Jeff Ramsey Movies

A U.S. Army war correspondent is drawn into a deadly mystery in post-war Berlin as he seeks out his wartime mistress in this adaptation of author Joseph Kanon's best-selling novel. The war is over, and Jake Geismar (George Clooney) is an American journalist assigned the task of covering the peace in Berlin -- but he was once lovers with a mysterious woman named Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett). Lena is a lady with many secrets to hide, however, and now that the fighting has ceased, she has every intention of burying her sins and escaping her dark past. As Jake searches for Lena in war-torn Berlin with the assistance of American Army motor pool driver Tully (Tobey Maguire), the complex web of deceit woven by the desperate woman soon leads all three into the black market, which could prove either the ticket to Lena's ultimate escape or the downfall of both her and her pursuers. Filmed entirely in the style of such Hollywood classics as Casablanca, The Good German was shot by director Steven Soderbergh (under the pseudonym Peter Andrews) using 1940s era lenses, sound-recording techniques, and a decidedly less-mobile camera. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Director Dominic Sena follows up his stylish action film Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) with this high-tech thriller. John Travolta stars as Gabriel Shear, a charismatic spy who plots to steal a multi-billion-dollar fortune in illegal government funds. In order to make his scheme work, however, Gabriel needs some help from a computer hacker, which is where Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman) comes in. Stanley has been paroled from prison after serving a lengthy sentence for penetrating the FBI's cyber-surveillance operations. Issued a restraining order that keeps him away from computers and living penniless in a trailer park, Stanley wants only to be reunited with his daughter Holly, who's in the custody of his ex-wife, now remarried to a pornographer. Gabriel and his partner Ginger (Halle Berry) offer Stanley the chance to get his child back in exchange for his help, but the hacker soon realizes he's a pawn in a larger operation than the high-tech bank heist he thought he was perpetrating. In the meantime, a dedicated federal agent (Don Cheadle), the same man who once arrested Stanley, is trying to expose Gabriel's operation. Swordfish also stars Sam Shepard and Zach Grenier. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

An escaped convict fights for his rights while hiding out from the law in this action drama. Sam Gillen (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a thief who, despite his criminal past, is an essentially decent man; he ended up behind bars after taking a murder rap for his partner. Sam escapes from prison in a daring jailbreak, and he hides out on a remote farm while on the run from police. A young boy named Mookie (Kieran Culkin) finds the fugitive and takes him in; it seems that the farm belongs to his mother Clydie (Roseanna Arquette), and soon Mookie and his sister Bree (Tiffany Taubman) have become friends with Sam, and Clydie and Sam fall in love. However, Franklin Hale (Joss Ackland), an unscrupulous land developer, wants to buy Clydie's farm and isn't taking no for an answer. When Hale's thug Dunston (Ted Levine) tries to use force to drive Clydie off her property, Sam is ready to fight fire with fire. Nowhere to Run was co-authored by noted screenwriter Joe Eszterhas; Richard Marquand received his story credit posthumously. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Stephen King wrote his first original screenplay for this horror gore fest that features cameos by directors Clive Barker, Joe Dante, Tobe Hooper, John Landis, and King himself (playing a cemetery attendant). The story concerns a twilight people named "sleepwalkers" --creatures similar to vampires and werewolves whose faces turn animalistic whenever they are frightened or angry and who require the lifeforce of a virgin to survive. A single-parent sleepwalker family, consisting of Mary Brady (Alice Krige) and her son Charles (Brian Krause), have taken up residence in a small Indiana town. Charles has expressed a romantic interest in the attractive Tanya Robertson (Madchen Amick), a girl in his high school literature class. Mary wants Charles to lure Tanya home so that she can suck out her life force, but it appears that Charles has fallen in love with her --that is, until their first date, at a picnic at the cemetery. There Charles changes from a shy romantic suitor into a brutal and violent force, slapping Tanya around and attempting to rape her. But Tanya wards off his advances by plunging a corkscrew into his torso. Charles staggers back home to mother, where she nurses him back to health. Then Charles and his mother seek vengeance upon the Robertson family. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Director Mark L. Lester modeled this police action drama on the Hong Kong style, guaranteeing plenty of over-the-top action sequences. Dolph Lundgren stars as police detective Chris Kenner, an American raised in Japan. He is given a new partner, Johnny Murata (Brandon Lee, making his Hollywood debut), a Japanese raised in America. The two are made for each other -- Chris doesn't appreciate American culture, while Johnny doesn't much like Japanese culture. One thing they both enjoy are the martial arts, of which they are experts. The two are assigned to L.A.'s Little Tokyo, trying to nab the notorious Yoshida (Carey-Hiroyuki Tagawa), a drug manufacturer using a local brewery as his distribution center. Yoshida, a member of the Yakuza, has brought the residents of Little Tokyo to their knees. But Chris has personal reasons for wanting to get Yoshida -- as a child he witnessed Yoshida murdering his parents. When Yoshida rapes and kidnaps Minako (Tia Carrere), a beautiful lounge singer, it's the last straw and Chris and Johnny set out for Yoshida's heavily guarded home for a big showdown. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV gangster docudrama, Al Capone (Eric Roberts) wages war against his younger brother (Adrian Pasdar), a Midwestern sheriff. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

The Package, a thriller involving political assassination and intrigue, is an excellent action feature using a familiar theme and providing good performances by the cast. Boyette (Tommy Lee Jones) is a prisoner entrusted to Gallagher (Gene Hackman) for transportation back to the United States. Boyette escapes and Gallagher must find him. In doing so, Gallagher finds himself getting into far more than he had bargained for as he becomes involved in a political assignation plot that he must stop. Both Hackman and Jones are excellent in reprising familiar roles. Hackman is never better than when portraying the decent man in a precarious position, and Jones plays Boyette with the same cunning and intelligence that he brought to The Executioner's Song. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

In this vaguely allegorical science fiction-crime film, a Los Angeles cop tries to solve the murder of his best friend with the help of his new partner -- a member of a star-faring alien race. In the near-future world of Alien Nation, the "Newcomers" are a race of formerly enslaved humanoids seeking refuge and integration into Earth society. These unusual immigrants face anger and resentment from some humans, including Matthew Sykes (James Caan), a cop whose partner, Tug (Roger Aaron Brown), was killed in a shoot-out with several Newcomers. In order to get some insight into Newcomer society and track down the "slags" who killed Tug, Sykes volunteers to take on a new partner,Sam "George" Francisco (Mandy Patinkin), the first alien ever promoted to the rank of detective. As Sykes tries to overcome his bigotry against George and his kind, who eat raw beaver and get drunk on spoiled milk, the friendly, helpful George soon learns the identity of Tug's killer: William Harcort (Terrence Stamp), a pillar of Newcomer society who is secretly manufacturing the same powerful narcotic that was used to enslave his race. It's up to Sykes and George to stop Harcort before he turns his fellow Newcomers into drooling addicts and pulls the skeletons out of his race's closet for all of humankind to see. Omen 3 director Graham Baker made his screenwriting debut with Alien Nation, as did co-writer Rockne S. O'Bannon. Kenneth Johnson, creator of the miniseries V, would adapt Alien Nation into a weekly television show in 1989 and several made-for-TV movies in the mid-'90s. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

In director/writer Curtis Hanson's 1987 chiller The Bedroom Window, architect Terry Lambert (Steve Guttenberg) experiences a most disorienting turn of events when his French lover, Sylvia (Isabelle Huppert) - the wife of his boss - walks over to the titular window in-between lovemaking sessions and witnesses a mysterious man strangling a helpless victim (Elizabeth McGovern). By the time Guttenberg comes to the window, he can see only a crowd of spectators. Because Sylvia wants to avoid a messy involvement in the case (which would soil her reputation, ruin her marriage and cost Lambert his job), Guttenberg agrees to pretend that he witnessed the attack. The ruse, of course, leads to a myriad of complications. And meanwhile, with the psycho still on the loose, Lambert sets out to find him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A former FBI agent is recruited to root out the gangsters who killed a fellow agent's son in this Arnold Schwarzenegger action film. After being booted out of the bureau for excessive violence, Kaminski (Schwarzenegger) lives in small-town exile with his bitter wife, Amy (Blanche Baker). He gets the chance to return to the big city, however, when Chicago mobsters murder the son of his old colleague Shannon (Darren McGavin), as well as scads of prosecution witnesses against them in an impending court case. Shannon promises to reinstate Kaminski if he'll help engineer the downfall of gang leader Max (Robert Davi). Working undercover and without government sanction, Kaminski infiltrates the mob by posing as a bodyguard/assassin. Along the way, he tussles with beautiful gambling addict Monique (Kathryn Harrold), who starts off as an enemy but ends up more. The action comes to a head when Kaminski's mob bosses send him to kill none other than Shannon. Released post-Terminator and pre-Predator, Raw Deal is one of several non-science fictional action flicks that cemented Schwarzenegger's '80s box-office appeal. Director John Irvin would return the following year with the gritty Vietnam drama Hamburger Hill. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Firestarter is based on a bone-chilling novel by Steven King. Drew Barrymore plays Charlie McGee the young daughter of Andrew (David Keith) and Vicky (Heather Locklear) McGee, who years earlier had been guinea pigs for a top secret experiment. As a result, Charlie has acquired the unenviable ability to start fires simply by thinking about fires. Charlie is pursued over hill and dale by The Shop, a secret government organization bent upon using her skills for nefarious purposes. The special effects are undeniably startling, even when the script and dialogue are straight out of the funny papers (it's hard to keep a straight face during the New York Times final shot!) The high-priced cast--including George C. Scott, Art Carney, Louise Fletcher--seems to be having a grand ole time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kathleen Turner plays a writer of adventure stories, Joan Wilder, who has been having trouble selling her works of late because they aren't remotely believable. The basic problem is that the mousy Joan has never had any real adventure in her life. All this changes when she receives a frantic phone call from her sister, whose is being held prisoner by evil art dealers in Colombia. It seems that sis has mailed Joan a map leading to a valuable treasure. Nasty but cowardly Ralph (Danny DeVito), cousin of the principal villain (Zack Norman), has been assigned to claim the map from Joan. But upon arriving in Colombia, Joan and Ralph learn that others of a more homicidal bent are also after the map. Joan is rescued by soldier of fortune Jack Colton (Michael Douglas), who isn't quite clear about his stake in the proceedings. Jack and Joan undergo several perilous adventures in the wilds of Colombia. The treasure turns out to be a valuable jewel, which changes hands (one of them severed!) many times before it is swallowed by an alligator. Joan manages to break free from her pursuers, but Jack is presumed dead. Jack returns at the end of the film in Manhattan to surprise Joan. The sequel to Romancing the Stone was 1985's The Jewel of the Nile. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the fourth installment of the "Herbie" series of Volkswagen Bug fantasies, the magical car has lost a lot of its sheen as it is retreaded into a journey through Central America. D.J. (Charles Martin Smith) and Pete (Stephan W. Burns) want to enter their supernatural car in a special, high-stakes race in Brazil. And so they set off driving with that goal in mind. Along the way the car ends up in a bullring playing the role of matador, the best of several incongruous adventures. Most audiences will still favor The Love Bug, the 1969 hit that spawned this third sequel. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide