Zachary Matz Movies

A dysfunctional family living on a picturesque island in the Bronx spares no expense in avoiding the truth about their messed-up lives in writer/director Raymond de Felitta's dark family comedy. The family patriarch, Vince (Andy Garcia) is a prison guard who is secretly plotting a new career as an actor. Meanwhile, as Vince takes acting lessons on the down low, his daughter moonlights as a stripper and his younger namesake harbors a secret fetish that involves the family's 300-pound neighbor. Under normal circumstances Vincent's wife Joyce (Julianna Margulies) would be the family rock, but lately she's been preoccupied with uncovering the identity of the hired help, a secret that only her husband knows. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

An elderly widow and a young would-be author strike up an unlikely friendship in this comedy drama. Mrs. Palfrey (Joan Plowright) has been uneasy since the death of her husband, and she decides to move from her long-time home in Scotland to London so she can be closer to her grandson Desmond (Lorcan O'Toole). Mrs. Palfrey settles into the Claremont Hotel, a shabby residential inn for senior citizens that has seen better days. She tries to contact Desmond, but isn't able to get in touch with him, and at first she has a hard time relating to the other folks at the Claremont, especially friendly busybody Mrs. Arbuthnot (Anna Massey). Lonely and out of sorts, Mrs. Palfrey goes out for a walk one day and takes a nasty spill after losing her balance. Ludovic Meyer (Rupert Friend), a struggling writer in his mid-twenties, finds Mrs. Palfrey on the pavement and helps her, taking her back to her room and making sure she's OK. The two strike up a conversation and discover they have a surprisingly amount in common. A friendship grows between them, even though Mrs. Palfrey asks Ludovic to pose as her absent grandson so her neighbors will stop asking questions about him. Mrs. Palfrey even gives her new friend romantic advice, encouraging Ludovic to ask a pretty girl he meets at the video store out on a date. Based on a novel by the British author Elizabeth Taylor, Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont was directed by Dan Ireland. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Writer/directors Jeff Renfroe and Marteinn Thorsson make their feature debut with the paranoid thriller One Point O (1.0). Jeremy Sisto plays a computer programmer named Simon J. who gets used as a test subject. His corporate employers are secretly conducting a experiment on him in order to test out a new advertising scheme. Simon receives empty boxes at his apartment, grows suspicious of everyone else, and develops a strange desire for milk. Also starring Deborah Unger, Lance Henriksen, and Udo Kier. One Point O premiered at the Sundance Film Festival as part of the dramatic competition. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Michael O'Connell ran several video stores in Denver, CO, before taking up screenwriting, and the endless stream of direct-to-video thrillers that littered his shelves inspired his script for this satiric black comedy. Hutch Rimes (Steven Weber) runs an insurance company, and even though he's married, he's developed a bad habit of getting involved with his secretaries. Hutch's latest Girl Friday, Holly (Nina Siemaszko), is also married, but often finds herself being used as a punching bag by her loutish husband Cotton (Gregg Henry). Holly persuades Hutch to help her kill Cotton, but things don't go as planned, and Cotton pulls a gun on Holly; Hutch manages to escape just before Cotton kills his wife. Ten years later, Cotton is released from prison just as Hutch begins receiving a series of anonymous letters from someone who wants to kill him. But since Hutch is having an affair with his stenographer Olivia (Gail O'Grady), he's not sure if the angry party is Cotton or Olivia's husband, Dewey (Stephen Tobolowsky). Things get even stickier for Hutch when Olivia decides she wants out of her relationship with Dewey -- and asks Hutch to help murder her husband. Sleep Easy, Hutch Rimes also features Swoosie Kurtz as Binny, one of Hutch's few female employees that he never gets around to sleeping with. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Film director Adam Rifkin spoofs Hollywood's star machine in concocting this fictional "mockumentary" about a director (Rifkin playing himself) who wants to make a documentary film about a rising young star. Anton Markwell (Tony Markes, who co-directed the film) is the object of Rifkin's inquiring camera. Rifkin, fancying himself a star-maker, advises Markwell to change his name to Nick Decker. Decker is actually the second choice for the project. Rifkin originally selects David Lake (David Andriole), but Lake signs a film contract and his studio won't cooperate with Rifkin's documentary. Rifkin has no better luck with Decker, until his protégé lands a guest role on the popular television series Baywatch. But while filming on the set, Decker steps on a sting ray and ends up in the hospital, ending his chance for quick notoriety. Meanwhile, Lake continues to beat out Decker for plum roles. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

In this old-fashioned screwball comedy, two Hollywood screenwriters have numerous disastrous, heated encounters before they realize the obvious and find romance. It all begins in catastrophe-ridden LA after yet another earthquake. Zina is driving her car on the freeway when she runs into Davis while trying get out from under a cracked overpass. They start out civil enough but soon find themselves fighting tooth and nail over who is at fault. Later the two instant enemies find that they run into each other wherever they go, be it a trendy restaurant or a major party. When they both begin vying for the opportunity to write the same script, the fireworks begin in earnest. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide