David Palffy Movies
- 2005
No sooner has entrepreneur Devon Major (Sebastian Spence) emerged from a messy divorce than he is accused of murdering his ex-wife. Astonishingly, Devon requests that his wife's divorce attorney Susan Grace (Vanessa Angel) represent him at his trial. Despite Susan's avowed hatred of Devon, she agrees to take the case, conferring with District Attorney Kirsten Sorenson (Linda Purl) to get additional information on her client, who is simultaneously being investigated on a money-laundering charge by US treasury agent Mark Fairfield (David Palffy). It turns out that some extraordinary clever person has cooked up an elaborate hoax in order to literally get away with murder and robbery--but who is it, and how do Kirsten and Mark figure into the Hitchcock-like denoument? Made for cable, Criminal Intent was first telecast July 8, 2005, on the Lifetime network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Adapted from the popular Sega arcade video game of the same name, director Uwe Boll's action horror effort finds a group of partying teens stranded on an island and doing battle with a new breed of unusually mobile zombies. Looking for a place to party away spring break, college students Cynthia (Sonya Salomaa), Greg (Will Sanderson), and Karma (Enuka Okuma) hear rumors of a rave on a remote island in the Seattle area. Rushing to catch the party boat, the teens pick up friends Simon (Tyron Leitso) and Alicia (Ona Grauer), but discover upon arrival at the dock that the boat has set sail without them. Offering a few dollars to a local captain to hitch a ride to the island, the teens reach their destination only to find it eerily silent with no party in sight. Things go from bad to worse when the group is attacked by a mysterious creature, and they are forced to seek refuge in an old dark house on the island shore. Subsequently running into a few familiar faces and learning to their horror that the rave had been overrun by a horde of terrifying zombies, the group must now make one final bid for survival over the course of a long, blood-soaked night. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jonathan Cherry, Tyron Leitso, (more)
Two former government agents square off as they search for the most deadly new weapon on Earth in this white-knuckle thriller. Sever (Lucy Liu) was once a top agent with the Defense Intelligence Agency, but she quit when her son was killed in a bungled raid organized by Gant (Gregg Henry), and has sworn to take vengeance against him and his colleagues. When Sever learns that Gant and his team are in possession of a remarkable new weapon -- a microscopic device injected into the victim's bloodstream which is benign until triggered, then kills immediately without leaving a trace -- she is determined to get her hands on it, whatever the cost. However, Gant has turned rogue, and FBI agent Julio Martin (Miguel Sandoval) has been ordered to find him and recover his new weapon. Martin needs the best man he can find for the job, and calls upon Jeremiah Ecks (Antonio Banderas), a former FBI tracker, to do the job. Ecks quit the Bureau when his wife was killed, but Martin informs Ecks that his spouse is actually alive and in hiding, and if he can bring in Gant, she will be returned to him. But Ecks has to face the most formidable adversary of his life in Sever, a master of mayhem bent on revenge. Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever was the first English-language feature from Thai filmmaker Wych Kaosayananda (aka Kaos), whose first feature Fah was a box-office blockbuster in his homeland. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Antonio Banderas, Lucy Liu, (more)
- 2002
In this Ghost-like blend of fantasy and crime melodrama, stockbroker Sterling Brooks (Cameron Bancroft) dies before his time in a freak accident. Not having led the most exemplary of lives, Brooks is not permitted to enter Heaven until he performs a good deed on earth. Thus, he endeavors to rescue a young mother, Annie Campbell (Erika Eleniak), and her seven-year-old daughter, Marissa (Nickol Tschenscher), from the gangsters who have torn their family apart. One of several Mary Higgins Clark adaptations produced in Canada for the PAX network, He Sees You When You're Sleeping first aired on December 22, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2000
While vacationing in the Azores, attractive young book editor Alison Shaeffer (Jayne Brook) discovers to her dismay that her "absentee" mother Gloria (Dyan Cannon) is a longtime CIA agent. Alison doesn't quite swallow this revelation until both she and Gloria are kidnapped by the villainous Vasquez (David Palffy). The abduction has something to do with a vial of deadly anthrax hidden in an ancient statue. Rescued (repeatedly) by a rabbi who isn't a rabbi (Kevin Kilner), and aided and abetted by Alison's peppery Grandma (Gloria Struart), the Shaeffer ladies do their best to stay one step ahead of the bad guys and strike a blow for democracy -- and in the process, mother and daughter get to know each other a whole lot better than ever before. Made for cable My Mother the Spy debuted May 8, 2000, over the Lifetime network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jayne Brook, Dyan Cannon, (more)
- 1999
In the conclusion of a two-part story, the SG-1 crew and the Tok'ra Matouf (JR Bourne) have infiltrated the prison moon Netu in order rescue Carter's (Amanda Tapping) father Jacob (Michael Shanks)--and to thwart the invasion plans of the evil Sokar (David Pallfy). Since the prisoners have been mesmerized into believing that Netu is actually Hell, the SG-1 must use a dangerous hallucinogenic, "The Blood of Sokar", to counteract Sokar's mind control and foment a prison rebellion. Meanwhile, Teal'c (Christopher Judge) tries to enter into an alliance with the Tok'ra to stop Sokar--but the result of these negotiations may result in the deaths of the SG-1 team. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1999
In the first episode of a two-part story, Matouf (JR Bourne), a member of the Goa'uld resistance movement Tok'ra, tells the SG-1's crew that Samantha Carter's (Amanda Tapping) father Jacob (Carmen Argenziano)--and Jacob's Tok'ra symbiote Selmak--have been kidnapped by Sokar (David Palffy). In order to rescue Jacob/Selmak, the SG-1 draw up plans to infiltrate the prison moon Netu, which has been altered by Sokar to resemble Hell in the minds of the prisoners. The success of this plan hinges on the memories of Jolinar (Tanya Reid), the only prisoner ever to have escaped from Netu--and those memories are cloaked in obscurity within the mind of Samantha Carter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
- R
The Fourth War finds director John Frankenheimer delving into the same Cold-war territory he'd previously cultivated in films like The Manchurian Candidate. Col. Jack Knowles (Roy Scheider), serving at a faraway post on the German-Czech border, carries on a personal war with his Soviet counterpart, Colonel Valachev (Jurgen Prochnow). Both have been hardened by past combat experiences, and both have been embittered by the exigencies of red tape, bureaucracy, and diplomatic deal-making. Their friendly rivalry snowballs (literally so!) into a guerilla-like combat situation, culminating in a one-on-one showdown. It's essentially a shaggy dog story, but a compelling one. Based on a novel by Stephen Peters, The Fourth War was given surprisingly short shrift by Cannon Films' distribution channels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Scheider, Jürgen Prochnow, (more)
