Jeff Rice Movies

The first collaboration between legendary filmmakers David Lynch and Werner Herzog, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done is loosely based on the true story of a San Diego man whose mystifying experiences lead him to commit a shocking act of matricide. Michael Shannon, Chloë Sevigny, and Willem Dafoe headline this psychological thriller written and directed by Herzog, produced by Lynch, and featuring Grace Zabriskie, Udo Kier, and Brad Dourif. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

An award winning film school graduate is forced to confront her sexual hang-ups when she makes the move to Los Angeles and reluctantly becomes an editor at a profitable pornography studio. Jody Balaban (Leelee Sobieski) is a twenty-five year old filmmaker who's about to get a rude awakening. Despite Jody's collegiate success, she's still unemployed a year after graduating, and she's about to be faced with one of the most difficult decisions of her life. Jody isn't a fan of pornography, but it seems that an editing position at Grind Productions is her best shot at earning a steady paycheck. With great reluctance, the idealistic Jody goes to work cutting skin flicks by day, and scheming to make realize her own personal vision as a filmmaker by night. Before long, Jody Grind Productions director Jeff Drake (Matthew Davis) have become fast friends. Much like Jody, Jeff was once a "serious" filmmaker with ambition to spare. Jeff sees a little of himself in Jody, though these days his youthful idealism has long since given way to jaded cynicism. Meanwhile, as Jody begins feeling aroused by the very films she once judged so harshly, she realizes that the only way to truly live free is to finally face her own sexual hang-ups. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Like Lassie, another famous Hollywood pooch with a long shelf life, Rin Tin Tin was actually portrayed by numerous onscreen canines over the decades, but unlike Lassie or Benji, the first Rin Tin Tin actually experienced fantastic offscreen adventures to rival anything in the movies, before graduating to silver screen stardom. As directed by Danny Lerner, this fact-based drama recreates those events onscreen. The tale begins with Lee Duncan, a France-stationed World War I corporal who rescues a German Shepherd mother and her three puppies from a bombed-out European dog kennel. He gives the mother and two of the pups away to different owners, but keeps the third puppy (his favorite) for himself, and names the spunky canine Rin Tin Tin, after a toy that French children commonly gave to soldiers around the turn of the century. The general of the base expressly forbids Lee from keeping a high-strung dog on the premises, but Lee finds a solution by befriending one of the POWs - German dog trainer Nikolaus Egger, who agrees to train the animal despite initial resistance. Egger teaches Rin Tin Tin such amazing feats as rescuing wounded soldiers from the battlefield; later, the dog accompanies Lee back to the states and graduates to movie stardom in 14 features from 1920-31. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Wes Bentley and Winona Ryder star in director/screenwriter Geoff Haley's darkly comic romance centering on the relationship between a writer specializing in suicide notes and the unsuspecting sister of his most recent client. Evan Merck (Bentley) is a reclusive, Los Angeles-based writer whose unique way with words has earned him an unusual career as a professional suicide note scribe. One day, while attending the funeral of a dearly departed client, Evan forms a close connection with the deceased's sister Charlotte (Ryder). A free spirit who remains blissfully unaware of Evan's true connection to her late brother, Charlotte becomes fascinated by the introverted writer and the pair soon enter into a tenuous relationship. But Evan can't keep his secret from Charlotte forever, and as love continues to blossom between the unlikely pair, the writer quickly finds his snowballing deceptions growing into a rampaging avalanche that threatens to destroy not only his career, but his one true human connection as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Director Steve Stockman takes the helm for this semi-autobiographical comedy drama about an estranged family that comes together for one last goodbye, and finds their assumedly brief farewell inexorably dragged out for two excruciating weeks. Aging matriarch Anita (Sally Field) is dying, but before she goes, she has requested that her four grown children travel back home to visit their ailing mother on her deathbed. Eager to gain a better understanding of the dying process, daughter Emily purchases a variety of self-help books on the subject. Though brother Keith (Ben Chaplin) soon arrives determined to float through the process in typical L.A. Zen mode, Emily contends that the only way to be prepared for the future is to consider every detail that can go awry. When PR executive Barry arrives intent on getting some work done before death comes knocking, it appears as if he is more concerned with getting broadband Internet in the house than actually tending to his mother. Meanwhile, youngest brother Matthew sets at the sidelines biding his time as his unlikable wife, Katrina, callously speculates on which of the dying woman's luxurious jewels she will be inheriting. Now, as Anita begins to look back at her life while reflecting on the time spent with her family, the question of who will hold this family together once she is gone casts a melancholy shadow over her fond memories. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

When a weary detective on the verge of retirement begins receiving ominous messages from a sadistic serial killer determined to stir up the past, the stage is set for a deadly confrontation in an all-star crime drama featuring Michael Madsen, Gary Busey, Meat Loaf, and Michael Rooker. Years on the job have shown Detective Harrison (Michael Madsen) more horror than most normal folks would experience in two lifetimes. As Detective Harrison prepares to pass the baton on to the up-and-coming rookie poised to take his place in the police force, the murder of numerous underworld heavies leave the befuddled veteran and his younger protégé grasping for clues. When the killer begins taunting Detective Harrison with a variety of stealthy clues and grisly photographs left behind at the crime scenes, an unsolved case from the past threatens to bring the sins of the past out of the shadows and into the light of the present. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A good-old-boy small-town sheriff in a New Orleans parish happens upon a murder case that threatens to end his career in Behind the Badge, the embattled second feature of writer/director Robby Henson (Pharaoh's Army). Billy Bob Thornton stars as Darl, a divorced lawman first spotted sleeping in his truck outside his favorite bar. Darl gets a call about a truck accident, and happily hands out shoes from the ditched tractor-trailer to win over the locals for his re-election. But then the body of a beautiful woman is found in the mud near the wrecked truck. The "woman" turns out to be a transsexual with a .22 slug in her back. Prejudice reigns in the small community, and no one seems to be taking the murder too seriously. Local politicians, including a powerful judge (William Devane), are focused on the upcoming election, and are also angling to build a casino in town, and so they want to keep the sordid murder quiet. The victim's wife, Scarlet (Patricia Arquette), a New Orleans stripper, shows up. Despite Darl's own prejudices, he finds himself attracted to Scarlet, and starts to look into the case. Soon he learns that his investigation and his big mouth have cost him his slot on the ticket. When he presses on, he finds himself jailed on a trumped-up statutory rape charge. Struggling with his own family history of disgrace, Darl considers making a deal with the local bigwigs in order to keep his job. But when he learns that Scarlet is in danger, he's forced into action. Sela Ward and Jena Malone also star. Behind the Badge was heading for theatrical distribution before production company Propaganda Films went bankrupt. The film was unable to find a new distributor and premiered on Starz cable on September 7, 2002. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Small-town America is the key setting for this tale of four West Texas high-school pals who vowed to leave their tiny town after graduation and head for L.A. Keller (Breckin Meyer) is ready to walk, but his goals are formless. Wealthy Terrell Lee Lusk (Peter Facinelli) knows his parents (Patricia Wettig, Michael O'Neill) want him to work in their family oil business. Squirrel (Ethan Embry), who lives with his alcoholic father in a rundown trailer, should find escape easy, but he finds reasons to stay, as does John Hemphill (Eddie Mills), a young man more suited for life as a rancher. Leaving was something the quartet dreamed about since age 11, but the actual departure requires ripping up some roots. Will they do it? Director Tim McCanlies shot this film in 25 days at Fort Davis, Texas. Shown at the 1998 South by Southwest Film Festival (Austin, Texas). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

After a near-fatal 1995 motorcycle collision, Dan Haggerty (The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams) made his comeback with this time-travel tale. A Portland, Oregon, family on a camping trip arrives at a mountain where young Dylan (Dylan Haggerty) and his sister Nicole (Nicole Lund) explore a cave, get zapped 127 years into the past, and meet mountain man Jeremiah (Dan Haggerty), who offers to help locate their parents. However, developer Boss Man Burt plans to dynamite the mountain to bring the railroad to a nearby town. Jeremiah, the kids, animals, and local Indians all join forces to outwit Burt's villainous henchmen. Filmed at Crater Lake and Oregon mountains. The character named Jeremiah is a reference to Vardis Fisher's historical novel Mountain Man (1965), filmed by Sydney Pollack as Jeremiah Johnson (1972). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide