Karen Black

A whistle-blowing doctor hides incriminating information in a magical book with the power to transform all who come onto contact with it, prompting unwanted attention from the heavies at a powerful pharmaceutical company and setting five unwitting strangers on a strange collision course. Bookstore manager Dante harbors a deep dark secret, and as his former lover Zoe finds her life falling to pieces, his best customer Gina claims to have all the right answers when it comes to matters of the heart. Meanwhile, movie-buff Marcia can't stop cracking wise, and diminutive clerk Norman is never short on wild conspiracy theories. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A failed composer takes in an aspiring novelist/dilettante, only to find himself pushed to the edge of insanity when his charity is taken for granted in this simmering black comedy from director Alan Cumming. John Vandermark (Cumming) has a sizable weak spot for handsome young artists. Upon meeting down-on-his-luck writer Sebastian St. German (David Boreanaz), the sympathetic musician is stirred to help the budding novelist by offering him room and board. It doesn't take long, however, for the generous host to realize that his good will is being trampled by his brash young tenant. When Vandermark discovers that St. German has been sleeping with every woman in sight while casually brushing off his own thinly-veiled advances, the stage is set for an explosive confrontation. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A young man leaves his home and family in search of himself in this independent drama. America Brown (Ryan Kwanten) -- called "Ricky" by most of his friends -- was born and raised in a West Texas town where football is treated more like a religion than a game. Raised by a single mother (Karen Black), America's primary male role model has been his older brother Daniel (Michael Rapaport), who has drilled it into Ricky's head that it's his destiny to be a football star. But America has come to hate football, and especially loathes Bo (Leo Burmester), the manipulative coach of his high-school team. Desperate to get away from it all, America runs away to New York City, where he seeks refuge with John Cross (Hill Harper), a one-time football legend from West Texas who gave up the game to become a Catholic priest. As America looks to find a new life, he finds in Cross a man who is still haunted by his past and smitten with a woman in his congregation, Rosie (Elodie Bouchez). America, meanwhile, develops an infatuation of his own with Vera (Natasha Lyonne), a pretty but streetwise girl who waits tables at a neighborhood diner. America Brown was the first feature film from writer and director Paul Black; it was screened at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Based upon Peter Biskind's book of the same name, this BBC-produced documentary traces the rise of a generation of Hollywood filmmakers who briefly changed the face of movies with a more personal approach that pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable onscreen. Influenced by such European directors as Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, and Federico Fellini, the movement kicked off in the mid-'60s with two films directed by Arthur Penn: Mickey One and Bonnie and Clyde. (The latter had been offered to both Godard and Truffaut before it wound up with producer/star Warren Beatty and Penn.) What really kicked it into gear was the unexpected success of Easy Rider, a biker-road movie that became that rare film phenomenon: acclaimed at the Cannes Film Festival and a huge commercial success. Film school graduates, the first generation brought up with movies as their main cultural reference, flooded the studios (whose own regimes were changing) with production chieftains such as Robert Evans of Paramount and David Picker at United Artists; they approved risky-looking projects and allowed relatively untested filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola to take on heavyweight movies such as The Godfather or Hollywood newcomers like Britain's John Schlesinger to make quirky stories like Midnight Cowboy. Enriched by success with their TV show The Monkees, producer Bert Schneider and director Bob Rafelson formed a company that produced not only Easy Rider but seminal '70s films such as Five Easy Pieces and the Oscar-winning Vietnam War documentary Hearts and Minds. Another godfather to the new movement was producer Roger Corman, who gave early career opportunities to Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich, and Jonathan Demme on low-budget projects that allowed them to learn their craft.

Two things brought this movement to an end: Some individual filmmakers' personal excesses (such disastrous flops as Dennis Hopper's follow-up to Easy Rider, appropriately titled The Last Movie, and Scorsese's New York, New York), and the studios growing fascination with special effects-driven B-movies. An outgrowth of two box-office and marketing juggernauts -- Jaws and Star Wars -- the resulting films became entertainments rather than personal statements of the directors. Narrated by William H. Macy, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls features vintage clips of Coppola, Scorsese, Beatty, George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, Roman Polanski, Robert Altman, and Pauline Kael. It also includes original interview material with Penn; Corman; Bogdanovich; Hopper; Picker; writer/directors John Milius and Paul Schrader; actresses Karen Black, Cybill Shepherd, Margot Kidder, and Jennifer Salt (the latter two shared a house in Malibu, a social center for young filmmakers); actors Peter Fonda, Kris Kristofferson, and Richard Dreyfuss; producers Jerome Hellman, Michael Phillips, and Jonathan Taplin; editor Dede Allen; production designer Polly Platt; writers David Newman, Joan Tewksbury, Gloria Katz, and Willard Huyck; cinematographers Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond; agent Mike Medavoy; and former production executive Peter Bart. Among the films discussed are Rosemary's Baby, The Wild Bunch, Mean Streets, American Graffiti, The Rain People, Midnight Cowboy, M*A*S*H, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Last Picture Show, Shampoo, Taxi Driver, and Raging Bull. (Three interviewees -- cinematographer Gordon Willis, critic Andrew Sarris, and writer-director Monte Hellman -- listed in the Variety review of this film, were not included in this version from a screening on Bravo.) ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

A gaggle of young adults discovers a cache of gold in an abandoned mine. Little do they realize that the vengeful ghost of the long-dead miner (Vernon Wells) protects the hoard with a gaffing hook, pick axe, and shovel, despite the efforts of the sheriff (John Phillip Law) and zany Aunt Nelly (Karen Black). ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide

In this offbeat sci-fi-drama, Rosetta Stone (Tilda Swinton) is a scientist specializing in biogenetics who has made a major breakthrough in artificial biological engineering. Rosetta has created a type of Self-Replicating Automaton, which looks like a human being, but is in fact part machine and part living organism. In order to survive and reproduce, Rosetta discovers her SRAs need certain human genetic compounds that are found only in male semen. Hoping to kill two birds with one stone, Rosetta programs one of her SRAs, Ruby (also played by Swinton) to seduce men Rosetta has found through a website offering paid "fantasy dates," which will provide both needed materials and ready cash. Ruby brings back used condoms, and shares the contents with her fellow SRAs Marine and Olive (both also played by Swinton). However, after their assignations with Ruby, the men find themselves with a strange illness that leaves them with skin outbreaks and the inability to perform sexually. Two health investigators (James Urbaniak and Karen Black) begin interviewing the men infected, which sends them on a trail leading back to Rosetta and her research lab. Meanwhile, the more Ruby comes in contact with humans, the more she finds herself falling under the sway of human emotions, and she finds herself falling in love with Sandy (Jeremy Davies), a shy man working at a photocopying center. Shot on digital video equipment by acclaimed cinematographer Hiro Narita, Teknolust was screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A pair of minor league crooks discover they're playing way out of their league when they have to face off against a legion of supernatural beasts in this tongue-in-cheek horror opus. Two low-level thieves think they've discovered a big score when they manage to steal a rare and ancient artifact that's long been held in a secret tomb. However, they don't realize just how big an item they've lifted until they realize that the relic is capable of summoning up demonic spirits; taken from its sanctuary, the artifact lets loose a legion of monsters upon the world, and the thieves are forced to turn to an angel of the dark world in order to send the demons back from where they came. Rodney Rowland and Kevin Patrick Walls star as the thieves in over their heads, while the supporting cast is dotted with horror and exploitation film notables, including Karen Black, Robert Davi, Brad Dourif, and Michael Ironside; former teen pop singer Deborah Gibson also appears in a cameo role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Imaginary Z-grade 1960s exploitation film producer Morty Fineman (Jerry Stiller), who was responsible for such faux-works as Buddy Cops V: Hayseed and Toughnut, sci-fi blaxploitation flick The Foxy Chocolate Robot, and, of course, Heil Titler , is the focus for this mockumentary co-written and directed by Stephen Kessler). While Fineman struggles to make his latest effort, Ms. Kevorkian, about a gun-toting babe who's passionate about assisted-suicide, the bank wants to foreclose on his hallowed studio and sell his film archive for $8 a pound. In absolute desperation, he reaches out to his estranged daughter Paloma (Janeane Garofalo), who grudgingly agrees to be the president of his production company in spite of numerous moral qualms. Along the way, the film features interviews with such real-life luminaries as Peter Bogdanovich, Roger Corman, and blaxploitation stalwart Fred Williamson, that paints a picture of a relentlessly gung-ho producer whose work somehow manages to rise above nothing budgets and lackluster talent. They also highlight Fineman's penchant for hitting on his leading ladies; Karen Black recalled one incident by noting, "It helped to be drunk." This film was screened at the 2000 South By Southwest Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

In Linda Kandel's comedy-drama Mascara, three friends find themselves dealing with the not always enjoyable prospect of turning 30 at a time when their lives are already unstable. Rebecca (Ione Skye) has trouble holding a steady job and has gone though a long series of affairs with older men. Her latest boyfriend, Nick (Steve Jones), is a middle-aged photographer who shows a less than wholesome interest in his ripening teenage daughter. Laura (Lumi Cavazos) has just ended a seven-month marriage with Donnie (Steve Schub), who helpfully maxed out all her credit cards before she dumped him. Laura works as a therapist, but she doesn't have much patience with other people's problems at the moment. And Jennifer (Amanda de Cadenet) has separated from her husband after discovering he had a mistress for a short time. Jennifer's response is to throw herself into a series of one-night stands with casual acquaintances and relative strangers -- one of whom she beats when their lovemaking gets too rough for Jennifer's liking. Mascara also features a supporting performance from Karen Black as Rebecca's Aunt Eloise, who has a habit of telling her what she either already knows or doesn't want to hear. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Los Angeles suburbanites Quinn (James Wilder) and Laura (Kimberly Kates) host a backyard barbecue of co-workers, including a doctor (C. Thomas Howell), his wife (Erika Eleniak), rough-edged Barry (Jack Scalia), and winsome Jude (Karen Black), who was recently widowed when her executive husband was killed in a botched kidnapping. A confrontation with an irate neighbor (James Russo) turns ugly, and it seems there is more to the guest list than first thought. And then it gets uglier once the accusations fly -- much uglier. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide

This psychological thriller is helmed Russian director Rodion Nakhapetov, who also fills a cameo role in the film. Traci Lords stars as Kelly Bekins, a recently widowed mother who takes her six-year-old son Matthew (Seth Adkins) to the motel where her scientist husband Joseph (Daniel Roebuck) was murdered while working on a top-secret AIDS cure. There, Kelly and Matthew meet the motel manager (Michael J. Pollard) and a janitor, Bubba (Tony Todd), who seems to be keeping a protective eye on them. To Kelly's surprise, Joseph's best friend and colleague Michael (Andrew Heckler) also appears at the motel seeking answers. When Matthew begins having psychic visions of his father's death, Michael suggests that he see a psychiatrist, Dr. Kessler (Karen Black), but she's involved in a complex scheme involving Joseph's killing and the sale of his research to the Russian Mafia. When Matthew's visions lead him to suspect that Michael's responsible for his father's death, the boy runs for help to Bubba, who turns out to be an FBI agent. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide