Elie Samaha Movies

In this action drama, an American mining engineer is deceived into returning to a civil-war-torn East African nation and forced into finding a missing plutonium shipment. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this noir-influenced road movie, Jake (Robert Forster) is a criminal psychiatrist who has come to the conclusion that our lives are dictated primarily by chance, and has given himself over to this notion by making most of his decision by the flip of a coin. Sandra (Amanda Plummer) is a neurotic woman on her way to pick up her younger sister, a teenage delinquent named Alice (Fairuza Balk) when she's run off the road and left stranded by a madman named Santini (David Thewlis). When Jake happens by and Sandra asks him for help, Sandra is lucky at first: she wins the coin toss, and he elects to help her rather than kill her. When they have to make a stop, Sandra sees Santini's car parked by the side of the road; Santini catches Sandra as she tries to rip off some money that he's stashed in the car, and though she gets away, Santini isn't done with her yet. Director Paul Chart probably didn't have much trouble securing Amanda Plummer for the role of Alice: Chart and Plummer were married in 1994. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this tough contemporary noir drama, Frankie (Dennis Hopper) is a low-level "mechanic" working for second-rate mobster Sal (Michael Madsen). Frankie dreams of rising into the upper echelons of organized crime and commiting a series of bloody reprisals against those who have wronged him. He also has ambitions of starting a new career as a screenwriter, but he realizes that he's a nobody and likely to stay that way. Through Sal's connections with the porn industry, Frankie meets Joey (Kiefer Sutherland), a former film student who now cranks out by-the-numbers sex films, and becomes infatuated with Joey's leading lady, Margaret (Daryl Hannah), a drug-addicted "actress" who has seen better days. Joey, addicted to gambling, is deep in debt with Sal and is forbidden to visit the racetrack; Frankie is eager to get on Joey's good side and offers to place his bets for him while he searches for a way to rescue Margaret from the hell she's created for herself. Screenwriter Dayton Callie appears as Vic, one of Sal's strong-arm men. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Susanna Styron made her feature directorial debut with this family drama, an adaptation of a 1978 short story by her father, novelist William Styron (Sophie's Choice). Paul Whitehurst (voice of Martin Sheen) recalls Depression-era events in Tidewater, Virginia, when he was ten years old. In the summer of 1935, lonely young Paul (Scott Terra), with his strict father (Darrell Larson) and fatally ill mother (Deborah Hedwall), is raised in a boring, middle-class way of life, so mundane it leads him into a friendship with the lower-class Dabneys, once aristocratic but now reduced to poverty on the former Dabney plantation. Bootlegger Vernon (Harvey Keitel) is married to earthy beer-drinking Trixie (Andie MacDowell), and Paul enjoys the fun-loving lifestyle of this couple and their seven children. Shadrach (John Franklin Sawyer), a 99-year-old former slave, turns up one day at the Dabney house after walking barefoot from Alabama to Virginia, where he was born into slavery. Since Shadrach's wish to be buried on the Dabney's land violates Virginia law, the request sets a variety of racist attitudes and conflicts into motion. Shown at the 1998 LA Independent Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

This crime drama takes place among Irish-American toughs in Boston's Charlestown neighborhood. Car-thief Bobby O'Grady (Denis Leary) belongs to a gang run by bully Jackie O'Hara (Colm Meaney). Bobby's cousin Seamus (Jason Barry) is a recent arrival from Dublin. When Teddy (Billy Crudup) gets gunned down, Jackie is behind the hit, and investigator Hanolon (Martin Sheen) finds a cover-up among gang members. Participating in the code of silence, Bobby takes out his anger on his girlfriend Katy (Famke Janssen). The pointless murder of Seamus, who had planned to return to Ireland, prompts Bobby to face some hard decisions. Will he remain silent yet again? Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Three salesmen working for a firm that makes industrial lubricants are waiting in the company's "hospitality suite" at a manufacturers' convention for a "big kahuna" named Dick Fuller to show up, in hopes they can persuade him to place an order that could salvage the company's flagging sales. Phil (Danny DeVito) is in his mid-50s; he's devoted his life to his job but emotionally has little to show for it. He's learned to live with the loneliness of a salesman's life, but is smarting over the recent collapse of his marriage and is trying to quit drinking. Bob (Peter Facinelli) is a quiet but observant newcomer in his 20s, recently married and adjusting to his first business trip. And Larry (Kevin Spacey) is a bundle of energy who likes to drink, smoke, and start arguments; he's openly confrontational with Phil and Bob and quick to pick up on their foibles and failings. Phil and Larry become more impatient and bitter as the evening wears on, especially when they learn that "the big kahuna" already dropped by the suite; wearing someone else's name tag, he had a few drinks, talked with Bob about the recent death of his dog and Christianity, and never mentioned placing an order. Screenwriter Roger Rueff based the script on his play Hospitality Suite; Kevin Spacey was a co-producer as well as starring as Larry. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A lawyer is involved in a criminal proceeding he can't argue his way out of in this action-packed drama. Robert Woodfield (Eric Roberts) is a lawyer who grew up walking a tightrope between both sides of the law; after the death of his parents, he was raised by Charlie Mason (Dean Stockwell), a union representative who wants to do the right thing for his men, but who also has one foot in organized crime. Woodfield finds himself defending Martin Ritter (Hannes Jaenicke), who has been accused of murder, and even though Ritter is guilty, Woodfield is not only able to bring in an innocent verdict, but is able to persuade a judge to issue a restraining order that would prevent police from harassing him. But soon Woodfield discovers that he's succeeded too well in court; he witnesses Ritter committing another murder, finding himself caught up in a dizzying and dangerous web of blackmail, deception, and corruption. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A priest finds his faith tested when he's assigned to investigate a possible case of divine intervention. Rev. Frank Shore (Ed Harris) is a Catholic priest who works as a postulator, a church official who investigates reports of holy miracles to determine their veracity. Some time back, one of Shore's investigations had ugly repercussions, and now he devotes his time to running a soup kitchen. But he's called back to service by Bishop Cahill (Charles Haid) when a number of Catholics begin calling for the canonization of the late Helen O'Regan, who is alleged to have performed miracles and whose statue is said to weep tears of blood. Shore begins digging into O'Regan's life and the miracles she is supposed to have performed; in his travels, he meets Maria (Caterina Scorsone), a teenage girl who was supposedly healed by O'Regan, and Roxane (Anne Heche), O'Regan's daughter, who was abandoned by her mother, wants nothing to do with her story, and has given up her belief in God. While investigating the miracle of O'Regan's statue, Shore witnesses the bleeding himself and tells the church that he believes the claims are legitimate. However, this view leads to angry reprisals from Archbishop Werner (Armin Mueller-Stahl); Shore's story is not given any greater credence when he become romantically involved with Roxanne. The Third Miracle was released only a few months after Stigmata, another story of Catholic priests investigating allegations of a modern-day miracle, not the sort of subject one might have expected to become a trend. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy-drama, Samantha (Tia Carrere) and Jack (David Charvet) are two neighbors who don't get along. What they don't know, however, is that they've also been falling in love with each other while exchanging notes in an internet dating service's chat room. Meet Prince Charming was the feature debut for producer/director Brett Parker. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A filmmaker tries to sort out the scattered emotional baggage of his love life in Entropy. Jake Walsh (Stephen Dorff) is a film director who attends a fashion show with some friends and meets a French model named Stella (Judith Godreche). The attraction between the two is immediate, and after a brief courtship they're living together. However, between his career in film and her career as a model, they don't spend as much time together as they'd like, and they begin to drift apart; when Stella one day announces she's pregnant, Jake displays no particular enthusiasm for the idea of raising a child, and Stella ends up having an abortion. Eventually, the two break up and Jake finds himself married to a woman he barely knows, not quite sure what happened. As he muddles through his romantic problems, Jake also has to deal with the often puzzling hierarchy and the bizarre office politics of Hollywood. A rare independent effort from Phil Joanou, who previously directed State of Grace, Final Analysis and a wealth of popular music videos, Entropy was the opening night attraction at the 1999 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Damian Harris directs this sleazy erotic thriller about lipstick lesbians, naked corpses, and S&M covens, starring Julian Sands. Catherine Palmer (Ellen Barkin) is a hard-driving homicide cop who drinks like a fish and curses like a sailor, investigating a series of murders which leave the (inevitably female) victims bound, naked, and eyelid-less. Tall drink of water Vickie Kittrie (Peta Wilson), who was last seen with the latest victim, eventually admits involvement with a tribalistic S&M society. Palmer dutifully accompanies Kittrie on one such outing, featuring pouting models in designer corsets and lots of heavy breathing. When the serious girl-on-girl action kicks off though, Palmer makes a beeline for the door, only to be seduced by Kittrie against her kitchen sink (a la Fatal Attraction). Meanwhile, lead suspect psychologist Dr. Boussard (Sands) continues to snivel and cross-dress as the bodies start piling up. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

A man who has made murder his business is thrown into the underbelly of an unfamiliar criminal world in this thriller. Jack Carter (Sylvester Stallone) is a ruthless hired killer whose bloody career in Los Angeles has driven a wedge between himself and his family in the Northwest. When he learns that his brother has died, he flies back to Seattle, hoping to pay his respects and reconnect with his relatives. At the funeral, his brother's wife, Gloria (Miranda Richardson), and her daughter, Doreen (Rachael Leigh Cook), are wary of Jack's attempts to reach out to them, but when he learns that his brother's death was no accident, Jack forms an uneasy alliance with Doreen to find the killers and deal out his own brand of justice. Get Carter is based on the novel Jack's Return Home by Ted Lewis, which was previously filmed in 1971 with Michael Caine as the gangster seeking revenge. Caine also appears in this remake as Cliff, the boss of Jack's late brother; Mickey Rourke, Alan Cumming, and Gretchen Mol also highlight the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide