Czeslaw Grocholski Movies

Stephen Rea stars as a relentless Russian investigator in this made-for-cable thriller. Based on an actual case, this taut film tells the story of Burakov (Rea), a Russian forensic pathologist assigned to track down a brutal serial killer who is targeting young drifters. The nature of the assignment takes its toll on Burakov's personal life, as he tracks the killer for years despite the red-tape and bureaucracy of the Soviet state. Nominated for several awards overall that year, Donald Sutherland won an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award for his co-starring role as Rea's supportive superior, Fetisov. The movie was filmed in Hungary. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

The "endless game" is espionage, which goes on and on despite government upheavals and changing international attitudes. Albert Finney plays a retired secret agent called back to active duty. Finney is entrusted with the task of finding out why his fellow retirees are being killed off. One of the victims is a woman who'd once been Finney's lover. Anthony Quayle makes his final screen appearance in this made-for-cable suspenser. Endless Game was written and directed by Bryan Forbes--surprisingly, his first foray into the spy-film genre. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Stormy Monday is a four-person character study in which style is all that matters. This tautly constructed, deftly executed crime thriller is set in economically depressed Newcastle England. Sting plays Finney, a relatively honest Newcastle jazz-club owner who crosses the path of crass American gangster Cosmo (Tommy Lee Jones). Flaunting his wealth at every opportunity, Cosmo wants to involve Finney in a land development deal -- if only he'll give up his club. Both men are enamored of Kate (Melanie Griffith), who becomes a pawn in their ongoing one-upsmanship. Kate and her lover (Sean Bean) try to prevent Finney from corrupting his own sense of values by wallowing in the gutter with Cosmo. Stormy Monday, the first feature-length directorial effort of former jazz musician Mike Figgis, who also wrote the script and composed the score, tells its story using subtle shadings of character and a vivid evocation of its Newcastle setting rather than through violent action. Figgis's moody direction of his excellent screenplay is quietly effective and brimming with visual nuance and irony -- particularly in its perceptive take on love, money, jazz, and economic necessity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tipping the scales on the Monty Python-esque side of broad comedy, this outrageous and classically British farce is a series of episodes involving the U.S., a small Caribbean nation, the British government, and the military. The American president is a former clown who dies after asking someone to punch him in the stomach to prove how strong he is. The vice-president (Loretta Swit) takes over and heads for trouble right away. A British island has been invaded by a Caribbean dictatorship and the gay British admiral sent to command naval operations takes a warm-hearted, 1940s-style leave of his "spouse." A Princess working as a nurse overdoes it when asked to shave a sailor for an operation. The British Prime Minister decides that if the unemployment situation could be easily solves if the employed would only jump off a cliff. And so it goes on and on, with some of the skits delving into more violent and sacrilegious themes. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide