Cathy Moriarty Movies

Martin Scorsese's brutal character study incisively portrays the true rise and fall and redemption of middleweight boxer Jake La Motta, a violent man in and out of the ring who thrives on his ability (and desire) to take a beating. Opening with the spectacle of the over-the-hill La Motta (Robert De Niro) practicing his 1960s night-club act, the film flashes back to 1940s New York, when Jake's career is on the rise. Despite pressure from the local mobsters, Jake trusts his brother Joey (Joe Pesci) to help him make it to a title bout against Sugar Ray Robinson the honest way; the Mob, however, will not cave in. Jake gets the title bout, and blonde teenage second wife Vickie (Cathy Moriarty), but success does nothing to exorcise his demons, even as he channels his rage into boxing. Alienating Vickie and Joey, and disastrously gaining weight, Jake has destroyed his personal and professional lives by the 1950s. After he hits bottom, however, Jake emerges with a gleam of self-awareness, as he sits rehearsing Marlon Brando's On the Waterfront speech in his dressing room mirror: "I coulda been a contender, I coulda been somebody." Working with a script adapted by Mardik Martin and Paul Schrader from La Motta's memoirs, Scorsese and De Niro sought to make an uncompromising portrait of an unlikable man and his ruthless profession. Eschewing uplifting Rocky-like boxing movie conventions, their Jake is relentlessly cruel and self-destructive; the only peace he can make is with himself. Michael Chapman's stark black-and-white photography creates a documentary/tabloid realism; the production famously shut down so that De Niro could gain 50-plus pounds. Raging Bull opened in late 1980 to raves for its artistry and revulsion for its protagonist; despite eight Oscar nominations, it underperformed at the box office, as audiences increasingly turned away from "difficult" films in the late '70s and early '80s. The Academy concurred, passing over Scorsese's work for Best Director and Picture in favor of Robert Redford and Ordinary People, although De Niro won a much-deserved Oscar, as did the film's editor, Thelma Schoonmaker. Oscar or no Oscar, Raging Bull has often been cited as the best American film of the 1980s. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

A stylish take on the woman in jeopardy and mad killer genres, White of the Eye poses the question, What would you do if you suspected your loving husband to be a serial killer? Arizonan Paul White (David Keith) is an expert at installing high-end stereo systems in the homes of wealthy citizens. He has been married to Joan (Cathy Moriarty) for ten years, having seduced her away from a violent criminal, Mike DeSantos (Alan Rosenberg). A series of brutal murders of well-to-do women has citizens of Paul and Joan's town on edge. When evidence at the scene of the second murder points to Paul, Joan tries to fend off the suspicions of police detective Charles Mendoza (Art J. Evans), even as she begins to see signs of violence in her husband that confirm the accusation. Director Donald Cammell, who co-wrote the script with his wife China, offers a fragmented narrative characterized by quick cutting; subjective, handheld camera work; and optical tricks that suggest the unraveling of Paul's mind. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

Arnold Schwarzenegger sheds his action image in Ivan Reitman's police comedy Kindergarten Cop, where he plays an undercover cop teaching a class of hyperactive six-year-olds. As the film begins, John Kimble (Schwarzenegger) and his partner Phoebe O'Hara (Pamela Reed) are in pursuit of notorious drug dealer Cullen Crisp (Richard Tyson) and his scabrous mother Eleanor (Carroll Baker). John learns Cullen is searching for his ex-wife and his little boy, and Kimble plans to nail them when they find the former wife, who is believed to have $3 million of Cullen's drug profits. John and Phoebe follow the trail to Astoria, Oregon, where they believe Cullen's son is attending kindergarten. Although the child and his mother have changed names, John hopes they can pick up some clues. By coincidence, Phoebe used to be a schoolteacher and the school board permits her teach the kindergarten class, but Phoebe gets food poisoning and John is forced to teach the six-year-old whippersnappers himself. Along with lighthearted gags with the kids and the pursuit of the drug dealers, John has time for a little romance when he falls in love with one of the teachers (Penelope Ann Miller), who ends up surprising him with more than love. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

John Goodman's full-throttle performance as a William Castle-inspired schlockmeister propels Joe Dante's delightful and charming comedy Matinee. The film takes place during the fall 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, a time when America's innocence began to crumble. Goodman plays film producer Lawrence Woolsey, who is in Key West to premiere his latest horror epic, "Mant," the story of a man who turns into a giant insect ("Half Man! ... Half Ant! ... All Terror!"). He's busy rigging the local movie theater with all manner of gimmicks, such as Atomo-Vision and Rumble-Rama, and stationing a buxom nurse -- played by Woolsey's girlfriend and leading lady Ruth (Cathy Moriarty) -- in the lobby to assist potential heart attack victims. Amidst all the hubbub, a quartet of local teenagers gear up for the big premiere: Gene (Simon Fenton), a Navy brat whose father is on alert for the duration of the crisis; Stan (Omri Katz), Gene's friend who has a furious crush on Sherry (Kellie Martin); and Sandra (Lisa Jakub), the daughter of two beatnik free-thinkers. As the premiere of "Mant" gets closer and Soviet-U.S. tensions increase, the four teenagers' problems and desires also mount to the boiling point. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A wealthy young boy is kidnapped by thieves who rob his home, but the crooks are in for a surprise when the kid becomes a pest . ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

A dysfunctional family reunites during the Apollo XI moon landing in this drama starring real-life couple Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen. In 1969, eccentric teacher Washington Bellamy (Danson) turns the arrival of men on the moon into a science project for his son Andy (Ryan Todd). They drive across the country to Idaho's Spires of the Moon National Park, where the odometer of Washington's classic Pontiac Chief will read 238,857, the exact mileage traveled by Apollo XI. Left behind is wife and mother Katherine (Steenburgen), an agoraphobic who never recovered emotionally from a miscarriage seven years earlier. On the road, Washington and Andy encounter a Native American soldier (Eric Schweig), a flirty barfly (Cathy Moriarty) and Washington's long-lost brother (Max Gail). Back home, Katherine nervously ventures outside to follow her family. When Washington's car breaks down, he steals a new engine, bringing the authorities after him and leading to a rendezvous at the park between father, son, mother, and cops, as the astronauts simultaneously land on the moon. Pontiac Moon (1994) was a critical lemon for director Peter Medak, who enjoyed more success with his British crime dramas such as The Krays (1990) and Let Him Have It (1991). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Based on the popular cartoon character, this family-oriented "ghost story" is about a not-so-scary spirit who bonds with a little girl (Christina Ricci). The eternally irritable Ms. Carrigan (Cathy Moriarty) discovers that the only thing she's been left in her recently departed father's will is a rickety old house in New England. Naturally, the woman is furious about this, until her "close personal friend" and assistant, Dibbs (Eric Idle of Monty Python fame), discovers a secret message that a treasure may be concealed somewhere in the house. The two take off for Maine, only to learn that the house is haunted by Casper "the friendly ghost" and his three ghostly uncles Stinky, Stretch, and Fatso. After futilely recruiting an exorcist (Don Novello, more or less reviving his Father Guido Sarducci character from Saturday Night Live) and a "professional ghost exterminator" (Dan Aykroyd), she brings in a "ghost psychiatrist" (Bill Pullman) and his daughter Kat (Ricci). Innocently attracted to the young girl, Casper befriends Kat as they try to save the ghosts' home from the evil Carrigan. Eye-popping special effects highlight this magical story that touches (albeit lightly) on the theme of what lies at the heart of human desires. Clint Eastwood, Rodney Dangerfield, Mel Gibson and The Crypt Keeper (of Tales from the Crypt) all make cameos as apparitions in the mirror Bill Pullman looks into in the house. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Loosely based on the book Foxfire by Joyce Carol Oates, this film is about four high-school girls, dissimilar in every other way, who find that they are all being made to perform sexually with their biology teacher. This discovery leads them to become allies and friends. Shortly afterward, they exact revenge on their teacher at the cost of being expelled from school. Taking up residence in an abandoned house in the woods, they practice some rather sexy bonding rituals between themselves. Thanks to the efforts of their ringleader Legs to get drug rehab money for one of the girls, they find themselves on the wrong side of the law, and the chase begins. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Cult figure Robert Downey, Sr. directed this offbeat comedy set in the eccentric environs of Los Angeles. Hugo Dugay (Alyssa Milano) is a young woman who makes her living cleaning swimming pools when she isn't busy looking after her mother Minerva (Cathy Moriarty), who's hooked on gambling, and her father Henry (Malcolm McDowell), who's hooked on alcohol and a number of drugs. One day, Hugo finds herself with over 40 pools to look after, complicated by the fact that L.A. is in the midst of a drought and she's forbidden to use city water lines to fill them. This is especially unwelcome news for Chick Chicalini (Richard Lewis), a crime boss who is having a party and insists on having a clean pool with fresh water for the occasion. In hopes of easing Chick's anxieties, she cooks up a complicated scheme involving a tanker truck and a quick trip to the Colorado River. Hugo also encounters a mysterious hitchhiker (Sean Penn) who may have magical powers and deals with other customers, including overwrought filmmaker Franz (Robert Downey, Jr.), and Floyd (Patrick Dempsey), a handsome man with whom Hugo is falling in love, despite the fact that he's suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Robert Downey, Sr. co-wrote Hugo Pool with his wife Laura Downey, who herself died from ALS at the age of 36. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A dying man and a man who wants to die strike up an unusual bargain in this independent comedy-drama. Terry (David Arquette) is a suicidal voyeur who is depressed but lacks the courage to kill himself. While trying to work up the nerve to throw himself off a bridge, Terry is stopped by his neighbor Nick (Brad Hunt), who doesn't know that Terry has been watching him have unsatisfying sex with his girlfriend Liz (Kathryn Erbe). Drug-addicted Nick has learned that he has only a few weeks left to live, so he makes Terry a deal: Nick will put Terry out of his misery if Terry will help Nick live out a few of his fantasies before his imminent date with death. Terry agrees, but discovers that Nick's ambitions include bowling naked with a group of loose women, taking a road trip while high on LSD, and committing armed robbery; Terry also discovers while hanging out with Nick that life might not be such a bad thing after all. Cathy Moriarty appears as Nick's Aunt Elsie, a former exotic dancer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide