John Fink Movies

This was the third follow-up to Tim Burton's Batman (1989), the original revisionist look at the Gotham City legend, as well as the second in the Batman series directed by Joel Schumacher and the first featuring George Clooney as the Caped Crusader; it features not one but two super-villains, and a new heroine to fight crime alongside Bruce Wayne (aka Batman) and Dick Grayson (aka Robin) (Chris O'Donnell). The experiments of Dr. Victor Fries (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to preserve his late wife cryogenically have gone horribly wrong, turning him into the evil genius Mr. Freeze, who must keep his body at sub-zero temperature in order to say alive -- and he wants to put Gotham City on ice. Shy horticulturist Pamela Isley (Uma Thurman) goes a bit wild with a Venus Fly Trap-like creation she's been working on and mutates into Poison Ivy, who wants to kill all the people on Earth so plants can take over. Can Batman and Robin stop these fiends before their plans go too far? Meanwhile, Bruce and Dick's faithful butler Alfred (Michael Gough) isn't feeling well, so his niece Barbara (Alicia Silverstone) comes to pay a visit. When Barbara finds out what her uncle's employers do in their spare time, she decides she wants in on the action, and she joins the crime fighting twosome as Batgirl. Batman & Robin also features Jesse Ventura in a small role as a prison guard; it would be his last film role before becoming Governor of Minnesota in 1998. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Director Joel Schumacher inherited the Batman franchise from Tim Burton and began steering it in the campier direction of the Sixties television show with this third installment. First-time Batman/Bruce Wayne (Val Kilmer), in his only outing as the Caped Crusader, is effectively brooding as he ponders strange dreams about his parents' death and escapes his own near-demise at the hands of Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones), a former district attorney driven insane and turned into a master criminal when a gangster throws acid in his face. Meanwhile, as sexy psychologist Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman) tries to analyze and seduce both Bruce Wayne and Batman, Wayne Enterprises employee Edward Nygma (Jim Carrey) reacts badly to getting fired, using his self-invented mind-energy device to transform into the super-intelligent Riddler. The Riddler teams up with Two-Face to bring down Batman and drain the minds of Gotham City residents with his device, while Batman gets some much-needed help in the form of circus performer Dick Grayson (Chris O'Donnell), out for vengeance after being orphaned by Two-Face. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

It's just not William Foster's (Michael Douglas) day. Laid off from his defense job, Foster gets stuck in the middle of the mother of all traffic jams. Desirous of attending his daughter's birthday party at the home of his ex-wife (Barbara Hershey), Foster abandons his car and begins walking, encountering one urban humiliation after another (the Korean shopkeeper who obstinately refuses to give change is the worst of the batch). He also slowly unravels mentally, finally snapping at a fast-food restaurant that refuses to serve him breakfast because it's "too late." Running amok with an arsenal of weapons at the ready, Foster -- also known as "D-FENS" because of his vanity license plate -- rapidly becomes a source of terror to some, a folk hero to others. It's up to reluctant cop Prendergast (Robert Duvall), on the eve of his retirement, to bring D-FENS down. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Brian De Palma's Hollywood sanitization of Tom Wolfe's scabrous satire stars Tom Hanks as Sherman McCoy, the "master of the universe," a shallow Wall Street investor who makes millions while enjoying the good life and the sexual favors of Maria Ruskin (Melanie Griffith), a Southern belle golddigger. Sherman and Maria are driving back to Maria's apartment from the airport when Maria takes a wrong turn on the expressway and the two find themselves in the South Bronx. She sees a black youth approaching Sherman's car and Maria, frightened, guns the engine, running over the teenager and killing him. The two drive away and decide not to report the accident to the police. Meanwhile, indigent alcoholic journalist Peter Fallow (Bruce Willis), anxious for a story to make good with his editor, comes upon the hit-and-run tale through local black community activist, Reverend Bacon (John Hancock). Bacon plans to use the hit-and-run case as a rallying point for the black community, while Fallow recognizes the press coverage inherent in prosecuting the callow Sherman. As Sherman is brought to his knees, the New York community fragments into different factions who use the case to suit their own cynical political purposes. Finally, Sherman is left without any allies to support him except for the sympathetic Judge White (Morgan Freeman) and the remorseful Fallow. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This feature-length movie is a re-edited version of the first few episodes of the TV series. The story line concerns a spaceship full of survivors of a doomed planet who are headed to the Earth. Led by Commander Adama (Lorne Greene), they encounter villainous robots, threatening their journey to find Earth. ~ All Movie Guide

In Part Two of Battlestar Galactica's pilot episode, Galactica's Commander Adama (Lorne Greene) has managed to escape the death trap arranged by the scurrilous, metallic cylons and human traitor Baltar (John Colicos). With the other survivors of the apocalyptic battle between the Cylons and the 12 colonies of Mankind, Adama heads to the supposed safety of the long-lost 13th colony--otherwise known as Earth. Along the way, Galactica makes a refueling stop at the pleasure planet Carillon. Alas, yet another trap awaits the remnants of Mankind--one that may even destroy Adama's son Apollo (Richard Hatch) and Apollo's best friend Starbuck (Dirk Benedict). Originally telecast as a three-hour special, "Saga of a Star World" has since been divided into three separate episodes for syndication, and an edited 125-minute version has been released theatrically as Battlestar Galactica. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sheriff Ep Bridges (John Crawford) is challenged in the upcoming election by Glen Oldfield (John Fink), a flashy, flamboyant candidate who has a way with the ladies. Oldfield also knows how to manipulate the media, and pretty soon he is granting "special favors" to the Waltons in hopes of getting an endorsement from John-Boy's newspaper. And in a separate (but ultimately related) development, Grandpa Walton (Will Geer) protests the capture of a wild mustang for advertising purposes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The still-unsolved Black Dahlia murder case, fictionalized in the 1981 theatrical feature True Confessions, is handled on a more factual level in this made-for-TV movie. Lucie Arnaz plays Elizabeth Short, an aspiring starlet of questionable morals, who in 1947 was murdered by person or persons unknown. What made the case particularly unsettling was the fact that Elizabeth's body was sliced neatly in two, with every ounce of blood drained from her body. Efrem Zimbalist Jr. costars as the Los Angeles detective who ends up dedicating a lifetime to tracking down Elizabeth's killer. Who is the Black Dahlia? debuted March 1, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The FBI investigate a series of mysterious assaults in three different states. Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) has one clue to work on: each assault was somehow related to the message "Til Death Do Us Part." The villain of the piece turns out to be escaped convict Darryl Ryder (Dean Stockwell), who has sworn vengeance against everyone responsible for the annulment of his marriage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Irvin Kershner directed this comedy-drama about one man's struggle with relationships and himself. Brooks (George Segal) is a middle-aged commercial artist who is at a personal and professional crossroads; he wants to take a stab at a career in fine art, but he can barely land enough assignments to support himself as it is. And while his marriage to Selma (Eva Marie Saint) is starting to collapse, his mistress Grace (Janis Young) suggests that she would like a relationship of greater permanence with him. Hoping to land an important commission from Lepridon (Sterling Hayden), a powerful business mogul, Brooks attends a party at an exclusive private club, but after a few cocktails too many, Brooks gets into a screaming match with one of the club's leaders. Brooks is depressed, figuring that he's blown what could have been a major career opportunity, when word travels through the grapevine that Lepridon was amused and impressed by Brooks' dressing-down of the club's topkick and is ready to give him the job. Brooks is elated, but he wants to keep his good news a secret for the time being; in a celebratory mood, he goes to a party where Selma, Grace, and a number of his friends are also in attendance. Brooks is approached by Nelly (Nancy Phillips), the wife of his neighbor Will (David F. Doyle); Nelly wants Brooks to join her for a quickie, and he eagerly agrees, not realizing that the children's playroom where they've chosen to meet is monitored by a closed-circuit TV camera, with the other party-goers an audience for their lovemaking. Loving garnered many enthusiastic reviews and became something of a cult item among film buffs in the 1970s; Sherry Lansing, who would later become a powerful producer and studio president, appears in a small role as Susan. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide