Sarah Pillsbury Movies

While Sharon and Ozzy prepare to renew their wedding vows on New Year's Eve, flower girl Kelly questions the authenticity of the ceremony's Jewish slant and Jack seems preoccupied with his new girlfriend despite nearly unanimous disapproval from the rest of the family. In preparation, the groom-to-be receives a waxing to remove any unsightly hair. As the ceremony gets under way, Sharon expresses hopes that, unlike their first wedding, Ozzy will stay sober enough to cement the vows later that evening. The lavish ceremony reaches a sentimental climax when Sharon recites her personally written and extremely heartfelt vows and Ozzy is deeply touched. When it's revealed that Jack's new female friend shared a bed with the young Osbourne and condoms were found in the vicinity, Sharon pleads with him to settle on a single girlfriend despite his fear of commitment. After the reception, the Village People take to the stage, Sharon offers Kelly's hand in marriage to Justin Timberlake, and the eager bride expresses good-humored disappointment after discovering that Ozzy has once again passed out after a bout of heavy drinking. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A man struggling to do the right thing for his child finds himself at odds with his family in this emotional drama. Tony Romano (Harvey Keitel) runs a successful clothing company in New York City; eager to share his good fortune with his family, Tony's daughter and younger son both have important positions in the firm, while his wife Fern (Mary Kay Place) has a solid business of her own running a flower shop. Tony's oldest son Jeff (Brad Rowe), however, lives in Los Angeles and is trying to get a career as a screenwriter off the ground. Jeff is already a father as the result of a short and ill-advised romance with a woman with poor self-esteem, and when he finds himself falling for Kelly (Rachel Blanchard), who works at a plasma center where Jeff sells his blood, history repeats itself and Kelly finds herself pregnant. Jeff and Kelly initially decide that an abortion would be the logical answer, but in time Kelly changes her mind, and Jeff feels he must handle his share of the responsibilities. Tony is convinced Jeff will be throwing his life away if he stays with Kelly to raise the baby (especially since Jeff admits he doesn't love her); while Jeff is determined to do the right thing for his child, he is torn between his need to face up to his responsibilities and his love for his father. Nailed was the first feature film from writer and director Joel Silverman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Actress Polly Draper, best known for her role on the TV series thirtysomething, wrote and co-produced this family drama, as well as playing the female lead. Draper plays Laura, a single mother whose ten-year-old son Miles (Christopher Marquette) is already displaying a remarkable gift as a jazz pianist. However, Miles suffers from a mild case Tourette's Syndrome, a disorder that's not life threatening but causes victims to display a series of pronounced physical and facial tics, as well as occasional emotional outbursts. Miles makes friends with two bartenders at a jazz club, who let the kid sneak in to see shows and eventually introduce him to acclaimed jazz saxophonist Tyrone Pike (Gregory Hines). It seems Tyrone and Miles have something in common -- Tyrone also has Tourette's, but unlike Miles he's learned to disguise his condition with a variety of mannerisms, and prefers not to discuss the matter. Tension develops between the two when Tyrone and Laura develop a mutual attraction, which creates tension between the two musicians and forces Tyrone to confront some personal issues he's spent much of his life avoiding. The Tic Code was shown at the Vancouver Reel to Real Festival, the Berlin Film Festival, the Hamptons Film Festival and the Giffoni Film Festival in 1999 before its run on the Starz! premium cable service. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A young woman at a crossroads in her life finds herself receiving plenty of advice from her older and wiser counterparts in this drama. Finn Dodd (Winona Ryder) is a graduate student trying to finish up her doctoral thesis on women's folk art while deciding if she should marry her fiancé Sam (Dermot Mulroney); she's not sure if she's ready to settle down, and suspects that Sam is unfaithful to her. Needing time to sort things out, Finn chooses to spend the summer with her grandmother Hy (Ellen Burstyn) and great aunt Gladys Jo (Anne Bancroft). Hy and Gladys Jo are avid quilters, and with a group of their friends, they work on a special quilt for Finn's wedding; as the women work together, they share stories of their lives, and Finn finds herself learning as much from hearing them talk as she does from her schoolwork. Finn also receives a visit from her free-spirited mom Sally (Kate Capshaw) and finds herself infatuated with a good looking young man who lives nearby. Maya Angelou plays one of the quilters, as do Kate Nelligan, Jean Simmons, and Alfre Woodard. How to Make an American Quilt was the directorial debut of Jocelyn Moorhouse, and was based on a novel by Whitney Otto that itself began as a doctoral thesis. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The late journalist Randy Shilts' best-selling book on the burgeoning AIDS crisis was adapted for cable TV by Arnold Schulman. In 1981, researchers begin discerning a mysterious new disease that apparently affects only homosexual males (or so they thought at that time). Working independently, and with marked hostility toward one another, an American and a French research team manage to identify and name the dreaded HIV virus. The long-range effects of AIDS is experienced through the first- and secondhand experiences of several unfortunates, including a choreographer (Richard Gere) whose character is said to be based on Michael Bennett. The all-star cast (most of whom eschewed their usual high salaries) includes Lily Tomlin as San Francisco health official Selma Dritz, Matthew Modine as Centers for Disease Control researcher Don Francis, Alan Alda as NIH official Robert Gallo (who emerges as the villain of the piece), Ian McKellan as gay activist Bill Kraus, and Glenne Headley, Steve Martin and Anjelica Huston in cameo roles. And the Band Played On debuted September 11, 1993, on HBO. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sarah Pillsbury and Midge Sanford, the producing team responsible for the theatrical-movie "sleeper" The River's Edge, were the mentors of the made-for-TV Seeds of Tragedy. Filmed in semi-documentary fashion, the story involves a single cache of cocaine, from creation to consumption. The coca leaves are initially harvested by poor farmers in the Peruvian Andes. The coca moves forward to a small-time Amazon trader; then it is powdered under the supervision of a Colombian gangster, and finally it winds up on the mean streets of LA. Partially filmed in Mexico with a cast of relative unknowns, Seeds of Tragedy was an unusually potent entry in the Fox Network's "Monday Night Movie" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Writer/director John Sayles' dramatization of the most infamous episode in professional sports -- the fix of the 1919 World Series -- is considered by many to be among his best films and arguably the best baseball movie ever made. This adaptation of Eliot Asinof's definitive study of the scandal shows how athletes of another era were a different breed from the well-paid stars of later years. The Chicago White Sox owner, Charlie Comiskey (Clifton James), is portrayed as a skinflint with little inclination to reward his team for their spectacular season. When a gambling syndicate led by Arnold Rothstein (Michael Lerner) gets wind of the players' discontent, it offers a select group of stars -- including pitcher Eddie Cicotte (Sayles regular David Strathairn), infielder Buck Weaver (John Cusack), and outfielder "Shoeless" Joe Jackson (D. B. Sweeney) -- more money to play badly than they would have earned to try to win the Series against the Cincinnati Reds. Sayles cast the story with actors who look and perform like real jocks, and added a colorful supporting cast that includes Studs Terkel as reporter Hugh Fullerton and Sayles himself as Ring Lardner. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

A petite New Jersey housewife finds self-fulfillment through amnesia in this new wave comedy of errors set in New York's hip '80s downtown scene. Rosanna Arquette stars as Roberta, who turns to the personals for vicarious thrills after her four-year marriage to staid hot tub salesman Gary (Mark Blum) grows stale. Her favorite classified ads trace the romance of Jim (Robert Joy), a struggling musician, and Susan (Madonna), a SoHo vamp who's just narrowly escaped being murdered alongside one of her other boyfriends -- a gangster who recently stole some Egyptian jewelry. Through a series of complicated missteps, Roberta ends up losing her memory and convincing both herself and a broodingly handsome young man named Dez (Aiden Quinn) that she's the elusive, adventurous Susan. Soon, Roberta finds herself being romanced by Dez and pursued separately by her husband, Jim, Susan, and by a murderous mobster who's looking for the stolen jewels. For her second feature outing, which was partially inspired by Jacques Rivette's Celine and Julie Go Boating, director Susan Seidelman filled her cast with hipster extras, downtown personalities, and New York thespians. Notable faces include comedian Steven Wright; future indie mainstay John Turturro; future TV stars Michael Badalucco and Laurie Metcalf; punk singer Richard Hell, who also starred in Seidelman's Smithereens; and performance artist Ann Magnunson, who would star in the director's Making Mr. Right. The big dance-club sequence was filmed at Danceteria, the disco that helped launch Madonna's career. The scene, and the film, helped propel "Into the Groove," one of the singer's all-time club classics, into the charts even though it was actually a b-side to the single "Angel." ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

This documentary looks at the resurgence of the Nazi movement in America. The cameras roll in Venice, CA, where a gang of young white supremacists live. Captured on film are some of their bizarre activities and beliefs. But there is a deeper look into the very human and real aspirations and fears that motivate the group's members. The film makes this point chillingly clear: rather than being monsters and social pariahs, the people onscreen are surprisingly like the rest of us. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide