Wayne Grace Movies

Memorably described by Pauline Kael as "a beautiful pipe dream of a movie," Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller reimagines the American West as a muddy frontier filled with hustlers, opportunists, and corporate sharks -- a turn-of-the-century model for a 1971 America mired in violence and lies. John McCabe (Warren Beatty) wanders into the turn-of-the-century wilderness village known as Presbyterian Church, with vague plans of parlaying his gambling winnings into establishing a fancy casino-brothel-bathhouse. McCabe's business partner is prostitute Mrs. Miller (Julie Christie), who despite her apparent distaste for McCabe helps him achieve his goal. Once McCabe and Mrs. Miller become successful, the town grows and prospers, incurring the jealousy of a local mining company that wants to buy McCabe out. Filmed on location in Canada, McCabe & Mrs. Miller makes use of such Altman "stock company" performers as Shelley Duvall, René Auberjonois, John Schuck, and Keith Carradine. The seemingly improvised screenplay was based on a novel by Edmund Naughton and the movie features a soundtrack of songs by Leonard Cohen. McCabe & Mrs. Miller joined such other Altman efforts as M*A*S*H, The Long Goodbye, and Thieves Like Us in radically revising familiar movie genres for the disillusioned Vietnam era. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Eugene Roche is cast as alcoholic police detective Lyle "Sandy" Beech, whose drinking and dereliction of duty has gotten him demoted to patrolman on his old beat. Determined to win back his badge, Sandy embarks upon a personal mission to capture the murderer of his friend and colleague. But in so doing, the ex-detective threatens to sabotage the official murder investigation conducted by Lt. Kojak (Telly Savalas). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hockey-masked killer Jason Vorhees returns to terrorize a lakeside family and their rowdy teen neighbors in this fourth installment of the long-running slasher series. After the events of Friday the 13th, Part 3, Jason's seemingly lifeless body is brought to the morgue, where horny attendant Axel (Bruce Mahler) is trying to score with foxy Nurse Morgan (Lisa Freeman). The pair quickly meet a grisly end. Meanwhile, at Crystal Lake, estranged wife Mrs. Jarvis (Joan Freeman) and her kids -- young Tommy (Corey Feldman) and teenaged Trish (Kimberly Beck) -- find their quiet invaded by a group of hard-partying kids moving into the rental house next door. The youngsters include curious virgin Sara (Barbara Howard), hot-to-trot Samantha (Judie Aronson), and nebbish Jimmy (Crispin Glover). Tommy, a monster makeup enthusiast, enjoys watching the scantily clad young ladies through his window, while Trish toys with the idea of joining in their revelries. Also lurking around the area is Rob (Erich Anderson), who claims to be hunting bear but actually has mysterious ties to the events of Friday the 13th, Part 2. As the house full of teens begins to pair off -- aided by the addition of local twins Tina (Camilla More) and Terri (Carey More) to the mix -- an unseen killer begins to pick them off one by one. The bloodshed climaxes with a tense showdown in which Tommy disguises himself as a bald, lumpy boyhood version of Jason in hopes of distracting the relentless psychopath who hunts him. Feldman would return for a cameo in Friday the 13th, Part V: A New Beginning, only to be replaced by another actor in a grown-up version of the role. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

When a quintet of college classmates take summer jobs, their adventures lead to comic consequences. Max (Paul Reiser) gets a job working for the Cabrizzi Brothers moving company. Dwight (Robert Townsend) and Byron (Paul Provenza) become caddies, while Woody (Scott McGinnis) waits tables and Roy (Rick Overton) sells vacuum cleaners door-to-door. When all five get fired from their jobs, they combine forces to form a moving company in direct competition with the Cabrizzi Brothers. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Charles Hallahan makes his series bow as Hunter's new superior officer Captain Devane, whose first official act is to separate Hunter (Fred Dryer) and his partner McCall (Stepfanie Kramer). Thinking that the split was Hunter's idea, McCall vents her spleen on her feckless new partner, rookie Reilly Causland (Robert Firth). Meanwhile, Hunter is teamed with hard-nosed Harry Traynor (Tim Thomerson)--who, as it turns out, may have been responsible for the murder of his ex-partner, who'd called Hunter to impart some valuable information just before his death. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Directed by former Starsky and Hutch TV star Paul Michael Glaser, this post-apocalyptic science fiction yarn satirized American entertainment, mocking pro wrestling, game shows, and law-and-order reality programming. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as Ben Richards, a cop in the totalitarian America of 2019, framed for massacring rioting civilians during a famine. After escaping from jail, Richards tries to prove his innocence, but his efforts are thwarted at every turn by a regime in need of a scapegoat. Richards is captured along with an innocent civilian, Amber Mendez (Maria Conchita Alonso), and they are forced to participate in a violent game show called "The Running Man," hosted by the unctuous Damon Killian (Richard Dawson). The object of the game for Richards and Mendez: obtain freedom by staying alive against a gauntlet of skillful assassins like "Subzero" (Prof. Toru Tanaka) and "Captain Freedom" (Jesse Ventura), each armed with unique weapons like razor-sharp hockey sticks and chainsaws. With the help of some fellow "contestants," Richards is able to tap into government computers and prove his innocence. The Running Man was very loosely based on a short story by Stephen King, who wrote it under the name Richard Bachman. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

The central "gimmick" of the comedy-adventure Twins is established early on. Unbeknownst to one another, king-sized Arnold Schwarzenegger and gnomeish Danny De Vito are twin brothers. Even better: Schwarzenegger is a mild-mannered, bookish type, while De Vito is a vitriolic troublemaker. The film takes satiric jabs at the notion of "perfect" genetics, and makes several pointed comments concerning the dangers of youthful pre-conditioning by insensitive parents. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set in a grim future world, a special U.S. task force is sent to Central America to rescue a downed spy plane. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

When a group of evil, power-hungry people take over a trio of kingdoms, it is up to a young magician to free his lands from their rule. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Produced for cable TV, this pedestrian thriller (also known as Till Death Do Us Part) purports to be a riff on Edgar Allen Poe's "The Premature Burial" but actually bears more of a resemblance to Diabolique. It stars Tim Matheson as a cheated-upon husband who can't stay down after his wife's (Jennifer Jason Leigh) unsuccessful attempt to poison him results in his being buried alive. The film's one real moment of horror comes in a claustrophobic sequence where Matheson desperately claws his way out of his coffin. The story then settles into a standard revenge motif, capped with an admittedly potent payoff that, though intriguing, is probably not as shocking as the filmmakers had intended. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

In this epic Ron Howard film, Joseph Donelly (Tom Cruise) is an impoverished 19th-century Irish tenant farmer who has recently lost both his father and his home to the agents of his unscrupulous landlord. On a mission to avenge his family's injustice at the hands of the ruthless land baron Joseph meets the landlord's daughter and the two run off to America together where the girl expects to claim a piece of land for herself in the Oklahoma Land Rush. After she is robbed on the boat that carries them to America, they arrive with nary a penny and struggle just to keep their heads above water in the slums of Boston. After a series of serious set-backs they do eventually work their way out West, where Joseph must fight to realize his dream and claim a piece of the American Dream for himself -- and where they finally acknowledge their love for each other. Shot in wide-screen Panavision, the movie was filmed on-location in Ireland and Montana. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

A handful of up-and-coming songwriters discover that love is as difficult to navigate as the music business in this romantic comedy-drama from director Peter Bogdanovich. Miranda Presley (Samantha Mathis) is an aspiring singer/songwriter from New York City who loves country music and has decided to take her chances in Nashville, TN, where she hopes to strike it big as a musician. After arriving in the Music City after a long bus ride, Miranda makes her way to the Bluebird Café, a local watering hole with a reputation as a showcase for new talent. The bar's owner, Lucy (K.T. Oslin), takes a shine to the shy but plucky newcomer, and gives her a job as a waitress. Before long, Miranda has gotten to know a number of other Nashville transplants who are look looking to land a gig or sell a song, among them sweet and open-hearted Kyle Davidson (Dermot Mulroney), moody but talented James Wright (River Phoenix), and spunky Linda Lue Linden (Sandra Bullock). As the four friends struggle to find their place in the competitive Nashville music scene, both Kyle and James display a romantic interest in Miranda, while she finds it difficult to choose between the two. The Thing Called Love features cameos from a number of noted country performers, including Trisha Yearwood, Pam Tillis, Katy Moffatt, Jo-El Sonnier, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Sadly, The Thing Called Love would be best remembered as the last film actor River Phoenix completed before his death in the fall of 1993. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

One of the most famous real-life UFO abduction cases on record becomes this character-driven drama from sci-fi screenwriter Tracy Torme. D.B. Sweeney stars as Travis Walton, a forestry worker who disappears one night during an encounter with a flying saucer. Authorities treat with skepticism the outrageous story related by the only witnesses to the event, Travis' five co-workers, who include his best friend and future brother-in-law, Mike Rogers (Robert Patrick). A state lawman (James Garner) finds a tabloid newspaper in the crew's pickup truck and quickly ascertains that tensions had arisen between Walton and a surly fellow logger (Craig Sheffer), leading him to conclude that a murder cover-up is underway. However, all of the men pass lie detector tests and the case becomes stalled until the shocking last-minute reappearance of Travis, who tells a literally fantastic story involving his whereabouts for the past week. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide