Richard Caselnova Movies
- 1999
This 200th episode of Law & Order is set in motion when a professor of philosophy is pushed in front of a subway train. Investigating the murder, detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) must deal with a wily suspect (Jay O. Sanders) who changed his identity and place of residence after a bitter divorce and child-custody battle. Can the key to the mystery be found with the suspect's ex-wife, or with the children he "appropriated" before taking flight? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
- R
Directed by Susan Seidelman and written by Alice Arlen and Nora Ephron, Cookie comes across as an inconsequential piece of fluff, bolstered by a quirky performance by Emily Lloyd. Lloyd is Cookie Capisco, the daughter of mobster Dino Capisco (Peter Falk), who has just finished thirteen years in prison. Dino wants to get out of jail, settle some old scores, and make up for lost time with his daughter. His illegitimate daughter, that is -- since Cookie's mother, Lenore (Dianne Wiest), has been Dino's longtime mistress. Dino's actual wife Bunny (Brenda Vaccaro) has, he thinks, been kept in the dark about Dino's mistress and his daughter. Dino decides that the best way to get to know Cookie is to hire her as his chauffeur. With her ears attuned to the conspiracies floating around Dino, she quickly discovers that her father's old crony, Carmine (Michael V. Gazzo), has been swindling him and that Dino's life is in jeopardy. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Falk, Dianne Wiest, (more)
Everyone knows that teenagers are smarter than adults, and if given a chance the kids could save the world--if they don't blow it to bits first. The Manhattan Project tells of how 16-year-old Christopher Collet tries to alert his community to the dangers of nuclear energy. John Lithgow, a doctor in a pharmaceutical research plant wherein covert plutonium experiments are taking place, is the boy friend of Cowlet's mom Jill Eikenberry. While Lithgow is romantically occupied, Cowlet and his girl Cynthia Nixon steal the plutonium and construct their own atomic bomb. They do this, of course, as a warning to foolhardy grownups--none more foolhardy than the folks who put up good money to make this film. Manhattan Project was directed by longtime Woody Allen collaborator Marshall Brickman, whose expert sense of comic timing obscures the thickheaded "message" of this picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Lithgow, Christopher Collet, (more)
Al Pacino stars as Tony Montana, an exiled Cuban criminal who goes to work for Miami drug lord Robert Loggia. Montana rises to the top of Florida's crime chain, appropriating Loggia's cokehead mistress (Michelle Pfeiffer) in the process. Howard Hawks' "X Marks the Spot" motif in depicting the story line's many murders is dispensed with in the 1983 Scarface; instead, we are inundated with blood by the bucketful, especially in the now-infamous buzz saw scene. One carry-over from the original Scarface is Tony Montana's incestuous yearnings for his sister Gina (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). The screenplay for the 1983 Scarface was written by Oliver Stone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, Steven Bauer, (more)
