Rodney Eastman Movies

Those nasty Russians are at it again: This time a band of escaped Ruskie convicts lead by the evil General Siminoff (Arnold Vosloo) is trying to smuggle stolen Saran nerve gas through Alaska. Their deadly terroristic plan would have worked, but they weren't counting on Customs Agent Shawn Brooks (Sean Patrick Flanery) to be in charge of the border. Brooks would have had a far easier job of seizing the cargo if it hadn't been for the surprise arrival of lovely Kremlin secret agent Natalya Batalova (Ursula Karven), who has a personal vendetta against Siminoff. But Siminoff keeps getting away before any of them can bring him to justice, and that load of deadly nerve gas is now on a runaway train -- with the entire cast in hot pursuit. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide

Tyler Briggs (Michael Vartan) returns home for his mother's funeral only to encounter the redneck side of the family -- his estranged father Gus (Marshall Bell), his two drug-addled, burned-out half-brothers, and their shady friend Teddy (Denis Leary). Sniffing money, Gus wants to reestablish contact with his son, whom he abandoned with his mother 20 years previous, but Tyler wants nothing to do with him or the useless brothers. Tyler settles into a small coastal California town, where he meets the lovely Sandy (Kari Wuhrer) and her brother Jack (Norman Reedus). But Gus and the gang turn up, and Sandy becomes the victim of an attempted rape by Tyler's dimwitted scuzzbucket brothers. That doesn't sit well with Jack and his friends, and soon it's the townies against the career criminals, who happen to be better armed. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide

Noted record producer and musician Glen Ballard (who has collaborated with Alanis Morissette, Dave Matthews Band, No Doubt, and Aerosmith) wrote this drama which offers an insider's look at the long, hard road to the top of the music business. Kennedy (Jimmy Tuckett) is the frontman of a struggling rock & roll band who have come to Los Angeles in hopes of making it big. Kennedy's brother, King (Brad Hunt), is the band's manager, but while the group works hard, they have little to show for it, and King seems to alienate more industry bigwigs than he's won over. The members of the band are also having a hard time keeping body and soul together; they not only have to work day jobs to support themselves, but to pay clubowners, who often charge musicians for the "privilege" of playing a well-known venue. Mondo (Rodney Eastman), the drummer, brings even more problems into the picture when he starts dealing hard drugs to earn money. Finally, the band attracts the attention of a powerful and well-known record producer, but there's a catch -- he's only interested in Kennedy, and wants him to ditch the rest of his band. Clubland also stars Lori Petty, Heather Stephens, and Scot James; the film also features cameo appearances from Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and Terence Trent D'Arby. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Seeing his family drifting apart, a father announces that he is planning a special vacation that will take them down the same paths followed by his famous ancestor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Having missed a bone tumor on a child's x-ray, Ross (George Clooney) is none too anxious to tell the patient's grandfather (Bill Cobbs) about the mistake -- especially since four months have elapsed and the tumor has gotten worse. Meanwhile, Chloe (Kathleen Wilhoite) sweeps back into Lewis' (Sherry Stringfield) life, insisting upon full custody of little Suzy. Carter (Noah Wyle) worries himself into a stomach ache over his much-anticipated residency at County General. And Greene (Anthony Edwards), newly shed of his marital status, radically changes his image. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alyson Hannigan (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) guest stars as pregnant teenager Cassie Peters. At first willing to give up her baby daughter for adoption, Cassie abruptly changes her mind and runs away with the child, breaking the hearts of adoptive couple Lydia and Ben Feldman (Murphy Cross, Michael Flynn). Assigned to watch over Cassie and her daughter, Monica (Roma Downey) and Tess (Della Reese) are told by Angel of Death Adam (Charles Rocket) that the baby is seriously ill--and that Cassie must decide for herself what is best for the child, without heavenly intervention. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

