Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Dangerous Minds

  • Michelle Pfeiffer is a former Marine turned high school teacher in this gripping and uplifting true-life story. The feisty instructor defies all the rules to teach the kids to believe in themselves despite the everyday challenges of growing up in the inner city. System Requirements: Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer, George Dzundza, Courtney B. Vance, Robin Bartlett, Beatrice Winde, John Neville Dir
Top Hollywood star Michelle Pfeiffer (I AM SAM, WHAT LIES BENEATH) is the driving force behind this gripping and uplifting smash hit! Based on an incredible true-life story -- Pfeiffer is former U.S. Marine LouAnne Johnson, a first-time high school teacher assigned to a class of tough but smart inner city students. When conventional methods fail to reach them, the feisty Ms. Johnson tries the unconventional -- defying the rules and creating her own curriculum! In the process, she instills a new self-con! fidence in her students -- motivating them toward their greatest potential. Critically acclaimed and powered by a riveting star performance, DANGEROUS MINDS is hard-hitting, crowd-pleasing entertainment you won't soon forget!This "To Ma'am with Love" is much more an escapist popcorn movie than the inner-city document its marketing suggested. Michelle Pfeiffer plays real-life former Marine Louanne Johnson, a high school English teacher who meets resistance from kids and administration alike at a tough urban school in Northern California. Pfeiffer is good, and her character's overall development even survives various post-production story cuts. (A romance with Andy Garcia's character was completely eliminated before release; Garcia is nowhere in sight.) The actors who play Johnson's students are also fine, and the whole film becomes the latest in a long tradition of sentimental movies about teachers who change the lives of kids. --Tom Keogh

InAlienable

  • Still guilt-ridden over the accident that took his family's lives, Eric Norris discovers that his body is host to a parasite from another world. Except, it is more than a parasite: it carries his DNA. Is this his new son or as the government believes a threat to mankind? Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: NR Age: 013131668292 UPC: 013131668292 Manufac
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Courtney Peldon (born April 13, 1981) is an American television and film actress. Peldon was born in New York City, New York to Jeffrey "Jeff" Peldon (attorney) and Wendy Peldon (college professor). Her younger sister Ashley Peldon is also an actress. Both she and Ashley became involved in the entertainment industry as child actors. Peldon is perhaps best known for her three seasons as Jonathan Taylor Thomas's on-screen girlfriend Lauren on Home Improvement, and for her ! three seasons on Boston Public. She has appeared in many roles on various television shows such as That '70s Show, Entourage, The Pretender, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Renegade and Nash Bridges to name a few.Still guilt-ridden over the accident that took his family's lives, Eric Norris discovers that his body is host to a parasite from another world. Except, it is more than a parasite: it carries his DNA. Is this his new son or â€" as the government believes â€" a threat to mankind?The notion of human-alien miscegenation, and the prospect of what kind of offspring would come from such an unholy union, is nothing new in movieland, but InAlienable gives it a new spin by handling it as a legal drama, pitting government vs. individual in a fight to determine just who said offspring would belong to. Director Robert Dyke's film is loaded with actors who've put in time on sci-fi shows, from Star Trek (several incarnations, including the original), Stargate, Alien Nation, Babylon 5, and Battlestar ! Galactic a. The latter's Richard Hatch stars as Dr. Eric Norris, a scientist who's continuing with his research despite being guilt-ridden over the death of his wife and son in a car crash. When a friend brings him a meteorlike object that he found in the desert and asks Norris to check it out, the doc doesn't give it much thought--until he wakes up pregnant, having been invaded by the alien life form that had been on board the meteor. The humanoid thing that emerges from his abdomen is dismissed as a parasite, but it carries enough of Norris's DNA for him to take a shine to it; indeed, he names it "Benjamin" and insists on referring to it as his son, scary tentacles and all. That's when the sinister guys in dark suits show up, insisting that Benjamin should be handed over to the feds for the good of all, followed by lawyers, courtroom scenes, and so on. Sure, the idea is preposterous, but it could have been a fun ride were it not for the fact that InAlienable is, quite si! mply, very poorly done, with cheesy special effects and laughable action sequences. As for the cast, Hatch is fine, but much of the rest of the acting is dreadful, especially Courtney Peldon as Norris's love interest and Walter Koenig, Star Trek's Mr. Chekov himself, as his vengeful boss; then again, Brando and Olivier would have had a tough time with this script (also Koenig's work). Cool idea, though. --Sam Graham