Pete Koch Movies

Bud Cort's directorial debut is a dark comedy about a romantic obsession that leads to tragedy, featuring a wide array of cameo performances including James Brolin, Carol Kane, Rhea Perlman, Martin Mull, Andrea Martin, Woody Harrelson, Timothy Leary, and Gena Rowlands. Cort is Ted Whitley, a local poet celebrity in Venice Beach, California, who spends his time drifting along the boardwalk and delivering his beat poetry inspirations at a local dive. As he sits on a pier composing his latest art work, a vision of incredible beauty --Linda Turner (Kim Adams)-- strolls by in a bikini and Ted is immediately smitten. Linda turns out to be the manager of the agency that Ted has used to try to find a new apartment. He flatters her with his attentions and his poetic rambles. For her part, she likes Ted but doesn't consider him romantic material. Ted misinterprets Linda's friendliness for amorousness and when Linda tries to back off from Ted, Ted cannot be stopped. His out-of-control obsession for Linda turns Linda's once-friendly demeanor into one of terror. But Ted continues stalking her until tragedy strikes. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Robert Altman takes a scalpel to Hollywood ethics in the 1990s (or the lack thereof) in his acidic satire The Player, adapted from Michael Tolkin's novel. (Tolkin also wrote the screenplay.) The film concerns a sleek and smooth Hollywood studio executive who starts receiving death threats from a disgruntled writer because he has committed the ultimate Hollywood sin -- he promised the writer he would call him back and he never did. This is particularly ironic because the studio executive, Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins), is considered "writer-friendly," spending his days listening to pitches from such noted screenwriters as Buck Henry, who is pushing "The Graduate, Part II" and Alan Rudolph, who is hawking a Bruce Willis action film described as "Ghost meets The Manchurian Candidate." But The Player finds Griffin's comfortable life style in danger of collapse. He is trying to find a way to unload his girlfriend (Cynthia Stevenson) whose independence and intelligence make her a poor candidate for a trophy wife. More importantly, it seems that Larry Levy (Peter Gallagher), a slippery executive from Twentieth Century Fox, is angling for his job. And then there are those nasty postcards and faxes from a screenwriter threatening to kill him. Altman cast over 65 stars in cameo roles as texture for his scabrous tale. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Though Adventures in Dinosaur City predates We're Back, the two films make good companion pieces. The "live action" characters-a bunch of precocious pre-teens-are zapped back to prehistoric times. We've established that the kids idolize a group of animated TV-series dinosaurs, so guess who they meet in the flesh (so to speak)? In the manner of the "Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm" segments of the various 1980s Flintstones revivals, the kids help the dinosaurs solve Jurassic-era crimes. It's all a great deal of fun, but at 88 minutes it may be a bit too wearing for very small children. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This sci-fi/horror sequel is set in the 21st century where the human race has been decimated by a man-made plague. Most of the normal survivors now live underground while the Earth's surface is populated by terrifying mutants. The survivors have developed a plague vaccine, but must gather the ingredients upon the dangerous surface. This version opens at the Rocky Mountain Lab, where they have run out of the vaccine and people are getting sick. A few days earlier they sent David Pennington topside to gather more ingredients. Unfortunately he has disappeared. The lead scientist then sends out three people to find David, but instead they end up tangling with a mutant. One of their party is killed. During the scuffle, they manage to cut off one of the creature's fingers and bring it back for research. Meanwhile, David wanders the desert world and meets the beautiful, pregnant Ariel, with whom he falls in love. Just before making it down to safety, the two are attacked by the mutants and one of them rapes her. When she eventually gives birth, her baby is terribly deformed. Meanwhile the finger regenerates into a new mutant horror and now with two of the dreadful creatures to deal with, things look bleak. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Joan Micklin Silver's farce stars Patrick Dempsey as a pizza delivery boy who begins satisfying the romantic needs of a group of bored Beverly Hills housewives. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

Burt Reynolds stars as the bitter bodyguard and degenerate gambler Mex in this uneven action film. He wakes up hungover, vowing to rekindle his dream of leaving Las Vegas for good if he can just raise enough money. Mex divides his time working for the low-key millionaire Cyrus Kinnick (Peter MacNicol) at the casino and moonlighting as a paid enforcer. When Mex's pretty neighbor Holly (Karen Young) is attacked by a quartet of perverted thugs, Mex goes after gang leader Danny DeMarco (Neill Barry) and company. The feature was continually plagued by production problems, with three uncredited directors employed in addition to R.M. Richards. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi