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Doug Robinson Movies

1990  
R  
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Marisa Silver helmed this tightly directed hospital drama reminiscent of David Swift's 1962 The Interns. Jimmy Smits plays Dr. David Redding, who guides seven student doctors through their third year of residency at Los Angeles Central's medical school. The cast includes Laura San Giacomo as Lauren Rose, a hard-working waitress putting her uncaring husband Kenny (Jack Gwaltney) through medical school; Kenny eventually breaks down the resistance of cool fellow student Gena Wyler (Diane Lane). Kenny is also competing with doctor's son Michael Chatham (Adrian Pasdar), who wants to become the best surgeon at L.A. Central; Michael, however, has to reconsider his goals when he realizes that he also needs Gena's love. Bobby Hayes (Tim Ransom) and Suzanne Maloney (Jane Adams) are also struggling with medical school, but they are a support team who study, work, and even sleep together. Through all the competitions and love affairs it eventually takes the wisdom of a dying cancer patient (Norma Aleandro) to make the medical students realize the important things in life. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

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Starring:
Adrian PasdarDiane Lane, (more)
 
1985  
PG13  
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Love means never having to say that you're ugly in the extravagant fantasy film Enemy Mine. Earthling Dennis Quaid is Davidge, one of many space warriors engaged in a bloody extraterrestrial battle against the Draconians. Crash-landing on a faraway planet, Davidge is forced into an "up close and personal" with the Drac (Lou Gossett Jr.), a repellant, reptilian creature. Evidently a bivalve, the Drac gives birth to a baby Drac just before expiring. Now a reluctant foster father, Davidge tries to keep himself and the baby alive while the war continues to rage all around them. The special effects (courtesy Industrial Light and Magic) are serviceable if not brilliant, and the acting is okay so far as it goes. What socks over Enemy Mine is Rolf Zehetbauer's awe-inspiring production design and Chris Walas' superb makeup work. Though a favorite on home video, the film deserves to be seen on a wide theatre screen. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Dennis QuaidLouis Gossett, Jr., (more)
 
1984  
 
This low-budget film is about a scientist (Kenneth Hendel) and two other people (Kay Lenz and Richard Hatch), in the wrong place at the wrong time, who are transported to another world in another dimension when an earthquake occurs just as the scientist is experimenting with his "matter" transmitter. As the transmitter beeps and flashes, the trio end up in the strange world of Vonya (which looks very much like the African plains where this film was shot, and where everyone speaks English). Their main objective is to escape back to Earth, but in the meantime, they have several comic-book style villains to handle, of course. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

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Starring:
Richard HatchKay Lenz, (more)
 
1984  
PG  
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The second of the George Lucas/Steven Spielberg Indiana Jones epics is set a year or so before the events in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1984). After a brief brouhaha involving a precious vial and a wild ride down a raging Himalyan river, Indy (Harrison Ford) gets down to the problem at hand: retrieving a precious gem and several kidnapped young boys on behalf of a remote East Indian village. His companions this time around include a dimbulbed, easily frightened nightclub chanteuse (Kate Capshaw), and a feisty 12-year-old kid named Short Round (Quan Ke Huy). Throughout, the plot takes second place to the thrills, which include a harrowing rollercoaster ride in an abandoned mineshaft and Indy's rescue of the heroine from a ritual sacrifice. There are also a couple of cute references to Raiders of the Lost Ark, notably a funny variation of Indy's shooting of the Sherpa warrior. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Harrison FordKate Capshaw, (more)
 
1983  
PG  
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Curse of the Pink Panther was released just after Trail of the Pink Panther with a script that has someone looking for the inept Inspector Clousseau and the fabulous stolen Pink Panther diamond at the same time. In Curse, Clifton Sleigh (Ted Wass) is a New York retread of the bumbling Inspector, chosen to look for him by Clousseau's former boss because Sleigh most certainly will never find him. Although peppered with a few inventive stunts, Curse still falls short of the Sellers classics. In a bizarre side note, David Niven was himself terminally ill at the time of his appearance in Trail of the Pink Panther and unable to speak adequately. His voice was dubbed in by impressionist Rich Little. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

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Starring:
Ted WassDavid Niven, (more)
 
1981  
R  
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For Marshal O'Neil (Sean Connery), the Jupiter moon Io is just another dingy mining town on the final frontier. When his wife leaves him and takes their son with them, it merely confirms that though he's traveled millions of miles, his life is going nowhere. Then he notices that miners are dying in strangely psychotic ways -- walking in space without spacesuits, carving up prostitutes. With the help of Dr. Lazarus (Frances Sternhagen), his investigation reveals that the miners are ingesting a lethal drug that speeds their work efforts. He learns that the company that runs the town is behind the drug. He confronts the town boss Sheppard Peter Boyle and soon has two hit men heading toward Io with a plan to kill him. As the seconds tick down to the next space shuttle's arrival, O'Neil plots to meet them and faces the biggest challenge of his life. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., Rovi

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Starring:
Sean ConneryPeter Boyle, (more)
 
1979  
PG  
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This film depicts the events prior to the devastating conflict that occurred in 1879 when British soldiers were held siege by thousands of Zulu warriors. Fifteen hundred soldiers were killed in the epic battle. This film portrays the tensions existing between the tribal factions and the British invaders. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

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Starring:
Burt LancasterPeter O'Toole, (more)