Donald Jones Movies
A cocky teenager learns some important lessons about playing by her own rules in this comedy drama. Haley Graham (Missy Peregrym) is a gifted 17-year-old gymnast with a strong rebellious streak -- strong enough that she walked away from her teammates on the eve of a major international tournament because she'd had enough of the rigid regimentation of Team U.S.A. After experiencing a scrape with the law with her extreme-cycling friends, Haley is given an unusual sentence -- attending the Vickerman Gymnastics Academy, a world-class training facility run by Burt Vickerman (Jeff Bridges), who has led some of the world's greatest gymnasts to championship status. Haley makes no secret of her dislike of life at Vickerman's, and her fellow athletes aren't about to forgive her just yet for letting down her teammates. But while Vickerman makes clear things are to be done his way, he respects Haley's talent, and together she shows him and her new teammates how to follow the rules while still expressing your individuality. Also starring Tarah Paige and Vanessa Lengies, Stick It was the first directorial credit for Jessica Bendinger, who wrote the critically praised teen comedy Bring It On. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Bridges, Missy Peregrym, (more)
- 1994
Listen to our synopsis of Housewife from Hell, then congratulate us for not once referring to Roseanne. The title character, played Lisa Comshaw, makes it her mission in life to drive husband Gregg Bullock bonkers. Not surprisingly, our heroine meets an untimely demise. This doesn't stop her from rising from her grave to wreak more havoc upon her hapless hubby. And remember, guys: the second biggest mistake in life is filing a joint bank account. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this drama, based on the best-selling novel by John Grisham, Mitch McDeer (Tom Cruise) is a young man from a poor Southern family who has struggled through Harvard Law School to graduate fifth in his class. Mitch is entertaining offers from major firms in New York and Chicago, but when Memphis-based Bendini, Lambert, & Locke offer him a 20 percent higher salary than the best offer he's received, in addition to an enticing variety of perks and fringe benefits, he decides to sign on and remain in the South. Mitch's wife, Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn), warns him that the deal sounds almost too good to be true, but it's not until after several weeks of working with Avery Tolar (Gene Hackman) that Mitch discovers that the vast majority of BL&L's business is tied to organized crime, with crime boss Joey Morolto (Paul Sorvino) using the firm to launder Mafia money. FBI agents Wayne Tarrance (Ed Harris) and F. Denton Voyles (Steven Hill) try to blackmail Mitch into helping them make a case against the firm, while BL&L's "security director" William Devasher (Wilford Brimley) is blackmailing him to do as he's told after Mitch foolishly allows himself to be seduced by a prostitute hired by the firm. The Firm was adapted for the screen by acclaimed playwright David Rabe and features performances by Hal Holbrook, Holly Hunter, and Gary Busey. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, (more)
- 1986
Steve (Eli Rich) is a laconic Sunday school volunteer who is hired as a mall security guard in this uninspired crime thriller. The sexually impotent guard has a hobby of strangling prostitutes, but of course he omits this activity on the job application. His frustration increases when he loses his job, falls behind on his rent, and is forced to take a janitorial job with his cranky cousin Neil (Dennis Gannon). Steve's ultimate goal is to land a job on the adolescent hotline at the church run by his unsuspecting girlfriend Cheryl (Rochelle Taylor). Steve's psychosis increases when the funding for the hotline is delayed until the killer is captured. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eli Rich, Rocky Taylor, (more)
This amateurish backwoods horror opus finds a quartet of annoying California campers embarking on an idyllic mountain getaway, only to be terrorized by a cave-dwelling cannibal cracker (Michael Brody) who, it turns out, is himself plagued by the ghosts of his murdered wife and children (as revealed in flashback). Undoubtedly disgusted by Daddy's unpleasant eating habits, the ghosts conspire to end the killer redneck's reign of terror before he murders again. Viewers will probably find themselves wishing the same upon the filmmakers. A lifeless hodgepodge of Deliverance, The Hills Have Eyes and Friday the 13th, this cheap direct-to-video project waffles between horror and black comedy, failing completely on both counts. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dean Russell, Michael Brody, (more)
- 1982
A family on a leisurely drive are captured and held hostage by evil jewel thieves. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1979
A few notches more vulgar than their American counterparts, Grijpstra (Rijk de Gooyer) and De Gier (Rutger Hauer) are partners in the Amsterdam police force who get involved in the world of prostitution, drugs, and off-the-wall religious cults in this glib crime story from Wim Verstappen. De Gier and Constanze (Willeke Van Ammelrooy) spend some amorous moments together when he is able to escape the seedy demi-monde. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rutger Hauer, Rijk de Gooyer, (more)
- 1978
- R
One source sums up Sweater Girls as a "teen escapade." Another source goes a step further, explaining that the title refers to a high school club consisting of well-endowed students. We get the idea, and we know why it's rated R. So why deal with Sweater Girls at all? Well, the fact that the film features a pre-Dallas Charlene Tilton was reason enough to earn this very obscure sex farce a berth on more than one video-rental shelf. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
This campy oddity -- featuring John Carradine in one of his patented walk-on roles -- pits some silly facsimile of a motorcycle gang against an even sillier stuntman in a deep-pile shag suit who is supposed to be the legendary humanoid lurker of the Northwestern wilderness. It seems Bigfoot has developed an understandable liking for buxom human females (including Joy Lansing and one-time Russ Meyer regular Haji), whom he abducts and carries off to his scenic woodland retreat and ties to ridiculously scrawny trees. Apparently the bike boys are jealous -- abducting curvaceous cuties is also a favorite pastime of theirs -- and they embark on an uncoordinated rescue mission. Predating mid-'70s Bigfoot-mania (sparked by the famous home-movie sightings), this goofy outing is probably more entertaining than Legend of Boggy Creek and a dozen other "serious" pseudo-documentaries on the subject. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 1970
The Firechasers, a British film, was given what was assumed to be an added boxoffice boost by having an American star, Chad Everett, in the lead. Everett is a journalist who is on the trail of the Persons Unknown who set fire to a warehouse. The newspapermen and insurance investigators who work together to find the arsonist are the "firechasers" of the title, rather than the firefighters. Barely released in the US, The Firechasers was given a network TV slot in the Spring of 1972 thanks to the popularity of Chad Everett's Medical Center series. The film was easily bested in the ratings by a repeat showing of Spartacus on a rival network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A team of scientists spend their waking hours investigating dreams. To fully understand the nature of the subconscious, they must induce nightmares. Unfortunately, the visions conjured up during these nightmares are manifested into reality. Like the "Id" in Forbidden Planet, the collective fears and desires of the experiment subjects must be destroyed before they're unleashed on an unsuspecting world. A cast of energetic, moderately talented unknowns appear in this ambitious cheapie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
