Michael H. Moss Movies
Stephen King's short story, The Night Flier, originally appeared in Prime Evil: New Stories by the Masters of Modern Horror (1988), edited by Washington, D.C., lawyer Douglas E. Winter, and it was later collected in King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993). This film adaptation aired on HBO (November 1997) and was seen in European territories prior to the American theatrical release. An unknown vampiric Cessna pilot is suspected of night murders at remote airfields. At the tabloid Inside View, longtime reporter Richard Dees (Miguel Ferrer) expresses disinterest, so eager newcomer Katherine Blair (Julie Entwisle) is instead given the story by editor Merton Morrison (Dan Monahan). Then there's another murder, prompting Dees to reverse himself. He demands the story back and takes after the killer in his one private plane, tracking witnesses, gathering grue, and staging photos when the subject looks too dull. Blair is also on the trail, and the two newshounds are soon competing. Both are out for blood -- and so is the night flier. Stephen King campaigned for director Mark Pavia and co-scripter Jack O'Donnell to steer The Night Flier after he saw their short film Drag, which King called "the best short horror film I've seen in 20 years." Locations included Wilmington, North Carolina. The character of tabloid journalist Richard Dees was first introduced in Stephen King's 1979 novel The Dead Zone. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miguel Ferrer, Julie Entwisle, (more)
- 1995
In this feature-length episode, the South's most gentlemanly attorney defends a close friend from accusations of murder and also corrals a quartet of bank robbers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Roebuck, Carol Huston, (more)
What does a biographer do when the truth about his subject is far less pleasant than the legend? That is the moral dilemma at the heart of Cobb, which explores the lives of both baseball's premier hitter, Ty Cobb (Tommy Lee Jones), and the sportswriter assigned to set his story down, Al Stump (Robert Wuhl). Stump arrives at the Tahoe home of the dying Cobb to write the official life story of the first man inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame. He finds a drunken, misanthropic, bitter racist who abuses his biographer as well as everyone else. Stump must either candycoat his subject's life or present an accurate picture of a disgusting man who happened to become an American sports hero. The movie's biting focus on Cobb, ferociously performed by Jones, is not matched by its weaker representation of Stump, an imbalance which ultimately weakens the film's overall effect. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Lee Jones, Robert Wuhl, (more)
This fast-paced action picture plays like Die Hard (1988) on an airplane. Grieving over the death of his wife at the hands of an armed robber and blaming himself for her death, anti-terrorism expert John Cutter (Wesley Snipes) is retiring from his dangerous job. The flight he's on is occupied by a coterie of FBI agents escorting the lethal terrorist Charles Rane (Bruce Payne), but as the aircraft is taking off, Rane's associates, who have also boarded the plane, take the vehicle by force and free their leader. With the aid of a sheriff on the ground, a pair of stewardesses (Alex Datcher and Elizlabeth Hurley) and his old friend, airport manager Sly Delvecchio (Tom Sizemore), Cutter puts his special training and martial arts skills to good use combating the kidnappers. The clever, dapper Rane has several surprises in store for his nemesis, however, including killing a hostage and an ally who's only pretending to be on Cutter's side. His options becoming increasingly limited, Cutter devises a dangerous plan that involves dumping the airplane's precious fuel reserves. Director Kevin Hooks cast his father, actor Robert Hooks in the role of federal agent Dwight Henderson. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wesley Snipes, Bruce Payne, (more)
- 1992
After his partner is killed, a police officer's vow of vengeance threatens to expose a cocaine dynasty. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mario Van Peebles
In this second sequel to Robocop, the mechanical humanoid opposes the evil designs of his creators, who have gone corrupt and are trying to take over all real estate in Detroit, kicking the poorer citizens out of their homes and turning them out into the streets. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert John Burke, Nancy Allen, (more)
- 1991
In White Lie, a drama based on Samuel Charters' novel Louisiana Black, Gregory Hines plays Len Madison Jr., a New York-based mayoral press secretary who learns that his father was lynched in the South three decades earlier. Madison returns to the South, where he is intent on learning the truth about his father's death. Along the way, he is helped by a doctor (Annette O'Toole), the daughter of the white woman whom Madison's father allegedly raped and killed. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregory Hines, Annette O'Toole, (more)
- 1991
Jason Robards, who portrayed Abraham Lincoln in a 1964 Hallmark Hall of Fame production of Abe Lincoln in Illinois, reprised the role 27 years later in the made-for-TV The Perfect Tribute. The film intertwines two separate plot threads. In one, Lincoln, plagued by the war and the conduct of his generals, prepares to deliver a speech at Gettysburg. In the secondary story, 13-year-old Lukas Haas leaves his Atlanta home to find his brother Campbell Scott, who has been mortally wounded at Gettysburg. Filmed in Georgia, The Perfect Tribute was based on a 1905 story by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews (that's all one person). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
In this comedy drama, three women meet each other in a divorce attorney's waiting room and soon become fast friends as they try to help each other through the pain of their crumbling marriages. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1990
The second In the Line of Duty fact-based TV movie of the 1990-1991 season, In the Line of Duty: Manhunt in the Dakotas stars Michael Gross as an urban FBI agent. His quarry is Gordon Kahl (Rod Steiger), leader of a right-wing extremist movement whose battle against authority has led to murder. Charged with killing two federal marshals, Kahl holes up in the Dakota hills, with his fanatical followers running interference as the feds close in. Though the film takes no sides, it details the sort of financial and social pressures that might bring forth a charismatic madman like Gordon Kahl. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Steiger, Michael Gross, (more)
