Janne Mortil Movies

Many of the world's greatest musical compositions would never have been written if their composers had given up after numerous failures and criticisms. Rossini's Ghost is the magical story of Reliana, a little girl who is transported back in time to meet Gioacchino Antonio Rossini, one of the most successful opera composers of the 19th century. Rossini is at the point of giving up his music after the failure of his latest opera, "The Barber of Seville." Invisible to everyone except Rossini, Reliana helps three rivals in the opera become friends and gives Rossini the strength to keep trying. The sixth, and final, installment of HBO's composer series, this video is well produced, entertaining, and an asset to educational facilities. Recommended for ages nine to 12. ~ Heather M. Fierst, All Movie Guide

Louisa May Alcott's classic novel about a family of women in Civil War-era New England is again brought to the screen in this adaptation. The focus is on the March sisters, four young girls raised by their mother (Susan Sarandon) after their father leaves for battle as part of the Union Army. At the center is Jo March (Winona Ryder), an idiosyncratic would-be writer said to be based on Alcott herself, but the film also focuses on the stories of her sisters -- the more conventional Meg (Trini Alvarado), the innocent Beth (Claire Danes), and the precocious Amy (Kirsten Dunst and Samantha Mathis, who represent Amy at different ages.) The film spans years, following the girls' struggles with life's challenges and illustrating how their family connection remains strong in the face of tragedies large and small. Australian director Gillian Armstrong emphasizes the story's feminist elements, particularly in Jo's journey to independence. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

A Canadian production shot along the British Columbia coast, this is the story of a washed-up rock star who finds redemption. It was adapted for the screen by Paul Quarrington from his own award-winning novel. Desmond Howl (Maury Chaykin) is a faded music superstar who now lives a hermit's life in an out-of-the-way oceanside mansion. Living off residuals from previous hits, Howl spends all his time and energy in his state-of-the-art home recording studio trying to compose whale music. He hopes to write a symphonic piece, using the whales' own sounds, that will have the power to summon the marine mammals from the depths. Howl is haunted by hallucinations and nightmares involving his brother Paul, who recently died, apparently by his own hand. Howl also has to deal with his ex-wife, who meddles in his affairs. He manages to shut out these interferences until a young runaway arrives at his doorstep. Claire Lowe (Cyndy Preston) gradually captures the jaded musician's heart with her need for caring, and their relationship becomes a metaphor for the tender music Howl is trying to create. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

The made-for-television thriller Silent Motive is about a screenwriter (Patricia Wettig) whose recent script is being used for a series of murders of film-industry executives. Consequently, a police detective (Mike Farrell) immediately assumes that she is the chief suspect behind these gruesome crimes. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV thriller, a quartet of female friends hire a boozy wilderness guide and head into the mountains for a little backpacking fun that is spoiled when they become the target of a militant survivalist group's war games. The film is also known as Bitter Creek. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A juvenile delinquent falls in love with a beautiful Catholic girl's school student in this fact-based adolescent melodrama set in an Oregon forest. The two meet by accident when the troubled young man is out on a nature hike and sees the lovely girl floating in a small lake as she works on a photography assignment. The two are immediately drawn to each other, but neither of their schools encourages contact with the opposite sex and when their relationship is discovered there is trouble all around, forcing the young lovers to flee. The question then remains: will they be able to evade the law and other authorities long enough to find happiness? ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Peter Medak's The Changeling is among a handful of films, including The Haunting (1963), Ghost Story (1981), and Lady in White (1988), that have successfully recreated the intimate, drawing-room atmosphere of supernatural horror fiction. After his wife and daughter are killed in a snowbound car accident, classical composer John Russell (George C. Scott) relocates from New York to Seattle to teach at his alma mater. Looking for a quiet place to rest and continue writing music, he is referred Claire Norman (Trish Van Devere) at the Seattle Historical Preservation Society. Claire shows John a large, sparsely furnished estate in the outlying countryside. He takes the house, appreciating its remoteness and the solitude it might afford, and diverts himself by renovating and settling in. He even starts to compose, putting aside his older work in favor of a new, sentimental piece for the piano. It is not long, however, before he begins having nightmares about the accident that killed his wife and daughter. Possibly because of this trauma, he is open to communications from the house's ghostly occupants. Pursuing a loud, repetitive pounding noise in an upper room, he stumbles on the apparition of a young boy drowning in a tub. Working together with Claire, John discovers frightening parallels between this vision and buried events from the house's past. Horror writer M.R. James once said that his goal as a writer was to make the reader feel "pleasantly uncomfortable." Those looking for a similar experience in movies will appreciate The Changeling as a gem in the horror genre. ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide