Marji Martin Movies

As the staffers at County General anxiously await news as to which hospital in their county is going to be closed down, a number of personal dramas play themselves out. Both Greene (Anthony Edwards) and Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) strike out with their respective blind dates; Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) begins to understand the negative effect that being HIV-positive will have on her life; and Carter (Noah Wyle) plots revenge against Benton (Eriq La Salle) for making his first day as an ER intern so miserable. John Aylward makes his debut appearance as Dr. Donald Anspaugh, the ER's new chief of staff. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

While attending a celebrity-studded party held by the editor of a Beverly Hills gossip magazine, Jessica (Angea Lansbury) begins formulating the plot of her next mystery novel. The principal ingredients include a trendy florist with a roster of A-list clients who is secretly helping an unscrupulous writer dig up dirt for a series of scandalous articles. The florist soon turns up dead, and virtually every member of the Beverly Hills "in crowd" falls under suspicion. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Wes Craven's Shocker takes media manipulation to a new level in this story of an evil force emitted from television sets that has the power to kill. The film centers on high school athlete Jonathan Parker (Peter Berg). His estranged father is homicide detective Don Parker (Michael Murphy), who has been working on capturing an elusive serial killer plaguing the town. One night, during a particularly vivid nightmare, Jonathan dreams that while Parker is away on an assignment, his family is murdered by the serial killer. In the dream, Jonathan can identify the killer -- local television repairman Horace Pinker (Mitch Pileggi). Amazingly, it turns out that Jonathan's nightmare was reality. Using Jonathan's dream as evidence, Pinker is brought to trail, found guilty, and sentenced to death in the electric chair. Before his execution, Pinker makes a pact with the devil so when he is electrocuted, the electricity from the chair will give his spirit powers of evil. At first, Pinker's murderous spirit travels in and out of people's bodies, prompting the host to commit murder. But when it seems more effective to communicate with people by television signals, the spirit is willing and soon people suddenly become possessed by Pinker's spirit through TV screens and engage in murderous atrocities. All this is done by Pinker to exact retribution upon Jonathan, who was responsible for sending him to his death. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

In this film, an aspiring young actor moves to Los Angeles from his New York home, hoping to make it big in show business. Idolizing actor Robert De Niro, the young man must learn to cope with the rejection and despair he experiences in his career struggle. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

Season Four of The A-Team begins with part one of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single two-hour episode). Despite increasing threats of capture by their old nemesis Col. Decker (Lance LeGault), the A-Team agrees to help Judge Mordente (Dana Elcar), whose daughter Lori (LaGena Hart) is being held hostage so that Mordente will render a "not guilty" verdict upon mob boss Joe Scarlett (Robert Miranda). The plan involves Hannibal (George Peppard) posing as a gangster in order to infiltrate Scarlett's gang, as well as the "borrowing" of a mob limo for an escape vehicle. Ultimately, both the Team and the kidnapped girl wind up in Italy, where things really begin to percolate! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A small California town is gripped by UFO fever in this well-acted, surprisingly rich comedy. At the center of the mania is Arlene, a grocery store clerk and born-again Christian fascinated with flying saucers. This interest soon evolves into a full-blown obsession when Arlene is visited by a visionary dream, which she believes predicts the imminent arrival of a vessel from outer space in the nearby desert. Not even the doubts of her skeptical boyfriend, a good-hearted petty thief named Sheldon, are enough to dissuade her from her new role as prophet of the coming spaceship. At first hesitant and awkward, Arlene soon blossoms into a confident leader, and Sheldon puts aside his disbelief to revel in their sudden fame. Indeed, two have soon attracted enough of a following to pique the interest of Reverend Bud Sanders, the local revivalist preacher. Soon, Reverend Bud has joined in the crusade, and a good portion of the town has gathered to anxiously await the spaceship's arrival. Rather than resorting to easy ridicule, director John Binder creates an unexpectedly sympathetic, yet still comedic, portrait of the UFO believers, neither condemning their faith nor denying the fine line between belief and gullibility. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

The Man who Saw Tomorrow is none other than Michel de Nostradamus, the French doctor who lived in the 16th century but supposedly saw far ahead into the 20th century and beyond. This documentary is an attempt to bring home the interpretation of some of his predictions using historical footage, newsreels, interviews, and dramatized scenes. The film is narrated by Orson Welles -- shown sitting in a small, nondescript office, with the voice of Nostradamus provided by Philip L. Clarke. Predictions noted in the documentary include Napoleon's career, the coming of Hitler, and of Franco, and events across the sea: the assassinations of Lincoln and Kennedy, and a supposed nuclear attack on New York City in 1999, among other dire events. If equal time had been given to scholars to refute the glib interpretations by illustrating how abstruse and confusing the original 16th-century French quatrains really are, the documentary might have achieved more balance. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi