Adam Bitterman Movies
- 1999
On the night before Halloween, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and friends attend a costume party at the Alpha Delta house. Oz (Seth Green) helps prepare the sound system, subsequently cutting himself and dripping blood onto an occult symbol a frat brother is painting on the floor. Unbeknownst to everyone, the symbol summons the fear demon Gachnar, who forces everyone to face their fears. As Buffy, still hung up on Parker (Adam Kaufman), fears being alone, Oz fears the monster within himself. Meanwhile, Willow (Alyson Hannigan) fears she cannot control her magic, and Xander (Nicholas Brendon) fears his friends will forget about him. His may be the most well-founded worry, as no one tells him about the party and he (almost) stays home alone to watch Phantasm instead. This is also the first time that Buffy actually notices the Initiative Commandos -- see "The Initiative" -- but mistakes them for costumed students. ~ All Movie Guide
The third film written and directed by playwright David Mamet, this combination of crime drama and character study stars several of Mamet's stock players. Joe Mantegna stars as Bobby Gold, a detective with a gift for negotiation who, along with his partner Tim Sullivan (William H. Macy), accidentally stumbles upon a crime scene -- the murder of an elderly Jewish woman in her corner store. When it turns out that the victim was politically well-connected and Jewish, Bobby's superiors assign him the case because he's also Jewish. The problem is that Bobby isn't very religious and he resents being taken off a higher profile drug investigation involving a dealer, Randolph (Ving Rhames). Bobby's also highly skeptical when the murdered woman's family claims that her death was not a simple robbery but an anti-Semitic hate crime. As he gets deeper into his case, however, Bobby discovers that a larger conspiracy may be afoot, and he begins to question his own ethnic roots. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Mantegna, William H. Macy, (more)
Perhaps it was his collaborator Shel Silverstein who said to screenwriter David Mamet "Lighten up. Do a comedy." Whatever the case, Things Change was a welcome change of pace for Mamet, both as scenarist and director. Don Ameche also goes against his usual grain by playing a downtrodden Chicago shoeshine boy (if one can call an 80-year-old a "boy") who is arrested for a crime he didn't commit. Not having much of a future anyway, Ameche has agreed--for a hefty sum--to take the rap for a gangland rubout. Mob henchman Joe Mantegna is assigned to keep an eye on Ameche over the weekend to make sure he doesn't try to weasel out of his agreement. Mantegna has been ordered to remain in Ameche's Lake Tahoe hotel, but the young guy takes a liking to the old loser. Like Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail, Mantegna takes Ameche on one last fling around Nevada. The location photography is terrific, and Ameche even more so. One would like Things Change to be equally as good, and while it never comes up to its potential, it remains a pleasant means to while away 100 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Ameche, Joe Mantegna, (more)
