Diana James Movies
A young man learns to let nothing stop him from realizing his ambitions in this drama, based on a true story. Ever since he was a little boy, Rudy Ruettiger (Sean Astin) has dreamed of attending Notre Dame University, and playing on the Fighting Irish football team. However, Rudy's dream doesn't seem very practical; Daniel (Ned Beatty), his father, works in a steel mill and can ill afford to send his son to Notre Dame, while Rudy's grades are not especially impressive, and standing a shade over five feet tall and weighing a little over 100 pounds, Rudy is hardly built for the gridiron. However, with the help of Father Cavanaugh (Robert Prosky), a sympathetic priest, Rudy is admitted to nearby Holy Cross, and in his junior year manages to squeak into Notre Dame as a transfer student. Rudy works as an assistant to the football stadium's groundskeeper, Fortune (Charles S. Dutton), to pay his tuition (often sleeping in Fortune's office since he can't afford a room), studies diligently, and appears at tryouts for the football team. Rudy is made a member of the practice team, which means he's little more than a human tackling dummy, but Coach Ara Parseghian (Jason Miller) is impressed with Rudy's devotion and determination, and pledges that he'll allow him to dress for one game before he graduates, so his name can be recorded as an official member of the team. However, the arrival of a new coach and a tough season that allows for few unnecessary players may put a stop to Rudy's dreams within sight of the finish line. Rudy also stars Jon Favreau, Lili Taylor, and Scott Benjaminson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Astin, Ned Beatty, (more)
- 1990
- R
Best known as the sexy but intellectually challenged Kelly Bundy on Married with Children, Christina Applegate broadened her range a bit with this tough-minded drama in which she played a drug-addicted teenage prostitute living on the streets of Los Angeles. Sy (David Mendenhall) is a clean-cut, middle-class teenager who dreams of becoming a rock star, so he makes his way from the suburbs into downtown L.A. to check out the action. Shortly after arriving, Sy sees a man with a gun beating Dawn (Christina Applegate), a hooker who didn't let her customer get as rough with her as he wanted. Sy comes to Dawn's rescue, and he suffers some severe facial scratches for his trouble. Dawn takes Sy under her wing and gives him a guided tour of the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles, where murder, theft and addiction are as common as jaywalking, and hundreds of homeless kids no older than Sy fight for survival. Meanwhile, as Dawn and Sy become closer, the psycho who attacked Dawn is hot on her trail, looking for revenge and unconcerned with who gets hurt before he finds her. Streets was directed by Katt Shea Ruben, who acted in several low-budget exploitation films for producer Roger Corman before moving on to direct several films for Corman's New World Pictures. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christina Applegate, David Mendenhall, (more)
This special effects-heavy science fiction sequel moves the action from the first film's Amazon forest to the urban jungle of L.A. Danny Glover stars as Lt. Mike Harrigan, an LAPD detective baffled by his latest case, the ritualistic slaughter of several drug dealers by a devastating killer who leaves no traces. As Harrigan and his partners, Danny Archuletta (Ruben Blades), Leona Cantrell (Maria Conchita Alonso), and Jerry Lambert (Bill Paxton), try to figure out who or what killed the criminals, FBI investigator Stephen Keyes (Gary Busey) attempts to warn the team away from investigating further. When two of his team are killed in a particularly grisly way, Harrigan uncovers the truth -- their quarry is an alien creature that hunts humans for sport. Attracted to violence, its latest choice of prey is gun-toting Jamaican drug dealers. Keyes and his team know all about the nasty extraterrestrial and its bloody pastime because they've been studying it for ten years, and they've come up with a possible means of dispatching the beast. When that plan backfires, however, it comes down to Harrigan and an extremely irritated otherworldly foe, slugging it out in a rooftop confrontation. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Glover, Gary Busey, (more)
- 1990
- R
In this sequel to Watchers, an extremely intelligent dog attempts to warn his human buddy, Paul Ferguson (Marc Singer), that a deadly monster is on the loose. When the monster comes after the duo, they must find a way to stop it. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marc Singer, Tracy Scoggins, (more)
- 1989
- PG13
Hulk Hogan, in an inarguably appropriate casting choice, plays a professional wrestler in this action-packed drama. Rip (Hogan) is a grappling star who is approached by Brell (Kurt Fuller), the new head of the World Television Network. Brell wants Rip to wrestle on his network, but Rip insists on honoring his commitment to another outlet. Brell responds by launching a show called "Battle of the Tough Guys," in which the beefy regulars of a particularly rough drinking establishment fight each other on camera. Zeus (Tom "Tiny" Lister, Jr.) soon emerges as the bad guy champion on this new show, and Brell uses Rip's friendship with his assistant Samantha (Joan Severance) to arrange a bout between Zeus and Rip. Rip is not at all interested until Zeus injures his brother and makes the fight a matter of personal pride. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hulk Hogan, Kurt Fuller, (more)
This comedy returns to the exclusive but crazy country club golf course seen in the original Caddyshack. This time its the blue-bloods against the blue collars as a loud, vulgar self-made millionaire tries to join the stuffy upper-crust club after his daughter falls in love with the son of one of the members. Naturally, the boisterous millionaire is rejected by the genteel jerks. He retaliates by buying the golf course and turning it into an ultra-tacky amusement park. Merry mayhem ensues, but in the end, the snobs learn a valuable lesson, the millionaire gets to join, and his daughter and her lover are finally united. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Mason, Dyan Cannon, (more)
In this vaguely allegorical science fiction-crime film, a Los Angeles cop tries to solve the murder of his best friend with the help of his new partner -- a member of a star-faring alien race. In the near-future world of Alien Nation, the "Newcomers" are a race of formerly enslaved humanoids seeking refuge and integration into Earth society. These unusual immigrants face anger and resentment from some humans, including Matthew Sykes (James Caan), a cop whose partner, Tug (Roger Aaron Brown), was killed in a shoot-out with several Newcomers. In order to get some insight into Newcomer society and track down the "slags" who killed Tug, Sykes volunteers to take on a new partner,Sam "George" Francisco (Mandy Patinkin), the first alien ever promoted to the rank of detective. As Sykes tries to overcome his bigotry against George and his kind, who eat raw beaver and get drunk on spoiled milk, the friendly, helpful George soon learns the identity of Tug's killer: William Harcort (Terrence Stamp), a pillar of Newcomer society who is secretly manufacturing the same powerful narcotic that was used to enslave his race. It's up to Sykes and George to stop Harcort before he turns his fellow Newcomers into drooling addicts and pulls the skeletons out of his race's closet for all of humankind to see. Omen 3 director Graham Baker made his screenwriting debut with Alien Nation, as did co-writer Rockne S. O'Bannon. Kenneth Johnson, creator of the miniseries V, would adapt Alien Nation into a weekly television show in 1989 and several made-for-TV movies in the mid-'90s. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Caan, Mandy Patinkin, (more)
It's Christmas time in L.A., and there's an employee party in progress on the 30th floor of the Nakatomi Corporation building. The revelry comes to a violent end when the partygoers are taken hostage by a group of terrorists headed by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), who plan to steal the 600 million dollars locked in Nakatomi's high-tech safe. In truth, Gruber and his henchmen are only pretending to be politically motivated to throw the authorities off track; also in truth, Gruber has no intention of allowing anyone to get out of the building alive. Meanwhile, New York cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) has come to L.A. to visit his estranged wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), who happens to be one of the hostages. Disregarding the orders of the authorities surrounding the building, McClane, who fears nothing (except heights), takes on the villains, armed with one handgun and plenty of chutzpah. Until Die Hard came along, Bruce Willis was merely that wisecracking guy on Moonlighting. After the film's profits started rolling in, Willis found himself one of the highest-paid and most sought-after leading men in Hollywood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, (more)
Ex-football player Carl Weathers stars in this violent action film as Detroit policeman Jericho Jackson. The dedicated but brutal cop is plunged into nefarious doings concerning a crooked industrialist (Craig T. Nelson) and his drug-addicted girlfriend (pop-singer Vanity), breaking many people's bones before solving the case. Sharon Stone stands out in a cast of genre veterans including Nicholas Worth, Sonny Landham, and Robert Davi. Heavy on the sex and violence, this film harkens back to the glory days of 1970s blaxploitation, but is a bit too mean-spirited to be as much fun. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, (more)
