Burton, who stamps the entire film with his quirky trademark style. The premise: Pee Wee (Reubens), an overgrown pre-pubescent boy sporting a molded Princeton cut, blush, lipstick, and a shrunken gray flannel suit, lives an idyllic life in his bizarre home (some have compared the remarkable set design to the expressionistic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) until someone nabs his most prized possession: a fire engine-red customized bicycle. He then embarks on an epic cross-country search to find his lost love, not to mention more than a little adventure. Along the way, he makes friends with various oddball characters, visits the Alamo, endures various hallucinatory nightmares, and has a supernatural run-in with a spectral trucker. In this reprisal of his popular standup routine, Reubens is wonderful as the nerdy man child; he plays it silly, yet he manages to imbue the role with some sensitivity without ever seeming maudlin. The score by Danny Elfman is terrific -- as is the case in nearly every film Burton has directed -- and the script is fresh and inventive. Some of the most memorable moments: the opening sequence involving Pee Wee's morning activities is a stroke of genius (note the bunny slippers and talking breakfast), as are the scenes at the truck stop, and the "Hollywood" version of Pee Wee's story at the end (starring James Brolin and Morgan Fairchild in surprise cameos). In all, Pee Wee's Big Adventure is a delightful film, enjoyable for children as well as adults. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Reubens, Elizabeth Daily, (more)
