Vickery, John

Big Business

Two sets of identical twins, separated at birth and reared in drastically different environments, are reunited in the big city of Manhattan, for a series of comedic mishaps.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 13-JAN-2004
Media Type: DVD

Murder by Numbers (Widescreen Edition)

While reinventing Leopold and Loeb for a new and troubled millennium, Murder by Numbers probes the disturbing psychology of two teenaged murderers and the cleverness of their crime. Like Hitchcock's Rope and other films inspired by the Leopold and Loeb case of the 1920s, the film intensifies as it explores the repressed (and subtly homosexual) tensions between high-school outcasts Richard (Ryan Gosling) and Justin (Michael Pitt), who randomly kill a woman to enact an amoral philosophy--and to tease a savvy homicide detective (Sandra Bullock) with misleading clues. While clashing with the by-the-book procedure of her partner (Ben Chaplin), Bullock gives one of her best performances in a role that comes with its own set of psychological hurdles. It's comfortable territory for Reversal of Fortune director Barbet Schroeder, who draws fine work from his cast while proving that there's no such thing as a perfect crime. --Jeff Shannon

The body of a young woman is found in a ditch in the woods of the small California coastal town of San Benito. SANDRA BULLOCK ("Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood," "Miss Congeniality"), stars as Cassie Mayweather, the seasoned homicide detective and crime scene specialist assigned to the case along with her new partner San Kennedy (BEN CHAPLIN - "Lost Souls," "The Thin Red Line"). The two dectectives make their way through microscopic hints of evidence, which seem to indicate a random act of violence, but Cassie has a gut feeling that there is more to this murder than meets the eye. Something about this case reminds her of her past exactly at a time when she is asked to appear at a parole hearing on an old police matter. These events force Cassie to revisit the past.

Murder by Numbers (Full Screen Edition)

While reinventing Leopold and Loeb for a new and troubled millennium, Murder by Numbers probes the disturbing psychology of two teenaged murderers and the cleverness of their crime. Like Hitchcock's Rope and other films inspired by the Leopold and Loeb case of the 1920s, the film intensifies as it explores the repressed (and subtly homosexual) tensions between high-school outcasts Richard (Ryan Gosling) and Justin (Michael Pitt), who randomly kill a woman to enact an amoral philosophy--and to tease a savvy homicide detective (Sandra Bullock) with misleading clues. While clashing with the by-the-book procedure of her partner (Ben Chaplin), Bullock gives one of her best performances in a role that comes with its own set of psychological hurdles. It's comfortable territory for Reversal of Fortune director Barbet Schroeder, who draws fine work from his cast while proving that there's no such thing as a perfect crime. --Jeff Shannon

The body of a young woman is found in a ditch in the woods of the small California coastal town of San Benito. SANDRA BULLOCK ("Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood," "Miss Congeniality"), stars as Cassie Mayweather, the seasoned homicide detective and crime scene specialist assigned to the case along with her new partner San Kennedy (BEN CHAPLIN - "Lost Souls," "The Thin Red Line"). The two dectectives make their way through microscopic hints of evidence, which seem to indicate a random act of violence, but Cassie has a gut feeling that there is more to this murder than meets the eye. Something about this case reminds her of her past exactly at a time when she is asked to appear at a parole hearing on an old police matter. These events force Cassie to revisit the past.

Dr. Giggles

Strictly for horror buffs with an appetite for gratuitous gore and bloodshed, Dr. Giggles is appropriately titled, since the title character (played by Larry Drake, best known as Benny from TV's L.A. Law) is a psychotic killer who chuckles uncontrollably as he eviscerates his victims. Having escaped from a mental hospital, he returns to the town where he was raised to seek bloody revenge on those responsible for the death of his mad doctor father. His chosen payback method is a lot of unnecessary surgery. But then he takes pity on a teenaged girl who desperately needs a heart transplant. Of course, he's got plenty of involuntary donors! That should tell you enough to know if you'd actually want to watch this movie, which is actually worth a few laughs--or at least a few giggles--if you're into this kind of thing. Drake puts everything he's got into his performance, and you have to admire his effort in the service of a lost cause. --Jeff Shannon

When the psychopathic son of a mass-murdering doctor escapes from a mental institution, he seeks revenge on the citizens of the town where his father was finally captured. The giggling new "doctor" uses the surgical skills he picked up from his father and a near-lifetime spent in and around medical facilities to gruesomely do away with his victims while he awaits the chance to perform his ultimate revenge -- giving one of the townsfolk a heart transplant, without anesthesia!

Rapid Fire

Brandon Lee's penultimate picture isn't much on paper--a dour college kid, bitter over his activist father's death in Tiananmen Square, is targeted by a Chicago mobster after witnessing a gangland killing and reluctantly joins forces with brooding, obsessed cop Powers Boothe--but then who was watching this for the story? Consider this his screen test for the superior The Crow. Lee bites off bad dialogue with surly sneers, swaggers through scenes with the confidence of a movie veteran, and moves... well, his moves are the real reason to see the film. Nick Mancuso has a good time as the weasely mobster getting sloppy in his desperation, and Powers plays the father figure with less conviction than sheer tenacity, but Brandon Lee is the star-in-the-making of this production. This, unfortunately, is no star vehicle, but it provides enough bone-crunching, butt-kicking martial arts action for any action junkie. --Sean Axmaker

In this explosive martial arts action adventure, college student Jake Lo is pursued by smugglers, mobsters and crooked federal agents, after he witnesses a murder by a Mafia kingpin (Nick Mancuso). Determined to survive, he single-handedly takes on Chicago's warring drug lords with the assistance of a renegade cop (Powers Boothe) and his beautiful partner (Kate Hodge).

A Perfect Murder / Murder by Numbers / Murder in the First

Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow and Viggo Mortensen form a love triangle with murder at its heart in A Perfect Murder (Disc 1/Side A), the sleek, keep-you-guessing sizzler inspired by the play Dial M for Murder. A luckless prisoner (Kevin Bacon) and an idealistic rookie attorney (Christian Slater) take on the dehumanizing treatment of inmates in Murder in the First (Disc 1/SideB), the powerhouse true tale of the trial that brought down Alcatraz. And unconventional detective Sandra Bullock swims against the tide of a homicide investigation in the compelling, procedure-laced Murder by Numbers (Disc 2). We've got your numbers here, thriller fans!

Debating Robert Lee

A group of jaded laid-back high school students from Palos Verdes California sign up for a debate class taught by a tough combative teacher from the Georgia Military Academy who challenges them to find their own voice in a world designed to drown it out. System Requirements:Running Time: 108 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 689219500442 Manufacturer No: NLE950044

Dr. Giggles

Strictly for horror buffs with an appetite for gratuitous gore and bloodshed, Dr. Giggles is appropriately titled, since the title character (played by Larry Drake, best known as Benny from TV's L.A. Law) is a psychotic killer who chuckles uncontrollably as he eviscerates his victims. Having escaped from a mental hospital, he returns to the town where he was raised to seek bloody revenge on those responsible for the death of his mad doctor father. His chosen payback method is a lot of unnecessary surgery. But then he takes pity on a teenaged girl who desperately needs a heart transplant. Of course, he's got plenty of involuntary donors! That should tell you enough to know if you'd actually want to watch this movie, which is actually worth a few laughs--or at least a few giggles--if you're into this kind of thing. Drake puts everything he's got into his performance, and you have to admire his effort in the service of a lost cause. --Jeff Shannon

Judith Krantz's Till We Meet Again

Sweeping from the risqué music halls of Paris to Hollywood in the '30s, to World War II in England to the sun-drenched vineyards in France's Champagne region, Till We Meet Again tells the story of three extraordinary generations of women who risked their lives for love and country. Starring an all-star cast including Hugh Grant and Courteney Cox Arquette.

1989 • Color • 230 Minutes

Big Business [Region 2]