Ione Skye

A handful of old friends learn you can go home again, but you'll also have to clear out the damage the next morning in this bittersweet comedy-drama. Valinda (Connie Britton) is a woman in her late thirties who is helping her parents sell the house where she grew up. A few days before the house is to be cleared out, Valinda decides to hold an Eighties theme party for all her old high school friends. The next morning, the house is a staggering mess, while Valinda and her pals are simply staggering. As they battle their hangovers with the hair of the dog, Valinda persuades her friends to help her clean up the aftermath, and over the course of the day everyone find themselves looking back on who they were and where they are now. Valinda's husband Will (Tate Donovan) is a solid, responsible guy who happens to be a bit boring. Zoey (Ione Skye) likes to think of herself as happily married, but she knows her relationship with Jack (William Mapother) is in trouble, especially since he still carries a torch for Valinda. Katrina (Caitlin Keats) is a doctor who enjoys a successful professional life, but on a personal level she's suffered through a long series of failing relationships that she's not sure will ever end. Corey (David Herman) enjoyed a brief fame as a child actor that has left him emotionally stunted. Claire (Sarah Clarke) is a sweet and sensible Midwestern wife and mom, but she's never been able to shake her love for her high school sweetheart, who (to her chagrin) didn't show up for the bash. And Mickey (Eric Stoltz) has hardly changed a bit -- he was a world-class party animal in his teens, and still cheerfully revels in alcohol and drugs. The Lather Effect is the first fiction feature from writer and director Sarah Kelly, who previously made the documentary Full Tilt Boogie (about the production of the movie From Dusk Till Dawn). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Music video director Steven Hanft makes his feature debut with the digital video project Southlander, an absurd independent film starring various beloved indie pop musicians. Rory Cochrane stars as Chance, a musician who loses his extremely rare magical synthesizer which takes the form of a white 1969 Moletron keyboard. He looks for it by wandering around a de-glamorised Southern California with pal Rossangeles (co-writer Ross Harris from DJ Me DJ You and Sukia). They sometimes find clues in the local classified newspaper called the Southlander, which leads them to meet interesting folks.Their adventures eventually lead them to the home of former funk legend-turned-tennis player Mother Child (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs from Welcome Back Kotter) and his blonde girlfriend Snowbunny (Meghan Gallagher). Beth Orton stars as Chance's love interest Rocket and the leader of the band Future Pigeon. Beck plays Bek, his younger pre-stardom self, back when he was into drugs and recording music by himself in a shack. Also starring Ione Skye, Hank Williams III, Richard Edson, and Elliot Smith. Southlander was shown at the 2001 South by Southwest Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

David (Mark Rosenthal) is standing on the roof ledge of a building in lower Manhattan, threatening to jump. Several of his friends try to convince him to safely get down from the ledge, that suicide is not the answer. But as they speak to him, the audience sees moments from the friends' lives in flashback. It becomes obvious that David's friends have lives every bit as sad and desperate as David's; with people like this as your support group, why shouldn't a man jump? Jump features a strong supporting cast, including James LeGros, Richard Belzer, Harvey Fierstein, and Hal Linden, and was shown at the 1999 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Adventure lovers longing for an invigorating dose of cinematic excitement are invited to embark on a thrilling quest for a mythical treasure in this globetrotting tale starring Ben Cross, Peter Weller, and Ione Skye. John and Michael Shannon (Weller and Cross respectively) are estranged siblings with the common goal of traveling to the Sahara to unearth the mythical Tower of the Firstborn. When John goes missing on his quest, his daughter, Diane (Skye), abandons her post in the secret archives of the Vatican to follow the clues that could save her father's life. Now, as Diane teams with Dr. Neal Hogan (Guy Lankester) to find her father in the vast desert landscape, the secret of Christianity's greatest mystery is finally within reach. Acclaimed composer Ennio Morricone provides a sweeping score for this tale of ancient intrigue and breathtaking excitement. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A mother-in-law's propensity for meddling goes to extremes when she decides to murder her son's wife so she can have custody of her grandson. This made-for-TV drama is based on a true story. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Set in San Francisco, this romantic comedy centers on the relationships between an aspiring actress and a blue-eyed handsome fellow who meets all her stringent requirements for being the "Perfect Boyfriend." Actress Frankie has spent much of her young-adult life living in an apartment of Uncle Leo's Café. She works there as a waitress along with Rob, her cousin. There they usually hang out with their friends, slacker Juice and fellow would-be star Allison. Before spying beautiful, blue-eyed David, Frankie refused to waste her time dating anyone "less than extraordinary." But the minute they meet, they begin exchanging literary quotes and from there it is love all the way, at least until Frankie learns that David has a girl friend. Adding further tension is Frankie's upcoming acting job, one that requires she move to LA. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Set on the outskirts of Hollywood, this gritty comedy spends a day with eccentric groups of aspiring writers and actors as they attempt to cope with life on the edge of their dreams and with each other. Written and produced by Michael Becker and Robert Montalbano, the film features an impressive cast that includes Max Perlich,Ione Sky, Donovan Leitch, David Arquette, Pauly Shore and Timothy Leary. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Not so much a remake of Joseph H. Lewis's 1949 film noir classic as a variation on its themes, Guncrazy stars Drew Barrymore as Anita, a teenage girl who was born in a trailer park on the wrong side of the tracks and has been fighting a losing battle with respectability ever since. Anita was abused sexually by her mother's boyfriend (played by onetime Warhol "superstar" Joe Dallesandro), is the subject of lewd advances by the school bullies, and is looked on as a slut and a loser by her peers. When Anita has to find a pen pal for a class assignment, she ends up corresponding with a prisoner named Howard (James LeGros), who's serving time for manslaughter. Howard is one of the first people to address Anita with tenderness and respect, so when he gets parole, Howard moves in with her. Howard's obsessive love of guns, however, once again leads to violence, and the couple hits the road hoping to escape their fates. The debut film from director Tamra Davis, Guncrazy was originally shown on cable television, but received enough critical acclaim to merit a later theatrical release. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Richard Peck called Don't Look and It Won't Hurt, Allison Anders' melodramatic coming-of-age tale Gas Food Lodging takes place in Laramie, NM, a small town right off the highway. Nora (Brooke Adams) is a truck-stop waitress who lives in a trailer park with her two teenaged daughters, Trudi (Ione Skye) and Shade (Fairuza Balk). While Trudi sleeps around and defies her mother, Shade spends her time at the local cinema and wishes she could have a dad like a normal family. One day, Trudi hooks up with a visiting geologist (Robert Knepper) and spends a magical evening in a cave with him. However, he turns up missing and Trudi finds herself pregnant. Meanwhile, Shade's romantic advances are rejected by Darius (Donovan Leitch), but she finds something new with film projectionist Javier (Jacob Vargas). Shade's attempts at finding a husband for her mom are unsuccessful, but Nora ends up meeting satellite TV installation man Hamlet Humphrey (David Lansbury). Features a cameo appearance from Dinosaur Jr. frontman J. Mascis, who also wrote the original music. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

A fictionalized depiction of the ecological and holistic teachings of the philosopher Fritjof Capra filmed by his brother Bernt, Mindwalk consists almost entirely of the verbal interplay between its three archetypal characters, physicist Sonia (Liv Ullmann), conservative politician Jack (Sam Waterston), and poet Thomas (John Heard). The trio meet for the first time at Mont Saint Michel, a medieval French abbey. Each is suffering misgivings about pivotal life choices; Sonia questions the role of ethics in her work, Jack harbors fears over the government's attitude toward the environment, and Thomas' wariness over an increasingly conservative society has prompted a permanent move to France. The question haunting all three: What now? ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide