Gloria Cromwell Movies
- 1982
- R
When a young, single, neurotic New Yorker finds the perfect woman, he tries desperately to get her to fall for him. Young director Jonathan Kaufer has been compared to Woody Allen with this, his first feature. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi
- Starring:
- Saul Rubinek, Marcia Strassman, (more)
The ads for The Stone Pillow tended to suggest that this TV movie was Lucille Ball's dramatic debut--completely ignoring the fact that Ball had started out as a "straight" actress in the 1930s who only occasionally played comedy until I Love Lucy came along. Whatever the case, the Ball we see in Stone Pillow is a cranky bag lady, fiercely independent and violently resistant to do-gooders who try to alter her homeless status. Daphne Zuniga plays an idealistic social worker who tries to get Ball off the streets. It is only after watching several of her fellow indigents die where they sleep that Ball agrees to give up her "stone pillow." Though meant to be intensely dramatic, The Stone Pillow looks more like an elongated I Love Lucy sketch in which Ball dresses up like a tramp in order to meet Red Skelton (or somebody). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1986
Those adorable "twins" from Disney's Parent Trap have grown up and are now encountering similar romantic mix-ups in this made-for-cable-TV sequel. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hayley Mills, Tom Skerritt, (more)
The fourth in a seemingly endless parade of Amityville sequels, this passable TV knock-off features an item of possessed furniture from the notorious haunted house -- a concept inspired by a series of novels by John G. Jones and exploited in no less than three films of the series. This time it's a lava lamp from the accursed site that houses the evil, traveling cross-country from an Amityville garage sale (now there's a title for a sequel) to an oceanfront California estate, whereupon it releases the demonic forces within to exert their vile influence on a young girl by assuming the form of her late father. To this end, the demon animates various household appliances to whittle down the cast in death scenes which are neither shocking nor original -- much like the rest of this film. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- 1989
The emphasis in this episode is not on Jessica (Angela Lansbury) but on her old friend, indefatigable LA homicide detective Jake Ballinger (Barry Newman). Refusing to give up his own personal investigation of a "closed" murder case, Jake is forcibly relocated to a small college town, there to teach a course in criminology. Of course, Ballinger intends to continue pursuing his investigation, this time with help of his students--all two of them (he'd scared the rest of the class away on the first day of the semester!) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1989
A strange man who had come to Blue Moon hoping to hire a bodyguard abruptly drops dead in the office. Subsequently, David (Bruce Willis) and Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) find themselves "babysitting" their would-be client's corpse. The plot may be wrapped around a missing lottery ticket and a strange tattoo--and then again, maybe it isn't, who knows? The episode's title refers to a lengthy dream sequences in which Maggie finds herself in the Afterlife with some suspiciously familiar-looking ghosts and goblins. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Divorce lawyer Danny De Vito warns his prospective client that the story he's about to tell isn't a pretty one, but the client listens with eager intensity -- as do the folks out there in the movie in the audience. The War of the Roses can best be described as a slapstick tragedy concerning the decline and literal fall of a marriage. After 17 years, Oliver (Michael Douglas) and Barbara (Kathleen Turner) Rose want a divorce. Not for this couple is there anything resembling a "civilized understanding": Barbara wants their opulent house, and Oliver isn't about to part with the domicile. Barbara nails the basement door shut while Oliver is downstairs, Oliver disrupts Barbara's fancy party by taking aim at the catered dinner, Barbara lays waste to Oliver's sports car....and so it goes, culminating in a disastrous showdown around, about and under the living room's fancy chandelier. DeVito and screenwriter Michael Leeson never let us forget that the couple's self-indulgent imbroglio exacts an awful price upon their children (Sean Astin and Heather Fairfield). The War of the Roses was adapted from the novel by Warren Adler. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, (more)
Ione Skye plays Diane Court, high-school valedictorian on the verge of heading to England on a prestigious scholarship. This is especially thrilling to Diane's divorced father, James (John Mahoney), who has always shared a special relationship with the girl, less father/daughter than friend/friend. When Diane begins dating irresponsible army brat Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack), her father despairs at her choice of an "underachiever." Pressured by her dad to break off the relationship, Diane spends the rest of the summer being pursued by the lovestruck Lloyd, who does everything he can to win her back. Diane finally realizes there's more to life than perfection when her sainted father comes under the scrutiny of the IRS. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Cusack, Ione Skye, (more)
- 1992
As indicated by its deliberately misspelled title, this opening episode of Murphy Brown's fifth season is a rebuttal to the "Family Values" speech made by Vice President Dan Quayle after single mother Murphy (Candice Bergen) gave birth at the end of Season Four. Originally telecast as a single 60-minute installment, the season opener has since been divided into two half-hours, the first of which finds Murphy still adjusting to motherhood--which in her case involves finding a suitable name for her newborn, and hiring a nanny who isn't, in Murphy's words a "psychopath" (our heroine goes through three candidates before the episode is half over!) Making life even more difficult for Murphy are the words of VP Quayle, who has gone on record condemning her decision to bear a child out of wedlock as "mocking the importance of fathers"--among other things. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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