Don Dowe Movies

After a bad day at work, a man suddenly gets a new job -- as the world's new Heavenly Father -- in this comedy. Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) is a television reporter working in Buffalo, NY, who has been growing increasingly dissatisfied with his existence, and after an especially bad day, he flies into a rage and curses God for making his life miserable. To Bruce's great surprise, the Supreme Being Himself (Morgan Freeman) appears, and tries to convince Bruce of the enormity of his task. Bruce, however, isn't buying it, so God gives him a chance to find out what he's up against; God bestows all of his powers on Bruce for a week, to see how he'd handle things. At first, Bruce has a great time bending the world around him to his will, much to the puzzlement of his girlfriend, Grace (Jennifer Aniston), but after six days God stops by to remind Bruce he hasn't done much to make the Earth a better place. Disappointed, God presents Bruce with an ultimatum -- he has one day to improve the world in a concrete way, or God will toss the planet back into the void. Bruce Almighty was directed by Tom Shadyac, who previously teamed with Jim Carrey for Liar, Liar and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

As Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) turns 18, the Watchers Council comes to Sunnydale to administer a test -- the Cruciamentum -- given to all slayers who make it to this age. As part of the test, Buffy must face an imprisoned vampire. In this case, it is Kralik (Jeff Kober), an insane vampire who soon escapes from his shackles. Also as part of the test, Giles (Anthony Head) injects Buffy with a substance that temporarily takes away her slayer powers. This leaves her vunerable to Kralik and deeply hurt at Giles' complicity in the test. Meanwhile, Kralik captures Joyce (Kristine Sutherland) and Buffy must outwit the vampire using her cunning, as she is without her slayer strength. ~ All Movie Guide

Boyz N the Hood meets Tales from the Crypt in this alternately horrific, funny, and socially conscious anthology film. The four grim vignettes are framed by the tale of three street hoods who break into Mr. Simm's inner-city funeral home to find a stash of drugs. The mortician puts them off, by telling them a few eerie stories about his "patrons." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

We'd rather not rehash the sordied Menendez murder case in this space; besides, it isn't necessary, inasmuch as no fewer than two TV movies were produced on the subject in 1994. The first was Fox's Honor Thy Father and Mother; the second, telecast less than a month later, was Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills. Two hours longer than the first film, Menendez spends half of its running time recounting the events leading up to the Menendez brothers' murder of the parents, while the second half devotes itself to their overpublicized trial. Lyle and Eric Menendez are played, respectively, by Damian Chapa and Travis Fine. Edward James Olmos and Beverly D'Angelo costar as the ill-fated parents, while Margaret Whitton is cast as attorney Leslie Abramson. Once past the most lurid aspects of the case-notably the Menendez boys' insistence that their crime was motivated by extreme parental abuse-this 4-hour wallow gets pretty tiresome. Menendez was originally telecast in two parts, on May 22 and 23, 1994. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This third entry in the sci-fi Trancers series involves a futuristic L.A. cop/detective who time-travels to battle more Trancers from a 23rd-century totalitarian government that maintains control by injecting victims with trance-inducing drugs, causing them to become virtual puppets. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Veteran schlock merchant Fred Olen Ray serves up this silly horror comedy with a hearty helping of gratuitous softcore skin, cheap monster effects, and walk-ons from assorted B-movie names, including David Carradine, Dick Miller, and Arte Johnson. The thin plot involves a group of curvaceous coeds whose restoration of an old mansion awakens a leering, lecherous demon who is just itching to do all manners of unspeakable things to them. Only a few minutes of screen time are devoted to the drooling cartoon monster (designed by horror critic Chas Balun), which looks like one of Robert Williams' Rat Fink creations. Miller's brief appearance is amusing, but Carradine is just hitting his marks; stars Monique Gabrielle and Madison Stone were already well on their way to lucrative careers in soft- and hardcore skin flicks. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

This is a movie about a movie that is entitled Bad Girls from Mars. Mystery develops when the bountifully buxomed leading ladies are murdered one-by-one. All fingers point to a mysterious masked man who is leaving notes around to add to the suspense. Most of the crimes involve some sort of nasty sex scene, making the detective on the case wary of several of the deviant characters involved in the movie production. The viewer must determine who the real culprit is. ~ All Movie Guide