Zeke Mills Movies
Like George Lucas' American Graffiti, Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused is an affectionate look at the youth culture of a bygone era. While Lucas took aim at the conservative 1950's, Linklater jumps ahead a generation to the bicentennial year of 1976 to celebrate the joys of beer blasts, pot smoking and Frampton Comes Alive. Set on the last day of the academic year, the film follows the random activities of a sprawling group of Texas high schoolers as they celebrate the arrival of summer, their paths variously intersecting at a freshmen hazing, a local pool parlor and finally at a keg party. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, (more)
Actor Bob Balaban directed this black comedy for Disney concerning a young zombie's love for a pretty high school girl. Johnny Dingle (Andrew Lowery) is a sweet-natured soul who has been in love with Missy McCloud (Traci Lind) ever since first grade, but he's always been reluctant to ask her out, fearing rejection. Now that the high school prom is coming, he devises a plan to make Missy say yes when he musters up the courage to ask her to the dance. Johnny and his pal Eddie (Danny Zorn) concoct a plan that will make it look as if Johnny saves her life. Unfortunately, Johnny's plan goes amiss and he's actually killed. But even death doesn't dissuade Johnny and he rises from his grave to take her to the prom. Curiously enough, Missy is more attracted to Johnny now that he is dead than when he was alive (despite his falling body parts). ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Andrew Lowery, Traci Lind, (more)
The November 22, 1963, assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy shocked the nation and the world. The brisk investigation of that murder conducted under the guidance of Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren distressed many observers, even though subsequent careful investigations have been unable to find much fault with the conclusions his commission drew, the central one of which was that the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, acted alone. Instead of satisfying the public, one result of the Warren Commission Report was that an unimaginable number of plausible conspiracy theories were bruited about, and these have supported a sizeable publishing mini-industry ever since. In making this movie, director Oliver Stone had his pick of supposed or real investigative flaws to draw from and has constructed what some reviewers felt was one of the most compelling (and controversial) political detective thrillers ever to emerge from American cinema. Long before filming was completed, Stone was fending off heated accusations of artistic and historical irresponsibility, and these only intensified after the film was released. In the story, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) is convinced that there are some big flaws in the investigation of Oswald (Gary Oldman), and he sets out to recreate the events leading up to the assassination. Along the way, he stumbles across evidence that a great many people had reason to want to see the president killed, and he is convinced that some of them worked in concert to frame Oswald as the killer. Among the suspects are Lyndon Baines Johnson (the next president), the CIA, J. Edgar Hoover, and the Mafia. Over the course of gathering what he believes to be evidence of a conspiracy, Garrison unveils some of the grittier aspects of New Orleans society, focusing on the shady activities of local businessman Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones). Garrison's investigations culminate in his conducting a show trial that he knows he will lose and which he is sure will ruin his career in order to get his evidence into the public record where it can't be buried again. This movie won two of the many Academy Awards for which it was nominated: one for Best Photography (Robert Richardson) and the other for Editing (Joe Hutshing). ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kevin Costner, Sissy Spacek, (more)
