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As announced earlier this month, The Arrow in the Head Show – which used to be released through the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – has migrated over to its own YouTube channel. Today, a new episode of the show was released, and in those one hosts John “The Arrow” Fallon and Lance Vlcek are looking back at the ten dismissed 1988 sequel Fright Night: Part 2, which crashed and burned at the box office with a measly 2.9 million box office haul.
Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, who takes over from the first film’s Tom Holland, Fright Night: Part 2 features young Charley Brewer, fresh out of psychiatric hospital, and the vampire hunting former TV show host Peter Vincent facing more thirsty vampires.
The film stars William Ragsdale and Roddy McDowell, reprising the roles they made famous in the first film, alongside Traci Lind,...
As announced earlier this month, The Arrow in the Head Show – which used to be released through the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – has migrated over to its own YouTube channel. Today, a new episode of the show was released, and in those one hosts John “The Arrow” Fallon and Lance Vlcek are looking back at the ten dismissed 1988 sequel Fright Night: Part 2, which crashed and burned at the box office with a measly 2.9 million box office haul.
Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, who takes over from the first film’s Tom Holland, Fright Night: Part 2 features young Charley Brewer, fresh out of psychiatric hospital, and the vampire hunting former TV show host Peter Vincent facing more thirsty vampires.
The film stars William Ragsdale and Roddy McDowell, reprising the roles they made famous in the first film, alongside Traci Lind,...
- 10/8/2022
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Stars: Bradley Gregg, Traci Lind, Malcolm McDowell, Pam Grier, John P. Ryan, Stacy Keach, Patrick Kilpatrick | Written by C. Courtney Joyner | Directed by Mark L. Lester
Ever wondered what Mark L. Lester did after Commando? Well, he directed a terrible John Candy comedy called Armed and Dangerous. But then he made this bizarre mashup of Escape from New York, The Warriors and Robocop. It’s not as good as it sounds, but like Arnie’s finest 84 minutes, it’s a barrel of stupid fun – and it’s another Vestron “classic” wrenched from the archives and given a remaster we never expected.
In 1999, youth gang culture is so prevalent that all major conurbations have become “free fire zones”, meaning there is no police presence. They’re essentially lawless. The result is that all the youngsters in 1999 wear S&M leather and wield automatic weaponry. It’s not clear where they get all the ammo and bazookas.
Ever wondered what Mark L. Lester did after Commando? Well, he directed a terrible John Candy comedy called Armed and Dangerous. But then he made this bizarre mashup of Escape from New York, The Warriors and Robocop. It’s not as good as it sounds, but like Arnie’s finest 84 minutes, it’s a barrel of stupid fun – and it’s another Vestron “classic” wrenched from the archives and given a remaster we never expected.
In 1999, youth gang culture is so prevalent that all major conurbations have become “free fire zones”, meaning there is no police presence. They’re essentially lawless. The result is that all the youngsters in 1999 wear S&M leather and wield automatic weaponry. It’s not clear where they get all the ammo and bazookas.
- 2/27/2019
- by Rupert Harvey
- Nerdly
Johnny Dingle's passionate love doesn't die... even when he does. Johnny the zombie's (Andrew Lowery) journey to take Missy McCloud (Traci Lind) to the prom is getting a high-definition upgrade, as Mill Creek Entertainment will release 1993's My Boyfriend's Back on Blu-ray for the first time early next year.
According to Blu-ray.com, Mill Creek's My Boyfriend's Back Blu-ray is slated for a March 15th, 2016 release. In addition to Lowery and Lind, the dark romantic comedy also stars Edward Hermann, Mary Beth Hurt, and Cloris Leachman. The film marked early big screen appearances for Matthew Fox, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Matthew McConaughey. Bob Balaban directed from a screenplay by Dean Lorey.
No special features have been revealed yet, but we'll keep Daily Dead readers updated on further announcements. In the meantime, we have a look at the Blu-ray cover art as well as the film's official synopsis and trailer:
"Teenager...
According to Blu-ray.com, Mill Creek's My Boyfriend's Back Blu-ray is slated for a March 15th, 2016 release. In addition to Lowery and Lind, the dark romantic comedy also stars Edward Hermann, Mary Beth Hurt, and Cloris Leachman. The film marked early big screen appearances for Matthew Fox, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Matthew McConaughey. Bob Balaban directed from a screenplay by Dean Lorey.
No special features have been revealed yet, but we'll keep Daily Dead readers updated on further announcements. In the meantime, we have a look at the Blu-ray cover art as well as the film's official synopsis and trailer:
"Teenager...
- 12/17/2015
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Arriving for the first time on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films is Wim Wenders’ 1997 existentialist take on the definition of violence and its depictions with The End of Violence. A film that was re-cut after its poor reception after playing at the Cannes Film Festival in competition, its underwhelming limited theatrical release did little to spark much interest in the title, though Wenders would receive an Indie Spirit Award nod as Best Director. Feeling very much like the type of philosophically overbaked yarns that we’ve come to see frequent the later period of Atom Egoyan, Wenders’ Hollywood metaphor exploring voyeuristic societal issues at large is trapped by its fascinations with its own ideas. On paper, it sounds intriguing, as we’re dealing with the provocative hypothesis that, at a base level, asserts the mere act of ‘looking’ or ‘seeing’ something will eventually render the necessity of violence to be obsolete.
- 3/18/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
I wanted to honor the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman, but the man was such a damn good actor that he never really made any bad movies. This will have to do. My Boyfriend's Back (1993) Director: Bob Balaban Stars: Andrew Lowery, Traci Lind, Phillip Seymour Hoffman A lovesick teen continues to stalk his wannabe girlfriend from the grave. My Boyfriend's Back is an interesting case. It falls in the categories of goofy and cheesy and weird, but knowingly so. It's clearly...
- 2/5/2014
- by Jason Adams
- JoBlo.com
Reviewed by Kevin Scott, MoreHorror.com
The direct to video market and the recent remake boom together have created a curious anomaly that hasn’t yet received a label that really fits it. Case in point, I’m not sure really what do call this latest incarnation in the “Fright Night” series. Is it a sequel to a remake or is it a remake of a sequel? It’s supposed to be perceived by the general horror watching public, as a sequel to the Colin Farrell “Fright Night” remake, but anyone who is familiar with the first two films could compare it to the 1988 sequel to the original. Both have lead lady vampires after a lead male vampire in the first films. See how confusing it can get.
If continuity is major sticking point for you as a movie watcher, these latest two films can be safely classified as related in name only,...
The direct to video market and the recent remake boom together have created a curious anomaly that hasn’t yet received a label that really fits it. Case in point, I’m not sure really what do call this latest incarnation in the “Fright Night” series. Is it a sequel to a remake or is it a remake of a sequel? It’s supposed to be perceived by the general horror watching public, as a sequel to the Colin Farrell “Fright Night” remake, but anyone who is familiar with the first two films could compare it to the 1988 sequel to the original. Both have lead lady vampires after a lead male vampire in the first films. See how confusing it can get.
If continuity is major sticking point for you as a movie watcher, these latest two films can be safely classified as related in name only,...
- 10/18/2013
- by admin
- MoreHorror
There are times where I just want to be entertained. Forget the blood. Forget the nudity. Forget the exploitation. No, nobody hacked my column. I’m still here. My wife is not a big horror fan, and she only watches them with me because she knows I am addicted to them. Once in a blue moon, I come across a title in my collection that is right up both of our alleys. I bring to you My Boyfriend’s Back, or what would happen if R.L. Stine wrote a Rom-Com.
As he did with Jason Goes to Hell, writer Dean Lorey opens up on his experiences on this 1993 horror-comedy that has a bigger fanbase than you might think.
The question I get asked most often (right after “where do you get your ideas?”) is “how did you break into the business?” For me, it started with a little zombie named Johnny Dingle.
As he did with Jason Goes to Hell, writer Dean Lorey opens up on his experiences on this 1993 horror-comedy that has a bigger fanbase than you might think.
The question I get asked most often (right after “where do you get your ideas?”) is “how did you break into the business?” For me, it started with a little zombie named Johnny Dingle.
- 5/20/2011
- by Jason Bene
- Killer Films
Five words: Cross-dressing, roller-skating vampire. No, I'm not describing an as-yet-unidentified fangless, vegan vampire from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series that didn't make the jump from the printed page to the big screen. This particular vampire appears in Fright Night II , the 1988 sequel to writer-director Tom Holland's (Child's Play) 1985 horror-comedy, Fright Night. Fright Night co-starred the late, great Roddy McDowall (Dead of Winter, the Planet of the Apes series, The Poseidon Adventure, Cleopatra) as B-movie actor, late-night TV horror show host, and fearless vampire killer, Peter Vincent (named after horror icons Peter Cushing and Vincent Price). Vincent's one-time ally and nominal hero-protagonist, Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale, not to be confused with Zach Galligan of Gremlins fame), also returned for the semi-anticipated sequel.
After several years of intensive counseling, Charley no longer believes in vampires. He's allowed himself to be convinced that Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon), was a serial killer and kidnapper,...
After several years of intensive counseling, Charley no longer believes in vampires. He's allowed himself to be convinced that Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon), was a serial killer and kidnapper,...
- 7/15/2010
- by Mel Valentin
- Cinematical
Now here's a DVD that's only about 9 years late, but when you're talking about a DVD release of Class of 1999 - hey, better late than never.
The 1990 sci-fi horror action flick from Mark L. Lester (Commando, Firestarter) is actually something of a remake/follow-up to his own Class of 1984 that dealt with teachers being forced to turn vigilante to deal with their school overrun by violent street gangs. In the nine year ago future of Class of 1999, the problem with violent juveniles in the classroom has reached such a critical point that the government decides to test out a program replacing human teachers with cyborg teachers unbeknownst to the student populace. Reprogramming battle droids for academics proves to be a bad idea when the robots go haywire and declare war on their pupils. Let's just say this movie could have just as easily been titled Terminator High.
You got Stacy Keach...
The 1990 sci-fi horror action flick from Mark L. Lester (Commando, Firestarter) is actually something of a remake/follow-up to his own Class of 1984 that dealt with teachers being forced to turn vigilante to deal with their school overrun by violent street gangs. In the nine year ago future of Class of 1999, the problem with violent juveniles in the classroom has reached such a critical point that the government decides to test out a program replacing human teachers with cyborg teachers unbeknownst to the student populace. Reprogramming battle droids for academics proves to be a bad idea when the robots go haywire and declare war on their pupils. Let's just say this movie could have just as easily been titled Terminator High.
You got Stacy Keach...
- 6/28/2008
- by Foywonder
- DreadCentral.com
Occupying the mean-spirited terrain of "In the Company of Men" and "Your Friends & Neighbors," "Red Meat" serves up a slab of men behaving badly where women are concerned.
But first-time feature filmmaker Allison Burnett (a man) is no Neil LaBute, and his stagey portrait of guys who meet one Sunday a month to work out, eat red meat and brag of sexual conquests is a talkfest of major proportions with ultimately very little to say.
Straitjacketed by an over-reliance on flashbacks and voice-overs and awash in actorish performances, the low-budget indie production won't be generating any substantial select-site cravings.
Doing the male-bonding thing this particular Sunday are unrepentant jerk Stefan John Slattery) and nice-guy jerk Chris (Stephen Mailer), who happen to be joined by guest carnivore Victor (James Frain), a long lost acquaintance of Chris' who walks into their favorite barbecue joint.
After regaling their new recruit as well an eavesdropping waitress (Traci Lind) with tales of brazen braggadocio, the cocky Stefan and the over-intellectualizing Chris finally press Victor to come clean, and he easily outclasses his hosts with a spiritually redemptive story of his relationship with a terminally ill woman (Lara Flynn Boyle).
The film's constant shifts back and forth in time and excessive storytelling narration make for a trite and tedious viewing experience. Burnett, who also wrote the script, based it on three chapters of his own novel and the picture seldom manages to break free from those printed page origins.
He's somewhat more successful in the technical department. With the assistance of director of photography Charlie Lieberman ("Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer"), the picture looks a lot better than it sounds.
RED MEAT
Peninsula Films
A Treehouse Films presentation
Director-screenwriter: Allison Burnett
Producers: Liver Eberle, Marco Weber
Director of photography: Charlie Lieberman
Production designers: Frank Bollinger, Clare Brown
Editor: Sloane Klevin Music: The Blue Hawaiians Color/stereo
Cast:
Ruth: Lara Flynn Boyle
Victor: James Frain
Candace: Jennifer Grey
Connie the Waitress: Traci Lind
Chris: Stephen Mailer
Stefan: John Slattery
Running time -- 94 minutes
No MPAA rating...
But first-time feature filmmaker Allison Burnett (a man) is no Neil LaBute, and his stagey portrait of guys who meet one Sunday a month to work out, eat red meat and brag of sexual conquests is a talkfest of major proportions with ultimately very little to say.
Straitjacketed by an over-reliance on flashbacks and voice-overs and awash in actorish performances, the low-budget indie production won't be generating any substantial select-site cravings.
Doing the male-bonding thing this particular Sunday are unrepentant jerk Stefan John Slattery) and nice-guy jerk Chris (Stephen Mailer), who happen to be joined by guest carnivore Victor (James Frain), a long lost acquaintance of Chris' who walks into their favorite barbecue joint.
After regaling their new recruit as well an eavesdropping waitress (Traci Lind) with tales of brazen braggadocio, the cocky Stefan and the over-intellectualizing Chris finally press Victor to come clean, and he easily outclasses his hosts with a spiritually redemptive story of his relationship with a terminally ill woman (Lara Flynn Boyle).
The film's constant shifts back and forth in time and excessive storytelling narration make for a trite and tedious viewing experience. Burnett, who also wrote the script, based it on three chapters of his own novel and the picture seldom manages to break free from those printed page origins.
He's somewhat more successful in the technical department. With the assistance of director of photography Charlie Lieberman ("Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer"), the picture looks a lot better than it sounds.
RED MEAT
Peninsula Films
A Treehouse Films presentation
Director-screenwriter: Allison Burnett
Producers: Liver Eberle, Marco Weber
Director of photography: Charlie Lieberman
Production designers: Frank Bollinger, Clare Brown
Editor: Sloane Klevin Music: The Blue Hawaiians Color/stereo
Cast:
Ruth: Lara Flynn Boyle
Victor: James Frain
Candace: Jennifer Grey
Connie the Waitress: Traci Lind
Chris: Stephen Mailer
Stefan: John Slattery
Running time -- 94 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 12/14/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Having recently received its world premiere at the inaugural Hollywood Film Festival, "Cadillac" is a good-looking, sensitively directed drama that ultimately can't transcend its stagy, talky script.
In his sophomore effort, young filmmaker Andrew Frank ("Friends & Enemies") brings an assured, refined touch to the portrait of three old high school buddies who have finally hit a crossroads in their shared state of prolonged adolescence.
Now in their mid-30s, the obnoxious Todd (Taylor Nichols), a successful commercial realtor, and Michael (Daniel Roebuck), a nice-guy employee for a computer-software firm, would appear to lead normal lives.
But they have a constant reminder of a serious screw-up in the person of Jimmy (Lenny Von Dohlen), a piece of damaged goods who holes himself up in Todd's garage obsessively trying to resuscitate his 1970 Cadillac and desperately clinging to long-gone ideals.
It turns out Jimmy spent a year in a psychiatric hospital following a very bad acid trip at the hands of his two buddies. The subsequent years of pent-up, unspoken guilt have taken their toll on the trio and are about to be confronted in one big, soul-cleansing blowout.
Frank's cast -- also including Stephanie Romanov as Todd's harassed fiancee, Kathy; Traci Lind as Jimmy's disastrous blind date, Missy; and Annabelle Gurwitch as Michael's friend, Renee -- delivers earnest, committed performances, though Von Dohlen's wounded-rabbit interpretation borders perilously on parody.
Not that he's fully to blame, given Bruce McIntosh's overwritten, dramatically static script that fails to deliver satisfactorily on its deep, dark secret of a buildup. It's too bad, because Frank manages to put a lot of polish on an obviously modest budget. He's handsomely assisted in that accomplishment by DP Maximo Munzi and composer Alan Williams, not to mention enough nostalgic hits from the '70s and '80s to fill a soundtrack album.
CADILLAC
Moonshadow Entertainment
Director Andrew Frank
Screenwriter Bruce McIntosh
Producer Andrew Frank
Executive producers Martin Frank, Lorraine Rasmussen
Director of photography Maximo Munzi
Production designer Anna Gadsby
Editor Stephen Myers
Costume designer Lynn Bernay
Music Alan Williams
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jimmy Lenny Von Dohlen
Todd Taylor Nichols
Mike Daniel Roebuck
Missy Traci Lind
Renee Annabelle Gurwitch
Kathy Stephanie Romanov
Running time -- 93 minutes
No MPAA rating...
In his sophomore effort, young filmmaker Andrew Frank ("Friends & Enemies") brings an assured, refined touch to the portrait of three old high school buddies who have finally hit a crossroads in their shared state of prolonged adolescence.
Now in their mid-30s, the obnoxious Todd (Taylor Nichols), a successful commercial realtor, and Michael (Daniel Roebuck), a nice-guy employee for a computer-software firm, would appear to lead normal lives.
But they have a constant reminder of a serious screw-up in the person of Jimmy (Lenny Von Dohlen), a piece of damaged goods who holes himself up in Todd's garage obsessively trying to resuscitate his 1970 Cadillac and desperately clinging to long-gone ideals.
It turns out Jimmy spent a year in a psychiatric hospital following a very bad acid trip at the hands of his two buddies. The subsequent years of pent-up, unspoken guilt have taken their toll on the trio and are about to be confronted in one big, soul-cleansing blowout.
Frank's cast -- also including Stephanie Romanov as Todd's harassed fiancee, Kathy; Traci Lind as Jimmy's disastrous blind date, Missy; and Annabelle Gurwitch as Michael's friend, Renee -- delivers earnest, committed performances, though Von Dohlen's wounded-rabbit interpretation borders perilously on parody.
Not that he's fully to blame, given Bruce McIntosh's overwritten, dramatically static script that fails to deliver satisfactorily on its deep, dark secret of a buildup. It's too bad, because Frank manages to put a lot of polish on an obviously modest budget. He's handsomely assisted in that accomplishment by DP Maximo Munzi and composer Alan Williams, not to mention enough nostalgic hits from the '70s and '80s to fill a soundtrack album.
CADILLAC
Moonshadow Entertainment
Director Andrew Frank
Screenwriter Bruce McIntosh
Producer Andrew Frank
Executive producers Martin Frank, Lorraine Rasmussen
Director of photography Maximo Munzi
Production designer Anna Gadsby
Editor Stephen Myers
Costume designer Lynn Bernay
Music Alan Williams
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jimmy Lenny Von Dohlen
Todd Taylor Nichols
Mike Daniel Roebuck
Missy Traci Lind
Renee Annabelle Gurwitch
Kathy Stephanie Romanov
Running time -- 93 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/24/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This is a warped whodunit with a serial killer whose method of dispatching victims is so nasty it shows hilariously how far one has to go to keep up with big-budget Hollywood thrillers.
"Kiss & Tell" is a winning independent film from writer-director Jordan Alan ("Terminal Bliss", "Love & Happiness") that features a large and entertaining cast, including four Arquette family members (but not Rosanna or Patricia).
A candidate for eventual cult status, the Phaedra Cinema release should generate moderate interest in limited engagements before heading to video. Hip and breezily unconcerned with making sense, the improvisational "Kiss & Tell" feels like a story written by a roomful of people, with everyone taking turns adding a new scene and then passing it on.
"Kiss & Tell" stars Justine Bateman, Heather Graham and Peter Greene, and boasts bit players Traci Lind, Lukas Haas, Assumpta Serna, Alexandra Paul, Rose McGowan, Teresa Hill, Jill Hennessey, Roxana Zal, Mickey Cottrell, Nina Siemaszko and co-producer Pamela Gidley as the dreaded Betty "Beta" Carotene. Throw in Alexis, Richmond, David and father Lewis Arquette, and you have one strange brew.
Imagine Gregg Araki making "L.A. Confidential" and you can get a sense of the atmosphere and general punchiness of "Kiss & Tell," which pits lesbians against detectives against shifty suspects against wigged-out murderers in a willy-nilly noir fable that simultaneously makes use of and mocks many Los Angeles landmarks.
The ratio of good gags to so-so jokes is about 3-to-1 in this feast of up-and-coming stars, which achieves its best results with epiphanous events in many of the comic vignettes, moments when the characters come alive and their conflicts are intriguing.
But overall the wacky plot couldn't be more lurid and loaded with sin-city cliches that have been twisted into amusing satirical elements. Here's a sampling: an armless coroner eating a restaurant meal, a group therapy session attended exclusively by murderers, a hit man from New York named Lollypop Man and a psychopath using poisoned carrots to leave a trail of corpses.
Shocks and twists are frequent, but what's surprising is how well Alan and crew keep control of the project when it easily could have become too incoherent and unfunny. There are even a few scenes that are downright spooky, not an easy thing to pull off when the movie as a whole is impossible to take seriously.
By and large, the performances are on the money. Along with some great tongue-in-cheek moments from Greene and Richmond Arquette as grumpy detectives, Graham is memorable as a witchy friend of the most prominent murder victim (Bateman).
KISS & TELL
Phaedra Cinema
A Terminal Bliss production
in association with
Ron Travisano and Pamela Gidley
Writer-director Jordan Alan
Producers Pamela Gidley,
Ron Travisano, Jordan Alan
Executive producer Adam Fast
Director of photography Ron Travisano
Music Michael Mattioli
Editors Ed Marx, Chris Keenan, Jordan Alan
Color/stereo
Cast:
Molly McMannis Justine Bateman
Suzan Pretsel Heather Graham
Detective Finnigan Peter Greene
Detective Starr Richmond Arquette
Detective Furbal Lewis Arquette
Betty "Beta" Carotene Pamela Gidley
Ivy Roberts Teresa Hill
Jasmine Rose McGowan
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
"Kiss & Tell" is a winning independent film from writer-director Jordan Alan ("Terminal Bliss", "Love & Happiness") that features a large and entertaining cast, including four Arquette family members (but not Rosanna or Patricia).
A candidate for eventual cult status, the Phaedra Cinema release should generate moderate interest in limited engagements before heading to video. Hip and breezily unconcerned with making sense, the improvisational "Kiss & Tell" feels like a story written by a roomful of people, with everyone taking turns adding a new scene and then passing it on.
"Kiss & Tell" stars Justine Bateman, Heather Graham and Peter Greene, and boasts bit players Traci Lind, Lukas Haas, Assumpta Serna, Alexandra Paul, Rose McGowan, Teresa Hill, Jill Hennessey, Roxana Zal, Mickey Cottrell, Nina Siemaszko and co-producer Pamela Gidley as the dreaded Betty "Beta" Carotene. Throw in Alexis, Richmond, David and father Lewis Arquette, and you have one strange brew.
Imagine Gregg Araki making "L.A. Confidential" and you can get a sense of the atmosphere and general punchiness of "Kiss & Tell," which pits lesbians against detectives against shifty suspects against wigged-out murderers in a willy-nilly noir fable that simultaneously makes use of and mocks many Los Angeles landmarks.
