Martin Charles Warner Movies
- 1996
While covering the Presidential Primary in Wisconsin, the "FYI" staff is stranded at a diner several miles from Madison when their fancy T-2000 bus breaks down. Undaunted, Murphy (Candice Bergen) decides to seek out interviews and photo ops amongst the diner's patrons. Alas, what begins as a unique and compelling "human interest" story degenerates into Politics as Usual when the other networks and several GOP aides find out what Murphy is up to. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
This black comedy chronicles the fall of one of the world's most unlovable clowns as he plies his trade and tries to survive in Palukaville a town where everyone is more or less a Bozo. Shakes loves women and more than that, he loves his booze. Like many of his painted peers, ol' Shakes likes to hang out at The Twisted Balloon, the favorite local pub where he hoists a few, beats up on mimes (the lowest caste in Palukaville) and causes trouble with his girl friend Judy, a woman who cannot say the letter "L." Because the slovenly Shakes can't seem to make it to birthday parties sober and on time, he is fired from his booking agency, causing him to go on a big drinking binge. Later, Shakes awakens and learns that Binky, a lousy TV-clown, is framing him for beating up Shake's former boss with a juggling pin. Now poor Shakes must clear his name. He must also rescue "Juwee" who has been kidnapped by the nefarious Binky, and he must come to grips with his alcohol problem (perhaps the film could be therefore titled "Clown and Sober?"). Keep an eye peeled for cameos by Robin Williams, as a mime instructor, and Florence Henderson as one of Shake's illicit sexual conquests. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bobcat Goldthwait, Julie Brown, (more)
New York art dealer Arne Glimcher took his first crack at film directing with this florid, high-energy romance about two brothers who flee Cuba in the early 1950s to make it as musicians in the United States. Cynthia Cidre wrote the literate screenplay adapted from Oscar Hijuelos's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. Cesar (Armand Assante) and Nestor Castillo (Antonio Banderas) are popular musicians on Havana's club circuit, but when they make enemies of the wrong people, they are forced to leave for New York City, the moody Nestor leaving behind his true love. In New York, the brothers work as meat-cutters during the day as Cesar tries to organize a band and make inroads into the lively New York music scene. Soon, as The Mambo Kings, they get club bookings and Cesar falls in love with a sharp-tongued cigarette girl, Lanna Lake (Cathy Moriarty), and Nestor with the beautiful Delores Fuentes (Maruschka Detmers), who wants to be a teacher. Cesar concentrates on singing and managing the band, while Nestor plays the trumpet and writes emotional songs of love. All seems to be going well until Cesar antagonizes the moneymen on the Latin nightclub circuit and they finds themselves playing bar mitzvahs. But after they're discovered by Desi Arnaz (Desi Arnaz Jr.), the group is prominently featured on I Love Lucy. Their popularity soars and they cut a successful album called "Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love." Cesar is glorying in his success, but Nestor is disappointed and longs to return to Cuba. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Armand Assante, Antonio Banderas, (more)
If a comedy is to be made from the plight of the homeless, who have to scrape through their days returning deposit bottles and cleaning car windshields to get their daily bread as the rich get richer and more heartless, it may as well be Mel Brooks' Life Stinks. The trademark Brooks humor dominates this fable about a ruthless billionaire, Goddard Bolt (Mel Brooks), who wants to obliterate a poor section of Los Angeles and build a high-tech commercial center in its place. His only problem is that he owns only half the land needed for the construction, the other half belonging to equally ruthless billionaire Vance Craswell (Jeffrey Tambor), who has his own ideas for the land. The two try to buy each other out until, finally, a deal is struck: Craswell bets that Bolt cannot survive a month on the streets as a homeless man. If Bolt makes it, he gets the property. If he doesn't, Craswell gets it. Bolt agrees and, as a poor man, he begins to feel the pain of being uprooted and alone, even meeting a friendly homeless woman, Molly (Lesley Ann Warren) with whom he forms an attachment. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mel Brooks, Lesley Ann Warren, (more)
- 1989
A strange man who had come to Blue Moon hoping to hire a bodyguard abruptly drops dead in the office. Subsequently, David (Bruce Willis) and Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) find themselves "babysitting" their would-be client's corpse. The plot may be wrapped around a missing lottery ticket and a strange tattoo--and then again, maybe it isn't, who knows? The episode's title refers to a lengthy dream sequences in which Maggie finds herself in the Afterlife with some suspiciously familiar-looking ghosts and goblins. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
In this drama, Barney Ingram (Mickey Rooney) is a gambler who's lost his money, only to discover his favorite horse Lightning has been stolen. A young woman with severe vision problems named Stephanie (Isabel Lorca) is the only one able to ride Lightning to a sure victory. A group of tough-talking gangsters have taken the horse but suggest some kind of a deal can be cut. If Stephanie, with the help of a feisty and sharp stable owner (Susan George), can manage to pull off a victory in an upcoming horse race, she will be able to get the money for the surgery that could restore her sight, with plenty left over for everyone else. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Susan George, (more)
In Armed and Dangerous, John Candy plays a cop who has been kicked off the force on a trumped up charge. Eugene Levy costars as a disbarred lawyer. The two outcasts take low-paying jobs as security officers at a company controlled by mob boss Robert Loggia. In their own stumblebum fashion, Candy and Levy uncover a smuggling operation masterminded by Loggia. Meg Ryan also shows up in an early leading role. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Candy, Eugene Levy, (more)
