Janet Grillo Movies
At a time when one in 150 children born in the United States is diagnosed with autism, filmmaker Tricia Regan takes an optimistic approach to this troubling trend by following five autistic children as they write and produce their very own full-length musical. Show over the course of an entire year, this documentary follows the ambitious production from early planning to opening night. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Five years after achieving commercial and critical success with his film Three Kings, director and screenwriter David O. Russell returns to the more idiosyncratic territory of his earlier work with this intelligent and offbeat comedy. Bernard and Vivian Jaffe (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin) are a married couple who run an existential detective agency where they sift through the lives of their clients in order to discover the source of their angst. The Jaffes' latest client is Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman), an environmental activist who has a very large rock and a great deal on his mind; their study of Albert's problems lead Bernard and Vivian to Brad Stand (Jude Law), a public relations executive with a chain of successful variety stores, Huckabees. While publicly allying himself with Albert's environmental initiatives, behind the scenes Brad is running roughshod over responsible land management with little care for the consequences. When Brad learns he's being watched by the Jaffes, he hopes to co-opt them by hiring them himself; however, the plan has unexpected consequences when their questioning leads Brad's girlfriend, well-scrubbed model Dawn (Naomi Watts), into reassessing her life and relationships. Meanwhile, Albert finds himself joining forces with Tommy (Mark Wahlberg), a firefighter and fellow environmentalist who has been having second thoughts about Bernard and Vivian's ideas and methods after a long-term investigation and has since fallen under the spell of nihilist poet and philosopher Caterine Vauban (Isabelle Huppert). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Schwartzman, Isabelle Huppert, (more)
Gilda (Susan May Pratt of Center Stage) is a confused young woman, obsessed with iconoclastic actor Michael De Santis (Chris Noth). She repeatedly watches a tape of De Santis being interviewed by an unctuous, James Lipton-type talk show host (played by legendary indie producer's rep John Pierson). After the death of Gilda's beloved Italian papa (Michele Placido), she learns, much to her dismay, that he had a longtime mistress back in Italy. Using the excuse of her grandfather's (Josef Sommer) upcoming birthday, Gilda travels to New York City, planning to find a way to get close to De Santis. Video camera in hand, Gilda explores the city and runs into Adam (Jeremy Davies), a geology student. Sparks fly until Gilda's newfound cynicism turns Adam off. She decides to pose as a reporter for an Italian newspaper, and arranges to interview De Santis. She takes a bus down to Virginia and goes to the set. Everything goes according to plan, but De Santis quickly sees through her ruse. Intrigued by his pretty, spirited young fan, De Santis invites Gilda back to his hotel room, where neither of them finds what they expected. Searching for Paradise, written and directed by Myra Paci, was developed at the Sundance Institute. The film was a minor hit on the festival circuit and was eventually picked up for home video distribution under the Sundance imprint. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan May Pratt, Chris Noth, (more)
Actor Frank Whaley makes his directorial debut with Joe the King, a downbeat drama about a 14-year-old boy coming of age in an abusive and uncaring environment. When he was nine, Joe Henry (Noah Fleiss) lied to his friends about his father's job because he was ashamed that his father was the school janitor; in turn, he was humiliated in front of his class. Five years later, things are much worse; his father (Val Kilmer) has become a violent alcoholic who can't hold a job, while his mother (Karen Young) is harsh and unloving. Joe works illegally as a dishwasher to help support the family, but resorts to petty theft when it's clear his salary alone won't pay his father's debts. Eventually Joe attempts to steal the restaurant's cash box to get his father out of the red -- with tragic results. Whaley, who claims this story is "loosely autobiographical," assembled a strong cast for his first turn behind the camera, including Ethan Hawke, John Leguizamo, and Austin Pendleton. Joe The King premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Noah Fleiss, Val Kilmer, (more)
David O. Russell burst onto the scene with this challenging and controversial film about an introverted college student and the incestuous disaster of a summer that follows his freshman year. Ray Aibelli (Jeremy Davies) returns home for what is supposed to be a short visit with his family prior to leaving for Washington D.C., where he will intern in the surgeon general's office. Ray's plans are quickly scuttled by his acerbic and controlling father (Benjamin Hendrickson), a salesman leaving on an extended business trip, who strong-arms Ray into caring for his depressed mother (Alberta Watson) while she recovers from torn ligaments in her leg. Gently prodding his mother to begin using crutches so he will no longer have to change her bedpans and carry her about the house, and so he can still arrive belatedly for the internship, Ray discovers that his mother is not only physically but emotionally dependent on his presence. She begins making inappropriately tender displays of her affection for him, which only become more complicated when he has to rub lotion underneath her cast to soothe her itches. As that relationship grows increasingly fuzzy, Ray must also deal with the sputtering advances of a neighborhood high school girl (Carla Gallo) and the overly aggressive chiding of his estranged group of friends. Russell both scripted and directed this critically acclaimed debut, which courted controversy by following the mother-son relationship into uncomfortably frank and off-limits territory. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeremy Davies, Alberta Watson, (more)
Hip Hop duo Kid & Play return in the second follow-up to their 1990 screen debut House Party. Kid (Christopher "Kid" Reid) is taking the plunge and marrying his girlfriend Veda (Angela Means), while his friend Play (Christopher Martin) is dipping his toes into the music business, managing a roughneck female rap act called Sex as a Weapon. Play books the ladies for a concert with heavy-hitting promoter Showboat (Michael Colyar), but when they decide to fire Play and hire a new manager, he has to figure out how to deliver them to the show or face the wrath of Showboat's female security force. Play is also in charge of arranging Kid's bachelor party, but while he's setting up a bash to end all bashes, he discovers that his three younger cousins have just arrived in town, and Kid's former flame Sydney (Tisha Campbell) has shown up hoping to put a halt to the upcoming nuptials. Multi-platinum rap act TLC appear as Sex as a Weapon, while Play's cousins are played by the members of the R&B group Immature. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher "Kid" Reid, Christopher "Play" Martin, (more)
In this comedy, bumbling Harlem barbers Dr. Dre and Ed Lover are shipped off to the police academy by their frustrated boss, Nick (Jim Moody). However, when a crooked land developer threatens to forcibly take over their ex-boss' land, it is up to Dr. Dre and Ed to use their new-found police powers to stop him. A number of well-known rap artists make appearances in this film, including Queen Latifah, Humpty Hump, Kriss Kross, B-Real, and Ice-T. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1992
- R
Love Crimes, an erotic thriller directed by Lizzie Borden, explores the psychology of a con man posing as a photographer, who seduces women and then blackmails them using humiliating, revealing pictures he has taken of them. David Hanover (Patrick Bergin) preys on the hopes of women by offering them love and a possible career as fashion models. When some of the women complain, but refuse to aid in Hanover's prosecution, DA Dana Greenway (Sean Young) becomes obsessed with catching Hanover, to the point where she tracks him down and spys on him in his secluded home, making herself a potential victim. He catches her and holds her captive. Feminist filmmaker Borden, who also directed the remarkable, low-budget film Working Girls, raises interesting questions regarding sex, humiliation and male-female relationships, but the film is spoiled by the ambiguity of her central character, Dana. An abused child herself, she has the same self-loathing that the other woman who are preyed upon by Hanover possess, but her motivations for her actions remain murky. Despite these flaws, Borden, always an interesting filmmaker, raises important issues which perhaps can't be adequately resolved using the restrictions of the thriller genre. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Young, Patrick Bergin, (more)
Robin Harris, Christopher Reid's foul-mouthed and irascible father from the original House Party film, died in the interim, but he has a university named after him in this follow-the-dots sequel. Kid (Christopher Reid) has finally made it to college in House Party 2, but not without problems. Sent to Harris University on a scholarship check given to him by his local church congregation, he finds himself broke before he can even buy the books for his college courses. He can thank his old pal Play (Christopher Martin) for his financial straits, since Play borrowed the money to pay a phony music producer named Shelia (Iman), who has headed off to parts unknown. Kid tries to pay for tuition by working in the college cafeteria but is thrown out because he is not considered a student. Problems compound when his girlfriend Sidney (Tisha Campbell) spends more time studying than with him. He also receives lectures on political correctness from her strident roommate Zora (Queen Latifah). Still, Kid's main concern is finding the money for college. Finally Kid agrees to go along with Play's scheme -- to hold a surreptitious late-night pajama party in the faculty hall to raise funds to pay for Kid's education. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher "Kid" Reid, Christopher "Play" Martin, (more)
Hangin' with the Homeboys follows four young men--two Black, two Puerto Rican--over the course of one night in the Bronx. During the night, they have several misadventures as they talk, argue, play and get into accidents. This coming-of-age film was directed by the late Joseph B. Vasquez and features an early performance by John Leguizamo. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Doug E. Doug, Mario Joyner, (more)
Teenage angst finds a new voice in this drama. By day, Mark Hunter (Christian Slater) is a quiet, studious student at an ordinary suburban high school in Arizona. But at night, Mark creeps down into his basement, fires up his pirate radio transmitter, and broadcasts to the community as Hard Harry, a sexually obsessed social commentator who passes along angry philosophy about the state of teenage life when not blasting punk rock or gangsta rap cuts. Hard Harry's sworn nemesis is high school principal Mrs. Cresswood (Annie Ross), who keeps SAT scores up at the expense of her students' dignity and individuality by eliminating "troublemakers" from the student body. Hard Harry's broadcasts, however, have become a rallying point for the school's misfit underclass, and Mrs. Cresswood is determined to track down the mystery student and bring him to justice (broadcasting without a license, he's not merely an annoyance, but a criminal). The war against Hard Harry intensifies when he broadcasts data from confidential school board reports; Mark's father is a school commissioner, but he has no idea what his son is doing in the basement. Meanwhile, Mark gains the attentions of Nora (Samantha Mathis), who has figured out who he becomes at night. More serious and intelligent than the average teen film, Pump Up the Volume was written and directed by Allan Moyle, who previously dealt with disaffected, music-obsessed teens in Times Square and would return to them with Empire Records. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, (more)
