Alan Blumenfeld Movies

1989  
PG13  
Add Worth Winning to QueueAdd Worth Winning to top of Queue
A self-centered womanizer makes a wager that he will be able to propose to three women in a three month time and have each one accept in this romantic Philadelphia-set comedy. His three victims are an icy concert pianist, an innocent blonde receptionist for the Philadelphia Eagles, and a rich, horny hausfrau. The fellow plans to prove his success by videotaping each proposal. Sure enough he succeeds, but things quickly sour when the ladies find out that he's duped them. They then team up to get revenge and teach him a thing or two about real love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Mark HarmonMadeleine Stowe, (more)
1989  
PG13  
Add K-9 to QueueAdd K-9 to top of Queue
James Belushi stars in this cop actioner about a loner narcotics officer who has to break in a new partner. The twist here is that the new partner is barely housebroken, but he's still sharp and keeps his nose close to the ground. Dooley (Belushi), who works on the San Diego narc squad, is an eccentric guy who has pizzas delivered to his car and likes a good steak. He is working on a stakeout of a local drug dealer when he barely escapes with his life as a helicopter blows up his car. When he asks the department for a new car, they give him a new partner instead --a police dog called Jerry Lee (Jerry Lee the Dog). Jerry's good at sniffing out the criminals but Dooley doesn't really hit it off with his new partner until the pooch saves his life. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
James BelushiMel Harris, (more)
1989  
R  
Add Out Cold to QueueAdd Out Cold to top of Queue
Dave (John Lithgow), a meek, unassuming man who's the co-owner of a butcher shop, discovers his obnoxious business partner Ernie (Bruce McGill) dead in the meat locker. Dave thinks he might have accidentally locked Ernie in and caused his death. Much of the movie involves Dave's efforts to dispose of the corpse. He's aided in his efforts by the dead man's wife Sunny Cannald (Terry Garr), who used to be his girlfriend. Romance between the two is rekindled while Sunny tries to help Dave, meanwhile covering up a secret of her own. Complications are caused by the world's most incompetent private detective Randy Quaid), who Sunny had hired to get evidence that her husband was cheating on her. This somewhat disjointed black comedy got a "stiff" reception by most reviewers, despite the comic talents of the cast. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
John LithgowTeri Garr, (more)
1989  
 
Based on a true story, The Preppie Murder begins on August 26, 1986. This was the day that 18-year-old Jennifer Levin (Lara-Flynn Boyle) was strangled to death in Central Park. The prime suspect, Jennifer's 19-year-old boyfriend Robert Chambers (William Baldwin), confesses to the crime. The well-to-do young man insists that the killing was accidental; he claims that it occurred during a "rough sex" session that Jennifer had inaugurated. The ensuing media frenzy forces the old "she asked for it" defense to rear its ugly head. The Preppie Murder's attempts at fairness caused a great deal of critical turmoil when the film first aired on September 24, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

1988  
 
Add Nitti to QueueAdd Nitti to top of Queue
Al Capone's imprisonment opened the way for mobster Frank Nitti to become the underworld king of Chicago as related in this true story. (AKA Nitti) ~ All Movie Guide

Read More

1988  
 
In this crime drama set in LA during the '40s, an infamous Hollywood madam is arrested and mayhem ensues as the names of her famous patrons, among them government officials and policemen, are revealed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Read More

1987  
R  
Add Tin Men to QueueAdd Tin Men to top of Queue
The second of director Barry Levinson's Baltimore Trilogy (the first was Diner, the third Avalon), Tin Men seems at first glance to be much ado about nothing. Set in 1963, the story begins when two aluminum siding salesmen, played by Richard Dreyfuss and Danny DeVito, are involved in a traffic accident. Fueled by their own individual frustrations--Dreyfuss dislikes the phonier aspects of his profession, while DeVito is unhappily married to Barbara Hershey--the two men begin an all-out war of harassment against one another. DeVito goes on a destructive rampage against Dreyfuss' material possessions, while Dreyfuss contrives to steal away DeVito's wife. An ironic twist of fate ironically, brings the two men to common ground at the finale. As with the earlier Diner, Levinson spends a great deal of screen time showing small minds obsessed with small things: counterpointing the snow-balling hostilities between Dreyfuss and DeVito is Jackie Gayle as DeVito's partner, who can talk of nothing but the TV series Bonanza. Michael Tucker, who like Barry Levinson was Baltimore born and bred, repeats his Diner role as "Bagel." Listen for director Levinson's voice as a baseball stadium announcer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Richard DreyfussDanny DeVito, (more)
1987  
PG  
Add Innerspace to QueueAdd Innerspace to top of Queue
Director Joe Dante infuses this science fiction comedy with the visual razzle-dazzle and manic, goofball performances typical of his cartoon-inspired sensibilities. Navy test pilot Lt. Tuck Pendleton (Dennis Quaid) has volunteered for a highly dangerous medical experiment. A submersible craft, with Tuck at the controls, is to be shrunk down to molecular size and inserted into the body of a living rabbit. If successful, the test could result in radical breakthroughs in surgical techniques, but some high-tech thieves attempt to steal Tuck and his ship while both are in miniature form. Enter Jack Putter (Martin Short), a mild-mannered, hypochondriac retail store clerk, a nerd who suddenly finds himself injected with Tuck and his tiny ship. Now poor Jack's got to rise above his mundane existence to help an American hero get back to safety, while also trying to reunite Tuck with his beautiful estranged girlfriend Lydia (Meg Ryan). Innerspace (1987) won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Dennis QuaidMartin Short, (more)
1986  
R  
Add Friday the 13th, Part VI: Jason Lives to QueueAdd Friday the 13th, Part VI: Jason Lives to top of Queue
This impressive entry in the popular horror series brings back the relentless killer Jason Voorhees, this time as a supernatural zombie. Tommy Jarvis, now played by Thom Matthews, accidentally resurrects Jason when he impales the killer's corpse with a metal pole during a lightning storm. Numerous murders follow, beginning with Tommy's friend (Ron Palillo) having his heart torn out of his chest by the zombie killer. Implicated in the crimes by a mean-spirited sheriff (David Kagen), Tommy is freed from jail by the sheriff's daughter, spunky Megan (Jennifer Cooke). The cast converges on Camp Crystal Lake, which has been renamed "Camp Forest Green" by superstitious locals, in time for Tommy to send Jason back to the bottom of the lake, if only temporarily. Harry Manfredini's score is among his best, and the makeup by Martin Becker, Gabe Bartalos, R. Chris Biggs, and others is outstanding. Cooke makes an appealing heroine as Megan, although Matthews' Tommy has lost the interesting mental disturbances of previous entries and becomes just another bland hero. Tom McLoughlin's direction is effective, and the film has a memorably funny supporting turn by Bob Larkin as a grumpy drunken caretaker. Alice Cooper sings the title song, "He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)." Although no classic, this is a solid horror film with a witty script and engaging characters. Jason would rise again to face a telekinetic teen in the disappointing Friday the 13th, Part VII: The New Blood. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Jennifer C. CookeDavid Kagen, (more)
1985  
 
Growing Pains launches its seven-season run as psychiatrist Jason Seaver (Alan Thicke) moves his office into his Long Island home, as part of an agreement to look after his three kids while his wife Maggie (Joanna Kerns) resumes her journalistic career after a 15-year hiatus. Unschooled in the art of being a stay-at-home dad, Jason immediately gets in trouble with Maggie when he allows their oldest son Mike (Kirk Cameron) to go out to a teen club with a friend. But that's nothing compared to the mess Mike gets into when he's arrested for illegal driving! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

1985  
 
Based on the true story that took place in Harlem during 1971, this made-for-TV crime drama centers on assistant district attorney Robert Tanenbaum's desperate search for a trio of cop killers. Tanenbaum (James Woods) is assisted by an equally determined detective (Yaphet Lau Kotto). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
James WoodsYaphet Kotto, (more)
1985  
 
Among Jason's patients is perennial loser Walter Bodewell (Alan Blumenfeld), who can't even succeed as a department store Santa. Indeed, his feeble "Ho Ho Ho" act has even been rejected by a group of underprivileged orphans! Depressed, Walter decides to end it all by symbolically jumping down the Seavers' chimney on Christmas Eve...whereupon Ben (Jeremy Miller), of all people, comes to the rescue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

1983  
PG  
Add WarGames to QueueAdd WarGames to top of Queue
Once more, a wise-guy teenager tries to prove he's smarter than any adult-and nearly destroys the whole world in the process-in WarGames. Computer-game aficionado Matthew Broderick inadverently taps into a hush-hush Pentagon computer, then proceeds to inaugurate his favorite game, "Global Thermonuclear War". What we know, but Broderick doesn't, is that the Pentagon, hoping to eliminate the chancy "human element" in the event of an actual war, has given its computer total, irreversable control over the launching of nuclear weaponry. Broderick and government official Dabney Coleman race against time to reverse the computer's resolve to send bombers to Russia. WarGames scored a hit, especially with teenage filmgoers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Read More

Starring:
Matthew BroderickDabney Coleman, (more)

BLOCKBUSTER name, design and related marks are trademarks of Blockbuster Inc. © 2009 Blockbuster Inc. All rights reserved.

Portions of Content Provided by All Movie Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.© 2009 All Media Guide, LLC.