Robert Thomas Movies

An instant family classic, Benji is shot mostly from the a dog's-eye view , adding even more characterization to a title character well-played by canine veteran Higgins. Benji is an intelligent homeless mutt adopted by a loving family; when the kids are kidnapped, it's the little dog to the rescue in the best tradition of bigger doggie heroes like Rin Tin Tin and Lassie. Believe it or not, Higgins really acts; his captivating performance and the simple, straightforward telling of the story makes for all-around family fun. A sequel didn't fare as well, but the original Benji is still a furry favorite. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

After the cops catch him preparing dinner in the house that once belonged to his late wife Trudy, Monk (Tony Shalhoub) is temporarily bundled off to the Medford Psychiatric Institute. While undergoing therapy, Monk stumbles upon clues to the murder of a doctor that occurred at Medford three years earlier. But how can Monk convince the authorities that he isn't hallucinating--especially since his main sources of information include the highly delusional John Wurster (Kevin Nealon) and a thirty-year-old inmate (Ken Cheeseman) who still believes in Santa Claus? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This macabre, whimsical, erotic, dark, seriocomic film is a complex tale about an eccentric family and the psychological and emotional maelstroms that follow them around from New England to New York to Vienna, where the Hotel New Hampshire is located. Writer-director Tony Richardson worked from the convoluted novel by John Irving that covers most universally saleable topics -- homosexuality, death, incest, abandonment, Nazis, masochism, terrorists, rape, mental instability, and anarchists. The children in the family are the main focus: John (Rob Lowe) is a womanizing high-school student with a deep-rooted desire for his own sister; Franny (Jodie Foster) is the eldest daughter, a victim of a gang rape, now morbidly fascinated by one of the rapists, and equally attracted to her brother with incestuous desire; Frank (Paul McCrane) is the younger gay brother; and Lilly (Jennifer Dundas) is the little sister who blossoms into a famous author. Associated with the family is Suzie the Bear (Nastassja Kinski) who is not secure enough to come out of her bear suit. One friend of the family, Freud (Wallace Shawn), has been blinded by the Nazis and is running the Hotel New Hampshire in Vienna when he asks everyone to come and help him out. By this time, the plot has run out of room, and the climactic endings to several unresolved relationships happen in quick succession. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

US Marshal Mickey Dane is sent back to his native Prague to investigate the assassination of a Cuban UN ambassador. The prime suspect is professional hit woman Simone Rosset, the lesbian co-owner of a posh restaurant there. The other owner is Simone's girl friend. Mickey catches Simone, but then she escapes. He and his partner CIA-agent Alex Reed, catch her again and take her into the countryside until they can sneak her back into the States. As time passes, Mickey begins suspecting that she is innocent of the crime. Simone swears that she has retired and hasn't left the Czech Republic in over five years. Finally convinced, he and she head back for Prague only to find themselves even more deeply entangled in a complex conspiracy, treachery and violence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This made-for-TV feature is based on the true story of Dean Kraft, who worked within the traditional medical community as a hands-on healer. Discovering his unique gift at an early age, Kraft (played as an adult by Anthony Michael Hall) is reluctant to utilize his healing talents, agreeing to do so only under emergency conditions. Even when he comes to terms with his abilities, Kraft must face the often hostile skepticism of "mainstream" doctors and caregivers. The story reaches a melodramatic apex when Kraft attempts to bring a doubting doctor's daughter out of a coma. Scott Davis Jones' teleplay is careful to neither fully confirm nor flatly deny Kraft's healing prowess, permitting viewers to draw their own conclusions. A Touch of Hope made its NBC network debut on October 10, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For sheer abject self-indulgence this side of an Eric Schaeffer movie, one need look no further than the films of Henry Jaglom. Jaglom's vanity productions require an intense Stalin-like loyalty to the filmmaker and his films going in, otherwise a viewer is lost. So when, in Venice/Venice, Henry Jaglom appears as a filmmaker named Dean at the Venice Film Festival, there promoting a film resembling a Henry Jaglom film, a viewer must give himself up to the force or walk out of the theater. Dean is the kind of pretentious Hollywood type who likes to wear his heart and his distribution contract on his sleeve, so when adoring European journalist Jeanne (Nelly Alard) inexplicably smiles at him the right way, filmgoers will come to understand why the film business is so attractive to wimpy film geeks. Jeanne and Dean fall in love and take a walking tour of Venice, but Jeanne pays no attention to the city, since she religiously hangs on every word Dean has to say regarding love, films, and destiny. Since there are more pearls of wisdom to be gloaned from this Bel-Air Gandhi, Jeanne willingly follows Dean back to Venice, California. Realizing that she has already spent too much time basking in the brilliance of Dean's sun, Penny (Melissa Leo), Dean's California girlfriend, obligingly offers to pack up and leave when she sees Dean returning to Southern California with Jeanne in tow. When Henry Jaglom talks, they all listen. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide