Joann Lara Movies
- 2001
Peter Falk returns to the role of Lt. Columbo -- he of the grimy trenchcoat, dumb-like-a-fox interrogations, and the inevitable "Just one more question" -- in this two-hour TV-movie special. British comic actor Billy Connolly guest stars as famed movie composer/conductor Findlay Crawford, who commits murder rather than have the public discover that his Oscar-winning movie scores were ghostwritten by a younger and more talented tunesmith. Although the hard-drinking Crawford does a magnificent job covering his tracks and deflecting suspicion, shabby little Lt. Columbo suspects that there is more to the case than meets the eye. Beyond the usual cat-and-mouse banter between the detective and his prey, the film includes such highlights as a musical duet between Falk and Connelly (who knew that Peter Falk was capable of so stirring a rendition of "That's Amore"?). Reportedly filmed in 1999, Columbo: Murder With Too Many Notes made its ABC network bow on March 12, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2000
Kim Hunter, the woman who played the legendary Stella Kowalski in 1951's A Streetcar Named Desire, finds herself in another production revolving around madness and psychological instability, though this time from a more geriatric point-of-view. Douglas Green's feature directorial debut, based on Mitch Giannunzio's play A Smaller Place, stars Hunter as Muriel, a home-bound senior frequently tended to by her just under 50-year-old son Jack (Timothy Bottoms). She's beginning to mention her deceased husband as if her were still alive, and she frequently acts as if Jack is a young man who wants to date her. Distressed, Jack is forced to admit her to a nursing home -- something his wife Holly (Kim Greist) has wanted all along -- and as he prepares to ship Muriel and her belongings away, he's forced to face painful truths about his childhood and how it might have affected his adult life. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Hunter, Timothy Bottoms, (more)
- 1998
Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) and Lynette Evans (Penny Johnson Jerald) try to dissuade a wounded street-gang member (Jermaine Montell) from escaping the ER to seek out vengeance. On a more personal note, Carol thinks she may be pregnant with Ross' (George Clooney) baby. Elsewhere, the apparently clueless Lucy (Kellie Martin) again incurs the wrath of Carter (Noah Wyle). Corday (Alex Kingston) has second thoughts about interning when she is ordered around by Romano (Paul McCrane). And Weaver (Laura Innes) is a candidate for the office of emergency-medicine chief. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- R
Better known as It's Alive III, Island of the Alive details the further exploits of the murderous mutant infants introduced in director Larry Cohen's It's Alive! (1974). Said infants are shipped off to a desert island, where they are completely cut off from civilization. The government intends to eliminate the penned-up infants, but Michael Moriarty, the father of one of the babies, organizes a protest against this wholesale slaughter. It is clear to anyone who can read that director Cohen is drawing parallels between the quarantined children and society's treatment of AIDS victims. The strength of Cohen's direction and storytelling prowess is slightly weakened by some inadequate special effects in the closing scenes, wherein the babies reproduce and wreak havoc on the Mainland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Moriarty, Karen Black, (more)