From time to time, U.S. fighter pilots have been known to develop a messianic complex. Trainee Eddie Gordon (William O'Leary) goes a bit farther than that: he begins fantasizing that he's the Angel of Death. Armed with nuclear weaponry, Gordon flies toward Las Vegas, intending to bomb "sin city" back to the stone age. It is up to squadron leader Matt Ryan (Peter Strauss) to stop him. The made-for-TV Flight of Black Angel debuted February 23, 1991, over the Showtime Cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a true story, The Preppie Murder begins on August 26, 1986. This was the day that 18-year-old Jennifer Levin (Lara-Flynn Boyle) was strangled to death in Central Park. The prime suspect, Jennifer's 19-year-old boyfriend Robert Chambers (William Baldwin), confesses to the crime. The well-to-do young man insists that the killing was accidental; he claims that it occurred during a "rough sex" session that Jennifer had inaugurated. The ensuing media frenzy forces the old "she asked for it" defense to rear its ugly head. The Preppie Murder's attempts at fairness caused a great deal of critical turmoil when the film first aired on September 24, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A man struggles back from madness to avenge the death of someone he knew in an intelligent thriller based on the acclaimed novel by George Dawes Green. Romulus Ledbetter (Samuel L. Jackson) once had a career as an acclaimed concert pianist, a position at the Juilliard School of Music, and a loving wife and children. But Ledbetter's life has been devastated by paranoid schizophrenia; now homeless, Ledbetter wanders the streets of New York City as he rails against Cornelius Gould Stuyvesant, a man whom he believes controls all the evil in the world while following his movements from a perch atop the Chrysler Building. Most nights, Ledbetter takes shelter in a cave in Central Park, earning him the nickname "the Caveman." One morning, Ledbetter discovers a frozen corpse caught in the branches of a tree near his cave; the body is that of Scotty (Sean MacMahaon), a homeless drug addict who was close friends with his pal Matthew (Rodney Eastman). Ledbetter is determined to get justice for Scotty, and he's also eager to prove himself to his daughter Lulu (Aunjanue Ellis), now a New York City police officer. While Ledbetter is at first convinced that his nemesis Stuyvesant is responsible for Scotty's death, in time he focuses on another suspect: David Leppenraub (Colm Feore), a famous photographer known for his controversial erotic images of young men, who occasionally hired Scotty as a model. As Ledbetter attempts to investigate Leppenraub's possible role in the murder, he soon gains an unexpected ally -- Moira (Ann Magnuson), a noted sculptor and Leppenraub's sister. The Caveman's Valentine marked the major-studio debut for director Kasi Lemmons, who made an impressive debut in 1997 with the independent drama Eve's Bayou. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this exciting action-adventure a crack team of military commandos infiltrate North Korea and then set about the dangerous task of trying to destroy a nuclear power plant to curtail the country's plans to build nuclear weapons. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This fourth trip down Freddy Lane was the most successful at the box-office, but although it has some impressive visuals, it is mostly an empty film. Credit must go to the effects team for some fine work, but otherwise, this entry from the director of Cutthroat Island (Renny Harlin) is extremely weak. Roland Kincaid falls asleep and awakens in the Springwood junkyard, where his dog -- named "Jason" in a sad foreshadowing of the film's giggly tone -- pees fire on Freddy's grave. The pyro-urinary baptism causes Krueger (Robert Englund) to reassemble from bones outward in an admittedly impressive sequence. Predictably, Freddy guts Kincaid, then appears in Joey's waterbed as a naked pinup girl (Hope-Marie Carlton) before slicing him to ribbons. And so it goes. The film has a few interesting ideas kicking around, but no real identification points. This is a video game, not a movie, and the characters seem to exist only in order to move the film from one effects sequence to another. There is a lot to be said for special effects, and the ones here are extraordinary and vivid. However, the wonderfully grim mood and subtle performances of Chuck Russell's outstanding third entry in the series are gone, abandoned by Harlin in favor of a splashy, comic book approach which would, unfortunately, dominate the series' later installments. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Based on an original idea by celebrated French director Luc Besson, The Dancer follows the struggle of its eponymous heroine, a mute dancer by the name of India Rey (Mia Frye), to perform on the Broadway stage. Every Saturday night, India, who teaches movement to school children by day, wins the weekly dance contest at a local Brooklyn disco. Under the management of her brother, Jasper (Garland Whitt), a surly meat delivery boy, she makes the cut at an open audition for a Broadway show. Her dreams are aborted when she is dismissed by the director after giving her name in sign language, and she is told that her disability will hold back the rehearsal process. India despairs, but help is on its way in the unlikely form of Isaac (Rodney Eastman), a stuttering scientist infatuated with her. Isaac toils in his lab to invent something that will allow India to translate her movement into sound, effectively clearing her path to big-time success. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide