Jon Peters Movies
A hard-case kid who spent his formative years in and out of reform school, Peters settled down at 14 to go into his mother's line of work as a haircutter in a beauty shop. Armed with an instinctive genius for self-promotion, he amassed a huge celebrity clientele at his trendy Jon Peters Salon on Rodeo Drive, raking in millions by merchandising the salon's ancillary cosmetic products. Along the way, Peters made hundreds of valuable showbiz contacts, and married one of his best customers, actress Leslie Ann Warren. Privy to confidences that the Rich and Famous only reveal to their hairdressers, Peters was fairly hip to the ways and means of Hollywood by the time he fell in love with Barbra Streisand in 1974 (he divorced Warren a year later). Streisand trusted Peters enough to put her entire career in his talented hands. He produced her 1976 remake of Star is Born, which earned the derision of the "suits" and the drubbing of the critics, but which made a fortune and yielded an Oscar-winning song, Evergreen. Virtually overnight, Peters blossomed into an A-list producer, a status he sustained long after his breakup with Streisand. His subsequent productions included The Eyes of Laura Mars (1977) and Caddyshack (1980), all knocked by reviewers but eaten up by the public. In 1980, Peters teamed with former Casablanca Records and Filmworks exec Peter Guber; together with Neil Bogart, Peters and Guber formed the Polygram Productions, later renamed the Boardwalk Company. A series of mergers and selloffs later, Guber-Peters Productions was born in 1983. The team's willingness to take enormous chances with huge amounts of money transformed Guber and Peters into the wunderkind of Hollywood, especially after such critical and/or financial successes as The Color Purple (1985), Gorillas in the Mist (1988) and Rain Man (1989). Shortly after reforming as Guber-Peters-Barris, the partnership took its biggest risk and scored its biggest hit with Batman: The Movie (1989), which won Peters and his partners a multimillion-dollar seven-year WB contract. Within months, they were wooed away by Sony Corporation, which offered Peters, Guber et. al. one billion dollars to assume chief executive posts at Sony's newest acquisition, Columbia Pictures. In 1991, after taking a bath with Bonfire of the Vanities, Jon Peters bolted Columbia for the independent Jon Peters Organization; within a year, he was back on his feet with Batman Returns (1992). Seldom one to joke about his accomplishments, Jon Peters has on at least one occasion flippantly compared moviemaking to hairdressing: "When I was in the hair business I produced huge spectacular shows. Film is just another form of production." A fairly deliberate producer who always took the time to nuture his projects, Peters would produce only eight films in the thirteen years following Batman Returns, with a trip to the ring in 2001's Ali preceding a return to the superhero arena with the 2006 blockbuster Superman Returns. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The Man of Steel returns to the big screen with this continuation of the icon's film legacy that picks up after the events of the first two Christopher Reeve films. Some time has passed since the events of Superman II and the world has gotten used to life without Superman (Brandon Routh) ever since his puzzling disappearance years earlier. Upon his return, he finds a Metropolis that doesn't need him anymore, while Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has moved on with another young suitor Richard White (James Marsden) in the meantime. As the hero begins to tackle the fact that life on Earth has continued without him, he is forced to face his old arch-nemesis Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) and restore the life that was once his. Directed by Bryan Singer from a script by the writing team of X-Men 2, Superman Returns marks a return to the screen for the man in tights, whose production history has seen many failed attempts including a famous near-miss from Tim Burton and Kevin Smith with Nicolas Cage in the lead role, along with another from director McG and writer J.J. Abrams (Lost). Singer eventually won the prestigious gig when he pitched the idea to not tackle the origin story again, but continue with director Richard Donner's original vision. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, (more)
Notoriously obsessive director Michael Mann and star Will Smith devoted nearly two years and over 100 million dollars from the coffers of Columbia Pictures and other financiers to creating this biography of boxing great Muhammad Ali, which focuses on the ten-year period of 1964-1974. In that time, the brash, motor-mouthed athlete quickly dominates his sport, meets and marries his first wife (Jada Pinkett-Smith), converts to Islam (changing his name from Cassius Clay), and defies the United States government by refusing to submit to military conscription for duty in Vietnam. His world heavyweight champion title thus stripped from him entirely for political reasons, the champ sets about to win back his crown, culminating in a legendary unification bout against George Foreman (Charles Shufford) in Zaire, dubbed the "Rumble in the Jungle." In his travels, Ali becomes a symbol of power to disenfranchised African-Americans everywhere and meets such luminaries as Malcolm X (Mario Van Peebles), Martin Luther King Jr. (LeVar Burton) and Maya Angelou (Martha Edgerton). Ali features an all-star supporting cast that includes Jon Voight, Giancarlo Esposito, Jamie Foxx, Nona Gaye, Michael Michele, Joe Morton, Paul Rodriguez, Ron Silver, Mykelti Williamson, and Jeffrey Wright. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, (more)
Yet another TV series is revived for the big screen, as Will Smith and Kevin Kline join forces as James T. West and Artemus Gordon, the most sophisticated government agents of the 1860's, in the film adaptation of The Wild Wild West. West and Gordon represent two opposite ends of the personality scale: West is a smooth-talking charmer and man of action who prefers to shoot first and ask questions much, much later; while Gordon is intensely methodical and cerebral, with a genius for gadgets and mechanical innovations. They're brought together by no less an authority than the President of the United States to track down an evil genius named Dr. Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branagh). Loveless was once an honored military leader and inventor until one of his schemes went awry and left him paralyzed from the waist down. Driven mad by the experience, Loveless is determined to get revenge on the United States by assassinating the President, using a 60-foot tall mechanical spider. Assisting Loveless is a team of beautiful female criminals, Miss East (Bai Ling), Amazonia (Frederique Van Der Wal), Munitia (Musetta Vander) and Miss Lippenreider (Sofia Eng). As the initially suspicious West and Gordon learn to work together, they also find themselves helped by an attractive woman, Rita Escobar (Salma Hayek), who has her own bone to pick with Loveless. Wild Wild West reunites star Will Smith with director Barry Sonnenfeld, who previously worked together on the hit Men In Black (1997). Wild Wild West features a hip-hop theme song from one-time Fresh Prince Smith, along with a more traditional Western score from composer Elmer Bernstein. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Smith, Kevin Kline, (more)
Rosewood is the true story of an almost unknown incident in a small Florida town, (fictionalized, but faithful to the known facts, as documented in a 1994 report by the Florida Legislature). The town was inhabited almost entirely by quiet, "middle-class" African- Americans (most of them home and land owners and better off than average at the time.) On New Year's day, 1923, the town was wiped off the face of the earth by angry whites from a neighboring community. Based on palpably false testimony by a single white woman against one "Black" stranger, many of the men of Rosewood were hunted down and lynched, or shot, or burned. The rest of the town's residents fled into the swamps and never returned. At the time, official reports stated that two to six people from the black community were slain. Neither the perpetrators nor the victims spoke of the incident again, which was promptly forgotten until 1983 when a reporter stumbled across the old story and began investigating. Interviews with surviving victims indicated that the previous reports were wrong; in reality, between 70 and 250 people were killed in Rosewood during the four-day attack.
The film is a human story, about human envy, greed and lust, about the totally insane psychology of a mob, but also about the courage and decency of common folks facing an unbelievable onslaught of evil. The courage of the black residents is self evident, and the decency on the part of a few white neighbors is reluctant, until they realize that they can't live with themselves if they don't help the woman and children to escape. The most notable black heroes are Sylvester (Don Cheadle) -- a music teacher and the best-educated man in town -- and Mann (Ving Rhames) -- a stranger on horseback with Samson-like strength who becomes the focus of white hatred and black resistance. The penny-pinching, adulterous town grocer John Wright (John Voight), one of the few white residents, also plays a key role in saving lives, but before he does, he must resolve painful racial issues and make a difficult personal choice. Eventually, though, he sees enough of the mob's evil to know what he must do, and with the help of the reluctant owner-operators of the Gainesville railway, he does it. John Singleton's powerful epic film does not present a "comfortable" view of the circumstances of this grim, little-known page from American history. ~ Michael P. Rogers, All Movie Guide
The film is a human story, about human envy, greed and lust, about the totally insane psychology of a mob, but also about the courage and decency of common folks facing an unbelievable onslaught of evil. The courage of the black residents is self evident, and the decency on the part of a few white neighbors is reluctant, until they realize that they can't live with themselves if they don't help the woman and children to escape. The most notable black heroes are Sylvester (Don Cheadle) -- a music teacher and the best-educated man in town -- and Mann (Ving Rhames) -- a stranger on horseback with Samson-like strength who becomes the focus of white hatred and black resistance. The penny-pinching, adulterous town grocer John Wright (John Voight), one of the few white residents, also plays a key role in saving lives, but before he does, he must resolve painful racial issues and make a difficult personal choice. Eventually, though, he sees enough of the mob's evil to know what he must do, and with the help of the reluctant owner-operators of the Gainesville railway, he does it. John Singleton's powerful epic film does not present a "comfortable" view of the circumstances of this grim, little-known page from American history. ~ Michael P. Rogers, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Voight, Ving Rhames, (more)
In this comedy, Russell P. Kramer (Jack Lemmon) and Matt Douglas (James Garner) are two former U.S. Presidents who sit on opposite sides of the political fence. Kramer is a stuffy Republican reluctant to part with a dollar, while Douglas is a left-leaning Democrat with an eye for the ladies. Douglas succeeded Kramer in office after a single term, while Douglas, after four years as chief executive, lost to his former running mate William Haney (Dan Aykroyd). When the facts about a bribery scheme in Haney's administration threaten to surface and destroy his reputation, the ruthless president tries to pin the responsibility on Kramer and Douglas -- and when the ex-presidents learn the truth about Haney's dealings, Haney tries to have them killed before they can talk. Kramer and Douglas soon find themselves on the run, disguising themselves as celebrity impersonators, hiding out in the woods with a homeless family, and marching in a Gay Pride parade in an effort to stay clear of Haney's goons while they bring the truth to the people. My Fellow Americans also features Lauren Bacall as Kramer's long-suffering wife and John Heard as Haney's intellectually-challenged vice president. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lemmon, James Garner, (more)
A pair of New York City cops collaborate on a plan to rob a cash-packed subway train in this action-comedy. Charlie (Woody Harrelson) and John (Wesley Snipes) are not just co-workers and close friends but also foster brothers. Because of this family connection, the reluctant John becomes involved in the more capricious Charlie's far-fetched scheme to rob the "money train" that collects the subway's daily grosses. Charlie needs the money for gambling debts, and robbing the train would have the added benefit of angering Charlie's and John's harsh, corrupt boss Captain Patterson (Robert Blake). Romantic interest is provided by a fellow police officer (Jennifer Lopez) who sparks rivalry between the brothers, but the film's main interest is in the violent events that surround the attempted heist, which naturally proves more complicated than planned. The film attempts to capitalize on the chemistry between Snipes and Harrelson, who had previously had a hit comedy with White Men Can't Jump (1992), but Joseph Ruben's unexceptional direction and a bland screenplay by Doug Richardson and David Loughery make the film less distinctive than its predecessor. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, (more)
In the original box-office smash Under Siege, action hero Steven Seagal played Casey Ryback, a U.S. Navy SEAL who saved the world from nuclear destruction by outsmarting and killing off terrorists who had commandeered a submarine. In this sequel, Seagal's Ryback character does the same sort of thing aboard a train. Ryback now has retired from the Navy and is taking his niece Sarah (Katherine Heigl) on a vacation. They board a train traveling through the Rocky Mountains. Criminal mastermind Travis Dane (Eric Bogosian) is using the train as a control center in his effort to kidnap a top-secret government outer space super-weapon. Dane built the weapon but then was fired by the government before it was deployed. He has hooked up with shadowy Middle Eastern terrorists who have offered him $1 billion to use the satellite to blow up the Eastern seaboard by targeting a secret nuclear reactor underneath the Pentagon. Dane shows the Pentagon that he's got control of the weapon by blowing up a Chinese chemical plant. Officials can't stop him because they can't locate his headquarters. As long as the train keeps moving, his location can't be fixed. Ryback learns of the plot and enlists a porter named Bobby (Morris Chestnut) to help him in his battle. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steven Seagal, Eric Bogosian, (more)
Harvard University graduate Alek Keshishian directed this tale about a homeless man who teaches some snotty Harvard students a thing or two about real life. Monty (Brendan Fraser) is a self-absorbed graduate student who is obsessed with finishing his thesis on government so that he can satisfy his demanding teacher, Professor Pitkannan (Gore Vidal). When Monty loses his precious thesis in the basement of the library's heating plant, it is found by a homeless man living there, Simon (Joe Pesci). Simon agrees to return the thesis one page at a time in return for certain favors. The relationship with the bearded vagabond changes Monty's view of life, and it also affects his housemates, who include Everett (Patrick Dempsey), a wisecracking radio host; Courtney (Moira Kelly), who is immature and sex-obsessed; and the studious nerd Jeff (Josh Hamilton). Simon becomes something of a father figure to Monty, argues history with Professor Pitkannan, and provides an earthy balance to the overly academic viewpoint of the students. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Pesci, Brendan Fraser, (more)
A single mother and her difficult son find family life isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be in this drama adapted from writer and professor Tobias Wolff's 1989 memoir of the same name. Nomadic, flaky Caroline (Ellen Barkin) just wants to settle down in one place, find a decent guy, and provide a better home for her handful of a son, Toby (Leonardo DiCaprio). When she moves to Seattle and meets the respectful, respectable Dwight Hansen (Robert DeNiro), she thinks she's got it made. Toby, however, feels differently after spending a few months with Dwight and his children and away from Caroline. The boy's stepfather-to-be seems to want to mold Toby into a better person, but to do so he emotionally, verbally, and physically abuses the kid. The marriage proceeds, and soon Caroline, too, recognizes Dwight's need to dominate everyone around him. She sticks with it, though, convinced it's the best thing for her son, and several years of dysfunction ensue. During this time, Tobias befriends another misfit, the possibly homosexual young Jonah (Arthur Gayle), while continuing to chafe under the yoke of his repressive stepfather. This Boy's Life provided the first lead role for future superstar DiCaprio. The film was written by Robert Getchell, who also penned such mother/son fare as Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and The Client. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, Ellen Barkin, (more)
In this first sequel to 1989's Batman, the Caped Crusader (Michael Keaton) is up against the Penguin (Danny DeVito), the hideously deformed scion of a wealthy Gotham City family. The Penguin plots with evil businessman Max Schreck (Christopher Walken) to become mayor and then turn Gotham into a cathedral of crime. Upon overhearing these plans, Schreck's mousy secretary Selena Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer) is tossed from a high-rise window by her boss. Rescued by a covey of kittens, Selena transforms into the leather-clad Catwoman. In this guise, she teams with the Penguin and Schreck to divvy up their ill-gotten gains and help discredit Batman-but she also has her own scores to settle. Paul "Pee-Wee Herman" Reubens, Vincent Schiavelli and Jan Hooks play significant bits, while Pat Hingle and Michael Gough make returns as, respectively, Commissioner Gordon and Alfred the Butler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, (more)
