Larry Pine Movies

Two men look for a wife -- just one will do, thank you -- in this offbeat comedy. Jake (Tim Blake Nelson) and Josh (David Arquette) are two brothers who live and work in a vegetable farm somewhere in the Midwest, where they're looked after by their Ma (Lois Smith), who cooks, cleans, and keeps the guys company. When Ma dies, Jake and Josh find they're a bit lonely all by their lonesome, and more importantly, they're not much good at everyday domestic activities, so they decide to do the sensible thing -- one of them will get married so they'll have someone else to talk to and handle things in the kitchen and the laundry room. Woefully naïve, socially clumsy, and less interested in romance than day-to-day practicalities, Jake and Josh decide to head out on a matchmaking tour to St. Petersburg, Russia, where they're promised introductions to hundreds of women over the space of two weeks, in hopes that they'll find an understanding, old-fashioned wife who doesn't mind having a third wheel around at all times. A Foreign Affair was shot on location in St. Petersburg in the former Soviet Union, and in Chihuahua, Mexico, which stood in for the United States. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this slightly dark comedy about romantic obsession, Sam (Matthew Broderick) is an astronomer who likes his life in the small New England town he calls home and loves his fiancée, Linda (Kelly Preston). But one day, Linda tells Sam that she's moving to New York because she has found a new job -- and a new boyfriend. Sam is shocked and doesn't want to give Linda up, so when she moves to Manhattan, Sam follows her. Moving into an empty loft across the street from Linda's new apartment, Sam constructs a camera obscura that allows him to watch what she and her new beau, a French restaurateur named Anton (Tcheky Karyo), are up to. Sam's convinced that Linda is just going through a phase, and when she gets tired of Anton, he'll be there to pick up the pieces. But Sam soon has company in his obsessive watch over Linda's new flat: Anton's former girlfriend, Maggie (Meg Ryan), crashes Sam's hideout and joins him in his spy mission. While Sam just wants Linda back, Maggie is seething with rage against Anton after he dumped her and now she's out for revenge. Addicted to Love was the directorial debut of actor and producer Griffin Dunne; he cast his father, noted author Dominick Dunne, in a small role as a food writer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Anna's early scenes concentrate upon Czech refugee Krystyna (Paulina Porizkova), who arrives in New York in search of her idol, famed actress Anna (Sally Kirkland), who was denied reentry to her native country after the 1968 communist invasion. Unable to recapture her celebrity in New York, Anna is forced to go through a series of humiliating auditions conducted by insensitive directors who have no inkling who she is. She must also endure marriage to a self-involved music video director (Robert Fields). When Krystyna and Anna finally meet, each draws strength from the other, enabling both women to survive whatever indignities life has to offer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ryan Hurst, Jeremy London, and William Devane star in director Russ Emanuel's docudrama detailing the Federal Trade Commission's case against an independent sales organization seeking to redefine the way Americans use credit cards. Adam (London) and Ross Franklin (Hurst) were still in their twenties when they became millionaires by marketing electronic terminals for credit card transactions. It was the early '90s, and Americans were spending more money than ever before. But while Adam and Ross had ambition to spare, their refusal to acknowledge the demands of others more powerful revealed a certain lack of business savvy. Ignoring government warnings to "respond" to various complaints regarding their practices, the brothers built their modest startup company into a multi-million-dollar empire. But that empire would crumble when the FTC set out to destroy their company at the behest of powerful industry competitors. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Tim Robbins' second directorial effort (after the political satire Bob Roberts) was this drama based on a true story, which explores the issue of capital punishment. Sister Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon) is a nun and teacher living in rural Louisiana. One day, she receives a letter from Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn), who is scheduled to be executed soon for the rape and murder of two teenagers. After meeting Matthew, Sister Helen agrees to serve as spiritual counselor and see what she can do to stay the execution. However, Matthew's claims of innocence seem shaky at best, and it's clear he's a reprehensible, amoral racist. When it becomes obvious that Matthew's sentence will be carried out, Sister Helen offers what comfort she can to Matthew, but also tries to guide him to an open admission of the extent of his crimes and an acceptance of divine forgiveness, telling him "I want the last face you see to be the face of love." Susan Sarandon won an Oscar for her performance as Sister Prejean, and Sean Penn was similarly nominated for Best Actor as Matthew. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Kevin Dobson stars in the made-for-TV melodrama Fatal Friendship. Playing the longtime best friend of Gerald McRaney, Dobson is somewhat taken aback when he learns that McRaney is a contract killer. This revelation puts a crimp in their relationship, and also drains Dobson's energies as he tries to catch McRaney in the act. Yes, we know: the audience didn't swallow this one either. Fatal Friendship was first telecast (with an ominous lack of network promotion) on December 1, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Now reconciled to her mom's relationship with Luke (Scott Patterson), Rory (Alexis Bledel) is upset when she sees Lorelai (Lauren Graham) dining with Christopher (David Sutcliffe) at the Dragonfly. For Lorelai's part, she is appalled at the though of her own mother Emily (Kelly Bishop) re-entering the dating scene. Elswhere, Jackson (Jackson Melville) struggles manfully to control his temper while enduring the pregnant Sookie's (Melissa McCarthy) moods swings. And back at Yale, Rory's date turns into a study session, and Rory's roomie Paris (Liza Weil) noisily observes Ramadan as part of her research for an article. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gene Wilder stars as Michael Jordon, an architect on the run from false murder charges, who hooks up with Kate Hellman (Gilda Radner), the sister of a recent suicide victim. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Larry Cohen wrote the screenplay to this updating of Mickey Spillane's notorious 1947 novel. Cohen was originally engaged to direct the film as well but was pulled from the director's chair after a week's worth of shooting because he had already run up the budget by $100,000; he was replaced by television director Richard T. Heffron. In this 1982 I, the Jury, Mike Hammer (Armand Assante) is a Vietnam veteran who wears hip duds and drives around in a bronze Trans Am in much the same way as Robert Mitchum's Philip Marlowe was refurbished for Michael Winner's re-make of The Big Sleep. After a cheesy rip-off of a James Bond-style credit sequence, the story kicks in. One-armed detective Jack Williams (Frederick Downs) is murdered. Jack was Hammer's best friend, and Hammer decides that he will become a one-man vigilante squad and seek vengeance on the person responsible for his death. He enlists the aid of his vivacious secretary Velda (Laurene Landon) and is also helped and hindered by police-chief Pat Chambers (Paul Sorvino). Hammer latches on to the killer's trail, then the film veers in a radically different direction from the book, introducing government conspiracies and mind-control techniques by the CIA and the Mafia. Also introduced is Hammer's love interest Charlotte Bennett (Barbara Carrera), an administrator of a kinky sex clinic (depicted as a psychiatrist in the original novel). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A man tries to rebuild his life and reconnect with his family after a stretch in prison in this independent drama. Eben Cole (Thomas Hildreth) is a lobster fisherman who lives and works on a small island off the coast of Maine. Eben takes pride in his work and works hard to provide for his wife, Cheryl (Amy Jo Johnson), and daughter, Sara (Mackenzie Young). However, Eben also has a temper, and when a pair of commercial fishermen from the mainland try to take over one of his fishing spots, the argument escalates into violence. Eben's attack on the fishermen earns him five years behind bars, and his father (Larry Pine) tells him he'll no longer have anything to do with him. After serving his time, Eben is released from jail only to find that many of his worst fears have been confirmed: Cheryl refuses to see him anymore, she's moved in with Jimmy (Mark Kiely), another local lobster trapper, and she won't allow Eben to visit with Sara (now played by Emma Ford). Regarded as a black sheep by the local fisherman, Eben takes a job at a scrap yard to keep body and soul together, but it's not until Popper (Philip Baker Hall), a veteran fisherman, befriends him that he begins to regain his self-respect and show the world he's changed. Islander was screened at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

To an even greater degree than Oskar Schindler, Dr. Israel Kasztner played a key role in saving the lives of well over 1,000 Jews from the Holocaust (1,600 in Kasztner's case; 1,200 in Schindler's), but a fascinating and deeply sad irony lay buried in the differences between the men's stories: Schindler was a Nazi party member who manipulated the Gestapo in such a way that it enabled him to save the said individuals, and he died a veritable hero; Kasztner was a Jew who bargained with Adolf Eichmann for the salvation of the 1,600 (whom he shuttled off to Switzerland on a train), and was not ultimately laurelled as a hero, but branded a traitor by his own people. This occurred largely because the notion of bargaining with the Nazis struck many as morally unacceptable (indeed, a greater moral infraction, in the eyes of some, than simple party membership). Kasztner's tale thus speaks volumes about the complex loyalties, conflicting allegiances, and deep-seated confusion at the heart of World War II, and those are the gray areas explored by director Gaylen Ross in this penetrative documentary account of Kasztner's life. The film ultimately poses key questions about the extent to which collaboration with the enemy is morally acceptable in a time of war; it reveals the extent to which Kasztner touched innumerable lives, and features deeply moving interviews with Kasztner's family (who are still attempting to restore his legacy), even as it also features conversations with Kasztner's political opponents and detractors. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

There is no shortage of suspects when a high-profile lawyer is murdered. Among the likeliest "candidates" are Willard Tappan (Michael Zaslow), a crooked financier who specializes in fleecing wealthy women, and John Curren (Jonathan Hogan), the now-impoverished son of Tappan's most recent victim. Edie Falco of The Sopranos fame appears as defense attorney Sally Bell, who'd once been "serious" with Assistant D.A. McCoy (Sam Waterston). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Can a wealthy Republican politician find happiness with a chambermaid from the Bronx? One man is about to find out, though he hardly realizes it at first, in this romantic comedy from director Wayne Wang. Marisa Ventura (Jennifer Lopez) is a single mother who is raising her gifted but under-confident son Ty (Tyler Garcia Posey) on her own, with some help from her mother Veronica (Priscilla Lopez), after divorcing her husband. Marisa works as a housekeeper at the exclusive Beresford Hotel in Manhattan, where her boss Paula Burns (Frances Conroy) and chief butler Lionel Bloch (Bob Hoskins) urge Marisa and her best friend and fellow maid Stephanie (Marissa Matrone) to be as efficient and inconspicuous as possible. One day, while cleaning the room of noted socialite Caroline Lane (Natasha Richardson), Stephanie spies a beautiful designer gown and dares Marisa to try it on; against her better judgment, she does, and while all dolled up, she bumps into Christopher Marshall (Ralph Fiennes), a wealthy and well-bred bachelor who is running for the Senate. Immediately charmed, Chris asks Marisa to join him for a walk in Central Park, assuming she's the blue-blooded Caroline. Marisa manages to join Chris for the afternoon, with Ty in tow, and Chris finds himself quite taken with Marisa's beauty and down-to-earth personality, as well as Ty's precocious interest in politics. Chris later calls Caroline's room to set up a lunch date, but soon discovers the stuffy Ms. Lane is not the woman he met before. Marisa is also attracted to Chris, but while her friends encourage her to pursue a romance, Veronica believes her daughter is asking for trouble by trying to win a man so far out of her social strata. The supporting cast also includes Stanley Tucci and Amy Sedaris. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide