Peter MacNeill Movies

A straight-laced chemist begins questioning society's standards and confronting his own darkest desires after falling for the all-American homecoming queen who joined a hippie death cult and made headlines for her murderous exploits. Perry (Gregory Smith) is your typical God-fearing American: A diligent academic who landed a good job at a chemical company before proposing to his Christian girlfriend Dorothy (Kristin Adams), he always did right by the Lord and his parents. But while Perry was always fortunate in life, Leslie was irreparably damaged by her parents' divorce, an abortion, and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Following Timothy Leary's advice to "tune in, turn on, and drop out," the former cheerleader joined up with charismatic cult leader Charles Manson and helped his gang slaughter an upstanding citizen in her own home. Now Perry has been chosen to serve on the jury that will decide Leslie's fate. The moment Perry and Leslie lock eyes in the courtroom, the sheltered chemist is hopelessly smitten. Could their wildly divergent paths somehow converge? The more Perry learns about Leslie the stronger his infatuation grows, and the more he begins to question the rules that society has imposed on them both. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Director Kari Skogland takes the reins for a Buffalo Gals Pictures production starring Academy Award winner Ellen Burstyn as author Margaret Laurence's much-lauded heroine Hagar Shipley. Hagar may by 90, but she not ready to lie down and die just yet. Her decisions stem straight from her heart, and that often alienates her family and friends. When Hagar's son, Marvin (Dylan Baker), takes his mother to look at a nursing home, she takes it as her cue to leave her family behind and set out on one great last journey. Her mission is to locate the seaside home she remembers from her youth, but Hagar's memory is quickly fading, making it difficult for her to distinguish the past from the present. As a young girl, Hagar was set to inherit her father's mercantile empire until she was disowned for marrying a bold young man named Bram Shipley (Cole Hauser). Later, when Hagar's romantic illusions fade and she begins to view her husband with contempt, her decision to deny her children the kind of parental approval that she so badly longed for from her own father provokes a deep hereditary flaw. As she makes her way toward the seashore, Hagar realizes her time is running far too short to make up for a lifetime of unacknowledged mistakes. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

David Cronenberg directed this screen adaptation of a graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke which explores how an act of heroism unexpectedly changes a man's life. Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) lives a quiet life in a small Indiana town, running the local diner with his wife, Edie (Maria Bello), and raising their two children. But the quiet is shattered one day when a pair of criminals on the run from the police walk into his diner just before closing time. After they attack one of the customers and seem ready to kill several of the people inside, Tom jumps to the fore, grabbing a gun from one of the criminals and killing the invaders. Tom is immediately hailed as a hero by his employees and the community at large, but Tom seems less than comfortable with his new notoriety. One day, a man with severe facial scars, Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris), sits down at the counter and begins addressing Tom as Joey, and begins asking him questions about the old days in Philadelphia. While Tom seems puzzled, Carl's actions suggest that the quiet man pouring coffee at the diner may have a dark and violent past he isn't eager to share with others -- as well as some old scores that haven't been settled. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Gail Harvey's Some Things That Stay stars Katie Boland as a teenager whose adolescence is complicated by her bohemian family and their resistance to the cultural mores of Eisenhower-era America. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Standup comedian turned director Chris Ver Weil makes his debut with this wild and woolly romantic comedy cum noir crime thriller. The film centers on Trevor Finch (Christian Slater), a master counterfeiter and career con who learns that he has a price on his head from mob hitman Critical Jim (Tim Allen). The reason turns out to be a wacky case of mistaken identity -- Finch has assumed the name Cletis Tout, a sleazy, long-dead French muckraker with, it turns out, a criminal history himself. Rewind to 1977, when Micah (Richard Dreyfuss) pulls off a massive diamond heist and buries his booty in a field with the help of his young daughter Tess. Five presidential administrations later, Micah and his cellmate Finch bust out of prison, only to learn from the now-grown Tess (Portia de Rossi) that the diamonds are behind the walls of another newly built prison. Meanwhile, sparks begin to fly between Tess and Finch. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

