Jon Bon Jovi Movies
After spending most of the '80s as a hard rock god, Jon Bon Jovi decided to put his proven charisma and movie-star looks to work in front of the Hollywood cameras. Making his major screen debut as an amiable house painter in Moonlight and Valentino (1995), Bon Jovi earned surprisingly good notices for his performance, winning both grudging respect from film critics and further offers from casting agents.Born John Francis Bongiovi in working-class Perth Amboy, NJ, on March 2, 1962, Bon Jovi spent much of his adolescence skipping school to play in a series of local rock bands. After one of his first demos, "Runaway," became a hit on the Jersey airwaves, the young musician formed Bon Jovi in 1983. The group went on to become one of the most successful hard rock bands of the decade, earning a huge number of fans and numerous industry honors. In 1990, during the band's 18-month hiatus, Bon Jovi wrote the soundtrack for the blockbuster Young Guns, and also had a very small role in the film. His soundtrack produced two hit singles and won Grammy and Oscar nominations, and Bon Jovi re-formed his band shortly thereafter.
Following his first major foray into acting in 1995, the musician won his first starring role in John Duigan's The Leading Man (1996). The film, which cast Bon Jovi as its title character -- a seductive and conniving actor -- earned lukewarm reviews and did negligible business at the box office. The aspiring actor was soon back in front of the camera, however, appearing in a string of films that included the submarine thriller U-571 (2000), in which he shared the screen with Matthew McConaughey, Harvey Keitel, and Bill Paxton, as well as Pay It Forward (2000), which cast him as Helen Hunt's loutish, absentee husband. Bon Jovi also continued his work as a musician, releasing a solo album in 1997 and then regrouping with his band members in 2000. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
A woman dealing with an unexpected death has to help her friends with their own crises in this comedy-drama. Rebecca Lott (Elizabeth Perkins) gets an unpleasant surprise while waiting for her husband to return from his daily jog -- he was hit by a car and instantly killed. A handful of Rebecca's friends and relatives rally around her, including her close friend and neighbor Sylvie (Whoopi Goldberg), her former stepmother Alberta (Kathleen Turner), and her younger sister Lucy (Gwyneth Paltrow), but she has a hard time accepting the fact that she's now a widow (or, as she prefers to put it, "the 'W' word"). It also seems that the women trying to offer Rebecca emotional support could use some of their own; Sylvie's marriage is hanging by a thread, and Lucy is depressed and cynical owing to her inexperience with men. But romance begins to find its way back into Rebecca's life when a handsome younger man (Jon Bon Jovi) -- hired to paint the house -- takes a shine to her. Moonlight and Valentino was based on a play written by Ellen Simon, daughter of comic playwright Neil Simon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Perkins, Whoopi Goldberg, (more)
Only three of the original five "young guns" -- Billy the Kid (Emilio Estevez), Jose Chavez y Chavez (Lou Diamond Phillips), and Doc Scurlock (Kiefer Sutherland) -- return in Young Guns, Part 2, which is the story of Billy the Kid and his race to safety in Old Mexico while being trailed by a group of government agents led by Pat Garrett (William Petersen). Along the way, Billy's crew gains three new recruits: Arkansas Dave Rudabaugh (Christian Slater), Tom O'Folliard (Balthazar Getty), and Hendry French (Alan Ruck). Though the film suffers from an uneven script, many performances -- particularly Slater's -- are surprisingly strong, and the movie looks great. The theme song, "Blaze of Glory", is performed by Jon Bon Jovi in his first solo appearance; the rocker also has a cameo in the film. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, (more)
A space bum helps rescue a princess from an evil overlord with the help of a benevolent elder in this Star Wars send-up written and directed by Mel Brooks. Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) and his half-man, half-dog co-pilot, Barf the Mawg (John Candy), are content to scour the galaxy living the easy life. But they reluctantly come to the rescue when Druish Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) is threatened by the evil Lord Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis), who wants to steal all of the air from her planet, Druidia. Trapped on a harsh desert world with Vespa and her robot chaperone, Dot Matrix (voice of Joan Rivers), Lone Starr and Barf are helpless to prevent Helmet from kidnapping the girl. But assistance arrives in the form of Yogurt (Brooks), a wizard who turns Lone Starr on to a mysterious power known as The Schwartz. Catching up with Helmet just as he's transforming his spaceship into a giant vacuum cleaner in orbit around Druidia, the reluctant heroes stage a dramatic showdown. Although it borrows most of its plot from the Star Wars series, Spaceballs also pokes fun at Star Trek, Snow White, and Planet of the Apes -- as well as the entire videocassette and movie marketing industries. The large supporting cast includes Dick Van Patten, Jim J. Bullock, and the voice of Dom DeLuise. John Hurt makes a cameo in a parody of the exploding chest scene he played in Alien. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mel Brooks, John Candy, (more)
