Rand Ravich Movies

The NBC cop drama Life was cast in the same mold as Fox's medical series House, in that it was built around a whimsically sarcastic, wittily iconoclastic and thoroughly irreverent anti-hero who rigidly adhered to a Zen-like philosophy in all matters both professional and personal. Damian Lewis starred as convict Charlie Crews, a former police detective serving a life sentence on a triple-homicide charge. Freed from prison after twelve years on the strength new DNA evidence supplied by his loyal attorney Brooke Langton (Contance Griffiths), Charlie was somewhat surprisingly reinstated by the police force, and even given his old job back. As he struggled to catch up with the technological advances of the past dozen years, Charlie also had to adjust himself to his new partner, another "reclamation project" named Dani Reese (Sarah Shawl), who had just overcome a nasty drug habit. Dedicating himself to capturing the person who committed the murders for which he was blamed, and to finding out who framed him and why, Charlie was unaware that Dani was actually a "mole" for his superior officer Lt. Karen Davis (Robin Weigert), who instensely disliked Charlie and had strongarmed Dani into helping her dig up a good excuse to fire him (woven into the series' basic storyline was a sinister, wide-ranging conspiracy which involved a number of characters who would greatly benefit from Charlie's removal--or his death). At least Charlie could count on the friendship and support of former white-collar criminal Ted Earley (Alan Arkin), who lived on the estate Charlie had purchased with his multimillion-dollar legal settlement against the police department, and who owed our hero innumerable favors stemming back to their days behind bars. Others in the cast were Jennifer Siebel as Charlie's ex-wife Jennifer and Brent Sexton as his embittered former partner Bobby Starks. Life was first telecast on September 26, 2007. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Science fiction blends with domestic horror in this thriller. Spencer Armacost (Johnny Depp) is an astronaut on a routine mission in space when something goes horribly wrong and it looks as if he's doomed. However, Spencer is rescued at the last moment and returns to earth a hero. He soon announces that he's retiring from space exploration to spend more time with his wife Jillian (Charlize Theron). Jillian has suffered from depression in the past and would like to start a family, so she's initially thrilled with Spencer's decision. Jillian soon finds herself pregnant, but she starts to notice something odd about her husband, as if the man who returned isn't quite the same person who went away. As her pregnancy advances, Jillian's anxieties increase, but has something really happened to Spencer, or have Jillian's old demons merely resurfaced? The Astronaut's Wife marked the directorial debut of Rand Ravich, who previously penned screenplays for such films as The Maker and Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This sequel to director Bernard Rose's superb, metaphorical Candyman is a more straightforward Gothic horror project, discarding any association with the events of the previous film (which was based on the short story "The Forbidden" by horror surrealist Clive Barker) aside from the title entity, played again by the imposing Tony Todd. A melancholy but extremely deadly ghost, Candyman is revealed -- in a compelling sequence of flashbacks -- as the vengeful spirit of Daniel Robitaille, a black portraitist in post-Civil War Louisiana who was set upon and horribly mutilated by an angry white mob in retaliation for his affair with a plantation owner's daughter. In present-day New Orleans, at the height of Mardi Gras festivities (the film's title refers to the literal translation of the Latin "Carnival"), Candyman walks the realm of the undead, with a hook in place of the hand he lost to the lynch mob, waiting to be summoned by the recitation of his name five times into a mirror. The latest victims of his evisceration skills include members of the Tarrant family, with young schoolteacher Annie (Kelly Rowan) next in line. Her family's connection with the Candyman legend is eventually revealed when Annie visits the family estate to uncover the link between her ancestors and Daniel Robitaille himself. This is a well-executed horror film, with fine performances and good use of the subtle menace underlying the Mardi Gras ambience, but the deft hand of Barker is clearly absent, leaving a standard horror plot without the mythical resonance of the original. The chilling Philip Glass score is a definite plus, though. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide