John Ring Movies
- 1999
Why would a purse-snatcher shoot and kill his latest victim? While investigating the case, detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Green (Jesse L. Martin) find themselves squabbling over issues that have special significance to them both. On a more serious note, Briscoe realizes that Green is developing a truly bad habit -- while the D.A.'s office haggles with the attorney of the accused over the admissibility of a whispered confession. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
Thirty years after being convicted on a stabbing-and-rape charge, the accused may be able to get a new trial. This is the result of fresh evidence unearthed by diligent detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Logan (Benjamin Bratt). But the good news for the accused rapist is devastatingly bad news for his alleged victim, Cookie Costello (Anita Gillette), who is terrified that she will again be targeted for assault -- and possibly murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Action film director John Badham bites the hand that feeds him in this action movie spoof that features ribbing of pretty-boy Hollywood action stars by Michael J. Fox and a parody of colorful, hair-trigger James Woods types by the man himself. Woods plays New York homicide detective John Moss, who is within an inch of closing in on a serial killer who calls himself The Party Crasher (Stephen Lang) because his specialty is shooting his victims in the middle of discos. Chasing The Party Crasher after his latest victim has been dispatched, Moss finds himself hanging onto the door of a speeding truck with The Party Crasher at the wheel. When Moss is thrown off the truck and nearly killed, The Party Crasher escapes, and Moss is taken off the case. Moss is given a new assignment --to tag around with Hollywood action film star Nick Lang (Michael J. Fox), the popular hero of the "Smoking Gun" movies. Lang spotted Moss on a television news show and thinks he would be the ideal cop to study for adding authenticity to an up-coming police action picture. Posing as Moss's rookie partner, Lang follows Moss everywhere, proceeding to spoil his pursuit of The Party Crasher and interfering with Moss's burgeoning affair with his girlfriend Susan (Anabella Sciorra). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael J. Fox, James Woods, (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)
After earning rave notices for powerful supporting turns as a pimp in Street Smart (1987) and an alcohol abuse counselor in Clean and Sober (1988), actor Morgan Freeman began his ascent to stardom with this, his first lead role in a major motion picture. Freeman is real-life high school principal Joe Clark, a tough, harsh educator and administrator who in 1987 is given a nearly impossible task by his old friend, school superintendent Dr. Frank Napier (Robert Guillaume). Clark is asked to reform inner city Eastside High School in Paterson, NJ, a hotbed of delinquent kids and drug dealers. Considered the worst school in New Jersey, the state is threatening to take control of Eastside away from the local school board. If Clark can straighten out Eastside in time to get the school's basic-skills test scores up, he can have the job permanently. Although Clark's tyrannical approach and hard-line policies alienate many members of the staff and the community, his uncompromising campaign gets results and even makes him famous, much to the chagrin of his powerful enemies. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Morgan Freeman, Robert Guillaume, (more)
- 1987
- R
In this film, based on a true story, convicted criminal Lee Umstetter (Nick Nolte) is sentenced to life in San Quentin prison, with no possibility of parole. Despairing at his interminable sentence, Lee spends his time reading and educating himself. When he writes and performs a play that attracts the notice of a film critic (Rita Taggart), she sets out on a quest to have him paroled. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Nolte, Lane Smith, (more)
- 1985
- R
This uneasy mix between a slasher film and a police story focuses on a series of murders in a luxury Manhattan apartment building and the main suspect in the case, an eccentric doorman (Ian McShane). The chief detective sent to unravel the crimes, Lt. Dinardo (Mike Connors) is involved with Kate (Anne Archer), an undercover cop who installs herself in the apartment building to lure the killer into action. This makes the lieutenant particularly interested in the outcome of Kate's ploy. Although potentially prone to high suspense and dramatic turns, the story is not quite as tension-filled (or gory) as its outlines suggest. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Connors, Anne Archer, (more)
Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson star as a quartet of Manhattan-based "paranormal investigators". When their government grants run out, the former three go into business as The Ghostbusters, later hiring Hudson on. Armed with electronic paraphernalia, the team is spectacularly successful, ridding The Big Apple of dozens of ghoulies, ghosties and long-legged beasties. Tight-lipped bureaucrat William Atherton regards the Ghostbusters as a bunch of charlatans, but is forced to eat his words when New York is besieged by an army of unfriendly spirits, conjured up by a long-dead Babylonian demon and "channelled" through beautiful cellist Sigourney Weaver and nerdish Rick Moranis. The climax is a glorious sendup of every Godzilla movie ever made-and we daresay it cost more than a year's worth of Japanese monster flicks combined. Who'd ever dream that the chubby, cheery Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man would turn out to be the most malevolent threat ever faced by New York City? When the script for Ghostbusters was forged by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, John Belushi was slated to play the Bill Murray role; Belushi's death in 1982 not only necessitated the hiring of Murray, but also an extensive rewrite. The most expensive comedy made up to 1984, Ghostbusters made money hand over fist, spawning not only a 1989 sequel but also two animated TV series (one of them partially based on an earlier live-action TV weekly, titled The Ghost Busters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, (more)
- 1984
- PG13
This bittersweet comedy is, among many other things, a tour de force for the marvelous Anne Bancroft. The star is cast as Estelle Rolfe, an unconventional divorcee who resides in New York, in close proximity to her grown son Gilbert (Ron Silver) and his wife Lisa (Carrie Fisher). Though his wife yearns to move back to her home state of California, Gilbert cannot quite cut the silver cord that binds him to his mother. Upon learning that Estelle is dying, her dutiful son offers to honor her last request to meet the reclusive actress Greta Garbo. The rest of the film plays wonderful variations on this theme, involving such peripheral characters as a gay Garbo fan (Harvey Fierstein), an elderly Shakespearean actress (Hermione Gingold), a "female Joe Papp" director (Denny Dillon), and an ageing papparazzi (Howard Da Silva). Without giving away the ending, it is worth noting that the divine Garbo shows up in the person of playwright/lyricist/ performer Betty Comden. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Bancroft, Ron Silver, (more)
Paul Newman stars as an essentially decent cop patrolling that decimated, drug-and-gang-ridden borough known on the city maps as the Bronx, but known to its denizens as "Fort Apache". While Newman tries to hold on to his basic humanity and to treat even the sorriest of the people on his beat with dignity, he can't do much to convince his superiors that blind brutality is not the answer to social blight. When he witnesses fellow-cop Danny Aiello cold-bloodedly murdering a crime suspect, Newman is advised to sweep the whole incident under the rug. He refuses to do so, and as a result becomes "persona non grata" to his former friends on the force. Ed Asner co-stars as the beleaguered captain who has given up trying to treat his job as anything but a necessary evil, while Rachel Ticotin is Newman's love interest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Ed Asner, (more)
Expanding on their Saturday Night Live characters, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd star as Jake and Elwood Blues, two white boys with black soul. Sporting cool shades and look-alike suits, Jake and Elwood are dispatched on a "mission from God" by their former teacher, Sister Mary Stigmata (Kathleen Freeman). Said mission is to raise $5000 to save an orphanage. In the course of their zany adventures, the Blues Brothers run afoul of neo-Nazi Henry Gibson, perform the theme from Rawhide before the most unruly bar crowd in written history, and lay waste to hundreds of cars on the streets and freeways of Chicago. In case you aren't swept up in the infectuous nuttiness of the brothers Blue, you might have fun spotting film's legion of guest stars, including James Brown, Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, John Candy, Carrie Fisher, Steve Lawrence, Twiggy, Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman), Frank Oz, and Steven Spielberg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, (more)
