Curtis Taylor Movies
The Christmas season just got a lot less joyous in this very dark comedy. Willie T. Stokes (Billy Bob Thornton) is a con man and a thief who teams up with his friend Marcus (Tony Cox), a midget, for a very special scam each year during the holiday season. Willie gets a job as Santa Claus at a shopping mall, his pal tags along as an elf, and they use their employee status to crack mall security and rob stores blind just before Christmas. However, there's one flaw to this plan -- Willie is a bitter, foul-mouthed and perpetually grouchy alcoholic who doesn't care for kids, and it's all he can do to keep himself from getting fired while on the job. The mall's manager (John Ritter, in his last film appearance) is certain something's wrong with the Santa he's hired, so he asks the mall's chief of security (Bernie Mac) to do some research on Willie. Meanwhile, one of the kids Willie is forced to talk to becomes a regular customer; overweight, awkward, and the frequent target of bullies, the boy manages to arouse something like sympathy from Willie, who tries to give him some advice and develops something vaguely resembling Christmas sprit along the way. Bad Santa was directed by Terry Zwigoff, who enjoyed previous success with Crumb and Ghost World. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, (more)
In this second sequel to Robocop, the mechanical humanoid opposes the evil designs of his creators, who have gone corrupt and are trying to take over all real estate in Detroit, kicking the poorer citizens out of their homes and turning them out into the streets. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert John Burke, Nancy Allen, (more)
- 1988
Attendees of a Southern California cocktail party find themselves reevaluating their convoluted, faulted lives following a major earthquake and a series of aftershocks in this hip comedy. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeff Perry, Jennifer Holmes, (more)
- 1987
Hunter (Fred Dryer) and McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) go undercover to find out why a murdered woman was tortured and injected with truth serum before she was killed. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that the dead woman was the girlfriend of McCall's onetime partner Sgt. Riley Causland (Robert Firth), who seems to have gone out of his way to frame Hunter for the crime. Before the final fadeout, the detectives uncover a plan to imbed Soviet "sleeper agents" in the US--and one key character pays a terrible price for his involvement in the plot machinations. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1986
- R
In this James Bond parody, the evil villain is also an evil villainess, Velvet Von Ragner (Gene Simmons), an androgynous, leather-bound cross-dressing criminal genius out to finish off all of L.A. by contaminating the city's water supply. Standing in the way of his/her success is undercover agent Drew Stargrove (George Lazenby), but he does not stand for long. Once he has been slain, his son Lance (John Stamos) takes up the fight assisted by Danja Deering (Vanity) who has the requisite sex appeal for her job. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Stamos, Vanity, (more)
- 1985
- R
It's hard to be critical of an exploitation film that revels so gleefully in its awfulness. To begin with, we're presented with dazed, glassy-eyed heroine Judy Landers, whose condition is readily explained by a bout with amnesia brought on by the brutal murder of her mother at the hands of a sleazy villain, Ray Sharkey. She is sent to the prison-like Ashland Mental Hospital for therapy, at first blissfully unaware of the diabolical mind experiments being performed on the all-female patients in the title dungeon by leering mad doctor Mary Woronov (who's done more than her share of leering in films of this type). Sharkey's not out of the picture -- he's lurking about the grounds, hoping to wring some secrets from our heroine about the documents he tried to obtain from her poor mom. The usual women-in-prison accouterments abound, from glue-sniffing lesbians to lecherous guards. The exploitation elements seem somewhat restrained (Landers doesn't even get her hair mussed) and they make the film look more like a sleazy made-for-TV movie with a few nude scenes thrown in for spice. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ray Sharkey, Judy Landers, (more)
- 1984
The A-Team gets the opportunity to officially represent Law and Order when they're deputized to keep the peace in Rivertown, a small village in the South American republic of San Marcus. The village, built to house the workers from a local power plant, has been plagued by mysterious accidents in which several workers have vanished. Among those missing is the brother of Nikki Monroe (Wendy Kilbourne), who is conducting her own investigation--and placing herself in serious jeopardy as a result. The climax involves a secret missile base and a spectacular mine cave-in, not to mention the muscular heroics of good old B.A. (Mr. T). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1984
- PG
The owner of a professional football team must restore the titular train and run it from Tennessee to NYC in 24 hours if he is to inherit $1 million in this comedy. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi
- 1982
Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) must keep the State gambling commission from finding out that he's running an illegal casino. To do this, he characteristically frames the Duke boys for his own crimes. But things take an unexpected turn when, after being accidentally injected with truth serum, Boss can't stop spilling the beans about everything...including all the secrets he's kept from his outraged wife Lulu (Peggy Rea)! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1980
The made-for-TV Valentine Magic on Love Island was accurately dismissed by one reviewer as a "bubble headed brew of I Dream of Jeannie and a Club Med Vacation." Janis Paige stars as Madge, a benign sorceress who runs a lavish tropical resort with the help of her nephew Jimmy (Christopher Knight) and niece Cheryl (Dominique Dunne). Through mystical, magical means of her own (manifested in a bouquet of enchanted roses), Madge sets about to transform eight of her unattached hotel guests into four loving couples. Naturally, the supporting cast is top-heavy with celebrity guest stars, among them Adrienne Barbeau, who was seen in one of the two Fantasy Island pre-series specials, and Bill Daily, an alumnus of the aforementioned I Dream of Jeannie. The pilot for an unsold weekly series, Valentine Magic on Love Island first aired February 15, 1980, on NBC; in syndication, it was retitled simply Magic on Love Island, apparently to avoid the "holiday special" onus. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1974
A meek and mild mailman decides that the only way to escape the constant nagging of his battle-ax of a wife is to turn himself into the title tree in this off-beat fantasy. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jason Robards, Jr., Sandy Dennis, (more)
In this romance, a wealthy playboy falls in love with a folk singing waitress. Her ambitious employer attempts to persuade the fellow into buying his coffeehouse so the two can continue to be together. Meanwhile, the young lover's competitor creates many obstacles to their happiness. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
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