Walt Jordan Movies
Sunset Grill directed by Kevin Connor is a suspenseful, well-written and acted contemporary film noir with an idiosyncratic look at life on the wild side. Ryder Hart (Peter Weller) is a burnt-out former L.A. private detective who hears about the murder of a trafficker in illegal aliens, but who does not get involved until his wife is murdered. Investigating the murder, Ryder meets tycoon Shelgrave (Stacy Keach), who collects Mayan art, and his seductive assistant Loren (Lori Singer). The rather complicated plot includes double-crosses, possible murders of illegal aliens to sell their organs, and it culminates in a bloody shootout. Director Conner deftly ties up all the loose ends of the plot and gives them an internal consistency, as one incident leads to and explains another, creating a portrait of a complex, anti-hero, whose pain is explained but not sentimentalized. The plot is over-complicated, and the supporting cast contains more lunatics than most asylums, however Sunset Grill delivers what it promises: complex, contemporary mystery at its very best. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Weller, Lori Singer, (more)
Director Lawrence Kasdan's Grand Canyon is a gathering of random events, uniting the film's wildly divergent protagonists. Driving home from an LA Lakers game, Mack (Kevin Kline), an immigration attorney, is stranded in an unsavory part of town when his car breaks down. He is rescued from a gang of hoods by Simon (Danny Glover), an African-American tow truck driver, inaugurating a friendship between these two men. Mack offers to repay Simon's kindness by helping his sister (Tina Lifford) find an apartment in a better neighborhood, and by arranging a blind date between Simon and Jane (Alfre Woodard), a friend of Mack's secretary Dee (Mary Louise Parker). Woven into this fabric are the tribulations of Mack's best friend, a pompous exploitation movie producer (Steve Martin), who is later wounded in a robbery similar to the one threatening Mack at the beginning of the film; of Mack's wife Claire (Mary McDonnell), who adopts an abandoned baby, and disenfranchised son Roberto (Jeremy Sisto); and of Simon's nephew (Patrick Malone), who is contemplating joining a street gang. The title is symbolic, referring to the class-imposed chasms which would normally separate the characters. Kasdan co-wrote the screenplay with his wife Meg. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kevin Kline, Danny Glover, (more)
- 1990
A welcome exception to the slasher-stalker-kidnapper films usually seen on the USA cable network, After the Shock is a tribute to the courage and heroism of Bay Area residents following the San Francisco earthquake of October 17, 1989. Director Gary A. Sherman opts for a "cinema verite" approach, utilizing a hand-held camera to recreate the style of the original on-the-spot TV reporting. The cast includes Scott Valentine, Rue McClanahan, Yaphet Kotto, Jack Scalia and Richard Anthony Crenna as various firefighters, paramedics, law officials and private citizens. One of the best performances is offered by Nick Zaninovich, a real-life quake survivor who spent seven hours trapped in his car, which was buried under a collapsed stretch of the Nimitz freeway. After the Shock debuted September 12, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
