Jacek Laskus Movies
- 2007
Inspired by the record-breaking Broadway hit that sold out for fifteen straight months in New York City before being voted "Best Touring Play" of 2006, Tony-award winning playwright William Gibson's reflection on the life of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir stars Valerie Harper as one of the most important female politicians of the 20th Century. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valerie Harper
- 2006
Over a hundred leading cameramen (and women) discuss the fine art of motion picture photography in this documentary. Cinematographer Style is compiled from interviews with a broad cross section of respected cinematographers, ranging from award-winning veterans such as Gordon Willis (The Godfather), Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now), Vilmos Zsigmond (Deliverance), and Haskell Wexler (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) to contemporary masters of the craft such as Roger Deakins (A Beautiful Mind), Peter Deming (Lost Highway), Ernest Dickerson (Do the Right Thing), and Remi Adefarasin (Match Point). While several participants discuss the tools of their trade, Cinematographer Style focuses as much on the philosophy behind photographing movies -- how they find a style that matches the material, their visual influences, how to prepare for a shoot, establishing a lighting and color scheme, and how "pretty" the image ought to be to match the story. Sponsored in part by Kodak, Cinematographer Style received its world premiere at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Successful television director and film producer Michael Pressman sets off with high hopes when he decides to helm a film production of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. He believes the experience of directing a film starring his struggling actress of a wife (Lisa Chess) will be a fun and relatively easy way to revitalize their marriage. Unfortunately, the decision to cast Alan Rosenberg to play Johnny proves disastrous -- Rosenberg is incredibly difficult to work with and Pressman's already tense relationship becomes steadily worse as the horrific rehearsal and filming process intensifies. The situation looks bleak when, after a devastating preview, Pressman is forced to shut down the play, relinquish his investment, and possibly lose his wife. Of course, the aggrieved director has one option: to take over the role of Johnny. The stakes have never been higher for the married couple, considering their future together appears to hinge on the final outcome of the film. Frankie and Johnny Are Married was directed in real life by the protagonist, Michael Pressman. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lisa Chess, Michael Pressman, (more)
Kirsten Dunst stars in this drama as a Jewish teenager who doesn't care much about her family's religious heritage until she's transported back in time to Poland in 1941, where she learns a valuable lesson about the struggles of her family -- and her people. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirsten Dunst, Brittany Murphy, (more)
- 1998
- R
Thomas Michael Donnelly directed this Vietnam drama, filmed in New Zealand and adapted from Tim O'Brien's short story, "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong," about a group of army medics in Vietnam. Rat (Kiefer Sutherland) narrates the tale seen in flashbacks: Rat's buddy Fossie (Skeet Ulrich), after learning about a unit that pooled money to bring in a hooker, manipulates the black-market to import his hometown girlfriend, innocent teen Marianne (Georgina Cates). The M*A*S*H-like unit is pleased by her presence, but Marianne finds the war carnage fascinating; she experiments with small-arms fire, goes wandering off into dangerous territory, and becomes friends with a unit of Green Berets, much to the dismay of Fossie. Just when he's on the brink of sending her home, she sets forth on an all-night patrol with the Green Berets. This film and Donnelly's The Garden of Redemption, another war drama, are two/thirds of a planned Showtime trilogy. Locations in New Zealand. Shown at the 1998 Seattle Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kiefer Sutherland, Georgina Cates, (more)
- 1997
This wartime drama concerns a Catholic priest who finds his beliefs tested by his desire to defeat fascism and his love for a woman. Don Paolo (Anthony LaPaglia) is a priest in a small Italian village during World War II. While he espouses pacifism and non-violence, his words fall on increasingly less receptive ears as the anti-fascist Partisans, led by Capt. Zito (Dan Hedaya), become a greater force in the community. When an American solider parachutes into the village to encourage the Partisans to keep up their fight until Allied troops can liberate Italy, Zito's men step up their activities, leading fascist troops to capture, torture, and execute Zito's right hand man, Aldo (Jorge Sanz). After Aldo's death, one of Don Paolo's associates, Don Sebastiano (David Neal), decides that he can no longer stand idly by and watch his people be butchered; he joins the underground forces and helps ambush a group of Nazi soldiers, which leads to his death. After Don Sebastiano's passing, Don Paolo finally agrees to help Zito's forces by delivering a schedule of bridge bombings to American operatives in a neighboring town, though his nerve begins to fail him en route. Amidst the village's political turmoil, Don Paolo has become acquainted with Adriana (Embeth Davidtz), a beautiful woman working with the Partisans; he has developed a romantic attraction to her which she obviously shares, and as he struggles to keep his emotions in check and stay true to his vows, he is forced to call upon her for help in order to complete his mission for Zito. Based on a short story by Anthony DiFranco, The Garden of Redemption was intended to be the first in a series of films based on stories about World War II, produced for cable television. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony LaPaglia, Embeth Davidtz, (more)
In this crime drama, an honest lawman has to decide where his loyalties lie in a corrupt system. All his life, J.J. (Michael Boatman) has dreamed of being a cop, and after graduating from the Police Academy, he gets his wish, becoming the first African-American policeman based out of Los Angeles' Edgemar station. However, J.J. discovers that his race makes him an outsider among his fellow officers. His presence is not welcomed by his superior, Massey (Richard Anderson), and the only colleague who is truly hospitable to him is Deborah (Lori Petty), the only female cop at Edgemar and the target of as much abuse as J.J. Hoping to somehow fit in, J.J. digs into his work and tries to be "just one of the guys," ignoring the racism and corruption around him. However, one night J.J.'s fellow officer Bono (Don Harvey) pulls over Teddy Woods (Ice Cube), an arrogant and uncommunicative young black man, and in the midst of an illegal search of his car, he finds a gun; even though he knows that Bono acted improperly, J.J. put his loyalty behind the force and lies to support Bono's story. The gun's serial number matches that of a weapon used to murder the wife of Mr. Greenspan (Elliott Gould), a prominent Jewish businessman, and Woods is charged with the killing. However, J.J. discovers that the number of the gun had been altered, and he has to decide what to do when he realizes that Teddy could be sentenced to death without having committed a serious crime. The Glass Shield also features Bernie Casey, Sy Richardson, and M. Emmet Walsh. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Boatman, Lori Petty, (more)
For the six women profiled in the documentary It Was A Wonderful Life, the emphasis is on the word was. They all went from a comfortable middle-class existence to dire poverty and homelessness when the support of their husbands was withdrawn by divorce or abandonment. Nonetheless, as a group, they have used tremendous ingenuity and perseverance in making a life for themselves and their children, despite the absence of decently paid jobs, health-insurance, or child care. Each of these women is too proud to apply for welfare, and they manage somehow to stay off the streets. The documentary has an ideological slant, promoting stronger legal protections for divorced women, especially in the area of child support. Jodie Foster narrates. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jodie Foster
- 1993
- R
In this romantic comedy, a pair of disparate yuppies attempt to bridge the considerable disparities between them and have a relationship. During their tempestuous struggles, their two best friends offer expert commentary. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arye Gross, Courteney Cox Arquette, (more)
- 1992
- NR
Episcopal priest Robert Castle is the subject of this documentary, whose title refers to his relation to the film's director, Jonathan Demme. Best-known for his Oscar-winning work on Silence of the Lambs (released the same year as this film), Demme is no stranger to nonfiction filmmaking, with one of the great rock concert films Stop Making Sense on his filmography. He had lost touch with his cousin for many years, so making this film was an excuse to get reacquainted. Castle was born in 1929 in Jersey City, where he was assigned to his first parish, St. John's, in 1960. As the racial makeup of his parish slowly changed from mostly white to mostly black, Castle became a lightning rod for the burgeoning civil rights movement, taking to the streets during one of the long hot summers of the mid-'60s to calm his parishioners and prevent a full-scale riot. The church hierarchy was not in tune with his activism, so he dropped out of the priesthood in the '70s and moved to Vermont to raise his family. He had trouble finding work because of his alleged connections to radical groups such as the Black Panthers, so he returned to the church, to serve as pastor of St. Mary's in Harlem. Demme shows his cousin speaking out at a neighborhood rally, leading protests to have a giant pothole at 125th Street and Broadway filled and a stoplight installed at another intersection near a school, and joining the family for a reunion at his former farm in Vermont. Castle comes off as a genuinely idealistic and committed man in this informal yet loving portrait. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
In this made-for-cable thriller, the idyllic life of an upstanding architect is nearly destroyed when his partner attempts to corrupt a city official. When murder ensues, the architect must evade the prying eye of a sleazeball detective. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1989
The made-for-cable Incident at Dark River stars Mike Farrell as a working-stiff family man. When his daughter falls ill, Farrell discovers to his horror that the girl is suffering from toxic poisoning. A local battery factory has been polluting the area with its deadly waste, but when Farrell tries to take legal action, he finds that the law favors the factory. Albert Rubin's slowly paced script leans towards "bad guy vs. good guy" rather than shades of gray, but it successfully hits all the right emotional buttons. The presence of well-known environmentalist Mike Farrell in this sincere, medium-budget effort is a prime example of putting one's money where one's mouth is. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A passable sequel to the excellent sleeper hit that preceded it, this film steers its story in a cartoonish, less horrific direction. Terry O'Quinn returns as the nameless family man who butchered one nuclear unit and was on his way to dispatching another when he was (seemingly) fatally stabbed. It turns out that he wasn't killed after all but was captured and sent to the loony bin. Now the deranged control freak has murdered his jailers and escaped from the institution. Establishing himself in a small, idyllic town as a family counselor, he thinks that he's found the perfect candidate for a family in Carol (Meg Foster), the real estate agent who lives across the street, and her son, Todd (Jonathan Brandis), who adores his mom's new boyfriend. Unfortunately, Carol's irresponsible husband shows up unexpectedly after abandoning his family -- and nosy neighbors and a variety of others stand as obstacles in the stepfather's path to perfection. The first film, The Stepfather (1987), by writer Donald E. Westlake was very loosely based on the real-life story of long-time fugitive John List, lending the film an eerie, skin-crawling air of psychological authenticity that this sequel entirely lacks. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terry O'Quinn, Meg Foster, (more)
- 1988
Based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Herman Wouk, this thought-provoking made-for-television drama chronicles the court martial of the lieutenant who commandeered the U.S.S. Caine during a potentially deadly storm. The only way his attorney can save him is to prove that Captain Queeg was mentally incompetent to safely run the ship. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brad Davis, Eric Bogosian, (more)
- 1987
- PG13
Gemma (Winona Ryder) is a young teen raised by her crusty grandfather Dillard (Jason Robards) in this drama of a young woman's coming of age. When she goes to the city to spend the summer with her estranged mother Juanella (Jane Alexander), she falls for Rory (Rob Lowe), a rural rube of less-than-average intelligence, but her only true friend in a hypocritical town. Gemma's promiscuous mother delights in reminding the emotional Gemma that her father could be any one of several men, and Gemma's frustration leads to an inevitable confrontation between mother and daughter. Deborah Richter plays the town floozie Gwen. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Robards, Jr., Jane Alexander, (more)
- 1987
- R
A punch-drunk pugilist is set up as meat for a young boxer in this routine mat melodrama. The highlight of the film is the performance of Steve Buscemi as the oily, mob-connected fight promoter Nicky. Eddie (Brad Davis) is the addle-brained boxer Nicky hangs out to dry for quick money. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brad Davis, Frances Fisher, (more)
Gay yuppie Robert (John Bolger) accepts an assignment in Africa that will put his strained relationship with his lover, Michael (Richard Ganoung), in limbo for the next few years. Michael, meanwhile, tends the needs of his ex, Nick (Steve Buscemi), whose punk band's video is getting MTV airplay even as he battles HIV and bittersweet memories in a claustrophobic apartment. After a farewell dinner thrown by Robert's foppish boss and his luminous wife, Michael and Robert fret and frolic with a host of Manhattan hipsters at a party thrown by their artist friend Joan (Kathy Kinney). These various crowd scenes set the stage for a series of one-on-one interactions that explore the romantic and other tensions of early AIDS-era Manhattan without offering too many easy resolutions. Buscemi would become an indie regular, while Kinney would go on to achieve fame on The Drew Carey Show in the 1990s. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Ganoung, John Bolger, (more)
After Jill Godmilow failed to gain entry into Poland in the early 1980s to make a documentary on the Gdansk strike and the Solidarity movement, she created this docudrama that is meant to tell her story, as well as that of the strikers and the woman who began it all, Anna Walentynowicz (Elzbieta Komorowska). Undoubtedly upset at being rejected, the contrast between Godmilow's problems and the difficulties faced by the down-to-earth Anna is uncomfortably great. Anna has been fired from her job after 30 years of dedicated service at minimal wages, and the workers rally around her -- marking the beginning of the Gdansk strikes. Anna and others of her generation are brought forward in re-enacted interviews in the better segments of this docudrama, while Godmilow's own ruminations and commentaries are somehow less convincing in comparison. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Fitzgerald, Jill Godmilow, (more)
- 1983
In this look at Yiddish filmmaking and its changing perspectives during the era of the early sound pictures (1930s), director Russ Karel uses film clips taken from the archives of the National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, and he also illustrates his subject with still photos, old posters, and other mementos from this period. Orson Welles narrates. About one and a half million Jews came to settle in New York in the first two decades of the 20th century, and many of these early immigrants such as Louis B. Mayer went to Hollywood and found future success as actors, directors, screenwriters, and producers. The revolutionary talkie film that saved the Warner Bros.' studio from financial ruin, The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson (1927) was almost made in Yiddish. In fact, Yiddish was so common in the 1930s that for the entire decade -- ending significantly with the beginning of World War II -- Yiddish films continued to be created, not only in the U.S., but in Europe as well. The 1997 French film Madame Jacques sur la Croisette is another poignant if fictional, look at the vanishing culture of the Ashkenazi Jews and their distinctive Yiddish language. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Herschel Bernardi, Joseph Green, (more)
