Cliff Cudney Movies

Writer-director Spike Lee's epic portrayal of the life and times of the slain civil rights leader Malcolm X begins with the cross-cut imagery of the police beating of black motorist Rodney King juxtaposed with an American flag burning into the shape of the letter X. When the film's narrative begins moments later, it jumps back to World War II-era Boston, where Malcolm Little (Denzel Washington) is making his living as a hustler. The son of a Baptist preacher who was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan, Little was raised by foster parents after his mother was deemed clinically insane; as an adult, he turned to a life of crime, which leads to his imprisonment on burglary charges. In jail, Little receives epiphany in the form of an introduction to Islam; he is especially taken with the lessons of Elijah Mohammed, who comes to him in a vision. Adopting the name 'Malcolm X' as a rejection of the 'Little' surname (given his family by white slave owners), he meets the real Elijah Mohammed (Al Freeman, Jr.) upon exiting prison, and begins work as a spokesman for the Nation of Islam. Marriage to a Muslim nurse named Betty Shabazz (Angela Bassett) follows, after which X spearheads a well-attended march on a Harlem hospital housing a Muslim recovering from an episode of police brutality. The march's success helps elevate X to the position of Islam's national spokesperson. There is dissension in the ranks, however, and soon X is targeted for assassination by other Nation leaders; even Elijah Mohammed fears Malcolm's growing influence. After getting wind of the murder plot, X leaves the Nation of Islam, embarking on a pilgrimage to Mecca that proves revelatory; renouncing his separatist beliefs, his oratories begin embracing all races and cultures. During a 1965 speech, Malcolm X is shot and killed, reportedly by Nation of Islam members. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

In this supernatural nostalgia piece, a young boy tracks down a murderer with help from the ghosts of a slain little girl and her mother. In a voice-over, grown-up writer Frankie Scarlatti describes the disturbing events that intruded on his idyllic small-town boyhood. Locked in the school cloakroom by some other boys on Halloween 1962, young Frankie (Lukas Haas) encounters the ghost of Melissa Anne Montgomery (Joelle Jacobi), who re-enacts her own death by strangulation just before an unseen adult enters the school and tries to do away with Frankie himself. While recuperating in the care of his widower father (Alex Rocco), Frankie conducts some detective work and learns that Melissa is one of ten children killed over the past decade. Further encounters with the girl's ghost -- and the mournful specter of her mother, the Lady in White (Karen Powell) -- do little to help the boy solve the mystery of who killed the kids. Meanwhile, an innocent black maintenance man becomes the scapegoat on which the police hang the killings. However, thanks to the damning but enigmatic evidence Frankie has discovered, the boy faces imminent danger from the actual killer, who ends up lurking terrifyingly close to home. The sophomore feature from writer/director Frank LaLoggia, who made his name with the low-budget horror film Fear No Evil, Lady in White starred the young Lukas Haas halfway between his appearances in Witness and Rambling Rose. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Yes, there are commies under the bed. But are there Nazis there too? Emily Crane (Kelly McGillis) is a modestly successful Life photo editor living in 1950s New York, until she is called before the Senate Un-American Activities Committee to testify about her "communist" associations. When she refuses to divulge the names of friends in her civil liberties group, she loses her employment and her friends. In desperation, she takes a job reading books for Miss Venable, a somewhat crotchety lady (Jessica Tandy) who lives in a quiet residential neighborhood. Then, while taking a break in Miss Venable's back yard, Emily overhears something from the house behind that compels her to investigate and leads her eventually to conclude that it is the headquarters of a group smuggling in ex-Nazi scientists for some mysterious purpose. Meanwhile, she is being harassed by two FBI men, on behalf of the Senate Committee, as well as by a sinister, McCarthyite, Senate investigator named Salwen (Mandy Patinkin). One of the FBI men, Cochran (Jeff Daniels), takes a liking to Emily and humors her by agreeing to investigate her suspicions. This quiet mystery is a nostalgia piece. It's '50s backgrounds are authentic and the plot device -- an innocent becoming entangled in an unbelievable conspiracy -- is closer to one of Hitchcock's masterpieces of that period (e.g., North by Northwest) than to Reservoir Dogs or Speed. The people seem to be from a simpler time, too, when the distinction between good and evil was clearer. Emily shines with idealistic integrity and the naive Cochran is so honest that he finds it impossible to deceive the target of his investigation. There is even a terrifying, "acrophobe's nightmare" scene played out in a dome high above Grand Central Station. For those tired of endless shoot-em-ups and car chases, this is the mystery to choose. ~ Michael P. Rogers, Rovi

Though some viewers might be put off by its length, graphic violence, and absence of likable characters, Sergio Leone's final film is also a cinematic masterpiece. Spanning four decades, the film tells the story of David "Noodles" Aaronson (Robert De Niro) and his Jewish pals, chronicling their childhoods on New York's Lower East Side in the 1920s, through their gangster careers in the 1930s, and culminating in Noodles' 1968 return to New York from self-imposed exile, at which time he learns the truth about the fate of his friends and again confronts the nightmare of his past. The acting, the re-creation of the time period, the cinematography, and the music are all superb. However, even more important is Leone's ability to make the film work on so many different levels: it's both a criticism of gangster-film mythology and a continuation of the director's exploration of the issues of time and history. Strange as it may seem, the violence and gore in the first half of the film turn into a sad elegy about wasted lives and lost love. The film's strengths emerge only in its full 229-minute version -- the 139-minute and other edited versions don't make nearly the same impact. ~ Yuri German, Rovi

This remake of the 1948 Preston Sturges classic stars Dudley Moore as the symphony conductor who imagines ways to get back at the wife he believes is unfaithful to him. Moore plays Claude Eastman, the conductor of a prestigious sympathy, who suspects that his actress wife Daniella (Nastassja Kinski) is fooling around behind his back with the orchestra's handsome soloist, Maxmillian Stein (Armand Assante). The tip comes courtesy of Norman Robbins (Albert Brooks), Daniella's brother. As Claude is conducting a symphony, an elaborate plot plays out in his head -- he will murder his unfaithful wife to get revenge on her. The plot is simpler and more straightforward than the original version, in which the conductor harbored three separate elaborate fantasies. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

With minimal sex and covered-up nudity, this routine romance about love in New York's high fashion world has enough glamor and beautiful people to satisfy glossy standards, but the storyline is thinner than the models under consideration. Dino (Bruce Lyons) and Richie (Richard Bekins) pose as young men in the film industry in order to get behind the scenes in the world of modelling -- where they meet Becky (Anne Howard) who falls for Richie, and Serina (Cindy Harrel) who is more interested in her career than in Dino. Between rounds of parties and the high life of the fashion world, Richie and Dino are not exactly suffering when their love interests give them a hard time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Two months after the events of the original Friday the 13th, Alice (Adrienne King), the lone survivor or Mrs. Vorhees' killing spree, meets a grisly end in her city apartment. Five years later, a new group of co-eds converges near Camp Crystal Lake, scene of the original massacre and the drowning of Jason Vorhees that preceded it. This time around, the horny collegians attend a nearby training school for camp counselors. As half the group parties in town, an unseen assailant picks off the other half one by one. Only when camp leader Paul (John Furey) and his girlfriend, Ginny (Amy Steel), return to camp do they uncover the identity of their stalker -- none other than Jason (Warrington Gillette) himself, alive but grotesquely deformed as a result of his childhood drowning. Flashbacks chronicle Jason's behind-the-scenes activities in the first film (perhaps explaining how his mother was able to throw the dead bodies of muscular youths through windows with such apparent ease). The young couple's only hope to defeat the fiend lies in psych major Ginny's insights in Jason's mental state. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Two lawmen decide to find out if a life of crime pays better in this gritty action comedy. Joe (Joseph Bologna) and Tom (Cliff Gorman) are two friends who work for the New York Police Department, Joe as a beat cop and Tom as a detective. Both of them put their lives on the line every day for low wages in a city that seems to get crazier and more dangerous by the minute. One evening, Joe is on patrol when he stops into a liquor store, draws his gun and demands that the clerk hand over all the cash in the register. Joe walks out with more money than he usually makes in a week, and when he tells Tom what he's done, they agree that as policemen they can go anywhere and do anything, making it a cinch for them to become thieves. After striking a deal with a tough but vain gangster (John P. Ryan), Joe and Tom plan a robbery of a Wall Street securities firm that will net them a million dollars each, enough to get out of the suburbs and live as they please with their families for the rest of their lives. But the big heist takes a turn for the worse when some other criminals happen to hit the same building at the same time the cops are pulling off their robbery. Cops and Robbers was written for the screen by noted crime novelist ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Preventing Julia (Grayson Hall) from curing Jeb (Christopher Pennock), Nicholas (Humbert Allen Astredo) warns her not to meddle with the affairs of the Leviathans. Maggie (Kathryn Leigh Scott) and Barnabas (Jonathan Frid) rescue Quentin (David Selby) from his "grave." Ordered to use Carolyn (Nancy Barrett) in the Leviathan ceremony, Jeb smashes the box and the altar -- and suffers mightily for his act of courage. This episode was originally telecast on March 6, 1970. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jeb (Christopher Pennock) summons a four-man army of zombies to kidnap Julia (Grayson Hall). Barnabas (Jonathan Frid) again succumbs to his instincts and bites Megan (Marie Wallace); she dies, only to rise again as a full-fledged vampire. This episode originally aired on March 4, 1970. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi