Justin Louis Movies
- 1990
Meredith Baxter-Birney stars against type as a mother whose child dies, prompting her to kidnap another baby to replace him. Years pass, and when the maturing child begins having nightmarish flashbacks, he begins to question his true identity. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meredith Baxter, David Ogden Stiers, (more)
Written and directed by John Bradshaw, The Big Slice stars Casey Siemaszko and Justin Louis as a pair of aspiring mystery novelists. Knowing next to nothing about crime, the two writers decide to "live" their adventures. Venturing out into the Big Bad World, the boys pose as a cop and a criminal-and, not surprisingly, get in way over their heads. Heather Locklear makes a token "femme fatale" appearance in this frenetic farce. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Casey Siemaszko, Justin Louis, (more)
Bette Midler stars as Stella Claire, a working class, fun-loving barmaid in northern New York State. A brief affair with handsome Stephen Dallas (Stephen Collins) produces a daughter, Jenny (Trini Alvarado), who Stella insists upon raising alone, despite Dallas' marriage offer. As the years pass, Stella and Jenny are a happy pair. Stella gives up bartending to sell cosmetics, supported by her friend Ed (John Goodman), a bartender developing a crush on her and a problem with alcohol. Dallas has stayed involved with his beloved daughter from afar and is now a urologist in New York City, engaged to a book editor (Marsha Mason). As Jenny reaches adulthood, Stella becomes aware that life with her father would provide her daughter with opportunities that she'd never have otherwise, so she devises a painful, self-sacrificing scheme to drive Jenny from the nest. Although functional as a tearjerker, many of the themes in Stella simply don't make as much sense in a modern age of healthy, fractured families, muting the drama of the tale's earlier versions, specifically Stella Dallas (1937). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Midler, John Goodman, (more)
Director Jack Sholder followed his surprise sleeper hit The Hidden (1987) with this action drama that re-teamed Young Guns (1988) co-stars Kiefer Sutherland and Lou Diamond Phillips. Sutherland stars as Buster McHenry, a Philadelphia cop working undercover as a thief in the gang of wealthy, sadistic Marino (Rob Knepper). When the gang's heist of some diamonds goes awry, a few innocents are shot, and a valuable Native American spear is stolen landing Buster in bureaucratic hot water. Along comes Hank Storm (Phillips), intent upon retrieving the relic of his Sioux tribesmen and avenge the death of his brother. Hank and Buster team up to take Marino down and expose police corruption in the process. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, (more)
Tom Cruise juggles Martini shakers and ice cubes as the materialistic Brian Flanagan, a bartender who drops out of school to search for the perfect "rich chick" who will bankroll him into luxury. Brian meets up with bar veteran Doug Couglin (Bryan Brown) and they put together a dance-duo bar-tending act, taking five minutes to a mix a drink as they dance and toss gin bottles behind the bar to cutting-edge rock music circa 1988. The patrons, instead of demanding the booze, are dazzled by their antics and cheer them on. As a result, the bartenders become wildly popular -- in particular, Brian, who finds the bar babes falling all over each other to hop into the sack with him. As a result of their bar-tending success, they get hired to tend bar at a swanky disco, but there Brian and Doug have a falling out, and Brian takes off for Jamaica. There he meets vacationing New York City waitress Jordan Mooney (Elisabeth Shue) and the two fall in love. But then Brian meets rich New York fashion executive Bonnie (Lisa Banes) who wants to take Brian back to Manhattan with her to become her drink-mixing stud. When Jordan sees this, the love affair is put on hold. But not for long, as pangs of consciousness begin to filter through Brian's drunken haze. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Cruise, Bryan Brown, (more)
- 1988
The first new TV-movie of 1988 (it debuted January 1st), Drop-Out Mother is a belated follow-up to the 1983 Dick Van Dyke vehicle Drop-Out Father. Valerie Harper plays a busy executive who decides one day to turn her back on the business world to become a full-time mom. Problem is, her husband and kids have pretty full lives, thus they can't quite accommodate her. Wayne Rogers plays hubby, Danny Gerard and Alyson Court are the kids, and Carol Kane is the obligatory Best Friend. Drop-Out Mother passes the time, but it's a far cry from its consistently entertaining 1983 predecessor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- R
Though not a true sequel to Paul Lynch's derivative slasher-dud Prom Night, this Carrie-flavored horror film begins in 1957 with the fiery death of bitchy prom queen Mary Lou Maloney (Lisa Schrage) courtesy of a backfired stinkbomb stunt pulled by her jealous ex-boyfriend. Thirty years later, her killer has become the school principal (Michael Ironside), and sweet, innocent Vicki (Wendy Lyon) is a contender for the prom-queen title. Mary Lou's vengeful spirit spies the perfect opportunity to reclaim her crown once and for all. The rest of the film involves Vicki adopting Mary Lou's less-than-reputable habits and messily destroying anyone who stands between her and the coveted title. High points include a telekinetic "Tutti Frutti" locker-room squashing and a swirling demonic blackboard, all courtesy of FX wizard Jim Doyle, who worked previously on A Nightmare on Elm Street, to which this film bears some stylistic similarities. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Ironside, Wendy Lyon, (more)
