Daniel Beer Movies
Two teenagers, each dealing with a different set of emotional burdens, find love and understanding with each other in The Last Best Sunday. Lolly Ann (Angela Bettis) is a high-school student in Pickley, a small agricultural community in California where she's growing up under the thumb of her strict, deeply religious mother (Kim Darby). Joseph (Douglas Spain), on the other hand, is struggling to get along without his parents; he came to Pickley with his family as migrant workers, but opted to stay on after his folks left so he could finish his final year of high school and earn his diploma. However, Joseph finds Hispanics are not always welcome here; a pair of bullies beat him savagely, and when he tries to get revenge, he finds town's bigoted sheriff (William Lucking) is after him. On the run, Joseph breaks into what he thinks is an empty house, only to find Lolly Ann at home while her parents are away for the weekend. Once she overcomes her initial fear and distrust, Lolly Ann finds she has a lot more in common with Joseph than she thought, and a grudging respect soon grows into affection. The Last Best Sunday was directed by Don Most, who as Donny Most is best remembered for playing Ralph Malf on the sit-com Happy Days; his former co-star Marion Ross briefly appears in a supporting role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Spain, Angela Bettis, (more)
- 1994
Russ Tamblyn guest-stars as Capt. Maynard, an old war buddy of Captain Sheridan's. Maynard's arrival prompts Sheridan to realign his priorities --- and then disaster strikes. On other fronts, Delenn runs afoul of the Delenn hierarchy, while Dr. Franklin tries to administer nutritional advice to some unwilling patients. The episode rushes to a conclusion with a desperate rescue mission, launched from hyperspace. Written by D.C. Fontana, "A Distant Star" was originally telecast on November 23, 1994. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian, (more)
Sexual hang-ups as discussed during an all-night L.A. party provide the impetus for this lively film. The main character in this outing, which features snippets from the lives of several others, is Andie, a book editor celebrating the publication Michael's new, but rather bland self-help manual "Talking About Sex" with a large party. Andie gets into an argument with her dull boyfriend Doug. Carl is the publisher who wants to add more sparks to Michael's book. He also seeks to spark up his own flagging marriage. Rachel is non-orgasmic and has taking to "re-birthing" meditation to find a substitute. Also included at the party are a sexually frustrated fashion designer in her late thirties, and Andie's neighbor Lou who wants her to get together with his grandson who is not interested in Andie. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Wayans, Marcy Walker, (more)
- 1991
- NC17
Russell's avowed purpose with Whore was to avoid the glamorous depiction of prostitution common to such slick Hollywood products as Pretty Woman. As played by Theresa Russell (no relation to Ken), the eponymous character lives a hellish existence. Relating her story directly to the camera, Russell introduces us to her no-good former husband (Jason Saucier), her brutish pimp (Benjamin Mouton), and the kinkiest of her "johns." Her one true friend, a bag man named Rasta (Antonio Fargas), also saves her life -- but not her soul. The film exists in three versions: an 82-minute R cut, an 82-minute NC-17 cut, and the 92-minute European version, which sometimes carries a rating, sometimes merely a disclaimer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Theresa Russell, Benjamin Mouton, (more)
Kathryn Bigelow's fourth action film follows FBI agent Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) as he goes undercover to infiltrate a cache of Southern California surfers suspected of robbing banks. Utah, a former football player, is assigned to Los Angeles. There, four bank robbers, who wear rubber masks and call themselves "Ex-Presidents," have executed a series of successful robberies which embarrassingly have the FBI stumped. Utah, and his partner Pappas (Gary Busey) suspect that the robbers are surfers and hatch a plan for catching them. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, (more)
- 1991
- R
In this violent teen-oriented drama, a trio of troubled but wealthy and beautiful teenage girls are sent to a special ranch to get some much-needed rest and end up romantically involved with an insane transient who may or may not be a killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Directed by Joel Schumacher, Dying Young was adapted from a novel by Marti Leimbach. When Victor Geddes (Campbell Scott) discovers that he is suffering from leukemia, his wealthy family hires pretty, young Hillary O'Neil (Julia Roberts) to help nurse him through his chemotherapy treatment. As the two struggle through the debilitating effects of Victor's treatment, they fall in love and attempt to make the most of their time together. Campbell Scott's real mother, the late Colleen Dewhurst, plays his "reel" mother in the film. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julia Roberts, Campbell Scott, (more)
- 1990
- R
Hubert Selby's controversial 1964 cult novel Last Exit To Brooklyn is adapted to the big screen by director Ulrich Edel in this drama. The story is set in the early 1950s in Red Hook, Brooklyn, a blighted waterfront town of boarded-up storefronts and striking factory workers. Harry Black (Stephen Lang), a machinist put in charge of the local union strike office, suddenly finds himself one of the most important men in town. But for all his sudden power, there's something disturbing Harry. He rejects his wife's caresses and discovers himself infatuated with a frail young man who calls himself Georgette (Alexis Arquette), who has a crush on well-muscled hood Vinnie (Peter Dobson). But Harry doesn't confront his problem head-on until he falls head-over-heels in love with Regina (Zette), a local transvestite. As the strike becomes more intense, Harry sinks deeper into an obsessive affair with Regina, using the strike fund to shower him/her with personal gifts. As Harry sinks into obsession, other characters float through the decaying streets. There's the attractive prostitute Tralala (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who falls in love with a sailor about to be shipped overseas. There is also an agreeable young man named Tommy (John Costelloe) who is beaten by his soon-to-be father-in-law Big Joe (Burt Young) for making his daughter Donna (Ricki Lake) pregnant. Everything comes to a tragic conclusion as the workers' strike escalates into a violent confrontation. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Lang, Jennifer Jason Leigh, (more)
This less-satisfying sequel to the 1982 George A. Romero/Stephen King anthology presents a new trio of King stories, framed in a similar EC Comics-style format -- this time featuring some rather lackluster animated segments involving horror-host "The Creep," who introduces each chapter with pun-heavy gallows humor. The stories vary widely in quality: first there's "Old Chief Wood'nhead," involving a cigar-store Indian who quite literally guards the entrance to an old general store and comes to life to avenge the murders of the elderly couple (George Kennedy and Dorothy Lamour) who owned it. The middle segment, "The Raft," features a group of obnoxious teenagers stranded on a raft in the middle of a lake at the mercy of a murderous oil slick which looks like a bunch of plastic garbage bags stitched together. Both of these suffer in comparison to the closing segment, "The Hitchhiker," in which a bored, promiscuous socialite (Lois Chiles) mows down a hitchhiker who refuses to stay dead, returning again and again to torment her at every turn, rasping "Thanks for the ride, lady!" Despite its strengths -- a livelier pace, some creatively gory set pieces -- this is a much cheaper-looking effort than its predecessor, with the deft guidance of Romero conspicuously absent (long-time collaborator Michael Gornick took up the directorial reins); as a result, King's gross-out sensibilities don't come off as well. Makeup maestro Tom Savini appears in heavy makeup as a live-action version of The Creep, and King pops in for a bit part as a redneck trucker. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lois Chiles, George Kennedy, (more)
This routine slasher-thriller deviates slightly from the standard formula by way of a fairly intelligent script which explores the murderer's motivation in far more detail than other films of the subgenre. The central character is high-school science teacher Ms. Storm (Maureen Mooney), a mild-mannered woman plagued by barely-repressed psychological traumas, who finally snaps after falling victim to a sadistic prank perpetrated by one of her students. Believed dead, Storm comes after the pranksters with homicidal intent. Though Mooney's well-portrayed transformation from victim to murderer provides an interesting role-reversal against slasher convention, the story still falters in the overall execution, bogged down considerably by some lackluster performances and very little actual suspense. Still, it's considerably better than Demented, an earlier, wholly unsubtle treatment of the same theme. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Stryker, Maureen Mooney, (more)
