David Schechter Movies

A married couple deal with a crushing loss in a way that's both funny and deeply sad in this comedy-drama from director, screenwriter and star Stanley Tucci. Don (Tucci) and his wife Janna (Patricia Clarkson) meet every night in the same shabby nightclub where Don performs a humorously shambolic magic act. Don and Janna's relationship has been on the verge of collapse since the death of their daughter, and they're trying to reconnect with each other through role playing, so each evening they pretend they're meeting for the first time on a blind date after discovering one another through personal ads. Sometimes they assume characters that are openly confrontational, while other times they try to bring a sweetness and intimacy back into their lives, but more often than not their struggle to reclaim the love they knew ends in confusion and frustration. Blind Date was adapted by Tucci and screenwriter David Schechter from Theo Van Gogh's 1996 film of the same name; it was the second in a series of remakes of Van Gogh's films (following Steve Buscemi's Interview) created in response to Van Gogh's assassination by political extremists in 2004. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The first new entry in the G.I. Joe franchise for the 21st century--a franchise that stretched back to Hasbro Toys' introduction of the "G.I. Joe" action figure back in 1964, and included three previous cartoon programs--the animated G.I. Joe Sigma 6 was a coproduction of Hasbro and Japan's Gonzo Studios. The "team" concept was carried over from the earlier cartoon versions, as a group of six multiethnic "Joes" (men and women), each endowed with incredible strength and resilience and boasting the latest in secret-agent technology, did weekly battle against their traditional enemies, the minions of the evil organization COBRA. Motivating many of the plotlines was the race between Sigma Six and Cobra to locate the mysterious Power Stones, which yielded unbelievable technological powers. The character lineup on this occasion (eminently adaptable to Hasbro playthings) included, of course, the six main Joes: Duke, Snake Eyes, Tunnel Rat, Long Haul, Heavy Duty and Scarlet. Also on hand were Commander Cobra, Overlord Vector, General Hawk, Kamukara, Hi-Tech, Machete, Destro, Zaratan, Storm Shadow, Torch and Jinx the Ninji, Spirit the Indian, The Baroness, Tomax, Flint, Overkill, Scott, and Spud the Robo Dog. Introduced with a 5-part pilot episode, G.I. Joe Sigma 6 was added to the Fox Network's Saturday-morning "4Kids" cartoon lineup on August 27, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A genetics researcher is found murdered in his trashed laboratory. At first, it appears that a militant animal-rights group was responsible for the killing. But the detectives and the lawyers unearth another possible avenue of prosecution when it is revealed that the dead woman's husband, Donald Walsh (John Cunningham), is a chronic philanderer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi