Tomas Arana

Boja (Anthony Alessandro) copes with his worries about his brother, who is fighting the Serbian army in Croatia while Boja enjoys the relative peace and comfort of New York city by writing long letter to him which are never answered. His brother's girlfriend (Isabelle Townsend) has also escaped to New York and they meet and become involved in smuggling arms to Croatia. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Lynda La Plante (Prime Suspect) scripted this TV miniseries about the family life surrounding a Mafia don. Sicilian magnate Don Luciano (Dennis Farina) and his wife Graziella (Vanessa Redgrave) live comfortably at Villa Rosa in Palermo, Italy. Their son Michael (Michael Hayden) has an affair with Sophia (Nastassja Kinski), leaving her pregnant but unmarried. After Luciano refuses to traffic drugs, angry U.S. mob boss Carolla (Tony Lo Bianco) retaliates by having Michael killed. When Sophia secretly gives birth to Luka, her child by Michael, she then marries another Luciano brother and bears twins. Later, Carolla unwittingly adopts the teenage Luka (James Marsden), who is unaware of his own past. Carolla's vengeance continues through the years, and he passes the hatred on to Luka -- who sees that all males in the Luciano family are eliminated. Despite the slaughter, Luca charms the unsuspecting Luciano widows when he arrives at Villa Rosa, claiming to be the son of a wealthy, concerned American. How long before they learn the truth? Film director Peter Bogdanovich is seen in the role of Luciano's American contact, Giancamo. Bella Mafia first aired 11/16/97 and 11/18/97 on CBS. The feature-length video version was edited down to 117 min. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

The true natures of love, commitment, and reality are called into question in this offbeat drama. One night in bed, Tomas (Tomas Arana), a magician, begins telling a story to his wife Desire (Marit Nissen) about Emma (Iaia Forte) and Sal (Tommaso Ragno), a married couple whose love life has gone stale. In order to fire up their relationship, Emma and Sal begin playing an increasingly elaborate series of role-playing games, in which they assume different personas -- Sal saves Emma as she is tied to railroad tracks, or Emma must seduce another man to pull her husband out of debt. But the question soon arises -- are Emma and Sal real? And who really holds the power in their lives? Chimera also features Franco Nero as one of the participants in Emma and Sal's sexual fantasies. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Director Bob Misiorowski helmed this straight-to-video actioner starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van Damme plays Jacques Kristoff, a special government agent assigned to protect Dr. Galina Konstantin, a scientist played by Laura Elena Harring (Mulholland Drive). When a group of terrorists hijack the train they're riding and demand to see Konstantin, it's up to Kristoff to defeat the bad guys before they get their hands on the biological weapons the doctor has with him. Also starring Tomas Arana and Susan Gibney, Derailed was released in Europe under the title Terror Train. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Abby's (Maura Tierney) bipolar mother, Maggie (Sally Field), testifies in court as to her competency, with surprising results. Back at the ER, Weaver (Laura Innes) is shocked to learn that her latest patient, a homeless derelict (Bette Ford), is actually "Princess Taffeta," Weaver's favorite kiddie-show host. Benton (Eriq La Salle) treats a repeat heart patient, his former teacher Carl Ferris (Roger Robinson). Palladino's (Erik Palladino) turbulent past catches up with him. And Carter (Noah Wyle) treats a young girl whose boyfriend has been trying to abort her baby through "natural" means. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Following in the footsteps of Ed Gein, Speck, Dahmer and Gacy, travel back to Los Angeles, California, between 1977 and 1979, and reexperience the stomach-turning crimes of one of modern history's most notorious serial killers: Kenneth Bianchi, better known as The Hillside Strangler. This gripping and terrifying thriller - helmed by director Chris Fisher - approaches the events as docudrama, framing the tale with an interview between psychiatrist Samantha Stone (rittany Daniel) and Bianchi (portrayed by Clifton Collins, Jr.), and periodically flashing back to study - in graphic detail - Bianchi's grisly murder spree. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

This stylishly photographed horror movie centers upon a beautiful, good-hearted schoolteacher whose life becomes a living hell after she is chosen to bear the son of Satan. Her horrible ordeal begins when an ancient enigmatic traveller places an ancient, supposedly extinct, insect up her nose. It crawls into her brain. She soon begins having terrifying dreams and more. When she learns the awful truth about her relationship with the Dark Master things get even worse. Still the baby is born and the poor woman faces a terrible and, genre-wise, surprising choice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This romantic Italian drama tells the offbeat love story of a somewhat senile but still feisty elderly American lady who escapes from the nursing home where her children put her and a world-weary private investigator who finds her on the road. The American, Martha, has lived in Tuscany for most of her adult life and still speaks no Italian. She moved there after she inherited a house from her grandfather. Having been divorced at a young age, she raised her children in the house. After they grew up, she became increasingly obsessed with the place. This coupled with her sudden memory lapses convinced her children that she would be better off in a home. The gumshoe she meets is 25 years younger. A specialist in investigating infidelity, he meets her while trailing a pair of illicit lovers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Originally intended as the third chapter in producer Dario Argento's Demons trilogy, La Chiesa stands alone as an effective horror film centering on a haunted cathedral with a violent past. The church's history begins in Medieval Italy, when the Knights Templar massacred an entire village of suspected Satanists and built the structure upon the site of the slain peasants' mass grave. Designed by an architect/alchemist (who was buried alive within his creation), the church is filled with elaborate machinery designed to seal off all entrances if ever the spirits of the entombed villagers were to rise again... which, of course, takes place in the present when the crypt's seal is removed. As demonic forces have their way with the church's occupants, it becomes the task of the parish priest (Hugh Quarshie) and a young girl (Asia Argento, daughter of Dario) to discover the builder's last line of defense before the evil is unleashed upon the outside world. Directed by Michele Soavi (who later gained critical acclaim with the inventive Dellamorte Dellamore), this is an imaginative Gothic horror film with startling imagery straight out of a Hieronymous Bosch painting and its own well-conceived mythology. Shots of the church's elaborate Medieval machines grinding to life are particularly memorable. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

A high-energy action adventure based on legend rather than historical fact finds Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) desiring to retire from law enforcement. With brothers Virgil (Sam Elliot) and Morgan (Bill Paxton), he arrives in Tombstone, Arizona intending to build his fortune. He discovers that long-time friend Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) is there and that the town is run by a group of brutal outlaws called the Cowboys. Earp, frustrated with his laudanum-addicted wife, begins a romance with traveling stage actress Josephine Marcus (Dana Delany). Meanwhile, the Cowboys terrorize the citizens of Tombstone unchecked.

When the town marshal is killed by a Cowboy, Earp steps in to prevent a lynching by an angry mob. He also refuses to hand the killer over to his fellows, beginning the enmity between the Cowboys and the Earp brothers. Virgil, overcome with guilt at doing nothing to help the Tombstone citizens, accepts the position of town marshal. With Wyatt and Morgan as his deputies, and the help of Doc, Virgil attempts to arrest several Cowboys, resulting in the famous OK Corral shoot-out. The Cowboys take revenge by ambushing two of the brothers and injuring Virgil and killing Morgan. The Earps leave town, apparently cowed. Wyatt returns, wearing the badge of a U.S. marshal, vowing to destroy every last Cowboy. He hunts them mercilessly, until the leader, Johnny Ringo (Michael Biehn) challenges Wyatt to a duel. While not regarded as an artistic masterpiece, "Tombstone" is considered the best of director George P. Cosmatos' prolific films. The all-star cast (including Thomas Haden Church and Billy Bob Thornton in small roles) delivers solid performances. Both William A. Fraker's cinematography and Bruce Broughton's stirring musical score are expertly designed for dramatic effect. Blood is shown liberally in several key scenes, but seems intended to show that there is nothing glorious in Wyatt Earp's actions, only necessity. He and his deputies take on the symbolism of the horsemen of the apocalypse -- dispensing judgement, and the Biblical references form a symmetry at the beginning and end of the film.
~ Lucinda Ramsey, All Movie Guide