David Pupkewitz Movies
- 2009
- PG13
- Add The Fourth Kind to Queue
Set in the fall of 2000 and purportedly based on actual events, The Fourth Kind stars Milla Jovovich as Dr. Abigail Tyler, a Nome, Alaska-based psychotherapist whose videotaped sessions with her patients offer the most compelling evidence of alien abduction ever documented. Elias Koteas and Will Patton co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Milla Jovovich
- 2007
Iron Maiden front-man Bruce Dickinson collaborates with veteran second-unit Monty Python director Julian Doyle to craft this horror-flavored supernatural thriller concerning the reincarnation of the occultist once dubbed "the most evil man in Britain." Over sixty years after Aleister Crowley's death, the mere mention of his name is still enough to strike terror in the hearts of God-fearing Christians. When a virtual reality experiment gone awry sends Crowley's restless soul into the body of a soft-spoken university professor (Simon Callow), the newly empowered hedonist draws on his powerful "black magick" in order to unleash an occult event the likes of which this world has never witnessed. John Shrapnel and Richard Franklin co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simon Callow
When a young Vienna Music Conservatory student and aspiring composer accepts a job as a copyist for Ludwig von Beethoven, she soon finds her destiny forever interlinked with that of the legendary classical musician in director Agnieszka Holland's romantic period drama. Beethoven (Ed Harris)'s "Ninth Symphony" is about to make its historical debut, but Beethoven's publisher Herr Schlemmer is dying of cancer. Now in desperate need of a copyist to complete the score, the ailing Schlemmer enlists the aid of ambitious student Anna Holz (Diane Kruger); who readily accepts the job despite an explicit warning that the composer is a callous wretch. As Anna begins the arduous process of copying Beethoven's career-defining work, her soul-stirring kindness causes the composer to view their collaboration as a blessing that will enable him to produce some of the most sublime music ever created. When Anna works up the courage to show Beethoven some of her own work, however, his thoughtless derision of the composition causes his sensitive assistant to abandon their current collaboration. Subsequently determined to flee Vienna and marry her devoted paramour Martin, Anna is quickly tracked down by Beethoven and forced to choose between love and duty. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ed Harris, Diane Kruger, (more)
A researcher learns that the desert holds a new sort of danger worse than sunstroke or dehydration in this horror story from South Africa. Alex (Scott Bairstow) is a Canadian scientist who works for a firm that monitors the location and safety of people traveling in dangerous environments. Alex is dispatched to Nambia on an assignment, and soon finds himself thrown in with a handful of eccentric and unstable locals who are involved in a search for diamonds. When four of the jewel hunters are found dead in the desert with the flesh stripped from their bodies, it's up to Alex to find out what's gone wrong, and he soon learns he's up against a menace unlike anything he's seen before. The Bone Snatcher also stars Rachel Shelley and Warrick Grier. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scott Bairstow, Rachel Shelley, (more)
First-time screenwriter Stelios Pavlou enjoyed a major success with this script that he wrote while working in an English liquor store by sending it to actor Samuel L. Jackson, who signed on for one of the lead roles. Jackson is Elmo McElroy, a kilt-wearing, golf club-wielding Los Angeles native who has invented an illegal drug formula that he hopes will provide him with a last major score of 20 million dollars before he retires from a life of crime. He travels to Liverpool, England, where he hopes to find a buyer for his creation among the denizens of the city's rave scene, but his plans go awry when those who are in on the deal start turning up dead. Elmo's only protector is a chain-smoking, Yank-hating local hood named Felix De Souza (Robert Carlyle), who reluctantly partners with the violence-prone American to finish the deal and cash in, sparking a gang war between Elmo's vengeful one-time employer, The Lizard (Meat Loaf); Felix's boss, Durant (Ricky Tomlinson); crooked cop Virgil Kane (Sean Pertwee); a beautiful assassin, who also happens to be Felix's ex-girlfriend (Emily Mortimer); and an offbeat, yoga-practicing nightclub owner and mobster named Iki (Rhys Ifans). For its U.S. release, the title of The 51st State was changed to Formula 51. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Carlyle, (more)
Can a working-class wife find happiness through the discipline of sumo wrestling? After half-bright layabout Kenny (Lee Ross) loses his job, he tries to persuade his wife Daisy (Charlotte Brittain) to bring in some extra income by posing for nude photos. Daisy, who is more than a bit overweight, hardly regards this as either amusing or practical, and instead takes a position at a canning plant. Daisy doesn't much care for the work, but dutifully does her job until her boss Marlene (Annette Badland) approaches her with an unusual request. It seems Marlene is a member of a group of women who are fascinated with Japanese culture, and they've taken it upon themselves to secretly found Britain's first female sumo wrestling society. Marlene is convinced Daisy is just the sort of woman they need, and while she's not certain at first, Daisy plays along and soon finds she quite enjoys her new hobby; she's even given an appropriate new nickname, "Mistress Great White Jellyfish." While Daisy is enthusiastically learning the "way of the warrior" without telling her husband, Kenny starts to think something funny is going on, coming to the conclusion that his wife's mind had been overtaken by space aliens. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlotte Brittain, Lee Ross, (more)
- 1996
- R
Set in a future in which the media has become nearly omnipotent, this violent and gory crime thriller blurs the thin line between life and art while commenting upon the insanity of those who would do anything for fame. The trouble begins when unemployed actor Bobby is hired to play a serial killer on a crime reenactment television series. Wanting to fully understand the killer's motivations, Bobby begins researching the crimes and even gets helpful police officers to furnish the grisly details of recent murders. By the show's taping, Bobby has become an expert. Soon afterward, Bobby becomes a star, something that delights the real culprit and inspires him to go on to even more lurid, headline-grabbing crimes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Baldwin, Pete Postlethwaite, (more)