The ratio of good gags to so-so jokes is about 3-to-1 in this feast of up-and-coming stars, which achieves its best results with epiphanous events in many of the comic vignettes, moments when the characters come alive and their conflicts are intriguing.
But overall the wacky plot couldn't be more lurid and loaded with sin-city cliches that have been twisted into amusing satirical elements. Here's a sampling: an armless coroner eating a restaurant meal, a group therapy session attended exclusively by murderers, a hit man from New York named Lollypop Man and a psychopath using poisoned carrots to leave a trail of corpses.
Shocks and twists are frequent, but what's surprising is how well Alan and crew keep control of the project when it easily could have become too incoherent and unfunny. There are even a few scenes that are downright spooky, not an easy thing to pull off when the movie as a whole is impossible to take seriously.
By and large, the performances are on the money. Along with some great tongue-in-cheek moments from Greene and Richmond Arquette as grumpy detectives, Graham is memorable as a witchy friend of the most prominent murder victim (Bateman).
KISS & TELL
Phaedra Cinema
A Terminal Bliss production
in association with
Ron Travisano and Pamela Gidley
Writer-director Jordan Alan
Producers Pamela Gidley,
Ron Travisano, Jordan Alan
Executive producer Adam Fast
Director of photography Ron Travisano
Music Michael Mattioli
Editors Ed Marx, Chris Keenan, Jordan Alan
Color/stereo
Cast:
Molly McMannis Justine Bateman
Suzan Pretsel Heather Graham
Detective Finnigan Peter Greene
Detective Starr Richmond Arquette
Detective Furbal Lewis Arquette
Betty "Beta" Carotene Pamela Gidley
Ivy Roberts Teresa Hill
Jasmine Rose McGowan
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/17/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Fox's thriller "Code Name: Wolverine" does its job efficiently and effectively, albeit at times seemingly stoked on machismo steroids.
Starring Antonio Sabato Jr., this teleflick, based on a Frederick Forsyth story, presents a violent tale of twists and turns that is over the top but yet a cut above. We are presented with Harry Gordini (Sabato), a college professor and ex-Navy SEAL who was code named, you guessed it, Wolverine, and who suddenly finds he must use his military skills while seeking to reconcile with his wife and son in Europe.
When Gordini's suitcase is inadvertently mixed up with a piece of luggage being transported by a drug courier that is said to contain a super-powerful variant of a narcotic worth $200 million, the nastiness begins in earnest. The big, bad drug cartel, represented by a harmful fellow named Adolfo Jones (Danny Quinn), wants the merchandise back.
Add to this mix agents from the DEA, lead by John Baines (Richard Brooks), who want to put the kibosh on the operation. Moreover, Gordini's wife Monica (Traci Lind) has her own connection to clandestine government operations, a fact that makes matters a bit more jittery when she and their young son Joey (Matthew Cox) are snatched by Jones. And though Gordini manages to spring 'em, more bad stuff unalterably follows.
While things can get hyperbolically confused in the course of this two-hour presentation, Sabato and company play it with a certain verve. Sabato, generally sporting a look of dogged determination and skimpy T-shirts, seems to be having fun in the sun. And in this regard, "Wolverine"'s scenes and sights keep the eye engaged, the telefilm shot on location in Italy.
International intrigue, venial villains and hyperventilating action, "Code Name: Wolverine" is political adventure as pumped-up fable: bodies getting speared, boats going kaboom, and bullets exploding into pliant flesh. Yet for all its excesses, the film does hook the viewer, and might even keep one's mind off the more pressing realities of law enforcement as usual. CODE NAME: WOLVERINE
Fox
Citadel Entertainment
in association with Eagles Journey/Fecon
Executive producers Michael Campus,
Rowland Perkins
Supervising producer Karen Danaher-Dorr
Producers Federick Muller, David R. Ginsburg
Associate producers Arla Dietz Baim,
Patti Singer
Director David Jackson
Teleplay Robert T. Megginson
Based on the original story by
Frederick Forsyth
Music Christopher Franke
Production designer Peter Mullins
Art director Livia Borgognoni
Editor Adam Wolfe
Director of photography Denis Maloney
Casting Reuben Cannon & Associates,
Eddie Dunlop
Cast: Antonio Sabato Jr., Traci Lind, Danny Quinn, Richard Brooks, Matthew Cox, Urgano Barberini, Sam Douglas, Brian Protheroe, Jeffrey Wickham
Airdate: Tuesday, Dec. 3, 8-10 p.m.
Starring Antonio Sabato Jr., this teleflick, based on a Frederick Forsyth story, presents a violent tale of twists and turns that is over the top but yet a cut above. We are presented with Harry Gordini (Sabato), a college professor and ex-Navy SEAL who was code named, you guessed it, Wolverine, and who suddenly finds he must use his military skills while seeking to reconcile with his wife and son in Europe.
When Gordini's suitcase is inadvertently mixed up with a piece of luggage being transported by a drug courier that is said to contain a super-powerful variant of a narcotic worth $200 million, the nastiness begins in earnest. The big, bad drug cartel, represented by a harmful fellow named Adolfo Jones (Danny Quinn), wants the merchandise back.
Add to this mix agents from the DEA, lead by John Baines (Richard Brooks), who want to put the kibosh on the operation. Moreover, Gordini's wife Monica (Traci Lind) has her own connection to clandestine government operations, a fact that makes matters a bit more jittery when she and their young son Joey (Matthew Cox) are snatched by Jones. And though Gordini manages to spring 'em, more bad stuff unalterably follows.
While things can get hyperbolically confused in the course of this two-hour presentation, Sabato and company play it with a certain verve. Sabato, generally sporting a look of dogged determination and skimpy T-shirts, seems to be having fun in the sun. And in this regard, "Wolverine"'s scenes and sights keep the eye engaged, the telefilm shot on location in Italy.
International intrigue, venial villains and hyperventilating action, "Code Name: Wolverine" is political adventure as pumped-up fable: bodies getting speared, boats going kaboom, and bullets exploding into pliant flesh. Yet for all its excesses, the film does hook the viewer, and might even keep one's mind off the more pressing realities of law enforcement as usual. CODE NAME: WOLVERINE
Fox
Citadel Entertainment
in association with Eagles Journey/Fecon
Executive producers Michael Campus,
Rowland Perkins
Supervising producer Karen Danaher-Dorr
Producers Federick Muller, David R. Ginsburg
Associate producers Arla Dietz Baim,
Patti Singer
Director David Jackson
Teleplay Robert T. Megginson
Based on the original story by
Frederick Forsyth
Music Christopher Franke
Production designer Peter Mullins
Art director Livia Borgognoni
Editor Adam Wolfe
Director of photography Denis Maloney
Casting Reuben Cannon & Associates,
Eddie Dunlop
Cast: Antonio Sabato Jr., Traci Lind, Danny Quinn, Richard Brooks, Matthew Cox, Urgano Barberini, Sam Douglas, Brian Protheroe, Jeffrey Wickham
Airdate: Tuesday, Dec. 3, 8-10 p.m.
- 12/3/1996
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TOKYO -- Based on Max Frisch's best-seller ''Homo Faber'' (retitled ''Voyager'' for worldwide release), this seminal novel had been a property of Paramount Pictures ever since its appearance on the best-seller lists back in 1957. But when it was recently dropped, apparently on the supposition that its incest theme was too difficult to film, the book was immediately picked up by German director Volker Schloendorff.
Now one of the finalists in the ''Felix'' European Film Awards, ''Voyager'' also happens to be Schloendorff's best film since ''The Tin Drum'' (1977).
American playwright Sam Shepard plays 50-year-old Walter Faber, a self-made man who views himself as an architect of his own fortunes. As sketched by Frisch, he's a recognizable type of modern intellectual who stubbornly believes that he can control his own destiny, even when confronted by one unnerving coincidence after another while on an odyssey half-way around the world. Add to this the moral dilemma of a man unsuspectingly having an affair with his own daughter, and you have a provocative updating of Sophocles' ''Oedipus Rex'' theme.
Schloendorff, however, introduces two changes into the plot: He switches Faber's nationality and discards the stigma of his protagonist condemned to die of cancer.
So Walter Faber is an American engineer, instead of a Swiss one, who cruises the world in the employ of Unesco to inspect dams and construction sites.
Considering today's propensity for globetrotting, it doesn't really make much difference in the long run which nationality he is. But to strip Faber completely of moral responsibility by eliminating the cancer issue weakens the ending considerably.
Shot in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico, France, Italy and Greece -- in addition to a trip across the Atlantic on an ocean liner --
''Voyager'' -- screened here as part of the Tokyo International Film Festival -- gets off to a strong start by depicting a crash-landing of the then new Super-Constellation aircraft in the Mexican desert. It's Faber's first brush with death, which in turn introduces the first coincidence that is about to change his life.
On the flight, he has met by chance a German passenger who turns out to be the brother of a long-lost friend of pre-World War II days. Since the friend had married the woman Faber once loved but abandoned for a career, the engineer decides to join his new companion on a journey to a plantation outpost in the South American jungle, where they discover that the friend and brother has committed suicide.
Back in New York, Faber decides to return to Europe by way of an ocean liner. This triggers the second coincidence: a chance meeting with a girl named Sabeth (Julie Delpy), who fascinates him and later turns out to be his daughter by the woman he once loved. Since the girl is on her way back from a student sojourn in the United States to rejoin her mother, Hanna (Barbara Sukowa), in Greece, the focus of the film hereafter is a conscious spiritual reworking of the Oedipus theme.
Shepard gives an even and convincing performance as the tired intellectual searching for a new meaning to his life. But it's young French actress Delpy -- a discovery of Jean-Luc Godard in his recent ''Lear'' adaptation -- who steals the show as the seductively carefree Sabeth.
German actress Sukowa as Hanna also offers an effective cameo, although her performance is unfortunately limited by its brevity. Otherwise, she well might have tied a lot of loose knots together to underscore the reasons why Frisch was fascinated by the modern-day plot possibilities offered by a timeless Sophoclean tragedy in the first place.
VOYAGER
(Germany-France-Greece)
Bioskop Film (Munich), in co-production with Action Film (Paris) and STEFI 2/Hellas Video (Athens)
Producer Eberhard Junkersdorf
Co-producer Klaus Hellwig
Director Volker Schloendorff
Screenplay Volker Schloendorff, Rudy Wurlitzer
Based on the novel by Max Frisch
Directors of photography Yorgos Arvanitis, Pierre L'Homme
Art director Nicos Perakis
Costumes Barbara Baum
Music Stanley Myers
Editor Dagmar Hirtz
Color/Black and white
Starring: Sam Shepard, Julie Delpy, Barbara Sukowa, Dieter Kirchlechner, Traci Lind, Deborah-Lee Furness, August Zirner
Running time -- 117 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
Now one of the finalists in the ''Felix'' European Film Awards, ''Voyager'' also happens to be Schloendorff's best film since ''The Tin Drum'' (1977).
American playwright Sam Shepard plays 50-year-old Walter Faber, a self-made man who views himself as an architect of his own fortunes. As sketched by Frisch, he's a recognizable type of modern intellectual who stubbornly believes that he can control his own destiny, even when confronted by one unnerving coincidence after another while on an odyssey half-way around the world. Add to this the moral dilemma of a man unsuspectingly having an affair with his own daughter, and you have a provocative updating of Sophocles' ''Oedipus Rex'' theme.
Schloendorff, however, introduces two changes into the plot: He switches Faber's nationality and discards the stigma of his protagonist condemned to die of cancer.
So Walter Faber is an American engineer, instead of a Swiss one, who cruises the world in the employ of Unesco to inspect dams and construction sites.
Considering today's propensity for globetrotting, it doesn't really make much difference in the long run which nationality he is. But to strip Faber completely of moral responsibility by eliminating the cancer issue weakens the ending considerably.
Shot in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico, France, Italy and Greece -- in addition to a trip across the Atlantic on an ocean liner --
''Voyager'' -- screened here as part of the Tokyo International Film Festival -- gets off to a strong start by depicting a crash-landing of the then new Super-Constellation aircraft in the Mexican desert. It's Faber's first brush with death, which in turn introduces the first coincidence that is about to change his life.
On the flight, he has met by chance a German passenger who turns out to be the brother of a long-lost friend of pre-World War II days. Since the friend had married the woman Faber once loved but abandoned for a career, the engineer decides to join his new companion on a journey to a plantation outpost in the South American jungle, where they discover that the friend and brother has committed suicide.
Back in New York, Faber decides to return to Europe by way of an ocean liner. This triggers the second coincidence: a chance meeting with a girl named Sabeth (Julie Delpy), who fascinates him and later turns out to be his daughter by the woman he once loved. Since the girl is on her way back from a student sojourn in the United States to rejoin her mother, Hanna (Barbara Sukowa), in Greece, the focus of the film hereafter is a conscious spiritual reworking of the Oedipus theme.
Shepard gives an even and convincing performance as the tired intellectual searching for a new meaning to his life. But it's young French actress Delpy -- a discovery of Jean-Luc Godard in his recent ''Lear'' adaptation -- who steals the show as the seductively carefree Sabeth.
German actress Sukowa as Hanna also offers an effective cameo, although her performance is unfortunately limited by its brevity. Otherwise, she well might have tied a lot of loose knots together to underscore the reasons why Frisch was fascinated by the modern-day plot possibilities offered by a timeless Sophoclean tragedy in the first place.
VOYAGER
(Germany-France-Greece)
Bioskop Film (Munich), in co-production with Action Film (Paris) and STEFI 2/Hellas Video (Athens)
Producer Eberhard Junkersdorf
Co-producer Klaus Hellwig
Director Volker Schloendorff
Screenplay Volker Schloendorff, Rudy Wurlitzer
Based on the novel by Max Frisch
Directors of photography Yorgos Arvanitis, Pierre L'Homme
Art director Nicos Perakis
Costumes Barbara Baum
Music Stanley Myers
Editor Dagmar Hirtz
Color/Black and white
Starring: Sam Shepard, Julie Delpy, Barbara Sukowa, Dieter Kirchlechner, Traci Lind, Deborah-Lee Furness, August Zirner
Running time -- 117 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 10/3/1991
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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