John Dixon Movies

Lionel Rose was an aborigine who emerged from humble beginnings to be one of the world's greatest prize fighters. This inspirational sports biography tells his story. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In A Fish Called Wanda, Jamie Lee Curtis plays an ambitious con artist who uses every ounce of her sexual wiles to obtain a fortune in jewels stolen by her gangster lover Tom Georgeson. First, she romances Georgeson's dimwitted but deadly henchman Kevin Kline (who won an Academy Award for his performance). Then, to clear the path for her getaway with Kline, Jamie woos Georgeson's starched-shirt attorney, John Cleese -- and it's Cleese whom she genuinely falls in love with. Michael Palin, Cleese's former Monty Python cohort, plays a stuttering mob flunkey who continually messes up his one big assignment: killing a little old lady (it isn't that he has any qualms about knocking off the old dear; it's just that her pet dogs keep getting in the way). A Fish Called Wanda was scripted by star John Cleese. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The murderous spirit of Jason Vorhees lives on in this horror sequel, although the plot hinges on the mystery of whether the killer's body actually survives. Opening with a nightmare prologue in which Corey Feldman reprises his role as Tommy Jarvis, the boy who killed Jason in the previous installment, the film jumps forward several years to when a teenaged Tommy (John Shepherd), haunted by visions of Jason returning to life, moves into a group home for mentally disturbed kids. Almost as soon as he arrives, Tommy witnesses the death of Joey (Dominick Brascia), an overweight, annoying boy who is hacked to death by psychopathic patient Vic (Mark Venturini). Although Vic ends up safely behind bars, other bodies begin to turn up -- more than 20 by the end of the film. Tommy's own violent streak, displayed when he lashes out at a fellow resident, makes him a suspect; he even doubts his own sanity. But as the bloodshed continues, Tommy finds himself allied with Reggie (Shavar Ross), the grandson of one of the home's employees, in a desperate bid to survive the carnage and find out who the killer behind the hockey mask really is. The producers of the Friday the 13th series actually planned to end it with Friday the 13th -- The Final Chapter, but the box-office success of that film paved the way for the series to continue. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Inspired by an epic poem by A.B. "Banjo" Patterson, The Man From Snowy River was a major step forward for the regenerated Australian film industry of the early '80s. This "down-under Western" spotlights Tom Burlinson as Jim Craig, a headstrong young man who goes to work for a powerful cattle baron. Burlinson falls in love with Jessica (Sigrid Thornton), his boss' daughter, and becomes enmeshed in a bitter land feud. Kirk Douglas has a high old time in the dual role of hard-hearted landowner Harrison and grizzled, one-legged old prospector Spur. Previously filmed in 1920, The Man From Snowy River was directed by the other George Miller, not the director of the same name who helmed Mad Max (1979). A monumental moneymaker, the film inspired a 1988 sequel, confusingly titled Return to Snowy River, Part II. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi