Maurice Marshall Movies
Set in Los Angeles two days before the end of 1999, Strange Days introduces us to Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes), an ex-cop turned sleazy hustler who hawks the newest underground thrill on the black market: a "squid," a headpiece that allows one to transmit digital recordings of other people's thoughts, feelings, and memories into their brain; as Lenny describes it, "this is real life, pure and uncut, straight from the cerebral cortex." Lenny deals "clips" (the software) as well as "squids" (the hardware) for this new and illegal entertainment system, and while sex and violence are the most popular themes, Lenny refuses to deal in "blackjack" -- slang for snuff clips. Lenny is nursing a broken heart after his girlfriend, punk singer Faith Justin (Juliette Lewis), left him, and he spends a lot of time with clips he recorded when they were together. Faith is now involved with Philo Grant (Michael Wincott), a music business tycoon who once managed Jeriko One (Glenn Plummer), a hip-hop musician and political activist whose murder has sent L.A. into a state of chaos. When a clip emerges that shows that Jeriko was killed by L.A. police officers, Lenny finds his life in danger, and he tries to escape possible death on both sides of the law with the help of his friend Mace Mason (Angela Bassett). Strange Days was written by James Cameron in collaboration with former film critic Jay Cocks; Kathryn Bigelow directed. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, (more)
- 1982
Without either a nationalistic or political cast, this documentary looks at the suffering caused by the nature of war itself. Written, produced, and directed by Anne Wheeler, the film tells the story of her father, Dr. Ben Wheeler, and his captivity during World War II. The doctor was first taken prisoner by the Japanese in Shanghai in 1942, but the segment of his diaries that is the focus here is based on his time in a mining camp run by the Japanese. His job was to keep the British POWs healthy so they could work in the mines. He had very few medical supplies or equipment, yet the survivors who were interviewed unanimously praised him for his good work. Narration is by Donald Sutherland reading excerpts from Ben Wheeler's journal entries. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland
- 1980
More the story of the man who established it than the College of Notre Dame in Saskatchewan, this is the depiction of Father Athol Murray, a hard-drinking, chain-smoking man who believed that education and athletics were the way to success for young men in college. He was opinionated, but he managed to take a dump and make it into a well-respected college. Uninspiring rendition of a tale told better in other movies. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thomas Peacocke, Frances Hyland, (more)
- 1978
Set in the rugged Canadian west, this romantic adventure centers upon a young woman married to a trapper who does not love her. Knowing that he really loves a native girl and desperately not wanting to return to her life in the east, the wife does not fight when a native tribe steals her away and adopts her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andree Pelletier, John Juliani, (more)
Michael Schultz directed this deeply felt recollection of adolescent life on Chicago's near North Side in 1964. Like American Graffiti, Cooley High deals with girl, school, and police troubles as a group of high-school seniors prepare for post-high-school life. The chums are Glynn Turman as "Preach," who loves to read poetry and history and wants to become a Hollywood screenwriter, but who has the worst grades in the school; and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs as Cochise, the high-school basketball star and suave lady-killer. Preach has to contend with love problems in the form of Brenda (Cynthia Davis), school problems with emphatic teacher Mr. Mason (Garrett Morris), and law problems with street toughs Stone (Shermann Smith) and Robert (Norman Gibson). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glynn E. Turman, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, (more)
- 1928
The basic plot of Wife's Relations involves the romance between heroine Shirley Mason and erstwhile inventor Gaston Glass. Forget that noise: The film's principal attraction was cross-eyed comedian Ben Turpin, cast as Mason's zany father. Well-teamed with scrawny Flora Finch, Turpin goes through his standard slapstick repertoire, extracting belly laughs from the slimmest of circumstances. The film's highlight is a disastrous plumbing sequence, which would be endlessly imitated in future years by such comedians as the Three Stooges and Abbott and Costello. Though obviously tired and aging, Ben Turpin proved withal that he still had what it took to reduce an audience to helpless laughter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Mason, Gaston Glass, (more)
