Peter Medak Movies

Matthew Modine, Mena Suvari, and Marcia Gay Harden star in director Peter Medak's look at one of the biggest scandals ever to rock Las Vegas. The owner of the world famous Horseshoe Casino, Ted Binion (Matthew Modine) was one of the most powerful men in Sin City. But sin got the best of Ted when he fell scorching stripper Sandy Murphy (Mena Suvari). Caught up in a web of drugs and deception, noted heroin user Binion suffers a suspicious overdose that is quickly classified as a homicide. As Binion's sister Becky (Harden) works overtime to prevent the case from going cold, Sandy and her boyfriend (Johnathon Schaech) race to solve the mystery and prove their innocence. Based on the book Murder in Sin City by author Jeff German. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A man who makes a horrifying discovery about the founding fathers of America must protect his family from the murderous loyalist determined to safeguard the volatile secret at all costs in director Peter Medak's adaptation of a short story by author Bentley Little. Soon after his grandfather's funeral, Mike (Johnathon Schaech) unearths an artifact that paints the first president of the United States in a troubling new light. According to Mike's discovery, George Washington was a ravenous cannibal, and his flesh-eating legacy lives on to this very day. Now, as a loyal band of Washingtonians is determined to ensure that they remain well fed, and their secret never gets out. Of course, the best way to do this is by consuming Mike and his family, but this is one feast that the Washingtonians are going to have to fight for. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The troupe is heading south, towards Babylon, and rumors about the town's deadly reputation are flying. Everyone is getting antsy, and it doesn't help matters when Samson (Michael J. Anderson), on Management's orders, has them set up shop in the middle of nowhere. Jonesy (Tim DeKay) expresses his reservations, and offers to talk to Management himself, but Samson says no. While the crew sets up, Samson has Osgood (Blake Shields) drive him into town so he can see Miss Jolene (Judith Hoag), a prostitute with whom he has a special relationship. Sofie (Clea Duvall) goes into town herself, despite Apollonia's (Diane Salinger) protestations, and puts on an act, pretending to be a young widow, which earns her the sympathetic ear of Harlan (Gabriel Mann), the handsome proprietor of a local diner. Lodz (Patrick Bauchau) convinces Ben (Nick Stahl) to drive him out into the desert, claiming he wants to show him something that has to do with Scudder. All of them are caught in a deadly dust storm. In the ensuing chaos, Apollonia nearly chokes to death, Samson learns that his relationship with Jolene isn't all he thinks it is, and Sofie gets far more intimate with Harlan than she had intended. Lodz wanders from the safety of the car and into the desert, and when Ben follows him, Lodz demonstrates that Ben is even more powerful than he suspected and offers to help him learn how to use his power, but Ben isn't interested in using it. Meanwhile, Justin (Clancy Brown) gets a visit from Norman (Ralph Waite) who warns him that the church is upset about his continuing to build his ministry for the migrants. Justin passionately explains that he's following direct orders from God, but a deadly tragedy soon ends Justin's dreams. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Hot on the heels of the BBC's multipart 1999 adaptation of Charles Dickens' semiautobiographical novel David Copperfield came this American-financed version, prepared for the TNT cable network as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame. Child actor Max Dolbey and adult performer Hugh Dancy share the role of David Copperfield who, after enduring a tempestuous youth at the hands of his cruel stepfather Murdstone (Anthony Andrews), manages to survive into adulthood with the help and support of such sympathetic figures as Aunt Betsy Trotwood (Sally Field), the eternally-in-debt Mr. Micawber (Michael Richards), and loyal old Dan Peggoty (Nigel Davenport). Even so, David's later years are none too serene, thanks in great part to antagonists like the wheedling, "'umble" Uriah Heep (Frank MacCusker), and to his own star-crossed romantic misadventures. At the time of its first telecast on December 10, 2000, this two-part adaptation of David Copperfield was criticized for the "stunt" casting of former Seinfeld regular Michael Richards as Micawber, who is transformed into a Kramer-esque slapstick figure; however, one must remember that not everyone was enamored of W.C. Fields' now-classic interpretation of the same character in the 1935 film version. David Copperfield was lensed on location in Ireland. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the science-fiction thriller Species (1995), Natasha Hentsridge appeared as the beautiful but deadly Sil, a human-alien DNA combo. In this sequel, Hentsridge portrays Eve, a government experiment concocted to gain an understanding of how to combat future aliens, while Michael Madsen and Marg Helgenberger repeat their roles from the earlier film. When astronaut Patrick Ross (Justin Lazard) returns from the first manned Mars expedition, he's infected with the same DNA that spawned Sil and Eve. Hailed as a hero, Ross is pressed into politics by his father (James Cromwell), a senator. Any woman who beds the sexually active Ross is immediately impregnated, with embryos quickly developing and killing the mother. Ross hides the offspring on a family estate, as LA cops begin to detect a pattern in the female deaths. At the lab where scientists are monitoring Eve, Dr. Laura Baker (Helgenberger) realizes that Eve has a telepathic link with Ross, and that these two hybrids hope to couple. Press Lennox (Madsen) and Colonel Burgess (George Dzundza) figure Eve can be used to lead them to Ross. Cleared as a murder suspect, Mars mission astronaut Dennis Gamble (Mykelti Williamson), joins Lennox and Baker and gets in on the action as everyone involved closes in on Ross. Richard Belzer does a cameo as the President of the U.S., while Peter Boyle makes an uncredited appearance as a scientist. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

When one of drug kingpin Luther Mahoney's "heroin mules" is found dead, Lewis (Clark Johnson) and Kellerman (Reed Diamond) mount an elaborate sting operation to bring down Mahoney (Erik Todd Dellums) once and for all. Elsewhere, Bayliss (Kyle Secor) finally patches up his differences with Pembleton (Andre Braugher), then braces himself for a meeting with the relative who sexually abused him as a child. And Munch (Richard Belzer) is informed that the so-called victim in an old murder case may still be alive -- little realizing that he is being set up as a pawn for a vengeful gangster. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the conclusion of a two-part story, Baltimore cop Jake Rodzinski (Bruce Campbell) is the prime suspect in the murder of Kenny Damon, who had been acquitted on the charge of killing Jake's father. Kellerman (Reed Diamond) investigates the case, but withholds details of his findings from Jake's good friend Lewis (Clark Johnson). And in a less crucial development, Bayliss (Kyle Secor) and Pembleton (Andre Braugher) squabble over possession of a cold sandwich. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A dysfunctional family reunites during the Apollo XI moon landing in this drama starring real-life couple Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen. In 1969, eccentric teacher Washington Bellamy (Danson) turns the arrival of men on the moon into a science project for his son Andy (Ryan Todd). They drive across the country to Idaho's Spires of the Moon National Park, where the odometer of Washington's classic Pontiac Chief will read 238,857, the exact mileage traveled by Apollo XI. Left behind is wife and mother Katherine (Steenburgen), an agoraphobic who never recovered emotionally from a miscarriage seven years earlier. On the road, Washington and Andy encounter a Native American soldier (Eric Schweig), a flirty barfly (Cathy Moriarty) and Washington's long-lost brother (Max Gail). Back home, Katherine nervously ventures outside to follow her family. When Washington's car breaks down, he steals a new engine, bringing the authorities after him and leading to a rendezvous at the park between father, son, mother, and cops, as the astronauts simultaneously land on the moon. Pontiac Moon (1994) was a critical lemon for director Peter Medak, who enjoyed more success with his British crime dramas such as The Krays (1990) and Let Him Have It (1991). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

New York cop Jack Grimaldi (Gary Oldman) has a nice home, a stunning wife Natalie (Annabella Sciorra), and a sweet, if stupid mistress, Sheri (Juliette Lewis). Jack also earns extra money by betraying mob witnesses to Mafia-boss Don Falcone (Roy Scheider). Assigned to guard the viciously sexy Russian-born hit woman, Mona Demarkov (Lena Olin), Jack is almost instantly seduced and allows Mona to escape. Falcone orders Jack to find and kill Mona, and threatens to murder him if he fails. Mona offers to pay Jack to help her eliminate Falcone and fake her own death. Several plot twists and turns later, Jack is left with his life in shambles. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

The Derek Bentley Case has been an uneasy blight on the British legal system since the early 1950s. Two young, frightened boys were caught by police trying to break into to a building. One of the boys had a gun. When the policeman reached out to the youth to turn over the gun, his friend shouted "Let him have it," and the policeman was killed by a gun blast. Whether the boy understood "Let him have it" to mean he should turn over the gun or to kill the police officer has been debated ever since. But the result was the 19-year-old boy was executed for the crime -- only to be posthumously exonerated in 1953. In this dark and biting film by Peter Medak, the life of Derek Bentley (Chris Eccleston) that led up to the crime is recreated in pitiful detail, as well as the ensuing trial and execution. The story begins in 1952, when the likable Bentley is released from reform school. Bentley is an impressionable young man who returns home to his loving family -- his parents (Tom Courtenay and Eileen Atkins) and sister (Clare Holman) -- but becomes involved with a group of friends, led by the intimidating Chris (Paul Reynolds), who live in the poverty of post-World War II Britain and escape their bleak world by emulating the American gangster films they see at the local cinema. They play-act at being gansters, but with real guns ... and tragic results. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Peter Medak directed this fact-based drama, chronicling the lives of the infamous Kray Brothers, notorious celebrities in 60s London. The Krays were twin gangsters who ruled London's stylish East End club scene, staking out their territory by committing the most violent crimes imaginable, preferring to perform the most torturous acts themselves. The film stars Gary Kemp and Martin Kemp, founding members of the pop group Spandau Ballet, as Ronald and Reginald Kray. The film opens as their mother Violet Kray (Billie Whitelaw) recalls a dream in which she is a swan from which two beautiful babies have hatched. She can't tell if the swans are angels or demons, but the film soon answers that question for her. Brought up in London's East End in the 1930s, Ronald and Reginald Kray are raised in the resentful world of Violet, who is hateful of her lot in life and bitter at the control men have in running the world ("Housework is a lethal business," she says). The twins react to each other almost telepathically and they take out their anger by clogging the nose of their sleeping father (Alfred Lynch), pushing around fellow schoolboys, and even beating each other to pulp at a boxing match. When her mother chastises them for their fight in a fairground boxing ring ("You fight them up, but you don't fight each other"), the twins veer into the London underworld. In their self-contained world of Us-Against-Them, the Krays rapidly rise to the height of power, first taking over the territory of a petty mobster by violent means and then putting together an underworld empire of posh clubs, cars, and fancy suits. But at the height of their fame, the twins begin to break from each other. Reginald falls in love with Frances (Kate Hardie), while Ronald gets involved in a homosexual relationship with one of his underlings. Ronald, in a jealous rage over Frances stealing his brother away from him, becomes even more brutal in his crimes and while the brothers' backs are turned, a group of older mobsters challenge the Krays' authority, invoking a horrible bloodbath that effects not only the two brothers but Frances and Violet as well. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

In this witty, dialogue-heavy piece, Christopher Plummer stars as the legendary Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov during his days lecturing at Cornell University. He proceeds to give an extremely literate and colorful interpretation of Franz Kafka's classic short story "The Metamorphosis," about a man who wakes up to discover his own transformation into a beetle. The gifted Peter Medak (The Krays, The Changeling) directs. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Based on a 1981 book by Leonard Michaels, focuses on a lawyer (Richard Jordan) who brings together a singularly dysfunctional group of men in a kind of venting, loquacious therapy session. All that talk brings out the worst in everyone. Cavanaugh (Roy Scheider) is a retired baseball star whose wife wants to leave him, Harold (Frank Langella) is an uptight lawyer, Terry (Treat Williams) is a self-centered doctor, Phillip (David Dukes) is the stereotypical, irritating college professor, and Solly (Harvey Keitel) is a blue-collar worker with a warm heart, the closest to normal among the lot. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi