Chris Sievernich Movies
An unpopular high-school girl dies at the hands of her classmates when a cruel prank spins out of control, only to return from the land of the dead to seek revenge as a sexy seductress in this frightful feature from Final Destination screenwriter Jeffrey Reddick. Tamara was a quiet girl, and the cruelty of her classmates was relentless. As their disdain for their mousy classmate reaches a fever pitch, Tamara's sadistic classmates carry out a vicious practical joke that inadvertently results in the young outcast meeting her doom. Tamara isn't the kind to stay down forever though, and when the once-homely girl returns from beyond the grave with a killer new look and a body to die for, that's exactly what her tormentors are about to do. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jenna Dewan, Katie Stuart, (more)
Writer/directors Jeff Renfroe and Marteinn Thorsson make their feature debut with the paranoid thriller One Point O (1.0). Jeremy Sisto plays a computer programmer named Simon J. who gets used as a test subject. His corporate employers are secretly conducting a experiment on him in order to test out a new advertising scheme. Simon receives empty boxes at his apartment, grows suspicious of everyone else, and develops a strange desire for milk. Also starring Deborah Unger, Lance Henriksen, and Udo Kier. One Point O premiered at the Sundance Film Festival as part of the dramatic competition. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeremy Sisto, Deborah Kara Unger, (more)
Graham Greene's allegorical novel about America's role in the Vietnam conflict, and how it was perceived by the rest of the world, is brought to the screen for the second time in this adaptation directed by Phillip Noyce. Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine) is a British journalist who in 1952 is covering the early stages of the war in Indo-China for the London Times, not a demanding assignment since few in England are especially interested in the conflict. When not filing occasional reports, Fowler spends his time with Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen), a beautiful woman who shares lovemaking and opium with Fowler and is willing to accept the fact the married journalist will never make her his wife. Fowler becomes friendly with Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser), a cheerful and articulate if seemingly naïve American who is in Saigon as part of a medical mission. As Fowler and Pyle develop a closer friendship, Pyle is introduced to Phuong, and the American soon becomes infatuated with her. When Fowler's editors suggest he return to London, he responds by digging himself deeper in covering the war, and Pyle attempts to take Phuong away; she soon rejects him. Undaunted, Pyle continues with his work, but Fowler discovers that medical help is not what the American is bringing to Vietnam. Pyle is in fact a CIA operative who is helping to organize and finance a "Third Force" who will battle Ho Chi Min's forces as well as the French and their allies. Fowler also learns that Pyle is behind a series of bombings which are believed to have been carried out by Communist extremists, and faces the ugly fact that his American friend is in fact a terrorist killing in the name of Uncle Sam's political interests. While completed in the fall of 2001, The Quiet American went unreleased until late 2002; after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the film's producers felt the film's critical view of America's role in the Vietnam war might be considered especially offensive. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, (more)
An ailing criminal and his excitement-starved nurse decide to knock over a bank for fun and profit in this comic suspense story. Legendary bank robber Henry Manning (Paul Newman) pushes his luck too far and ends up in prison, where he suffers a massive stroke. He is transferred to a nursing home, in the care of Carol Ann McKay (Linda Fiorentino), a high school prom queen who married her boyfriend Wayne (Dermot Mulroney), the star of her school's football team, and whose glamour days are well behind her. After a few of her personal effects mysteriously disappear, Carol Ann starts to suspect that Henry isn't as sick as he seems, and she and Wayne are soon working with Henry to plan his last and greatest score. The title comes from the remark attributed to the outlaw Willie Sutton, who when asked why he robbed banks, replied, "Because that's where the money is." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Linda Fiorentino, (more)
The third installment of The Crow series, The Crow: Salvation opens with the electrocution of death row inmate Alex Corvis (Eric Mabius) on his 21st birthday. Falsely convicted of the brutal stabbing murder of his girlfriend Lauren (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) three years earlier, Alex spent the duration of his imprisonment insisting that Lauren was murdered by a man with a series of distinctive scars up and down his arms; unfortunately, the police never found any trace of him. Immediately following Alex's messy electrocution, during which his leather mask melted onto his face, his guardian crow appears to resurrect him. After clawing off the mask, which leaves some interesting burn marks on his face, Alex sets out to find Lauren's killer and clear his own name. He finds an ally for his cause in Erin (Kirstin Dunst), Lauren's sister. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirsten Dunst, Eric Mabius, (more)
After two acclaimed independent films in which he took a troubling look at male/female relations, director Neil LaBute moves on to less controversial ground in this dark comedy. Betty Sizemore (Renee Zellweger) is a woman from Kansas City who waits tables at a diner and is married to an insensitive thug named Del (Aaron Eckhart). One of Betty's few pleasures in life is the soap opera A Reason to Love. Her favorite character is handsome Dr. David Ravell, played by George McCord (Greg Kinnear). One night, Del gets involved in a drug deal with a pair of gangsters, Charlie (Morgan Freeman) and his sidekick Wesley (Chris Rock). Del's thoughtless racial slurs lead to an arguement, and the short-tempered Wesley attacks him; Charlie is forced to kill Del, as Betty watches. Dazed and in shock, Betty hops into her car, deciding that the time is right for a date with destiny. Betty tracks down George McCord, and soon the soap's producer Lyla (Allison Janney) is considering Betty for a part on A Reason to Love, not realizing that Betty doesn't want to play Dr. Ravell's nurse and fiance, she wants to be her. Betty, meanwhile, has no idea that the drugs that Del was trying to sell are still in her car, and that Charlie and Wesley are hot on her trail, determined to get the dope and silence her once and for all. Nurse Betty also features Kathleen Wilhoite, Crispin Glover, and Pruitt Taylor Vince. The film was shown in competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the prize for Best Screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Renée Zellweger, Morgan Freeman, (more)
- 1996
The friendship between a pair of buskers is fractured when one of them gets engaged. Prior to that Jean and Kate, who made their living performing comedy routines on the street, were thick as thieves until Jean surprised Kate by telling her that she has accepted the proposal of her musician lover Martin. Whereas Kate is quietly devastated, Jean's upper-middle-class mother is delighted and immediately sets out to prepare a grand and perfect wedding. Much of the ensuing comedy of this Irish-German film comes when Jean has a panic attack and makes a bad choice, the repercussions of which affect not only her relationship with Martin but also with Kate. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pom Boyd, Gina Moxley, (more)
A young man unthinkingly throws himself into a world of political and sexual turmoil in John Schlesinger's adaptation of the novel by Ian McEwan. Leonard Markham (Campbell Scott) is a British communications and surveillance expert who is sent to Germany in the early 1950s, at the height of the Cold War. Leonard is put under the command of Bob Glass (Anthony Hopkins), an American agent who goes out of his way to show him around town. Leonard is woefully naive about most subjects not directly involving his job, and when Bob takes him to a typically decadent Berlin nightclub, he is astonished to discover that Maria (Isabella Rossellini), a beautiful and mysterious woman, announces that she's quite attracted to him. Soon Leonard is no longer a 24-year-old virgin, but (as one might expect) Maria's interest in him is not entirely a matter of physical attraction. Bob's secret project is a hidden tunnel beneath Berlin that allows his forces to tap into Russian telephone transmissions, which is Leonard's responsibility. But the Americans are also obtaining coded information that they aren't passing along to the British; while Leonard helps Bob, he's also finding out what Bob knows and passing it along to the British. However, Maria is also looking for certain information, and she sees the innocent and gullible Leonard as an easy way to get it. The Innocent was originally completed in 1993, but it was not shown in the United States until 1996, when it was given a brief theatrical release before appearing on home video. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isabella Rossellini, Anthony Hopkins, (more)
- 1992
Set in Wales a few hundred years ago, Rebecca's Daughters stars Paul Rhys as an aristocratic member of the ruling class. Rhys is not happy with the way that the members of his social order, particularly dissipated nobleman Peter O'Toole, are taxing the Welsh peasants into nonexistence. Thus, he decides to become a man of the people-or, more accurately, a woman of the people. Disguising himself as a crusading female named Rebecca, Rhys leads a peasant revolt against the aristocracy. No, of course this isn't meant to be taken seriously. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter O'Toole, Paul Rhys, (more)
- 1987
In this small, independent production by a first-time director and the co-owner of a New York city music club named The Great Jones Cafe, a young man attempts to make his way in the music business and in the midst of his struggles becomes acquainted with all sorts of would-be musicians, great artists, and has-beens. One highlight of the film is its soundtrack, featuring The Raunch Hands, Raw Youth, and Richard Hell. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Brisbin
- 1987
The legendary filmmaker John Huston is the focus of this documentary as he directs his last film The Dead. Taken from a story by James Joyce, Huston insist his actors are well-prepared while allowing for active participation from the performers. Huston's son Tony collaborated with his father on the screenplay, and daughter Angelica is one of the stars of the show. Both siblings are interviewed along with their father, who remained optimistic in spite of his fading health. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- PG
The final film of legendary director John Huston was based on the closing story of James Joyce's Dubliners. Anjelica Huston is top-billed as Gretta Conroy, the niece by marriage of turn-of-century Irish spinsters Kate Morkan (Helena Carroll) and Julia Morkan (Cathleen Delany). At the home of these two curious ladies, Gretta is prodded into remembering her long-dead lover. She tearfully reveals to her husband (Donal McCann) that the deceased boy may well have died on her behalf. Her tale of woe bespeaks the sentiment shared by James Joyce: no matter how long in their graves, the dead will always influence the living. Adding to the film's elegiac quality, it stars Huston's daughter Anjelica and was co-written with his son Tony Huston. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anjelica Huston, Donal McCann, (more)
- 1986
In an interesting documentary that sheds some light on Argentinian politics in the '70s and '80s, director Stefan Paul follows folk singer Mercedes Sosa around with his camera as she returns to Argentina after two years in exile and goes on a much-awaited tour. Sosa was already a successful popular vocalist when she fully supported the mothers who organized and demonstrated against the torture and killing of their sons and daughters. Sosa had to leave for a few years, spending her time in Spain, France, Holland, and Germany, before the government changed hands and it was safe to come home again. Aside from her performances in her concerts around Argentina, she is shown talking to ordinary people on the street and in the plazas. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- 1986
This film by Doris Dorrie concerns two men who fight over one of their wives. Angelica (Sunny Mellis) is a fairly conventional housewife who is concerned about her marriage, because her husband Victor (Heiner Lauterbach) has been ignoring her. So Angelica calls in a remedy, her petite friend Lotte (Katharina Thalbach) to light some fire under Victor. Lotte has no problem in doing that, because she enjoys the result, but this time the fire turns into a conflagration that runs out of control. With Lotte taking off from the incendiary effects of her actions and Victor obsessed with chasing after her, Angelica's original problem is reversed, and now Lotte is suffering the consequences. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Heiner Lauterbach, Katharina Thalbach, (more)
- 1985
In this intriguing documentary, award-winning German director and producer Wim Wenders combines clips from one of his favorite directors, Ozu Yasujiro (see the tribute to Ozu, Ikite wa Mita Keredo.. by Inoue Kazuo), with actual scenes from the sprawling, crowded megalopolis of Tokyo to discover where the real world and cinematic license may intersect, if at all. Ozu's films captured the poignant and fleeting aspects of worldly existence -- as in colorful autumn leaves that cannot last long. Wenders almost emulates his technique when he decides, in this 92-minute look at Tokyo -- to spend time on fragments of city life that are telling, eloquent statements of a Japanese ethic. Golfers on city rooftops, the neon lights of the famous Ginza shopping area, baseball games in a cemetery, the omnipresent televisions (even in taxis), and the waxed-over food that stands for months and years in restaurant windows to advertise the menu are all surreal and eloquent scenes. Juxtaposed against the noise and bustling crowds in a city in which people live elbow-to-elbow -- and contrasted with viewpoints on Ozu offered by two former associates -- these scenes and their counterpoints present a well-rounded view of Tokyo, Ozu, and what it means to be Wim Wenders filming in Japan. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Werner Herzog
- 1984
Per its title, Chinese Boxes plays the riddle-wrapped-in-a-mystery-wrapped-in-an-enigma angle to the hilt. Will Patton plays an innocent American who finds himself in the middle of international intrigue. With West Berlin as backdrop, the story takes so many twists and turns that one may well need a book of directions by fadeout time. Robbie Coltraine and Gottfried John are among the supporting actors who are not what they seem and never say what they mean. Chinese Boxes was a fairly smooth German/British collaboration, with little indication of any on-set communication breakdowns (surely somebody understood what was going on). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Patton, Gottfried John, (more)
- 1984
In this unusual documentary based on a series of identical questions addressed to world-famous directors such as Werner Herzog, Steven Spielberg, and Jean-Luc Godard, director Wim Wenders placed each of his colleagues one-by-one in a single room, gave them one reel (11 minutes) of time to look into the stationary camera if they chose, and answer set questions. The juxtaposition of so many individualistic, experienced, and innovative filmmakers commenting on topics like television's effect on cinema, the influence of ad techniques, the tendency toward miniseries, and other relevant subjects offers worthwhile moments that are unlikely to be found elsewhere. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Luc Godard, Steven Spielberg, (more)
- 1984
In this enigmatic thriller, Susannah (Tusse Silberg) is suddenly herded out of an apartment in the middle of the night and brought to a police station for extensive questioning about why she was in a place that belonged to a known criminal. What the police do not know is that Susannah has been somehow involved in the death of a woman and has reunited with her sister Julie (Lisa Kreuzer) in Berlin. Julie herself has some rather unusual friends -- including Eddie Constantine the American-born French actor and singer who plays himself. It is these characters and their dialogue and asides, and even background action and scenery, that form the real body of this specialized film -- not the plot. For these reasons, this type of film is best limited to those who are more interested in avant-garde than in commercial cinema. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tusse Silberg, Paul Freeman, (more)
Travis (Harry Dean Stanton) is wandering through the Texas desert, a bit shaky and in desperate need of water, when he stumbles into a bar and collapses. A German doctor of dubious credentials finds a phone number in Travis' wallet, which belongs to his brother, Walt (Dean Stockwell). Walt is shocked to hear about his brother's condition, since no one in the family has seen or heard from Travis in four years; Walt flies to Texas to bring him home, only to find Travis wandering by the side of the road, and they begin the long drive back to Los Angeles, where Walt lives with his wife, Anne (Aurore Clement), and Hunter (Hunter Carson), Travis' seven-year-old son. At first, Travis refuses to speak and is oddly distant, but in time he begins to talk again, and when he arrives in California, he begins the painful process of reacquainting himself with his son and trying to reconcile with his wife, Jane (Nastassia Kinski). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, (more)
- 1982
Wim Wenders' The State of Things (Der Stand der Dinge) was financed by one of the director's chief mentors, Francis Ford Coppola. This highly autobiographical work concerns a shoestring movie producer and his ragtag crew. Stranded in the outer reaches of Portugal, the director doesn't even have any film in his camera. There's nothing left to do but scare up a potential backer--preferably one of those rich, movie-mad Americans. In illustrating the plight of the fictional filmmakers, Wenders strikes a blow on behalf of the homeless and disenfranchised everywhere; it is also an a clef recreation of the difficulties faced by the director during production of his first American film Hammett (also made under the auspices of Coppola). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Bauchau, Isabelle Weingarten, (more)
This off-kilter German film attempts to tell a purely American story as filtered through European sensibilities. Joe Pesci plays Ruby Dennis, a Jewish bowling alley/nightclub manager in New Jersey. Despite his tacky surroundings, Ruby convinces himself that he's just about to hit the big time in Las Vegas. It takes him 100 minutes to realize that he's never going to be any better off than he is now. Just tap your bowling shoes together three times and say, "There's no place like Jersey." Tony Martin shows up in the film's highlight, a dream sequence in which a handful of songs co-written by star Pesci are featured. Dear Mr. Wonderful was released to video as Ruby's Dream. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Pesci, Karen Ludwig, (more)
Lightning Over Water is a penetrating documentary of the last days of cult film director Nicholas Ray. The film was lovingly assembled by Wim Wenders, whose idolatry of Ray is obvious in virtually every frame of his own work. Dying slowly of cancer, Ray reflects on a lifetime of accomplishments, failures and compromises, with plenty of screen time given over to his reminiscences of Joan Crawford, James Dean and others who appeared in his films. Most of the film was lensed in Ray's modest New York City loft, a sharp and poignant contrast to the comparative luxury of his Hollywood years. Lightning Over Water has also been released as Nick's Film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicholas Ray, Wim Wenders, (more)
- 1979
This non-narrative stream-of-consciousness picture enters the mind of a 16-year-old girl and explores her relationships with her two boyfriends, her grandfather, and the world she lives in. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
