Rachel Singer Movies
Frequent television director Brad Silberling directs the romantic drama Moonlight Mile. Set in a Massachusetts town in the early '70s, Joe Nast (Jake Gyllenhaal) is distraught after the death of his fiancée. He moves in with her parents, Ben (Dustin Hoffman) and JoJo (Susan Sarandon), while trying to sort out all of the legal troubles and painful details of the wedding cancellations. While trying to locate the wedding invitations in the mail, Joe meets Bertie (Ellen Pompeo), whose boyfriend has been MIA in Vietnam. Despite his growing relationship with his late fiancée's parents, Joe begins to foster a romance with Bertie. Also starring Dabney Coleman and Holly Hunter. Moonlight Mile is based on Brad Silberling's real-life situation following the murder of his TV-star girlfriend Rebecca Schaeffer. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, (more)
In this supernatural thriller, a woman believes that a visitor from another dimension is trying to guide her into a sinister mystery. Feeling lonely after her daughter leaves home for college, Claire (Michelle Pfeiffer) begins to sense that something is wrong in her house, and feels a spirit is trying to contact her. At first her husband Norman (Harrison Ford), a scientist doing research in genetics, attributes her paranormal beliefs to stress or possibly a nervous breakdown, and sends her to a psychiatrist (Joe Morton) who puts no more stock in Claire's stories than does Norman. While Claire's contention that someone or something sinister is afoot leads her down a number of blind alleys, in time she becomes convinced that the mysterious happenings at her home are somehow connected to the disappearance of a woman who was a student at the nearby college -- and bore a striking resemblance to Claire. What Lies Beneath marked the debut of screenwriter Clark Gregg, whose script is based on a story by himself and Sarah Kernochan; the supporting cast includes Diana Scarwid as Claire's best friend Jody, and James Remar and Miranda Otto as a contentious couple living next door. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer, (more)
- 2000
After briefly reviving a young mother (Rachel Singer) dying of cancer so that the woman can bid goodbye to her family, head nurse Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) suddenly realizes that her own life is figuratively slipping away. Determined to live the rest of her existence to the fullest, Carol leaves County General for good, heading to Seattle for what she hopes will be a romantic reunion with another ER alumnus. Meanwhile, Chen (Ming-Na) is worried about Carter's (Noah Wyle) precarious mental condition; and after attending his father's funeral, Greene (Anthony Edwards) tries to mend fences with his estranged daughter (Yvonne Zima). The ending of "Such Sweet Sorrow" was one of the best-kept secrets of the 1999-2000 TV season -- and on the off-chance that the reader hasn't seen the episode, it would be unfair to spoil the surprise here. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Tom Welles (Nicolas Cage) is a surveillance expert on the rise. He's living the American dream with a wife, Amy (Catherine Keener), infant daughter, and a house in the suburbs of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. After the completion of an assignment for a U.S. Senator, Welles is summoned to the house of a recently deceased captain of industry. His widow, in settling his estate, has discovered an 8MM film in her late husband's private safe. The silent short depicts the apparent murder of a young woman by a large, masked figure, what is known as a "snuff" film. Greatly disturbed by the film's contents, the widow hires Welles to find the identity of the woman and determine if she is still alive. Welles finds the girl's identity and follows her trail from the time she ran away from home to Hollywood. Once there, Welles meets adult bookstore clerk Max California (Joaquin Phoenix) to act as Virgil to Welles' Dante. As the two begin their descent into the world of underground pornography, the detective grows more and more distant from his family, as if he cannot shake the taint of the world in which he now walks. Tom and Max eventually meet pornographers Dino Velvet (Peter Stormare) and Eddie Poole (James Gandolfini). By this time the detective finds he can no longer walk out of the inferno. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Phoenix, (more)
- 1999
Treasure Island is an experimental, 16 mm black-and-white drama written, directed, and photographed by producer Scott King. The loosely constructed plot shows the private lives of two British code-crackers (Lance Baker and Nick Offerman) during WWII who decode letters and look for hidden meanings behind the words. As a counterintelligence ploy, they decide to drop a dead body off the coast of Japan before a discovered invasion. The film then turns to these men's personal lives and the problems with the women they love, along with the secrets they hide. Frank is married to two women yet is pursing a third, while Samuel and his wife Penny are in a ménage à trois. As the pressures of their lives begin to eat away at them, the dead body starts to enter Frank and Samuel's subconscious, interacting with the private stories of their lives. The film continually asks the question, "What is real and what is fiction?" Treasure Island won the Freedom of Expression Award at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lance Baker, Nick Offerman, (more)
This family drama centers on an Irish brood in which the father and his two sons work as prizefighters. Both the boys are quite talented, but each has chosen a dramatically different means of exploiting their talent. With help from his father, the youngest boy is working for the Olympics. The eldest has involved himself with corrupt promoters. This naturally creates considerable conflict within the family ranks. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Hackman, Craig Sheffer, (more)
