James Lorinz Movies
- 1996
- NR
Dan Zukovic wrote and directed the L.A. social satire The Last Big Thing. He also stars in the film as Simon Geist, a self-styled intellectual, cultural critic, and agent provocateur . Simon is spewing his bile about the millennial decline of popular culture to the oblivious patrons of a video store when he gets the attention of Darla (Susan Heimbeinder). Darla, a "trust fund baby" who resentfully accepts her father's financial support, responds to Simon's nihilistic rhetoric and his air of certainty. She's drawn to "the mystery of someone who appears to have an agenda." Soon, Darla is helping Simon by setting up interviews with up-and-coming actors and alternative bands for his magazine, "The Next Big Thing." Of course, the magazine doesn't actually exist, and the interviews Simon conducts are essentially performance art pieces in which he insults his subjects for their complicity in the destruction of American culture. Darla is in love with Simon, who consents to live with her (off her father's money) but is cold to her. Although she keeps her collection of 1970s TV show memorabilia a deep dark secret, he constantly derides her for her unwitting participation in our degraded culture. One of the actors Simon interviews, Brent (Mark Ruffalo of You Can Count on Me) loses his gig on a TV medical drama, and shows up on Simon's doorstep, saying he's in a "period of re-evaluation," and Darla nervously welcomes him into their circle. Simon also interviews a pretty model, Tedra (Pamela Dickerson), who sees through his magazine ruse instantly. Tedra is still intrigued with Simon, and gets him a job directing a music video for a hot new band he'd previously interviewed. Meanwhile, Darla begins producing her own magazine, which will expose the truth about her relationship with Simon, and his sordid past. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- 1995
- R
Two guys from Queens wind up in trouble with the mob because of their fondness for prank phone calls in this quickie comedy. Stars Johnny Brennan and Kamal Ahmed first found fame as "The Jerky Boys" thanks to a series of comedy albums featuring real prank calls in which the duo assumed a variety of abrasive and often extremely foul-mouthed characters. Playing characters based on themselves, they reprise many of these same routines in this debut film, linking the comic bits together through a loose plot concerning local organized crime. It seems the boys have used their phone skills to trick a local mobster (Alan Arkin) into thinking that they are notorious Chicago hoods, only to have to go on the run when their scheme is discovered. Made to capitalize on a Jerky Boys fad, the film failed to attract much of an audience beyond their existing fans. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Brennan, Kamal Ahmed, (more)
A young man (Matt Dillon) is trying to go in with his friends on a bowling-alley investment, but finds that his finances are too strapped to attempt the venture. To curb his outlays, he begins arranging a marriage for his ex-wife (Annabella Sciorra) so he can end the alimony payments which keep him in debt. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matt Dillon, Annabella Sciorra, (more)
- 1993
Janice Licalsi (Amy Breneman) is blackmailed into cooperating with the Mob. Feeling that Martinez (Nicholas Turturro) didn't do enough to prevent the drug-overdose death of his brother, Martinez' father (Luis Guzman) takes the law into his own hands. And the very married Detective Medavoy (Gordon Clapp) celebrates his 40th birthday by going ice-skating with gorgeous administrative assistant Donna Abandando (Gail O'Grady). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this second sequel to Robocop, the mechanical humanoid opposes the evil designs of his creators, who have gone corrupt and are trying to take over all real estate in Detroit, kicking the poorer citizens out of their homes and turning them out into the streets. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert John Burke, Nancy Allen, (more)
Jimmy Corona (James Lorinz) is related to a bunch of mafia types, sure, but he has always earned his living writing potboiler exposés on the killing of John F. Kennedy. Now his publisher insists that he write something gritty about society's underside instead. This makes the youngish man suicidal, but none of his amateurish attempts to end his own life succeeds. Eventually he decides to seek out his mobster uncle (Tony Darrow), who takes him under his wing. He is just getting into the swing of this new life when he is snared by the cops to get the goods on his uncle's second in command. However, Jimmy's competence and luck in this, as in everything else, soon turns sour, when his body mike starts playing that day's ball game. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Lorinz, Tony Darrow, (more)
- 1990
- R
A sexy car thief revs up a bail bondsman in this romance. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1990
- R
Adventurous viewers not repelled by the title of this horror exploitation-comedy from Frank Henenlotter (director of the splatter cult classic Basket Case) will find a fair share of laughs on display, thanks to Henenlotter's typically energetic devil-may-care brand of gruesome humor. James Lorinz tears up acres of scenery as Jeffrey Franken, a neurotic electrician and aspiring mad scientist, who goes completely 'round the bend after his slightly pudgy girlfriend (former Penthouse pet, Patty Mullen) is shredded by his latest invention, a remote-control lawn mower. Preserving her head in his mom's freezer, he sets out to acquire shapely female parts to rebuild the rest of her, focusing his search on the city's red-light district. After watching a news feature on crack addiction among local prostitutes, Franken hits on the solution and invents a formula for "supercrack," which triggers the spontaneous detonation of anyone who smokes it. After blowing apart a hotel roomful of unfortunate ladies, he spirits their scattered limbs home to his garage laboratory, where his patchwork creation is eventually brought to life in a hilarious lift from The Bride of Frankenstein. Apparently, her brain spent too much time bobbing in the same preservative bath used for the hooker-parts, since she is instantly compelled to peddle her assets on every street corner in town, resulting in the high-voltage deaths of several johns (who are not entirely dissatisfied with their choice of demise). Her exploits reach the attention of sadistic pimp Zorro (Joseph Gonzalez), who, obsessed with finding the person responsible for blowing up his women, tracks her back to Franken's lab for the inevitable (and quite disgusting) confrontation. Basically a collection of crude but hilarious sight gags (Franken's predilection for plunging a power drill into his own skull; the pimp knocked senseless by flying severed limbs) and goofy throwaway dialogue, this may offer guilty pleasures for fans of Henenlotter's comic theater of the absurd. Frankenhooker is available on video in R and unrated versions, some featuring a suitably tacky slipcase, which, when pressed, screeches the words "Wanna date?" ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Lorinz, Patty Mullen, (more)
- 1990
- R
Hubert Selby's controversial 1964 cult novel Last Exit To Brooklyn is adapted to the big screen by director Ulrich Edel in this drama. The story is set in the early 1950s in Red Hook, Brooklyn, a blighted waterfront town of boarded-up storefronts and striking factory workers. Harry Black (Stephen Lang), a machinist put in charge of the local union strike office, suddenly finds himself one of the most important men in town. But for all his sudden power, there's something disturbing Harry. He rejects his wife's caresses and discovers himself infatuated with a frail young man who calls himself Georgette (Alexis Arquette), who has a crush on well-muscled hood Vinnie (Peter Dobson). But Harry doesn't confront his problem head-on until he falls head-over-heels in love with Regina (Zette), a local transvestite. As the strike becomes more intense, Harry sinks deeper into an obsessive affair with Regina, using the strike fund to shower him/her with personal gifts. As Harry sinks into obsession, other characters float through the decaying streets. There's the attractive prostitute Tralala (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who falls in love with a sailor about to be shipped overseas. There is also an agreeable young man named Tommy (John Costelloe) who is beaten by his soon-to-be father-in-law Big Joe (Burt Young) for making his daughter Donna (Ricki Lake) pregnant. Everything comes to a tragic conclusion as the workers' strike escalates into a violent confrontation. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Lang, Jennifer Jason Leigh, (more)
The gritty underbelly of New York's complex, ethnically divided criminal world is exposed in this dark drama from director Abel Ferrara. Christopher Walken stars as Frank White, a drug lord who's just been released from a long stint in prison. Aware that feeding off of society's depravity has made him a wealthy man, Frank has become determined to give something back to the city, and he hatches a scheme to build a multimillion-dollar public hospital in one of Brooklyn's worst ghetto neighborhoods. Needing the assistance of his fellow criminals to pull it off, Frank and his adjutant Jimmy Jump (Laurence Fishburne) encounter a wall of resistance from every faction, including drug-trade partner Lance Wong (Joey Chin) and temperamental cop Dennis Gilley (David Caruso). Frank's do-gooder efforts ultimately result in a Mob war and in a bloody showdown between the city's various ethnic criminal actions. Ferrara followed King of New York with a similarly themed film that many critics considered his masterpiece, Bad Lieutenant (1992). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Walken, David Caruso, (more)
This shocker will most likely appeal to fans of pitch-black beyond-bad-taste comedy. Others may find it highly offensive and gory as it chronicles the fate of homeless Brooklyn winos when they get into some tainted wine and begin melting into slimy puddles of human goo. The wine, called "Tenafly Viper," is being sold by the owner of a liquor store who found it lying around in his basement and sells it to the bums for a buck. It is later revealed that the wine was deliberately spiked by the government. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mike Lackey, Vic Noto, (more)
