Nikita Knatz Movies

A talented young track runner finds his longtime plans to escape his tyrannical stepfather and rescue his girlfriend from a dead-end existence thrown into jeopardy by his incontrollable temper, the result of overexposure to gasoline fumes. As a young boy, Emilio promised Sandy that they would one day run away together, and start a new life somewhere else. When Emilio discovers that he can run like the wind, he sees his gift as his ticket out; if he can just land a scholarship, then he can quit working at his stepfather's gas station and keep his promise to Sandy. Unfortunately for both Emilio and Sandy, the temperamental track star's unpredictable violent streak may be the one fatal flaw in his otherwise foolproof plan. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Mike Mignola's acclaimed comic book series about a creature from Hades who joins the battle against evil arrives on the screen in vivid form in this adaptation directed by distinctive horror filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. During World War II, the Third Reich has joined forces with the evil Grigori Rasputin (Karel Roden), who has used his occult powers to summon up a young demon from the depth of Hell to be used as the ultimate Axis weapon. However, the demonic creature is captured by American forces, and put in the care of Professor Broom (John Hurt), the founder of a top-secret organization called the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. Under Broom's tutelage, the creature develops empathy and a desire to do good while his physical powers and paranormal talents are honed to a fine point. Sixty years later, the demon, now known as Hellboy (Ron Perlman), is part of an elite secret defense team alongside Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), a beautiful young woman who can create fire with her mind, and Abe Sapian (Doug Jones), an aquatic humanoid with the power of telepathy. Despite his many years of fighting for right, Hellboy finds himself facing his greatest challenge when the powerful Rasputin returns, determined to bring the demon back to the forces of darkness so that evil may finally rule the world. Hellboy's supporting cast also includes Jeffrey Tambor, Rupert Evans, and Brian Steele. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This romantic comedy finds Richard Burrows (Elliot Gould) as a medical student in residence engaged to marry the pregnant Jody (Brenda Vaccaro). When Jody abstains from sex and her mother moves in with the newlyweds, Richard engages in a series of love affairs with the hospital nurses. He meets Helen Donnelly (Angel Tompkins), the wife of a baseball player (played by Dabney Coleman). The two initially plan to divorce their respective spouses before Richard decides to work things out with his wife after the birth of their son. Jody loses weight at a health spa and also loses her desire for Richard. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Steve McQueen is ideally cast as a champion race car driver, participating in the famed 24-hour race headquartered in Le Mans, France. Though dedicated to Going for the Gold, McQueen finds time to romance widowed Elga Andersen. The dramatic angle to this plot wrinkle is that McQueen may well have been responsible for the death of Andersen's husband during a previous car pile-up. Director John Sturges, who'd previously helmed Steve McQueen's legendary motorcycle chase scenes in The Great Escape, was originally slated to direct Le Mans, but withdrew from the project; it was then taken over by Lee H. Katzin of The Phynx. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This horror oddity tells the story of a well-networked throng of devil-worshipers populating a small Arizona town who possess a strange crystal icon which houses the captive souls of their sacrificial victims. The coven, led by the thick-browed Jonathan Corbis (Ernest Borgnine), are also determined to get their hands on a diabolical "Book of Names" which contains the identities of those victims. After the family of Tom Preston (Tom Skeritt) are murdered by the coven for concealing the book, Tom sets out to avenge them. During an outrageous climax -- in which none other than William Shatner is offered up in sacrifice and Borgnine is transformed by a lightning bolt into a chunky horned demon -- the receptacle of souls is shattered, releasing the title storm and causing the congregation to melt into puddles of multicolored goo (a scene which seems to last forever). Produced in 1975 but released two years later, this film touted John Travolta's name at the height of his popularity, though his role is remarkably small (he does melt nicely at the end, however). ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Just because The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming was vastly overrated by contemporary critics does not make it any less amusing. The story gets under way when a Soviet submarine accidently gets lodged in a sandbar on the coast of a New England town. In his feature film debut, Alan Arkin plays the sub's second-in-command, who is ordered by commander Theodore Bikel to free up the sub and skeedaddle before an international incident erupts. Hoping to secure a power boat to tug the sub out to sea, Arkin and his men call upon vacationing TV writer Carl Reiner, passing themselves off as Norwegians. When this ruse fails, Arkin is reluctantly compelled to force Reiner at gunpoint to fetch his motorboat, while gentle-natured Russian sailor John Philip Law is left behind to guard Reiner's wife Eva Marie Saint and pretty neighbor girl Andrea Dromm (yes, love blooms). The plot thickens when the locals, notably bullnecked sheriff Brian Keith and superpatriot Paul Ford, spread the word that the Russians have "invaded" their little community. Several slapstick complications later, the Russians and the locals face each other down in the center of the village, weapons at the ready. Fortunately, World War 3 is averted when the Russians and the villagers band together to rescue young Johnny Whittaker from falling to his doom. Enormously popular upon its first release, The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming still works on a slick sitcom level. The film was based on a novel by Nathaniel Benchley, the son of humorist Robert Benchley and the father of Jaws author Peter Benchley. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi