Thomas F. Duffy Movies

Told in reverse chronology, this episode details the 24 hours leading to the disastrous misdiagnosis that may spell the end of Kovac's (Goran Visnjic) medical career. The whole story stems from a Christmas party at the home of Dr. Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield), where an apparently inebriated Kovac makes a play for med student Erin Harkins (Leslie Bibb). Things come to a head in a car accident which leaves one passenger seriously injured and another with apparently irreversible brain damage. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The first teaming of Danny Sorenson (Rick Schroder) and Diane Russell (Kim Delaney) is not an easy one for Diane, who still hasn't gotten over the loss of Danny's predecessor, Bobby Simone. Her grief has resulted in profound depression, and may lead her back into her old drinking habits. In other developments, the squad forms a protective circle around Jill Kirkendall's (Andrea Thompson) young son, Kyle (Courtland Mead), who has witnessed a stabbing. While still pursuing the old Suarez murder case, Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) and Sylvia (Sharon Lawrence) discover that the original informant against Suarez may have actually been the guilty party, and both Greg (Gordon Clapp) and John (Bill Brochtrup) worry that their judgment may be clouded by their affections. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Just when you'd think that scientists would realize dinosaurs and humans don't mix, along comes The Lost World: Jurassic Park to prove you wrong. In this sequel, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) summons chaos theorist and onetime colleague Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to his home with some startling information -- while nearly everything at his Jurassic Park had been destroyed, engineers were also operating a second site, where other dinosaurs, resurrected through DNA cloning technology, had been kept in hiding. Hammond has learned the dinosaurs on the second island are alive and well and even breeding; Hammond wants Malcolm to observe and document the reptiles before Hammond's financiers can get to them. Malcolm declares he had enough of the dinosaurs the first time out, but decides to make the trip when he finds out that his girlfriend, paleontologist Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore), is already there. However, Ian and Sarah aren't the only visitors expected on the island; a camera crew led by ecological activist Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn) is on the way, as is Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite), a world-class wild game hunter who is supposed to round up the dinosaurs and who hopes to bag a prehistoric trophy for himself in the process. This sequel to Jurassic Park boasted even more impressive special effects than the first film, though the acting and screenplay aren't always at the same level. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

America's Most Wanted host John Walsh appears as himself and serves as producer in this made-for-TV movie, inspired by one of the most infamous crimes to be chronicled on Walsh's popular TV series. Antonio Sabato Jr. stars as John Hawkins, a frustratingly elusive criminal, con artist, drug dealer and murderer. Using both men and women with callous impunity, the bisexual Hawkins caps all of his previous scams by talking his partner-lover M. Eugene Hanson (Brad Dourif) into an insurance-fraud scheme that will require a real corpse for verification. The result: Hanson turns up dead, and Hawkins collects a $1 million dollar policy before skipping off to parts unknown. David Keith is cast as Peter Stanford, the dedicated California detective who makes it his mission in life to bring the wily (and undeniably charming and charismatic) Hawkins to justice. If Looks Could Kill: From the Files of America's Most Wanted made its Fox network debut on February 6, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jack Nicholson becomes a werewolf in this bizarre comedy-horror film directed by Mike Nichols. Nicholson plays Will Randall, a book editor with a testosterone deficit who has just been sacked at his publishing firm by a new boss, Raymond Alden (Christopher Plummer). A colleague, Stewart Swinton (James Spader), whom Randall thought was his friend, betrays him. Randall's personality changes after he hits a wolf with his car and gets bitten by the creature. He immediately feels more powerful, has heightened hearing and vision, and sets about to right the wrongs in his life. He visits Alden at the publisher's mansion to protest his dismissal, and he is asked to leave -- but Alden's daughter Laura (Michelle Pfeiffer) asks him to stay for lunch. Laura loves to defy her father. Will tells her about the wolf bite, and she becomes attracted to him. But because werewolves usually kill the ones they love, Laura is in danger. Will reasserts his place in the publishing world, supported by his loyal secretary Mary (Eileen Atkins), and his relationship with Laura deepens. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

Comedian John Candy, who died during the making of this poorly received comic western, plays James Harlow, a 19th century wagon master who is heading back east with a wagon train full of oddball characters who have had their fill of Western life. They include ex-doctor Phil Taylor (Richard Lewis), kind-hearted prostitute Belle (Ellen Greene), and a bookseller, Julian (John C. McGinley). Harlow is a drunken, washed-up leader who frequently gets lost. The travelers eventually discover that he was a member of the famous Donner party, which resorted to cannibalism when stranded in the mountains. Railroad magnates try to turn back the party, figuring it's bad publicity for people out East to learn that the West is not really a paradise. The tycoons hire gunfighters and villains to stop the expedition, but local Indians protect the wagons, because they are glad to see disgruntled white settlers leaving their lands. This "backwards" western was based on a story by Jerry Abrahamson. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

New York art dealer Arne Glimcher took his first crack at film directing with this florid, high-energy romance about two brothers who flee Cuba in the early 1950s to make it as musicians in the United States. Cynthia Cidre wrote the literate screenplay adapted from Oscar Hijuelos's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. Cesar (Armand Assante) and Nestor Castillo (Antonio Banderas) are popular musicians on Havana's club circuit, but when they make enemies of the wrong people, they are forced to leave for New York City, the moody Nestor leaving behind his true love. In New York, the brothers work as meat-cutters during the day as Cesar tries to organize a band and make inroads into the lively New York music scene. Soon, as The Mambo Kings, they get club bookings and Cesar falls in love with a sharp-tongued cigarette girl, Lanna Lake (Cathy Moriarty), and Nestor with the beautiful Delores Fuentes (Maruschka Detmers), who wants to be a teacher. Cesar concentrates on singing and managing the band, while Nestor plays the trumpet and writes emotional songs of love. All seems to be going well until Cesar antagonizes the moneymen on the Latin nightclub circuit and they finds themselves playing bar mitzvahs. But after they're discovered by Desi Arnaz (Desi Arnaz Jr.), the group is prominently featured on I Love Lucy. Their popularity soars and they cut a successful album called "Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love." Cesar is glorying in his success, but Nestor is disappointed and longs to return to Cuba. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

In this whodunit, several cops are picked off one-by-one as two young investigators try to make sense of the murders. They soon find that the victims themselves were involved in some violent and less-than-honorable activity. Evidence may lead to fellow cop (C. Thomas Howell) who seems to fit the vigilante profile. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

Paralyzed in a 1984 accident, writer/director Neal Jimenez (of River's Edge fame) channelled his own experiences and emotions into his 1991 film Waterdance. Eric Stoltz stars as a young writer left incapacitated by a hiking accident. He is placed in a paraplegic ward, peopled by patients of all races and emotional states. Together with his new-found friends, Stoltz rebels against the hospital system and his own debilitation. Helen Hunt and Wesley Snipes are among the costars in this effective update (though not a remake) of 1950's The Men. Waterdance was given a brief theatrical release in 1992 before being telecast on PBS' American Playhouse in early 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this "crossover" episode, Florence Stanley appears as Judge Margaret W. Wilbur, a character she'd introduced on the concurrently-produced NBC sitcom My Two Dads. In her capacity as temporary replacement for Judge Harry T. Stone (Harry Anderson), Judge Wilbur immediately makes an impression by jailing Dan (John Larroquette) for contempt. All this, however, is incidental to the main plot, in which Bull (Richard Moll) hopes to raise money for a boy's home by appearing as a contestant on the popular game show "What Am I?" First, however, he must undergo hypnosis to get over his fear of being on live television. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This action movie chronicles the exciting exploits of a crack crime fighting force. They are notorious for their unusual tactics when dealing with criminals. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Paul Kersey's (Charles Bronson) self-appointed one-man vigilante squad goes bi-coastal in Michael Winner's sequel to his Death Wish. Kersey has taken up residence in Los Angeles, but lunatic violence follows him across the country like toilet paper sticking to his shoe. Kersey's Spanish cook is immediately gang-banged and killed, while his daughter, still suffering from a catatonic stupor after her brutal rape in the first film, finds herself raped yet again. Vincent Gardenia as New York detective Frank Ochoa, reprises his role from the first film here -- traveling to Los Angeles to locate Kersey but finding death waiting for him off a LA freeway ramp. After all this mayhem, Kersey cannot cringe in hiding for long, and once again he loads up his tube socks with rolls of quarters and goes hoodlum hunting. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi