Peter Frechette Movies

A pair of siblings are forced to set aside their discomfort with one another for the sake of their father in this low-key comedy drama from writer/director Tamara Jenkins. Wendy Savage (Laura Linney) is a struggling playwright living in New York City who works a day job to support herself and can't shake the feeling that she's failed as an artist. Wendy isn't especially happy about her love life either, gaining little self-esteem from her on-and-off affair with oversexed, married neighbor Larry (Peter Friedman). Wendy's anxieties about her writing career are intensified by the success of her brother, Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who teaches theater history at a college in Buffalo, NY, and has published a number of books. While Jon's life seems fine on the surface, a case of writer's block has stalled work on his latest project, and he's deeply upset that his girlfriend is soon to leave the United States to return to her native Poland. Wendy and Jon don't get along and prefer not to see one another, but an unfortunate circumstance brings them together -- their father, Lenny Savage (Philip Bosco). Elderly Lenny has began showing signs of dementia, and shortly after he takes to smearing his feces on the walls of his Arizona home, his ailing long-term girlfriend suddenly dies. Wendy and Jon have little choice but to fly to Arizona and see what can be done for Lenny, but their long-simmering animosity makes it hard for them to deal with the realities of Lenny's condition. The Savages received its world premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The fourth and final season of Profiler begins with the three-episode conclusion of the cliffhanger established in Season Three, when the elusive serial killer Jack of All Trades (Dennis Christopher) manages to kidnap psychic forensic special Sam Waters (Ally Walker) and seriously wound Sam's boss Bailey Malone (Robert Davi). Spiriting Sam away to his hideout, Jack (whose real name and raison d'etre is finally revealed) embarks on a series of fiendishly clever mind games, designed to transform Sam into one of his disciples. Jack also indulges in some long-distance brainwashing with Sam's daughter Cloe (Evan Rachel Wood), intending to turn the girl violently against her mother. Meanwhile, the convalescing Bailey appoints another FBI "profiler", Rachel Burke (Jamie Luner), to take charge of the Violent Criminal Task Force and hopefully rescue Sam before it's too late. At this point, longtime series regulars Ally Walker, Dennis Christopher, Evan Rachel Wood and Erica Gimpel (cast as Sam's best friend Angel) leave the series, and Jamie Luner is promoted to star billing. It doesn't take long for Rachel Burke to foment ill will amongst the VCTF team members with her brusque know-it-all attitude, though it cannot be denied that she is every bit as talented in tracking down multiple murderers as her predecessor. Rachel also makes powerful enemies within the FBI, most notably rogue agent Mark (Gregory Itzin), who as the season wears on develops into Rachel's own "Jack of All Trades"-style tormentor. Rachel's more sensitive side is revealed in the episode "Clean Sweep", a crossover with the NBC series The Pretender in which the leading character of that series, Jarod Russell (Michael T. Weiss), falls in love with the mercurial Ms. Burke. The series ends on an uncertain note, as Rachel is plunged into despair over her inability to prevent the death of a loved one, her colleagues Grace (Roma Maffia) and George (Peter Frechette) respectively struggle with a crumbling marriage and an increasing dependency upon prescription pain killers, and Congress prepares to yank all funding from the VCTF. An additional episode, "Tsuris", originally scheduled to air at an earlier date, brings Profiler to an end with everyone's fate still dangling precipitously. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Two of the quasi-paranormal crime drama Profiler begins with the resolution of the Season One cliffhanger, as psychic forensic specialist Sam Waters (Ally Walker) takes charge of the Violent Criminal Task Force while supervisor Bailey Malone (Robert Davi) hovers between life and death in a hospital bed. Having quit the VCTF at the end of the previous season, John Grant (Julian McMahon) comes back to provide Sam with moral support; at the same time, another team member, Brubaker (played during Season One by Michael Whaley) has departed without explanation. Also, Bailey's rebellious daughter Frances (Heather McComb), who is essentially responsible for her father's plight, is now a fugitive from justice. Later on, Frances will return, intending to hurt her father by driving a wedge between himself and Grant. New to the cast is Sheik Mahoumad-Bay as Detective Marcus Peyton, a skeptic who doubts Sam's ability to "see" through the eyes of serial killers and their victims, making his first appearance in the episode "Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick." Marcus will remain on the series only until the end of the season. That title is one of many references to Sam's bete noire, the psychotically brilliant and frustratingly elusive multiple murder Jack of All Trades, who killed Sam's husband and apparently will not rest until he adds Sam and everyone else whom she holds dear to his list of victims. The "Jack" throughline permeates virtually every episode this season, especially those spotlighting the killer's protégé, paroled felon Sharon Lescher (Traci Lords), whom he has brainwashed, renamed "Jill of All Trades", and voyeuristically made over in the image of Sam Waters! "Jill" not only goes on her own murder spree copying Jack's modus operandi, but she also succeeds in wiping out Sam's first-season sweetheart, ATF explosives expert "Coop" Cooper (A Martinez). In an effort to help Sam get over this tragedy, her best friend Angel (Erica Gimpel) arranges a reunion of several of Sam's old friends--but even this is marred by a murder, which also launches a disturbing new story arc. Eventually, Sam is able to arrest Jill, wounding Jack in the process. While Jack remains out of sight, Sam has other problems relating to her daughter Cloe (Caitlin Wachs), custody of whom may be taken away from Sam and placed in the hands of her resentful in-laws. In the season's two part finale "Root of All Evil", Sam struggles to come to grips with her personal travails as she sets up trap for Jack using "Jill" as bait--but the results are far from successful! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A romantic comedy with a few surreal/absurdist twists, the story centers on recent medical school drop-out David who is first seen aimlessly traipsing about Manhattan musing about the rest of his life when he runs into a strange woman who introduces herself as Nancy and asks if he would interested in spending the next couple of years helping her to produce and direct a small film. Another strange woman then appears and makes an equally odd request as does another and another. David chooses to work with Nancy and so goes to her place to begin writing the script. Suddenly, her strange Uncle Andre shows up in a panic. It seems he somehow acquired an enormous herd of cattle and must quickly get rid of them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This made-for-television movie is based on the true story of a landmark Supreme Court decision. Oscar-winner Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God) stars as Carrie Buck, a woman who was used as the test subject in a 1927 experiment to sterilize mentally-challenged women. The test was allowed after a controversial Supreme Court ruling came down in favor of the procedure. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

Michael Pare and Mary Mara star in this thriller about two police detectives who fall into a passionate relationship as they investigate a murder among the wealthy and privileged. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this Hitchcockian thriller, a wealthy and naive young sculptor learns that people are not always nice and helpful. His first mistake is to fall for the seductress who runs the gallery that has an exclusive on his work. He then hooks up with an insane art collector who gets jealous of the gallery owner's hold on the artist and commits murder, leaving the sculptor to take the blame. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A scientist discovers that he isn't an only child in this effects-laden creature feature whose cast includes screen veterans Kim Hunter and Rod Steiger among a host of other, less well-known performers. John Hollins (David Allen Brooks) is delighted to learn that his geneticist mother, Amanda (Hunter), has awoken from her coma years after she suffered a horrible car crash. During their reunion, he learns that she was trying to put an end to a misguided experiment at her home on the night of the accident. Before losing consciousness, Amanda reveals that John has a brother named Anthony. Later, she's murdered by Dr. Phillip Lloyd (Rod Steiger), an old colleague who wants to uncover the secrets of her research. John travels to his large, run-down boyhood home with his girlfriend, a group of pals, and a mysterious acolyte of his mother's named Melissa (Amanda Pays); the group plans to search for clues about Amanda's research and John's supposed sibling. The young scientist soon ascertains that his mother had created some sort of human/aquatic hybrid, but he doesn't realize that the creature was assembled from his own genetic material -- or that it's still alive in the bowels of the house and picking off his friends one at a time. Meanwhile, something's fishy with Melissa, who skulks around, doesn't sleep, tries to seduce John, covers up details of the attacks on his friends, and seems to have some sort of connection to Dr. Lloyd. Co-directors Jeffrey Obrow and Stephen W. Carpenter previously collaborated on the slasher quickie The Dorm That Dripped Blood and on The Power, a made-for-TV horror film. Pays would go on to co-star in the similarly aquatic sci-fi film Leviathan. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

This atrocious sequel to the 1977 horror classic is padded with so much of that film's footage that it seems more like a rerun than a new story. The entire cast seems to have lengthy flashbacks of the previous movie's events, including -- in what must be a cinematic first -- the German shepherd dog. The remaining screen time is spent on an uninvolving battle between some bland motocross bikers and the cannibal hillfolk. To be fair, director Wes Craven has stated that the film was extensively tampered with prior to release. That may get Craven off the hook, but doesn't make this muddled mess any easier to watch. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide