Whitby Hertford Movies
An ambitious young intern at a prestigious Miami law firm finds his dreams of passing the bar and becoming a real lawyer thrown into question when he hastily agrees to help one of the firm's partners move -- only to discover that the attorney's new home is in Los Angeles. Rick Robinson (Ben Gourley) has what it takes to become a great lawyer, the only trouble is that he's a bit of a pushover. Though today he spends most of his time copying documents and dreaming of courtroom debate, in four short days he will take the bar and begin his professional career. Upon stepping into the office elevator and noticing one of the firm's partners, Maxwell McAllister (Rutger Hauer), the starstruck Rick jumps at the chance to help the counselor move. His patience is put to the ultimate test, however, when he arrives at the lawyer's house to find a mountain of boxes and a note demanding that he hire a moving truck and drive the load to Los Angeles. As if that weren't bad enough, the lawyer's pet pig and spoiled, college-dropout daughter, Michele (Mila Kunis), will be joining him on the drive. Not only does the tempestuous Southern belle seem intent on sabotaging Rick at every turn, but by the time he arrives in L.A. he will have to jump on a plane and race home in order to take the bar exam on time. Strong bonds have a funny way of forming in tense situations, though, and before Rick and Michele know it, they can't stand the idea of being apart. Moving McAllister also co-stars Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Gourley, Mila Kunis, (more)
- 1995
- G
- Add The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving to QueueAdd The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving to top of Queue
In this third installment of the animated saga of a young brontosaurus and his pals, trouble has come to the Great Valley in the form of a meteorite. It fell just beyond the valley and now blocks the main water supply. As the land dries and thirst increases, the different species of dinosaurs who once coexisted peacefully become fractious. Suddenly Littlefoot and his friends are no longer allowed to play together. As bigotry and bickering increase, Littlefoot's gang decides that it's up to them to save the day. Since they went outside the valley in the last sequel, they know where water can be found, and though the Great Beyond is populated by tyrannosauruses and other carnivores, the youngsters know that they and their parents must take that risk in order to survive. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Bennett, Linda Gary, (more)
My Summer Story is the video title for It Runs in the Family. Based on the writings of humorist/raconteur Jean Shepherd, the film was the long-awaited sequel to the 1984 "sleeper" A Christmas Story. Set in the 1940s, the story is told from the point-of-view of Ralphie Parker (Kieran Culkin), who watches in bemusement as "The Old Man" (Charles Grodin) carries on a long-running feud with their hillbilly neighbors, the Bumpus family. Mary Steenburgen is cast as Ralphie's ditsy mom. Also appearing is yet another celebrity sibling, Christian Culkin. Jean Shepherd himself narrates, as he did in the earlier film, while the direction is in the hands of A Christmas Story's Bob Clark. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Grodin, Mary Steenburgen, (more)
Steven Spielberg's phenomenally successful sci-fi adventure thriller is graced by state-of-the-art special effects from the team of Stan Winston, Phil Tippett and Michael Lantieri from George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic. The film follows two dinosaur experts -- Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr. Ellie Sattler Laura Dern) -- as they are invited by eccentric millionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) to preview his new amusement park on an island off Costa Rica. By cloning DNA harvested from pre-historic insects, Hammond has been able to create living dinosaurs for his new Jurassic Park, an immense animal preserve housing real brachiosaurs, dilophosaurs, triceratops, velociraptors, and a Tyrannosaur Rex. Accompanied by cynical scientist Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), who is obsessed with chaos theory, and Hammond's two grandchildren (Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello), they are sent on a tour through Hammond's new resort in computer controlled touring cars. But as a tropical storm hits the island, knocking out the power supply, and an unscrupulous employee (Wayne Knight) sabotages the system so that he can smuggle dinosaur embryos out of the park, the dinosaurs start to rage out of control. Grant then has to bring Hammond's grandchildren back to safety as the group is pursued by the gigantic man-eating beasts. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sam Neill, Laura Dern, (more)
Inspired more by the 1960s TV series than by the original Charles Addams New Yorker cartoons, The Addams Family proved to be one of the more successful of the TV shows-turned-movies of the 1990s. The film opens on a recreation of the magazine cartoon wherein the ghoulish Addamses prepare to pour hot oil upon a group of merry Christmas carolers. After a series of vignettes which establish the characters of Gomez (Raul Julia), Morticia (Anjelica Huston), Wednesday (Christina Ricci), Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) and family servants Lurch (Carel Struycken) and Thing (Christopher Hart), the plot proper gets under way. A stranger, played by Christopher Lloyd, shows up on the Addams doorstep, claiming to be long-lost Uncle Fester. It appears, however, that Lloyd is a ringer, in cahoots with attorney Tully Alford (Dan Hedaya) to strip the Addamses of their fortune. In their usual against-the-grain fashion, the Addams Family seems to delight in the possibility that they're being hoodwinked-indeed, not even kidnapping or death threats dampen the Addams clan's joy of living (or should we say dying?). The Addams Family served as the directorial debut of cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, (more)
James Belushi and Charles Grodin team up for this variation on the Prince and the Pauper. Belushi plays Jimmy Dworski, a convicted car thief, serving time in a minimum security prison. But when Jimmy wins a pair of tickets to the World Series from a radio call-in show, he can't resist walking out of jail, particularly when the warden won't even let the inmates watch the series on television. Grodin plays rich workaholic Spencer Barnes, who, when his wife walks out on him right before a long-planned vacation, leaves his datebook in an airport telephone booth. Happening upon Spencer's datebook is Jimmy, who simply intends to return the datebook to Spencer for a 1,000-dollar reward. But when he finds the datebook contains his credit cards, Jimmy assumes Spencer's identity, living the good life and dating the boss's daughter, while making his way to Malibu to return the property to Spencer. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Belushi, Charles Grodin, (more)
- 1990
Because he adores children, Joey (David Coulier) is certain that he'd be the ideal host for the new educational TV series "Mr. Egghead." Alas, Joey's taped audition for the show ends in disaster--and worse still, Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) suffers a broken nose during the taping, one day before her class photo is to be taken (Evidently, the scriptwriters hadn't forgotten the famous "swollen nose" episode of The Brady Bunch). Other crosses borne by the Tanner family include a troublesome traffic ticket for Danny (Bob Saget) and DJ (Candace Cameron). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) and DJ (Candace Cameron) have their biggest-ever argument, forcing Danny (Bob Saget) to take drastic measures to restore peace in the Tanner household. The result is a rapidly assembled "family court", with Danny as judge and the others as jurors. And in another development, Danny, Joey (David Coulier) and Jesse (John Stamos) challenge one another to a foot-race during a live telecast of "Wake Up San Francisco"--meaning that the whole city is anxiously awaiting the outcome. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
- R
- Add A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child to QueueAdd A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child to top of Queue
In the fifth installment in the Nightmare on Elm Street series, Alice (Lisa Wilcox) begins the film with the notion that she is safe after she vanquished the evil Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) by learning how to battle the dreamworld psychopath within her own unconscious mind. But somehow Freddy has survived, and Alice discovers that he's found a place where Alice can't protect herself when he taps into the dreams of her unborn child. Freddy is soon leaving a trail of destruction while the child is still in the womb, and he will become even more deadly when the child comes to term. Memorable moments include Freddy's attack on a comic book artist and his Hellish experiences when "the bastard son of a hundred maniacs" is locked in an insane asylum with a nun. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child was followed by Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, though Mr. Krueger popped up again in Wes Craven's New Nighmare. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Englund, Lisa Wilcox, (more)
- 1989
Succumbing to peer pressure, Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) joins her classmates in making fun of a nerdish kid named Walter Berman (Whit Hertford in his first series apperance), better known as "Duckface." Outraged by this behavior, Jesse (John Stamos) forces Stephanie to apologize to Walter--with unexpected results. Elsewhere, Joey (David Coulier) briefly subs for Becky (Lisa Loughlin) on Danny's morning TV show, and DJ (Candace Cameron) embarks upon a most unusual school project. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- R
Rampage delves into the subject of legal insanity, so often the default defense in modern-time gruesome crime trials. Alex McArthur plays an outwardly normal guy who goes on incredible killing and mutilating sprees until (and even after, when he escapes for a short time) he's captured. When he comes to trial, the liberal DA (Michael Biehn) is torn between his own leftist leanings and the reality of the heinous crimes for which the accused is being tried. He must argue for the death penalty. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Biehn, Alex McArthur, (more)
- 1987
Home Fires was first presented in two parts over the Showtime pay-cable service in August of 1987. The film purported to trace four days in the life of an "average" family. Right. The father is an attorney, facing a hostile judge in a case wherein poisoned workers are suing a craven plastics company. The lawyer's ex-wife is a hospitalized schizophrenic who makes unlimited phone calls to her children. His present wife is a painter who has had an affair with a fellow art student. The highlight of Part One of Home Fires is a masturbation scene involving the family's youngest son; just wait til we get to Part Two (see entry 126257 for details). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Part two of the four-hour Showtime Cable Network film Home Fires (see entry 126256 for details on Part One) traces the further adventures of a "typical" American family. Embroiled in a case involving corporate negligence, the family's attorney father admits to bribing a witness. When that matter is settled, he punches out the art student who's had an affair with his second wife. Meanwhile, wife number one, a hospitalized schizo, rambles incoherently on the telephone at all hours of the day. Yet despite all that's going on, Home Fires leaves the viewing feeling empty and uninvolved at fadeout time. The film was originally telecast over Showtime in August of 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
