Mark Damon Movies

A happy young couple gives birth to a horrible monstrosity in this remake of Larry Cohen's 1974 killer baby classic. Graduate student Lenore (Bijou Phillips) has put her education on hold in order to have a child with her architect boyfriend Frank (James Murray). They're planning a new life together in the country when their unborn child begins growing at an alarming rate, and doctors are forced to conduct an emergency C-section for Lenore's safety. When every medic in the operating room is brutally killed, the frightened new parents rush their newborn home and do their best to pretend everything is normal - but it isn't. Their newborn son Daniel is an abomination, and prone to savagely attacking anything - and anyone - that gets in his way. Though Lenora does her best to protect Daniel, even after it's plain to see that he can't control his murderous impulses, the evidence that something is terribly wrong becomes too powerful to deny when the mangled corpses of dead animals and people begin turning up in the area, and all signs points back to the demonic little bundle of rage with an unholy appetite. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Alternating between the unique vantage points of the Jews, the Arabs, and the British, director Elie Chouraqui's historical drama recreates the landmark struggle surrounding the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. From the concrete jungle of New York City to the desert paradise of the Holy Land, two young Americans - one Jewish and the other Arab - are forced to make an incredible series of life altering sacrifices in order to fight for their dreams. As the struggle for control of Jerusalem gets underway, the Jews, Arabs, and Brits must all address such difficult issues as terrorism, politics, courage, and deprivation with a newfound since of honest and urgency. Drawing inspiration from authors Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre's bestselling novel of the same name, O Jerusalem offers a textured commentary on a conflict that continues to stir controversy in the 21st Century. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Kevin Spacey serves as both director and star for this biopic based on the life and career of legendary entertainer Bobby Darin, which moves back and forth between his childhood and adult selves to tell the tale of his remarkable life. Born Bobby Cassotto and raised in the Bronx, young Bobby (played as a child by William Ullrich) was raised by his mother, Polly (Brenda Blethyn), his brother-in-law, Charlie (Bob Hoskins), and his sister, Nina (Caroline Aaron). At the age of 15, Bobby contracted a severe case of rheumatic fever, which was expected to take his life; while it left him with a weak heart, Bobby beat the odds and survived. Buoyed by a love of music passed along by his mother, Bobby learned to play several instruments and began singing as he recovered. Displaying a confidence and drive which stopped just short of arrogance, he adopted the stage name Bobby Darin and set his sights on becoming a star. After a string of hits as a rock & roll singer, Darin (played as an adult by Kevin Spacey) takes another gamble, and with the help of manager Steve Blauner (John Goodman) he reinvents himself as a supper-club vocalist in the manner of Frank Sinatra. All the more remarkably, he succeeds, and his swinging version of "Mack the Knife" tops the charts. Now a major singing star, Darin decides to take up acting; on the set of his first movie, he woos his female co-star Sandra Dee (Kate Bosworth), and despite the stern objections of her mother (Greta Scacchi), Bobby and Sandra wed. But after a string of successful movies for Dee and hit records and an Oscar nomination for Darin, the shifting tastes of the 1960s throw their careers off-track. Bobby cautiously embraces the new sounds of the day, but his old fans don't want to hear him cover Bob Dylan or the Rolling Stones, while the younger audience isn't interested in his new sound, leaving Darin in a difficult place to make his way back to stardom. Kevin Spacey did his own singing for Beyond the Sea, recreating Bobby Darin's vocal style with uncanny accuracy. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Roland Suso Richter's psychological thriller The I Inside stars Ryan Phillippe as a man who, as the film opens, becomes involved in a terrifying accident that leaves him unable to remember the last two years of his life. As if the protagonist being unable to recognize his wife (Piper Perabo), and learning that his brother (Robert Sean Leonard) has died, were not bad enough, dreams of a woman (Sarah Polley) he once loved come to him regularly. The hero must negotiate the terrain between fact and fiction in order to figure out what happened to his life. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Produced by Kevin Spacey, The United States of Leland is a psychological drama concerning the aftereffects of a brutal murder. It's also the first big-studio theatrical release for writer/director Matthew Ryan Hoge, whose previous work consists of the independent comedy Self Storage. Ryan Gosling plays Leland, an imprisoned teenager doing time for the stabbing murder of a disabled boy. Prison writing teacher Pearl Madison (Don Cheadle) gets caught up in the story with the intention of making a book out of it, especially when he finds out that Leland's father is the famous novelist Albert Fitzgerald (Spacey). Pearl's investigation uncovers some of the details and effects of the murder for everyone involved, including the victim's parents, Harry (Martin Donovan) and Karen Pollard (Ann Magnuson). Jena Malone plays Becky, the teenage junkie who is both Leland's ex-girlfriend and the victim's sister. The situation also complicates the relationship between Becky's older sister, Jennifer (Michelle Williams), and her sensitive boyfriend, Allen (Chris Klein). The United States of Leland premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

A group of extreme winter athletes find themselves risking their neck for more than just thrills in this action drama. Jeffrey (Rupert Graves) is a director who has been hired to make a television commercial for a cellular phone company. For the spot, Jeffrey has come up with an exciting visual motif - a group of extreme skiers and snowboarders outrunning an avalanche on a remote mountain range. To get the needed footage, Jeffrey and his crew head to Austria, where they set up to film on a mountain near the former Yugoslavia; joining them is Olympic downhill champion Chloe (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras) and world-class snowboarders Ian (Rufus Sewell, Will (Devon Sawa), Silo (Joe Absolom), and Kittie (Jana Pallaske). While filming along an unchartered slope, Jeffrey's camera crew make an unexpected discovery - they find the secret compound of international terrorist Slobodan Pavlov (Klaus Lowitsch), and even capture the deadly man on videotape. Extremely unhappy that he's been found out, Pavlov turns his immediate attention to eliminating Jeffrey, his crew, and his skiers, and soon the snowboarders are forced to use their skills not just for kicks, but to save their friends - and possibly the world. Director Christian Duguay) is an old hand at filming in snow-covered mountains, having made the TV movie Snowbound: The Jim and Jennifer Stolpa Story in 1994. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this religious drama concerning the struggle between science and faith, Olivia Williams plays Sharon Golban, an Israeli archeologist who discovers a skeleton within a tomb in Jerusalem. After an intensive study and the accumulation of more information, the bones begin to resemble the remains of Jesus Christ. At this news, the Vatican decides to send a young priest, Rev. Matt Gutierrez (Antonio Banderas), to investigate the problem and make sure the scientist's findings do not cause a stir. Meanwhile, a Palestinian shopkeeper (Makram J. Khoury) is caught between the church and Israeli society due to his finding of the bones: His basement led to the discovery. All of this poses a dilemma for the young reverend, who is forced to re-evaluate his own religion due to this new development's rewriting of the story of Jesus, which states that when his followers arrived at the tomb after crucifixion, it was empty. Written and directed by Jonas McCord, The Body is based on a novel by Richard Ben Sapir. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide

A filmmaker with three films to his name -- including one huge hit and one enormous flop -- attempts to get his career back on track and direct a stylish thriller in this behind-the-scenes documentary by costume designer Lizzy Gardiner. Australian director Stephan Elliott made a huge splash with his sophomore film, the 1994 drag-queen epic The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. But his follow-up, Welcome to Woop Woop, failed miserably at the box office and with critics. Gardiner, the costume designer on both of those films, also worked on Eye of the Beholder, the Ewan McGregor/Ashley Judd thriller that marked Elliott's follow-up to Woop Woop. Along the way, she directed this making-of film, which tracks Elliott through the years-long process of securing financing, attracting talent, filming and re-filming -- and freaking out when nothing goes right. Featuring both interviews and candid footage of McGregor, Judd, and a host of other performers, filmmakers, and distributors, Killing Priscilla focuses on the charismatic, wacky Elliott's manipulative behavior, emotional ups and downs, and canny observations about the Hollywood game. The film includes epic footage of Elliott shooting an extended dream sequence in which McGregor drives a car filled with water and another in which Judd got drunk for real while the cameras rolled; neither scene even made it into the finished product, which hit number one at the U.S. box office when it debuted in early 2000, but then quickly sank from site. Longtime Oscar viewers may remember director Gardiner from her splashy costume at the 1994 Academy Awards -- a dress made entirely of credit cards. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

In this family-oriented outdoor adventure story, Bryan Brown plays Tyrone, a hunter who captures a handful of grizzly bear cubs. However, Tyrone didn't count on the tenacity of the cubs' mother, who retaliates by kidnapping Tyrone's son. When Tyrone sets out to find his son, fearing the worst, the bear proves a kind and capable companion, guiding the boy through the wilderness and showing him the ways of survival in the wild. Shot amidst the rugged surroundings of Vancouver, British Columbia, Grizzly Falls also features Richard Harris, Oliver Tobias, and Tom Jackson; co-screenwriter Stuart Margolin is better known as an actor, best remembered for his recurring role as "Angel" on the TV series The Rockford Files. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Walter Wayland (Tim Roth) has lead a life that many would envy. The heir to a fortune, he was educated at Princeton and then took over the family textile mill. Why then is he sitting before detectives Kennesaw (Michael Rooker) and Braxton (Chris Penn) taking a polygraph test to prove himself innocent of cutting a streetwalker in half? This stylish psychological thriller from twin writer/directors Jonas and Joshua Pate, explores the answer. Firstly Wayland is not as stable as he seems. Addicted to absinthe and suffering from epilepsy, he is also a compulsive liar who occasionally lapses into strange fits where he becomes zombie-like and violent. He also periodically loses his memory. Despite his obstacles, Wayland is a smart cookie. Knowing that the interrogators disbelieve his innocence, he does a little research to learn their weak points and secrets. Chief among the skeletons in their closet are their ties with Elizabeth (Renee Zellweger), the victim, and with a female mobster named Mook. The result is a mental game of cat-and-mouse between the accused and his accusers that culminates in violence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Trey Parker, creator of the TV series South Park, wrote, directed, and stars in this cheerfully vulgar comedy. Joe Young (Parker) is a devout Mormon living in L.A. trying to raise enough money to go back to Utah and marry his girlfriend, Lisa (Robyn Lynne Raab). Joe is spreading the word about the church of Latter Day Saints one day when he's confronted by two burly bodyguards. A scuffle breaks out, and Joe's martial arts skills impress Maxxx Orbison (Michael Dean Jacobs), who directs pornographic movies. Maxxx offers Joe 20,000 dollars to star in his latest skin flick as X-rated superhero Captain Orgazmo. While Joe is wary, he agrees under the condition that a body double is used during the sex scenes. Ben Chapleski (Dian Bachar), who plays the good captain's sidekick, Choda-Boy, has invented a real-life version of Orgazmo's secret weapon, a gun that stuns people with spasms of sexual ecstasy. When Joe and Ben learn that Maxxx is involved in organized crime, they leap into action to see that justice is served. Meanwhile, their film becomes a surprise crossover success, which means that Joe has a lot of explaining to do to Lisa. Trey Parker cast Orgazmo with a number of real-life adult film stars, including Ron Jeremy, Julie Ashton, and Chasey Lain. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Cult figure Abel Ferrara directed this typically edgy look at an actor whose abuse of alcohol and drugs takes an unexpected toll. Matty (Matthew Modine) is an actor whose career is on the fast track; however, he's not able to handle the pressures of life in Hollywood, so he heads to Miami to recharge his emotional batteries. Given Miami's night life, this might not have been the wisest choice he could have made, as he's soon sunk deep in a sea of drink and drugs. Matty asks his girlfriend Annie (Beatrice Dalle) to marry him, but she turns him down, as she's still bitter about having to have an abortion when he got her pregnant some time back. Matty, however, can barely remember this event. Matty's friend Mickey (Dennis Hopper), a night club owner and video artist, decides that Matty needs to get away from his problems, and they set out for a long night of heavy partying, during which Matty picks up a waitress, also named Annie (Sarah Lassez). Somewhere along the line, Matty drinks so much that he blacks out, and he awakes with no memory of the evening. 18 months later, Matty is clean and sober, living in New York with his new girlfriend Susan (Claudia Schiffer). He can't get Annie out of his mind, and he flies to Miami to visit her, hoping to close some old wounds. But Annie the waitress turns out to have some bad news for him when he arrives in Florida. The Blackout marked the acting debut of model Claudia Schiffer, and, as in several of Ferrara's previous films, seminal hardcore rapper Schooly D contributed several songs to the soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide