Mike Shannon Movies
Iconoclastic satirist John Waters bites the hand that (periodically) feeds him in this humorous look at the underside of the film industry. Self-styled guerrilla filmmaker Cecil (Stephen Dorff) leads a Baltimore movie-making collective/street gang called the Sprocket Holes, which includes Cecil's girlfriend and frequent leading lady, a low-rent porn actress named Cherish Oh Lordy (Alicia Witt). Desperate for attention, they kidnap famous Hollywood actress Honey Whitlock (Melanie Griffith) during a Baltimore publicity stop and force her at gunpoint to star in their latest production, Raving Beauty. Before long, Honey comes down with a severe case of Stockholm syndrome and joins the Sprocket Holes in their bid to destroy the mainstream film industry. Waters regulars Ricki Lake, Patty Hearst, and Mink Stole highlight the supporting cast, and techno star Moby contributes to the soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Melanie Griffith, Stephen Dorff, (more)
In this independent drama, a young man tries to find himself in the early 1970s as he wades through a swamp of heroin addiction. FH (Billy Crudup) is a well-intentioned but weak-willed man whose propensity for messing up his life has earned him his nickname, short for "F--khead." FH's problems with drugs begin in earnest when he falls in love with Michelle (Samantha Morton), a beautiful but emotionally unsettled woman addicted to heroin. FH soon finds himself drawn to the needle, and the couple drifts from one incident to the next, some funny and some horrifying. Michelle rescues FH from overdoses on a few occasions, although their friend Wayne (Denis Leary) isn't so lucky. After a few years, Michelle becomes pregnant and has an abortion in Chicago shortly before leaving FH and journeying to Mexico. While heading South in hopes of finding her, FH falls into a relationship with an older woman, Mira (Holly Hunter), and becomes involved in an auto wreck; his brush with death, and the opportunity to save a child's life, lead him into rehab and a chance to straighten out his life. The American debut from New Zealand director Alison Maclean and based on the novel by Denis Johnson, Jesus' Son also features Dennis Hopper, Will Patton, and Jack Black. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Billy Crudup, Samantha Morton, (more)
Just as the university research team is about to prove that their new technique will permit water to be used as a fuel, their laboratory is sabotaged and the lab manager is killed. Eddie Kasalivich (Keanu Reeves) stumbles onto the scene and manages not only to witness the sabotage, but to escape from it. When he tries to talk about it to authorities, he discovers that they think he and the other project survivors committed the crime. In reality, a group of energy companies have conspired with interested parties in the government to completely erase all notion of the existence of a way to use water as fuel. The project sponsor (Morgan Freeman) wants Eddie to turn himself in, but before he can do that, he must find enough evidence to clear himself and his friends. But in order to succeed, Eddie must avoid assassination attempts by the real perpetrators. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Keanu Reeves, Morgan Freeman, (more)
Bill Murray plays Phil, a TV weatherman working for a local station in Pennsylvania but convinced that national news stardom is in his grasp. Phil displays a charm and wit on camera that evaporates the moment the red light goes off; he is bitter, appallingly self-centered, and treats his co-workers with contempt, especially his producer Rita (Andie MacDowell) and cameraman Larry (Chris Elliot). On February 2, 1992, Phil, Rita, and Larry are sent on an assignment that Phil especially loathes: the annual Groundhog Day festivities in Punxsutawney, PA, where the citizens await the appearance of Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog who will supposedly determine the length of winter by his ability to see his own shadow. Phil is eager to beat a hasty retreat, but when a freak snowstorm strands him in Punxsutawney, he wakes up the next morning with the strangest sense of déjà vu: he seems to be living the same day over again. The next morning it happens again, and then again. Soon, no matter what he does, he's stuck in February 2, 1992; not imprisonment nor attempted suicide nor kidnapping the groundhog gets him out of the loop. But the more Phil relives the same day, the more he's forced to look at other people's lives, and something unusual happens: he begins to care about others. He starts to respect people, he tries to save the life of a homeless man, and he discovers that he's falling in love with Rita and therefore wants to be someone that she could love in return. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, (more)
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