Katharine Towne Movies

In the fourth season opener, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Willow (Alyson Hannigan) have entered college in Sunnydale and set about choosing courses. Despite a roommate who snores, Willow is confident in the new intellectual environment, but Buffy feels unsure of herself and completely out of place. Soon, she meets Eddie (Pedro Balmaceda), another insecure freshman clutching his favorite book, Of Human Bondage. After they part ways, Eddie is attacked by a group of vampires led by Sunday (Katherine Towne), a punkish vampire on campus. Later, Buffy realizes that Eddie was not in class and goes to his dorm room only to find his things missing, except for the book. While on slayer patrol, a newly vamped Eddie lures Buffy into a confrontation with Sunday. In other plot developments, Xander (Nicholas Brendon) has not entered college, but gone on a trip across America, ending in Oxnard and a stint in a male strip club -- as a dishwasher. Buffy also meets Riley (Marc Blucas), a psychology grad student who will factor more prominently in her life in the future. ~ All Movie Guide

A conniving mother seeks to enter the world of politics by encouraging her boorish son to marry a senator's daughter. Eleanor Dingle (Veronica Cartwright) knows that politicians wield power, and she's desperate to break into the game. If she could just convince her son Barry (Barry Shurchin) to court Ethel Shivers (Nicole Sullivan), the homely daughter of a rising senator, then her road to the White House would be all but paved. But little does Eleanor realize that her longtime nemesis Derek (Erik Palladino) has already dispatched his own two sons on precisely the same mission, and it isn't long before the whole ruse blows up in her face. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The spirit of the mega-hit Ghostbusters (1984) is intentionally recalled with this effects-heavy sci-fi comedy from the same director, Ivan Reitman, co-starring Dan Aykroyd and debuting on the 17th anniversary of the earlier film's release. When a meteor bearing single-celled organisms crashes to the Earth, the life forms are initially confined to a cave. Before long the creatures are evolving at an exponentially rapid rate, resulting in fearsome aliens running amok and possibly spelling mankind's doom, or at least the end of man's domination over life on Earth. Investigating the phenomenon is a community college professor, Ira Kane (David Duchovny), his geologist friend Harry Block (Orlando Jones), wannabe fireman Wayne Green (Seann William Scott), and government scientist Allison Reed (Julianne Moore). Evolution also stars Ted Levine, Ethan Suplee, and Katharine Towne. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

The Opposite of Sex auteur Don Roos throws his hat into the ring of the teen-TV tournament with this look at a whip-smart young woman who has little patience for the fads and follies of her turn-of-the-century peers. Riley (Katharine Towne has left the safety of her Midwestern life for the West Coast, where she hopes to locate the mother who gave her up for adoption almost two decades prior. In San Francisco, she moves in with her school-administrator aunt Opal (Lauren Graham) and transfers into her high school. M.Y.O.B. was shot without a laugh track or studio audience. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

David Lynch wrote and directed this look at two women who find themselves walking a fine line between truth and deception in the beautiful but dangerous netherworld of Hollywood. A beautiful woman (Laura Elena Harring) riding in a limousine along Los Angeles' Mulholland Drive is targeted by a would-be shooter, but before he can pull the trigger, she is injured when her limo is hit by another car. The woman stumbles from the wreck with a head wound, and in time makes her way into an apartment with no idea of where or who she is. As it turns out, the apartment is home to an elderly woman who is out of town, and is allowing her niece Betty (Naomi Watts) to stay there; Betty is a small-town girl from Canada who wants to be an actress, and her aunt was able to arrange an audition with a film director for her. Betty befriends the injured woman, who begins calling herself "Rita" after seeing a poster of Rita Hayworth. While Betty's audition impresses a casting agent, and she catches the eye of hotshot director Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux), Kesher's producers and moneymen insist with no small vehemence that he instead cast a woman named Camilla Rhodes. As Rita attempts to put the pieces of her life back together, she pulls the name Diane Selwyn from her memory; Rita thinks it could be her real name, but when she and Betty find a listing for Diane Selwyn and visit her apartment, they discover the latest victim of a mysterious killer who is eluding police detective Harry McKnight (Robert Forster). Rita's emotional identity soon takes a left turn, and it turns out that neither woman is quite who she once appeared to be. David Lynch originally conceived Mulholland Drive as the pilot film for a television series; after the ABC television network rejected the pilot and declined to air it, the French production film StudioCanal took over the project, and Lynch reshot and re-edited the material into a theatrical feature. The resulting version of Mulholland Drive premiered at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, where David Lynch shared Best Director honors with Joel Coen. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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

A so-called anarchist gets an unexpected crash-course in living on the edge in this independent comedy drama. Puck (Devon Gummersall) is a college dropout and self-styled political radical who lives with a handful of friends in an anarchist commune near Plano, TX. Puck's roommates and fellow semi-revolutionaries include aging hippie Johnny Red (John Savage), man-crazy feminist Karla (Gina Philips), DJ and ladies' man Sweeney (Johnny Whitworth), and cheerful mischief maker Double Dee (Steve Van Wormer). While Puck and his pals enjoy engaging in occasional acts of creative vandalism, their sense of anarchy is more a matter of personal choice than a genuine threat against the larger standing order. That begins to change when the mysterious Johnny Black (Dylan Bruno) ingratiates himself into the commune. Johnny Black's political agenda is significantly more aggressive than that of Puck and his friends, and his willingness to use violence to achieve his ends disturbs Puck, as Black not only takes control of the group, but adds guns, explosives, and sabotage to their formula. Puck also finds himself torn between his commitment to his ideals and his infatuation with Jody (Katherine Towne), whose sexual appetites run counter to her public reputation as a Christian and Young Republican organizer. Taking its title from William Powell's infamous book of the same name (which the author has since come to repudiate), The Anarchist Cookbook was the first feature film from writer and director Jordan Susman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A young woman gets a startling perspective on how the other half lives in this teen-oriented thriller. Adrien Williams (Lori Heuring) is a troubled working-class college student who on the advice of her doctor takes a summer job at a posh country club. Brittany Foster (Susan Ward) is one of a group of wealthy students who while away their summer break with nighttime parties and days at the beach. Brittany takes a liking to Adrien and introduces her to her social circle, to the displeasure of her close friend Kelly (Laurie Fortier). Adrien also gets to know Matt Curtis (Matthew Settle), a tennis pro with whom Brittany is infatuated; when Adrien and Matt begin a relationship, Adrien learns the hard way that the rich kids can quickly turn vengeful and deadly. Along with Orpheus and In Between, The In Crowd was one of three films directed by Mary Lambert scheduled for release in 2000. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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