Steve McDonald Movies
Writer and director Allison Anders, who used the world of rock & roll as the backdrop for her films Border Radio, Grace of My Heart, and Sugar Mountain, returns to the music scene for this tale of a woman struggling to come to terms with an emotionally devastating past. Sherry McGrale (Kim Dickens) is a punk-influenced singer and songwriter whose angry, deeply personal music has begun to win her a national following, though the demons that fuel her art are playing havoc with her life, as she drowns her sorrows in drugs and alcohol and fills a growing police blotter with arrests for disorderly conduct. Sherry is winning significant airplay for a song about the brutal rape of a young woman, and rock journalist Owen (Gabriel Mann) convinces his editor Pete (Rosanna Arquette) to assign him a major story on Sherry when he tells her he knows the truth about Sherry's own rape as an adolescent, which inspired the song. Owen is forced to run interference with Chuck (Don Cheadle), Sherry's manager and former boyfriend who is fiercely protective of his fragile client, but Owen is still able to meet with the singer. However, Owen finds that Sherry either can't or won't remember most of the details of the brutal and degrading assault, and she doesn't want to discuss the heavy toll it's taken upon her. Influential experimental rock group Sonic Youth contributed several original compositions for the film's score; Sherry's singing voice was provided by Kristen Vigard, who performed on the soundtrack of Grace of My Heart. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kim Dickens, Gabriel Mann, (more)
Illeana Douglas delivers a superb performance as Denise Waverly, a fictional singer and songwriter whose life bears more than a passing resemblance to that of real-life pop star Carole King. Edna Buxton, the daughter of a Philadelphia steel tycoon, aspires to a career as a singer, and when against her mother's bidding she sings a sultry version of "Hey There (You With the Stars in Your Eyes)" (instead of Mom's choice, "You'll Never Walk Alone") at a talent contest, she wins a recording contact and moves to New York City. She cuts a record and gains a new stage name, Denise Waverly; however, she soon finds that girl singers are a dime a dozen in the Big Apple and her career as a vocalist goes nowhere. But she has a knack for writing songs, and eccentric producer Joel Milner (John Turturro) asks her to pen some songs for his upcoming projects. Teamed with Howard Caszatt (Eric Stoltz), a hipster songwriter who wants to express his political and social ideals through pop tunes, she finds both a successful collaborator and husband. While her work with Howard gains Denise writing credits on a string of hit records and respect within the industry, their marriage falls apart, and she becomes involved with Jay Phillips (Matt Dillon), the gifted but unstable leader of a popular West Coast surf music combo. Students of pop music history will have a ball with the various characters modeled after real-life rock legends, and the 1960s-style song score includes numbers written by Joni Mitchell and J. Mascis (of the band Dinosaur Jr.), as well as one-time King collaborator Gerry Goffin; a collaboration between Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach, "God Give Me Strength," led to a full album written by the two great tunesmiths. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Illeana Douglas, Matt Dillon, (more)
Making great fun of the '70s, this lively sci-fi comedy centers on a trio of time travellers who go into the past in hopes of retrieving the Constitution to celebrate America's 300th birthday. Unfortunately, the travelers end up in 1976 not 1776. The trouble is, they don't realize it. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Cassidy, Olivia D'Abo, (more)
The Lovedolls are back and this time they're not going down without rocking the whole town in director David Markey's outrageous, punk-infused sequel to the 1984 cult hit Desperate Teenage Lovedolls. Kitty Carryall (Jennifer Schwartz) was wasting away in a booze-soaked depression until acid frenzied religious cult leader Patch Christ (Janet Housden) came along. Once again empowered by the spirit of rock and roll, the freshly recharged pair recruit Sunset Boulevard streetwalker Alexandria "Cheetah" Axethrasher to take over for the recently departed Bunny Tremelo (Hilary Rubens). Things get complicated though when New Mexico-based Freedom School alum Rainbow Tramaine (Steven McDonald) discovers that his twin brother took his own life after breaking big with the Lovedolls, and with the mother of She Devils leader Patricia Ann Colverfield (Tracy Lea) out for blood and obsessive Lovedolls fan Carl Celery (Jeff McDonald) hatching a plan to take out Brews Springstien (Jordan Schwartz), there's no telling what kind of rock and roll madness is yet to come. Special appearances by Bangle Vicki Peterson, Dead Kennedy's front-man Jello Biafra, and The Seeds' Sky Saxon ensures that this gonzo sequel will surely earn a warm spot in the clothespin-pierced heart of punk-rock die-hards. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Janet Housden, Jennifer Schwartz, (more)
A comically punky version of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls , Desperate Teenage Lovedolls tells the story of three disaffected young girls who leave home to become rock stars. Lead singer Kitty Carryall (Jennifer Schwartz), whose mother is played by a shrill, hysterical man in a dress, runs away to Venice, CA, where she and a friend shoot heroin and meet a drummer named Patch. Kitty joins Patch in beating a Dylanesque tramp to death with his own guitar and battles a tough girl-gang called the She-Devils on a beach, stabbing one of them to escape. Despite raping one of the girls at his Brentwood condo, sleazy agent Johnny Tremaine engineers the Love Dolls' rise to the top, off a hot album called Electric Catbox. Soon, the band is at the top and decides to drop Johnny, so they drug his wine, setting the scene for a hilarious "bad trip" segment involving stuffed cats and a suicidal plunge from a building. The tragedy continues in grand rock-movie style as the band's guitarist is murdered by the She-Devils and Kitty shoots one of them to death in retaliation. We next see Kitty a year later, wandering the train tracks as a derelict. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