Brian De Palma's Hollywood sanitization of Tom Wolfe's scabrous satire stars Tom Hanks as Sherman McCoy, the "master of the universe," a shallow Wall Street investor who makes millions while enjoying the good life and the sexual favors of Maria Ruskin (Melanie Griffith), a Southern belle golddigger. Sherman and Maria are driving back to Maria's apartment from the airport when Maria takes a wrong turn on the expressway and the two find themselves in the South Bronx. She sees a black youth approaching Sherman's car and Maria, frightened, guns the engine, running over the teenager and killing him. The two drive away and decide not to report the accident to the police. Meanwhile, indigent alcoholic journalist Peter Fallow (Bruce Willis), anxious for a story to make good with his editor, comes upon the hit-and-run tale through local black community activist, Reverend Bacon (John Hancock). Bacon plans to use the hit-and-run case as a rallying point for the black community, while Fallow recognizes the press coverage inherent in prosecuting the callow Sherman. As Sherman is brought to his knees, the New York community fragments into different factions who use the case to suit their own cynical political purposes. Finally, Sherman is left without any allies to support him except for the sympathetic Judge White (Morgan Freeman) and the remorseful Fallow. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, (more)
Behind the black cowl, Gotham City superhero Batman is really millionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton), who turned to crimefighting after his parents were brutally murdered before his eyes. The only person to share Wayne's secret is faithful butler Alfred (Michael Gough). The principal villain in Batman is The Joker (Jack Nicholson) who'd been mob torpedo Jack Napier before he was horribly disfigured in a vat of acid. The Joker's plan to destroy Batman and gain control of Gotham City is manifold. First he distributes a line of booby-trapped cosmetics, then he goes on a destruction spree in the Gotham Art Museum while the music of Prince blasts away in the background, and finally he orchestrates an all-out campaign to win the hearts and minds of the Gothamites, hoping to turn them against the Cowled One. Meanwhile, reporter Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) becomes the love of Batman's life-which of course plays right into the Joker's hands. Photographed by Roger Pratt, designed by Anton Furst, and scored by Tim Burton's favorite composer Danny Elfman, Batman was a monstrous box-office hit, making $100 million in the first ten days of release--$82,800,000 in North America alone. Incidentally, Billy Dee Williams' comparatively small role as DA Harvey Dent was originally designed to set up the sequel, wherein Dent was to convert into master criminal Two-Face; but by the time the producers got around to that character in 1995's Batman Forever, Two-Face was played by Tommy Lee Jones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, (more)
Sylvester Stallone tries his luck with his first cop buddy movie in Tango and Cash, directed by Andrei Konchalovsky. Stallone is Ray Tango, a Los Angeles narcotics cop who dresses in fancy suits, wears wire-rim glasses, and talks to his stockbroker more than he talks to his mother. Kurt Russell is Gabriel Cash, another Los Angeles narcotics cop who has long, disheveled blonde hair and dresses in worn-out sweatshirts. Together, Tango and Cash are the two best narcs in LA, which causes drug baron Yves Perret (Jack Palance) no end of distress. Since Yves controls a billion-dollar drug empire, Tango and Cash have to be taken out of the picture in some way. So Yves arranges for Tango and Cash to be framed for a crime. But the duo accepts a plea bargain that will give them 18 months in a minimum-security prison. Unfortunately, Yves arranges for their destination to be diverted to a maximum-security hell-hole where Yves's minions proceed to torture Tango and Cash --although they still have time to trade quips with each other. Ultimately, they escape from their torture chamber and seek out Yves and his gang. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, (more)
- 1989
James Brolin costars with his son Josh in the made-for-cable Finish Line. The film's ad copy says it all: "His father made him run. The steroids made him win." In a justifiably melodramatic fashion, the film, based on a true story, examines the win-at-any-cost mentality of high school athletes and their parents. As is proven in the wrenching finale, that cost is a precious one. Finish Line premiered January 11, 1989, on the TNT cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This comedy returns to the exclusive but crazy country club golf course seen in the original Caddyshack. This time its the blue-bloods against the blue collars as a loud, vulgar self-made millionaire tries to join the stuffy upper-crust club after his daughter falls in love with the son of one of the members. Naturally, the boisterous millionaire is rejected by the genteel jerks. He retaliates by buying the golf course and turning it into an ultra-tacky amusement park. Merry mayhem ensues, but in the end, the snobs learn a valuable lesson, the millionaire gets to join, and his daughter and her lover are finally united. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Mason, Dyan Cannon, (more)
Self-centered, avaricious Californian Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) is informed that his long-estranged father has died. Expecting at least a portion of the elder Babbitt's $3 million estate, Charlie learns that all he's inherited is his dad's prize roses and a 1949 Buick Roadmaster. Discovering that the $3 million is being held in trust for an unidentified party, Charlie heads to his home town of Cincinnati to ascertain who that party is. It turns out that the beneficiary is Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman), the autistic-savant older brother that Charlie never knew he had. Able to memorize reams of trivia and add, subtract, multiply, and divide without a second's hesitation, Raymond is otherwise incapable of functioning as a normal human being. Aghast that Raymond is to receive his father's entire legacy, Charlie tries to cut a deal with Raymond's guardian. When this fails, Charlie "borrows" Raymond from the institution where he lives, hoping to use his brother as leverage to claim half the fortune. During their subsequent cross-country odyssey, Charlie is forced to accommodate Raymond's various autistic idiosyncracies, not the least of which is his insistence on adhering to a rigid daily schedule: he must, for example, watch People's Court and Jeopardy every day at the same time, no matter what. On hitting Las Vegas, Charlie hopes to harness Raymond's finely-honed mathematical skills to win big at the gaming tables; but this exploitation of his brother's affliction compels Charlie to reassess his own values, or lack thereof. A longtime pet project of star Dustin Hoffman, Rain Man was turned down by several high-profile directors before Barry Levinson took on the challenge of bringing Ronald Bass' screenplay to fruition (Levinson also appears in the film as a psychiatrist). All three men won Oscars, and the movie won Best Picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, (more)
- 1988
- PG
It is very likely that hard-core Creationists will not be politely inclined towards The Missing Link. This unique, thoroughly credible "historical drama" stars David Hughes (husband of director Carol Hughes) as an ancient man-ape, living in what would later be called Africa. After his people are killed off by the more highly evolved humans, Hughes sets out on a grueling trek across the African plain. En route, he encounters numerous examples of species that have long since become extinct (is there a subliminal pro-eco message lurking about here?) Star Hughes' "missing link" makeup is convincingly rendered by Oscar-winner Rick Baker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Anthony Elliott
Gorillas in the Mist is based on the autobiographical 1983 book by naturalist Dian Fossey. Before the book could be brought before the cameras, Fossey had been mysteriously killed; her death provides a logical, if somewhat ghoulish climax to the film. A Kentucky girl, Fossey (Sigourney Weaver) is inspired by famed anthropologist Louis Leakey (Ian Cuthbertson) to devote her life to the study of primates. Travelling into deepest Africa, Fossey becomes fascinated with the lives and habits of the rare mountain gorillas of the Ugandan wilderness. Studying them at close quarters, Fossey develops a means of communicating with the gorillas, and in so doing becomes obsessed with the beasts' well-being. She is so devoted to "her" mountain that she loses the opportunity for a romance with a National Geographic photographer (Bryan Brown). Appalled by the poaching of the gorillas for their skins, Fossey complains to the Ugandan government, which dismisses her by explaining that poaching is the only means by which some of the Ugandan natives can themselves survive. She refuses to accept this, and becomes a militant animal-rights activist, burning down the poachers' villages and even staging a mock execution of one of the offenders. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sigourney Weaver, Bryan Brown, (more)
The Witches of Eastwick, a memorable comedy with a dark edge, is based upon a novel by John Updike. On Thursday nights three female friends -- Alex (Cher), Sukie (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Jane (Susan Sarandon) -- meet to chug martinis, learn Chinese aphrodisiac cooking and lament the scarcity of eligible men. As they sit around, they fantasize about and describe their idea of the ideal male. Arriving in town the following day is Satan, disguised as mysterious stranger Darrell Van Horn (Jack Nicholson). One by one, Van Horne seduces each of the women. Then, strange things begin to happen. When the town matriarch Felicia (Veronica Cartwright) publicly denounces Van Horne, she sustains a nasty compound fracture. When she forces her editor husband to publish a story about Van Horne's sexual antics, Darrell gets his revenge with revoltingly large amounts of cherries. The women now see that they may be in danger and begin to plot their escape. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Nicholson, Cher, (more)
- 1987
Directed by Al Giddings, Ocean Symphony features an original musical store set to striking underwater photography. Whether it's the icy waters of the Arctic north, or the warm waters of the Carribean, the world of the sea is revealed in these eleven segments. Featured creatures include jelly fish, sharks, and a wide variety of whales.
~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
A year after appearing in the box-office sleeper Shanghai Surprise, pop superstar Madonna starred in the screwball comedy Who's That Girl? She plays Nikki Finn, who is being released from prison after serving a four-year sentence for a murder she didn't commit. Meanwhile, wealthy lawyer Loudon (Griffin Dunne) is about to get married that afternoon to the snobby Wendy (Haviland Morris), the daughter of Simon Worthington (John McMartin). Worthington does not approve of the wedding and he wants Nikki out of town as soon as possible, so he sends Loudon to collect Nikki and take her to the bus station. Instead, the flamboyant Nikki seeks her revenge while trying to find out what happened to her friend Johnny, which causes Loudon a lot of trouble. Naturally, wild action ensues -- some of it involving an escaped Cougar belonging to Loudon's boss, the millionaire animal collector Montgomery Bell (John Mills) -- and Loudon having to choose between the prim Wendy and the unpredictable Nikki. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Madonna, Griffin Dunne, (more)
Director Joe Dante infuses this science fiction comedy with the visual razzle-dazzle and manic, goofball performances typical of his cartoon-inspired sensibilities. Navy test pilot Lt. Tuck Pendleton (Dennis Quaid) has volunteered for a highly dangerous medical experiment. A submersible craft, with Tuck at the controls, is to be shrunk down to molecular size and inserted into the body of a living rabbit. If successful, the test could result in radical breakthroughs in surgical techniques, but some high-tech thieves attempt to steal Tuck and his ship while both are in miniature form. Enter Jack Putter (Martin Short), a mild-mannered, hypochondriac retail store clerk, a nerd who suddenly finds himself injected with Tuck and his tiny ship. Now poor Jack's got to rise above his mundane existence to help an American hero get back to safety, while also trying to reunite Tuck with his beautiful estranged girlfriend Lydia (Meg Ryan). Innerspace (1987) won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, (more)
- 1986
In a early starring assignment, Keanu Reeves plays the head of a teenaged vigilante society. Reeves and his overachieving buddies intend to rid their school and neighborhood of drug users and vandals. But as their power increases, the vigilantes become more abusive and dangerous. Produced by the powerhouse Hollywood team of Jon Peters and Peter Guber, Brotherhood of Justice was designed as the pilot for a weekly series. The made-for-TV melodrama premiered May 18, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Rob Lowe stars as the title character, a young hockey prodigy with a gift for scoring, but no such penchant for pugilism -- when the gloves drop, so does he. Despite his fragility, Coach Chadwick (Ed Lauter) takes him on the roster for his stick-handling ability alone. However, he ends up being sent home after being singled out by a particularly nasty goon, Racki (George Finn), who pummels the "pretty boy" in brutal fashion. Disheartened, Youngblood heads back to the rural Canadian farm he calls home, where his father (Eric Nesterenko, a former player for the Chicago Blackhawks) and older brother (Jim Youngs) teach him the invaluable lesson that hockey is "no place for a nervous person" (to quote a famous NHL announcer). Overseen by his elders, he immediately begins a combat-training regimen to prepare for his return and imminent showdown with the evil Racki; meanwhile, he strikes up a relationship with the coach's daughter (Cynthia Gibb). ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, Cynthia Gibb, (more)
Cinematographer Michael Chapman directed this John Sayles adaptation of Jean M. Auel's best-selling ode to Cro-Magnon women. The story begins at the moment in pre-history when the last of the Neanderthal men were becoming extinct and the superior race of Cro-Magnons were starting to supersede them. Focusing on a tribe of wandering Neanderthals who adopt a young girl named, Ayla (played as an adult by Daryl Hannah). She grows tall, lithe, and smart. The Neanderthals quickly accept her into their tribe, but once a tribal member, Ayla begins to question the tribe's male chauvinistic presumptions. Unable to conceive of why only men are given weapons, she takes it upon herself to learn how to use a slingshot. She then questions the tribe's assumptions concerning sexual politics. She learns to count and becomes the assistant to the local medicine expert. As the seasons wear on, the tribe utilizes Ayla's knowledge for their own good while Ayla's continues to try the patience of the tribe with her unspeakable feminist demands. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daryl Hannah, Pamela Reed, (more)
