Directed by Nick Castle Written by Chris Matheson, Kerry Ehrin and Craig Munson Released 1996 I always loved this film, which stars Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Pullman, as Martha Alston and Whitman Crawford. Martha is lonely single woman who has been unlucky in love, and is becoming increasingly frustrated with her lot in life, especially…
Category: Best Movies You’ve Never Seen
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: LOVE STINKS
Writer/Director Jeff Franklin Released September 1999 Studio: Sony I caught this charming little romantic comedy on cable a few years after it came out, and always enjoyed it. French Stewart stars as Seth, a writer for a successful TV sitcom. The film opens with him and his fiance Chelsea (co-star Bridgette Wilson-Sampras) rushing to Las…
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: FEAR OF A BLACK HAT
Written and directed by Rusty Cundieff Released June 1993 The Samuel Goldwyn Company You know how sometimes two movies with a similar premise will get made and released around the same time? Like Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down last year, or Deep Impact and Armageddon back in 1998. Well, in 1993 the same…
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: GUILTY AS SIN
Director: Sidney Lumet Writer: Larry Cohen Released June 1993 This mystery/thriller stars Rebecca de Mornay as Jennifer Haines, a successful criminal defense attorney who specializes in representing high-profile defendants, including mob bosses. One day she’s approached by David Edgar Greenhill (Don Johnson), a man who has been accused of killing his wealthy older wife, and…
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: MADE IN HEAVEN
Directed by Alan Rudolph Written by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon Released November 1987 I discovered this somewhat obscure film during my time working in video store (this was after I quit the porn shop). During the last few months as business there got slower I’d sit in the store and watch movies all…
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: KEEP THE FAITH, BABY
Directed by Doug McHenry Written by Art Washington Released 2002 This made-for-cable film originally aired on Showtime and stars Harry Lennix as legendary Harlem congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. The film begins near the end of Powell’s congressional career, where a young reporter for a Black newspaper (Russell Hornsby) visits Powell in the home Powell…
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: BARBARIANS AT THE GATE
Directed by Glenn Jordan Written by Larry Gelbart (based on a book by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar) Released March 1993 HBO Studios Here’s a timely film review for two reasons. 1, James Garner died last night at age 86 and 2, Friday a jury awarded $23 billion punitive damages against RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company…
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: MY FELLOW AMERICANS
Directed by Peter Segal Written by E. Jack Kaplan, Richard Chapman, and Peter Tolan Released December 1996 Warner Bros. Studios James Garner died last night, at 86 years old. You can’t say he didn’t live a long and full (and hopefully mostly happy) life. I thought I’d revisit this film of his, which I always…
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: PUNISHER WAR ZONE
Written by Nick Santora, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway Directed by Lexi Alexander Released December 2008 It’s strange considering The Punisher’s bad luck on the big screen, when you think about it. It should actually be one of the easiest comic-book characters to adapt to live-action. He doesn’t have any super-powers, he’s a guy with…
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: THE ENEMY WITHIN
This is AN HBO movie, released in 1994 and directed by Jonathan Darby. I watched it at the time and enjoyed it, and still have it on tape. I only just today discovered, as I was looking up the film online to get the credits, that it is actually a remake of a 1964 film…
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: THE GREAT WHITE HYPE
Directed by Reginald Hudlin Written by Tony Hendra & Ron Shelton Released May 1996 This is comedy film that I’ve always enjoyed. It stars Samuel L. Jackson as an unscrupulous boxing promoter, a rather flamboyant character known as Reverend Sultan. He is clearly loosely based on Don King, but without seeming like a parody. Reverend…
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: REAL MEN
This 1987 film was written and directed by Dennis Feldman. I don’t remember when I first saw it, but I’ve had it recorded on a VHS tape (yes, I still have a lot of those around) and rewatched it at least one bajillion times over the years. The premise, the characters, and everything else about…
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: MY GIRLFRIEND’S BOYFRIEND
This is a little romantic comedy that came out 2010, written and directed by Daryn Tufts, and starring Alyssa Milano (who is the reason I decided to buy this DVD, naturally). Christopher Gorham plays Ethan. When the film opens he’s desperately running up to an apartment building, looking for his true love, a woman named…
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: TALHOTBLOND
In light of recent public events, such as the strange case of football player Manti Te’o’ and his made-up internet girlfriend, as well as the popularity of the MTV “reality” show, CATFISH, this film seems like a good choice to review. This is a Made For TV movie that I saw on Lifetime last year,…
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: IN TOO DEEP
There are good movies that, for whatever reason, don’t make much of an impression on the public when they were released. They either bombed in the theater, or just went straight-to-dvd. This is one of them. I’ve been a fan of LL Cool J ever since his first album came out. For a long time…
BEST MOVIES YOU’VE NEVER SEEN: ZORRO, THE GAY BLADE
I’ve always loved the character Zorro, including the recent comic-book series by Dynamite Comics, and this film is one of my favorite interpretations, even though it’s played more as a spoof. This comedy is from 1981 and stars George Harrison in the title role(s). The film tells the story of Don Diego de la Vega…
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: THE QUICK AND THE DEAD
There are good movies that, for whatever reason, don’t make much of an impression on the public when they were released. They either bombed in the theater, or just went straight-to-dvd. This is one of them This movie has a pedigree that, on paper, reads like an Oscar-winning blockbuster. Sam Raimi directs a cast that…
BEST MOVIES YOU’VE NEVER SEEN: SWIMMING WITH SHARKS
There are good movies that, for whatever reason, don’t make much of an impression on the public when they were released. They either bombed in the theater, or just went straight-to-dvd. This is one of them. Written and directed by George Huang, this film was released in 1994. I think I first saw it on…
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: A MURDER OF CROWS
There are good movies that, for whatever reason, don’t make much of an impression on the public when they were released. They either bombed in the theater, or just went straight-to-dvd. This is one of them. Anyone remember when, just after Jerry Maguire, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Cuba…
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: SOMEONE LIKE YOU
There are good movies that, for whatever reason, don’t make much of an impression on the public when they were released. They either bombed in the theater, or just went straight-to-dvd. Unlike Double Jeopardy, this Ashley Judd-starring film fits the category, since it barely made back it’s budget. I have it on tape, but it…
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: VERY BAD THINGS
There are good movies that, for whatever reason, didn’t make much of an impression on the public when they were released. They either bombed in the theater, or just went straight-to-dvd. This is one of them. This film is about the impending wedding of Kyle and Laura. As the film begins, Kyle’s best riends are…
Best Movies You’ve Never Seen: THE MUSKETEER
This is a semi-regular feature I plan to do. Review some old movies that pretty much just came and went in the theaters, or maybe even went straight-to-dvd, that I think were really good, and need to be seen by more folks. First up is 2001’sTHE MUSKETEER. If you have read the book, or seen…
