Richard Riehle Movies

A highly unlikely crime helps bring together two brothers in this nostalgic comedy drama. Rocky Plumm (Owen Pearce) is a five-year-old boy growing up in a small Montana town in the mid-'60s. In Rocky's eyes, there's no star bigger or brighter than local kid's show host Happy Herb (Henry Winkler), who appears on TV weekday afternoons with his puppet friend Froggy Doo. When the Froggy Doo puppet is stolen, Happy Herb's show goes off the air until the doll can be found, which only adds to Rocky's unease as his folks (William Baldwin and Lisa Guerrero) struggle to salvage their clearly failing marriage. Rocky's big brother, Elliott (Chris J. Kelly), isn't especially concerned about Happy Herb's problems or the forced hiatus of Rocky's favorite show, but when Haley (Morgan Flynn), a pretty girl with a yen for detective stories, moves in next door, he suggests they join forces to help find Froggy Doo. Before long, the youthful sleuths find themselves crossing paths with a pair of federal agents (Peter Scolari and Rick Overton) and a growing list of suspects as they follow the thief's trail. A Plumm Summer was the first feature film from writer and director Caroline Zelder. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In the tradition of such psychologically-charged sci-fi outings as The Next One (1982) and K-PAX (2001) comes the cerebral science fiction opus The Man From Earth (2007). The story concerns Professor John Oldman, a scientist who summons a group of associates to a cabin one freezing night, and strikes them with a fantastic revelation: he is not a traditional human, but a 14,000 year-old immortal, who has survived centuries of evolution from the Cro-Magnon Era to the present. In the hours to follow, Professor Oldman's earth-shaking assertion about himself challenges the men on spiritual, scientific and historical levels. But the most incredible is yet to come - an even more astonishing truth in which the men's discussions culminate. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

A pregnant woman who lacks the means to properly raise her child convinces her boyfriend to sell the baby on the black market, only to discover that the couple they have selected have a horrifying agenda of their own in this thriller from debut director Paul Holahan. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

One woman's day goes all to pot in this resinous comedy from independent filmmaker Gregg Araki. Jane (Anna Faris) is a college dropout and aspiring actress who suffers from a certain lack of ambition, doubtless reinforced by her fondness for marijuana. One morning, Jane wakes with a busy day ahead of her -- she has a big audition, she has to pay the electric bill on her apartment to prevent the power from being shut off, and she needs to pick up some pot after paying her debt to her dealer -- and decides to take the edge off her anxieties by getting a little stoned. Under the influence, the cupcakes her roommate Steve (Danny Masterson) has made for his friends to enjoy at the weekend's Sci-Fi convention look too good to resist, and she gobbles them down. What Jane doesn't realize until it's too late is that the baked goods were laced with some especially strong marijuana, and what starts as a pleasant buzz turns into a world-class high that refuses to go away. As Jane struggles to make her way through the day, fate keeps throwing her into strange and surreal situations involving police officers, Steve's lovesick best friend, and a rare original manuscript of The Communist Manifesto. Smiley Face also stars Adam Brody, John Krasinski, Jane Lynch, Michael Hitchcock, John Cho and Roscoe Lee Browne. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A handful of college students looking for a good time are thrown into a world of danger in this homage to the slasher film cycle of the 1970s and '80s. Ben (Joel David Moore) has just been given his walking papers by his girlfriend and is deeply depressed. Needing a pick-me-up, Ben and his friend Marcus (Deon Richmond) head to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and take in a "Haunted Swamp Tour," with master of ceremonies Shawn (Parry Shen) guiding guests through a spooky patch of bayou country. Along the way, Ben and Marcus meet a pair of half-bright exotic dancers, Misty (Mercedes McNab) and Jenna (Joleigh Fioreavanti), as well as Marybeth (Tamara Feldman), a pretty girl who is secretive about her past. As they tour the swamp, Shawn tells his customers about the local legend of Victor Crowley, a deformed man who was taunted by the other children living near the swamp until he was nearly bludgeoned with an axe by his father while trying to open the door of their burning shack. While Ben and Marcus don't think much of the story at first, it doesn't take long before they have serious reason to believe Victor Crowley is still at large -- and is looking to settle some old scores. Hatchet received its world premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A handful of America's least likely icons set out to reclaim the nation in the wake of a nuclear apocalypse in this ambitious independent satire from filmmakers Kevin Wheatley and Jonny Gillette. In the year 2075, America's major cities are wiped out by nuclear warfare, and the nation's survivors go underground to wait out the fallout. In 2097, the brave souls who are still around return to the surface to establish the New America, led by Tex Kennedy (Kevin Wheatley), the last survivor of the old nation's greatest political dynasty. Accompanied by his android bodyguards Yul (Chandler Parker) and Quincy (Paul Whitty), Tex sets out from what once was California to form an alliance with Benny Remington (Bill English), who was named king of America during America's two decades underground. Benny was crowned by his uncle, famous car salesman and radio commentator Clark Remington (Daniel Baldwin); however, Clark's deranged son, Vincent (Lea Coco), believes that America's throne is rightfully his, and won't let Benny have it without a fight. As Vincent and his right-hand man, Marcellus (Ted Schneider), search for Benny and Tex, the leaders head to Florida to take on Yorick (Alex Reznik), who has established a powerful fortress called "the Threshold of Hell," a violent domain populated by an army of brainwashed minions. Along the way, they encounter a number of strange and fascinating characters, including friendly cannibal girls, monstrous snakes, distant relatives of Fidel Castro, and perhaps the Devil himself. The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell: The History of New America, Part One received its world premiere at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An eccentric genius is forced to confront the consequences of his own madness in this independent drama. Paul Hadley (Christopher Masterson) is a brilliant but emotionally fragile inventor who has developed a deep and not unjustifiable paranoia after a number of his most advanced ideas have mysteriously appeared as the work of other people. Convinced that someone has been spying on him -- perhaps the government, possibly industrial spies, maybe the Russians -- Hadley becomes increasingly reclusive as he works on his next project, a high-tech item he calls "the cube." One of the only times Hadley leaves his home is to eat, and after becoming a regular customer at a nearby diner, he strikes up a casual friendship with Jenny (Lyndsy Fonesca), a pretty young waitress. When Hadley leaves one of his notebooks at the diner, Jenny decides to stop by his place to return it; certain she's an intruder, Hadley attacks her before he realizes who she is, putting the woman into a coma and forcing him to confront the outside world whether he likes it or not. Intellectual Property was the first feature film from special effects artist-turned-director Nicholas Peterson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Two young men are haunted by similar events from their past, though the effects manifest themselves in very different ways, in this powerful drama from independent filmmaker Gregg Araki. In the summer of 1981, Brian (George Webster) and Neil (Chase Ellison) are both eight years old and playing on the same little league baseball team in a small Kansas town. One day, after a game, Brian blacks out after getting caught in a rainstorm, and five hours later he finds himself sitting in his basement with his nose bleeding and no memory of what happened to him. Over the years, the event -- particularly the missing five hours -- weigh heavily on his mind, and he becomes convinced that he was kidnapped by space aliens. Teenaged Brian (now played by Brady Corbet) becomes friends with Avalyn Friesen (Mary Lynn Rajskub), a woman who claims to have been abducted by aliens on several occasions, and she urges him to look to his dreams for patterns that might suggest what happened to him. Meanwhile, during the same summer, Neil developed a powerful crush on their little league coach (Bill Sage), who appeared to have also taken a shine to Neil. Neil's mother (Elisabeth Shue), seeing nothing wrong with their friendship, lets the coach look after Neil while she's off on one of her many dates, and before long Neil begins sexually experimenting with the older man. Neil's introduction to sex inspires him to become a hustler when he grows into his teens, and after burning his bridges in his hometown, Neil (now played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and his close friend Wendy (Michelle Trachtenberg) move to New York, where he continues to cruise for a living but under significantly more risky circumstances. One day, Neil is contacted by Brian, who after seeing one of their team photos from their days in little league suspects he might have some clues as to what happened to him in 1981. Mysterious Skin was based on the novel by Scott Heim, and marked the first time Gregg Araki made a film that did not originate with one of his own screenplays. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Palindromes opens with the dedication, "In loving memory of Dawn Wiener," a reference to the lead character in writer/director Todd Solondz' early feature, Welcome to the Dollhouse. Aviva has just attended Dawn's funeral. Dismayed by her older cousin's untimely death, Aviva asks her mother (Ellen Barkin) for assurance that she won't grow up to be like Dawn. Aviva only dreams of one thing -- having babies. Lots and lots of babies. As a teen, while Aviva has no interest in sex, she eagerly loses her virginity to Judah (Robert Agri), the son of a family friend in hopes of getting pregnant. She does, but her mother insists that she have an abortion. Worse yet, due to a complication during the procedure, the doctor is forced to perform a hysterectomy. Unaware of her medical condition, Aviva runs away from home and is picked up by a truck driver (Stephen Adly Guirgis) who has his way with her and then abandons her at a roadside motel. She wanders in the wilderness until she meets up with Jiminy (Tyler Maynard), a friendly boy who lives with the "Sunshine Family," a group of disabled kids cared for by the cheerful Mama Sunshine (Debra Monk). The kids are also a Christian singing group. Aviva is happy until she learns that Mama Sunshine and her husband are virulently anti-abortion and that they are planning to murder a doctor. Solondz cast eight different actors in the lead role, each of whom play Aviva at different points in the story. Matthew Faber reprises the role of Mark Wiener from Welcome to the Dollhouse. Palindromes was shot at Bard College in upstate New York, using many film students as crew. It was selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center for inclusion in the 2004 New York Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Disney presents the animated musical Western Home on the Range, featuring an original musical score by Alan Menken. The Little Piece of Heaven family farm is about to go under and outlaw cattle rustler Alameda Slim (voice of Randy Quaid) sets his sights on it. Three dairy cows -- tough Maggie (voice of Roseanne), leader Mrs. Calloway (voice of Judi Dench), and naïve Grace (voice of Jennifer Tilly) -- team up to save the farm. Along with ambitious stallion Buck (voice of Cuba Gooding Jr.), helpful rabbit Lucky Jack (voice of Charles Haid), and other helpful barnyard friends, the cows set out to capture Alameda Slim and collect the reward money. However, a vicious bounty hunter (voice of Charles Dennis) is also after Slim. The film features vocal performances by Bonnie Raitt, k.d. lang, and Tim McGraw. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide