Vincent Schiavelli Movies

Veteran director Masato Harada spins this Bagdad Café-style drama about a group of quirky strangers stuck in the desert. The film opens with a yakuza named Jiro (Kazuya Kimura) staggering into a remote tumble-down café with an ugly shoulder wound. The place is run by tough-as-nails Japanese-American woman Sari (Nobu McCarthy), who toils as the establishment's only waitress and cook. After convalescing, Jiro reveals some surprising skills -- his culinary prowess would put Alice Waters to shame. Soon the café's handful of patrons are being wowed by some wildly creative, beautifully laid out food. Meanwhile, Mafioso kingpin Al (James Gammon) tires of his usual Italian fare and somehow stumbles onto Sari's place. He's instantly in love -- both with the food and the proprietress. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

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

In this comedy-fantasy, beach-bum Scotty McKay and his buddies are granted their every wish by a luscious genie who has been assigned to do Scotty's bidding. Soon the fellows are carousing in splendor surrounded by their hearts' desires. Unfortunately, it isn't enough for Scotty, who really wants his sexy super-model neighbor Dana. Unfortunately, Jeanie has no power over love. Still she does her best to make him attractive to the shallow cover-girl. It works, but just as Scotty is to get his wish, Jeanie realizes that she is in love with him and that Dana cares nothing for him. She disobeys her commands and interferes with Scotty's wish and all sorts of mayhem ensues until at last true love prevails. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

When con man Eddie Dash (Richard Pryor) is released from prison he's told to fulfill the required 100 hours of community service as the bodyguard/escort of a recently released mental patient (Gene Wilder). It's not too long before Wilder figures out a way to make a little dough at the expense of his impaired charge. Together they manage to get involved in an inheritance scam that's loaded with troubles and trials for all. It's apparent to most viewers that the Richard Pryor appearing in this film is a far cry from the actor most have seen previously; this is the first film undertaken by Pryor following a very serious illness. ~ All Movie Guide

In this black-and-white, independently produced crime drama, Izzy (Jack Kruschen) is surprised one day shortly after the death of his business partner to discover that he had been using their gumball machine franchise as a cover for selling crack. Though he's a bit long in the tooth to be starting out in such a rough business, he teams up with a middle-aged black man with street smarts (Don Fullilove), and together they cope with the competition for this business he didn't know he had. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this creepy horror movie, an archaeologist gets in over his head when he goes searching for the burial place of a young medieval prince. It is the same tomb his parents were looking for when they were mysteriously murdered. Unfortunately, he finds the tomb. The trouble comes when the malevolent spirit of the boy prince rises up to wreak havoc on the scientist and his expedition. The film is also known as Schizo. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Director Andrei Konchalovsky comes a cropper with this mawkish road movie starring Whoopi Goldberg and James Belushi. Goldberg plays Edwina, an escaped mental patient with a brain tumor and only a month to live. Belushi is Homer, a retarded man abandoned by his parents when he was a child after a smack with a baseball bat rendered him an idiot. The two team-up when Homer takes off to Oregon to visit his parents and catch up on old times. Edwina agrees to drive him there to recover the $87 that Homer has stolen from her. As they drive down the American roadways, they bond, and Edwina is granted the shining love of Homer as she lapses into a coma. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Directed by Philip Sebton, Mister Frost chronicles the life of serial killer Mr. Frost (Jeff Goldblum), who, after stashing 125 tortured corpses in and around his property, is caught by a British detective (Alan Bates) and brought to a mental institution. Strange things begin to happen immediately after his arrival--the egotistical Dr. Reynhardt (Roland Giraud) suddenly loses confidence, an angelic young boy goes insane, and people see images of Satanic eyes in their rear-view mirrors. Meanwhile, the only person Frost (Goldblum) will speak to is psychiatrist Dr. Sarah Day (Kathy Baker), who questions why the police could not find any official records of his existence. He tells her that he is, in fact, none other than Satan himself. According to an angry Frost, the world has tossed aside the notion of pure evil, opting instead to use psychological explanations to aid them in understanding why terrible things happen to good people. Frost's mission on earth is to remind man that the devil does exist, and is still bargaining for immortal souls. He believes if he can convince a psychiatrist (Baker), to murder him because she believes he is the devil, it will not only help his cause, but act as a resounding personal victory. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Cadaverous character actor Vincent Schiavelli guest stars as the peddler in this Next Generation installment, which originally aired April 16, 1988. While searching for the missing space vessel U.S.S. Drake on the planet Minos, Captain Picard and Dr. Crusher vanish from sight. With Giordi LaForge left in charge, the Enterprise's away team must contend with a computerized super weapon, capable of wiping out virtually the entire Federation. "The Arsenal of Freedom" was scripted by Richard Manning and Hans Beimler, from a story by Maurice Hurley and Robert Lewin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Most animation aficionados of the 1990s know "Savage Steve Holland" as the cocreator (with Bill Kopp) of the all-stops-out TV cartoon series Eek! The Cat. But Holland had been exercising his own peculiar brand of deviltry on live characters long before Eek! came into being. In Holland's Better Off Dead, John Cusack plays a lovestruck teenager, hopelessly enamored with Amanda Wyss. When she dumps him in favor of a more popular high-schooler, the boy's entire day quickly goes to Hell. In the words of Hamlet, all occasions do inform against Cusack: he is bullied, tormented and torn apart by everyone from the paperboy (who seemingly turns up everywhere) to the disembodied voice of a radio deejay. Cusack attempts suicide, but his efforts are just as unsuccessful-and amusing-as Bud Cort's in Harold and Maude. Meanwhile, French exchange student Diane Franklin, held a virtual prisoner by her host family, develops a long-distance crush on Cusack. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For this film adaptation of Peter Shaffer's Broadway hit, director Milos Forman returned to the city of Prague that he'd left behind during the Czech political crises of 1968, bringing along his usual cinematographer and fellow Czech expatriate, Miroslav Ondricek. Amadeus is an expansion of a Viennese "urban legend" concerning the death of 18th-century musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. From the vantage point of an insane asylum, aging royal composer Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) recalls the events of three decades earlier, when the young Mozart (Tom Hulce) first gained favor in the court of Austrian emperor Joseph II (Jeffrey Jones). Salieri was incensed that God would bless so vulgar and obnoxious a young snipe as Mozart with divine genius. Why was Salieri--so disciplined, so devoted to his art, and so willing to toady to his superiors--not touched by God? Unable to match Mozart's talent, Salieri uses his influence in court to sabotage the young upstart's career. Disguising himself as a mysterious benefactor, Salieri commissions the backbreaking "Requiem," which eventually costs Mozart his health, wealth, and life. Among the film's many pearls of dialogue, the best line goes to the Emperor, who rejects a Mozart composition on the grounds that it has "too many notes." Amadeus won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor for F. Murray Abraham. In 2002, the film received a theatrical re-release as "Amadeus: The Director's Cut," a version that includes 20 minutes of additional footage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Despite mixed reviews and a disastrous initial release that dumped the film into theaters for a week in the midst of the 1984 Summer Olympics, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eight Dimension went on to become one of the major cult films of the 1980s, developing a rabid following after its release on videotape. Drifting between satire and improbable sci-fi adventure, the film stars Peter Weller as Buckaroo Banzai, the son of an American mother and Japanese father who is a combination physicist, neurosurgeon, martial arts master, secret agent, and rock star who travels with his band of assistants/backing musicians, The Hong Kong Cavaliers. As the story opens, Buckaroo is driving his car through a mountain to test his new invention, the Oscillation Overthruster. However, a race of boorish aliens called the Red Lectroids have been waiting for such an item to become a reality, as they need it to return to the distant planet they call home. One of Buckaroo's arch-enemies, Dr. Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow), who has been possessed by the Red Lectroids, attempted to created a similar device decades before; now escaped from an insane asylum, he is back at work with the Lectroids on a plan to control the world. Throw in Rastafarian aliens, unscheduled travel between dimensions, and the odd inexplicable watermelon, and you get a film that defies conventional synopsis. With its fast pace, quotable dialogue ("No matter where you go, there you are"), and barrage of gags (subtle and otherwise), you won't be bored even when you're not sure what's going on. The supporting cast includes Jeff Goldblum as New Jersey, a Cavalier with a snappy cowboy outfit, and Ellen Barkin as Penny Priddy, the twin sister of Buckaroo's late wife. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Prominently displaying red-white-and-blue title colors, this subtly patriotic fact-based movie about kids who succeed is dated by the fact that all these daring youngsters are white, without any discernible ethnicity. Dickie (Scott Schwartz) is an enterprising kid on a ranch in southern California who puts his business tendencies to practical use in several successful ventures, aided and abetted by his siblings and other friends. When Dickie & Co. become too successful, they are taken to court by their adult business rivals, but they refuse a lawyer and defend themselves. The kids win their case against their adult competitors and their lawyers, leaving the courtroom to cheers and upraised fists from a sea of youngsters outside. Three years of law school at exorbitant costs, plus a two-year internship and years of moving up a densely-runged ladder -- just to lose to an 11-year old, amazing. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide