Meg Register Movies
- 1997
Veteran actor Bernie Casey made his debut as a writer and director with this allegorical drama. Three prominent and prosperous African American men meet at an expensive restaurant for dinner, where they enjoy a meal and discuss racial issues in America. Brother Man (Doug Johnson) is a well-known jazz musician, Young Brother (Wren T. Brown) is a well-heeled businessman, and Good Brother (Casey) is a U.S. Senator who enjoys a profitable sideline as an art dealer. As they finish their meals, they leave one at a time; Good Brother, the last man at the table, has risen from the table and is about to exit when a shot rings out, killing him. At the funeral, it becomes obvious that one of his two dinner guests pulled the trigger and plans on killing the third member of the group next. Jazz guitarist Kevin Eubanks, best known as the bandleader on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," composed the film's original score. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bernie Casey, Wren T. Brown, (more)
In this stylized art film, which marked the directorial debut of second-generation filmmaker Jennifer Chambers Lynch, a surgeon with a mommy fixation and a problem with premature ejaculation grows obsessed with a vivacious young libertine, to the detriment of her mobility. Dr. Nick Cavanaugh (Julian Sands), the son of a frosty, unfaithful society matron, can't get lovely neighbor Helena (Sherilyn Fenn) out of his head. Although the two only ever shared a one-night stand, Nick won't let Helena go -- a hang-up that bodes ill for the health of his plodding romance with the smitten Anne Garrett (Betsy Clark). After Nick's mother dies, he moves into her mansion and promptly throws a lavish gala just so he can lure Helena into his orbit. She spurns him for another bedmate, but not before Anne figures out something fishy is going on. Discovering that Helena forgot her purse during her hasty exit, Nick uses it to lure her back to his place for some attempted courtship. When she storms out, furious, she's the victim of a hit-and-run. Rather than simply call 911, Nick performs an emergency amputation of her legs and lets her convalesce in his house. When the hobbled Helena tries to leave, he makes her his prisoner, eventually removing her arms to prevent her escape. But when Ray O'Malley (Bill Paxton), her leather-trousered former lover, starts sniffing around to discover her whereabouts, Nick's fragile little fantasy world threatens to pop like a bubble. After Madonna and Kim Basinger both dropped out of the title role, Lynch settled on Fenn, who had risen to prominence working with the writer/director's father, David Lynch. After a lengthy breach-of-contract lawsuit, Basinger was eventually ordered to pay the film's producers eight million dollars in damages. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julian Sands, Sherilyn Fenn, (more)
- 1990
Not to be confused with the oft-filmed Fannie Hurst yarn Back Street, Backstreet Dreams is a contemporary drama of Humanity vs. the Streets. Jason O'Malley plays a New York hoodlum who doesn't trust his wife Sherilyn Fenn as far as he can throw her (and for good reason). The only person O'Malley truly cares for is his autistic son Shane, played by twin children Joseph and John Viezzi. Brooke Shields (who's better than you might think) enters the scene as a PhD candidate who hopes to get through to Shane. Now it is the unfaithful Fenn's turn to seethe with jealousy as Shields applies her "force holding" theory to Shane, she and O'Malley draw closer together. O'Malley is so taken by Shields' compassion that he severs his mob ties--but Big Boss Burt Young won't let him off so easy, and uses Shane as a "bargaining chip." Backstreet Dreams appears at times to be three films jumbled together; every time a story element starts rolling, it is exiled to the back burner in favor of another gratuitous subplot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brooke Shields, Jason O'Malley, (more)
In Lena's Holiday, the title heroine (Felicity Waterman) is an East German who makes the most of her newfound post-Berlin Wall freedom to visit Los Angeles. After crossing paths with a gang of jewel thieves, she finds herself running for her life. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Felicity Waterman, Chris Lemmon, (more)
A Vietnam War veteran (John Schneider) renounces the military for a priest's habit, but after his wife and daughter are killed by terrorists in Rome (and the government does nothing), the hero returns to violent means. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Schneider, Ned Beatty, (more)
Italian cult favorite Lucio Fulci (Zombi 2) directed this atmospheric return to the Gothic themes which had brought him such success in the early '80s, and reminds the viewer of a pair of those early works in the opening scenes. Beginning with the horrifying torture, crucifixion, and flaming deaths of a group of nuns beneath a convent in 1486 Sicily (reminiscent of the opening murder of the warlock in L'Aldila), the film then flashes forward to modern-day Toronto, where Liza (Meg Register) has visions of their deaths at a séance (as in the opening of Paura nella Citta dei Morti-Viventi). Naturally, Liza soon finds herself in Sicily, along with archaeologist Professor Paul Evans (Brett Halsey) and his colleague, Porter (Al Cliver). Nosing around the convent, she breaks open the crypt, unleashing the nuns' expectedly bloody occult vengeance. People are impaled on spikes, a woman (Carla Cassola) has her eyes ripped out by her pet cats, a mean butcher (Lino Salemme) has a meathook driven through his neck and his tongue nailed to a board, and so on. Things reach a predictable frenzy with an angry mob, a nun with no face, demonic possession, and a man ripped completely in two. There's also a bizarre back story about the nuns seducing local youths and murdering them at the moment of orgasm to obtain their blood for Satanic rituals. None of it makes much sense, and most fans of the director seeking a return to form found Demonia a pale imitation of his notorious Gothics, particularly coming so soon after Michele Soavi's similar -- and more successful -- La Chiesa. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Investigating the murder of a famous movie queen, Hunter (Fred Dryer) and McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) discover to their surprise that the dead woman had quite a checkered past. Key players in the intrigue that follows are a jealous and covetous sister, a homeless man, and several minions of the CIA. This first episode of a two-part story was adapted from a novel by former police detective Dallas L. Barnes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Distinguished by a sharp, witty dialogue between its two cop protagonists, Ray and Danny (Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal), this entertaining crime drama is well worth a visit. Ray and Danny are nearly blown away by super bad guy Julio (Jimmy Smits), and their boss is peeved at them as usual. So the two are given a holiday from their beat in Chicago and travel to the sunny shores of Key West. They like it enough to retire from police work and open a business there. But when the duo returns to the Windy City, Julio is about to pull off a big drug deal and retirement may not be such a good idea. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregory Hines, Billy Crystal, (more)
