Anthony Russell Movies

A lovelorn urbanite who has spent nearly a decade trying to win back his ex-girlfriend gets involved in a romantic case of mistaken ethnicity in director Jason Todd Ipson's warmhearted relationship comedy. It's been eight years since Jake's girlfriend left him, and despite the fact that she's now married with three children, he refuses to move on. Fed up with their depressive pal's unwillingness to let go of the past, Jake's friends set him up on a blind date with a beautiful Italian woman from Boston's North End. Though Jake is convinced that such a woman would never even consider dating a non-Italian, a quick crash course in how to fake it may prove just the trick to helping him learn to love once again. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

In her third attempt to launch a successful starring sitcom, comedienne Bonnie Hunt starred as Bonnie Molloy, host of the low-rated TV chat show "Morning Chicago." The basic humor arose from Bonnie's efforts to juggle her career with her home life as the wife of doctor John Molloy (played by Lance Kerwin in the unaired pilot episode, and by Mark Derwin in the series proper) and the mother of three rambunctious kids. The domestic scenes admirably avoided the usual "setup-punch line" formula, with Bonnie making jokes almost as an afterthought as she tried to cope with her hectic lifestyle, while the scenes allegedly taking place during the telecast of "Morning Chicago" were largely improvised. The supporting cast included Samantha Browne-Walters and Charlie Stewart as Bonnie's kids Cathleen and Tommy (youngest child Connor was played by an uncredited infant), Marianne Muellerleile as autocratic live-in maid Gloria, David Alan Grier as Bonnie's TV producer David Bellows, Holly Wortell as studio makeup artist Holly, Anthony Russell as Bonnie's on-air piano player Tony Russo, and Chris Barnes as Marv, the cue-card guy. Life With Bonnie debuted September 17, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hollywood visionary Tim Burton pays homage to another Hollywood visionary, albeit a less successful one, in this unusual fictionalized biography. The film follows Wood (Johnny Depp) in his quest for film greatness as he writes and directs turkey after turkey, cross-dresses, and surrounds himself with a motley crew of Hollywood misfits, outcasts, has-beens, and never-weres. The real story, however, is his friendship with aging, morphine-addicted Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau), whom he tries to help stage a comeback. Landau's unforgettable Oscar-winning performance must be seen to be believed, as must Rick Baker's Oscar-winning makeup. While it would have been easy to make a film simply ridiculing the bumbling director, Burton instead focuses on his driving passion for filmmaking and his unwavering persistence in the face of ridicule and failure. Possibly the most surprising aspect of the film is the genuine sentiment with which Burton treats the relationship between Wood and Lugosi; his devotion to Lugosi is touching, as is Lugosi's final soliloquy -- an inane bit of dialogue from the hilariously bad Bride of the Monster that grows into a poignant metaphor for the actor's life and ultimate triumph of his spirit. Even the look of the film is right; it manages to preserve the air of one of Wood's own films while retaining a sense of artistry in much of the composition on screen (note the scene at the drug rehab where Lugosi endures a horrifying night of detox). In all, Ed Wood is a unique film -- at times side-splittingly funny; at others, tragic or even frightening -- and a heartfelt tribute to the love of movies, good and bad alike. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

The second wedding anniversary of Paul and Jamie Buchman (Paul Reiser, Helen Hunt) is fraught with peril, beginning when Paul loses his wedding ring. Things come to a head when a meeting with Paul's nephew Noah (Andrew J. Ferchland) prompts Jamie to reconsider motherhood. Originally telecast as the hour-long finale of Mad About You's second season, this episode has since been divided into two half-hour installments for syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bugsy is a character study of mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel wrapped up in a gangster movie. Siegel (Warren Beatty in a flashy performance) arrives in California in the Forties, assigned to oversee the L.A. rackets. He is quickly seduced by both the glamour of Hollywood and actress Virginia Hill (Annette Bening), whom he romances despite being unable to leave his wife and children. Siegel soon has a vision to transform a barren stretch of Nevada desert into an oasis of gambling and entertainment -- the seeds from which Las Vegas was sown. Funded by his gangster bosses, including Meyer Lansky (Ben Kingsley), the flamboyant Siegel sees his budget soar past its original $6 million, a problem compounded by the fact that Virginia has embezzled $2 million of it. In trouble with his superiors, Siegel flies back to L.A. to face the music, telling Virginia to keep the money. He would not live to see his dream of Las Vegas come true. The film is fast-paced and well-directed by Barry Levinson, with an intelligent script by James Toback and excellent support from Kingsley and Harvey Keitel as gangster Mickey Cohen. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

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

C. Thomas Howell stars as the otherwise-nameless title character, a young man whose hippie parents were murdered years ago by a gang of rednecks. Years later, the Kid has returned to the scene of the crime to avenge their deaths, only to find that one of the killers is now the town sheriff. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide