Gary Paller Movies

Fate brings a childless couple a bundle of joy -- who happens to have a criminal record -- in this comedy directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans. Calvin Simms (Marlon Wayans) is a master criminal who with the help of his friend and sidekick, Percy (Tracy Morgan), plans a daring robbery of a museum where one of the world's largest diamonds is on display. One of reasons Calvin is able to get inside secure areas is his size -- Calvin is dwarf who stands less than two feet tall, and can slip in unnoticed where more conventionally sized people would not. While Calvin is able to get the diamond, he's nearly caught by the police while making his getaway, and stashes the jewel in a bag carried by a passerby. Eager to recover the diamond from the unwitting accomplice, Calvin and Percy figure out a way to get into his house -- they dress Calvin up as a baby, and leave him on the doorstep of the passerby's home. As it happens, the couple who live there (Shawn Wayans and Kerry Washington) have been wanting to have a baby, and they eagerly take the new arrival under their wing, embracing the joys of parenthood while ignoring some of the toddler's unusual behavior. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Anarchic comedy veteran David Zucker directs hot young thing of 2003 Ashton Kutcher in the fast-paced romantic comedy My Boss's Daughter. Kutcher plays rookie executive Tom Stansfield, who wants to impress his demanding boss, Jack Taylor (Terence Stamp), and win the heart of said boss' conventionally attractive daughter Lisa (Tara Reid). In order to achieve these ends, he agrees to housesit at their palatial mansion for one night. Chaos ensues throughout the evening as rowdy houseguests show up with various means of disruption. Molly Shannon plays Jack's former employee Audrey and Andy Richter appears as Lisa's brother Red, who's on the run from nasty drug dealers. Cameos come from Carmen Electra, Ever Carradine, and the like. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Needles figure prominently in this blood-soaked entry in the slasher genre. It begins as psycho scientist Dr. Stein begins implanting things in baboons. Dr. Theresa McCann, a colleague at the hospital where they both work is suspicious as to the nature of the perverse professors experiments. Those suspicions increase when one of the apes suddenly dies. Then Stein steals one of her patients. When that patient is found murdered, with only a lollipop left as a clue, McCann gets blamed and suspended. When McCann spies the abandoned sucker she suddenly realizes it belongs to Dr. Matar, an ex-lover in search of revenge against her because she squealed on him and his illicit experiments in tissue regrowth. Matar goes on a killing spree and now only she and her new lover Hendricks can stop him. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Satan opens an antique shop in a small town and lures the residents into evil actions in this supernatural chiller. Based on a novel by the prolific Stephen King, the film bears many of the author's trademarks, such as the New England setting and the focus on regular people tempted by the forces of supernatural evil. Here, the enticements toward bad behavior comes from the "Needful Things" shop, owned by new resident Leland Gaunt (Max von Sydow). Gaunt's shop offers an odd collection of goods, each of which happens to be the object of desire of a local resident. Instead of money, however, Gaunt demands that townspeople perform a series of simple pranks. He has a plan, and these actions escalate until the town is at violent war with itself. The residents are brought to life by a talented cast, led by von Sydow's suave devil and including Ed Harris as the local sheriff, J.T. Walsh as a corrupt politician, and Amanda Plummer as a seemingly innocent baker. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

It is October 6, 2022 and humankind is nearly extinct thanks to a massive alien attack. Astronaut Michael Raynor is fleeing the planet in his spacecraft when suddenly a "wormhole" opens up and sucks him into a time warp. He finally makes it back to the ground and finds himself in Washington state in the year 1992. Soon scientists and military personnel descend upon him and his craft. They get the ship, but he escapes and finds himself pursued by the same human-looking aliens who are destroying the world in his own time. Among the invaders is lovely Karen, who poses as a scientist and decides to help Raynor save his planet. To do this, they must keep Neila from becoming president. They do not know that Neila is himself an outworlder (but discerning audience members who can spell things backwards certainly do!) As the action in the past continues, so does the future story as the few remaining humans battle it out with the aliens in futuristic Washington, D.C. Back in the past Neila and his henchmen decide to make sure Raynor is never born and take off after his pregnant mother who is going to bear him later that year. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Following up on his vampire gangster flick A Bite of Love, Stephen Shin Kei-yin spins this knock off of Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita. The film centers on young wayward lass named Erica (Jade Leung), who escapes from police custody just before her court date. She is eventually hunted down by a secret government agency, whereupon she has a computer device, which improves her physical abilities, implanted in her skull. She is then forced to endure spy boot camp where she becomes schooled in all manners of killing people. While doing her first hit, her crime is captured by a wildlife photographer named Allen (Thomas Lam Cho-fai). Instead of icing the guy immediately, she falls for him. Soon her relationship with the agency becomes strained when Allen figures out what his new girlfriend does for a living. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

In this futuristic film, an extreme shortage of gasoline drives the government to deny citizens the right to own vehicles. A special force is put together to destroy these illegal cars, but one unbalanced member of the force (Alex Diakun) doesn't bother to remove the drivers before he torches the vehicles. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi