Doug Barron Movies
Expelled from her homeland and determined to seek out the daughter she was once forced to abandon, Kosovar journalist Emma Berisha sets out on a harrowing journey to reclaim her life in director Agim Sopi's accound of the horrific atrocities committed during the Balcan War. Emma was working with American journalists Laura and David Schwartz when was broke out in Kosovo. Somehow, in the midst of all the chaos, the three journalists just barely manage to escape the invading Serbian forces. After reporting to the local news agency, the trio learns that NATO forces are about to intervene and that all Americans are to be evacuated immediately. Though Laura and David implore Emma to flee with them, she refuses to leave her homeland until she has locates with her missing fiancé Edi. Immediately after Emma and Edi are reunited the Serbian forces begin a forced exodus of the Kosovar population, prompting Emma, Edi, and his family to flee for Pristine. Just as they began to think that they were safe in the remote village, invading Serbian forces throw Emma in with the other Kosovar women. There, the prisoners are gang raped before ultimately being expelled into Albania. According to the Red Cross, Edi is being detained in a Serbian prison in Nish. When the fighting has ceased, a pregnant Emma returns to Kosovo to find that it has been completely destroyed. Emma longs for that day that Edi will be released from prison, and soon gives birth to a baby girl she names Ana. But while Emma's family implores the new mother to get rid of the child, the new mother is determined to care for her baby the best that she can. Ultimately, Emma is forced to place Ana in an orphanage until she can properly care for the girl. It's during that time that David returns to Kosovo, and pays Emma for the work she conducted before the war. Now possessing the money needed to provide for her young daughter, Emma embarks on a desperate journey to locate Ana before the helpless girl falls prey to human traffickers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Doug Barron, Lumni Sopi, (more)
Photographer Cindy Sherman, who often uses motifs from exploitation films in her work, pays witty tribute to slasher films in this satiric horror-comedy. Dorine Douglas (Carol Kane) has spent 16 years at the bottom of the totem pole as a copy editor for Constant Consumer magazine when, due to budget cuts, she's downsized into a contract employee and forced to work out of her home. Dorine isn't at all happy about this, and when she's called back into the office to help obnoxious writer Gary (David Thornton) fix a glitch in his computer, she's not at all upset when he's accidentally electrocuted. Dorine brings Gary's corpse home to join her in front of the TV. When pushy publisher Virginia (Barbara Sukowa) orders Dorine and overly ambitious Kim (Molly Ringwald) to salvage Gary's story from his notes, Dorine snaps, and soon Gary has some company in Dorine's increasingly crowded home office. Office Killer also stars Jeanne Tripplehorn and Michael Imperioli as more of Dorine's co-workers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carol Kane, Molly Ringwald, (more)
Megan Turner (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a rookie cop who witnesses a robbery in progress on her first night on the job. With her more experienced partner using the men's room, Megan decides to take action on her own. She creeps into the supermarket where a man (Tom Sizemore in a small role) is holding the clerk at gunpoint. Megan gets close enough to shoot the gunman, and calls out for him to drop his weapon. He spins the gun toward her, and she unloads her service revolver into his chest. His gun goes flying, and a bystander, Eugene Hunt (Ron Silver), surreptitiously picks it up and takes it home. Megan's superiors, unable to confirm that the man she shot was armed, suspend her. Eugene, a wealthy commodities broker, becomes obsessed with Megan. He sets up an "accidental" meeting between them and begins dating her, romancing her with fancy restaurants and helicopter rides over Manhattan. He also carves her name into the bullets he uses to gun down strangers in the street. A tough homicide detective, Nick Mann (Clancy Brown of The Shawshank Redemption), gets Megan's gun and badge back so she can help him track down the psycho killer. Eventually, Megan realizes that Eugene is the killer, but he uses his money and influence to elude the law, and he starts coming after Megan's friends and family. Megan's determination to bring Eugene to justice quickly becomes a very personal obsession. This intense cop drama, Blue Steel, was director Kathryn Bigelow's major studio follow-up to her well-received indie vampire flick, Near Dark. Bigelow co-wrote both films with Eric Red (The Hitcher). ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie Lee Curtis, Ron Silver, (more)
The birth of the gay rights movement gets a fictionalized treatment in this drama based loosely on the acclaimed documentary of the same name by Martin Duberman. In 1969, Matty Dean (Fred Weller) arrives in New York City's Greenwich Village hoping that life there will provide the sexual liberation forbidden to him by his small town upbringing. Matty falls in love with LaMiranda (Guillermo Diaz), a cross-dresser who introduces him to the regulars at the infamous Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar. He is shocked, however, to learn that the NYPD regularly raids the Stonewall, harassing the clientele and closeted owner Vinnie (Bruce MacVitte). After one such incident, Matty ends up in jail, where he's attracted to Ethan (Brendan Corbalis), a gay activist preaching a moderate policy of conformity and peaceful protest. The latter is not possible, however, when police storm the Stonewall yet again and, led by Vinnie's lover Bustonia (Duane Boutte), enraged drag queens fight back in a riot of historical significance. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guillermo Diaz, Frederick Weller, (more)
New York art dealer Arne Glimcher took his first crack at film directing with this florid, high-energy romance about two brothers who flee Cuba in the early 1950s to make it as musicians in the United States. Cynthia Cidre wrote the literate screenplay adapted from Oscar Hijuelos's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. Cesar (Armand Assante) and Nestor Castillo (Antonio Banderas) are popular musicians on Havana's club circuit, but when they make enemies of the wrong people, they are forced to leave for New York City, the moody Nestor leaving behind his true love. In New York, the brothers work as meat-cutters during the day as Cesar tries to organize a band and make inroads into the lively New York music scene. Soon, as The Mambo Kings, they get club bookings and Cesar falls in love with a sharp-tongued cigarette girl, Lanna Lake (Cathy Moriarty), and Nestor with the beautiful Delores Fuentes (Maruschka Detmers), who wants to be a teacher. Cesar concentrates on singing and managing the band, while Nestor plays the trumpet and writes emotional songs of love. All seems to be going well until Cesar antagonizes the moneymen on the Latin nightclub circuit and they finds themselves playing bar mitzvahs. But after they're discovered by Desi Arnaz (Desi Arnaz Jr.), the group is prominently featured on I Love Lucy. Their popularity soars and they cut a successful album called "Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love." Cesar is glorying in his success, but Nestor is disappointed and longs to return to Cuba. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Armand Assante, Antonio Banderas, (more)
An honest man struggles to do the right thing, even if it means breaking the law, in this drama. Artie Lewis (Michael Keaton) is a scrupulously ethical cop who believes in his work, loves his wife Rita (Rene Russo), and stands by his partner Stevie Diroma (Anthony LaPaglia). Stevie is a single parent, and when he's shot and killed on duty, his three daughters (Grace Johnston, Rhea Silver-Smith, and Blair Swanson) are left with nowhere to go. Artie and Rita want to adopt Stevie's girls, but Child Welfare Services decides that their apartment is too small for three children. Artie needs to buy a house, which would require a $25,000 down payment that he doesn't have. Desperate, Artie grabs his gun and robs Beniamino (Tony Plana), a particularly scummy drug dealer who was peripherally involved in Stevie's death. Artie uses most of the take to buy the house, and he gives the rest to Father Wills (Vondie Curtis-Hall), who runs a local orphanage. However, what Artie doesn't know is that Beniamino's girlfriend Grace (Rachel Ticotin) is actually an undercover cop who won't stand by as Artie plays Robin Hood. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Keaton, Rene Russo, (more)
A tortured man finds himself caught in a middle-ground between hallucination and reality in this supernatural thriller, scripted by Bruce Joel Rubin of Ghost (1990) and My Life (1993).
Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) is a soldier stationed in Vietnam who undergoes a traumatic experience on the battlefield - the nature of which is initially unclear. The film then moves into his post-Vietnam experience in 1970s New York, where he feels consistently traumatized, but can never quite remember exactly what happened to him in Southeast Asia or to free himself from his anxieties over the recent tragic death of his young son (Macaulay Culkin). Though well educated, Jacob works as a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service and has become romantically involved with one of his co-workers, Jezzie (Elizabeth Pena), after divorcing his wife. Soon, Jacob's tenuous hold on reality starts to slip as horrifying events befall him; he is nearly run over by a subway train, pursued by faceless demons in cars, and spots reptilian tails and horns protruding from the bodies of those he encounters. Jacob also suffers severe panic attacks related to the chaos that may be reality, or may exist only in his mind. He seeks counsel from Louis (Danny Aiello), a kindly chiropractor, as his ex-wife Sarah (Patricia Kalember), fellow Vietnam vet Paul (Pruitt Taylor Vince), and enigmatic stranger Michael (Matt Craven) all try to help the tortured soul. Jason Alexander, Ving Rhames and Eriq LaSalle highlight the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) is a soldier stationed in Vietnam who undergoes a traumatic experience on the battlefield - the nature of which is initially unclear. The film then moves into his post-Vietnam experience in 1970s New York, where he feels consistently traumatized, but can never quite remember exactly what happened to him in Southeast Asia or to free himself from his anxieties over the recent tragic death of his young son (Macaulay Culkin). Though well educated, Jacob works as a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service and has become romantically involved with one of his co-workers, Jezzie (Elizabeth Pena), after divorcing his wife. Soon, Jacob's tenuous hold on reality starts to slip as horrifying events befall him; he is nearly run over by a subway train, pursued by faceless demons in cars, and spots reptilian tails and horns protruding from the bodies of those he encounters. Jacob also suffers severe panic attacks related to the chaos that may be reality, or may exist only in his mind. He seeks counsel from Louis (Danny Aiello), a kindly chiropractor, as his ex-wife Sarah (Patricia Kalember), fellow Vietnam vet Paul (Pruitt Taylor Vince), and enigmatic stranger Michael (Matt Craven) all try to help the tortured soul. Jason Alexander, Ving Rhames and Eriq LaSalle highlight the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, (more)
- 1995
- PG13
Reckless is a dark, dream-like comedy-fantasy adapted by Craig Lucas from his play that takes place in a strange, hallucinogenic otherworld. Mia Farrow stars as annoying, air-headed housewife Rachel, who discovers on Christmas Eve that her husband Tom (Tony Goldwyn) has arranged for a hit man to murder her. Barely escaping with her life into the snowy wastes of her neighborhood, Rachel crosses paths with a social worker, Lloyd (Scott Glenn), and Lloyd's paraplegic, deaf and mute wife, Pooty (Mary-Louise Parker). Rachel takes up house with the friendly couple, but Lloyd is not quite what he appears to be and the naïve Rachel is forced to flee. This time, her travels take her into contact with a variety of eccentric characters, including game show host Fast Tim Timko (Giancarlo Esposito), the staff of a non-profit group, and a troubled nun. As she crosses America, Rachel visits all 50 states, although she repeatedly ends up in towns called Springfield. Reckless (1995) was the third and final film of director Norman Rene, who passed away the following year. Rene had previously collaborated with Lucas on the films Longtime Companion (1990) and Prelude to a Kiss (1992). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mia Farrow, Scott Glenn, (more)
In this action comedy, director Gregg Champion relies on the premise that, indeed, "country boys can survive," as Sonny (Kiefer Sutherland) and Pepper (Woody Harrelson, always game) head off to the Big Apple in order to rescue a mutual friend's daughter from the clutches of an evil sweatshop owner. Naturally, there are lots of encounters highlighting the two fishes out of water; there are opportunities to lasso bad guys; there's even a chase on horseback through the city streets after Sonny and Pepper steal a pair of NYPD horses. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Woody Harrelson, Kiefer Sutherland, (more)
Businessman Larry Burrows (James Belushi) has a wife who ignores him, a screwball friend who won't leave him alone, and a car that continually breaks down. All that and more is enough to give him a mid-life crisis. After his car stalls once more, he enters a bar looking for help and encounters a bartender (Michael Caine) who shows him what his life would have been like, if he hadn't struck out in a baseball game back in high school. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Belushi, Michael Caine, (more)
