A
Stranger
Among Us
(1992)
When a Jewish jeweler is found dead and his store is missing more than one million dollars in diamonds, a New York police detective (Melanie Griffith) goes undercover in a community of Hasidic Jews to find the criminal. Once she is immersed in the community, she falls in love with one of the most devout members, who helps her find the criminal.
Character - Ariel
The
Gun in Betty Lou's
Handbag (1992)
Penelope Ann Miller's delightful performance as the shy, part-time librarian Betty Lou Perkins is the saving grace of this comedy from Touchstone Pictures. Betty Lou is the neglected wife of small-town police detective Alex Perkins (Eric Thal). She soon feels even more neglected when Alex can't make their anniversary dinner because he has to investigate a brutal motel room slaying. Taking her dog for a walk, Betty Lou finds a gun by the river's edge that just happens to be the missing murder weapon in Alex's murder investigation. In order to get some attention, she announces that she was the one who committed the murder. Hauled behind bars, Betty Lou gets some quick assertiveness training from her cell-mate, hard-boiled prostitute Reba Bush (Cathy Moriarty). She also becomes an instant media celebrity, with crowds clamoring around her and television news reporters elevating her to legendary status. But Alex doesn't believe she committed the murder (she tells him the dead man was her lover) and continues investigating the crime. Her husband is not the only one who's suspicious -- the FBI wants to use her to lure crime lord Beaudeen (William Forsythe), who they suspect actually committed the murder, out into the open. It turns out the FBI is right; Beaudeen killed the motel room victim because he planned to blackmail him with an incriminating cassette. Beaudeen is convinced that Betty Lou has the tape and musters his forces to get it from her one way or another.
Character - Alex Perkins
Six
Degrees of Separation
(1993)
The film adaptation of John Guare's stage play Six Degrees of Separation faithfully follows the play while opening up the setting to encompass the whole of New York. The movie is about a series of wealthy New Yorkers who are taken in by a con man (Will Smith) who convinces them he is the son of Sidney Poitier.
Character - Rick
The Puppet Masters
(1994)
Robert A. Heinlein's 1951 novel The Puppet Masters comes to the screen 43 years later. Sharp-eyed viewers will recognize similarities to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but Heinlein's book came first. Parasitic space aliens invade the Midwest, taking over the bodies of humans and manipulating these unfortunates to do their bidding. US security agent Donald Sutherland and his team of troubleshooters attempt to squash the extraterrestrial scheme before everyone in the world is turned into Howdy Doody. Adding an extra layer to this familiar scenario is the fact that Sutherland doesn't get along with everyone on his side-in particular, he has a lot of trouble relating with his son Eric Thal. Stuart Ormes' perfunctory direction is not up to the standard set by the actors and special effects.
Character - Sam Nivens
Samson
and Delilah
(1996)
Taken from the Old Testament's "Book of Judges," this epic drama recounts the tale of the super-strong shepherd whose rise to power is cut-off by a seductive Philistine with an eye for human weakness.
Character - Samson
Joe's so mean to Josephine
(1996)
Sarah Polley is Josephine, a pert little suburbanite on a break from her university studies. She's a middle-class kid, not quite an adult. When Josephine and her girlfriends smoke and drink in a grungy downtown bar, it's almost as if they're playing at real life. Perhaps above all else, Josephine knows -- consciously or otherwise -- that the future stretches before her. One night in a bar, she spies Thal's character, Joe. He is very good looking, he is very self-confident, he is very mysterious. He's also a semi-criminal, which, as far as Josephine is concerned, only adds to his allure. Joe is, in fact, an emotional mute, something that Josephine has to find out for herself. These two meet once or twice by chance. Josephine is giggly and awkward, eager to impress him and painfully transparent. Joe is cool and unimpressed. They finally get together. Josephine is determined to get Joe on her side, and humiliation is not a problem. But hey -- things change. Slowly but surely, Joe begins to fall in love with Josephine, an experience that cracks his cool veneer and reveals who he really is. And who he really is turns out to be someone Josephine grows out of.
Character - Joe
Wishful Thinking
(1997)
Writer/director Adam Park made his feature film debut with this engaging romantic comedy/drama that shifts between several character's points of view. Max (James Le Gros) is a projectionist at an art/revival theater in New York who one days meets Elizabeth (Jennifer Beals), a veterinarian at a neighborhood animal clinic. The attraction between them is immediate, and several months later Max hands Elizabeth a small box. Overcome with emotion, Jenny is convinced it's an engagement ring ... until she opens it and discovers a prototype for a toothpick with a flossing attachment Max has invented. It quickly becomes obvious that Elizabeth is ready to get married and while Max wants to marry her, he's not ready to do it soon, and much tension and bad feelings ensue. Meanwhile, Max's co-worker Lena (Drew Barrymore) has developed a furious crush on him and wants to use his current problems with Elizabeth to her advantage, while Max is convinced Elizabeth is interested in another man. It turns out he's right, but he's completely wrong about who the "other man" is. While Wishful Thinking is plotted a bit too slowly (especially in its second half), the characters are funny and likable, the dialogue rings true, it's buoyed by a tasty Latin score and Park has drawn winning performances from the entire cast, especially Drew Barrymore and Jon Stewart, both of whom have rarely been better on screen.
Oprah Winfrey Presents:
The Wedding (1998)
This two-part TV miniseries, adapted from Dorothy West's novel The Wedding, takes a look at mid-century issues of race and class in well-to-do black society. On Martha's Vineyard in 1953, debutante Shelby Coles (Halle Berry) stirs discord in her social-climbing family when she chooses to marry impoverished white musician Meade Howell (Eric Thal). At the Shelby family estate, weeks prior to the wedding, Meade informs her parents, Corinne and Clark Coles (Lynn Whitfield, Michael Warren), that his family won't be attending the wedding, and the irony of upper-crust blacks being rejected by poor whites hangs heavy. In a later plot twist, the single black father (Carl Lumley) of three mixed-race daughters takes a very strong interest in Shelby that quickly turns into an overly persistent pursuit. Filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina, the miniseries premiered February 22-23, 1998 on ABC. Also known as Oprah Winfrey Presents: The Wedding.
Character - Meade Howell
Mixing
Nia
(1998)
Description: Set in New York City, Mixing Nia is a romantic comedy which tells the story of Nia, a young woman of mixed descent (half African-American, half white), searching for a balance between her two ethnic backgrounds. The story begins as Nia quits her job as a copywriter in a midtown advertising agency and decides to take time off to write a novel. While searching for an original topic, Nia attends an African-American writers' workshop. Here, she meets Lewis, a young intelligent associate professor of African-American studies with strong Afro-centric ideals. Adding to Nia's confusion is Matt, a fun-loving white guy who doesn't take life too seriously. The one stabilizing force in Nia's life is her neigbor, Joe, a classical composer consumed by his art. Nia's journey of self discovery helps her come to terms with her individuality and leads her to what she has been looking for all along: herself. Presented by: Alison Swan
Character - Matt
Snow
Falling on Cedars
(1999)
On a wintry Pacific Northwest island community in 1950, a quiet fisherman stands trial for murder. It looks like a straightforward case of cold-blooded homicide. But as the trial unfolds, the simple story of the man's death unravels into a deeply haunting mystery and an extraordinary tale about the persistence of hate and the power of love.
Character - Carl Heine Jnr
Prisoner
of Love
(1999)
Supermodel Naomi Campbell stars in this thriller as Traci, a bartender who makes a date with a man, not knowing he's actually a small-time hood (played by Eric Thall). While waiting for him to pick her up for their date, Traci sees him committing a violent crime; the next day, her picture is on the front page of the newspaper as the only witness to the incident. The thug's boss orders Traci's executed, but he's grown fond enough of her that he can't bring himself to kill her. Instead, he kidnaps her and keeps her under lock and key, hoping to keep her safe as they wait for the incident to blow over so he can break away and start a new life -- hopefully with Traci at his side.
