Luckinbill, Laurence

Cocktail

A young self-centered bartender who has become a local celebrity in Manhattan's upper east side, meets a girl in Jamaica who puts a new perspective into his life.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 13-JAN-2004
Media Type: DVD

This 1988 effort at creating a milestone coming-of-age story with the impact of The Graduate is commendable, but the results are mostly shaky and garish. Tom Cruise plays an ambitious young man who arrives in New York City and becomes known as a flashy bartender in a hot club. After falling for Elisabeth Shue's girl-next-door character, however, his desire for success causes him to travel down a more selfish path with an older woman. The film, directed by Roger Donaldson (Bounty), is built on entirely on appearances (Cruise's star charisma) and flash (the way Cruise and his character's bartending mentor, played by Bryan Brown, toss bottles of booze around). The more interesting and underlying themes, however, particularly the hero's obvious Oedipal dilemmas, are lost beneath this window dressing, as if everyone involved was afraid to commit to the story's intrinsic value. Cruise fans might want to take a look at this, but otherwise there isn't much to recommend it. --Tom Keogh

Star Trek V - The Final Frontier (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)

The crew of the Enterprise truly goes where no man has gone before, after a Vulcan takes over the ship and steers it to the center of the universe.
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: PG
Release Date: 10-APR-2007
Media Type: DVD

Movie critic Roger Ebert summed it up very succinctly: "Of all of the Star Trek movies, this is the worst." Subsequent films in the popular series have done nothing to disprove this opinion; we can be grateful that they've all been significantly better since this film was released in 1989. After Leonard Nimoy scored hits with Star Trek III and IV, William Shatner used his contractual clout (and bruised ego) to assume directorial duties on this mission, in which a rebellious Vulcan (Laurence Luckinbill) kidnaps Federation officials in his overzealous quest for the supreme source of creation. That's right, you heard it correctly: Star Trek V is about a crazy Vulcan's search for God. By the time Kirk, Spock, and their Federation cohorts are taken to the Great Barrier of the galaxy, this journey to "the final future" has gone from an embarrassing prologue to an absurd conclusion, with a lot of creaky plotting in between. Of course, die-hard Trekkies will still allow this movie into their video collections; but they'll only watch it when nobody else is looking. After this humbling experience, Shatner wisely relinquished the director's chair to Star Trek II's Nicholas Meyer. --Jeff Shannon

Messenger of Death

Charles Bronson stars in yet another tale of murder and vengeance. After the brutal massacre of a Colorado family, reporter Garret Smith (Bronson) investigates the blood feud between two brothers of an isolationist Mormon sect, only to uncover a conspiracy that leads to the heights of Denver society. Messenger of Death aspires to be some mixture of Witness and Chinatown; the movie has a workmanlike structure, but there's not much inspiration to be found. Bronson, puffy-faced and graying, isn't doing much more than earning a paycheck. Also featuring Trish Van Devere and Daniel Benzali. --Bret Fetzer

In a sleepy Colorado town, a horrific crime has been committed…and only one man can bring the killer to justice! Action hero Charles Bronson stars as a crime reporter on a relentless search for the truth in this "crisply directed" (Los Angeles Times) suspense thriller! Could a simple feud between brothers lead to the brutal massacre of an entire family? Garret Smith (Bronson) travels to a remote Rocky Mountain town to investigate and uncovers far more sinister motives. As he gets closer to the bizarre truth, Smith unravels a plot of greed, revenge and religious zealotry. But can he get to the bottom of the murders before an "avenging angel" visits him with an equally deadly message?

The Exonerated

Sixteen years.Imagine everything you could do with sixteen years.Imagine everything you did the last sixteen years.Now take it all away.Sunny Jacobs was convicted and sentenced to death for a crime she did not commit. Sixteen years was just the beginning of what was taken from Sunny Jacobs.Twenty-nine Academy Award nominations eighty-seven Golden Globe nominations one hundred and twelve EMMY nominations such is the incredible array of actors who have lent their considerable talents and passion to The Exonerated. As a play awarded the Drama Desk Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Awards it was acclaimed in major cities across America.Now as a film the undeniable power of the true stories of six exonerated survivors of death row will engage your emotion incite your passion and envelop you in their search for the lost small pieces of dignity and the lives so unceremoniously interrupted.True stories in their own words. Stories you will never forget.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 012233140521 Manufacturer No: 314052

A stellar cast is the chief appeal of The Exonerated, director Bob Balaban's film adaptation of Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's true-life stage play. Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover, Brian Dennehy, Aidan Quinn, and Delroy Lindo portray five of the six people (the sixth is played by newcomer David Brown, Jr.) who were convicted of crimes they didn't commit and spent years on various death rows before their cases were re-examined and new evidence led to their being set free. Performing a script pieced together from actual court transcripts, depositions, letters, and interviews, each of the six, some of them accompanied by a spouse, recounts his or her story from beginning (crime, arrest, and conviction) to end (i.e., exculpation and readjustment to the outside world, where they must "practice to be human again"). Some of the material is pretty shocking, reflecting outrageously inept and/or prejudicial work on the part of law enforcement, legal representatives, and/or court officials; for instance, the lawyer for Kerry Max Cook (Quinn), who was locked up for over 20 years on a patently bogus rape-murder conviction, was a former district attorney who had twice prosecuted him in the past. Other characters are introduced via occasional re-enactments of police interrogations, trial testimony, and such, but for the most part it's the six principals who dominate the screen. That's a mixed blessing; although placing the actors against black, blank backdrops and bathing them in holy light is certainly dramatic, the result is somewhat static and, not surprisingly, very theatrical (The Exonerated had over 600 off-Broadway performances, in addition to national tours). Nevertheless, its impact is considerable--especially when the real "exonerees" appear onscreen at the end. Extra features include bios and interviews with the writers and actors. --Sam Graham

Star Trek V - The Final Frontier

Movie critic Roger Ebert summed it up very succinctly: "Of all of the Star Trek movies, this is the worst." Subsequent films in the popular series have done nothing to disprove this opinion; we can be grateful that they've all been significantly better since this film was released in 1989. After Leonard Nimoy scored hits with Star Trek III and IV, William Shatner used his contractual clout (and bruised ego) to assume directorial duties on this mission, in which a rebellious Vulcan (Laurence Luckinbill) kidnaps Federation officials in his overzealous quest for the supreme source of creation. That's right, you heard it correctly: Star Trek V is about a crazy Vulcan's search for God. By the time Kirk, Spock, and their Federation cohorts are taken to the Great Barrier of the galaxy, this journey to "the final future" has gone from an embarrassing prologue to an absurd conclusion, with a lot of creaky plotting in between. Of course, die-hard Trekkies will still allow this movie into their video collections; but they'll only watch it when nobody else is looking. After this humbling experience, Shatner wisely relinquished the director's chair to Star Trek II's Nicholas Meyer. --Jeff Shannon

Star Power 9 Movie Pack

Death Sentence

The Five Forty-Eight (Broadway Theatre Archive)

Tony-Award winning playwright Terrence McNally ("Love! Valour! Compassion!") adapted this short story by John Cheever for the Broadway stage. With haunting eloquence, director James Ivory (A Room With a View) presents the story of a philandering executive who is stalked by an unstable former secretary whom he seduced and then fired. Starring Mary Beth Hurt (Interiors) and Laurence Luckinbill.

Not for Publication

Death Sentence

When a woman is selected for jury duty, it is little more than a nuisance to herbut then she learns that it is a murder trial. As tidbits of information are revealed throughout the courtroom proceedings, she begins to realize that the man who stands accused is innocent. But that is only the beginning. The real bombshell is that she believes the true killer to be none other than her very own husband.