Craig March Movies
A travel agent in deep debt attempts to swindle a by-the-books insurance agent by claiming the corpse of a gangland hit as his long-missing brother in director Mark Mylod's dark crime comedy. Paul Barnell (Robin Williams) is in trouble. Saddled with a cantankerous wife (Holly Hunter) and unable to convince ambitious insurance company agent Ted (Giovanni Ribisi) to pay off the one-million-dollar claim on his brother, who has been missing for five years, Paul's debts are mounting as fast as his life is crumbling. When Paul discovers the corpse of a nameless man who ended up on the wrong side of the mob, desperation drives him to stage a grizzly death scene and make it look as if his brother has suffered a horrible fate. Though the local police force is easily taken by Paul's elaborate ruse, it's going to take a little more convincing before Ted is willing to sign off on the hefty insurance payment. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Williams, Holly Hunter, (more)
Director Alex Proyas (Dark City, The Crow) helmed this sci-fi thriller inspired by the stories in Isaac Asimov's nine-story anthology of the same name. In the future presented in the film, humans have become exceedingly dependent on robots in their everyday lives. Robots have become more and more advanced, but each one is preprogrammed to always obey humans and to, under no circumstances, ever harm a human. So, when a scientist turns up dead and a humanoid robot is the main suspect, the world is left to wonder if they are as safe around their electronic servants as previously thought. Will Smith stars as Del Spooner, the robot-hating Chicago cop assigned to the murder investigation. Bridget Moynahan, Bruce Greenwood, James Cromwell, and Chi McBride also star. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, (more)
Home Improvement's Richard Karn lends his talents to this family-oriented animal-sports adventure from the producers of another animal-sports picture, Air Bud. MVP II: Most Vertical Primate picks up the story line of the first film in the series, MVP: Most Valuable Primate, but transfers its star monkey from the suburbs to the city, and switches his sport of choice from hockey to skateboarding. MVP II opens with the lovable Jack being ousted from his hockey team, the Seattle Simians, and having to hit the road after being falsely accused of league misconduct. Jack ends up in the city, where he's befriended by Ben (screen newcomer Scott Goodman), a homeless skateboarder, and Ollie (Karn), a skate shop owner. Jack proves to be as adept at mastering the half-pipe as he does at delivering a slap shot, and before long, he and Ben are crashing amateur skateboarder competitions all over the country. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cameron Bancroft, Richard Karn, (more)
- 2002
In this Ghost-like blend of fantasy and crime melodrama, stockbroker Sterling Brooks (Cameron Bancroft) dies before his time in a freak accident. Not having led the most exemplary of lives, Brooks is not permitted to enter Heaven until he performs a good deed on earth. Thus, he endeavors to rescue a young mother, Annie Campbell (Erika Eleniak), and her seven-year-old daughter, Marissa (Nickol Tschenscher), from the gangsters who have torn their family apart. One of several Mary Higgins Clark adaptations produced in Canada for the PAX network, He Sees You When You're Sleeping first aired on December 22, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2000
Like most teenagers, 14-year-old Scott Marshall (Michael J. Pagan) feels like a misfit "freak" within his own family. In this instance, however, circumstances are a bit different. Practically every member of the Marshall family possesses super-powers and leads a double life as a costumed hero. His dad, Jim (Robert Townsend, who also directed this film), is an orthodontist by day and the crime-busting Bronze Eagle by night. Even Grandpa Marshall (Sherman Hemsley), now in retirement, can recall the good old days when he battled the forces of evil as the Steel Condor. Alas, poor Scott possesses none of his parents' or his siblings' special powers -- in fact, he's so clumsy that he is in danger of being washed out of his school's soccer team. But Scott eventually proves that there's more to heroics than mere muscle power when he's called upon to rescue his family from a gang of techno-villains. Up, Up and Away made its Disney Channel cable TV bow on January 22, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael J. Pagan, Robert Townsend, (more)
Producer/director Roger Corman briefly abandoned Edgar Allan Poe for The Secret Invasion, a commendable attempt to make a war epic on a "B" budget. The story is a scaled-down precursor to The Dirty Dozen: Five criminals are given a chance at a pardon by agreeing to participate in a suicide mission for British Intelligence. They are smuggled into Yugoslavia (where this film was made) to conduct several commando raids against the Nazi invaders. The quintet is comprised of veterans of internationally-produced war films: Stewart Granger, Raf Vallone, Mickey Rooney, Edd "Kookie" Byrnes and Henry Silva (observe the cast and guess who gets killed first). Corman's skill at generating excitement through quick cutting and careful camera composition is given an exhilarating workout in The Secret Invasion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stewart Granger, Mickey Rooney, (more)
