Reviews (2)

its great
I love this movie. It is a sensible thriller because there actually is a plot and everything in this movie is a part of it.
This is not a thriller with guts and gore to make you disgusted,
everything make sense I reccomend this movie to people who liked Speed, Mission Impossible 1, Virtical Limit and The Pelican Brief. I hope You enjoy this movie.

Excellent!
A real sleeper, this one. While channel surfing one night, I chanced upon "Nowhere To Land," and thought, "Yeah, right--another TBS yawner." Five minutes later I was making myself comfortable, and knew that I'd not be going anywhere for awhile. This movie works, the casting is super, and this writing and acting come together beautifully. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

"He Made Her Sing. She Made Him Die."
Catching one of Paul Slater's (Jack Wagner) jazz shows in a Buenos Aires nightclub, a millionaire and jazz fan named Fred Merritt (William Burns) invites him to play at one of his mansion parties. Unbeknown to Fred, Paul had been lovers with his wife, Tricia Merritt (Tracy Scoggins), five years ago, before she left Paul for Fred, due to Paul's overzealous drinking. Not surprisingly, Paul and Tricia hook up about halfway through the movie, making for some steamy scenes and sexual innuendoes on his tenor sax.

While at the above-mentioned party, Fred is shot, which paralyzes him from the legs down (I'm assuming it's not from the waist down, since he has some function of that area, as I mention below) and confines him to a wheelchair for life. Consequently, Fred does a 180 personality change and becomes highly suspicious of his wife's activities, as well as those around him. He's eager to get revenge on the person who did this to him, so he hires a private investigator/hitman to find him/her, leaving a long blood trail of possible suspects.

Most of the characters in "Play Murder For Me" are pretty seedy and unsympathetic, namely the two male leads: Paul, an alcoholic has-been, and Fred, a paranoid rapist. Tricia I didn't really have a problem with, but the thing that bothered me the most was her out-of-character reaction when her handicapped husband rapes her. The scene was totally unbelievable, almost laughable if it weren't so abusive. Sure, the guy's built for his age, but Tricia is no weakling either. She could have held her own (which is seen at the ending) if they'd kept to her character.

The ending's not too surprising either, seeing how they've given a really big "clue" in the tagline. But if you're looking for an adequate B-grade erotic thriller with a jazz theme, then "Play Murder For Me" certainly delivers--sex/nudity, murder, music, and all.

Steamy 80s Soap Stars star in Movie
First, I am a Jack Wagner fan; so, I liked the movie just for that reason. The movie stars two Aaron Spelling soap stars and the movie is much like a cable soap opera. The combination of no chemistry between the stars, dark sets, cheap jazz music, and steamy night scenes make for a great made for tv type movie. Not for someone who is not a fan of either star. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

No one stays silent forever
This TVM written and directed by Rob Fresco features some plot complications that raise it above the conventional kidnapping thriller. The petty criminals that Tracey Gold associates with are used to support her kidnap plot, are abandoned when she reveals her own agenda, but reintroduced later, and the unity of the parents of the child is also threatened by Gold's identity. Therefore we get a climax with 4 different antagonists, and divided interest between the kidnapped child and the ransom money. Fresco's teleplay provides one laugh line spoken by the mother -"They appear to be getting along ok", referring to Gold and the child, "I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse". Fresco displays the rich colors of autumn in Oregon, provides a funny horizontal split image of two people looking for each other, and gives the screaming of a boiling kettle contextual subtext. The teleplay only deteriorates with the character of Gold's boyfriend since it is written as the cliched insensitive hoodlum with lines like "I don't know what you're going through but I wish you'd get over it" and actor wearing the requisite hairdo, clothes and using the the Nu Jersey accent. Best of the performances is Mary Page Keller as the mother, since she is simple and direct. Gold is better than expected, though sometimes she falls back on face pulling, and her effort shows. Her much publicised battle with an eating disorder may explain her teeth, but her oddness fits the character and is otherwise appealing Fresco cleverly tries to accomodate Jack Wagner's acting limitations by making his father the local sheriff, where his concern can be concealed by police procedure, and with the suggestion that sociopathic tendencies make one inexpressive. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Better-then-average TV movie.
'Trapped In Space' is an impressively subdued sci-fi TV movie that works some original variations on the Howard Hawks action formula. A merchant spaceship sailing from Earth to Venus is skippered by a demoted coward trying to arrange false testimonies for a forthcoming trial. Faced with a hurtling asteroid, he panics and takes off in the 'lifeboat', leaving behind him an edgy five-person-and-one-dog crew in the damaged ship, with only enough oxygen for three, and no possibility of contacting home. A decision is taken to draw lots to see who'll survive and who'll take cyanide, but such 'civilised' behaviour does not appeal to everyone, and one crew member decides to kill the rest.

The familiar Hawks elements are in place - the professionals stranded in an extreme situation that can only be faced with mutual co-operation; the strong women; the flawed hero who makes a fatal mistake and must achieve redemption etc. Characters and situations are set up in a way that makes us think we can guess what is going to happen and to whom. But writers Hughes and Snodgrass and director Seidelman are more pessimistic than Hawks, and their film is a fascinatingly grim look at what happens to community when individualism takes precedence. They have no problem in showing unfair, bloody deaths, animal cruelty or good, family men turning into murderers. If redemption can be glimpsed, it is at a high physical and moral cost.

The budget was not very high, and the space-ship vaults are clearly warehouses, but the glum nature of the film's themes is effectively reflected in the shabby mise-en-scene, which shares some of the dystopian mood of 'Alien'. There is some satire in the vapid newsroom reports projected to the ship, in particular at the expense of the Company who now seem to run the universe, and are more interested in cargo than crew. The actors make no attempts to be liked, which adds to the film's believability, and the constant references to ships of a maritime variety give the script an old-school-adventure sturdiness the dialogue lacks.

Bad title, Great film
I'm a big fan of Sci-fi movies, and I always love to find a good one hidden among the shelves of B-films. Trapped in Space (could the title be anymore of a cliché) is a great movie with a nice plot twist. It had a lot of suspense, action, and drama. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Great 80's cheese
I watched this movie when it was first on tv and later taped off the tv. I loved the schmaltzy-ness of it and was overjoyed to find that I could buy a good copy. My younger brother used to watch it over and over too even years later. It is a funny, silly movie just right for when you want some fluff to watch. I recommend it!

A pathetic T&A TV movie that fails at every turn
This lame attempt to cash in on the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit craze is neither a comedy nor a drama. It is not sexy enough to attract jiggle fans and it is not barbed enough satire to actually explore this "genre" of cultural exploitation. ... Read more