The Blue Iguana 1988  R, 90 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Director: John Lafia
Cast: Dylan McDermott, Jessica Harper, James Russo, Pamela Gidley, Tovah Feldshuh, Dean Stockwell, Yano Anaya, Flea, Michele Seipp, Katia Schkolnik, John Durbin, Don Pedro Colley, Pedro Altamirano
This spoof on private-eye movies involves the blackmail of bounty hunter Vince Holloway (Dylan McDermott) by I.R.S. agents (Tovah Feldshuh and Dean Stockwell). Under pressure, Holloway agrees to travel to the Latin American town of El Diablo to stop the illegal transfer of $20 million between crooked banker Cora (Jessica Harper) and gangster Reno (James Russo). Double crosses reign in a very tough environment.
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Boys 1996  PG-13, 86 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Stacy Cochran
Cast: Winona Ryder, Lukas Haas, Skeet Ulrich, John C. Reilly, Bill Sage, Chris Cooper, James LeGros, Jessica Harper
John Baker Jr. (Lukas Haas), a student at a boarding school in Maryland, finds Patty Vare (Winona Ryder) unconscious as a result of a horseback-riding accident. He revives her and takes her to his dorm room. Slowly, others at the school learn of Patty's presence, and the mystery surrounding Patty's previous problems with the police is divulged.
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Love and Death 1975  PG, 85 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Woody Allen
Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Olga Georges-Picot, Harold Gould, Jessica Harper, Shimen Ruskin, James Tolkan, Howard Vernon, Zvee Scooler, Alan Tilvern
Set during the 1812 Napoleonic invasion of Russia, this film is good satire on Russian politics and literature. Diane Keaton plays the strong Sonja who is loved by the weak, intellectual Boris (Woody Allen). Boris is falsely accused and then executed for the "death" of Napoleon.
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Mr. Wonderful 1993 PG-13, 98 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Anthony Minghella
Cast: Matt Dillon, Mary-Louise Parker, Annabella Sciorra, William Hurt, Bruce Altman, Vincent D'Onofrio, James Gandolfini, Luis Guzman, Jessica Harper, Dan Hedaya
Gus (Matt Dillon) wants to invest in a bowling alley; he has one little problem–MONEY! However, if he can get ex-wife Lee (Annabella Sciorra) married off, he will not have to pay alimony. In the process, Gus discovers that he still loves Lee .
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My Favorite Year 1982  PG, 92 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Richard Benjamin
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Jessica Harper, Lainie Kazan, Mark Linn-Baker, Joseph Bologna, Bill Macy, Anne DeSalvo, Basil Hoffman, Lou Jacobi, Cameron Mitchell
The year is 1952, and the TV show "The Comedy Cavalcade" is about to debut starring an aging film star. One of the show's young writers is given the job of watching over the film star and ensuring that he does not come into contact with any alcohol before showtime. This film gives an inside look at the pressures of those days when TV was "live" and anything could happen. Peter O'Toole was nominated for an Oscar. 1 User Review
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| | A fine comedy. 6 or 7 scenes are worth their weight in gold. | 1fatts 03/12/2007 | Richard Benjamin's first directing job is surprisingly assured and successful. The apocryphal story is that when Mel Brooks was the junior writer on Sid Ceaser's Your Show of Shows, the reknowned actor, womanizer and drunk, Errol Flynn, was scheduled to be the week's guest, and Mel Brooks was assigned to babysit Flynn and make sure he showed up sober. Brooks claims it never happened and, in fact, that Flynn was never on the show. Who cares! It's a great premise anyway. Peter O'toole turns in another over-the-top performance as the Flynn character, here named "Allan Swan". Those of us old enough to remember Caeser in his hayday really appreciate the take that Joseph Bologna does on the character. The scene where the young writer, Stone nee Steinberg, takes the matinee idol home to Brookyn for dinner (His aunt shows up in her wedding gown; "I only wore it once" she says in a New York Yiddish accent.) is hard to over-appreciate.
The movie lags here and there and ten or twelve minutes of tightening would have been to the good, but I'm quibbling. The cast shines; the writing is sharp; and the nod to "Your Show of Shows" brings warmth to those of us who remember when. |
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Pennies from Heaven 1981  R, 108 min.
Genre: Musical
Director: Herbert Ross
Cast: Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Jessica Harper, Christopher Walken, Vernel Bagneris, John McMartin, John Karlen, Nancy Parsons, Will Hare
A songwriter and peddler (Steve Martin) endures a rather drab existence, but he lives out his fantasies through his song lyrics. Many song numbers are worked into the script to show the difference between Martin's dreary real life and his carefree dream world.
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Safe 1995 R, 121 min.
Genre: Drama / Thriller
Director: Todd Haynes
Cast: Julianne Moore, Xander Berkeley, Peter Friedman, James LeGros, Mary Carver, Jessica Harper, Brandon Cruz, Susan Norman, Kate McGregor-Stewart, Steven Gilborn, April Grace, Peter Crombie, Ronnie Farer, Jodie Markell, Lorna Scott
Carol White (Julianne Moore) develops a severe allergy to almost everything in the modern world. Her husband Greg (Xander Berkeley) cannot come to terms with her condition, but while Carol is in the hospital where they are trying to determine her problem, she sees a commercial for Wrenwood, which is a New Mexico retreat for those suffering with "20th Century Disease." Carol is convinced that her only hope lies at Wrenwood, and she checks into the retreat, which is headed by Peter Dunning (Peter Friedman) who believes in a questionable therapy, and she finds herself in even more trouble.
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 Shock Treatment 1981 PG, 94 min.
Genre: Horror / Thriller
Director: Jim Sharman
Cast: Jessica Harper, Cliff De Young, Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Charles Gray, Ruby Wax, Nell Campbell, Rik Mayall, Barry Humphries, Darlene Johnson, Manning Redwood
In this made-for-TV spin-off from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," Janet (Jessica Harper) and Brad (Cliff De Young) are now married and about to appear on a TV game show in a town that has become one huge TV station. They appear on the show "Marriage Maze" only to find themselves trapped in the TV world. The show's sponsor (also played by De Young) imprisons Brad on another program, "Denton," which is a mental hospital and makes Janet a star in an attempt to get Janet for himself.
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Stardust Memories 1980 PG, 89 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Woody Allen
Cast: Woody Allen, Jessica Harper, Charlotte Rampling, Marie-Christine Barrault, Tony Roberts, Daniel Stern, Amy Wright, Cynthia Gibb, John Rothman, Anne DeSalvo
In this Woody Allen film, a director (Woody Allen) has problems dealing with his latest film that reflects what is occurring in his real life.
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 Suspiria 1977 R, 97 min.
Genre: Horror / Thriller
Director: Dario Argento
Cast: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Joan Bennett, Alida Valli, Udo Kier, Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bose, Barbara Magnolfi, Susanna Javicoli, Eva Axen
Now here's a REALLY frightening movie, not just because of the gore, but the overall mood, by clever use of camera and color, adds to the scene. Horror master Dario Argento is at his best as an American girl (Jessica Harper) arrives at a German ballet school. But this is just a front for some sinister goings-on.
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| 1. The Blue Iguana (1988)
2. Boys (1996)
3. Inserts (1975)
4. Love and Death (1975)
5. Mr. Wonderful (1993)
6. My Favorite Year (1982)
7. Pennies from Heaven (1981)
8. Safe (1995)
9. Shock Treatment (1981)
10. Stardust Memories (1980)
11. Suspiria (1977)
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