Sidney Lassick Movies

In this postmodern exploitation flick loosely based on "Little Red Riding Hood," the uneducated daughter of a drug-addicted prostitute flees the foster-care system in search of her long-lost grandmother but meets up instead with a serial killer. Vanessa (Reese Witherspoon), a nearly illiterate firebug and serial shoplifter, desperately clings to normalcy even though her mother turns tricks, does drugs, and manages to ignore the fact that the girl's stepfather Michael T. Weiss has been abusing her for years. When both of her parents get arrested, Vanessa steals the car of her family-services caseworker (Conchata Ferrell) and heads up Interstate 5 in search of her paternal grandmother, who's never met her. Car problems force her to accept a ride from Bob Wolverton (Kiefer Sutherland), a youth counselor who uses charm and sympathy to get the girl to open up. Confessing the sordid details of her childhood to Bob, Vanessa is shocked when he suddenly declares that she's one of the "garbage people" and that he plans to murder her and have sex with her corpse. Bob, it turns out, is the "I-5 Murderer," who's been slaughtering young prostitutes in the Los Angeles area. Thanks to a gun borrowed from her fiancé, Vanessa manages to turn the tables on Bob, shooting him repeatedly and leaving him for dead. He survives, Vanessa is arrested, and the two meet up again in court -- with her unrepentant, even though the police disbelieve her story, him flanked by his prim wife (Brooke Shields) and the righteous indignation of the American legal system. Locked up in the juvie for psychological evaluation, Vanessa gets in touch with her wild side and eventually escapes, heading off to her fateful meeting with grandma. Although Freeway was originally filmed for HBO, vigorously positive critical response eventually earned it a theatrical release. Alanna Ubach, who portrays Vanessa's nemesis/accomplice Mesquita, would go on to appear with Witherspoon in Legally Blonde. Freeway also features two Clueless alumni: Dan Hedaya, as a police detective, and Brittany Murphy, as the disfigured lesbian who befriends Vanessa in lock-up. Michael T. Weiss, who previously appeared in gay indie Jeffrey, appears in both Freeway and its sequel, Freeway 2: Confessions of a Trickbaby. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

In the sequel to the hit comedy Sister Act, Whoopie Goldberg reprises her role of Deloris Van Cartier, a Las Vegas entertainer who hid out with in a convent of nuns to avoid a nasty bunch of gangsters. In Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, Deloris is persuaded to return to the convent by the Mother Superior (Maggie Smith), because her help is needed in teaching their choral students at St. Francis High in San Francisco. However, St. Francis is in a crisis, since the administrator running the school (James Coburn) is threatening to shut the place down. If the gospel choir wins first place in a singing contest in Los Angeles, St. Francis will be saved from the priest's plans. Though the plot is rather thin and derivative, Sister Act 2 is lighthearted fun, thanks to good musical numbers and winning performances from the cast. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

In this comedy-fantasy, beach-bum Scotty McKay and his buddies are granted their every wish by a luscious genie who has been assigned to do Scotty's bidding. Soon the fellows are carousing in splendor surrounded by their hearts' desires. Unfortunately, it isn't enough for Scotty, who really wants his sexy super-model neighbor Dana. Unfortunately, Jeanie has no power over love. Still she does her best to make him attractive to the shallow cover-girl. It works, but just as Scotty is to get his wish, Jeanie realizes that she is in love with him and that Dana cares nothing for him. She disobeys her commands and interferes with Scotty's wish and all sorts of mayhem ensues until at last true love prevails. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Laurence Fishburne plays no-nonsense LAPD narc Russell Stevens, Jr., who has worked all his life to expunge the memory of his dope-addict father, whom he saw die in a liquor-store robbery. DEA agent Jerry Carver (Charles Martin Smith) orders Stevens to work as an undercover operative on a major case. The cop is to pose as a dealer in order to get the goods on South American drug lord. Stevens is so convincing as a dealer, that he fast works his way up through the ranks and gains the trust of lawyer and narcotics dealer David Jason (Jeff Goldblum) and his sinister associates, all lackeys to the kingpin who is the target of Stevens' assignment. Through a series of fantastic but credible circumstances, Stevens eliminates the lower echelon, getting closer to his quarry, but in the process he finds himself so deep into the sinister and seductive world of the drug trade that he may never get out. In a surprise move, and just when he is about to bring the ringleader down, the DEA pulls the plug on his assignment, because the top dealer, an influential Latin American politician, may someday be useful to the State Department. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The leader of a motorcycle gang (rapper Vanilla Ice) falls in love with a small-town girl (Kristen Minter) and finds out that while her family is involved in the Witness Protection Program, they are being pursued by corrupt cops. ~ John Bush, Rovi

Christina Applegate stars in this convoluted comedy that comes across as a teen fantasy combination of Home Alone and Working Girl. The premise is all in the title -- when the mother (Concetta Tomei) of a sniveling group of surly kids goes on a much-deserved summer vacation, she leaves her kids under the charge of an elderly distaff granny (Eda Reiss Merin). When granny ups and dies, the kids load her dead body in a trunk and deposit the package on the steps of the local funeral home. The kids are ecstatic thinking that with the big wad of cash Mom has left, they can have a summer of consumer madness. But when they find out that the money has been buried with the baby-sitter, the kids have to fend for themselves to make ends meet. Dream teen Sue Ellen (Christina Applegate) tries working at a fast food restaurant but she can't stand the grease. So, she puts together a false resume and, posing as a twenty-eight-year old, she applies for a job as a receptionist at a garment manufacturing company. The company vice president, Rose (Joanna Cassidy), is so impressed by her resume that she hires her on the spot as her executive assistant. Her deception looks to be working out great -- Sue Ellen manages to hold off the office lady killer Gus (John Getz), avoids exposure by the embittered receptionist, borrows money from the company's petty cash box for household incidentals, and continues her relationship with restaurant employee Bryan (Josh Charles). But suddenly, the clothing firm is set to go under, and Sue Ellen must use her teen fashion sense to save the company and her job . . . and she has to get the rest of the brood involved. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

French actress Sophie Marceau made her American film debut in this story in which she plays Bernadette, a woman from Paris who comes to the U.S. after being promised a job. However, upon her arrival, Bernadette learns that she's fallen victim to a hoax; stuck in America, she looks for work while staying with her close friend Shirley (Anne Curry), who is looking for her break as an actress. Their friendship faces a considerable challenge when Bernadette finds herself falling for Shirley's boyfriend. Pacific Pallisades also features Toni Basil, the actress, dancer, and choreographer best known for the hit song "Mickey". ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Valerie Breiman and Claudia Christian play the two sisters of the title. Containing very little dialogue, the film details the ambitions and sensual yearnings of the two heroines. The whole production has the rhythm and texture of a poem--and for good reason. Tale of Two Sisters was based on a poem written Charlie Sheen, which, like most of his verse, has made the Hollywood rounds several times without ever actually being published. Sheen also "stars" in Tale of Two Sisters, albeit only as offscreen narrator. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

David Keith both directs and stars in this Sri Lanka-filmed adventure spoof. Taking equal portions of "Indiana Jones," King Solomon's Mines and The Macomber Affair, the film finds Keith playing Buck Malone, a mercenary hunter, headquartered in Borneo. Hired to guide a cotton-witted married couple through the wilderness, Malone falls in love with the wife (former Playboy foldout Kathy Shower) while hubby (Brant van Hoffman) walks around in a perpetual daze. The film ventures into John & Bo Derek territory when the intrepid trio cross the path of erotically-inclined cannibals. Further Adventures of Tennesse Buck isn't exactly rocket science, but it's immensely enjoyable on a low-comedy level. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This in-name-only sequel to the mediocre H.P. Lovecraft adaptation The Curse is a slight improvement on its predecessor, eschewing any trace of Lovecraft in favor of a standard nuclear-mutant-beast plot but imbuing this theme with a menagerie of brain-damaged setpieces. When the protagonist and his girlfriend stumble across an abandoned atomic test site, he's bitten on the arm by an irradiated snake-monster; in a creative but excessively grotesque twist, only the venom-infected arm begins to undergo the inevitable transformation into a fanged beast (sort of a reptilian variant on Bruce Campbell's rebellious demonic hand in Evil Dead 2), which leads to some unpleasant quirks in the young couple's relationship. Before long, the poor guy becomes a veritable snake-factory, churning out baby serpents at an incredible clip. The performances are quite good and the makeup effects (by Screaming Mad George) deserve credit for their disgusting audacity. Very weird but more fun than its predecessor, this is probably the film that Sssss! wished it could have been. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

This time out, the services of Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) and David (Bruce Willis) are engaged by the deceptively mild-mannerd Alan Tupperman (Guy Boyd). It seems that lonely Alan is in search of the "perfect mate", and he expects the detectives to find this elusive woman--or at the very least, locate several women from which he can choose. The episode's action is counterpointed by significant scenes culled from the 1935 horror flick The Bride of Frankenstein). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this undistinguished, derivative slasher movie, a homicidal maniac is accidentally released from a hospital because of a computer error and heads to the site (a sorority) of his past murders to continue his penchant for mayhem. The good but obviously witless Dr. Joan Gilmore takes off after him while the villainous hospital administrators cover up the mistake and send some staff thugs out to get both the doctor and the escaped lunatic. Gilmore poses as a sorority woman and soon finds herself menaced on all sides as the gruesome, graphic murders begin to mount. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This week's trouble begins when a mild-mannered fellow named Leo (Sidney Lassick) entrusts Judge Harry (Harry Anderson) with a winning lottery ticket. It now falls to Harry to select the "worthy individual" who will receive the three-million dollar prize. Meanwhile, bailiff Bull (Richard Moll) wrestles with the problem of working the word "Pentimento" into a sentence. William Utay, soon to become a recurring character as philosophical derelict Phil Sanders, is here seen as Ivan Brewster. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi