Rick Fitts Movies
A woman discovers that when it comes to love, sometimes opposites really do attract in this romantic comedy-drama. Kenya (Sanaa Lathan) is a successful African-American lawyer in her mid-thirties whose personal life is not going as well as her career. While she's attractive and intelligent, Kenya has rather high standards and isn't willing to settle for a man who isn't everything she wants. While attending a party, Kenya is introduced to Brian (Simon Baker), a landscape architect who handles the gardening at her host's mansion. Brian is immediately and obviously attracted to Kenya, through she doesn't feel the same way at all. However, she likes his work and hires him to refurbish her garden; before long, he asks her out on a date, and against her better judgment she accepts. While Kenya and Brian have little in common, in time they hit it off, and a romance begins to blossom between them. However, Brian happens to be white, which ruffles some feathers among Kenya's friends and family, who try to find her a more suitable, African-American suitor. Also starring Mike Epps, Donald Faison, Blair Underwood, and Alfre Woodard, Something New was the first feature film for director Sanaa Hamri, who previously established herself by directing music videos. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sanaa Lathan, Simon Baker, (more)
- 2002
Accustomed to hosting his family's Christmas dinner, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) objects to breaking tradition by having the festivities at the home of Niles (David Hyde Pierce) and Daphne (Jane Leeves). The ensuing quarrel prompts an angry Martin (John Mahoney) to bypass the dinner altogether and sign up for work on Christmas Eve. Suddenly contrite, Frasier and Niles do everything in their power to get their dad to change his mind. Elsewhere, Roz (Peri Gilpin) takes a liking to a personable department store Santa (Dean Cain). ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dean Cain, Kaileigh Martin, (more)
- 1999
Having been "at liberty" for too long a period, Joey (David Schwimmer) loses his Screen Actors' Guild health insurance -- just as he injures himself during an audition. Ross' (David Schwimmer) opportunity to lecture at NYU proves to be more rewarding than he expected, but strange complications await him vis-à-vis his quickie Vegas marriage to Rachel (Jennifer Aniston). And Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) is given a disturbing peek into the future by her psychic -- whose own future isn't in very good shape either. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- June Gable, Ron Glass, (more)
- 1995
Shirley Maclaine stars as a reclusive piano player in this made-for-television movie based on the play by Ernest Thompson. Maclaine plays Margaret Mary Elderdice, a loner-type who befriends her next-door neighbor and violinist Cara Varnum (Liza Minnelli) only so the two can play music together. Margaret's life takes a turn into new territory and expands beyond its small confines though, with the addition of her young, aspiring-actress housemaid (Jennifer Grey). ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- 1995
The life of Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor is told in this made-for-television drama. Sherilyn Fenn stars as Oscar-winning actress Liz Taylor, whose career began when her mother pushed her into acting as a child in the 1940s. Her tumultuous career ups and downs, and her turbulent personal life are chronicled in the film, which was based on the book by C. David Heymann. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- 1994
Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro) makes himself more obnoxious than usual when he assumes control of the campus restaurant, the Peacock Shop. Not only does Carlton institute policies and prices that no one can tolerate, but he also drives his employee Will (Will Smith) crazy--and maybe worse! Meanwhile, Hilary (Karyn Parsons) goes ballistic searching for the source of a newsletter which has targetted her for ridicule. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
In this bizarre thriller, based on a true story, a family moves into their dream house and are appalled to discover that they are not alone when strange things begin to happen. It soon becomes apparent that the special tenants are angry spirits out to destroy the family and their neighbors who have built their homes on top of a graveyard. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patty Duke, David Selby, (more)
- 1992
The trouble begins when the Enterprise plays host to a delegation of Ullians, a race of telepathic aliens. In addition to reading other people's memories, the Ullians also have the capacity to retrieve those memories. Before long, three of the crew members -- Troi, Riker, and Dr. Crusher -- lapse into inexplcable comas. Written by Pamela Gray, Jeri Taylor, Shari Goodhartz, and T. Michael Gray, "Violations" originally aired February 8, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Fact-based, made-for-television account of the hunt for a pair of serial killers who slaughtered ten women in the hillsides of Los Angeles between October 1977 and February 1978. (Alternate title: The Case Of The Hillside Stranglers) ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Crenna
Lionel Chetwynd's film documents the horrific struggles that faced American POWs held in the North Vietnamese prison Hoa Lo -- more infamously known as the Hanoi Hilton -- between 1964 and 1975. Williamson (Michael Moriarty) leads a group of American servicemen who are prisoners at the detention camp. He assumes command after Cathcart (Lawrence Pressman) is dragged off to be tortured. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Moriarty, Jeffrey Jones, (more)
- 1987
- R
Lieutenant Jeff Knight (Michael Dudikoff) is an idealistic young officer who arrives in Vietnam to lead a group of fighters from the 103rd Airborne division in jungle combat. Sergeant Michael McNamara (Robert F. Lyons) is a combat veteran who helps Jeff after most of the platoon is wiped out. George S. Clinton provides the music for this low-budget war film that features plenty of gratuitous violence. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Dudikoff, Robert F. Lyons, (more)
- 1986
- PG13
Offering an updated take on William Golding's Lord of the Flies, complete with anti-fascist metaphors, this drama is set at a summer camp where the kids rise up against their counselors and start running things themselves. It is based on a novel by William Butler, The Butterfly Revolution. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Connors, Charles Stratton, (more)
- 1986
B.A.'s old college rival Jason Duke (Rick Fitts), now a bank employee, turns up missing. Despite his reluctance, B.A. (Mr. T.) agrees to look for Duke at the request of Jason's wife Debra (Sheila DeWindt), who happens to be B.A.'s former girlfriend. This assignment obliges the A-Team to descened upon Whispering Pines, Arizona, where virtually everyone in town is an accomplice in a scheme to steal gold from a nearby mine. Making matters worse, both Face (Dirk Benedict) and Murdock (Dwight Schultz) try to use the same "con" on the bad guys, neatly cancelling each other out--and nearly getting themselves killed in the process! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Starring Dean Stockwell and Charles Dierkop, Banzai Runner concerns a modern-day phenomenon, common among the very rich. Each year, an every-man-for-himself race is staged in the desert, with fat-cat motorists driving the custom cars at supersonic speed up and down the supposedly deserted highway. During one of these contests, a policeman is killed. With no witnesses, it's up to the cop's brother (Stockwell) to see that justice is done. He accomplishes this by assuming a false identity and joining the race. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dean Stockwell, John Shepherd, (more)
- 1985
In this drama, an angry, bereaved husband decides to get his own kind of justice after the man who killed his wife and son is freed on a legal technicality. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1985
In yet another futile effort by the higher-ups to keep Hunter (Fred Dryer) and McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) out of mischief, the two detectives are ordered to act as technical advisors for a TV cop show. Alas, mischief seems to follow our hero and heroine wherever they go--and sure enough, the star of the show turns up murdered, his face horribly disfigured. What begins as a standard murder mystery morphs into a delicious slice of Grand Guignol that could easily have been titled "The Phantom of the Soap Opera." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
In high dudgeon, Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) flies off to Buenos Aires to confront Ron Sawyer (Mark Lonow), the accountant who swindled her out of her fortune--and indirectly forced her to team up with wisecracking private eye David (Bruce Willis). As Maddie imagines all sorts of scenarios wherein she puts Sawyer in his place and recovers her money, David decides to head to Buenos Aires as well--not to get his cut of the loot, but because, much to his amazement, he misses the contentious Maddie. Alas, any hopes that the two detectives would consummate their relationship are dashed during a climactic poker game. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
A 17-year-old boy (Chad Lowe) is killed in an automobile accident. As the facts begin to assert themselves, it appears that the boy actually took his own life. His mother (Mariette Hartley) and sister (Dana Hill) try to learn the truth, even as his father (Howard Hesseman) digs in his heels and refuses to face the possibility of a suicide. While this plot line is unravelling, the boy's best friend (Charlie Sheen) is tormented by the possibility that he could have prevented the tragedy. The emphasis in Silence of the Heart is the effect of suicide on the survivors rather than the victim, and the realization that one does not have to be "crazy" to end one's own existence. This made-for-TV movie was originally telecast October 30, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Hannibal's perennial nemesis Colonel Lynch (William Lucking) is in a festive mood when he finally succeeds in capturing the A-Team. But Lynch's exultation is short-lived: He is ordered to release the team by his superiors, who want Hannibal (George Peppard) and company to head to Borneo, there to rescue kidnapped army general Ludlam (Warren Kemmerling) and his daughter Kathy (Amy Steel). The assignment proves most difficult for B.A. (Mr. T) who once cold-cocked the General back in Vietnam. Future 24 and The Unit star Dennis Haysbert appears in a minor role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
World War III is an ambitious if unnecessarily protracted speculative TV movie. Set in a "future December," the film prophesies an American grain embargo levied on Russia. US President Rock Hudson is entreated by the Soviet higher-ups to drop the ban; meanwhile, a group of renegade Russian military officers begin sending expeditionary forces into Alaska. While the countdown to Doomsday begins, the film insists upon cutting back to several expendable romances in both the American and Soviet camps. Boris Sagal, the original director of World War III, was killed in a freak helicopter accident while on location. To make up for lost time, the production was moved to the soundstages of Zoetrope Studios and overseen by ultra-efficient TV director David Greene. Part Two finds novice American president Rock Hudson trying to effect an honorable peace with Soviet premiere Brian Keith. But insurgent military officers endeavoring to seize the Alaska Pipeline as a bargaining chip continue to escalate the hostilities. It develops that the fate of the world may rest in the hands of American colonel David Soul. Also appearing is Cathy Lee Crosby, endearingly miscast as an intelligence officer. A heart-stopping surprise twist brings World War III to a close. While the film has its moments of genuine suspense, one can't help but feel that World War III would have been better an hour or two shorter--or at least with a few of the subplot romances removed. Originally running four hours, World War III was telecast in two parts on January 31 and February 1, 1982.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
Gary Coleman stars as a teen-age angel who must return to Earth to help out three troubled families in order to earn his wings. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
