T.E. Russell Movies
A handful of close friends, due to turn 30, discover that their dreams for the future are running headfirst into the realities of adulthood in this character-driven comedy-drama. Natalie (Melissa De Sousa) is a banker who is happy with her job, but is tired of being single, and her pursuit of a husband is taking her down several blind alleys in the world of dating. Joy (Erika Alexander) has developed a similar desire to settle down and get married, but while she has a long-term boyfriend, Leland (T.E. Russell), he isn't so sure he wants to make a lifetime commitment. Troy (Tracy Morgan) is a comic who has been on the verge of a career breakthrough for years, but he's started to wonder if his big break is ever going to arrive. Maleek (Allen Payne) is a white-collar executive who thinks life is passing him by, and is pondering giving up a stable career to start over as a male model. And Stephanie (Paula Jai Parker) is comfortable with her job in real estate, but she's not so comfortable with herself as she struggles with a weight problem she's had since childhood. 30 Years for Life marked the directorial debut for Vanessa Middleton, who previously distinguished herself as a television writer for such series as Cosby and Hangin' With Mr. Cooper. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Erika Alexander, Melissa DeSousa, (more)
In this independent drama, three teenage girls find themselves dealing with that most adult of responsibilities, parenthood, when they unexpectedly become pregnant. Shanika (Tamara LaSeon Bass) was abandoned by her drug-addicted mother and has bounced from one foster home to another ever since. When she meets an older man, she's desperately looking for love, but has to settle for sex, and is unprepared for the consequences. Aracely (Tonatzin Mondragon) is forced out of her family's home when her parents discover she's having a baby. With nowhere else to go, she moves in with her boyfriend; however, he is barely able to provide for himself, let along help support Aracely and the baby. And Tina (Keely Vint) was herself the child of a teenage mother. Tina passes herself from one boyfriend to another; when she discovers she's pregnant, she realizes to her despair she not sure who the father is. Bellyfruit was shown as part of the 1999 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tamara LaSeon Bass, Tonatzin Mondragon, (more)
- 1999
Worried that Andy (Dennis Franz) may be too emotionally strung out, Sylvia (Sharon Lawrence) considers using Danny (Rick Schroder) as the main witness against Cullinen. Meanwhile, defense attorney Sinclair (Daniel Benzali) begins cataloguing the dirty tricks he intends to use on Cullinen's behalf. And back at the precinct, the case of a woman (Julie Carmen) who may have murdered her husband for his insurance dredges up unpleasant memories of an earlier, similar investigation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Originally screened at Telluride as The Buddy Factor, Swimming With Sharks is an uneven but engrossing picture, and a possible warning to anyone with plans to break into the motion-picture business. When Guy (Frank Whaley), a recent film-school graduate with big ideas, takes a job as assistant to major studio executive Buddy Ackerman (Kevin Spacey), he believes his ship has finally come in; little does he know it's a slave ship, for his boss is indeed worse than a slave driver. Buddy delights in abusing his boy-toy (exemplified by the scene in which he forbids Guy to go to the bathroom as he pours water back and forth from a glass to a pitcher). Meanwhile, Guy struggles to push his idea for a script and feels he's finally made it when Buddy congratulates him on a job well done. However, much to his chagrin, his conniving boss actually takes sole credit for the project, pushing the young assistant to wit's end -- he breaks into Buddy's Beverly Hills showplace and takes him hostage, then proceeds to torture him in a number of demeaning and horrifying ways. The whole film stands as a sort of parable about the value system in Hollywood and the cost of reaching the top; it doesn't play like real life, but it's not supposed to. The real reason to watch the film, however, is Spacey's performance. He manages at once to be terrifying, hateful, and hilarious, and he makes Buddy Ackerman a character the audience won't soon forget. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Spacey, Frank Whaley, (more)
- 1993
"Her charms deceived him. Her evil betrayed him. Now only the truth can free him." The ad copy for the made-for-cable Linda only scratched the surface, but it did capture the gist of the story. Richard Thomas plays a nebbish who takes a Florida vacation with his restless wife Virginia Madsen. Before they can slap on the sun block, Thomas and Madsen becomes involved with another couple, played by Ted McGinley and Laura Harrington. A murder ensues, and Thomas is fingered as the most likely suspect. There's many a James M. Cain-ish plot twist before Thomas -- and the audience -- learn which end is up. Linda debuted October 8, 1993, on the USA cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia Madsen, Richard Thomas, (more)
Maverick director Walter Hill, who had a big hit with 48 Hrs., indulges his customary yen for violent and disturbing scenes in this overlooked action film, which was also released under the name Looters. Set in the economically-depressed town of East St. Louis, IL, the film's release was delayed several months because its riot scenes were too similar to those that actually took place in the summer of 1992 in L.A. Bill Paxton plays Vince and Bill Sadler plays Don. They are a couple of good-old-boy firefighters who are tipped off that some stolen gold treasures have been hidden in an old warehouse. They find and enter the building but witness a brutal murder. The gangland killing is part of a turf battle between two rival drug lords. When one of them finds out that the firemen have seen the execution, he orders the witnesses murdered. But they have found the treasure and have kidnapped one gang leader's brother. An elaborate and violent series of skirmishes and chases ensue. Rapper-actors Ice-T and Ice Cube have roles as leading gang members. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Paxton, Ice-T, (more)
Gladiator is the kind of boxing movie that goes that extra mile -- a self-loathing boxing saga that relishes in bare-knuckled sucker punches, illegal eye-rubs, and gentlemen boxers who obey the Marquis of Queensbury rules by drop-kicking opponents when the are not only down but unconscious. James Marshall plays Tommy Riley, a Windy City high school student conned into participating in the illegal underground boxing arenas of the South Side of Chicago. In high school, Tommy was a prize boxer, and this skill comes in handy when his Father (John Heard) runs up a large gambling debt. When a sleazy boxing manager (Robert Loggia) spots Tommy defending himself during recess, he offers him quick money to box. Tommy, although he hates the sport, readily agrees, thinking his winnings will help his father pay off his debts. He quickly comes under the thumb of unscrupulous boxing promoter Horn (Brian Dennehy), who is involved in fight-fixing and dirty fighting. Manipulating the odds and exploiting his boxers make Horn rich and more venal. In the rancid environment, Tommy befriends another fighter, Lincoln (Cuba Gooding Jr.), a black fighter who sees fighting as his way out of poverty. Inevitably, Horn arranges for the two friends to duke it out in the ring together. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cuba Gooding, Jr., James Marshall, (more)
- 1991
The made-for-TV Jailbirds is a distaff comedy variation on The Defiant Ones. Phylicia Rashad plays an important LA business executive, while Dyan Cannon portrays a trailer-trash babe from Louisiana. Both Rashad and Cannon are thrown into a dank Southern jail for crimes they didn't commit. While manacled together, the ladies escape, driving each other cuckoo as they elude their captors. Apparently, CBS had so little faith in Jailbirds that the network hardly bothered to advertise the film went it premiered May 16, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Dead Poets Society and Die Hard bash heads in this action drama set in a Northeastern prep school. The film opens as a crazed Central American terrorist, Luis Cali (Andrew Divoff), goes on a shooting spree, attempting to gain his drug baron father's release from extradition to the United States. The following sequence introduces some malcontented rich kids from the prep school --Joey Trotta (Wil Wheaton), the son of a New Jersey mob leader; Billy Tepper (Sean Astin), a reprobate who has been to four boarding schools in as many years; Snuffy Bradbury (Keith Coogan), whose rich banker father is the chairman of the Republican Party; Ricardo Montoya (George Perez), the son of a big-shot lawyer; and Hank Giles (T.E. Russell), whose father is the head of the House Armed Services Committee. The boys disregard their studies and spend their waking hours giving Dean Parker (Louis Gossett Jr.) a hard time. The two storylines collide when Luis, with a group of terrorist goons, make their way across the U.S. border and invade the boarding school, planning to take hostage the son of his father's judge. But the authorities have already removed the boy from danger, so Luis and the terrorists decide to hold the entire student body hostage until their demands are met. Working with the FBI and the special government forces, the rebellious groups of boys have to devise a plan to short-circuit the hostage situation. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Astin, Wil Wheaton, (more)
Set during the Watts riots of the mid-'60s, the made-for-cable Heat Wave follows the story of Los Angeles Times reporter Robert Richardson (Blair Underwood), who was the only journalist on staff able to cover the story, since White reporters were unable to gain access to the area and the rioters. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Blair Underwood, Cicely Tyson, (more)
