Brent V. Friedman Movies
Charlie Sheen, Hilary Duff, Eva Longoria Parker, and Chris Kattan lend their voices to this computer-animated tale of a grocery store that springs to life after the doors have been locked and the workers have all gone home. When the employees are away, the products will play -- and in this store the playground of choice for the most fun-loving brand names around is the Copa-Banana. Located in the produce aisle, the Copa-Banana is the destination of choice for such celebrity icons as Mr. Clean, Charlie the Tuna, and the Energizer Bunny. But trouble is brewing within this bustling metropolis, because when the villainous Lady X (Longoria Parker) arrives in town with her Brand X minions, the brand-named products start to get a little hot under the label. As sleuthing USDA (United Supermarkets Defense Association) Dex Dogtective (Sheen) teams with flying stunt squirrel Daredevil Dan (Wayne Brady) and the beautiful Sunshine Goodness (Duff) to uncover the truth about these unmarked invaders, it begins to appear that the only way to fend off the dreaded Brand X is to engage them in an all-out, no-holds-barred food fight. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlie Sheen, Eva Longoria Parker, (more)
- 2008
Rosario Dawson and Justin Hartley star in a series of fifty web shorts set in the not-too-distant future, and tracing the war between a race of artificial life forms dubbed "Simulant" and the covert agency charged with eliminating them at all costs. Anna Diaz (Dawson) is an undercover NYPD vice cop who was attempting to solve the mystery of her fiancee's murder when she became drawn into the top-secret war between man and machine. As an undercover vice cop, Diaz was always reluctant to let down her guard with strangers. But there was something different about Nick Korda (Hartley that made Anna feel as if she could trust him from the very moment they first met. Perhaps it was the fact that Nick swept Anna off to Paris and asked for her hand in marriage that made him seem too good to be true. Anna was still attempting to discover if Nick was truly the man she believed him to be when he was suddenly murdered right before her eyes. Later, after discovering that Nick was in fact a bioengineered life form with ties to a mysterious organization known as the Gemini Division, Anna makes it her personal mission to discover exactly what the Gemini Division has to do with a global conspiracy involving clandestine military operations, and a strange series of top-secret genetic experiments. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosario Dawson, Justin Hartley, (more)
- 2002
The second revival of Rod Serling's classic sci-fi/fantasy anthology The Twilight Zone, this weekly, one-hour UPN network effort was hosted and narrated by actor Forest Whitaker. In keeping with the format of the original series, the stories presented herein found ordinary people trapped in extraordinary, other-worldly situations, with a message or moral subtlety built in to the twist ending. And as before, a number of guest stars graced the series, such as Jason Alexander, who appeared as Mr. Death in the opener (at least two different stories were presented per episode). Boasting several veterans of the Star Trek TV franchise in its production staff, this incarnation of The Twilight Zone premiered September 18, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Forest Whitaker
- 2000
Barry Sonnenfeld resurrects the retro hip '60s show Secret Agent Man and adapts it into a slick New World Order context. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Costas Mandylor, Dina Meyer, (more)
Just when you thought the game was over, along comes the second movie inspired by the popular video game Mortal Kombat. While Liu Kang (Robin Shou) led his warriors Princess Kitana (Talisa Soto), Sonya Blade (Sandra Hess), Rayden (James Remar), and Johnny Cage (Chris Conrad) to victory, and the safety of the world seemed certain, no one counted on the treachery of Shao-Kahn (Brian Thompson), the evil Emperor of the Outerworld, who has a new plan to overtake the Earth. Shao-Kahn has discovered a portal between Earth and Outerworld, and if it stays open for seven days, the two worlds will merge, with Shao-Kahn controlling both planets. Rayden and Sonya set out to find his colleague Jax (Lynn Red Williams), while Liu Kang and Kitana are on the trail of Nightwolf (Litefoot) as they race against time to defeat Shao-Kahn, who has brought Kitana's mother Queen Sindel (Musetta Vander) back from the grave to aid his evil scheme. Mortal Kombat II: Annihilation marked the directorial debut of cinematographer John R. Leonetti. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Shou, Talisa Soto, (more)
- 1994
Joe Lara, best known as TV's Tarzan, must protect the fetus of the last fertile woman on Earth in this silly post-nuke science fiction film. Much of the action is obviously Terminator-inspired, as John Ryan plays an evil cyborg chasing the heroes around an old factory. Israeli director Boaz Davidson, best known for sex comedies like Lemon Popsicle and The Last American Virgin, injects some interesting touches into the familiar proceedings which should keep action fans happy. It's obviously low-budget, by-the-numbers filmmaking, but it's not bad for its type. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Lara, Nicole Hansen, (more)
Though the direction of Hellbound is sometimes erroneously credited to editor Michael J. Duthie, the actual director was Aaron Norris, brother of the film's star, Chuck Norris. The story begins with the ritualistic murder of a Chicago rabbi. Detectives Shatter (Norris) and Jackson (Calvin Levels) are assigned to the case, and are compelled to follow the trail of evidence all the way to Israel (where the film was lensed in its entirety...even the Chicago sequences). Once in the Holy Land, Shatter and Jackson discover that the murderer is a centuries-old supernatural entity, a malevolent creature determined to "cleanse" the world. The premise is workable and Norris is in fine form, but the dialogue in Hellbound is too Ed Wood Jr.-esque. (Wait until you hear that conversation about a missing heart!) Filmed in 1992, Hellbound went directly to video in 1994. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Norris, Calvin Levels, (more)
- 1994
- R
Oversized mutant ticks start terrorizing a nearby campground and eating its campers. ~ Sean D. MacLaggan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosalind Allen, Ami Dolenz, (more)
- 1993
- R
Based on horror author H.P. Lovecraft's writings, Necronomicon: Book of the Dead includes three short stories devoted to the deadly and mysterious "Necronomicon." When Lovecraft (played by Jeffrey Combs) manages to smuggle the legendary book out of a heavily guarded library, he quickly finds himself immersed in its passages, and three short stories take form as he sets off to record the information. In the first, Bruce Payne plays a disgruntled man whose inheritance of an old motel turns out to be more than he bargained for, as there are a nasty group of demons populating its basement. The second story follows a young reporter in search of a doctor who allegedly found the path to immortality, though, like the unwitting motel owner, he wouldn't realize how far in over his head he was until it became too late. The last story features Signy Coleman as a tough-as-nails police officer who descends into a strange set of catacombs in order to find her missing partner -- little does she know that an infamous serial killer is already living inside its subterranean depths. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeffrey Combs, Tony Azito, (more)
This low-budget film from Alien scriptwriter Dan O'Bannon (his first film since the 1985 zombie hit Return of the Living Dead) is one of the more loyal adaptations of fantasy author H.P. Lovecraft, taking as its source the short story The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Set in Lovecraft's home town of Providence, Rhode Island, the story involves the investigations of hard-boiled private eye John Marsh (John Terry) into the mysterious activities of Charles Dexter Ward (Chris Sarandon). It seems that Ward is becoming increasingly obsessed with the occult practices of his distant ancestor Joseph Curwen (also played by Sarandon) who was reputed to have found the secret of resurrecting the dead. Much to the horror of his wife Claire (Jane Sibbett), Ward is slowly being possessed by Curwen's malevolent spirit, and he is compelled to perform horrible experiments on the locals in pursuit of his goal. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Terry, Jane Sibbett, (more)
A multinational corporation specializing in military defense technology creates an indestructible killing machine for use on the battlefield, only to find out just how effective their monstrous invention truly is after the prototype malfunctions and embarks on a bloody killing spree. Syngenor is a Synthesized Genetic Organism, a scientifically created "Super Soldier" designed by Norton Cyberdyne and possessing powers far beyond that of mortal man. When Syngenor breaks loose from the lab and unleashes hell on the employees of Norton Cyberdyne, scheming executive Paula Gorski (Riva Spier) purposefully allows the killing to continue in order to humiliate Carter Brown (David Gale), the company's powerful CEO. But Paula's plan is about to backfire, because somewhere deep in the bowels of the building, a horde of newly spawned Syngenors are growing more powerful by the minute. If the creatures escape, the city streets will surely run red with blood. Now, the only hope for humanity is for the people trapped in the building to ensure that not one Syngenor manages to escape from the building. Unfortunately, outsmarting the perfect killing machine is no simple task, and it's beginning to feel as if the nightmare has only just begun. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
