Mike Erwin Movies
- 2001
Boys will be boys, and that's not always a good thing, as this dark drama with comic overtones reveals. Matt (Keith Carradine) and Harley (David Keith) were best friends in high school, but since then their lives have followed a very different course. Matt drifts from job to job, swilling beer and making trouble wherever he lands, while Harley is a building designer with a nice home and an attractive wife, Fox (Janet Gunn), who wants to have a baby, though Harley isn't so certain he wants to be a parent. One day, Matt walks off his job at an Alaskan oilfield and heads to California, appearing on Harley's doorstep; Harley has neither the heart nor the desire to turn Matt away, and soon Matt is giving Harley a new taste of the bachelor lifestyle as they head out drinking, carousing, and chasing women from dusk till dawn. But Fox soon becomes wary of the way Matt is bringing out the less wholesome side of Harley's personality, while Harley notices Matt's behavior is advancing past good-natured rowdiness into something more sinister. Matt's fondness for fast sex with prostitutes and his sudden friendship with a gangster (Jan Triska) leads Matt down a dangerous road that proves to have disastrous consequences for the two friends. Cahoots was the first feature film for writer and director Dirk Benedict, who is best known for his career as a television actor, having starred in the TV series Battlestar Galactica and The A-Team. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keith Carradine, David Keith, (more)
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Director at the 2001 Urbanworld Film Festival, Blue Hill Avenue focuses on the rise of the drug trade in Boston, as seen through the eyes of three childhood friends. The time is the late '70s, and Tristan (Allen Payne), Money (Aaron D. Spears), E-Bone (William Johnson), and Simon (Michael Taliferro) are all high-school pals and petty thieves on the mean streets of the city's South Side. Their antics bring them to the attention of Benny (Clarence Williams III), a charismatic drug dealer who takes the four friends under his wing. The most straight-and-narrow of the bunch, Tristan manages to keep his nefarious trade under the radar of his parents. As the years pass, however, the dealers introduce crack to their line of narcotics, and Tristan's sense of guilt over his neighborhood's demise leads to an inevitable betrayal of Benny, followed by a grisly showdown. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Allen Payne, William Forsythe, (more)
- 1993
- R
This direct-to-video item puts an interesting sci-fi/horror spin on the "erotic thriller" genre. Richard Grieco plays Tom, a man suffering from a rare DNA disorder, who becomes the subject of a bizarre experiment by repressed geneticist Jacki ($Maryam D'Abo). Injected with a serum containing the genetic traits of a cat, Tom is restored to health and transformed into a sinewy hunk with superhuman agility and a decidedly feline demeanor -- complete with a savage, murderous sex drive. Though this added trait makes him doubly attractive to his doctor, it also compels him to destroy every woman with whom he mates. Though the majority of the film's tension is of the sexual kind (and quite steamy at that), the more horrific plot elements are well-driven by Grieco's manic intensity -- until the disappointing climax, which shows the earmarks of a writer in over his head. Also known as Dangerous Desires. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
In yet another version of The Most Dangerous Game, a champion boxer (Lorenzo Lamas), his girlfriend and a former baseball star are stalked by sadistic killers in an industrial complex. This time, however, the "hunt" is being followed and broadcast via computer to a select worldwide clientele, which makes multi-million-dollar bets as to the outcome. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorenzo Lamas, Kathleen Kinmont, (more)
Just after the evil Emperor Spengo (Jon Lovitz) imprisons King Raff (Eric Idle), he spots a California housewife (Teri Garr) through his telescope. He decides to beam her up along with her husband (Jeffrey Jones), but isn't prepared to deal with the results when both become interplanetary freedom fighters. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Teri Garr, Jeffrey Jones, (more)
A talented kick-boxer attempts to retire and finds himself framed for murder in this stylish action thriller. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorenzo Lamas, Anthony Geary, (more)
