Jim Antonio Movies

A gifted forger and confidence man attempts to stay one step ahead of the lawman determined to bring him to justice in this comedy-drama from Steven Spielberg, based on a true story. Frank W. Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a 16-year-old high school student who finds himself emotionally cut adrift when his mother, Paula (Nathalie Baye), leaves his father, Frank Abagnale Sr. (Christopher Walken), after Frank Sr. falls into arrears with the Internal Revenue Service. One day at school, Frank Jr. attempts to pass himself off as a substitute teacher, and easily makes the subterfuge work. His small-scale success gives Frank some ideas, and he soon discovers bigger and more profitable ways of hoaxing others, passing himself off as an airline pilot, a doctor, and an attorney. Along the way, Frank learns how to become a master forger, and uses his talent and charm to pass over 2.5 million dollars in phony checks. Frank's increasingly audacious work soon attracts the attention of Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), an FBI agent who is determined to put Frank behind bars. Frank seems to enjoy being pursued by Carl, and even goes so far as to call Carl on the phone to chat every once in a while. While posing as a doctor, Frank falls in love with Brenda Strong (Amy Adams), a sweet girl working as a candy striper. When Frank asks Brenda to marry him, he decides to assume a new identity to impress her father, Roger (Martin Sheen) -- who happens to be the District Attorney of New Orleans, LA. Catch Me If You Can was based on the autobiography of the real Frank W. Abagnale Jr., who has a cameo in the film and today works on the side of the law as a top consultant on preventing forgery and designing secure checking systems. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A handful of scientists struggle to prevent the destruction of a small town -- and possibly the entire country -- in this suspense drama. In the mid-1960s, a deadly virus is discovered in Zaire that wipes out an entire village in 24 hours. Government researchers are brought in to investigate, but the military opts to destroy the village rather than risk further infection. Thirty years later, Sam Daniels (Dustin Hoffman), an expert on contagious diseases, is called in when the virus re-emerges in Africa. A monkey carrying the bug is smuggled into the U.S., and a suburban California town soon begins to succumb to the illness. Sam scrambles to find an antidote with the help of his ex-wife Robby (Rene Russo), a Center for Disease Control researcher, and their colleague Casey (Kevin Spacey), while Gen. McClintock (Donald Sutherland) has his own reasons for wanting to use bombs to contain the epidemic, and Army surgeon Gen. Ford (Morgan Freeman) is caught in the middle. Outbreak was produced in the hopes of beating the film version of Richard Preston's bestseller The Hot Zone (about a real-life epidemic) into theaters; script problems shelved The Hot Zone, and Outbreak had the infectious disease market to itself. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this off-beat sci-fi adventure, a female scientist creates a sexy android version of herself and equips it with both the passionate emotions she lacks and a nuclear bomb. The trouble begins when the android is taken out for a test run and it ends up in the midst of a bank robbery where its internal bomb is accidentally activated. Things get worse, when the robot comes emotionally unglued and launches into a destructive rampage while enacting out its repressed creator's darkest desires. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This drama, based on a true story, chronicles the terrifying experiences of an American divorcee who went on vacation to Turkey. As she tried to leave she found herself wrongfully accused of smuggling antiques. To her horror, she is sent to a dreaded Turkish prison. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Consumed by grief when his father is felled by a heart attack, 11-year-old Obie (Ricky Busker) runs away from his white, upper-class surroundings. He ends up in a particularly dismal Chicago ghetto neighborhood where, after enduring a beating administered by gang members, he is befriended by streetwise black youth Jeremy "Scam" Henderson (Darius McCrary). The two become partners in crime, leading to a deadly situation involving a pair of professional hit men. Just when it seems things can't get any worse, they do. Robert Prosky co-stars as a slimy pawnbroker. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on the life of Sydney Biddle Barrows, this TV movie features Barrows (Candice Bergen) as a former debutante seeking to make money with an escort service for wealthy businessman and foreign dignitaries. ~ John Bush, Rovi

The Atlanta Child Murders is a five-hour, two-part dramatization of one of the most tragic and controversial homicide cases of the past twenty years. From 1979 through 1982, some 28 African-American children and young adults disappeared from Atlanta--some without a trace, but others to later turn up as murder victims. Part One (which debuted February 10, 1985) details the beginning of the manhunt conducted by the Atlanta Chief of Police (James Earl Jones). Screenwriter Abby Mann uses the actual events as a springboard for his thesis that the case and its outcome revealed many uncomfortable truths about the still-fragile state of race relations in the New South. Both parts of The Atlanta Child Murders were later combined into one 245-minute "feature film."

The second part of the five-hour TV docudrama The Atlanta Child Murders originally aired February 12, 1985. After 28 African-American children and young adults have either disappeared or been murdered, the Atlanta police finally have a suspect in custody: Small-time show business entrepreneur Wayne Williams (Calvin Levels). Scriptwriter Abby Mann utilizes actual court transcripts of Williams' trial, which results in a conviction on one count of murder. This decision in essence leaves the cases of the other 27 victims unresolved--and in so doing, Mann opens the door to speculations that Williams, a black man, was a "convenient" suspect, who might possibly have been railroaded in the authorities' haste to find a solution to the sordid case. Whatever Mr. Mann may have felt concerning Williams' guilt or innocence, the fact remains that the murders and disappearances stopped cold once Williams was in custody (as of this writing, Williams persists in his efforts to reopen the case, claiming that he was framed by the white power structure). Morgan Freeman served as narrator for both installments of The Atlanta Child Murders. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A knife-happy young lady escapes the asylum (after being imprisoned for disembowelling her lecherous father) and soon joins forces with a sleazy pig farmer with murderous tendencies of his own. Together, the deranged duo manages to keep the piggies supplied with protein-rich vittles, thanks to the chopped-up corpses of unlucky diners from the greasy spoon down the road. This Deliverance-flavored hog pile (known merely as Pigs in many of its home-video incarnations) is practically a one-man show -- written, produced, directed by and starring character actor Marc Lawrence, a familiar face in over a hundred gangster films from the past 50 years. Katherine Ross fans take note: this is not the Katharine Ross of The Graduate but a virtual unknown, whose name was nevertheless top-billed on the video sleeve. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

This socially conscious family farm drama from director Mark Rydell was his follow up to the Oscar-winning On Golden Pond (1981). Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek star as Tom and Mae Garvey, struggling Tennessee farmers constantly one step away from foreclosing. Their farm sits next to a river that both nourishes their land and constantly threatens to overflow its banks and destroy their crops. The Garveys sell some of their equipment for obscenely low prices at a foreclosure auction, at which some of their neighbors are forced to give up everything they own. The stoic Tom takes a job as a scab at a mill where the union workers are striking. Meanwhile, Mae has a platonic flirtation with local bank manager Joe (Scott Glenn), who saves her life when she's trapped under a heavy piece of farm equipment. Tom's homecoming is cut short by a flood, but the raging waters allow him to become a hero to his family again. The River was the third in a trio of dramas depicting the plight of the American family farmer released that same year. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

It's off to Wilson County, Texas for the A-Team, at the behest of young businesswoman Jackie Taylor (Janice Heiden). It seems that Jackie is being forced to marry Calvin Cutter (John Ericson), her late husband's former partner--and the man whom Jackie suspects of murdering her dad. In order to effect the team's traditional last-minute rescue, a flustered Face (Dirk Benedict) is forced to don wig and gown and substitute for the bride (and guess who pops out of the wedding cake)! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When a little girl is killed by a German shepherd which had been purchased as a family pet, a kennel owner comes to Quincy (Jack Klugman) for help. The man explains that he'd originally sold the dog to a security service, which, after cruelly training the animal to be an attack dog, resold it elsewhere without any warning to the new owners. Thus begins another crusade for Quincy, as the compassionate coroner challenges the laissez-faire legislation which allows such dangerous transactions to take place. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Quincy (Jack Klugman) joins forces with police lieutenant Alex Markesian (Joseph Campanella) to determine the identity of the human monster who brutally raped and murdered nine-year-old Polly Carmody (Wendy Lynn). As the forensic and circumstantial evidence mounts, Quincy finds it impossible to escape the conclusion that the girl's killer was her own stepfather, Donald Thompson (Jim Antonio). But believing something and proving something are two different things--especially when the existing laws are stacked against Quincy and in favor of the slimebag suspect. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Six recently divorced males gather 'round a restaurant table and talk about their past lives and their recently failed marriages while trying to piece their lives back together. This drama is somewhat interesting for presenting the topic of life after a divorce from a man's point of view. (And yes, Neil Sedaka sings the smash title song over the final credits - so don't change that dial!) Originally made for television, and broadcast on ABC in two parts - one on Wed., Sep. 5, 1979, and one on Friday, Sep. 7, 1979 -- this film was reissued on video about ten years later to capitalize on Billy Crystal's growing fame. When it arrived on home video, the picture received its first MPAA rating (R) and was edited down from its original running time of 150 minutes to 96 minutes. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi