Piper Laurie

Based on the real life story of Richard Wershe Jr., who, as a teenager, worked as an FBI informant in the 1980's. Wershe was ultimately arrested for drug trafficking and sentenced to life in prison.

One evening at Herrington High School in Ohio, several teachers and the principal leave after discussions about the school's budget. Having left her keys behind, Principal Valerie Drake (Bebe Neuwirth) returns to retrieve them. In her office, she is barred from leaving by Coach Willis (Robert Patrick), who becomes increasingly erratic. As she attempts to leave, Willis impulsively stabs a pencil through her hand. Valerie flees to the entrance only to find the door chained up and the drama teacher Mrs. Olsen (Piper Laurie) is outside. She retrieves her keys and grabs a pair of scissors, and is able to escape. Outside, Mrs. Olsen emotionlessly grabs the scissors, and stabs Valerie to death. The following morning, the film's six protagonist students are introduced. Casey Connor (Elijah Wood), the dedicated but perpetually klutzy and harassed geek photographer for the school newspaper. The spiteful Delilah Profitt (Jordana Brewster), the paper's editor-in-chief and head cheerleader. Delilah's mistreated boyfriend Stan Rosado (Shawn Hatosy) who is contemplating quitting the school's football team to pursue academics. Zeke Tyler (Josh Hartnett), an intelligent yet rebellious student repeating his senior year who sells, among other illegal items, a powdery ecstasy-like drug he manufactures and distributes. Zeke is confronted by the timid Miss Elizabeth Burke (Famke Janssen), who expresses concern for him over his illegal activities. A naive transfer student from Atlanta, Georgia, Marybeth Louise Hutchinson (Laura Harris), attempts to befriend self-styled outcast, Stokely Mitchell (Clea DuVall), despite the fact that Delilah has deliberately spread rumors that Stokes is a lesbian even though she has a crush on Stan. Marybeth, on the other hand, develops a crush on Zeke. While eating lunch on the football field, Casey notices a strange creature in the grass. He takes it to science teacher Mr. Furlong (Jon Stewart), where the specimen is examined and believed to be a new species of cephalopod-specific parasite called a mesozoan. Delilah takes Casey into the teacher's lounge to find a story for the front page, where they hide in a closet. They witness Coach Willis and Ms. Olsen assault the school nurse, Ms. Harper (Salma Hayek) by forcing one of the creatures into her ear. They also find the body of Mrs. Brummel (Susan Willis). Casey and Delilah flee, and Casey calls the police. Principal Drake claims nothing is wrong and that Casey is seeking attention. The next day, Casey tells Delilah, Stan and Stokely that he believes the teachers are being controlled by aliens. After Zeke and Marybeth enter the classroom and tease them about their theory, Mr. Furlong confronts them. Furlong suddenly becomes defensive and attempts to infect them. Zeke cuts off Furlong's fingers and then injects his homemade drugs into Furlong's eye, apparently killing him. Zeke takes the five to his house where he examines and experiments with Casey's specimen. He discovers that it needs water to survive and can be killed by his drugs because it is a diuretic. Zeke makes everyone take some of his drug to prove they are human and unaffected. Delilah is revealed as infected, and she destroys Zeke's lab and most of his drug supply before escaping. Acting on Stokely's speculation that killing the queen alien would revert everyone to normal, the group returns to the school that evening, where their football team is playing a game and infecting opposing players. Believing Principal Drake to be the queen, they isolate her in the gym and fatally shoot her. Stan goes outside and confronts the coach and football team to see if it worked, but gets infected. Zeke and Casey go to Zeke's car to retrieve more of Zeke's drugs. Casey leads infected students away from Zeke, who encounters Miss Burke in the parking lot and seemingly kills her when he makes his escape. Back at the gym, Stokely becomes suspicious of Marybeth during a conversation about pretending to be what one isn't. Marybeth subsequently reveals herself to be the alien queen. Earlier, she faked taking the drug. Casey and Stokely flee to the swimming pool where Stokely gets injured and becomes infected. Zeke and Casey hide in the locker room, where Marybeth reverts to her human disguise, naked. She explains that she is taking over Earth because her own planet is dying. Marybeth transforms back into her true form and hurls Zeke across the room into several lockers, knocking him out. Casey seizes the drug and tricks the queen into following him into the retracting bleachers, thus trapping her. Casey then stabs the drug into the queen's eye. The queen infects Casey with her dying breath, but Casey almost immediately returns to normal upon the queen's death. The dead body of the alien queen dissolves into powdered remains. Casey returns to the locker room and finds Stokely and Zeke alive. One month later, everyone has returned to normal. Stan and Stokely begin dating, and Zeke takes Stan's place on the football team (while Miss Burke affectionately watches him practice). Mr. Furlong has miraculously survived the attack, now sporting an eyepatch and bandages on his hand. Casey begins dating Delilah and has been considered a local hero.

Freddy Gale is a seedy jeweller who has sworn to kill the drunk driver who killed his little girl. After his daughter died in a hit and run, Freddy Gale has waited six years for John Booth, the man responsible, to be released from prison. On the day of release, Gale visits Booth and announces that he will kill him in one week. Booth uses his time to try and make peace with himself and his entourage, and even finds romance. Gale, whose life is spiraling down because of his obsession towards Booth, will bring himself on the very edge of sanity. At the end of the week, both men will find themselves on a collision course with each other. Freddy Gale's life was never the same after his little girl was killed in a hit and run accident. With his life descending into debauchery and deep personal loathing, Freddy is a man full of hatred for he and the very man who took his daughter's life. That man is John Booth, the one who was behind the wheel that served his sentence. A changed man with regret, John is ready to piece his life together. But Freddy has different plans and gives John one week before fate intervenes. As both men are headed for a dreadful date, they're forced to confront the demons of their past. —mystic80

Two lonely, retired septuagenarians, an unkempt, hard-drinking Irish sea captain, and a fussy, well-mannered Cuban barber form an uneasy friendship. Frank, a retired Irish seaman, and Walter, a retired Cuban barber, are two lonely old men trapped in the emptiness of their own lives. When they meet in a park Frank is able to start a conversation after several attempts. They begin to spend time together and become friends. But because of their different characters they often quarrel with each other and finally separate after Frank misbehaves to Walter's friend Elaine. —Matthias Scheler <tron@lyssa.owl.de>

An accident puts the consciousness of an elderly dream researcher into the body of a bratty teenager. The problem? The kid prefers dreamworld limbo to real life. The lives of a crusty old scientist and a bratty, teen Michael-Jackson-wannabe are about to intersect in a paranormal way. Coleman Ettinger seeks to break down the door of reality through studied dreaming; Bobby Keller wants Lainie Diamond, the girlfriend of his high school friend Joel, a handsome school jock. As Coleman persuades his wife Gena to join his experiments, an accident knocks their bodies out of existence, along with Bobby's consciousness. Coleman's consciousness winds up in Bobby's body while Gena's ends up buried and asleep inside Lainie's. Only when sleeping can Coleman contact Bobby and elicit his help in putting things back, except that Bobby smugly prefers limbo over his aggravated life as a modern teenager. —statmanjeff Bobby Kellar has a crush on Lainie Diamond, girlfriend of school jerk Joel. Coleman is working on an experiment which will help him move into a place where Dreams are reality. When an accident occurs Coleman finds himself in Bobby's body and can only contact Bobby in his dreams. —yusufpiskin Bobby Kellar has a crush on Lainie Diamond, girlfriend of school jerk Joel. Coleman is working on an experiment which will help him move into a place where Dreams are reality. When an accident occurs Coleman finds himself in Bobby's body and can only contact Bobby in his dreams. Part of his wife's mind has also ended up in Lainie. To bring his and his wife's body back to reality, Coleman must agree to fix Bobby's messed up life. —Liam Smith Bobby Keller has a best friend and a girlfriend. But, he's not happy. His parents don't notice him, he's failing in school, and he has a crush. He feels his life is pointless. Then, one night, everything changes when Bobby collides with his dream girl Lainie in his elderly neighbors' yard. Now, Coleman is trapped in Bobby's body, and his wife Gena is trapped in Lainie's body. In Coleman's dreams, Bobby advises him on how to act and that he isn't willing to go back, unless Coleman can fix his screwed-up life. —Allison L. Venezio <YankeeSNL01@aol.com>

When a former prison wardress who dominates the lives of her three adult stepchildren and her daughter is found dead at an archaeological dig near the Dead Sea, there are a great many suspects. Emily Boynton (Piper Laurie), stepmother to the three Boynton children, and mother to Ginevra (Amber Bezer), blackmails the family lawyer, Jefferson Cope (David Soul), into destroying the second will of her late husband, which would have freed the children from her dominating influence. She takes herself and the children on vacation to Europe and the Holy Land. In Jerusalem, Hercule Poirot (Sir Peter Ustinov) meets up with a woman friend, Dr. Sarah King (Jenny Seagrove), who falls in love with Raymond Boynton (John Terleskey) to Emily's disapproval. Lady Westholme (Lauren Bacall), her secretary, and Cope are following them too. The children learn about the second will, and Emily succeeds in rubbing the rest the wrong way, causing much hatred toward her. At a dig, everybody wonders about the camp, and Emily is found dead, poisoned. Poirot investigates. —Lee Horton <Leeh@tcp.co.uk> When Emily Boynton (Piper Laurie) is found dead at an archaeological dig near the Dead Sea, there are a great many suspects. Boynton is a harridan, a former prison wardress who dominates the lives of her three adult stepchildren and her daughter. She is loud and rude, much to the dislike of Lady Westholme (Lauren Bacall), a transplanted American Anglophile, and member of the British government, and Miss Quinton (Hayley Mills), the archaeologist in charge of the dig. Also present is Jefferson Cope (David Soul), the family attorney who she blackmailed into destroying her late husband's most recent will, thereby ensuring she would inherit everything. By the time of her death, Hercule Poirot (Sir Peter Ustinov) has been travelling with this group for several days, and already knows a good deal about them. He is more than happy to accept a request from his friend, Colonel Carbury (Sir John Gielgud), to assist the authorities in their investigation. —garykmcd 1938. A disparate group of travellers become acquainted during a Mediterranean cruise to the Holy Land and during what ends up being their extended stay there. They include: controlling American-born Lady Westholme (Lauren Bacall), a British Member of Parliament on an unofficial inspection of Palestine; Miss Quinton (Hayley Mills), Lady Westholme's secretary and a budding archaeologist; Dr. Sarah King (Jenny Seagrove), a newly minted physician also from Britain; and the American Boynton family and their lawyer, Jefferson Cope (David Soul). The Boynton family matriarch, Emily Boynton (Piper Laurie), is recently widowed and blackmailed Cope into executing an earlier will that left all of her husband's substantial estate to her, rather than the last will he wrote which divided the estate equally between his four adult children, only the youngest Ginevra (Amber Bezer) being Emily's biological daughter. The offspring are all aware that there is another will that left the estate to them but cannot prove it, leaving them under Emily's strict and self-serving control. Oldest offspring Lennox Boyton's (Nicholas Guest's) wife, Nadine Boynton (Carrie Fisher), is secretly or not so secretly having an affair with Cope. And second oldest son, Raymond Boynton (John Terlesky), is immediately attracted to Dr. King, his pursuit of her which may not sit well with his stepmother. The stay of this collective in Jerusalem is extended due to one of them being murdered there, the murder which was staged to look like an accidental death. Beyond Colonel Carbury (Sir John Gielgud), who is stationed in Palestine for the British government, another of the travellers on vacation is asked to lead the investigation, namely famed Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot (Sir Peter Ustinov). In the course of the investigation, Poirot finds that most of the others within this collective would have had the opportunity and motive to commit the murder, he having to dig a little deeper below the surface and undercover the context to some of the deceased's comments to discover the identity of the murderer. —Huggo Long Island, 1937. Emily Boynton has, under dubious circumstances, just inherited her late husband's vast fortune, much to the dismay and suspicion of her child and step-children. To ease the tension she takes them on a holiday to Europe and the Holy Land. In Trieste they meet the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and end up on the same ship as him, heading for the Holy Land. Ms Boynton rules the family with an iron fist and it is clear that she is not like by any of her children, step-children or children-in-law, all of whom stand to inherit vast amounts upon her death. Poirot suspects that the murder of Ms Boynton is imminent. —grantss

Somewhere in pastoral New England, an idealistic young teacher, James Leeds (William Hurt), is appointed to the faculty at a state school for the deaf. Given his three years in the Peace Corps and deep interest in his students' lives, in comes as not much of a surprise when he starts getting involved in the life of Sarah Norman (Marlee Matlin). He first sees Sarah working as a janitor and yelling (via sign language) at a cook, and subsequently learns that Sarah is a bit of an outcast at the school. The teachers don't know what to do with her, but James tries to build a relationship with her anyway. James slowly manages to crack Sarah's icy façade, and she finally accepts a dinner invitation. It becomes quickly clear that Sarah is highly resistant to speaking aloud, despite James' encouragement to do so. Although she claims that it's because she already uses sign language, James suspects a deeper reason. James gets a chance to talk to Sarah's mother, Mrs. Norman (Piper Laurie) and learns that Sarah and her sister Ruth were once popular with their male classmates, but simply because these boys wanted only sex. Because of this impersonal treatment, Sarah now mistrusts any hearing man, and would rather not deal with anyone in general. James claims he isn't like the others, but Sarah doesn't trust him. Everything changes when James finds Sarah swimming naked in the school pool; he joins her in the pool and quickly begin a romantic relationship. Soon they are living together, which causes the school dean to warn James that this relationship will ultimately fail. James disregards this advice and continues on with Sarah. Hurdles begin to arise for them, however. For example, James arranges for his students to perform a choreographed dance, which for some unknown reason makes Sarah angry. Sarah later reveals that this is due, in part, to her thinking that James despises her for not speaking. Despite some emotional bonds, James' focus on getting Sarah to speak begins to annoy Sarah, and - again - she feels like he's looking down on her for not speaking. In short, between Sarah's angst and childhood traumas, and James's fundamental inability as a hearing person to appreciate the life of a deaf person, the couple reaches a breaking point in which Sarah finally speaks (her only spoken line in the film), basically saying, "Here! I'm finally speaking! Is that what you wanted?" (See the movie quotes for the actual quote). Sarah goes to live with her mother and in the process rebuilds that long-estranged relationship, and finds a job as a manicurist in the meantime. James continues to pursue her but she rebuffs all his attempts. Finally, Sarah and James reunite in a pivotal scene in the school gym. We are left with the impression that they're going to try this relationship again, this time with new knowledge about the other that will help make it successful.

The film begins in the locker room full of teenage girls, including Carrie White (Sissy Spacek). Carrie gets her first period, and after becoming distressed, cries out for help. Instead of helping, the other girls ridicule and harass her, throwing out tampons, sanitary towels and toilet paper to her. Teacher Miss Collins (Betty Buckley) rushes in to stop the commotion. White, who appears to be bottling extreme rage, snaps a light bulb. After questioning Carrie, Miss Collins realizes that Carrie is unaware of the concept of menstruation. Because of this, Miss Collins asks the school principal to excuse Carrie from gym class for a week because of the trauma. Upon her way home, Carrie uses her recently discovered telekinesis to stop a boy from teasing her. While at home, Carrie is tormented by her delusional mother (Piper Laurie), who locks Carrie in a closet and forces her to pray--she believes that Carrie received her period due to sinning. Miss Collins, still livid about the incident, berates the other girls and forces them through a detention, deliberately physically exhausting them. The leader of the clique, Chris Hargensen (Nancy Allen), refuses to participate, and as punishment, is banned from the upcoming prom. Furious, she blames Carrie for her misfortune. Meanwhile, another one of the girls, Sue Snell (Amy Irving), feels guilty about her part in teasing Carrie, so she asks her boyfriend, Tommy Ross (William Katt), to take Carrie to the prom. Tommy begrudgingly agrees. After Tommy asks her to the prom, Carrie refuses, thinking that yet another trick is being played on her. After a comforting pep talk with Miss Collins, and after Tommy's further insistence, Carrie finally agrees to go to the prom with Tommy. While everyone else is getting ready for the prom, Chris schemes with her boyfriend Billy Nolan (John Travolta) and best friend Norma (P.J. Soles) to get revenge on Carrie. They go to a farm and slaughter some pigs, drain their blood into a bucket, and place the bucket on one of the rafters in the school gym. Carrie asks her mother's permission to go to the prom. Her mother becomes unhinged at the suggestion, commenting that Tommy is only after her for sex and that this will lead her down a road to perpetual sin. This leads to a violent argument between Carrie and her mother; who uses her telekinesis to slam windows and doors in her home. After another fight between Carrie and her mother the night of the prom, Carrie uses her powers to push her mother into a bed and tells her that she must stop worrying. Carrie and Tommy arrive at the prom, and Carrie begins to feel accepted by Tommy's peers. Miss Collins relates to Carrie the story of her own prom, telling her she should cherish the memory forever. Carrie and Tommy dance together; Tommy has since fallen for Carrie and kisses her. As per Chris' instructions, Norma and some of Billy's friends fix the ballots so that Carrie and Tommy are elected prom king and queen. They make their way to the stage, and Carrie finally feels what it's like to be accepted. Meanwhile, Sue sneaks into the prom and sees Chris and Billy under the stage. She realizes their plan: Chris is going to yank a cord and dump the pig's blood all over Carrie as she is declared prom queen. Sue rushes toward the stage frantically but is intercepted by Miss Collins, who thinks that Sue is out to make trouble for Carrie after seeing that Carrie and Tommy are together. Miss Collins throws her out of the gym, thinking that she was to spoil Carrie's moment. At that exact moment, Chris yanks the cord, drenching Carrie in pig's blood. The students gasp and look on in horror. Tommy is furious, but the bucket falls and knocks him unconscious. Carrie snaps and imagines that all of the students and faculty are actually laughing at her, which her mother had warned her would happen. Carrie uses her telekinesis to destroy the gym and kill her peers and teachers, including Miss Collins. As Carrie walks home, a firetruck is seen passing her. Chris and Billy, who safely witnessed Carrie cause the death of the entire student body, attempt to run Carrie over with Billy's car. Carrie uses her telekinesis to destroy the car. When Carrie returns home, she draws a bath. After she cleaned herself, her mother appears and tells her she was the result of a strange marital rape. Then, convinced that her daughter is an evil witch, she takes out a chopping knife and stabs Carrie in the back. Carrie falls down the stairs and stumbles away from her mother. When her mother corners her in the kitchen, Carrie uses her power to crucify her mother with kitchen knives & tools. After the death, Carrie becomes wrought with guilt and using the lit candles, sets her house ablaze. The home eventually collapses and Carrie dies amongst the debris. Sometime later, Sue, having survived the prom night catastrophe, is suffering from depression over the death of her peers. She experiences a nightmare in which she visits the location of Carrie's house. As she reaches down to put flowers on the burnt lot, Carrie's blood-stained hand reaches up from the rubble and grabs her. Sue then wakes up screaming in the arms of her mother.

An up-and-coming pool player plays a long-time champion in a single high-stakes match. "Fast" Eddie Felson is a small-time pool hustler with a lot of talent but a self-destructive attitude. His bravado causes him to challenge the legendary "Minnesota Fats" to a high-stakes match, but he loses in a heartbreaking marathon. Now broke and without his long-time manager, Felson faces an uphill battle to regain his confidence and his game. It isn't until he hits rock bottom that he agrees to join up with ruthless and cutthroat manager Bert Gordon. Gordon agrees to take him on the road to learn the ropes. But Felson soon realizes that making it to the top could cost him his soul, and perhaps his girlfriend. Will he decide that this is too steep a price to pay in time to save himself? —<jgp3553@yahoo.com> With his friend Charlie Burns, "Fast" Eddie Felson has long earned whatever money he has as a pool shark, he and Charlie traveling the country hustling new unsuspecting targets at each stop. Against Charlie's wishes, Eddie wants to give up his anonymity to prove that he is the best by taking on the best, namely Minnesota Fats whose home pool hall is the Ames in New York City. Eddie knows he's talented, but gambler Bert Gordon, who Eddie meets at the Ames and who can also see that Eddie is talented, believes that Eddie needs more than talent to beat Fats. Bert wants to take Eddie under his wing to finance Eddie's challenge, not only against Fats, but against all comers, in turn showing Eddie the character that he is inherently missing to be the best. The price?: a seventy-five percent cut. As Eddie decides what to do with regard to Bert's proposal, Eddie begins a relationship with Sarah Packard, a woman who has as self-destructive tendencies as Eddie, she who is not averse to imbibing first thing in the morning. Being involved with Bert and Sarah may be incompatible in Eddie's current life, especially as Bert and Sarah see different things that Eddie needs for fulfillment, which do not include the other person. —Huggo Pool-hall America: a merciless macho world where success demands absolute ruthlessness and coming second means a personal hell of inadequacy and doubt. Fast Eddy is the young hopeful on the way to challenging past master of the green baize Minnesota Fats for his world title. —J.Arnold Free <arnold@mayahtt.ca> Eddie Felson is arrogance personified. He is an expert pool player and spends his time along with partner Charlie Burns hustling a few dollars from unsuspecting dopes. He decides that the time has come to play in the big leagues and challenges renowned pool player Minnesota Fats. In a forty-hour marathon, Felson hits both highs and lows: part way through the match he's up $18,000 but doesn't know when to quit. He drinks too much and loses everything, including his confidence in his game. Slowly, he regroups and with the help of his girlfriend, Sarah Packard, builds up his self-esteem. Ignoring Sarah's advice however, his driving ambition once again takes over leading to tragedy in his personal life and a re-match with Minnesota Fats. —garykmcd