Ben Hammer Movies

The uncomfortable merger of art and commerce leads to an unstable romantic triangle in this satiric comedy from director Jonathan Parker. Madeleine (Marley Shelton) is a beautiful young woman who runs an upscale art gallery in New York City. While Madeleine prides herself on exhibiting the most daring and cutting-edge work on the East Coast, her dirty little secret is that she's able to keep the place open by selling the bland but accessible work of her boyfriend (Eion Bailey), whose paintings are quite popular with corporate clients. However, Madeleine is drawn to moody creative types, and her boyfriend makes the mistake of introducing her to his bother (Adam Goldberg), an avant-garde composer whose music is built around breaking glass and the clatter of metal objects. Before long, Madeleine has fallen for the pretentious composer and has to choose between him and the man who can keep her gallery in the black. Also starring Vinnie Jones and Zak Orth, (Untitled) received its world premiere at the 2009 Palm Springs International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Two people are shot, one fatally, in a restaurant restroom. It may be that only one of them was the intended target -- or perhaps both victims were shot by mistake. Once he is in custody, the killer pleads not guilty, claiming that he was in a "dissociative state" at the time of the murder. The DA's office soon discovers that the accused is not the only member of his family to have employed this unorthodox legal strategy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Barry Levinson directed this crime drama based on a controversial bestseller. Jason Patrick stars as Lorenzo, a New York reporter more commonly called "Shakes," a nickname courtesy of his three childhood pals from Hell's Kitchen -- Michael (Brad Pitt), John (Ron Eldard), and Tommy (Billy Crudup). As kids, all four were sent to reform school after accidentally killing someone during a cruel prank. There, the boys were raped and beaten by several guards, including Sean Nokes (Kevin Bacon), a fact that they've kept secret into adulthood. Michael is now a rising star in the district attorney's office, while John and Tommy are founders of the Irish gang the Westies. When Nokes walks into John and Tommy's hangout, they kill him in cold blood and go on trial, defended by a drug-addicted lawyer (Dustin Hoffman). Michael and Shakes conspire with childhood friend Carol (Minnie Driver) and local priest Father Bobby (Robert DeNiro) to free their friends and get even with the surviving guards. Based on a true story chronicled by Lorenzo Carcaterra in his novel of the same name, Sleepers stirred controversy when the veracity of the book was challenged by reporters who could find no documentation of the events described. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Memories of the Patty Hearst affair are invoked in this episode, in which detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) investigate a series of murders committed by a ski mask-wearing holdup team. After the criminals are captured in a deli, it turns out that one member of the team, Leslie Harlin (Amanda Peet), was allegedly kidnapped by the others. Did she willingly participate in the crime spree, or was she acting against her will? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The father of celebrated baseball star Pat Williams (Malik Yoba) is murdered. Following the trail of clues, detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Logan (Chris Noth) determine that the killing was tied in with gambling debts and not-so-veiled threats against the dead man's relatives. All roads eventually lead to big-time bookie "Papa Doc" Doniel (Ray Aranha) -- but that's hardly the end of the story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Arrested for killing one of his classmates, 15-year-old Jamie Marsh (Harley Cross) insists that it was all a tragic accident: True, he had a gun in his hand, but "It just went off." Despite the evidence gathered by detectives Logan (Chris Noth) and Cerreta (Paul Sorvino) indicating that Jamie is lying, the boy beats the rap in court, thanks to information legally suppressed as part of his parents' divorce settlement. But when another opportunity arises to nail the baby-faced killer, assistant D.A. Stone (Michael Moriarty) is not about to let Jamie slip through his fingers a second time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dudley Moore stars as Emory Lesson, an advertising genius whose finds himself committed to an insane asylum in Tony Bill's Crazy People. Emory becomes tired with creating phony ad campaigns and decides to create his own campaigns that tell the brutal truth. Since sex sells, Emory designs an explicit ad campaign consisting of unadorned sexuality. The campaign is so offensive that his colleagues have Emory put in a mental institution. At first Emory resists, but under the tutelage of a concerned psychiatrist, Dr. Liz Baylor (Mercedes Ruehl) and the tender love of Kathy (Daryl Hannah) a beautiful patient, Emory begins to like it in the mental home. Befriending the cute and lovable patients in the mental ward, Emory discovers that the crazy people are natural-born advertising geniuses and Emory utilizes their genius for a new ad campaign. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In Mannequin, a lame attempt to revive the style and panache of fantasy-tinged romantic comedies of the '30s and '40s, Andrew McCarthy stars as a department store window-dresser who discovers that one of his mannequins (Kim Cattrall) is actually a woman from ancient Egypt when she becomes animated one evening. She then inspires him to become the most expressive window-dresser the business has ever seen. Of course, there is intrigue involving a rival department store's attempt to drive the good guys out of business, and together the two store-crossed lovers must combat the forces of evil to save the day. There is no real mystery about what will happen in the course of the film; it all seems color-by-numbers. The only thing unique about Mannequin is its uniquely bad and illogical script, which has holes larger than the Grand Canyon. Mannequin was a surprise box-office hit, earning nearly 25 million dollars in just under a month of its release -- no small feat considering its miniscule budget and seeming lack of appeal to any particular demographic. It spawned an inferior sequel, Mannequin Two: On the Move, reaffirming the belief that anything is possible. In spite of being panned by critics across the board, it did manage to receive one accolade -- its theme, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now," was nominated by the Academy for Best Song. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

Given one last chance to capture the A-Team, Col. Lynch (William Lucking, in his final series appearance) makes a beeline to the Wild West show run by Captain Winnetka (Morgan Woodward). It seems that Winnetka's daughter Carrie (D..D. Howard) has lodged a complaint of being victimized by a gang of crooks passing themselves off as the A-Team. Naturally, the real Team can't stand imitations, and decide to thwart the crooks on their own, adopting disguises straight out of the Village People playbook: Hannibal (George Peppard) as a flashy sharpshooter, Face (Dirk Benedict) as a clown, and Murdock (Dwight Schultz)as an Indian. The climax involves another jerry-built weapon, this one shooting wads of taffy! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This World War II epic drama, based on the book by Herman Wouk, follows the life and trials of a career naval officer (Robert Mitchum) sent to Germany during Hitler's rise to power, who witnesses the gradual escalation of the war. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

This low-budget entry into the sword-and-sorcery cycle of the early '80s wasn't successful during its initial release, but has steadily built a strong cult following over the years. The Beastmaster tells the story of Dar (Marc Singer), the son of a king who was stolen from his mother's womb by a witch under the command of vicious sorcerer Maax (Rip Torn). A poor villager saves Dar from being sacrificed and raises him as his own son, teaching Dar how to fight and witnessing the boy's ability to telepathically communicate with animals. Their happiness is destroyed when their village is attacked by the evil Jun horde, a race of beast-like warriors controlled by Maax. Dar vows revenge and journeys to his father's former kingdom to destroy Maax. Along the way, he falls in love with gorgeous slave girl Kiri (Tanya Roberts) and teams up with former royal guard Seth (John Amos). Dar also uses his powers to enlist the aid of an eagle, a panther and two adorable ferrets named Kodo and Podo. Together, Dar and his unlikely but brave team square off with Maax in an impressive two-part finale that involves a swordfight on the side of a pyramid and a showdown with the Jun horde near a flaming moat. The resulting film was full of action and eccentric surprises, but failed to make an impression at a box office already glutted with fantasy films. However, The Beastmaster eventually became a serious cult favorite thanks to home video and extensive exposure on cable (it is the second most aired movie on TBS after Gone With the Wind). This enduring popularity led to two sequels and a syndicated television series chronicling the further adventures of Dar. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide

Quincy (Jack Klugman) is outraged to learn that young Sherry Anderson (Heidi Bohay) has died from injuries sustained in a car accident after being treated at a standard emergency hospital. It seems that Sherry's father Bruce (Leonard Stone), who at the crash scene appeared to be the more seriously injured of the two, was rushed to the Memorial Hills emergency trauma center, where the doctors were able to save his life. Arguing that the same special medical care should have been made available to Sherry, Quincy begins lobbying the city to finance additional trauma centers--even as Memorial Hills faces extinction due to lack of funds. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The sixth season of Quincy M.E. begins as pugnacious, compassionate medical examiner Quincy (Jack Klugman) shows up in a small mill town to lend a helping hand to his colleague Charles Volmer (William Daniels. No sooner has he arrived than Quincy finds himself waist-deep in a brace of ethical challenges. For starters, the father (Phillip Abbott) of a boy who has OD'ed on drugs is pressuring Volmer to alter the results of the autopsy so that the boy's mother will believe that her son has accidentally drowned. And in another part of town, a powerful industrialist (Warren Stevens) is arranging a coverup of his own to hide the fact that the safety standards in his textile mill aren't up to code--with tragic results. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide