Daniel Miller Movies
Oceanic wise guys meet up with a small fish who has a big attitude in this computer-animated comedy. Don Lino (voice of Robert De Niro) is the patriarch of a family of sharks who lord over a bustling aquatic community based along a massive underwater reef. Don Lino has two sons, Frankie (voice of Michael Imperioli) and Lenny (voice of Jack Black); Frankie is a carnivorous tough guy who takes after his father, but Lenny is, at heart, a kind soul who has earned the ire of his dad by becoming a vegetarian. One of Don Lino's cronies is Sykes (voice of Martin Scorsese), who runs a "whale wash" where Oscar (voice of Will Smith) scrubs aquatic mammals for a living. Oscar is a small but ambitious fish who dreams of making something of himself, and when a dropped anchor accidentally kills Frankie, Oscar is suddenly (if mistakenly) celebrated as "the shark killer." Oscar's overnight fame attracts the attentions of Lola (voice of Angelina Jolie), a slinky dragon fish who woos Oscar away from his steady date, Angie (voice of Renée Zellweger); however, Oscar strikes up a friendship with Lenny and has to decide what to do when Don Lino and Sykes decides it's time to "take care" of the "different" shark. Also popping up in Shark Tale's all-star voice cast are Peter Falk, Vincent Pastore, Ziggy Marley, and Katie Couric. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Smith, Robert De Niro, (more)
- 2000
- PG13
Bo Derek is decidedly cast against type as Miss James, a kinky college psychology teacher who challenges her students to write a term paper on "what scares you." Budding criminologist Carl (Scott Rinker) lobbies for an "A" by helping Miss James research her book on an infamous serial killer, who in Se7en fashion "harvested" his victims and killed them one by one--then was freed from prison on a technicality. When Miss James' more troublesome student begin disappearing with alarming regularity, nominal hero Carl begins to wonder if history is repeating itself. But is the aforementioned killer responsible, or is someone else the culprit? Evidently intended for a direct-to-video release, Horror 101: The Final Exam is a Killer made its American debut over the Sci-Fi Channel cable service on April 16, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bo Derek, Brigitta Dau, (more)
- 1996
- R
Also known as Hello, She Lied, this made-for-cable drama stars Kathy Ireland as Marsha Thomas, a professional con artist with a conscience and a surprisingly strong sense of scruples. Be that as it may, Marsha is heavily in debt to a crooked lawyer who had saved her brother Frankie (Shareef Malnik) from a prison term, thus she reluctantly agrees to participate in a scheme to cheat an innocent young woman out of a multimillion-dollar inheritance. As luck would have it, the "innocent" in question is a blonde striptease artist named Jean Ivers (Audie England) -- and in order to learn all she can about Jean to impersonate her for the purposes of the scheme, Marsha is obliged to get a job at the same strip club where Jean works. Rather surprisingly, Kathy Ireland doesn't bare all in this R-rated opus, though we see plenty of co-star Audie England and the rest of the "peelers." Miami Hustle premiered July 21, 1996, on the Showtime channel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kathy Ireland, John Enos, (more)
Over ten years after making the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Tobe Hooper returns to his deranged family of reclusive cannibals for another round of chainsaw chases and non-stop screaming. Hooper brings a real budget this time (having recently directed Poltergeist for Steven Spielberg) and the talents of veteran make-up artist Tom Savini. This means he can make things bigger, louder, and gorier than ever before -- and they are. He also brings a wacky, self-deprecating sense of humor, as if deliberately flaunting Texas Chainsaw Massacre's status as one of the first and still greatest "splatter" movies. The result is an impish take-off on the original film (and contemporary horror movies in general) that elevates its own clichés -- buckets of blood and gore, droll dialogue, the screaming female lead -- to the level of high camp. The movie is loosely concerned with a small-town disc jockey named "Stretch" (Caroline Williams, who does most of the screaming) and an embittered Texas Ranger named "Lefty" (Dennis Hopper). They team up and decide to put an end to the murderous activities of the Sawyer family once and for all (that is, of course, until Texas Chainsaw Massacre III). The real highlight of the film is when Stretch and Lefty find their way into the Sawyer family hideout -- a ruinous, winding abattoir underneath an abandoned amusement park -- and engage in a chainsaw-battle-to-the-death with Leatherface (Bill Johnson) and the rest of the clan. Jim Siedow is back from the first film as the acerbic Drayton Sawyer, the family cook and owner of the Last Roundup Rolling Grill. Chop-Top (Bill Moseley) and Leatherface do most of the movie's dirty work. ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Hopper, Caroline Williams, (more)
- 1980
- PG
This propagandistic, race-car documentary is a vehicle for Werner Erhard (the founder of EST) to express his philosophy on motorized competition. Aphorisms and platitudes sprout up at every turn as the cars make their way around the track. Erhard and his group communicate in emotional terms when they do not win, filling the time between races with their viewpoints on life and living, and losing. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
