Ken Ryan Movies
A mysterious, mind-altering epidemic has infected humankind, and when a Washington, D.C. psychiatrist discovers that the outbreak seems to be extraterrestrial in origin, she struggles to save her son from infection in this sci-fi thriller starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, and directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (Das Experiment). The space shuttle has crashed, and investigators assigned to explore the wreckage have found something unimaginable in the debris -- something from the deepest reaches of outer space. Everyone who comes into contact with it soon begins to transform in ways that can't be explained by modern science. While their physical appearance remains completely unaltered, their emotions seem to be drained and their actions become strangely inhuman. The only people who know the truth about this extraterrestrial epidemic are Washington, D.C. psychiatrist Carol Bennell (Kidman) and her longtime friend Dr. Ben Driscoll (Craig). It seems that the alien virus attacks people in their sleep, and by the time they awaken, the transformation has already taken place. The contagion is spreading rapidly, and as more people fall victim to its eerie effects by the hour, it becomes impossible to differentiate the infected from those who can still be trusted. When Carol realizes that her young son may hold the only hope for saving the human race, she struggles to remain awake long enough to find the boy and prevent planet Earth from becoming host to a terrifying new breed of extraterrestrials. Based on the book The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney, The Invasion was written by David Kajganich and co-stars Jeffrey Wright and Jeremy Northam. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, (more)
Edward Zwick returned to the director's chair for the first time since 1998's The Siege with this sweeping period drama set in 19th-century Japan. After centuries of relying on hired samurai for national defense, the Japanese monarchy has decided to do away with the warriors in favor of a more contemporary military. Tom Cruise stars as Nathan Algren, a veteran of the U.S. Civil War who is hired by the Emperor Meiji to train an army capable of wiping out the samurai. But when Algren is captured by the samurai and taught about their history and way of life, he finds himself conflicted over who he should be fighting alongside. Billy Connelly, Tony Goldwyn, and Ken Watanabe co-star. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Cruise, Timothy Spall, (more)
- 2002
The devastating big business scandals of the early 21st century served as inspiration for this episode. An investment analyst is murdered, and his body left near a ferry terminal. The detectives are faced with a surplus of suspects, most of them disgruntled investors in a failing corporation. Ultimately, however, the trail of evidence leads to the conclusion that money may not have been the primary motive. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Danny DeVito steps behind the camera for this darkly funny satire that combines elements of Barney and Friends with the real-life Pee-Wee Herman scandal while recalling the director's previously twisted black comedies Throw Momma From the Train (1987) and The War of the Roses (1989). Robin Williams stars as Randolph Smiley, a popular children's show host known professionally as "Rainbow Randolph." Dismissed from his beloved job when he's caught taking payola, Randolph becomes increasingly mentally unhinged and the target of his delusional revenge fantasies is Sheldon Mopes (Edward Norton), otherwise known as Smoochy, the fuchsia rhino character that has replaced him and soared to national popularity. Randolph soon learns that his ex-girlfriend and network executive Nora Wells (Catherine Keener) is sleeping with Sheldon, so he sets out to kill Smoochy, egged on by an unexpected ally: corporate president Marion Frank Stokes (Jon Stewart), who should be profiting from Smoochy's rise to fame, except for the fact that he and his cronies are unable to control the idealistic Sheldon's on-air agenda. Death to Smoochy (2002) co-stars Harvey Fierstein, Vincent Shiavelli, and Michael Rispoli. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- 1998
Part of ABC's sporadic TV-movie series "Crimes of Passion", I Know What You Did stars Rosanna Arquette as Stacey Keane, a high-profile lawyer who specializes in defending accused rapist. In a prime example of grim irony, Stacey is attacked and sexually assaulted in her own home. Freeing herself from her assailant, Stacey accidentally kills the man, then hides his body. Unfortunately, there was a witness (Lawrence Monoson) to Stacey's desperate act of self-defense. . .and he will remain silent only for a price. The fact that the heroine's fiancé (Steven Eckholdt) is one of the investigating officers only serves to underscore the marked resemblance between this film and Alfred Hitchcock's early talkie Blackmail. I Know What You Did was originally telecast on January 11, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosanna Arquette, Steven Eckholdt, (more)
In this off-beat horror outing, a band of film students decide to scare up some cash by holding a film festival celebrating horror films from the '50s. Its all great fun until they discover that the projectionist is a homicidal maniac. Gory violence ensues as audience members begin dying in horrible ways. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jill Schoelen, Tom Villard, (more)
- 1989
This eccentric low-budget feature sets a story based on Feodor Dostoevski's classic Russian novel Crime and Punishment among the trendily decadent fringe element of New York's Lower East Side. Sonia Invanova (Liliana Komorowski is a kooky European transplant struggling through a frigid New York winter in her cold water flat. She doesn't have the money to pay her rent, and risks eviction when she turns down a proposition from her unsavory landlord, a part-time pimp. Sonia sees the landlord beating up one of his girls in a bar, and decides to take justice into her own hands. She kills him, and then enters into a cat-and-mouse game with a police detective (Ken Ryan) who, as in the novel, knows she did it and wants to goad her into confessing. But Sonia is not wracked with a guilty conscience like Raskalnikov. She has an affair with a Brazilian singer and ends up on the beaches in Rio, from which she narrates this story in flashback. Crime and no-punishment? Directors Jeff Kahn and Travis Preston make good use of the Lower East milieu, and set several scenes in blues clubs, making for a lively soundtrack. With its absurd deadpan humor, and spaced-out characters, Astonished is clearly intended for the midnight-movie cult audience that responded to films like Repo Man and Jim Jarmusch's Stranger than Paradise. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liliana Komorowski, Ken Ryan, (more)
- 1985
- R
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Shot in 1983 but not released until 1985, this low-budget sci-fi adventure is set in a degenerate society sometime in the near future, with humans thrown back to the level of Neanderthals by nuclear war. Three astronauts, two men and a woman, are in charge of a space station armed with nuclear weapons when World War III erupts on earth. They remain in space to stay out of the conflagration but are forced to crash-land several months after the war has wiped out most of civilization. After the crash, one astronaut is killed, another is captured, and the third stays with the downed space station in a series of chase-and-capture scenes. Marauders have taken over a lawless world and the future looks bleak for everyone, even the remaining astronauts. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lenore Zann, Maury Chaykin, (more)
- 1979
- R
This routine espionage drama is based on a novel by Graham Greene about a low-level British informant who is caught in a trap. Castle (Nicol Williamson) has a desk job in British intelligence. Around him are heavyweights like Col. Daintry (Richard Attenborough), Sir John Hargreaves (Richard Vernon), and Percival (Robert Morley) who will cold-bloodedly stop at nothing to do their jobs as they see fit. And Castle certainly is a nobody compared to them. One day when a friend of his in Africa needs some help, Castle is conned into supplying the Eastern block countries with info on demand. No one suspects him because of his low position, but when his office partner is hauled off, Castle begins to rethink his situation. This was director Otto Preminger's last film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Attenborough, John Gielgud, (more)
When a man buys an otter for a pet, he gets more than he bargained for as he tries to keep the animal in his bathtub. He and his pet soon find life in London is not the place for such and animal, so the two head for the coast. The man enlists the help of a local female doctor to help in the care and feeding of his beloved otter in this family feature from the writers of Born Free. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, (more)
- 1969
- PG
The Last Shot You Hear is taken from the play The Sound Of Murder by William Fairchild. Charles Nordeck (Hugh Marlowe) is a successful marriage counselor whose own marriage is on the rocks. When his wife Anne (Patricia Haines) seeks a divorce, Charles refuses to sign the papers fearing the bad publicity could ruin his career. The adulterous Anne then convinces her lover Peter (William Dysart) to kill her husband and make it look like a robbery. The plan is foiled when Charles' secretary Eileen (Zena Walker), who loves Peter, discovers the plot to kill her boss. This dull suspense feature is plagued by poor audio recording. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh Marlowe, Zena Walker, (more)
- 1963
Legendary cinematographer (Freddie Francis) directed this Hammer horror film of madness and murder. The story concerns young Janet (Jennie Linden), a student at finishing school who is suffering from a series of recurring nightmares, having witnessed her mother stabbing her father to death. When her nightmares intensify, Janet is brought to the home of her guardian, Henry Baxter (David Knight). Henry is not home, but Janet is put into the care of his live-in nurse, Grace (Moira Redmond). Janet's nightmares continue, in which she sees a woman in white beckoning her into her parents' bedroom. Following the apparition, Janet sees the woman lying in bed, with a knife sticking from her chest. When Henry returns home, he is told by the doctors that Janet should be confined to a mental institution. Henry refuses, but the arrival of Henry's wife changes all that -- when Janet sees Henry's wife, who resembles the woman from her dreams, she grabs a knife and stabs her to death. Janet is committed to an institution for the criminally insane. However, it turns out that Grace had deliberately disguised herself as the woman in white to drive Janet over the brink and kill Henry's wife, so that they could be married. Henry and Grace get married, but Grace then receives reports that Janet has escaped from the institution and is returning to Henry's estate, bent on revenge. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Knight, Moira Redmond, (more)
