Jack Kyle Movies
A mother forgets her troubles the hard way in this independent black comedy. If the Burnett family isn't the most dysfunctional household in town, they're a good bet to be in the top three. Man of the house Jack (Dermot Mulroney) is a depressed businessman having an affair with a buxom co-worker (Christina Hendricks), his wife, Bunnie (Hope Davis), plays curious sexual role-playing games with their neighbor Simon (Chi McBride), sexually adventurous teenage daughter Kelly (Britt Robertson) is having an affair with a female classmate (Madeline Zima) while blackmailing one of her teachers (Selma Blair), and son Eric (Max Thieriot) is a fervent Christian whose loyalties are divided between a preacher obsessed with guns (Keith Carradine) and a drug-addled punk rocker (John Patrick Amedori) with a soft spot for Kelly. Things have gotten so bad for the Burnetts that their analyst has given up on them, but fate gives the family a curious second chance -- after suffering a head injury during a tryst with Simon, Bunnie develops a mild case of amnesia that wipes most of the family's troubles from her memory. The first feature film from director Vivi Friedman, The Family Tree received its world premiere at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dermot Mulroney, Hope Davis, (more)
- 2005
- NR
One of the most respected names in adult entertainment decides to go out with a bang in this laugh-filled mockumentary. Chuck Steak (Mark de Carlo) is a veteran director and producer of porn movies and has grown tired of the business. Deciding that it's time to move on, Steak wants to back out of the adult industry on a high note and begins making plans for his final picture, "Touché," a sci-fi tinged private-eye story with (of course) lots and lots of sex. Hiring two of his favorite actors for the leads -- longtime sex goddess Roxy Free (Priscilla Barnes) and disproportionately endowed Lance Long (Adrian Zmed) -- Steak starts shooting "Touché" with a documentary filmmaker capturing the proceedings for posterity, but it doesn't take long for anything that could go wrong to start doing just that. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Joel and Ethan Coen take on the classic battle-of-the-sexes screwball comedy with Intolerable Cruelty. George Clooney plays Miles Massey, a high-powered Los Angeles divorce lawyer nearing a midlife crisis . While representing wealthy client Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann), Miles meets his match in Rex's gold-digging wife, Marilyn Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones). He's impressed by her similarly heartless ways of using marriage to fuel an expensive lifestyle, but he still defeats her in court. With Marilyn looking to get her revenge and Miles finding himself attracted to her, the two engage in a ruthless romantic pursuit to out-swindle each other. Billy Bob Thornton shows up in a small role as Texas oil tycoon Howard Doyle. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, (more)
- 2003
- R
- Add Video X: The Dwayne and Darla-Jean Story to QueueAdd Video X: The Dwayne and Darla-Jean Story to top of Queue
Video X: The Dwayne & Darla-Jean Story tells the tale of a man and woman who go on a crime spree. Director James Mortellaro tells the story primarily through footage supposedly shot by his fictional lead characters. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- 1989
In her final film, celebrated British actress Peggy Ashcroft portrays one Lillian Huckle. Released from a mental institution after 60 years, Lillian is taken in her nephew (James Fox) and his somewhat trepidatious family. As they (and we) get to know Lillian better, the many social and emotional pressures that can drive a woman to insanity come to surface; worse, Lillian has always felt that she deserved her fate. Filmed in 1989, She's Been Away was telecast in the US on December 1, 1991 as a PBS Masterpiece Theatre presentation. At the end of this telecast, a tribute was offered to Peggy Ashcroft, who had died earlier that year at the age of 83. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peggy Ashcroft, Geraldine James, (more)
Based on a novel by Evelyn Waugh, Handful of Dust is set amongst Britain's aristocracy of the 1930s. At sumptuous Hetton Abbey, tradition-bound country squire James Wilby and his wife Kristin Scott Thomas open their doors to well-connected but impoverished Rupert Graves. Graves returns Wilby's hospitality by having an affair with Scott Thomas, while Wilby gamboles about his estate without a clue of what is going on. Wilby's cloistered world comes tumbling down when Scott Thomas coolly demands a divorce, shortly after the accidental death of their young son. Wilby discovers that his divorce settlement will cost him Hetton Abbey; he faces this circumstance by not facing it at all, preferring to escape to South America, stiff upper lip intact, in the company of a dotty explorer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Wilby, Kristin Scott Thomas, (more)
An international collection of well-known directors contributed to this compilation film, each fashioning a short film inspired by an aria from a famous opera. The approaches vary broadly, from the playful abstraction of Jean-Luc Godard's segment, which illustrates Armide with exercising body-builders, to the more literal approach of Franc Roddam, who transports Tristan und Isolde's story to modern-day Las Vegas. A particular stand-out is Julian Temple's take on Rigoletto, which recasts Verdi as the accompaniment to a contemporary Southern California sex farce. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
- Starring:
- Theresa Russell, Nicola Swain, (more)
