Stephanie Blake Movies
- 1977
The suffocating repressiveness of the Victorian era is superbly realized by director Bruce Beresford in The Getting of Wisdom. Thirteen-year-old Laura (Susannah Fowle), an incorrigible free spirit from the Australian outback, is enrolled in a prestigious girl's boarding school. The indoctrination process is a rough one, and Laura very nearly loses her individuality and sense of self-worth. When she does mature, however, it is on her terms, and not the school's. Intriguingly, The Getting of Wisdom is based on the reminiscences of a 19th-century female writer who used the pen name of Henry Handel Richardson. Despite its somber dramatic overtones, the film contains moments of uninhibited humor, a trademark of director Beresford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susannah Fowle, Barry Humphries, (more)
- 1985
In an adolescent softcore story with a plot that is hardly credible, a young teen (Lance Sloane) has taken a bet that he can seduce the daughter of the town's minister in less than seven days. Once that premise is established, sexual encounters and low-level erotica follows with an understanding female (Sylvia Kristel). Character development is not of the essence here, and neither is the troubled, insecure woman who is the target of the bet. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lance Sloane, Kimberly Evenson, (more)
Teenaged Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) is a legend in his own time thanks to his uncanny skill at cutting classes and getting away with it. Intending to make one last grand duck-out before graduation, Ferris calls in sick, "borrows" a Ferrari, and embarks on a one-day bacchanal through the streets of Chicago. Dogging Ferris' trail at every turn is high-school principal Rooney (Jeffrey Jones), determined to catch Bueller in the act of class-cutting. Writer/director John Hughes once again tries to wed satire, slapstick, and social commentary, as Ferris Bueller's Day Off starts like a house afire and goes on to make "serious" points about status-seeking and casual parental cruelties. It brightens up considerably in the last few moments, when Ferris' tattletale sister (Jennifer Grey) decides to align herself with her merry prankster sibling. A huge moneymaker, Ferris Bueller's Day Off eventually spawned a TV sitcom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, (more)
- 1990
- R
This juvenile rehash of The Invisible Man -- done as a combination of T&A sex-comedy and gory horror film -- stars Noel Peters as a sex-crazed mad scientist (given to ridiculous cackling fits) who evades the law by masquerading as a physics teacher at a high school filled to overflow with curvaceous blond bimbos. When the lecherous prof invents a "molecular reorganization" formula that renders him invisible, he finds even more opportunity to ogle the girls' showers and cop the occasional feel. Murdering anyone he suspects may be wise to his shenanigans, the professor eventually begins killing just for the fun of it. Writer-director Riff Coogan may have conceived this mess as a campy, Troma-style sex-and-gore romp, hardly a worthwhile aspiration. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Noel Peters, Shannon Wilsey, (more)
- 1991
- NC17
Russell's avowed purpose with Whore was to avoid the glamorous depiction of prostitution common to such slick Hollywood products as Pretty Woman. As played by Theresa Russell (no relation to Ken), the eponymous character lives a hellish existence. Relating her story directly to the camera, Russell introduces us to her no-good former husband (Jason Saucier), her brutish pimp (Benjamin Mouton), and the kinkiest of her "johns." Her one true friend, a bag man named Rasta (Antonio Fargas), also saves her life -- but not her soul. The film exists in three versions: an 82-minute R cut, an 82-minute NC-17 cut, and the 92-minute European version, which sometimes carries a rating, sometimes merely a disclaimer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Theresa Russell, Benjamin Mouton, (more)
New York art dealer Arne Glimcher took his first crack at film directing with this florid, high-energy romance about two brothers who flee Cuba in the early 1950s to make it as musicians in the United States. Cynthia Cidre wrote the literate screenplay adapted from Oscar Hijuelos's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. Cesar (Armand Assante) and Nestor Castillo (Antonio Banderas) are popular musicians on Havana's club circuit, but when they make enemies of the wrong people, they are forced to leave for New York City, the moody Nestor leaving behind his true love. In New York, the brothers work as meat-cutters during the day as Cesar tries to organize a band and make inroads into the lively New York music scene. Soon, as The Mambo Kings, they get club bookings and Cesar falls in love with a sharp-tongued cigarette girl, Lanna Lake (Cathy Moriarty), and Nestor with the beautiful Delores Fuentes (Maruschka Detmers), who wants to be a teacher. Cesar concentrates on singing and managing the band, while Nestor plays the trumpet and writes emotional songs of love. All seems to be going well until Cesar antagonizes the moneymen on the Latin nightclub circuit and they finds themselves playing bar mitzvahs. But after they're discovered by Desi Arnaz (Desi Arnaz Jr.), the group is prominently featured on I Love Lucy. Their popularity soars and they cut a successful album called "Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love." Cesar is glorying in his success, but Nestor is disappointed and longs to return to Cuba. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Armand Assante, Antonio Banderas, (more)
