Christopher Coppola Movies
The nephew of film demigod Francis Ford Coppola and the brother of Nicolas Cage, Christopher Coppola caught the family filmmaking bug early on and reportedly began shooting Super-8 narratives (many starring his soon-to-be-famous sibling) at a tender age. Coppola demonstrated a particularly strong affinity for musical composition, as well, and in fact majored in that subject (in lieu of cinema studies) as an undergraduate at Redlands College in California before doing graduate work in film at the San Francisco Art Institute. Coppola bowed with his first feature credit exactly one year after graduation -- the 1988 horror film Dracula's Widow -- but despite a truly interesting cast including Josef Sommer (in a rare lead), Lenny von Dohlen, and Sylvia Kristel, and an unusual premise, the film was critically panned. Coppola then proceeded to craft an ongoing series of pictures offering an inventive variation on a traditional genre and distinctly evoked films of Hollywood past; among many other projects, for example, he reworked the post-noir thriller with Deadfall (1993), the Western with Gunfighter (1997), and the Hollywood melodrama with Bel Air (2000). Coppola's directorial efforts culminated in his film Bloodhead (2004), which he directed, edited, and produced; starring cult icons Lynda Carter and Frank Gorshin, it tells of a bizarre creature terrorizing the residents of a small desert town.Beginning in the late '90s (in 1998), Coppola also essayed a series of acting roles, usually bit parts that found him parlaying his beefy, brawny, and imposing frame into a series of tough-natured characterizations. Credits include Forbidden Warrior (2004), Postal (2007), and BloodRayne 2: Deliverance (2007). ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
Rob Cohen's auto-centric action film The Fast and the Furious concerned a group of young men who modify cars, making them less than street legal, before illegally racing them on city streets. Street Fury: Gold documents some of the real people who partake of this hobby. In addition to images of the imported cars and explanations of how they have been tricked out, this video is hosted by Aiko Tanaka. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Two bad cops rise from the grave in an attempt to go straight in this offbeat comedy. Mike Mattress (Tate Donovan) and Dean Crept (William Forsythe) are a pair of stone-faced FBI agents who are not above stretching the law to their advantage; their double dealings lead to their fiery death in a booby-trapped car, and the two agents find themselves descending into Hell. After a disturbing run-in with Satan (Robert Goulet), Mattress and Crept escape and find their way back to Earth, where they hope to perform some good deeds that might allow them to escape damnation. Starting over as private eyes, Mattress and Crept are hired by millionaire Greydon Lake (Barry Newman), who believes his wife Gloria (Vanessa Angel) has been unfaithful to him. Gloria soon turns the tables by hiring the two gumshoes away from her husband, but things take a sinister turn when Greydon turns up dead. While tracking down leads in Greydon's murder, Mattress and Crept discover he was financing research by the eccentric Dr. Boifford (David Huddleston), whose bizarre talents come in handy when Buster (Bobcat Goldthwait), a leg man for the detectives, is killed while doing research; Boifford is able to transplant his brain into the body of a robot. Meanwhile, Buster's accident attracts the attention of the police, as well as FBI agents Dalton (Zach Galligan) and Langdon (Gary Busey), who are hot on the heels of the formerly dead lawmen. G-Men From Hell is based on characters from the comic book Grafik Musik, created by Michael Allred. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Forsythe, Tate Donovan, (more)
- 2000
Christopher Coppola directs this droll re-working both of Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Paul Morrissey's Heat (1972). Washed up child actor and pizza delivery guy Curson Beeley (Marc Coppola) is taken in by retired TV executive Agnes Fuchs (Barbara Bain). In her estate, Beeley lives a pampered life of luxury while Fuchs quietly tries to resurrect his career. As his television comeback seems more and more likely to happen, Beeley's life becomes complicated on other fronts -- his ex-girlfriend continues to harass him, Fuchs becomes increasingly demanding in bed, and he is plagued by a bizarre outbreak of boils. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Bain, Noah Blake, (more)
Is it a routine delivery job, or the first stage of the apocalypse? No one is quite sure in Palmer's Pick-Up, a bizarre road comedy from writer/director Christopher Coppola. Bruce Palmer (Robert Carradine) and his pal Pearl (Richard Hillman) run their own small trucking service and are doing none too well, so when they get offered a large paycheck for hauling an huge crate, contents unknown, from California to Florida in time for the millennial New Year's Eve, they leap at the chance. However, the farther they go, the more people are trying to stop them, and they start picking up just enough details from the increasingly bizarre interlopers they encounter en route to wonder if perhaps they're transporting the Devil himself across state lines (after all, Florida is near the Bermuda Triangle ...). Palmer's Pick-Up features a remarkable supporting cast which includes Talia Shire, Morton Downey Jr., Soupy Sales, Alice Ghostley, Rosanna Arquette, Clu Gulager and his sons John and Tom, and Grace Jones in the role of a lifetime as one half of a pair of Siamese twins. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Carradine, Richard Hillman, (more)
- 1998
In this fantasy tale for the whole family, three children discover the home of an elderly clock builder holds an amazing secret -- he possesses a collection of clocks that control the past, present, and future of the entire world. When one of the children is mistakenly transported into the past, it's up to the other two to rescue him and prevent the future from going astray. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
In this offbeat western, a gunfighter whose magic gloves allow him to draw his weapon at unheard-of speed seeks revenge against a vicious outlaw who has killed many innocent people. Presented by Francis Ford Coppola, whose nephew directed the film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
This lushly photographed, contemporary film noir tries to substitute looks and unconvincing, contrived plot twists for substance, capturing the look of a film noir but lacking the depth and characterization needed to make the film work. After his father, Mike is killed, Joe Donan (Michael Biehn) finds evidence that his Uncle Lou (James Coburn) in a dual role as Mike and Lou, might have stolen money from his father. Joe hooks up with Lou and his drug-taking lackey, Eddie (Nicolas Cage). Joe also falls for Eddie's beautiful, but devious girlfriend Diane (Sarah Trigger). Joe kills Eddie and gains Lou's confidence, joining him in a diamond swindle. As the unnecessarily complicated plot concludes, Joe learns the shocking truth that he himself has been the victim of a scam. Michael Biehn while a good-looking and competent actor, fails to find the depth necessary to bring his outwardly sophisticated but surprisingly naive character to life. Sarah Trigger is too shallow to make a convincing noir femme-fatale, and her obvious deviousness would fool only the most gullible. Nicolas Cage, in a totally over-the-top performance also fails to give his character any believability or depth. Director Christopher Coppola takes a potentially interesting premise and muddles it with too many plot twists and unconvincing performances. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Biehn, Nicolas Cage, (more)
- 1988
- R
Emmanuelle's Sylvia Kristel vamps it up as Vanessa, the widow of the legendary Count Dracula, whose coffin is transported from its resting place in modern-day Romania to a Hollywood "House of Horrors" wax museum. After her arrival, she awakens to seek both the remains of her husband and the descendant of Jonathan Harker -- who has gone to great lengths to ensure that the count will never rise again. Notable mainly as the debut effort of Francis Coppola's nephew Christopher, this film benefits from a flamboyant style and great use of film noir ambience (gritty, neon-lit street scenes; Josef Sommer's Chandleresque voice-overs) but the tired script is in dire need of a punch-up. This basic premise was handled with far greater panache in Michael Almereyda's Nadja. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Kristel, Josef Sommer, (more)