A reporter learns some lessons about love from a woman who has made it her business in this made-for-TV comedy-drama. Joanna Scott (Linda Hamilton) is a woman who thought she had the perfect life -- a successful career as a journalist and a strong marriage with her husband, Dale (Stewart Bick), that's already lasted ten years. But when Dale suddenly announces that he's leaving Joanna for a younger woman, her self-confidence goes out the window and she's not sure what to do next. Joanna's editor assigns her to write a story about Madame Simone (Jacqueline Bisset), the Madame of the most luxurious bordello in Paris. It's hardly a subject Joanna would have chosen herself, but she figures a trip to France on the magazine's expense account might help to cheer her up. Joanna meets with Madame Simone, but the Madame senses that Joanna is unhappy and asks her a few questions about the state of her love life. Madame Simone then takes it upon herself to pass a few of the lessons she's learned about sensuality and romance along to Joanna, teaching her the importance of self-confidence as she looks for new love. Sex & Mrs. X first aired on April 10, 2000. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Set in a Nova Scotian fishing community, the made-for-TV Blue Moon focuses on a group of local citizens who are under the financial pressure of a land-grabbing tycoon. Particularly hard hit is restaurant manager Cass Medieros (Sharon Lawrence), who not only may have her property sold out from under her, but is also experiencing serious problems with her marriage. Despite these tribulations, family values emerge triumphant over so-called progress. This film represents the final screen appearance of Richard Kiley, here rather incredibly cast as the son of Kim Hunter--who was almost exactly the same age as he! Based on a novel by Luann Rice, Blue Moon debuted April 11, 1999 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Former Kids In The Hall member Bruce McCulloch wrote and directed this comedy about the romantic tribulations of a group of Toronto twenty-somethings whose relationships with their dogs are more stable and long-lasting than their romances with people. Nice guy Andy (Luke Wilson) gets dumped by his girlfriend Cheryl (Kathleen Robertson) when she meets another man (Gordon Currie); worst of all, Cheryl also ends up with custody of Andy's dog. On the rebound, Andy meets Lorna (Natasha Henstridge), the host of a children's TV show, but she's too obsessed with her dog Peanut to pay Andy much mind. Keiran (Kristin Lehman), on the other hand, is a bit too enthusiastic for Andy, leading to yet another short-lived relationship. Cheryl ends up taking her dog (formerly Andy's dog) to a pet psychiatrist (Mark McKinney) who thinks that her promiscuity may be traumatizing the pooch. Meanwhile, Bruce McCulloch and Janeane Garofalo are cast against type as Jeff and Jeri, Andy's cheerful and annoyingly romantic friends. Although it was completed in 1998, Dog Park's U.S. release was delayed until September 1999 due to the film's sale to New Line Cinema; as a result, Bruce McCulloch's directorial debut hit theaters only a month before the scheduled release of his second film, Superstar. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Ten years after he disappeared from his family's life, Sweet William (Chris Leavins) returns home to Nova Scotia for his sister's wedding. Despite the fact that he's gone from a morbidly obese adolescent to a thin, handsome, self-assured young man, the reunion proves bittersweet. Although he reconnects with his loving sister Rosemary (Kerry Fox) and his Alzheimer's-afflicted grandmother Grace (Joan Orenstein), he is dismayed to learn that his parents' rocky marriage has settled into permanent animosity. He also witnesses the toll his absence has taken on his abusive, alcoholic father, Whiskey Mack (Peter MacNeill); his tight-lipped mother Iris (Seana McKenna); and Violet (Christine Dunsworth), the tomboyish younger sister he's never met. The past lingers in the very air of William's childhood home; disturbing visions of himself as both a waifish boy (Ian Parsons) and a fat adolescent (Troy Veinotte) follow him everywhere. And it's not just the ghosts who dredge up the past. Rosemary's new husband, Fletcher (Joel S. Keller), flirts shamelessly with William, bringing back memories of the painful relationship the two shared as teenagers. When Iris disappears, William must confront not only the haunting visions of his past, but also the unfinished business he left behind. The feature debut of writer/director Thom Fitzgerald, The Hanging Garden was the winner of the Air Canada People's Choice Award for best picture and the co-winner of the Toronto-CITY TV Award for Best Canadian Film at the Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

In this thriller, an author who was paralyzed after she was attacked by a serial killer who had been inspired to violence by her first book decides to publish a sequel. It proves to be a bad idea, for no sooner is it published than she finds herself victimized again, first through ominous e-mail messages from the Internet and then through physical violence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

After surviving a brutal car wreck, commercial director James Ballard finds himself slowly drawn to a mysterious subculture of people who have transformed automobile accidents into erotic events. Like the J.G. Ballard novel that inspired it, David Cronenberg's study of the sexual dimension of man's relationship to technology was a magnet for controversy, drawing a NC-17 rating and criticism from several sources, including studio owner Ted Turner, who attempted to prevent the film's American release. But though some have leveled charges of pornography, James' descent into this fetishistic underworld is approached with cold, scientific detachment. Characters like Vaughn, the charismatic group leader who stages recreations of celebrity car crashes, seem more like driven researchers than sexual renegades, which is undoubtedly part of the film's point. This impression is reinforced by the pristine cinematography by Peter Suschitzsky, which proves particularly haunting during a crucial accident scene, and Howard Shore's superb score. Far from exploitative, Crash in fact proves less transgressive than the original novel, but is still undoubtedly not for all tastes. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

In this tense police thriller, a routine investigation into a gambling operation becomes personal for a policewoman and her partner when the latter's pregnant wife is brutally murdered and he is accused of the crime. His partner's further investigation leads her to the dangerous conclusion that the killing is somehow connected to the gambling and even worse, to corruption in her own precinct. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide