Fisher Stevens Movies

In the early 1960s, two very different New Jersey high schoolers share their first love in this bittersweet romantic drama, an early feature by writer/director John Sayles. Jill Rosen (Rosanna Arquette) is a sweet, overachieving Jewish girl heading for college to become an actor; "Sheik" Capodilupo (Vincent Spano) is a mysterious, confident Italian guy who pushes his way into Jill's already busy life. Sheik successfully woos Jill, and the story follows their ups and downs as teenage romantics. While that introduction is lighter fare than most Sayles material, the film trails off into some unexpected plot developments, providing an original take on the "different sides of the track" genre. Sayles directs the high school scenes with a combination of reminiscence and reality, balancing the excitement of cars and the prom with the heartache, anxiety, and classwork that goes along with it. The movie is injected with a mostly 1960s soundtrack, yet the videocassette lists that "some music has been changed" for home video -- the note apparently refers to four Bruce Springsteen cuts. Matthew Modine and Tracy Pollan appear in small parts, and Robert Downey Jr. also has a tiny role. This was the fiercely independent Sayles' first film to be made with a major studio (Paramount), and he claims it will be his last, as he lost final editing control. ~ Norm Schrager, All Movie Guide

Filmmaker John Sayles' first bonafide box-office success, Brother from Another Planet centers on a black escaped slave from a faraway planet (Joe Morton) who finds himself on the mean streets Harlem. Though the locals are put off by the slave's inability to speak, they are won over by his technical wizardry. He is adopted as a "brother" by his new friends, who protect him from pursuing white aliens played by director Sayles and David Strathairn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Daniel Stern plays an up-and-coming stockbroker; Christopher Plummer is his boss; and Arielle Dombasle is the boss' wife. As a sort of litmus test for future executives, Plummer invites Stern and coworker Martin Mull for a weekend in the country. The sexy Dombasle takes a liking to Stern, who wonders if cohabiting with the boss' wife will improve his chances at promotion. This is but one element of writer/director Ziggy Steinberg's Felliniesque script, which throws in all sort of eccentrics and bizarre situations to pad out what is essentially a one-joke situation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fisher Stevens reprises his role of Ben Jahrvi, the co-inventor of the cute robot Number Five, in this sequel to Short Circuit. Since the last film, Ben has moved to the city, where he lives in a truck and sells toy Number Fives as a street vendor. Ben plies his trade until one day luck strikes in the form of Sandy (Cynthia Gibb), a toy buyer in dire straits who offers Ben $50,000 if he can quickly churn out a thousand toy robots. Offering to help the naive Ben is street con man Fred (Michael McKean), who becomes Ben's partner and finances the burgeoning enterprise through a loan shark. Ben and Fred begin to manufacture the toys in a warehouse; unfortunately, they soon find the building also houses the entrance of a tunnel dug by thieves, preparing to rob the bank across the street. With things appearing their bleakest, a crate arrives from Montana. Inside is the new and improved Number Five, who now insists on being called Johnny Five. Johnny Five has even learned to talk in a litany of phrases gleaned from television shows, and now helps Ben get started in the toy business. In the process, Ben and Johnny Five contend with the temptations and corrupt business practices of a big city environment. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Let's see: who is the character played by Fisher Stevens supposed to be? Stevens plays an egomaniacal Hollywood director, whose negligence causes an on-set death. Cleared of all responsibility, Stevens is confronted with cold, hard evidence of his complicity by the victim's brother. The director then utilizes his knowledge of special effects to murder his accuser and make the whole thing look like an accident. Lieutenant Columbo (Peter Falk), however, suspects foul play. With such clues as traveller's check and a pair of ice cream sodas at his disposal, Columbo slowly tightens the noose around Stevens' neck. The two-hour Columbo: Murder, Smoke and Shadows was originally telecast February 27, 1989, as part of the ABC Monday Mystery Movie package. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This film is a darkly humorous, determinedly ambiguous adaptation of Alan Dershowitz's book about his successful legal appeal of Claus von Bulow's conviction for the attempted murder of his wife, Martha "Sunny" von Bulow. Sunny (Glenn Close) -- who remains in a "persistent vegetative state" resulting from a suspicious injection of insulin -- narrates the film, summarizing the first murder trial, which ended with Claus (Jeremy Irons) convicted and released on bail pending appeal. Claus approaches Harvard Law professor Dershowitz (Ron Silver) to handle the case. Working with a small group of law students recruited from his classes, Dershowitz presents sufficient new evidence to cast doubt as to Claus' guilt and the veracity of the star witness, her maid. Jeremy Irons' extraordinary, Oscar-winning performance dominates the film. He plays the role of Claus with a alternatively pompous, aloof snobbishness and an engagingly enigmatic, kinky, sly humor. Barbet Schroeder was also nominated for an Academy Award for his extraordinary, off-beat, direction of this sophisticated, exceptionally intelligent legal drama. Reversal of Fortune with its sharp, witty, Oscar-nominated screenplay by Nicholas Kazan is unusual in its understanding that legal guilt and moral culpability are not the same thing -- making for an unusually provocative tragicomedy of bad manners and bad behavior among the rich. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Neil Simon forgoes his typical urban East Coast kvetchers and replaces them with sunny Californian kvetchers in The Marrying Man, a film which became a beacon of gossip in 1991 due to the alleged shenanigans of stars Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger), who fell in love during production. Simon based his script on a true story concerning the love affair between shoe tycoon Harry Karl and actress Marie (The Body) McDonald during the 1950s. Married to each other four times, McDonald still managed to carry on an affair with mobster Bugsy Siegel. In this Simon-ized version, Baldwin plays Charley Pearl, a sharp and handsome Hollywood millionaire, engaged to Adele Horner (Elisabeth Shue), the daughter of dyspeptic movie studio executive Lew Horner (Robert Loggia). The day before their wedding, Charley heads off to Las Vegas for a bachelor party, and in a sleazy casino on the outskirts of town, he sets his eyes on sexy singer Vicki Anderson (Basinger) and falls for her hard. He wants her immediately and even though she warns him she's the property of Bugsy Siegel (Armand Assante), he crawls into her bedroom window to be with her. Caught with his pants down by Siegel, Bugsy, instead of killing him, forces him to marry Vicki ("I was about to dump her anyway," he says). But after their marriage, Charley and Vicki discover they're more attracted to the danger of their relationship than in each other. Charley's friends -- Phil (Paul Reiser), Sammy (Fisher Stevens), Tony (Peter Dobson), and George (Steve Hytner) -- form a Greek chorus commenting on the crazed love affair and are reportedly inspired by Phil Silvers, Sammy Cahn, Tony Martin, and Leo Durocher. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In the tradition of This Is Spinal Tap, producer/ director/ star Tim Robbins' Bob Roberts is a satire disguised as a documentary. Robbins plays the titular Roberts, a wealthy, well-connected young man running for a senatorial seat in Pennsylvania. On the surface, Roberts is an ingratiating glad-hander, a sincere believer in the restoration of such intangibles as national pride, family values, etc. But the longer Roberts is followed about by documentary filmmaker Brian Murray, the more we become aware that the candidate is a textbook case of cynicism and contempt. Only Giancarlo Esposito, a reporter for an underground newspaper, is willing to dig beneath Roberts' veneer--a habit that leads to the film's ironic conclusion. Several well-known actors make cameo appearances as TV commentators, notably Tim Robbins' longtime partner Susan Sarandon. Bob Roberts started out as a Tim Robbins-directed short subject for the TV series Saturday Night Live, then was expanded into a $4 million feature. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When the Party's Over is a surprisingly down-spirited drama about a group of twenty-something yuppies trying to survive in Los Angeles. All four main characters -- three women (Sandra Bullock, Rae Dawn Chong, Elizabeth Berridge) and one gay man (Kris Kamm) -- live in the same house, where they become increasingly involved in each other's lives, affairs, and careers. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

A woman throws caution to the wind in the pursuit of the man of her dreams -- whom she's never met -- in this romantic comedy. Eleven-year-old Faith (Tammy Minoff) and her cousin Kate (Jessica Hertel) are playing with a Ouiji Board when Faith asks who she will marry -- the magic oracle answers "DAMON BRADLEY," and Faith is convinced that she will one day meet this ideal love. Fifteen years later, Faith (Marisa Tomei) has yet to meet her perfect man and has settled for Dwayne (John Benjamin Hickey), a sweet but boring foot doctor whom she's engaged to marry, with Kate (Bonnie Hunt) helping her plan the festivities. The day before the ceremony, Faith gets a call from one of the groom's friends, who won't be able to attend because he's travelling to Italy instead -- and his name is Damon Bradley. Convinced that fate is trying to tell her something, Faith hops on the next flight to Venice, where she searches for the elusive Damon, and along the way meets the charming Peter Wright (Robert Downey, Jr.). This was Tomei and Downey's second romantic pairing, following their roles in the biopic Chaplin. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Nina (Laura San Giacomo), a young married woman, has an affair with a British photographer in this low-key comedy drama about adultery and romantic role-playing. Nina Takes a Lover, the debut film of writer-director Alan Jacobs, tells its story in flashback, as Nina is interviewed by a journalist who is writing an article on modern marriage -- or, more specifically, modern infidelity. The affair begins after Nina's husband has left for a long business trip, leaving Nina lonely, depressed, and seriously doubting his faithfulness. In this vulnerable state, she meets a stranger in the park. He's from Wales, he's a photographer, and he's quite handsome. Encouraged by the experience of her best friend, who has been unfaithful to her husband for some time now, Nina begins an affair with the photographer. She finds the experience a wonderful, revitalizing thrill and is soon considering leaving her husband to move in with her new lover. However, Nina's feelings become more complicated when she discovers some of her lover's hidden secrets. While on the surface the film is a rather uneventful, performance-driven character study, Nina's story in fact builds toward a surprising revelation, one that casts an entirely new light on the nature of her affair. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

All poor Atsushi Hirata really wants is to leave the cold Japanese winter and take a week's vacation in warm Hawaii. Unfortunately, he ends up forced to honor tradition and travel to even more frigid Iceland to pay tribute to his late parents who died there seven years before. This internationally produced very funny road movie chronicles his many misadventures that begin when he disembarks from his plane in the midst of a blizzard and ends up boarding the wrong bus. The bus takes him to some popular hot springs and he must take a taxi back to Reykjavik. He doesn't make it back, because the driver needed to stop in his hometown and participate in a nativity pageant. This forces poor Hirata to bum a ride on a truck. During the journey, he meets a broad assortment of eccentric and bizarre characters ranging from a woman with a thing about photographing funerals, an aspiring Bonnie and Clyde, and a band of Icelandic cowboys. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide