David Howard Movies

In life, rock and roll rebel Johnny was the laughing stock of his peers; in death, the slick haired corpse rises from a watery grave to ensure that those who once mocked him never get the chance to laugh again. At the onset of the free love era, some folks just weren't willing to hang up their blue suede shoes. Johnny "Flick" Taylor was a withdrawn Teddy Boy whose refusal to change with the times set him apart from the pack. A laughable relic of a bygone era to those who valued trend over substance, Johnny's sole refuge was the Palace Dance Hall. Come Friday night Johnny would be out on the dance floor shaking and jiving, his eyes steadily fixed on the beautiful Sally Andrews. One weekend, after months of reigning in his stutter, Johnny finally works up the courage to ask Sally for a dance. Instantly rejected by Sally and mercilessly beaten by her group of male admirers, Johnny flies into a murderous rage in which he kills and maims his oppressors before tossing Sally in the back seat of his car and punching the gas. In the ensuing chase Johnny's car spun out of control and went careening into a nearby river, though Sally miraculously managed to escape and make her way to safety. Forty years later Johnny's car is recovered from the river, the murderous young rebel's fists still clutching the steering wheel. Johnny's story isn't over yet though. It seems that the sounds of Rock-A-Billy radio have the power to bring the undead rebel screaming back to life, but only between the hours of midnight and two o' clock in the morning as the sounds of the fifties fill the airwaves. Now, as the supernaturally charged outcast embarks on a vengeful mission to slaughter those who scorned him and take sixty-two year old Sally on a ride she'll never forget, a Memphis cop on an exchange program from the UK must find a way to stop the music that drives the Brylcreem-slathered ghoul's dreadful rampage. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A team of intrepid adventurers travels through the outer reaches of the galaxy, each week finding excitement and adventure on Galaxy Quest! Or at least that's the way it was in the mid-1970s, when brave if reckless Captain Peter Quincy Taggart, lovely Lieutenant Tawny Madison, and inscrutable alien Dr. Lazarus were the leaders of an interstellar law enforcement team on the TV series of that name. Twenty years later, the show is still in reruns, and Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen), Gwen DeMarco (Sigourney Weaver), and Alexander Dane (Alan Rickman) prop up their sagging careers by making appearances at sci-fi conventions, where they grudgingly shake hands and give autographs for the show's socially inept following. However, it turns out that nerdy sci-fi fans aren't the only ones watching: somewhere in another solar system, a group of alien rebels living under a regime of violence and repression have picked up broadcasts of Galaxy Quest, and they aren't aware that it's fiction. They travel to Earth and encounter the Galaxy Quest cast, who figure that they're just another bunch of guys who like to dress funny. However, they soon realize that they're being hired not for another autograph-signing session but for a real-life outer space rescue mission. Galaxy Quest was directed by Dean Parisot, who had a background in TV directing before his theatrical debut with the dark comedy Home Fries. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Aimed at older children, this gentle, gender-bending coming-of-age drama set in Ireland centers on the friendship between bookish, outcast Irish lad Chris and the new kid in town, Joe, an all-American boy. Whereas Chris is wimpy and bullied by the village toughs, Joe is strong, clever and the best fighter around. When Joe befriends Chris, it looks as if things will be improving. At it least it does until Chris finds out that Joe is actually Joanne. Orphaned by her parents, former tightrope walkers, she has been living with her cruel, woman-hating Uncle Curt, an embittered ex-acrobat who make her pose as a male. Joe's main female influence comes from Chris' mother a feminist sculptor of Rubenesque goddess statues. Unfortunately, Uncle Curt doesn't want her associating with her. Poor Joe also finds some solace helping Simon, her parents former coach who became a depressive clown after their fatal accident. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi