Gene Hartline Movies
- 2001
- PG13
- Add A.I.: Artificial Intelligence to QueueAdd A.I.: Artificial Intelligence to top of Queue
Based on the 1969 short story Super-Toys Last All Summer Long, by Brian Aldiss, this science fiction fantasy bears similarities to Pinocchio (1940) and originated as a long-gestating project of director Stanley Kubrick that passed to his friend Steven Spielberg after Kubrick's death. Haley Joel Osment stars as David, a "mecha" or robot of the future, when the polar ice caps have melted and submerged many coastal cities, causing worldwide starvation and human dependence upon robotic assistance. The first mecha designed to experience love, David is the "son" of Henry (Sam Robards), an employee of the company that built the boy, and the grief-stricken Monica (Frances O'Connor). David is meant to replace the couple's hopelessly comatose son, but when their natural child recovers, David is abandoned and sets out to become "a real boy" worthy of his mother's affection. Along the way, David is mentored by a pleasure-providing mecha named Gigolo Joe (Jude Law) and a talking "super toy" bear named Teddy. His adventures take him to the Roman Circus-style "Flesh Fair," where mechas are destroyed for the amusement of humans; Rouge City, where Gigolo Joe narrowly avoids capture by police; and finally a submerged New York City, where David's creator, Professor Hobby (William Hurt) reveals the secrets of the boy's creation. Brendan Gleeson and narrator Ben Kingsley co-star in A.I., which was adapted from Kubrick's treatment by Spielberg, in his first crack at screenwriting since Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, (more)
Martial arts hero Steven Seagal developed, co-wrote, co-produced, choreographed, and debuted in this thrill ride -- a cop film with more attitude, and more plot, than its star had duties on the set. Seagal is Nico Toscani, an Italian immigrant, American patriot, ex-CIA agent, aikido specialist, and unorthodox Chicago policeman. He is as committed to his job as he is to his personalized brand of justice: expert and thorough bone-crushing. When the FBI orders his squad to ignore the mysterious shipment of military explosives they seized from a notorious narcotics dealer, Nico defiantly pursues his own investigation. With the help of his partner Jax (Pam Grier), he sifts through a tangled web of Catholic priests, illegal immigrants, and trained assassins to uncover a drug cartel run directly out of the CIA by an official named Zagon Henry Silva. Nico remembers the man from his CIA days in Vietnam, when Zagon used the agency (and the war) as a front for smuggling opium. At the time, Nico was too outranked to thwart him, but he will no longer let Zagon abuse his position to remain immune from prosecution -- especially now that the official has plans to murder a U.S. senator. Zagon may be above the law of most men, but he is certainly not above Nico's. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steven Seagal, Pam Grier, (more)
- 1985
- R
This Canadian exploitational actioner offers a remake of the Defiant Ones with a contemporary twist: this time the fugitives are women. The Caucasian girl is a prostitute who was picked up for vagrancy, while the other is a wealthy African-American woman who, with her boyfriend, is arrested for riding in a stolen Jaguar. While both girls are awaiting their incarceration, they get a chance to escape when two gun-toting hookers create a diversion. The two heroines flee and later find that they have been accused of the shootings. Now they must escape from both the cops and drug dealers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tatum O'Neal, Irene Cara, (more)
In this arch sci-fi sex comedy-cum-action extravaganza, a hard-nosed female mercenary helps a hapless yuppie find a new body for his robot girlfriend in the post-industrial wasteland of the American Southwest. In the year 2017, what little remains of civilization feeds off the scrap heap of 20th century waste, while even casual sex has become a matter of regulations and contracts. Like many other members of the L.A. white-collar elite, Sam Treatwell (David Andrews) takes refuge in a quasi-marriage with his beloved sex robot, Cherry (Pamela Gidley). After a soft-focus, bubbly sexcapade short circuits Cherry's body, Sam considers replacing her, but the shoddy production values of modern robots make it obvious that the vintage appliance is irreplaceable. To put it simply, the guy's in love. The wistful romantic therefore heads out to The Zone, a forbidding no man's land, where he hopes to find a new "chassis" in which to insert Cherry's unique personality chip. To do so, he needs the help of a "tracker," and E. Johnson (Melanie Griffith) is just the woman for the job. The gun-toting, red-headed road warrior leads Sam through a dystopian desert landscape full of psychopaths and opportunists toward their final destination: an abandoned warehouse full of antique androids. Along the way, Sam learns what it's like to interact with a woman who has brains and a heart instead of a microchip. Filmed in 1986, Cherry 2000 didn't receive its limited theatrical release until 1988, the same year star Griffith received an Oscar nomination for her role in Working Girl. Griffith and director Steven de Jarnatt previously worked together on the pilot for the 1980s revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Ben Johnson, veteran of many a Hollywood Western, appears as E. Johnson's mentor, Six Finger Jake. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melanie Griffith, David Andrews, (more)
David Carradine romps around in a loin-cloth as Kaz Oshay, a good-guy biker who hops on his destructocycle to participate in a sport to the death, in Roger Corman's futuristic gladiator motorcycle film. The film takes place 1000 years after the "Neutron Wars" have decimated civilization, except for pockets of domed cities. Surrounding the cities are vast wastelands called "ranges." Kaz is a "ranger guide" who roams the range riding horses and wielding sabers. The sabers are necessary to fend off the "Statesmen" -- roving hordes under the thrall of Lord Zirpola (David McLean). Zirpola captures Kaz and throws him into a cell, where he meets Deneer (Claudia Jennings), who tells Kaz that a group of mutants have abducted her daughter. Kaz and Deneer escape and set off in search of her daughter as they dodge the Statesmen and their high-decibel motorcycles called "Death Machines." Kaz is finally forced to participate in the "Death Sport" -- a mad free-for-all inside a tunnel in which only one contestant can emerge alive. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Carradine, Claudia Jennings, (more)
In exchange for being allowed to make his directorial debut in Grand Theft Auto, Ron Howard agreed to take no salary as a director, merely as star and co-screenwriter (with his dad Rance). The plot finds Sam Freeman (Howard) eloping with his heiress girlfriend Paula Powers (Nancy Morgan). Her mob-connected dad Bigby Powers (Barry Cahill) vehemently opposes the marriage, and isn't about to change his mind now that Sam has stolen his Rolls-Royce and sped off to Las Vegas with his daughter in tow. Marion Ross, Howard's Happy Days mom, turns in an offbeat supporting characterization. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Howard, Nancy Morgan, (more)
- 1984
- R
The Saroyanesque Grandview USA focuses on a sleepy Midwestern town and its younger denizens. Bored out of his gourd, recent high-school graduate Tim (C. Thomas Howell), befriends the much-older Michelle (Jamie Lee Curtis), who runs the local demolition derby. Michelle's top driver is "Slam" (Patrick Swayze), who though a star on the track is a washout when it comes to affairs of the heart. As the three characters grow closer, each does a lot of growing up. When it sticks to business, Grandview USA can be quite charming; it falters only in a couple of rock-video and fantasy sequences, reportedly tacked on at the insistence of the distributors. The highly appropriate supporting cast ranges from such TV regulars as Troy Donahue and William Windom to such stars-to-be as Jennifer Jason Leigh and John Cusack. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie Lee Curtis, C. Thomas Howell, (more)
Eddie Murphy, in addition to starring as Quick, the son of 1930s Harlem gambling-house proprietor Sugar Ray (Richard Pryor), also wrote and directed the film. The plotline details the combined efforts of Quick and Sugar Ray to prevent white gangster Bugsy Calhoune (Michael Lerner) from muscling in on their operation. The supporting players include Redd Foxx, Danny Aiello and Jasmine Guy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, (more)
Stephen Frears' Hero is a contemporary re-working of a Frank Capra-styled fable about a two-bit criminal named Bernie (Dustin Hoffman) who saves several passengers from a plane crash and leaves the scene without being identified, leaving only a lost shoe for identification. One of the passengers happens to be news-reporter Gale (Geena Davis) who is intent on finding her savior, and offers a million dollars to the "hero" of the crashed flight. Bernie has since given his remaining shoe to a homeless man named John (Andy Garcia) who decides to cash in on the offer. A handsome, charming man, John wins the hearts of the entire city. Soon, Bernie realizes that he's been cheated out of a million dollars, and he begins an effort to get his proper recognition--and his money. Hero manages to be quite funny and satirical while sticking to a story that is essentially a Hollywood fable. That is to the credit of director Frears and the cast, who turn in uniformly excellent performances. Nevertheless, Hoffman is superb as a bitterly comic and spiteful variation on his classic Ratso Rizzo character. By the way, be on the lookout for Chevy Chase in a very funny cameo. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dustin Hoffman, Geena Davis, (more)
- 1979
- R
- Add Hometown USA to Queue
Max Baer Jr. borrows liberally from George Lucas's American Graffiti for this slice-of-life look at teenage life circa 1957. The story concerns a group of adolescents whose main concerns are cars, cruising, and sex. The story centers upon Rodney C. Duckworth (Gary Springer), a shy, virginal teen, and the efforts of his friends Recil Calhoun (David Wilson) and T.J. Swackhammer (Brian Kerwin) to try to fix Rodney up with a date. Unfortunately, their libidos manage to get the better of them, and Recil and T.J. end up going out with the girls themselves. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Springer, David Wilson, (more)
Rob Lowe stars in this screwball comedy as Richard Dice, the college dropout who comes back home to St. Augustine, Florida to get his act together. He is selected for jury duty and falls for the defendant Molly Gilbert (Colleen Camp), a young woman he later recognizes as his grade-school sweetheart. Richard tries to gather the evidence that will lead to her acquittal. He is not alone in his pursuit of an elusive audiotape that recorded the murder for which Molly is on trial. Jessica James plays Richard's mother, who is courted by Freddie Boneflecker (Rick Jason). Johnny Cash sings some tunes co-written with director Peter Bogdanovich. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, Colleen Camp, (more)
- 1993
- R
B-movie director Rafal Zielinski adds another sordid tale to his CV with this C. Thomas Howell vehicle. In the film, Howell plays a cop who gets involved with a murder witness, only to find out that she's part of an international ring of sex-for-hire beauties. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- C. Thomas Howell
A lonely teenager thinks that he's found love, but it turns out to be more than he bargained for. Matt Leland (Chris O'Donnell) is an intelligent but awkward high school student who is in the market for a girlfriend but not having much luck finding one. One night, while looking at the stars through his telescope, Matt accidentally trains his vision on Casey Roberts (Drew Barrymore), a high-spirited girl who lives on the other side of the lake near their home. Matt is smitten with her, and he maps out a scheme to meet her. He finds her brash and charming, and she seems just as fond of him. However, Matt doesn't know that Casey is manic depressive and has been in and out of mental institutions for most of her life. Her father Richard (Jude Ciccolella) wants to keep her in an institution, while her mother Margaret (Joan Allen) wants the best for her daughter but isn't sure what that is. Casey, however, wants to be with Matt, and she convinces him that her parents mean to harm her. They run away, planning to go to Mexico, but Matt begins to realize that Casey's mood swings are more serious than he imagined. Set in Seattle, Mad Love features an on-screen appearance by the Washington-based all-female hard rock band 7 Year Bitch; the soundtrack also features music by Nirvana, Luscious Jackson, Los Lobos, Cracker, and Grant Lee Buffalo. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris O'Donnell, Drew Barrymore, (more)
- 1988
The Blue Moon's latest client is Nora Cooper (Karen Landry), who is looking for the husband to whom she was married for only five days--and who has been missing for ten years. Searching for the absent hubby, David (Bruce Willis) and Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) enter the rarefied world of poolrooms, sharks and hustlers. And as a bonus, the episode offers another "tumble-on" unbilled role for C. Thomas Howell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A mysterious and possibly otherworldly stranger comes to the rescue of a frontier town in this Western, which was strongly influenced by the George Stevens classic, Shane. The peace of a small mining community is shattered when Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart), the ruthless proprietor of a powerful strip-mining company, arrives in town with his son Josh (Christopher Penn) and a posse of hired guns to drive out the townspeople and take control of the territory. Megan (Sydney Penny), a young girl whose pet was killed in the melee, prays to God for someone to defend the village from the marauders; soon, the Preacher (Clint Eastwood) arrives on a pale horse, and joins forces with Hull Barrett (Michael Moriarty), the unofficial leader of the miners and one of the few who attempts to defend himself, to take a stand against LaHood and his men. As the Preacher and Barrett try to organize the miners to fight the invaders, both Megan and her mother Sarah (Carrie Snodgrass) find they're drawn to the Preacher, who keeps to himself and seems to have more than his share of secrets. Pale Rider was also directed by leading man Clint Eastwood; it was his first Western as both director and star since the acclaimed The Outlaw Josey Wales. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Michael Moriarty, (more)
- 2006
- PG13
- Add Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest to QueueAdd Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest to top of Queue
Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) returns to the screen for another round of supernatural adventures on the high seas in this spirited sequel to the 2003 Disney hit, which re-teams original director Gore Verbinski with original screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. As Will (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) prepare to exchange vows at the altar, their wedding plans hit rough waters with the arrival of sea-bound scallywag Jack Sparrow. It seems that Sparrow owes a substantial blood debt to half-octopus sea captain Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), and that the only way for the flamboyant sea rover to elude the wrath of his otherworldly pursuer is to seek the aid of mysterious and powerful voodoo priestess Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), whose ability to resurrect the dead and gaze into the future may provide just the advantage needed to avoid a waterlogged fate in the locker of his legendary nemesis. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, (more)
Combining influences from Tex Avery cartoons to Sam Raimi horror movies to 1940s B-movies, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen followed up the stylish film noir of their debut, Blood Simple (1984), with this frantic screwball comedy. H.I. "Hi" McDonnough (Nicholas Cage) is a philosophical but slightly dim career criminal who has been arrested so often that he gets to know "Ed," short for Edwina (Holly Hunter), the officer who takes his mug shots. Hi takes a shine to Ed and promises to go straight if she marries him. She accepts, and they move to the Arizona desert, where Hi holds down a factory job and blissfully watches the sunsets with Ed. Their serenity is shattered when the couple decides that they want a child and discover that, as Hi puts it, "Ed's womb was a rocky place where my seed could find no purchase." (One of the film's many delights is Hi's unexpectedly flowery dime-novel narration.) Ed goes into a severe depression until she sees an item in the news. Nathan Arizona (Trey Wilson), owner of a chain of unpainted furniture stores, has become the father of quintuplets, and he and his wife joke that they now have more children than they know what to do with. In what seems like a perfect "helps you, helps me" situation, Hi and Ed kidnap one of the Arizona infants, figuring that they'll have a baby and the Arizonas will have less of a burden. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, (more)
- 1982
- R
In this standard romantic drama slated for TV movie channels, Valentine (Karen Black) is dissatisfied in her marriage to a racecar driver (Tony Lo Bianco) and begins a romantic liaison with a student at the community college she attends. Her husband has also been unfaithful, and his indiscretions are what prompt her own behavior. Since her marital woes continue, Valentine leaves home, gets a job as a waitress at a local nightclub, and ponders her future as nothing right now seems certain. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karen Black, Tony Lo Bianco, (more)
This direct-to-video thriller stars Jason London as a grungy-looking Seattle psychopath setting off bombs so as not to lose his Japanese sweetheart. Lori Petty, sporting a truly odd coiffure which must be her hair growing back from Tank Girl, plays a hard-bitten FBI agent determined to take London down. Subplots include Petty's squabbles with her boss and a visiting Japanese policewoman whose interests conflict with those of the Bureau. Despite its low budget and somewhat cliched plot, the film is well-directed by Keoni Waxman and should please mad-bomber buffs.
~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lori Petty, Jason London, (more)
Lawrence Kasdan's Silverado is a fond hark back to the all-star, big-budget westerns of the 1950s and 1960s. The various plotlines converge at the town of Silverado, held in thrall by crooked sheriff Brian Dennehy and his behemoth "deputies." The four disparate heroes--Kevin Kline, Kevin Costner, Scott Glenn and Danny Glover--prepare to do battle against Dennehy for personal reasons ranging from mercenary to altruistic. Sidelines characters include duplicitous, dandified gambler Jeff Goldblum, frontier widow Rosanna Arquette and gimlet-eyed saloon owner Linda Hunt. The film is stolen hands-down by Kevin Costner, playing an irresponsible young gunslinger who never speaks when hootin' and hollerin' will do. A classic, High Noon-style showdown caps this rousing retro western. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, (more)
- 1981
- PG
Car chases abound in this youthful, comedy action outing that centers on the rivalry between a small-town Southern sheriff and a mischievous, but basically good-hearted kid who bedevils him by joy riding in stolen cars and then destroying them. As added insult, the sheriff's daughter, the boy's steady, is frequently involved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jimmy McNichol, Janet Julian, (more)
- 1986
- R
In this sci-fi/western film set two hundred years from now, a bank robber, Grange is captured and sentenced to the penal colony on the mining planet Proxima Centauri 3 where he meets bounty-hunter Walker, and the Colonel, a retired policeman from LA who was considered the best of his kind. Grange is a dangerous lunatic and Walker and the Colonel must team up to keep him from escaping. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Farnsworth, Michael Paré, (more)
- 1991
- R
In the early '90s, Brian Bosworth made the seamless transition from football bad boy to onscreen bad ass. In Stone Cold, the Boz plays cop Joe Huff, a brute force specialist. The FBI contracts him to take down a biker gang known as the Brotherhood, who have been implicated in drug trafficking and several murders. Joe assumes the personality of John Stone and goes undercover. His mission seems not to bust the gang but rather to kill with excessive force. Before he can take the law into his own hands, however, he has to get in with the gang's leader, the impressively tough Chains. The Boz doesn't disappoint, and he gets his chance in the final confrontation where he takes on several score of the Brotherhood in the street battle to end all street battles. ~ Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Bosworth, Lance Henriksen, (more)
- 1986
- PG13
Blake Edwards co-wrote and directed this seriocomedy about a couple of rich and famous Malibuans forced to re-examine their lives and values during a weekend party celebrating the husband's 60th birthday. Jack Lemmon and Julie Andrews star as Harvey and Gillian Fairchild. Harvey is a successful architect who has attained his wealth by flattering his rich clients and compromising his ideals. Although he has everything he could want out of life, he is still unhappy. He looks at himself in the mirror and sees a middle-aged man who hates himself, feels that his children don't love him, and thinks that he is dying. Gillian, a successful singer, tries to bolster his self-confidence so that he can have a wonderful birthday. But she has problems of her own -- she has just returned from her doctor, who has informed her that she may have throat cancer. The doctor won't know for sure until the tests come back on Monday. In the meantime, Gillian tries to keep up a brave front for Harvey's celebration. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lemmon, Julie Andrews, (more)
After the phenomenal box-office and critical success of David Cronenberg's 1986 remake of The Fly, a series of big-budget remakes of '50s horror favorites rode in on its coattails in the late 1980s -- though none managed to rise above mere camp clones of their elders, albeit garnished with modern makeup effects in an attempt to draw modern teen horror-junkies. One remake that managed to live up to its cheesy inspiration was Chuck Russell's version of The Blob, in which the title goo crashes to earth and promptly begins digesting the residents of a small California town while growing to gargantuan proportions. The clean-cut teen hero originally portrayed by Steve McQueen (his first starring role) is replaced here with a rebellious outsider (Kevin Dillon) whose preppie rival (Donovan Leitch) for the affections of the cute heroine (Shawnee Smith) is quickly eliminated by the all-consuming space-gelatin. No sooner has the plasma menace set up house in the town sewers when a shadowy government Blob Squad shows up under the direction of the grandfatherly Dr. Meddows (Joe Seneca), to clean up the mess... or not. This high-spirited remake replaces the '50s "Daddy-O" conventions of the original with '80s cynicism -- not even likeable characters are spared from the slaughter -- and anti-government sentiment. It also pushes the gore envelope in ways unavailable to its low-budget parent -- e.g. the scene in which one victim is sucked through a sink drain was only hinted at in the 1958 film, but here viewers are treated to the entire bone-crunching ordeal. Though the quality of blob effects seems inversely proportional to the creature's size (some of the climactic "wall-of-blob" footage is painfully cheap-looking), the end result is more blob for the monster-movie fan's dollar. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Dillon, Shawnee Smith, (more)
