Iya Labunka Movies
- 2009
- R
A notorious serial killer uses his dying breath to place a deadly curse on a small town in this shocker from legendary horror director Wes Craven (Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street). It's been 16 years since the maniac who terrorized Riverton met his grim demise. Seven children were born on the night he died, and he vowed that he would return one day to claim them all. Like clockwork, exactly 16 years later, the children born that fateful night begin vanishing without a trace. Could the killer have somehow cheated death the night that everyone thought he was killed, or has he perhaps been reincarnated as one of seven teens he swore to kill? Only one person knows the answer to that burning question. Adam "Bug" Heller (Max Thieriot) never knew how close he came to death the night his father went on that bloody rampage, and despite remaining completely unaware of the atrocities that mar his family bloodline, he's suffered terrifying nightmares from as far back as he can remember. Now, in order to save his friends, Bug will be forced to confront the evil that won't stop until it accomplishes the awful task it set out to complete on the night he was born. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max Thieriot
- 1994
- R
A wealthy Beverly Hills husband and wife are forced to reevaluate their lives after losing their jobs in writer-director Michael Tolkin's aloof satire. Peter Witner (Peter Weller) and Katherine Witner (Judy Davis) have become so accustomed to their high-class, shallow lifestyle that they feel helpless when circumstances leave them facing imminent bankruptcy. Lost and confused, their marriage on the verge of collapse, they seek help from a number of spiritual gurus, who offer ineffectual New Age philosophies as the solution to their problems. These remedies provide little comfort, however, and the Witners' attempt to make their own way by opening a hip clothing store also disappoints, leaving them ostracized and desperate for a direction in life. Best known for the cutting screenplay of Robert Altman's The Player (1992) and for his own earlier film The Rapture (1991), Tolkin provides sharp dialogue and a well-observed critique of the Los Angeles high life. This film continues the social criticism of those earlier efforts, as Tolkin consistently portrays American life as mindlessly materialistic, spiritually hollow, and bereft of meaningful purpose or moral direction. While some viewers may feel distanced from the unsympathetic characters and detached tone, Tolkin continues to be one of the most trenchant social satirists in contemporary American movies. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Weller, Judy Davis, (more)
- 1992
Based on a novel by Thomas McGuane, this made-for-TV feature stars William Petersen as Joe Starling, a painter suffering from creative block. For inspiration, he returns to his family's Montana home, only to find the land coveted by a malevolent developer (Jack Palance). ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1991
The Applegates is the video title for the darkly satirical comedy Meet the Applegates. The titular family, for all intents and purposes human beings, are actually a clan of giant Brazilian Cocorada bugs. Paterfamilias Dick Applegate (Ed Begley Jr.) takes a job with an Ohio nuclear power plant, with the intention of triggering an explosion, thereby exterminating all humankind and allowing the bugs to live in safety. Alas, every one of the Applegates falls victim to assimilation: Dick becomes a typical suburban philanderer, his wife Jane (Stockard Channing) succumbs to the seductions of the credit card, and the Applegate kids transform into obnoxious mall-cruising teens. By the time the Applegates' Aunt Bea (Dabney Coleman) links up with them to supervise the nuclear explosion, the family considers Auntie a nuisance and plots a fitting demise for her. Director Michael Lehmann had previously skewered upper-middle class values in Heathers; completed in 1989, Meet the Applegates buzzed into local cineplexes in 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ed Begley, Jr., Stockard Channing, (more)
Successful LA marketing analyst Michael Boll (James Spader) seemingly has it all-except a sense of self-confidence. Enigmatic drifter Alex (Rob Lowe) enters Michael's life and immediately begins to exert a negative influence. As Michael's self-esteem zooms (aided by generous dollops of sex and drugs) he allows himself to be dragooned into a life of crime by the demonic Alex. The "doppelganger" aspects of Bad Influence, and the film's many unexpected twists and turns, echo films of Alfred Hitchcock, especially Strangers on a Train. The film's boldest stroke is to cast the likeable Lowe as the bad guy (albeit a charming one) and the often villainous Spader as the malleable milquetoast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, James Spader, (more)
A deliciously nasty black comedy, Heathers is set at a cliquish high school in Ohio. The most exclusive of those cliques is the Heathers, comprised of the prettiest and most popular girls in town. The group's leader is the manipulative Kim Walker, who orchestrates the humiliation of anyone who fails to meet her standards. Eventually, Heathers member Winona Ryder begins to exhibit a conscience; together with her hardcase boyfriend Christian Slater, Ryder plots to avenge all the unfortunate victims of the group. Before long, Heather (Kim Walker) ends up dead along with Kurt and Ram, with poignant suicide notes posted near their bodies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, (more)
Edward James Olmos portrays the real-life Jaime Escalante, a no-nonsense mathematic teacher in a tough East LA high school. Handed a classroom full of "losers" and "unteachables," Escalante is determined to turn his young charges' lives around. Drawing from his own cultural heritage, Escalante forms a bond with his largely Hispanic student body, evoking the names of famous Spaniards and Latin Americans whose great accomplishments were predicated on their ability to learn. The students gradually come to realize that the only way they'll escape their own poverty-stricken barrio is to improve themselves intellectually. As a result, the class' academic achievements soar dramatically -- too dramatically for the Educational Testing Service, which is convinced that the class' high test scores are the results of cheating. The triumphant exoneration of Escalante's students provides Stand and Deliver with its rousingly upbeat conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward James Olmos, Lou Diamond Phillips, (more)
