Ken Hixon Movies

Their relationship steadily deteriorating in the eight years following their daughter's untimely death, a married couple unable to break the cycle of grief gets a second shot at love thanks to a scrappy, underage prostitute in this family drama starring James Gandolfini, Melissa Leo, and Kristen Stewart. Ever since the death of their daughter Emily, Doug (Gandolfini) and Lois Riley (Leo) have been drifting apart. As Lois wrestles with a suffocating sense of guilt over her daughter's death, Doug copes by entering into an affair with Vivian, a local waitress. Lately, Lois hasn't even been able to muster the courage to venture outside, summoning hairdressers to her home in order to maintain appearances and communicating with few people other than her sister Harriet and the local pastor. When Vivian dies and Doug finds himself in a Baton Rouge strip club during a business trip, he realizes he's come to a dangerous crossroads in life. Turning down an offer for a private dance by 16-year-old stripper Mallory, Doug instead accompanies the girl home and makes a most unusual proposition: if Mallory will allow him to stay in her run-down apartment long enough to straighten himself out, he will pay her $100 a day for her trouble. For Mallory, who isn't used to getting money for nothing, it seems like a great deal. She accepts, and Doug phones Lois to tell her he won't be coming home. As time passes, Doug and Mallory settle into an unconventional kind of domesticity. Meanwhile, back home, Lois realizes that she'll have to act fast in order to save her marriage, even if that means venturing well outside her comfort zone for the first time in nearly a decade. Most days she can't even make it to the mailbox, but after a couple attempts, Lois manages to start up her car and get on the freeway heading south. When Lois arrives in Louisiana and discovers that her husband is living with a foul-mouthed, underage hooker, she is at first horrified. Like Doug before her, however, Lois quickly warms to Mallory, due in part to her striking similarities to Emily. Before long, Lois, too, has moved in, and the three form something of an unconventional family. But when Lois attempts to steer Mallory from the path of self-destruction, the young girl bristles. Later, Mallory is hospitalized after being badly beaten by a client, and Doug and Lois rush to be by her side. Could this be the thing that pulls them back together? When Lois admits to Doug how their daughter really died, his kind understanding gives hope for a new beginning. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A man struggling to come to terms with the sins of his father makes the terrible discovery that his own son has fallen into a life of crime in a drama based on a true story. Vincent LaMarca (Robert DeNiro) is a dedicated and well-respected New York City police detective who has gone to great lengths to distance himself from his past; four decades earlier, Vincent's father Angelo killed a young child, and since then Vincent has carried emotional scars from this incident that he refuses to show to the world. Vincent lives alone in a small apartment building, though he has nurtured a close if tentative relationship with his downstairs neighbor, Michelle (Frances McDormand). One day, Vincent and his partner, Reg Duffy (George Dzundza), are assigned to investigate a murder when the body of a young man is found dead in a dumpster. It turns out the body was that of a drug dealer, and the dealer's partner in crime, Spyder (William Forsythe), believes the killer was one of his regular customers -- a junkie would-be musician who calls himself Snake (Brian Tarantina). City By the Sea was adapted from a piece by journalist Mike McAlary which first appeared in Esquire magazine; the cast also includes Eliza Dushku and Anson Mount. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this made-for-TV action adventure, some criminals terrorize a Seattle-bound bus filled with innocent passengers after a kidnapping goes awry. Michael O'Keefe stars as Jack Boulder, a just-released ex-con who, along with some resourceful characters, helps his fellow bus passengers defend themselves against kidnappers who have been duped out of their ransom money. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi

An ambitious father thinks nothing of using his own son to achieve his political goals in this adolescent comedy. The lonely boy has spent the last seven years tucked away and ignored by his parents, Senator Tom Morgan and his social-climbing wife Nancy, in a distant boarding school. As the story begins, he receives the depressing news that once again they will be too busy to have him home for the holidays. But then, out of the blue, they change their minds and invite him home to stay there for good. The boy is elated, but soon after his arrival, he learns the bitter truth: his father only brought him back because it is an election year and his campaign manager thought he might do better if the public saw him as more of a family man. The boy then decides that it is high time some changes were made around the house and mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A doctor (Tom Conti) and his wife (Teri Garr), recently divorced, are kidnapped and brought to South America by an inept jewel thief (Paul Rodriguez), just in time to help cure a tribal chief's daughter of appendicitis. Then, a series of circumstances brings the entire family together. ~ John Bush, Rovi

The Saroyanesque Grandview USA focuses on a sleepy Midwestern town and its younger denizens. Bored out of his gourd, recent high-school graduate Tim (C. Thomas Howell), befriends the much-older Michelle (Jamie Lee Curtis), who runs the local demolition derby. Michelle's top driver is "Slam" (Patrick Swayze), who though a star on the track is a washout when it comes to affairs of the heart. As the three characters grow closer, each does a lot of growing up. When it sticks to business, Grandview USA can be quite charming; it falters only in a couple of rock-video and fantasy sequences, reportedly tacked on at the insistence of the distributors. The highly appropriate supporting cast ranges from such TV regulars as Troy Donahue and William Windom to such stars-to-be as Jennifer Jason Leigh and John Cusack. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jack Butler (Michael Keaton) is a Detroit automobile engineer unjustly fired by his boss. Jack's wife Caroline (Teri Garr) is compelled to get a job to make ends meet, and is soon hired on as an advertising executive in a firm run by the shifty Ron Richardson (Martin Mull). This leaves Jack at home doing the housework and taking care of the kids, which he discovers is a lot more complicated than he ever imagined. Moving from breadwinner to househusband doesn't do much for his self-esteem, and he bides his time playing poker for coupons with a gaggle of neighborhood housewifes and pondering infidelity with dedicated homewrecker Joan (Ann Jillian). Among Keaton's fish-out-of-water bits: trying to maneuver a shopping cart with the inevitable wobbly wheels; and imagining a soap opera/film-noir episode in which he gives in to Joan's advances, only to be found out by Caroline. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The fact-based TV movie The Ambush Murders was adapted from a book by Ben Bradlee Jr. Dorian Harewood plays an African-American political activist who is loyal to his ideals and faithful to his friends and family. After two white policemen are killed, Harewood is charge with the crime. 49 months and two mistrials later, Harewood remains in prison. When lawyer James Brolin offers his services, Harewood doesn't trust him any more than any of the other self-serving white attorneys who've "helped" him in the past. But Brolin digs a little deeper than his predecessors, uncovering facts and evidence that may at long last spring his client. Ambush Murders was first telecast January 5, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

While on a boar-hunting expedition, Bo (John Schneider) suffers a concussion which causes him to lose his memory. Turning the situation to his advantage, Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) convinces Bo that he, Boss, is our hero's father--effectively turning Bo against the rest of the Duke clan! It's all part of a master scheme to have Bo make a treacherous corn-liquor delivery to Chickasaw County, right under the nose of "shootin' sheriff" Big Ed Little (Don Pedro Colley in his first series appearance). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Knightriders may well be the only cycle flick ever to be played out in suits of armor. A hardcase motorcycle gang led by Ed Harris has found itself a neat money-making gimmick. Dressed as the knights of the round table, the cyclists pick up a few bucks at local "renaissance" fairs, selling handicrafts made by the more talented members of the gang. Harris' great rival is Tom Savini, who has his own band of "black knights." Keep an eye out for a chucklesome unbilled bit by novelist Stephen King. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi