Darwyn Carson Movies

Two new doctors join the Emergency staff at Chicago's County General Hospital as ER begins its sixth season: Pediatric resident Cleo Finch (Michael Michele) and Croatian émigré Luka Kovac (Goran Visnjic). Getting things off to a lively start, a truck crash through a coffee shop window results in a larger than usual volume of ER patients. Elsewhere, rumors fly that the prickly Dr. Romano (Paul McCrane) will replace the retiring Dr. Anspaugh as chief of staff -- a contingency that Greene (Anthony Edwards) tries to prevent, only to be ruthlessly undercut by the ambitious Weaver (Laura Innes). John Carter (Noah Wyle) treats his former sister-in-law Elaine (Rebecca De Mornay) after she has a minor accident, thereby triggering a whole new romantic chapter in Carter's life. And Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) receives a marriage proposal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An "accidental" explosion turns out to have been an attempt on the life of Cardassian Garak (Andrew Robinson). Launching an investigation of the incident, Odo uncovers a conspiracy of epic proportions. What he does about it will not be fully revealed until the following week's episode, "The Die Is Cast." Originally telecast April 24, 1995, "Improbable Cause" was scripted by Rene Echevarria from a story by Robert Lederman and David R. Long. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A young boy is forced to learn some adult lessons about violence in this made-for-television movie based on a true story. Kate Jackson and Gerald McRainey star as parents of an 11 year-old boy who shoots and kills some intruders who break into his home. The film shows how the boy and his family struggle to overcome the lingering anguish caused by the incident. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

An audacious film about faith, The Rapture is a contemporary fantasy that keeps its feet unnervingly planted in reality even as reality starts to collapse. Mimi Rogers, in a strikingly accomplished performance, stars as Sharon, a telephone operator who spends her off-hours engaging in casual group sex to blot out her boredom. By chance, she becomes aware of a small Christian sect whose members believe that they have found a child with the gift of prophecy who has seen the upcoming end times. Slowly but steadily, Sharon finds herself drawn to this group, and one night she abruptly turns a corner, renounces her old life, and embraces fundamentalism with passion. She marries one of her former lovers, Randy (David Duchovny), who takes up Sharon's evangelical fervor to atone for his past as a hired killer, and they have a daughter. All seems peaceful until Randy is unexpectedly murdered, and Sharon takes her child to the desert to await the rapture that will bring the chosen to heaven. The film neither supports nor scoffs at Sharon's views, and the superb performances add immeasurably to a film that presents the unbelievable (and unthinkable) at face value, making it seem oddly plausible in the process. Michael Tolkin has also written and/or directed such films as The Player (1992), directed by Robert Altman, and The New Age (1994), both of which also skewer contemporary American society as shallow, materialistic, and desperate for something authentic to believe in. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This mildly amusing horror spoof was filmed on Super-8 film by fledgling indie director Mark Pirro (Nudist Colony of the Dead). The plot concerns a swinging bachelor, Larry Smallbutt (Michael Palazzolo) who is bitten on the rear end by a transvestite "queerwolf" whom he believed was a woman. He ends up transforming into an effeminate creature with a red handkerchief and earrings. Various gay stereotypes and horror conventions are parodied, and Conrad Brooks (Plan 9 from Outer Space) appears along with Forrest J. Ackerman, longtime editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland, who plays a patient forced to ingest alcohol until he explodes. Tasteless and raunchy, the film will offend many, but those looking for a sick, offbeat comedy will enjoy Pirro's irreverence. The director returned with Deathrow Gameshow. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

A year after appearing in the box-office sleeper Shanghai Surprise, pop superstar Madonna starred in the screwball comedy Who's That Girl? She plays Nikki Finn, who is being released from prison after serving a four-year sentence for a murder she didn't commit. Meanwhile, wealthy lawyer Loudon (Griffin Dunne) is about to get married that afternoon to the snobby Wendy (Haviland Morris), the daughter of Simon Worthington (John McMartin). Worthington does not approve of the wedding and he wants Nikki out of town as soon as possible, so he sends Loudon to collect Nikki and take her to the bus station. Instead, the flamboyant Nikki seeks her revenge while trying to find out what happened to her friend Johnny, which causes Loudon a lot of trouble. Naturally, wild action ensues -- some of it involving an escaped Cougar belonging to Loudon's boss, the millionaire animal collector Montgomery Bell (John Mills) -- and Loudon having to choose between the prim Wendy and the unpredictable Nikki. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

A timid aerobics instructor learns that her new best friend is also her husband's mistress in this domestic drama starring Mary Tyler Moore. Suffering from a bit of empty-nest syndrome as her children pass through adolescence, indecisive homemaker Holly Davis (Moore) reluctantly accepts a part-time gig teaching exercise classes for frazzled gym owner Helga (Salome Jens). There, she meets struggling, independent-minded broadcast journalist Sandy Dunlap (Christine Lahti) and they quickly become thick as thieves. As it turns out, though, Sandy is actually an adulteress -- she's engaged in a clandestine affair with Chip (Ted Danson), Holly's seismologist husband. Chip loves both women and wants to continue seeing Sandy, but she breaks things off with him now that she knows his wife. When Chip dies suddenly, Sandy helps Holly cope and finances Phase Two of her life as the new owner of Helga's aerobics center. Unfortunately, though, evidence of Chip's infidelity lies around just waiting to be discovered. In the end, it's up to Chip's friend Harry Crandall (Sam Waterson) -- who's been nursing a crush on Holly for years -- to help a pregnant Sandy and a heartbroken Holly come to terms with their complicated friendship. Just Between Friends marked the directorial debut of screenwriter Allan Burns. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Ted Kotcheff continues his First Blood fervor with Uncommon Valor. Gene Hackman stars as Cal Rhodes, a former Marine Colonel who has been getting the run-around for ten years from the government concerning the disappearance of his son and his buddies - all Marines who enlisted years prior and served in Vietnam. Rhodes' son was last seen in Laos, where he was fighting in the war and captured as a POW. When word gets back to Rhodes that the men may still be alive and held in prison camps, but the government still has the men listed as missing in action, Rhodes decides to take matters into his own hands. Contacting an old friend, oil baron MacGregor (Robert Stack), Rhodes is granted financial backing to form his own incursion force. He assembles a crack team of men, puts them through an intensive period of training. and heads back with them into the Laotian jungles to search for the MIAs. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Tony Bill directed this sentimental weepie starring Dudley Moore as California politician Patrick Dalton. When Nicole (Katherine Healy), the daughter of the well-to-do Charlotte Dreyfus (Mary Tyler Moore) asks to work for his campaign, Patrick initially turns her down. But when he discovers that she is dying from leukemia, Patrick is determined to make her final days happy ones. Along the way, Patrick and Charlotte have an affair and they take Nicole on a dream trip to New York City. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A group of naturists open a nudist camp near a small town, but local religious fanatics pressure the authorities to close the camp down. The nudists are so ashamed and outraged by this act that they commit mass suicide -- but not before vowing revenge on the zealots who had their camp closed. Five years later they return as zombies to the site -- now a church summer camp -- and start killing off the campers. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide