Gerald T. Olson Movies
A 15-year-old soccer sensation who's well on her way to joining the U.S. National Team discovers that there is more to life than scoring the next big goal in this sports-themed comedy for the whole family. Ever since Sara Davis (Leah Pipes) was a young girl, her soccer fanatic father has pushed her to do her very best on the field. When word gets out that the National Development Team has found out about Sara and is sending a scout to witness her incredible talent firsthand, it appears that if all of her rigorous training has finally paid off. But Sara's best friend, Tutti, thinks her athletic pal needs to get off of the field and into the real world for a change. It's a whole new ballgame when you're not leading your team to victory in the big game, though, and now, as Sara begins to branch out and experience everything from the wonders of chemistry to the stress of prom night, each new day brings a whole new surprise for the girl whose previous short-sightedness had prevented her from seeing beyond the bleachers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leah Pipes, Drew Tyler Bell, (more)
- 2004
Based on short stories written by Sam Shepard and published in his semi-autobiographical collections Crusing Paradise and Motel Chronicles, See You In My Dreams is the compelling story of the star-crossed romance between Joe (Aidan Quinn), a New Mexico rancher, and Joe's war bride Angela (Marcia Gay Harden). Settling down on his ranch in the years following WW2, Joe is full of grandiose dreams about his future, but is quickly weighed down by the harsh realities of life, just as Angela grows more and more disenchanted with her role as the loyal dutiful farm wife. Having invested all his hopes in his son Ben (Will Estes), Joe allows his inner demons to get the best of him and ultimately compels Ben to leave home at the age of 15. Several years later, Ben returns with his own bride Ingrid (Jacinda Barrett), hoping to mend fences with his estranged father--while Angela has likewise drifted away and into the arms of another man. Offering sidelines advice and solace to both sides of the argument is Joe's best friend, Esteban (Cheech Martin). There are no pat answers or simple solutions in this poignant made-for-TV character study, which made its CBS debut on June 13, 2004. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aidan Quinn, Marcia Gay Harden, (more)
Beck (The Rock) is a "retrieval specialist" in hock to a powerful and not particularly nice gentleman named Walker (William Lucking). Beck is anxious to retire from his dangerous work and open a small restaurant. Walker tells Beck he'll be free and clear with enough cash to fulfill his dream if he does one more job. He sends Beck into the Brazilian rainforest to bring back his wayward son, Travis (Seann William Scott). Travis is down there looking for a legendary idol, El Gato Diablo, which he could sell for millions if he found it. A pretty local, Mariana (Rosario Dawson), offers Travis the use of her boat in exchange for a cut of the take on the statue. But the powerful Hatcher (Christopher Walken) owns the area's huge mine, where locals work for slave wages, and feels that anything found in the area is his property. He refuses to let Beck take Travis back to the U.S. until the statue is in his hands. Using his estimable fighting prowess (he doesn't like guns), Beck manages to get Travis out of town, but Travis doesn't want to go home, and he ends up getting them stranded in the jungle, where they're confronted with horny monkeys and angry guerrillas. To make matters worse, Hatcher and his thugs are hot on their trail, and Mariana turns out to have her own motives for getting involved. The Rundown, the second film directed by actor Peter Berg (Very Bad Things), features a brief, uncredited cameo by Arnold Schwarzenegger. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- The Rock, Seann William Scott, (more)
Ray (Tim Vahle) has just returned from college to run a Native-American ski lodge. A laid-back place where employees' children play in the lobby and the handyman has a habit of macking on guests, the lodge isn't exactly four-star travel guide material. So when Ray learns that a travel guide representative is coming to make an inspection, he makes an executive decision to make the lodge a professional place of business. In addition to keeping his father, who happens to be the hotel's former manager, out of his way, he also has to contend with his somewhat eccentric staff, which includes an emotional vegetarian chef (Graham Greene) who takes a certain pleasure in informing his diners of the names he has given the animals they're eating. Despite Ray's exhaustive preparations, something, of course, goes wrong: something that, in this case, turns out to be a case of mistaken identity: when Tina, a comely Mohawk woman, shows up at the lodge, Ray assumes her to be the representative, and sets about giving her the royal treatment while the actual representative (M. Emmet Walsh) is ignored and must contend with a hefty dose of hotel mismanagement. Christmas in the Clouds was an audience favorite at the 2002 Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Vahle, MariAna Tosca, (more)
- 1999
In this made-for-cable family comedy, a teenage surf champion gets some bad news from his family; they're moving to Vermont, where the waves are pretty hard to come by. Trapped in a school full of landlocked ho-dads, he has to find a way to fit in. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brandon Baker, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, (more)
A darkly comic whodunit about greed, deceit, and romantic deception, Goodbye Lover stars Patricia Arquette as Sandra, a seemingly moral and obsessively cheerful woman who sells real estate and is fascinated by the movie The Sound Of Music. But Sandra has a secret; while she's married to Jake (Dermot Mulroney), an ad executive who is having problems with both his career and his drinking, she's having an affair with his brother, Ben (Don Johnson), a successful public relations man. Ben, on the other hand, is already dallying with Peggy (Mary-Louise Parker), a woman on his staff who is beautiful but insecure, though she has a darker side few people know about. When Ben decides to break it off with Sandra so he can pursue his relationship with Peggy, Sandra is furious, and, knowing Jake would be just as angry, tells him about their affair. A vengeful Jake confronts Ben, which leads to a knock-down, drag-out fight -- and Ben's death, as he falls from a window. Ben leaves behind a hefty insurance settlement, and soon the surviving characters are scrambling over the money. Enter Police Detective Rita Pompano (Ellen DeGeneres), who has seen too much in her time on the force to not develop a deep cynicism about the people she protects -- or to not be tempted to get in on the payday herself. Goodbye Lover was directed by Roland Joffé, in something of a departure from his best-known work in high-minded dramas such as The Killing Fields and The Mission. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Arquette, Dermot Mulroney, (more)
- 1998
This short-lived TV drama series is set in Hawaii where the surfing Connolly clan, headed by widow Ciel Connolly (Bo Derek), has to contend with evil millionaire developer Gardner Poole (Lee Horsley), who's hated by his rebel daughter Kate (Jacinda Barrett). Land-grabber Poole has his eye on Ciel and also on her struggling cattle ranch. Meanwhile, Ciel's surfer sons Cole (William Gregory Lee) and Kelly (Brian Gross) chase after waves and women. Cinematographer John Aronson is responsible for the impressive Hawaiian location shots. The series premiered October 17, 1998 on NBC. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bo Derek, Lee Horsley, (more)
Strange happenings occur when California teenager Sarah (Sarah Chalke) and her mother Rosemary (Markie Post) relocate to the small New England town of Pinecrest. It seems that Sarah shares the same name with a notorious witch who'd been burned at the stake three centuries earlier. Before her death, the "original" Sarah had vowed to get even with all the descendants of the people who persecuted her. A group of snotty high schoolers who've formed The Descendants' Club decide to give the hapless Sarah a very, very hard time -- but the fun is over when, while posing as a fortuneteller at a Halloween party, Sarah discovers that she possesses genuine psychic powers, and foresees a series of disasters that foment a frenzy of mass hysteria in the tiny community. Also tossed into this witches' brew is a mentally challenged serial killer, decked out in a Mike Myers-style mask. Adapted (and heavily laundered) from Lois Duncan's novel Gallows Hill, the made-for-TV I've Been Waiting for You debuted over NBC on March 22, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sarah Chalke, Markie Post, (more)
Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels play the title roles (though viewers may find themselves debating which is which) in this genially low-brow comedy. Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) and Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) are two intellectually-challenged best friends who share an apartment so messy that gangsters aren't sure how to trash the place; the guys also have a certain problem (not difficult to understand) holding on to jobs. Lloyd is working as a limo driver in Rhode Island when he picks up a beautiful and wealthy woman named Mary Swanson (Lauren Holly) who is being taken to the airport. Lloyd immediately falls head over heels in love with Mary, and when she leaves a briefcase at the airport, he's determined to return it in hopes of impressing her. Lloyd isn't able to get aboard Mary's flight (though not for lack of trying). Harry has a van decorated to look like a dog (to promote his failing dog-grooming business), and the pair hop in the Poochmobile to find Mary in Aspen. What Lloyd and Harry don't know is that the briefcase is full of money, which Mary deliberately left at the airport as a ransom payment to save the life of her kidnapped husband. Incidentally, Lloyd's chipped front tooth happens to be real; while Jim Carrey had the injured tooth capped many years ago, he thought a broken smile would suit Lloyd's character and had the cap removed for the duration of filming. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, (more)
- 1992
- Add Big Girls Don't Cry... They Get Even to QueueAdd Big Girls Don't Cry... They Get Even to top of Queue
Joan Micklin Silver tries her mighty best to wring something substantial out of Frank Mugavero's banal sit-com screenplay concerning the effect of divorce on the divorced parents' off-spring. Hillary Wolf stars as Laura Chartoff, a lonely thirteen-year-old girl who is the victim of multiple parental divorces and remarriages. She lives with her current stepfather Keith Powers (David Strathairn), a cool businessman, and her flighty, self-absorbed mother Melinda (Margaret Whitton). Her biological father David (Griffin Dunne) is a struggling artist separated from his second wife Barb (Patricia Kalember) and is now living with a younger woman Stephanie (Adrienne Shelley), who is pregnant with twins. After a fight with her mother and stepfather, Laura runs away to a rustic cabin in the woods being built by her older stepbrother Josh (Dan Futterman). When she spots Keith and Melinda walking up the road to the cabin, Laura dashes off into the forest. Reported missing, all of the members of Laura's extended family converge at the cabin to try to find her. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hillary Wolf, David Strathairn, (more)
In this better-than-average kick-boxer foray, Brandon Lee (son of famed martial-arts film star, Bruce Lee) stars as a young art student who happens to witness a drug murder and is placed in protective custody by federal agents. It's not too long before he realizes that the only real protection he can count on is his own martial-arts training. This film is rated R for violence, sex and profanity. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brandon Lee, Powers Boothe, (more)
House Party is an infectious, engaging comedy starring the rap duo Kid 'N Play. Kid (Christopher Reid) decides to throw a party where he plans to blow the roof off the joint with his rhyming skills, so he and his friend Play (Christopher Martin) throw a huge party while Play's parents are away. The day of the party, Kid is grounded by his father (Robin Harris) and he has to sneak out of the house to get to the party, where he is confronted by several rival rappers, as well as a bevy of adoring girls. Though House Party follows a standard plot-line straight out of the '50s rock & roll films, the script is inventive, providing many different twists and turns, while Reginald Hudlin's direction is assured and very, very funny. Kid 'N Play are both terrific, but the true standout is legendary comedian Robin Harris in one of his few screen roles. House Party later spawned two sequels and an animated television series. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher "Kid" Reid, Christopher "Play" Martin, (more)
In this black comedy about cannibalism, an overweight man (Joe Alaskey) is thrilled when a beautiful woman (Donna Dixon) invites him to her family's home for Christmas dinner. Little does he know that he's slated to be the main course. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donna Dixon, Joe Alaskey, (more)
A cop discovers that there's something unusual about his new partner in this unusual sci-fi thriller. A seemingly well-mannered stock broker one day snaps, robbing a bank, stealing a Ferrari, and driving straight into a police barricade without any thought for his own safety, and he's mowed down by a hail of bullets. The detective assigned to the case, Tom Beck (Michael Nouri), thinks that he notices a strange look in the eye of the thief, but when FBI agent Lloyd Gallagher (Kyle MacLachlan) informs Tom that he's also been assigned to the case, he thinks that he sees the same curious look in Lloyd's eyes as well. Lloyd also has an odd way of carrying himself, as if he's not entirely in control of his own body, and in time, Tom discovers what the two men have in common -- both are actually aliens from another planet. They are creatures from another world capable of entering a human (or animal) body at will and using it as a vessel as long as they need. When the stockbroker died, the rogue alien simply crept into another body to begin his crime spree all over again. Lloyd has been sent to Earth to bring the thief's reign of terror to a halt and has taken over the body of an FBI agent with that in mind. A major cult favorite, The Hidden also features Clu Gulager, Ed O'Ross, and Claudia Christian. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Nouri, Kyle MacLachlan, (more)
- 1987
- PG13
A young man named Kaz (Scott Valentine), afflicted with the curse of turning into an animal at the least sign of sexual arousal, tries to remain friends with a girl he's just met (Michelle Little). Meanwhile, he recruits a bizarre street scientist (Arnold Johnson) to create an antidote to the curse before its too late. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scott Valentine, Michelle Little, (more)
This actioner is set in a remote, heavily forested area in Northern California where marijuana growers raise their illegal crops and run whole communities with their terrorist tactics and wealth. The tale centers on the efforts of a fearless New York cop to free one such community from the tyranny of the pot growers. It begins with a surveyor who is leading the town's crooked sheriff to a small marijuana field he has just discovered. The surveyor is killed before he can get there. Joshua, a small boy, sees the execution and tries to get back in time to tell his parents. Unfortunately, the killers murder his family and throw him off a cliff. The boy's aunt, worried at not hearing from her family, gets suspicious and asks an old flame, NY cop Joe Dillon, to investigate. The town sheriff is not pleased by his intrusion and warns him to stay out of it. Dillon disobeys, and that is where all the action comes in. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Remar, Adam Coleman Howard, (more)
Alex Cox's directorial debut was a wickedly funny and willfully bizarre story that became a major cult item once it began making the art-house rounds a year after its release (an initial run in a string of Southern grind houses and drive-ins, where it was billed as an action film, was a resounding failure). Having lost his job and his girlfriend, punk rocker Otto (Emilio Estevez) meets a guy named Bud (Harry Dean Stanton) who offers him $25 to drive his wife's car out of a "bad area." When a handful of angry people start chasing Otto, he realizes that something is up, and he discovers that Bud repossesses cars for a living. With few immediate prospects, Otto joins Bud at the repo yard and is soon "ripping" cars with the best of them. When an anonymous source posts a $20,000 reward for a missing 1964 Chevy Malibu, it turns out that what's valuable isn't the car itself, but what's in the trunk, which is very hot, glows brightly, and kills anyone who comes in contact with it. A vaguely surreal modern-noir science-fiction comedy with echoes of Kiss Me Deadly (1955), Repo Man is packed with more incongruous sight gags than anyone can absorb in one viewing; keep your eyes peeled for the air fresheners, the generic newspaper box, and the watches without hands. Harry Dean Stanton gives a superb comic performance as the intense but laid-back Bud, Emilio Estevez delivers perhaps the best work of his career as the petulant but goofy Otto, and Tracey Walter is hilarious as the spaced out repo-yard man Miller. Iggy Pop wrote and performed the theme song and The Circle Jerks appear as a lounge band. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Dean Stanton, Emilio Estevez, (more)
This is an unusual entry in the knights-in-armor genre. Set in medieval England, the film follows the exploits of a young swordsman, Talon (Lee Horsley). Working as a mercenary knight, Talon possesses a unique three-bladed sword which fires its two extra blades when he touches a button. By chance, Talon learns that he is a prince who has forgotten his royal heritage. Using his sword and his wiles, he attempts to regain control of his kingdom, which has been taken over by a sadistic tyrannical knight and an evil sorcerer. In doing so, he can save a princess who has been taken hostage by the usurpers. Comedy is interspersed with gory and licentious drama throughout the film, which was directed and written by Albert Pyun. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kathleen Beller, Simon MacCorkindale, (more)
Sort of a triple-threat Bad Seed with a more overtly violent streak, this film tells the tale of trio of cherubic youngsters whose births all coincided with a solar eclipse, which somehow initiated a kind of time-release evil reaction that reaches its climax on the kids' tenth birthday, causing them to transform into miniature homicidal psychopaths. These darling little tykes then proceed to beat dad's brains out with a baseball bat, gun down their teacher, and otherwise beat, stab and strangle anyone who even looks cross-eyed at them. They also seem to be strangely fond of leering at naked teenage girls... or maybe that's just the director's favorite pastime. Produced in 1980, this proto-slasher opus was shelved for six years, then released to video to capitalize on the already-waning trend of Friday the 13th sequels and their hellish offspring. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Strasberg, José Ferrer, (more)
- 1979
- R
Escaping from her childhood life of poverty and abuse on the farm, in the 1930s, Polly Franklin (Pamela Sue Martin) sets her sights on Hollywood as the promised land and leaves home. However, she doesn't get that far - she lands in Chicago instead. Taking the low-paying jobs which are available to her, she quickly finds herself in a situation which is as oppressive as anything she knew at home. Despite her best efforts to keep her head above water, she soon winds up in prison. The best situation in her life comes afterwards, when she becomes a prostitute in a whorehouse run by Anna Sage (Louise Fletcher). However, even this doesn't last, as the police close down the house during a "decency crusade." Back on the streets once again, she meets a wonderful man (Robert Conrad) who claims to be working for the Board of Trade. She tells Anna (who is still her friend) about this new love in her life, and Anna realizes that he must be America's Most Wanted Man, the bank robber John Dillinger. Anna, in danger of being deported, arranges for the police to corner Dillinger and kill him while in Anna and Polly's company. In the ensuing publicity, everyone makes it look as though Polly was Dillinger's betrayer, and her life becomes even more miserable than it was before. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pamela Sue Martin, Robert Conrad, (more)
Rock 'n' Roll High School is a prime example of a 1970s movie phenomenon: a cult film that was deliberately designed to be a cult film. High-schooler Riff Randell's (P.J. Soles) efforts to meet the Ramones are continually thwarted by rock & roll-hating principal Evelyn Togar (Mary Woronov). Ms. Togar is the zealous sort who conducts experiments on laboratory rats to prove the adverse effect of rock music on innocent teenagers. Riff knows that she'll have to be twice as clever and devious as Togar to get her daily supply of Ramones -- and thereby hangs our tale. A secondary plot involves the efforts of pimply student Eaglebauer (Clint Howard) to arrange a date with the very particular Riff. A deliciously anarchistic climax caps this never-a-dull-moment spoof of 1950s rock & roll musicals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- P.J. Soles, Vincent Van Patten, (more)
Day or night, it's a hot and wild summer at Malibu Beach. When the sun is high, it's Dina's (Kim Lankford) job to patrol the area. Being the hot new lifeguard on duty isn't as easy as you'd think -- there's the older, muscle-bound beach idiot Dugan (Steven J. Oliver) continually lusting after her, while jerk kids fake drowning just to get her to save them. And who can forget that pesky bikini-stealing dog?!? Thankfully, when the moon comes up, it's time to party 1978-style. With her best friend Margie (Sherry Marks) in tow, the girls prowl the local disco pub and then end up back at the beach for some booze and boys. Meanwhile, best buds Bobby (James Daughton) and Paul (Michael Luther) trace their every step, looking for the perfect make-out. Filled with amazing '70s hair, rockin' Jeeps, and a non-stop soundtrack, Malibu Beach is the vacation spot you wish you could still jump in your van and head out to. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Lankford, James Daughton, (more)
