Marshall Persinger Movies

The Z Channel wasn't America's first premium cable outlet specializing in feature films, and it wasn't the most commercially successful, but few, if any, had as strong an impact on the film industry or a more influential list of customers. Based in California and blanketing sections of the state dominated by the movie business, Z Channel had been operating for several years before former screenwriter Jerry Harvey took over as head of programming in 1980. Under the guidance of Harvey and his staff, the channel became a film buff's dream, screening rare classics, important foreign films, and maverick American titles that had fallen through the cracks of commercial distribution. Harvey and his staff also programmed original and uncut versions of films which had only played American theaters in altered form (including Heaven's Gate, Once Upon a Time in America, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, and The Leopard) long before the concept of the "director's cut" had currency beyond the most hardcore of film fans. And The Z Channel aggressively championed pictures they believed were overlooked, and programmed deserving Oscar-nominated movies during the Academy's voting period, years before studios began distributing video "screeners" to potential voters. (More than one industry expert has credited Z Channel's showings of Annie Hall as a key factor in the film winning Best Picture.) But Jerry Harvey was also a deeply troubled man, and when legal and economic problems began dogging the company in the late '80s, he snapped, leading to a horrible and tragic murder and suicide. The Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession is a documentary that looks at the channel's short but remarkable history as well as Harvey's damaged personal life. It includes interviews with Robert Altman, Quentin Tarantino, James Woods, Jim Jarmusch, Alexander Payne and a number of other filmmakers and critics who attest to Z Channel's lasting impact. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A woman tries to make sense of her relationship with her mother -- who also happens to be her boss and landlady -- in this dramatic comedy. Iris (Laura Linney) has never had an especially warm relationship with her mother Min (Gena Rowlands), but after her husband committed suicide, Iris was emotionally shattered and had nowhere to go, so Min allowed her to move into the family home and help her out with her business, Bluebird Bridals. Eight years later, Iris and her son Lonnie (Emile Hirsch) are still "temporarily" with Min, and they're all still trying to make the best of an often combustible situation. Min finds herself fending off the advances of Mando (Miguel Sandoval), an elderly wedding photographer with romance on his mind, while Iris has to convince Erroll Podubney (Fred Ward) to pay for the wedding being staged for his daughter, whose nuptials have been given a special urgency by her pregnancy. And with no male role models around the house, Lonnie looks for advice from Lud (Lee Tergesen), a gas jockey at a local filling station. Wild Iris was produced for the Showtime premium cable network, where it premiered on August 5, 2001. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Premiering in the Midnight Movie section of the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, Kill the Man poses the question: "What would you do if you won $100,000 during a half-time basketball free-throw contest?" Stanley Luke Wilson and Bob Josh Malina decide to open a small copy center. The problem is that a large-chain copy store is right across the street, taking the lion's share of the business. So with absurd determination, they decide to declare their own comic brand of war on big business. Persuading his girlfriend Vicki to join in, Stanley must choose between his life of wreaking havoc on corporate America or taking a job from Vicki's dad Michael McKean. The answer may lie somewhere in the middle, as suddenly Stanley is in jeopardy of losing his own shop if he can't come up with the rent. Directors Tom Booker and Jon Kean use wacky characters and slapstick to cook up a David-and-Goliath story about the big guy versus the little guy, with a little rule-breaking irreverence on the side. ~ Arthur Borman, Rovi

This romantic fantasy from writer, director, and producer James F. Robinson, stars Brendan Fraser as Fletcher McBracken, a starry-eyed San Antonio puppeteer who, like his father and grandfather before him, has a mystical vision of the woman he's fated to marry. Believing that she'll be found in "Formosa" (the one-time name of Taiwan), Fletcher books a flight. During a stopover in L.A., however, he learns of a trendy bar called Formosa and decides to check it out. Sure enough, Fletcher sees his dream girl, Rosalyn Willoughby (Joanna Going), a con artist on the lookout for a new mark, a millionaire from Texas. Assuming that Fletcher is the man she's supposed to bilk, Rosalyn accompanies him to San Antonio, where she meets his tuba-playing grandmother (Celeste Holm) and his eccentric friends, including the Tree Man (Lou Rawls). Charmed against her will by Fletcher, Rosalyn considers a real romance with the daffy artist, but each of them has some revelations to make before a real relationship can begin. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi