Page Hannah Movies
The younger sister of actress Darryl Hannah, Page Hannah has herself appeared in a handful of theatrical films. But while Darryl has been seen in "A" productions like Splash (1983) and Steel Magnolias (1989), Page has had to make do with trifles like Shag, the Movie (1989) -- not a bad little film, but no worldbeater. Page has also done extensive television work in her decade or so before the cameras. Included among Page Hannah's TV series credits are Fame (1986-87 season) and a few months' work as Adair McCleary on the daytime drama Search for Tomorrow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Where the original Gremlins was a horror film spiked with comedy, Gremlins 2: The New Batch is essentially a black comedy, with a couple of horrifying touches. As the film starts, the fantastical trinket shop in Chinatown, which sold the Mogwai in the first film, is demolished by a crazed multi-media businessman called Daniel Clamp (John Glover). The heroes from the first movie, Billy (Zach Galligan) and Kate (Phoebe Cates), happen to work for Clamp in his huge high-rise. They find the Mogwai within Clamp's building, but not before he has accidentally spawned legions of mischievous, lizard-like Gremlins. Soon, the Gremlins are wreaking havoc throughout the building. In the original film, their misdeeds were violent, but here they're also goofy and satirical. Director Joe Dante has filled the film with quick verbal and visual jokes, which, for many, makes Gremlins 2: The New Batch a satire and inversion of the typical horror film. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, (more)
- 1989
"Hip" Catholic priest Sam Bottoms is asked by his monsignor to defend their faith on The Dick Cavett Show. While preparing for his appearance, however, Bottoms begins having doubts about his religious committment. Especially troublesome is his relationship with Renee Coleman, a brilliant student who doesn't believe in God. The Bottoms--Coleman story is paralleled with a series of flashbacks to the Stone Age (!), as caveman leader James Farkas tries to make sense of a mystical tree trunk. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Samuel Bottoms, Renee Coleman, (more)
- 1989
In an episode clearly inspired by Peyton Place, a former student of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) scandalizes the town of Cabot Cove when she publishes a thinly-disguised "roman a clef" titled "The Sins of Castle Cove." The locals aren't too happy that their personalities and peccadilloes have been woven into the plotline of the book--and at least one person is willing to commit murder to suppress the novel's publication. Can it be that Jessica will find a clue to the killer within the pages of the book in question? Julie Adams, Gloria DeHaven, Kathryn Grayson and Ruth Roman return as Cabot Cove's four most garrulous gossips. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Shag is a beach flick set in 1963. The years have passed, but the old Where the Boys Are formula holds firm: Four attractive young lasses head for the surf and sand of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, looking for guys. Phoebe Cates is about to be married, so her three pals seek out a final affair d'amour on her behalf before she is lost to the world forever. The cast is fascinating for its family ties: Bridget Fonda is the daughter of Peter Fonda, Page Hannah the sister of Darryl Hannah, and Tyrone Power III is the son of you-know-who. Filmed in 1988, Shag was released that year in Europe, then offered to American audiences one year later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phoebe Cates, Scott Coffey, (more)
- 1988
- PG
Perry Parker (Joe Pantoliano) is a Philadelphia dance-show host who hopes to take the place of Dick Clark after the world's oldest teenager takes his show to Hollywood in 1965. Del Green (Donovan Leitch) is a college-bound high schooler who crashes the Dance Party and becomes a favorite of the teen audience. He becomes the dance partner of Vicky (Jennifer Runyon), the pretty blonde star dancer of the popular show. Del soon must decide whether or not to remain a teen tube fave or attend an Ivy League college, and he must also deal with the trial of peer pressure. Plenty of music from the mid 1960s is provided, including "Land Of 1,000 Dances" and the well-crated instrumental "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" by Vince Guaraldi. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donovan Leitch, Joe Pantoliano, (more)
This less-satisfying sequel to the 1982 George A. Romero/Stephen King anthology presents a new trio of King stories, framed in a similar EC Comics-style format -- this time featuring some rather lackluster animated segments involving horror-host "The Creep," who introduces each chapter with pun-heavy gallows humor. The stories vary widely in quality: first there's "Old Chief Wood'nhead," involving a cigar-store Indian who quite literally guards the entrance to an old general store and comes to life to avenge the murders of the elderly couple (George Kennedy and Dorothy Lamour) who owned it. The middle segment, "The Raft," features a group of obnoxious teenagers stranded on a raft in the middle of a lake at the mercy of a murderous oil slick which looks like a bunch of plastic garbage bags stitched together. Both of these suffer in comparison to the closing segment, "The Hitchhiker," in which a bored, promiscuous socialite (Lois Chiles) mows down a hitchhiker who refuses to stay dead, returning again and again to torment her at every turn, rasping "Thanks for the ride, lady!" Despite its strengths -- a livelier pace, some creatively gory set pieces -- this is a much cheaper-looking effort than its predecessor, with the deft guidance of Romero conspicuously absent (long-time collaborator Michael Gornick took up the directorial reins); as a result, King's gross-out sensibilities don't come off as well. Makeup maestro Tom Savini appears in heavy makeup as a live-action version of The Creep, and King pops in for a bit part as a redneck trucker. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lois Chiles, George Kennedy, (more)
- 1986
- R
Adam Swit (Raphael Sbarge) is hounded by his consumer parents in their plush L.A. home, beset by his sexually deprived sister, and faces agony at school at the hands of the tougher kids. In order to escape his troubles, he daydreams about a fantastic young woman. Lo and behold, a dead-ringer for his dream woman shows up at school one day as a transfer student (Page Hannah) and Adam sets out to befriend her right away. On their first date they find a teacher in the parking lot who has just been severely worked over by a gang of thugs. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raphael Sbarge, Page Hannah, (more)
- 1986
Although the weekly, one-hour musical drama series Fame was still one of the most popular syndicated series in America as it entered its sixth season, the show's budget was beginning to outstrip its profits, and thus the difficult decision was made to end production once the season wrapped. This, however, didn't stop the producers from continuing to infuse the cast with new blood, nor from staging spectacular singing and dancing numbers, frequently with top guest stars taking part in the proceedings. The season opener "Back to Something New" brings us up to date on two recently departed regulars: Ms. Elizabeth Sherwood, longtime English teacher at New York's High School for the Performing Arts, has become a successful author of racy romantic novels, while dance major Christopher Donlon has graduated and gone on to professional work. New students include brash British-born musician Ian Ware (Michael Cerveris), spunky Maxie (Olivia Barasch), and neurotic Miltie Horowitz (Robert Romanus). Likewise, the faculty is increased by one when Mr. Paul Seeger (Eric Pierpoint), a disillusioned actor turned cab driver, signs on as the new drama teacher. And in one of the season's most surprising and disturbing developments, gifted musical student Nicole Chapman (Nia Peeples) is killed in a car accident. Inarguably the series' most celebrated episode is "Reggie and Rose", in which student Reggie Higgins (Carrie Hamilton) encourages the school's recently laid-off cafeteria lady Rose to enroll as a student. Rose is played by Carol Burnett, real-life mother of Carrie Hamilton, with whom she duets in a rousing rendition of Irving Berlin's "We're a Couple of Swells). And in the series finale "Baby, Remember My Name", several former series regulars are reunited for a gala production number with the current students and faculty members: among these returnees are Erica Gimpel, Cynthia Gibb, Carol Mayo Jenkins, Valerie Landsburg, P.R. Pauland Lee Curreri. And on this high note, Fame comes to a close, but not before collecting its seventh Emmy award, bestowed upon costumer Nanrose Buchman for her contributions to the episode "All Talking, All Singing, All Dancing." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Debbie Allen, Carlo Imperato, (more)
- 1986
- R
This drama concerns a young teen's transformation as she works at a half-way house for troubled kids. Franny (Mary Stuart Masterson) leaves behind a pampered, rich kid's life of yachting parties and affluent pastimes to take up a summer job working under Mrs. Chopper (Anne Meara) at a temporary shelter for homeless teens. Even though the experienced Mrs. Chopper warns Franny about not getting too involved with her charges, Franny decides that if she can organize a talent show, the youngsters will see that they are really worth something. Needless to say, Mrs. Chopper was partly right, and partly wrong. Jennifer Lopez of 1997's Selena and 1998's Out of Sight makes a precocious film debut here as one of the young teens. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Stuart Masterson, James Earl Jones, (more)
Sean Penn graduated to full stardom with the 1984 drama Racing with the Moon, even though the film itself hardly set new box office records. Set in the early years of World War II, the film stars Penn as a small-town teen-aged hotshot, six weeks away from being shipped out to fight overseas. In the meantime, Penn begins to date Elizabeth McGovern, whom he assumes is from a wealthy family. Penn's pal Nicolas Cage, who's gotten his girlfriend Suzanne Adkinson pregnant, imposes upon Penn to hit up McGovern for the abortion money. That's when Penn discovers that the girl barely has a penny to her name. Convinced that Penn cared for her only when he thought she was rich, McGovern walks out on him, but later teams up with Penn to help the unfortunate Adkinson. The plot is pure James Dean, a fact not lost on fans who regarded Sean Penn as the second coming of Dean. A very slight piece, Racing With the Moon is buoyed by the engaging performances of the stars, and by director Richard Benjamin's meticulous attention to period detail-especially in those peerless bowling-alley and skating-rink sequences. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Penn, Elizabeth McGovern, (more)
- 1981
- PG
In this drama, a homeless shoeshine boy who lives in a locker at the train station finds himself quite popular after he reveals a talent for picking winners at the racetrack. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Coleman, Michael Lembeck, (more)
