Rebecca Staab Movies

It's Mother's Day in Cleveland, and all of the gang's moms have arrived to celebrate--including Kate's new stepmom, who looks just like her. The ladies' arrival coincides with the launching of an anti-pornography website which publishes a list of Ohio's biggest porn users--and among those listed are Drew (Drew Carey), Kate (Christa Miller), Oswald (Diedrich Bader), Lewis (Ryan Stiles) and Mr. Wick (Craig Ferguson). Mortified, the moms move back in with children to exert a "good influence", but succeeding only in driving everyone crazy. The whole thing ends up in court, with Drew and his friends suing the anti-porn site, and their moms defending it! The episode's best gags are self-referential comments about the glittering array of "guest moms", including June Lockhart, Marion Ross, Adrienne Barbeau, Phyllis Diller)...and Richard Chamberlain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Treat Williams and Claudia Christian star in this action movie about a mercenary who pays a visit to an old Army buddy who is now a college professor. When the professor's daughter is brutally assaulted by a pack of amoral jocks from the school football team, the mercenary disguises himself as an instructor at the college to deal out justice against the thugs who ruined the young girl's life. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Unreleased to the general public and infamous for its poor quality within geek circles, this Roger Corman adaptation of the Marvel Comics supergroup is an interesting cult item that ranks up there with the dismal Captain America feature and the cheap Hulk TV movies. The story of the film goes back to the late '80s when Marvel Comics were licensing out their characters for mild profit in a time when the comic industry was failing. Enter a German company called Neue Constantin and producer Bernd Eichinger, who held the rights for almost four years before their contract was about to run out. In order to retain the rights to future remake/options and get out of paying a five-million-dollar fee, Neue were forced to put something to film, so they made a deal with Roger Corman's New Horizons studio to make the film quick and on the cheap for $1.5 million. Once the film was finished, Eichinger bought out Corman's interest, then turned around and sold it to 20th Century Fox, who were then prepping a 50-million-dollar adaptation with director Chris Columbus. The film then dove into virtual obscurity, save for the comic convention bootlegs and later through the internet. The storyline follows the basic framework of the comic, with the exception of a few minor details, including the introduction of a new villain, The Jeweler, who directly becomes responsible for the team's mishap in space and takes liberally from another one of the comic's famous villains, The Mole Man. In reference to its underground popularity, Corman now regards it as his most profitable film that never saw release, while Marvel president Avi Arad reportedly burned Fox's only print. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

When it comes to love, Paul Matthews and Diane Farrow, two highly educated and talented scientists don't know a thing. Looking at their geeky demeanor's it's easy to see why. Despite the fact that both are neighbors, share the same interests and both are psychobiologists who study primates, neither is really aware of the other romantically until Paul, who is terribly shy around women, goes to gypsy Madame Ruth in desperation and asks for help. She reads his palm and tells him that he needs a woman; she then hands him Love Potion No. 8 which will attract women like flies to honey. This romantic comedy chronicles what happens to him (and Diane) when, after experimenting on animals, they decide to try it on themselves. Though the changes only last four hours per dose, they are truly remarkable and the two agree to separate for three weeks and then come back together to compare results. The time passes quickly and wonderfully for them and when they finally reunite both have changed for the better. Just for fun, they decide to go out with each other. They do not drink the potion, but still have a wonderful and passionate night. This leads Paul to propose to Diane. Unfortunately, she thinks she loves another, a man who is really more interested in exploiting the potion for money than he is in her. He ends up buying up all of Madame Ruth's latest batch. Paul goes back to her and explains his problem and that is when Ruth hands him the potent Love Potion No. 9, which can manifest true love. Quickly, he takes it and sets off to find Diane before she makes a terrible mistake. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This is one of the many made for TV movies revolving around the popular disheveled character created by Peter Falk - Lieutenant Columbo, of Homicide. In this one, the lack of a corpse doesn't hinder our trench-coat wearing detective as he tries to pin the murder on the supposed corpse's business partner, the owner of a men's magazine. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide