Keaton, Diane

Hanging Up

You've got to admire a movie that embraces womanhood as so few mainstream movies do, and Hanging Up deserves credit for combining issues of sisterhood and elderly parent care while relying on neuroses to carry its unconventional plot. But you've also got to lament this botched "dramedy" from screenwriting sisters Nora and Delia Ephron (adapting the latter's novel) and director Diane Keaton, who lack a coherent plan for illuminating their trio of female siblings. Despite a sharp focus on Meg Ryan as the middle sister Eve--a capable Los Angeles event planner--the movie never quite seems to know where it's going, and you feel like the best scenes are merely happy accidents. In exploring the foibles of family, Keaton fared better with her earlier film Unstrung Heroes.

In addition to directing, Keaton plays the eldest sister Georgia, a celebrity magazine editor, and Lisa Kudrow is kid sister Maddy, a soap-opera actress who's nearly as self-absorbed as Georgia. They leave it to Eve to care for their declining father (Walter Matthau), a retired screenwriter who slips in and out of lucidity and is, at best, a cantankerous curmudgeon whose estranged wife (Cloris Leachman) has long since severed all family ties. This is potent material--at least it could have been--and Ryan admirably struggles to hold the film together. But it's ultimately a losing battle as the movie, so full of cell phones and disconnected people (hence the title), becomes disconnected itself, offering hollow humor and a few memorable moments with characters whose problems are too minimal to worry about. --Jeff Shannon

Wildflower

Director Diane Keaton brings a tender touch to Wildflower, a Lifetime cable-TV movie showcasing early-career excellence from Reese Witherspoon and Patricia Arquette. Witherspoon's big-screen debut in The Man in the Moon had premiered shortly before this movie's original broadcast in 1991, and a year earlier, Arquette had starred in a Keaton-directed CBS Schoolbreak Special, The Boy with the Crazy Brother. These rising talents are well served by Sara Flanigan's teleplay, closely adapted from her popular juvenile novel Alice. Set in the mid-1930s, the story follows two compassionate teens (Witherspoon, William McNamara) who discover and essentially adopt a partially deaf epileptic (Arquette) who'd been locked away by her psychotically abusive father. Beau Bridges and Susan Blakely provide different parental perspectives, and while Keaton doesn't always avoid Flanigan's tear-jerking sentiment, she handles it with delicate grace. Aiding her are a gifted cast and the fine cinematography of Janusz Kaminski, who would soon begin an enduring collaboration with Steven Spielberg. --Jeff Shannon

Unstrung Heroes

Outstanding performances and exciting stars light up this heartwarming motion picture. When a youngster needs a break from the pressures of his parents' household, he moves in with his offbeat uncles (including Michael Richards -- Kramer from TV's SEINFELD). From this unlikely pair, his family soon learns some invaluable lessons about life, love, and pride. Directed by the multi-talented Diane Keaton (star of BABY BOOM, FATHER OF THE BRIDE I & II), and also starring Andie MacDowell (FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL) and John Turturro (QUIZ SHOW) -- you're sure to love this heartfelt hit!

Heaven

Pull up a cloud and take a ride through HEAVEN. Created and directed by the multi-talented Diane Keaton HEAVEN takes a wonderfully lighthearted look at the Great Beyond.Running Time: 80 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/COMEDY OF MANNERS UPC: 883929009251 Manufacturer No: 1000037006

Heaven

Pull up a cloud and take a ride through Heaven. Created and directed by the multi-talented Diane Keaton (Annie Hall, Baby Boom), "Heaven" takes a wonderfully lighthearted look a the Great Beyond. Keaton intersperses outrageous interviews with extraordinary film footage from such European and American film classics as "Metropolis," "Green Pastures" and "Stairway to Heaven." It is truly the ultimate coming attraction!

China Beach

Pasadena

Unstrung Heroes [Region 2]