giant power drill. This is De Palma at his most sensational, in a story about a B-movie actor with career problems (Craig Wasson) and a habit as a voyeur. He witnesses the aforementioned murder, then teams up with a porn actress (Melanie Griffith) to try and find the killer. De Palma has a blast going inside the porn film industry, and even films a pseudo rock video with one-hit wonders Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Wasson is an unlikely leading man, bland and pasty, but he's perfect in the role of a decidedly imperfect hero. --Marshall Fine  (less)

giant power drill. This is De Palma at his most sensational, in a story about a B-movie actor with career problems (Craig Wasson) and a habit as a voyeur. He witnesses the aforementioned murder, then teams up with a porn actress (Melanie Griffith) to try and find the killer. De Palma has a blast going inside the porn film industry, and even films a pseudo rock video with one-hit wonders Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Wasson is an unlikely leading man, bland and pasty, but he's perfect in the role of a decidedly imperfect hero. --Marshall Fine  (less)

actors can’t stand each other when she’s about to shoot the most important moment in her film…the sex scene. The actress objects to nudity, the actor won’t take off his socks, and the only thing heating up between them is their tempers. At her wits’ end, Jeanne tries everything in her power to seduce, intimidate and sweet-talk her reluctant young lovers into performing the film’s sexy final scene!  (less)

an aspiring actress (Salma Hayek); and the actress is the lover of a wealthy woman (Jeanne Tripplehorn), who jealously plants a bug in the actress's purse when the actress pretends to go to an audition. Meanwhile, the producer's partners and employees (Holly Hunter, Xander Berkeley, Steven Weber, and others) are trying to cope with the producer's increasing instability. There's a drug-dealing security guard; a dim massage therapist; a temperamental director who can't find the right actress; and assorted other Hollywood types who float in and out of the action. Earthquakes and aftershocks shake things up, a lot of cocaine is snorted, and there's some sex and some violence, all improvised by the actors around a story set u...  (less)

story finds a stage actress (Norah Baring) convicted of murdering a female friend. Herbert Marshall stars as a veteran theater actor and, coincidentally, member of the jury who has grave doubts about the verdict and decides to investigate the crime on his own. His efforts lead him through a world with which he is sufficiently familiar--that of backstage intrigues--and toward what some critics have charged is an unfortunate link between villainy and a gay stereotype. But that limited critique completely misses the playful overlapping of faulty perceptions invited by this movie, in which Hitchcock deliberately confuses us at times about whether the action we're seeing is real or occurring on a stage. Even when the distinction is obvious, thematic ec...  (less)

story finds a stage actress (Norah Baring) convicted of murdering a female friend. Herbert Marshall stars as a veteran theater actor and, coincidentally, member of the jury who has grave doubts about the verdict and decides to investigate the crime on his own. His efforts lead him through a world with which he is sufficiently familiar--that of backstage intrigues--and toward what some critics have charged is an unfortunate link between villainy and a gay stereotype. But that limited critique completely misses the playful overlapping of faulty perceptions invited by this movie, in which Hitchcock deliberately confuses us at times about whether the action we're seeing is real or occurring on a stage. Even when the distinction is obvious, thematic ec...  (less)

takes to be parents ... except a baby. Mary Stuart Masterson (Fried Green Tomatoes) and Kevin Dillon (True Crime, Midnight Clear) are Lucy and Sam, a teenage couple who have a baby on the way ... but aren't ready to be parents. Director Jonathan Kaplan (Heart Like a Wheel) and screenwriter Barbara Benedek (The Big Chill) mix laughter and tears in this funny, uplifting look at two very different couples who unexpectedly find a common bond and ultimately bring out the best in each other. Dazzling, funny performances bring a touching humanity to this slice-of-life comedy with a big heart.System Requirements:Running Time: 99 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE  (less)

story finds a stage actress (Norah Baring) convicted of murdering a female friend. Herbert Marshall stars as a veteran theater actor and, coincidentally, member of the jury who has grave doubts about the verdict and decides to investigate the crime on his own. His efforts lead him through a world with which he is sufficiently familiar--that of backstage intrigues--and toward what some critics have charged is an unfortunate link between villainy and a gay stereotype. But that limited critique completely misses the playful overlapping of faulty perceptions invited by this movie, in which Hitchcock deliberately confuses us at times about whether the action we're seeing is real or occurring on a stage. Even when the distinction is obvious, thematic ec...  (less)

an unemployed actor stuck in his role of tour guide at a movie studio theme park. He finds himself rapidly approaching thirty years old and wondering what happened to his plans for fame, fortune and love. With twenty-seven dollars in his bank account and two hundred and twenty-seven thousand miles on his decrepit car, he finds himself asking the question that many of us find ourselves posing - is this all there is?Between secretly stalking the local coffee boy, discovering the world of online dating, and earning extra cash dressed as a giant bunny, James finds comfort in the arms of his friends. While his best friend Roxy, an actress-turned-activist, struggles with showing him there is life beyond the glitz and glamour of the disco ball, his other friend, Brandon, one of those gay boys comfortable in his own gay skin, works on getting James to at least talk to a boy.Feeling out of place in the gay world of circuit boys, caught in the middle of his Hispanic-American heritage and staring in from the outside of Hollywood, we watch as James finds his place in the world, realizing that life is in the journey, not the destination.  (less)

Kate Auletta, in Death of a Shock Jock, a TV movie based on the Jerry Dudek murder. Cat's status as "the real Kate Auletta" gives her an advantage over all but one of her rabid colleagues, fellow reporter Ron Spivak. Dying for an inside scoop, he has managed to snag a bit part as the victim, which will have him playing out the DJ's murder scene with the celebrated actress. During the recreation of the fatal quarrel between Cat and Dudek, the prop gun misfires and art imitates death. Mishap or murder? Homicide Lieutenant Victor Cardenas arrives to find key players gone, the big picture fragmented by conflicting points of view, and a roster of most unusual suspects: Tommi Ann's powerful agent/Husband, Ben Butler; her "gatekeeper," Diane King; her prot,g,é and double, Cici Bonaker; struggling writer/actor Harold Anderson; weapons manager, Wally Reid; director/actor/activist Red Melendez; frenzied producer April Steinmetz; easy-going rapper Big Phat P.I.G.; and the retinue of fawners, followers and flunkeys orbiting the star. Rubino once again offers a brillant blend of the domestic with the deadly in this fourth Cat Austen mystery, which offers a gutsy and hilarious satire on reality vs. illusion and celebrity obsession -- and her own debut novel, Death of a DJ!  (less)