Jennifer Mayo Movies

In this arch sci-fi sex comedy-cum-action extravaganza, a hard-nosed female mercenary helps a hapless yuppie find a new body for his robot girlfriend in the post-industrial wasteland of the American Southwest. In the year 2017, what little remains of civilization feeds off the scrap heap of 20th century waste, while even casual sex has become a matter of regulations and contracts. Like many other members of the L.A. white-collar elite, Sam Treatwell (David Andrews) takes refuge in a quasi-marriage with his beloved sex robot, Cherry (Pamela Gidley). After a soft-focus, bubbly sexcapade short circuits Cherry's body, Sam considers replacing her, but the shoddy production values of modern robots make it obvious that the vintage appliance is irreplaceable. To put it simply, the guy's in love. The wistful romantic therefore heads out to The Zone, a forbidding no man's land, where he hopes to find a new "chassis" in which to insert Cherry's unique personality chip. To do so, he needs the help of a "tracker," and E. Johnson (Melanie Griffith) is just the woman for the job. The gun-toting, red-headed road warrior leads Sam through a dystopian desert landscape full of psychopaths and opportunists toward their final destination: an abandoned warehouse full of antique androids. Along the way, Sam learns what it's like to interact with a woman who has brains and a heart instead of a microchip. Filmed in 1986, Cherry 2000 didn't receive its limited theatrical release until 1988, the same year star Griffith received an Oscar nomination for her role in Working Girl. Griffith and director Steven de Jarnatt previously worked together on the pilot for the 1980s revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Ben Johnson, veteran of many a Hollywood Western, appears as E. Johnson's mentor, Six Finger Jake. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Made for peanuts, Summerspell transcends its meager budget by offering a first-rate character study. The film is set at the home of a typical American family during a two-day Fourth of July reunion in Texas. Dorothy Holland and Frank Whiteman play the Wisdoms, who along with their children host the get-together. But beneath the veneer of celebration is a hotbed of bitterness. Whiteman has devoted his life to running the expensive family home because none of his siblings have ever shown the proper degree of responsibility; now that the family patriarch is dying, Whiteman begins railing against his brothers and sisters, also venting his frustration towards his autocratic father. The winner of a Munich Film Festival award, it was virtually ignored by mainstream US critics, and seldom shows up in any of the mass-market movie review annuals. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi