David Parker Movies
Bruce McCulloch's buddy comedy Comeback Season stars Ray Liotta and Shaun Sipos as a pair of unlikely friends. Liotta plays Walter Pearce, a man who ends up without a place to stay after a fight with his wife of 24 years. Walter ends up in jail after an incident with another man, and in the cell meets up with Skylar Eckerman (Sipos), a promising football player who has landed in the clink after a drinking binge. Eckerman worries for his future as he has recently suffered a severe injury. Although Eckerman and Pearce share an uncomfortable history, the two bury the hatchet and soon are able to depend on each other. Comeback Season had its world premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ray Liotta, Glenne Headly, (more)
A handful of heroes become superheroes under unlikely circumstances in this action drama adapted from the long-running Marvel comic-book series. Four astronauts are on a mission aboard a new experimental spacecraft when they are unexpectedly exposed to a massive dose of gamma rays. The accident causes strange and unexpected transformations in all four. Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), top scientist and leader of the mission, can now stretch his body like elastic and is dubbed Mr. Fantastic. His partner and sweetheart, Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), develops the ability to become invisible at will, and becomes known as The Invisible Girl. Her younger brother, Johnny Storm (Chris Evans), is renamed The Human Torch for his new talent of being able to summon up fire from his body when he chooses. And Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis), pilot for the journey, mutates into a monstrous creature with superhuman strength and muscles like stone, known as The Thing. Together, the travelers become known as the Fantastic Four, and they set out to use their unusual skills to fight crime, quickly gaining a nemesis in another altered hero who uses his talents for evil, Doctor Doom (Julian McMahon). A long-gestating project that had been talked about by a number of filmmakers since the early '90s, Fantastic Four was previously the basis for a pair of animated television serials, and was made into a feature film in 1994 by producer Roger Corman, though that film was never officially released. (Fantastic Four creator Stan Lee has said the 1994 film was made only so that the producers could hold on to the rights to the characters, and that it was never intended to be distributed to the public.) ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, (more)
A young man uses his vermin pals to exact revenge upon the people who've domineered his life in this remake of the 1971 cult classic. Starring Crispin Glover in the role originated by Bruce Davison, Willard concerns the mundane, repressed existence of the twentysomething title character, who lives at home with his nagging mother (Jackie Burroughs) and works at a shipping company for a stern, authoritarian supervisor (R. Lee Ermey). When Willard becomes fascinated with a gaggle of rats living in his decrepit home, they become both his friends and his aggressors, as he sics them upon anyone who crosses his path. But one rat, Ben, isn't so amenable to Willard's orders, and a horrifying test of wills begins. Willard was brought to the screen for the second time by writer/director Glen Morgan and producer James Wong, who previously worked together on episodes of The X-Files as well as the features Final Destination and The One. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi
- Starring:
- Crispin Glover, R. Lee Ermey, (more)
A young doctor must fight for his life when a crippling car accident leaves him at the mercy of a deranged nurse in this thriller from cinematographer-turned-director Joe C. Maxwell. It's hurricane season in Louisiana, and as the rain falls from the sky, Dr. Zack Peters and his female traveling companion are forced off the road in a blinding flash of lightning and metal. When Dr. Peters awakens to discover that he has been rescued from the wreckage by a strange nurse (Savannah Smith Boucher), his momentary relief soon turns to terror when he discovers that his sadistic savior and her brutal brother Raymond (David Parker) have no plans of letting him get out alive. With his traveling companion missing and the screams of the other "patients" filling the decrepit old house, Dr. Peters enlists the help of another of the nurse's desperate captives in finding his lost friend and escaping the bayou hell. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Two former government agents square off as they search for the most deadly new weapon on Earth in this white-knuckle thriller. Sever (Lucy Liu) was once a top agent with the Defense Intelligence Agency, but she quit when her son was killed in a bungled raid organized by Gant (Gregg Henry), and has sworn to take vengeance against him and his colleagues. When Sever learns that Gant and his team are in possession of a remarkable new weapon -- a microscopic device injected into the victim's bloodstream which is benign until triggered, then kills immediately without leaving a trace -- she is determined to get her hands on it, whatever the cost. However, Gant has turned rogue, and FBI agent Julio Martin (Miguel Sandoval) has been ordered to find him and recover his new weapon. Martin needs the best man he can find for the job, and calls upon Jeremiah Ecks (Antonio Banderas), a former FBI tracker, to do the job. Ecks quit the Bureau when his wife was killed, but Martin informs Ecks that his spouse is actually alive and in hiding, and if he can bring in Gant, she will be returned to him. But Ecks has to face the most formidable adversary of his life in Sever, a master of mayhem bent on revenge. Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever was the first English-language feature from Thai filmmaker Wych Kaosayananda (aka Kaos), whose first feature Fah was a box-office blockbuster in his homeland. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Antonio Banderas, Lucy Liu, (more)
- 2001
Logan (Michael Weatherly) is disturbed by reports that a huge, vicious canine-like human is attacking and killing sector police. The prime suspect is the Manticore fugitive Joshua (Kevin Durand), but he is innocent -- though he knows all too well the identity of the guilty party. Meanwhile, Max (Jessica Alba) and Alec (Jensen Ackles) continue trying to outfox one another, until Alec indicates that he has bigger fish to fry (and may get "fried" himself in the process) by landing a job at Jam Pony. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Jerry Henry directs this paranoid thriller about a band of evil white cops who kill African-Americans in the name of a government-sponsored genetic experiment. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- 1997
The fifth-season opener of NYPD Blue ties up several story ends left dangling at the climax of season four. With no one willing to back up his alibi for his relationship with murdered gangster Jimmy Salvo, Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) is still on suspension pending an Internal Affairs investigation. Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) wants to extend Bobby a helping hand, but he too is under scrutiny from the IAB. Coming to the rescue (in a manner of speaking) is Detective Jill Kirkendall (Andrea Thompson, now promoted from recurring to regular status), who produces a source to back up Bobby's allegations. Elsewhere, the squad searches for a pimp suspected of killing several people. And on the domestic front, Gina Colon (Lourdes Benedicto) is pregnant, but hasn't yet informed the father, Det. James Martinez (Nicholas Turturro). Sharon Lawrence makes a token appearance as Sylvia Costas; the actress, busy with her own starring sitcom Fired Up, would be absent throughout most of season five. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
A sleeper hit that received a lukewarm reception from critics but was a success with audiences, Sister Act (1992) was star Whoopi Golberg's first bona fide smash after her Oscar victory for Ghost (1990). Goldberg stars as Deloris Van Cartier, a Reno lounge singer who accidentally witnesses a brutal murder carried out by her gangster boyfriend Vince (Harvey Keitel). Under the protection of a detective (Bill Nunn) who's trying to bring down Vince's criminal operation, Deloris is placed in protective custody at a San Francisco convent. Masquerading as a nun renamed Sister Mary Clarence, Deloris shakes up the established order of the sisters' lives, particularly enlivening their choral efforts. Although running constantly afoul of the Mother Superior (Maggie Smith), the new, jazzed-up musical act becomes a huge hit in the community, even drawing the attention of the Pope, but also alerting Vince to Deloris' whereabouts. Although credited to the pseudonymous Joseph Howard, Sister Act was actually written by Paul Rudnick and Carrie Fisher. The film was followed by a sequel, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith, (more)
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