David Wells Movies

The events of 1977 and 1978 permanently marred director Roman Polanski's life. Accused of unlawful sexual assault on minor Samantha Geimer during his stay at actor Jack Nicholson's house in March of 1977, Polanski wound up in the midst of controversial judicial proceedings that many read as supremely unfair. After being temporarily sprung on 2,500 dollars bail, Polanski then fled the United States for Europe in 1978, with the threat of incarceration hanging over him should he ever return. With her documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, filmmaker Marina Zenovich revisits this difficult case via extensive interviews with Geimer, defense attorney Douglas Dalton, Assistant DA Roger Gunson, and others. In the process, she raises pivotal questions about the U.S. legal system and the fairness of the judge, Laurence J. Rittenband (who was reportedly extremely vocal about his desire to topple Polanski) and encounters many recollections of judicial malfeasance from those who were involved. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Larry (Larry David) meets Cheryl (Cheryl Hines) and Yoshi (Greg Watanabe), an art dealer, at a Japanese restaurant for lunch. The staff of the restaurant call Larry "Chicken Teriyaki Boy" due to his penchant for ordering the same meal every time. At lunch, Larry is surprised to learn that Yoshi's father (Ken Takamoto), who lives in the same nursing home as Nat (Shelley Berman), was a kamikaze pilot during WWII. "Shouldn't he be dead?" Larry asks Yoshi, who is forced to explain, "He grazed the ship." The meal ends disastrously, with Yoshi believing that the oblivious Larry is calling him a chicken. Later, Larry is at a poker game when the host, Kevin (Kevin Nealon) is called away because Yoshi, who happens to be his brother-in-law, has attempted suicide. The guests decide to keep playing cards. Also, Larry catches Nat watching an inappropriate video at an even more inappropriate volume, debates the merits of a doctor's prescription vs. a pharmacist's recommendation, and demands an investigation into the legitimacy of the bingo game at Nat's nursing home. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Director John Webb and screenwriter Aaron Pope translate the true-life story of a Florida family murdered in 1996 into a low-budget horror/crime film in their 2002 production Vampire Clan. The parents of two teenaged young women are found ritualistically murdered and the family's community is sent into an uproar with rumors of Satanic worship occurring in their midst. The authorities quickly track down the culprits behind the murders -- a group of teens that believe they are vampires -- and make the horrific discovery that one of the teens is one of the victims' daughters. As the police piece together the evidence, the daughter recalls the details revolving around her involvement with this group of so-called vampires and how the Charles Manson-like leader of the group chooses his followers. Vampire Clan received its premiere screening at the 2002 Dances With Films Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

Former music-video director Tamra Davis (Guncrazy) created strong characters in this bank-robbery tale, a crime/comedy/drama somewhat reminiscent of the anti-establishment attitudes seen in early '70s films. After three years in a California prison, Jesse (Luke Wilson) is ready to marry his girlfriend Hope (Drew Barrymore) in the town of Independence (the original working title of this film). Joining Jesse is a odd assortment -- the buzzcut ex-Green-Beret Buzz (Dean Cain); ex-lawyer Sol (Mitchell Whitfield); geeky Teddy (Andy Dick); and Shakespeare-quoting Billy (Sean Patrick Flanery), aka Hamlet on the FBI's most-wanted list. Then they're off to the wedding. Billy, however, asks to be dropped off at a nearby bank, and after it's evident that Billy is pulling off another Hamlet heist, the others join him inside. Billy's father, Sheriff Phillips (Fred Ward), up for re-election, begins hostage negotiations, but the media arrives, along with psycho FBI agent Hoover (Raymond J. Barry) and his partner Carter (Art Edler Brown). Wearing her wedding dress, Hope goes inside the bank. Soon various friends and locals gather outside to offer support as the hostages take the side of their captors. In addition to portraying agent Carter, Art Edler Brown is the film's co-producer and co-scripter. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Made-for-television, this drama tells the story of real-life pioneer aviatrix Amelia Earhart. Diane Keaton stars as the famous American female pilot, who challenged social stereotypes and took to the air in the 1930s. In an attempt to fly around the world, Earhart's plane went missing in 1937 and was never recovered. Keaton was nominated for a Golden Globe, an Emmy and a SAG Award for her portrayal of this ground-breaking historical figure. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

A more straightforward horror film than the darkly comic Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988), this third chapter in the "Living Dead" saga was directed by Brian Yuzna and is quite similar plot-wise to his earlier film, Bride of Re-Animator (1990). J. Trevor Edmond and Mindy Clarke star as Curt Reynolds and Julie Walker, a young couple in love. Curt's father is Col. John Reynolds (Kent McCord), a scientist working on a top-secret project at a nearby military compound. When Curt steals his dad's security pass and sneaks Julie into the base, they discover that the project involves bringing corpses back to life using the powerful gas Trioxin, responsible for events in the previous films. The military hopes to use the mindless, flesh-consuming zombies as weapons, but the experiment goes gruesomely awry. Later, Julie is killed in an accident on Curt's motorcycle and the grief-stricken boyfriend brings her to the base and exposes her to the gas. As she begins craving human flesh, Curt must try to keep her alive while also facing down a local street gang he's unintentionally crossed, as well as the soldiers seeking Julie, led by his father. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

This exciting sci-fi thriller chronicles the further adventures of a 1943 sailor who is thrust into the mid 1980s during an experiment in time travel. Still stuck in his future, the sailor marries and starts a family. His wife dies, and afterward, he begins suffering blinding headaches. Worried, he goes to the scientist responsible for getting him to the future and learns that the scientist has again been toying with his invention. Once again the sailor is caught in a time warp and awakens to find himself several years in the future. By the early '90s, the world has changed dramatically. Now the U.S. is a military state. The sailor cares little for the world's sorry state and is only interested in returning to the '80s to be with his son. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

An innkeeper in a small Midwestern town is concerned about strange boarders, whom he believes are visitors from the future. He struggles to save his daughter from being taken by the aliens and to keep the town from being destroyed. ~ All Movie Guide

This cold, stylish erotic-thriller grossed over $100 million at the box-office despite vigorous protests at its depiction of gays and women. The shocking opening sequence features a graphic sexual encounter involving a rock-star bound with a white Hermes scarf by an unidentified blond woman. Despite the fact that the scene ends with a bloody icepick murder (horrifyingly realized by makeup artist Rob Bottin), Hermes scarves quickly sold out at stores nationwide. This seeming paradox is at the heart of the film's appeal, as it mixes perverse sexuality and erotic bloodshed in a manner common to European thrillers (director Paul Verhoeven had done it himself in 1979's marvelous De Vierde Man) but mostly taboo in America. The plot concerns Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone), a successful bisexual mystery writer who may also be a ruthless murderer. Everyone close to Catherine dies, and troubled policeman Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) must find out why. In the process, Nick becomes sexually involved with both Catherine and police psychiatrist Beth Gardner (Jeanne Tripplehorn), while the bodies begin piling up and Catherine turns the cat-and-mouse game around on Nick. Verhoeven and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas -- who was paid $3 million for the script -- keep the tension ratcheted up throughout, even during the frequent sex scenes, which carry a violent edge reminiscent of the Italian thrillers of Dario Argento. The film's most notorious scene, a police interrogation in which Catherine makes drooling idiots out of her captors by revealing that she is not wearing underwear, became a cultural touchstone and was widely imitated and parodied. Sharon Stone, meanwhile, was embarrassed to the point that she claimed Verhoeven had aimed lights on strategic locations without her knowledge. George Dzundza and Dorothy Malone co-star. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Norman Jewison directed Alvin Sargent's adaptation of Jerry Sterner's off-Broadway satire of the excess of the '80s, with Danny DeVito as corporate raider Lawrence Garfield -- or, as he is better known, Larry the Liquidator. Larry spends his waking hours searching for companies to take over. One morning he comes across New England Wire & Cable, a company that has seen better days but is not debt-ridden and contains plenty of cash. Licking his chops, Larry hopes to raid the company and strip its assets. But the company's president, Andrew Jorgenson (Gregory Peck), wants to continue in the wire and cable business. For help, Andrew seeks out his daughter-in-law, Kate Sullivan (Penelope Ann Miller), a New York attorney who is as obsessive about saving Andrew's company as Larry is about destroying it. When she walks into Larry's office, Larry immediately falls in love. But they are adversaries, and they have to decide if love or corporate buyouts come first. This all comes to a head during a shareholder's meeting inside the factory, where both Andrew and Larry state their cases regarding Andrew's beloved company. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this grim and violent made-for-cable television thriller, a murderous female escapes from a mental hospital and begins a killing spree that baffles the FBI because she is a mistress of disguises and is able to take on the identities of each of her victims. Fortunately, a female cop has the right stuff to stop her. She had better hurry because her FBI-agent boyfriend may be next on the killer's list. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Good thing they told us this Jury Duty: The Comedy; we might have thought it was Jury Duty: The Term Paper. This comedy salad features a whole slew of TV luminaries--Alan Thicke, Bill Kirchenbauer, Lynn Redgrave, Heather Locklear, Tracy Scoggin, Reginald VelJohnson etc.--playing judge, jury, defenders and prosecutors in an embezzlement case. The clue as to the film's sobriety level is the fact that Bronson Pinchot plays four roles: Sanford, Arthur Lloyd, Jorge Jimenez, and Magda. Highlights include a mid-trial pizza delivery, a faulty oxygen tank, and a kid holding up a "Hi Mom" sign for the benefit of the courtroom cameras. This dumb-but-lovable TV movie first aired January 15, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide