Gale Anne Hurd Movies

Michael Biehn starred in this gloriously derivative syndicated TV series as Judson Cross, a world-famous "professional finder" whose past discoveries included the Lost Dutchman Mine and Amelia Earhart's abandoned plane. Using the high-tech yacht "Vast Explorer" as his headquarters, Cross (who never left home without an Indiana Jones-style floppy hat) hired himself out for any and all adventures and expeditions, generally to locate what no one else could find, and often running up against unsavory types with full complements of weapons and hulking henchmen. Cross' business partners included a brace of "young renegades," Mackenzie Previn (Karen Cliche) and Gabriel Patterson (Jesse Nilsson), both of whom encountered a great deal of difficulty remaining fully clothed. Filmed on location in the Florida Keys and North Carolina, Adventure Inc. was syndicated by Tribune Entertainment beginning the week of September 30, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this vaguely allegorical science fiction-crime film, a Los Angeles cop tries to solve the murder of his best friend with the help of his new partner -- a member of a star-faring alien race. In the near-future world of Alien Nation, the "Newcomers" are a race of formerly enslaved humanoids seeking refuge and integration into Earth society. These unusual immigrants face anger and resentment from some humans, including Matthew Sykes (James Caan), a cop whose partner, Tug (Roger Aaron Brown), was killed in a shoot-out with several Newcomers. In order to get some insight into Newcomer society and track down the "slags" who killed Tug, Sykes volunteers to take on a new partner,Sam "George" Francisco (Mandy Patinkin), the first alien ever promoted to the rank of detective. As Sykes tries to overcome his bigotry against George and his kind, who eat raw beaver and get drunk on spoiled milk, the friendly, helpful George soon learns the identity of Tug's killer: William Harcort (Terrence Stamp), a pillar of Newcomer society who is secretly manufacturing the same powerful narcotic that was used to enslave his race. It's up to Sykes and George to stop Harcort before he turns his fellow Newcomers into drooling addicts and pulls the skeletons out of his race's closet for all of humankind to see. Omen 3 director Graham Baker made his screenwriting debut with Alien Nation, as did co-writer Rockne S. O'Bannon. Kenneth Johnson, creator of the miniseries V, would adapt Alien Nation into a weekly television show in 1989 and several made-for-TV movies in the mid-'90s. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Michael Bay (The Rock) directed this science fiction action thriller in the When Worlds Collide tradition. After astronomy students discover a comet-asteroid collision, an asteroid fragment "the size of the Super Dome" threatens. It's destroyed by a secret USA defense in space, but a large chunk veers off toward Singapore. With another asteroid "the size of Texas" en route, a plan is devised to send oil drillers to land on the asteroid and drop a nuclear device down a 1000-foot shaft, a scheme calculated to crack the asteroid into two halves, saving Earth. NASA begins a crash program to train beer-besotted oil roughnecks for the mission. During a stopover to refuel at the Mir Station, the space station is accidentally destroyed, so a Russian cosmonaut also joins the team. Produced by Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer (Con Air), and Gale Anne Hurd (The Relic, The Abyss). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

This clever and well-crafted production (produced for Home Box Office) goes the distance with its innovative concept, which is equal parts Raymond Chandler and H.P. Lovecraft. Taking place in 1948 Hollywood -- in an alternate reality where magic spells, curses and demons are commonly used and accepted -- the story revolves around hard-boiled gumshoe Harry P. Lovecraft (Fred Ward, looking nothing like his character's namesake and everything like Mike Hammer), the only detective in the business who relies on brains and instinct instead of gazing into a crystal ball or casting runes. This pure perspective is sought out by wealthy eccentric Amos Hackshaw (David Warner), who is trying to retrieve the legendary "Necronomicon" (a key component in the works of the real H.P. Lovecraft). The book is reputed to have the power to release the "Elder Gods" from their cosmic confines and return them to Earth, whereupon Hackshaw believes they will appoint him ruler of all mankind. The chief rival for possession of the book is a seedy gangster (Raymond O'Connor) whose favorite nightclub singer (Julianne Moore) takes a shine to Harry. Followed by a sequel, Witch Hunt, which applies a more sublime (if unnecessary) re-interpretation of the material, and features Dennis Hopper in the Lovecraft Role. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Old Smokey develops a bad temper in this volcanic disaster spectacle. Harry Dalton (Pierce Brosnan) is a volcano expert whose interest became more than academic after he lost the woman he loved in a volcanic emergency. When he is sent to investigate unusual seismic activity in the quiet Pacific Northwest community of Dante's Peak, he discovers people boiled to death in the local hot spring and plant and animal life dying or displaying unusual illnesses near the city's supposedly dormant volcano. Harry becomes convinced that a major volcanic catastrophe is in the cards. Rachel Wando (Linda Hamilton), the town's mayor, is a single mother who also runs the local cafe, and now that Dante's Peak has been named one of the most desirable small towns in America, tourists have been flocking to the diner and other local businesses. While concerned with the safety of her community, Rachel takes a cynical view of Harry's warnings about the volcano; she has no desire to alarm either the town's residents or the wealthy visitors lining the city's pockets. Nevertheless, Harry tries to convince Rachel of the potential danger, as they begin to develop feelings for each other that are not strictly professional. The summer of 1997 was a big season for killer volcanoes at the movies, as Dante's Peak and Volcano opened within a few months of each other. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The mystery of the 18-minute-gap in Richard Nixon's White House tapes -- and how it connects to the previously undocumented involvement of two teenage girls in the Watergate scandal -- is the subject of this political comedy. Betsy Jobs (Kirsten Dunst) and Arlene Lorenzo (Michelle Williams) are high school students and best friends living in Washington D.C. in 1972. Betsy is pretty and popular, while Arlene is cute but a bit awkward. Arlene is obsessed with singing star Bobby Sherman, but that comes to a halt when she and Betsy get lost during a school field trip to the White House. A chance encounter with Checkers the dog leads to the girls meeting President Richard M. Nixon himself (Dan Hedaya). In Nixon, Arlene sees a strong, caring man who loves his dog, and she soon develops a furious crush on the president; Betsy is puzzled but remains supportive. Arlene's devotion to the president is rewarded when she and Betsy are named official White House dog walkers; however, when Arlene and Betsy discover that Nixon has a foul mouth and a short temper and, worst of all, kicks his dog, they realize that the President is not all he appears to be. And when they overhear Nixon ranting about Bob Woodward (Will Ferrell) and Carl Bernstein (Bruce McCulloch), a pair of reporters from The Washington Post looking for dirt on the President, Arlene and Betsy decide that they're happy to help. Dick also features Dave Foley as Bob Haldeman, Harry Shearer as G. Gordon Liddy, and Ana Gasteyer as Rosemary Woods. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Ang Lee directs the live-action feature film The Hulk, based on the Marvel comic book created by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jack Kirby. Emotionally stunted Dr. Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) is part of a research team at the University of California at Berkeley. Corporate hustler Glenn Talbot (Josh Lucas) takes notice of the lab and makes plans to take it over. Then Bruce accidentally gets hit by an experimental ray and grows into a huge beast, destroying the lab in the process. A creepy janitor who claims to be his real father, Dr. David Banner (Nick Nolte), starts to secretly use the experimental ray on himself. He creates some mutant dogs and sends them after Bruce's lab mate and ex-girlfriend Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly). After Bruce saves her life in the form of the Hulk, she lets her distant father, General Ross (Sam Elliott), take him to an abandoned army base in the desert. However, Glenn Talbot takes over the operation and wants to patent the creature's superpowers for his own profit, so he holds Bruce unconscious in an isolation tank. When provoked, Bruce turns into the Hulk and makes a break for San Francisco, leading to a desert chase sequence involving military aircraft, tanks, and bombs. Only the sight of Betty can make him turn back to his human form. When he is eventually captured, Dr. David Banner shows up for a final confrontation with his son and his old adversary, General Ross. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

A man from the future fights to survive in a society thrown back to the dark ages in this sci-fi adventure set in 2022. Capt. Robbins (Ray Liotta) is a military man who, after he's convicted of the murder of his superior officer, is sentenced to a high-tech prison ruled by the Warden (Michael Lerner), a cruel taskmaster who enjoys torturing his inmates. After a scuffle with the Warden, Robbins is transferred to a primitive island penal colony known as Absalom, where the civilization is dominated by two groups, the Insiders, a peaceful tribe led by the Father (Lance Henriksen), and the Outsiders, a pack of violent misfits led by Marek (Stuart Wilson). Robbins runs afoul of the Outsiders and is injured in a skirmish; he escapes to the Insiders' camp, where he plots his revenge. No Escape was based on the novel The Penal Colony by Richard Herley. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A complicated thriller, directed with great visual style by Brian De Palma, Raising Cain is the story of twin brothers, Carter and Josh (John Lithgow), one good and one evil, who will stop at nothing to find children to further their father's psychological experiments. John Lithgow is outstanding in the role of the brothers. Lolita Davidovich, is also good as his wife Jenny, who he may or may not have murdered. To even identify the other characters would give away too much of the complicated plot, which twists and turns, leaving the audience constantly guessing who is really who. The film is darkly comic and De Palma and his unusual plot devices play homage to Alfred Hitchcock, along with Orson Welles and Michael Powell's Peeping Tom. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Car chases abound in this youthful, comedy action outing that centers on the rivalry between a small-town Southern sheriff and a mischievous, but basically good-hearted kid who bedevils him by joy riding in stolen cars and then destroying them. As added insult, the sheriff's daughter, the boy's steady, is frequently involved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A sequel to the sci-fi action thriller that made him and star Arnold Schwarzenegger A-list Hollywood names, writer/director James Cameron upped the ante with this follow-up by employing a more sweeping storyline and cutting-edge special effects. Linda Hamilton returns as Sarah Connor, now a single mother to rebellious teen John Connor (Edward Furlong), during the late nineties. Having been informed by a time-traveling soldier in the first film that John will one day grow up to become humanity's savior from a computer-controlled Armageddon, Sarah has responded by becoming a muscle-bound she-warrior bent on educating John in survival tactics and battle strategies. Her ranting about humankind's future has landed Sarah in an insane asylum and John in the foster care system. The rebellious John has responded to his situation by getting into scrapes with the law. When a new and improved Terminator android called the T-1000 (Robert Patrick) arrives from the future to eliminate John, an older model T-800 (Schwarzenegger) is sent to protect the boy. The T-1000, however, has the ability to morph itself into any shape it desires, allowing it chameleon-like powers and near indestructibility. The T-800 saves John's life and helps break Sarah out of the institution. Staying only one step ahead of the dogged T-1000, Sarah leads her son and the T-800 to the headquarters of Cyberdyne Systems, the company that will invent a robotic intelligence that will eventually take over the world. There, they attempt to convince inventor Miles Dyson (Joe Morton) to help them stop the future from ever occurring by destroying his work. Dyson sacrifices himself in an explosion to save the world, leading to a final showdown between the two Terminators at a steel foundry. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), which won four Oscars in technical categories for its groundbreaking effects, was followed by a short sequel filmed exclusively as an attraction for theme parks, Terminator 2: 3-D Battle Across Time (1996). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

The crew of an experimental, high-tech submersible is called into action to investigate a mysterious nuclear submarine crash. A series of strange encounters leads the crew to suspect the accident was caused by an extraterrestrial craft, and that they may be participating in an encounter with an alien species. However, in order to make contact, they must not only brave the abyss, an exceedingly deep underwater canyon, but also deal with the violent actions of one of their own crew members, an increasingly paranoid Navy SEAL officer. Approved by director James Cameron, The Abyss: Special Edition is an extended director's cut of the 1989 underwater science fiction epic, reinstating nearly a half hour of footage removed from the original release under studio pressure. Much of the restored footage places the film's events in a grander political context, as the crew's mission becomes a factor in the dangerous escalation of nuclear tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The largest change involves the film's ending, which provides further information on the aliens' mission on Earth, bringing the film to closer to Cameron's intention: a modern remake of Robert Wise's The Day the Earth Stood Still. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

A man bringing modern transportation to the ancient jungles of Africa discovers one of man's oldest enemies lays in wait for him in this period adventure drama. John Beaumont (Tom Wilkinson) is the owner of a British railroad firm who is building a rail line through Uganda. A bridge is needed so that the tracks may cross a large river, and engineer John Henry Patterson (Val Kilmer) is summoned to the African nation to supervise construction. While Beaumont has placed Patterson under a strict deadline, the bridge designer is certain that with his guidance, the local laborers will be able to complete the job in time. However, when several workers are killed in an attack by a lion, Patterson is forced to deal with the animal; while he bags a lion who invades the work site one evening, it soon becomes obvious that there's more than one predator in the nearby jungle. The lion attacks continue, eventually claiming the lives of 130 men, and Patterson and Beaumont finally agree to call in Charles Remmington (Michael Douglas), an expert hunter who understands the nature of the man-eaters and knows how to lure them into his trap. The Ghost and the Darkness is based on a true story, which was previously brought to the screen in 1953, in Arch Oboler's pioneering 3-D adventure Bwana Devil. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide