Peter Weller Movies

The curious life of controversial avant-garde author and Beat poet William S. Burroughs serves as the subject of this documentary from Chicago-based filmmaker Yony Leyser. A gay drug addict who shot to infamy with his unguarded look at the drug and queer cultures, Burroughs made headlines when he shot his wife in Mexico City, and achieved infamy when his groundbreaking novel Naked Lunch was banned in the U.S. David Cronenberg, John Waters, Genesis P-Orridge, Patty Smith, Gus Van Sant, Laurie Anderson, and other celebrities/artists influenced by Burroughs' surreal body of work weigh in on why his influence today is still as strong as it was when he was in peak form. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Tough-as-nails ex-con Chance Ryan (Brian Presley) vows to turn over a new leaf after serving five years in prison, but finds that he may have to sever a limb or two in order to cut his ties to the past. Deep in debt to a menacing gambler (Peter Weller) and firmly under the thumb of a corrupt, trigger-happy cop (director Ash Adams), Chance receives the motivation he needs to atone for his past sins after meeting his son for the very first time, and entering into a romance with a pretty local (Taraji P. Henson). Meanwhile, Chance's aunt (Amy Madigan) serves as the voice of reason in a crazy world, and his convict father (Ed Harris) fights to maintain his fierce reputation from behind prison walls. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

At the prodding of Natalie (Traylor Howard), Monk goes into business for himself as a full-time private detective. His first job is deceptively minor, concerning a fender-bender in which prominent realtor Linda Fusco (Sharon Lawrence). But as the investigation progresses, Monk stumbles upon a missing-persons case, a murder, and more than the usual quota of physical boat. By episode's end, the aqua-phobic Monk somehow finds himself on the deck of a boat in the middle of the Bay...and dying a thousand deaths in the process. A subplot involving Linda Fusco and Captain Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) will yield unexpected "benefits" in the episodes to come. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The threat to the United States in Season 5's white-knuckle day is Russian separatists armed with weaponized nerve gas and led by Vladimir Bierko (Julian Sands). Inciting their ire is an arms and mutual defense treaty that Russian president Yuri Suvarov (Nick Jameson) plans on signing with the U.S. and duplicitous president Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin). As Day 5 begins, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), who faked his own demise at the close of last season, is working at an oil refinery in California under the name Frank Flynn. He returns from his self-imposed exile to fight the good fight after an assassination rocks the nation and he finds himself framed for it and several other crimes. Jack is also reunited with former love interest Audrey Raines (Kim Raver), but tumult continues to follow them. Meanwhile at CTU, there's a new man brought in to oversee operations, Lynn McGill (Sean Astin), and once again, there's a mole in the ranks. A significant subplot centers on Christopher Henderson (Peter Weller), Jack's mentor-turned-nemesis who has information that can help Jack thwart the Russians. Another thread follows First Lady Martha Logan (Jean Smart), who grows increasingly disdainful of her husband's actions in office. ~ Fred Mitchell, Rovi

Two talented young people head to California looking for fame, but find love along the way in this romantic drama. Luke (Steven Strait) is a struggling rock musician who has decided to leave New York City for the seemingly greener pastures of Los Angeles. A few days before he leaves, he spots a beautiful girl on the subway who gives him a big smile, giving him brief second thoughts. However, Luke heads out to L.A. anyway, and after months of scuffling lands a gig -- and sees the beautiful girl, Brier (Pell James), in the audience. Brier is an aspiring actress who, like Luke, came to L.A. to boost her career; she's taking acting classes at a well-respected workshop, and has landed a less-than-glamorous but lucrative deodorant commercial. Luke and Brier strike up a friendship, though it's obvious he's interested in something deeper; as Luke tries to score a record deal, Brier and her best friend Clea (Ashlee Simpson) try to spruce up his image and create some buzz about his music. But as Luke falls hard for Brier, she develops greater qualms about getting involved with a musician who will spend half his life on the road, and their shared desire for that big break may be the thing that keeps them apart. Undiscovered also stars Carrie Fisher, Kip Pardue, and Fisher Stevens. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

"Earth can be darker than space," so read the tagline for the ambitious cable sci-fi/fantasy series Odyssey 5. Returning from a lengthy mission in deep space, the crew of a shuttle discovered that they cannot go home because there is no home to go to: The Earth had been destroyed by a huge explosion. A mysterious alien called "the Seeker" (played in the two-hour pilot episode by John Neville) offered the crew an opportunity to prevent the catastrophe and save humankind by traveling five years back in time. There was only one hitch: The crew members were not their "present" selves in the past, but had all grown five years younger, and were still mired in the personal problems that plagued them at this earlier stage: One of the crewpersons was stuck in an unhappy marriage, another was weighed down by a drug dependency, still another was a pimply faced, neurotic high school kid, and so on. The principal characters were the Taggarts -- Chuck (Peter Weller), Neil (Christopher Gorham), Paige (Gina Clayton), and Marc (Kenneth Mitchell) -- and Kurt Mendel (Sebastian Roche), Angela Perry (Tamara Craig Thomas), and Sarah Forbes (Leslie Silva). Odyssey 5 launched its 19-episode Showtime cable network run on June 21, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Originally aired as a four-part miniseries on Canada's Space cable network, Robocop: Prime Directives picks up after the events of 1993's Robocop 3 and was released straight-to-video in the U.S. as four seperate features. Robocop: Prime Directives - Meltdown is the second in the series and finds Robocop (Page Fletcher) becoming increasingly violent after the death of his partner John Cable (Maurice Dean Wint). But things go from bad to worse for the cyborg law enforcer when an evil organization called The Trust revives Cable as Robocable and turns him against his old ally. Preceded by Robocop: Prime Directives - Dark Justice, this film is followed by Robocop: Prime Directives - Resurrection and Robocop: Prime Directives - Crash and Burn. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

In this science fiction thriller, David Whitman (William Hurt) is a chemist who lost his wife and child in a freak accident and is trying to rebuild his life on his own. While doing research, Whitman discovers a series of mysterious deaths that seem to follow in the path of Joseph Mueller (Peter Weller), a seemingly ordinary man who works as a security guard. Unknown to Mueller, his body carries a strange contaminant that's deadly to many people, and Whitman is desperate to find Mueller and stop him before he can cause more deaths. But he discovers there's more to Mueller's story than he ever imagined. The Contaminated Man also stars Michael Brandon and Natascha McElhone. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Charles Band has been making horror movies in Rumania for several years, so it should come as no surprise to find his local collaborators, associate producer Vlad Paunescu and costume designer Oana Paunescu, among the crew of this ambitious historical epic from The Kushner-Locke Company and director Joe Chappelle (Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers). It's an impressive attempt at rehabilitating the image of Vlad Tepes (Rudolf Martin), the famous Transylvanian prince who inspired Bram Stoker as the model for his vampiric count in the novel Dracula. That's part of the problem with Chappelle's film, because Martin plays Vlad as a sultry, pouting romantic figure in the Frank Langella mode rather than as a man who might have been capable of such astonishing savagery and physical strength on a battlefield. He pouts for money from the King of Hungary (Roger Daltrey being out-pouted for once), romances Jane March, speaks in a petulant growl, and generally looks like he'd be more at home on the dancefloor of a chic discotheque than on a corpse-strewn battlefield. Only the unavoidable feeling that he might be a vampire (he isn't) makes him seem even remotely threatening or dangerous. The rest of the film is better, with authentic-looking locations, some surprising gore, and nicely-handled battle scenes. Peter Weller comes off the best among the cast, playing the creepy Father Stefan with a suitable gravity and authority. It is very difficult to take the historical Dracula away from the vampire legends after over a century of Stoker-inspired over 150 films, but Chappelle and his cast make a game effort, and if they don't exactly succeed in removing the shadow of the vampire from their heroic prince, they have at least produced a rousing entertainment which is far better than anyone had a right to expect. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

In this action thriller, Steve Mitchell (Peter Weller) is an American agent sent to Bucharest to defuse a bomb located in the U.S. embassy. He's pleasantly surprised to find that Erica Long (Daryl Hannah), his colleague and former girlfriend, will be his assistant for this project, but the fun part of the reunion is cut short when Serbian terrorists attack the embassy and take most of the staff hostage. While Steve and Erica manage to escape, Steve's 14-year-old son is still inside, and he must find a way to get him out before Gen. Buck Swain (Tom Berenger), who was once a schoolmate of the terrorist leader, executes his raid to liberate the embassy, which could prove bloody. Enemy Of My Enemy manages to season its traditional action scenario with moments of dry humor and a dash of romance. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this high-tension drama, Ray Mercer (Peter Weller) is a former cop who was kicked off the force and sent to prison after it was discovered that he embezzled $4,000 from the police officers' pension fund. Shortly after he's released on parole, Ray and his wife Rebecca (Tia Carrere) decide to get a divorce and head to Las Vegas where they can get it over with quickly. Rebecca wants to visit a casino, but Ray's conditions of parole forbid it; while he waits for her outside as she gambles, he hands a few bucks to a casino hostess and asks her to play a slot machine for him. Ray thinks good luck is finally with him when the machine pays off a $450,000 jackpot, but that's just before a group of ambitious thieves circle the casino to pull a massive robbery. The local police are convinced that Ray is somehow in on the crime; he jumps in to help in hopes of clearing his name, and he discovers evidence that suggests that the owner of the casino, Charles Atlas (Dennis Hopper), may have engineered the robbery on his own operation. Also released as Cold Cash and Showdown, Top of the World features Peter Coyote and David Alan Grier in supporting roles. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi