Grant Kramer Movies
Forest Whitaker, Kim Basinger, Jay Mohr, Danny DeVito, Nick Cannon, and Carla Gugino star in director Mark Rydell's ensemble addiction drama detailing the manner in which gambling and drugs affect a variety of people's lives during the weeks leading up to a championship college basketball game. Carolyn (Basinger) is a struggling novelist whose addiction to the slots drives her to deceive her husband Tom (Liotta). Though Carloyn claims to be working on her latest manuscript at a nearby coffee shop, the reality of her situation is decidedly more desperate. Meanwhile, local maintenance worker Clyde (Whitaker) stands at the sidelines of the basketball court cheering for his little brother Godfrey (Cannon) while keeping his lingering gambling debts a well-guarded secret. In another part of town, the ageing Detective Bruner (Kelsey Grammer) methodically trails malevolent bookie Victor (Tim Roth) as Victor's small-time counterpart Augie (Mohr) patiently waits for his ship to come in. As the big game draws near and casino magician Walter (DeVito) befriends gambling-addicted novelist Carolyn, all of these disparate characters slowly come together on a tragic collision course. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Basinger, Nick Cannon, (more)
- 1996
This interesting horror film stars Debbie Rochon as "Scream Queen" Raven Quinn, whose next-door neighbor Wayne (Grant Kramer) is an obsessively psychotic fan. Wayne prays to an altar of Raven in his living room, then begins dressing like Santa Claus and murdering her female co-stars when he feels betrayed. Despite being full of the usual scenes of naked women being stabbed and rended with garden trowels, this film has a bit more on its mind. It is really the first comment by the Scream Queen industry on itself and the possibly dangerous fans who slaver over slick magazines and films that trade on women covered in blood, many of them feigning death. It is a disturbing subgenre, but one which director John Russo (editor of Scream Queens Illustrated) knows intimately, and it is comforting to see that he understands its potential downside. Mainstream horror fans should enjoy the film too, especially with cameos from Marilyn Eastman and Karl Hardman of Night of the Living Dead (which Russo co-wrote) and a fine lead performance by Rochon. When she recites monologues defending her career choices and worrying about some of her obsessive fans, she sounds as if she speaks from experience and delivers a message that many of her real-life fans need to hear. This film, for all its flaws, just might represent a small step toward maturity for a subgenre hopelessly mired in self-denial and dangerous pandering. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Debbie Rochon, Grant Kramer, (more)
- 1991
- PG
It probably takes an intimate acquaintance with East Germany's famously awful car, a smoky, noisy two-cylinder lawnmower on wheels, the Trabant 601, to fully appreciate the jokes in this extremely popular, celebrity-filled comedy. In the story, Gunther (German television star Thomas Gotttschalk) is an East German inventor who has journeyed with his homely car to an inventor's convention in Hollywood: he has figured out a way to get his Trabbi to run on turnip juice and zoom like a sports car. When his odd car is stolen, he tries to get it back, but L.A. and it's culture are alien to him and he is very much a fish out of water, despite the friendly advice he receives from Billy Dee Williams as a knowledgeable parking-lot attendant. Look for cameos by Milton Berle and Dom DeLuise, among others. This Trabbi film is a sequel to the enormously popular comedy Go, Trabi, Go. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thomas Gottschalk, Billy Dee Williams, (more)
