Alan Pottinger Movies
Susan Sarandon stars in this made-for-cable-TV adaptation of Anne Tyler's novel about a housewife who thinks her life is going nowhere. However, she suddenly gets a lot more adventure than she bargained for when she's taken hostage during a bank robbery. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Sarandon, Stephen Dorff, (more)
- 1997
Bloodstains reveal that a model was murdered by one of her closest relatives. The detectives nail a suspect, the model's illegitimate daughter -- who promptly reveals that the chief witness to the crime is her own lawyer. This opens a legal can of worms when the lawyer argues that any communication between himself and the suspect is privileged, and cannot be used in court. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
A young woman is charged with the bombing of a parking garage. Further investigation reveals that the woman is the member of a cult, and that she may have been brainwashed. If so, the D.A.'s office is determined to bring up cult leader Daniel Hendricks (Sam Robards) on charges of murder and conspiracy -- but a grim plot twist awaits virtually everyone concerned. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
- PG13
When kickboxer Drew Carson gets humiliated at a local kick-boxing contest, he heads to China to up his credentials. Although he finds no open invite in the Eastern kick capitals, his persistence is rewarded and he's becomes an initiate. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Reese Madigan, Daniel Dae Kim, (more)
- 1992
The story begins when the son of prominent politician Edward Vogel (George Martin) is killed. Rather than cooperate with the prosecution, Vogel does everything in his power to impede the D.A.'s efforts to convict the boy's murderer. The reason? Vogel does not want it made public that his son was homosexual, and that he himself was being blackmailed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This film is a darkly humorous, determinedly ambiguous adaptation of Alan Dershowitz's book about his successful legal appeal of Claus von Bulow's conviction for the attempted murder of his wife, Martha "Sunny" von Bulow. Sunny (Glenn Close) -- who remains in a "persistent vegetative state" resulting from a suspicious injection of insulin -- narrates the film, summarizing the first murder trial, which ended with Claus (Jeremy Irons) convicted and released on bail pending appeal. Claus approaches Harvard Law professor Dershowitz (Ron Silver) to handle the case. Working with a small group of law students recruited from his classes, Dershowitz presents sufficient new evidence to cast doubt as to Claus' guilt and the veracity of the star witness, her maid. Jeremy Irons' extraordinary, Oscar-winning performance dominates the film. He plays the role of Claus with a alternatively pompous, aloof snobbishness and an engagingly enigmatic, kinky, sly humor. Barbet Schroeder was also nominated for an Academy Award for his extraordinary, off-beat, direction of this sophisticated, exceptionally intelligent legal drama. Reversal of Fortune with its sharp, witty, Oscar-nominated screenplay by Nicholas Kazan is unusual in its understanding that legal guilt and moral culpability are not the same thing -- making for an unusually provocative tragicomedy of bad manners and bad behavior among the rich. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons, (more)
The third pairing of comic actors Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder was much less successful than their previous team-ups, Silver Streak(1976) and Stir Crazy (1980). Wilder plays Dave, the deaf proprietor of a newsstand and employer of blind gambler Wally (Pryor). When Wally's bookie is shot and killed at the stand, Dave and Wally are arrested for the crime. Since the deaf Dave had his back turned and didn't see the crime, while the blind Wally only heard it, the clues they have to offer the police are slim: Dave's glimpse of a shapely leg and Wally's whiff of a perfume called Shalimar. It turns out the dead man was in possession of a coin that he dropped into Dave's tip box, which Wally is now carrying. The coin contains a valuable microchip sought by crime baron Sutherland (Anthony Zerbe), for whom hired killer Eve (Joan Severance) and her British partner Kirgo (Kevin Spacey) are working. Posing as lawyers, Eve and Kirgo spring Dave and Wally from jail, leading to a series of misadventures as the coin changes hands and the two sensory-challenged pals attempt to learn who has framed them and why. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Pryor, Gene Wilder, (more)
Robin Williams toned down his usually manic comic approach in this successful period drama. In 1959, the Welton Academy is a staid but well-respected prep school where education is a pragmatic and rather dull affair. Several of the students, however, have their thoughts on the learning process (and life itself) changed when a new teacher comes to the school. John Keating (Williams) is an unconventional educator who tears chapters of his textbooks and asks his students to stand on their desks to see the world from a new angle. Keating introduces his students to poetry, and his free-thinking attitude and the liberating philosophies of the authors he introduces to his class have a profound effect on his students, especially Todd (Ethan Hawke), who would like to be a writer; Neil ( Robert Sean Leonard), who dreams of being an actor, despite the objections of his father; Knox (Josh Charles), a hopeless romantic; Steven (Allelon Ruggiero), an intellectual who learns to use his heart as well as his head; Charlie (Gale Hansen), who begins to lose his blasé attitude; unconventional Gerard (James Waterston); and practical Richard (Dylan Kussman). Keating urges his students to seize the day and live their lives boldly; but when this philosophy leads to an unexpected tragedy, headmaster Mr. Nolan (Norman Lloyd) fires Keating, and his students leap to his defense. Dead Poets Society was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Williams; it won one, for Tom Schulman's original screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, (more)
- 1989
- PG
In this actioner, an innocent man is framed and imprisoned for car theft. Six months later he is released and out for vengeance. Car chases and violence ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Biloxi Blues was the second of playwright Neil Simon's semi-autobiographical trilogy (number one was Brighton Beach Memoirs; number three, Broadway Bound). Matthew Broderick stars as Simon's alter ego Eugene Morris Jerome, who is drafted and shipped off to boot camp in Biloxi, Mississippi in the waning days of World War II. Eugene is at the mercy of near-psychotic drill sergeant Toomey (Christopher Walken), who seems to have a personal vendetta against the poor schlemiel (Toomey also has all the film's best lines). While sweating out basic training, Eugene is indoctrinated into manhood by local prostitute Rowena (Park Overall). The film version of Biloxi Blues retains the wit and poignancy of the theatrical original--except towards the end, which pointlessly emphasizes a showdown between Eugene and Toomey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew Broderick, Christopher Walken, (more)
