Elisa Moolecherry Movies

A brilliant young man is tapped to join the elite branch of American intelligence, only to discover how complex and dangerous the job can really be in this suspense-drama. James Clayton (Colin Farrell) recently completed his studies at MIT, where he graduated at the top of his class and is pondering his next move while he works as a bartender at an upscale nightspot. One evening, Clayton is approached by Walter Burke (Al Pacino), a recruiter for the Central Intelligence Agency, who describes himself as "a scary judge of talent" and believes Clayton is just the sort of man the CIA is looking for. Clayton, who has little interest in an ordinary nine-to-five career and suspects his father (whom Burke claims to have known) worked for the Agency, accepts the offer and is soon sent to the CIA's secret training camp. It soon becomes obvious that Burke's intuition has not failed him; Clayton is smart, fast on his feet, a crack shot, and possesses a very agile mind. In training, Clayton notices a few things, most notably one of his fellow students, Layla (Bridget Moynahan), a beautiful woman whose skills equal his own. Clayton becomes quite infatuated with Layla, and after a fashion the attraction appears to be mutual, but Clayton has to keep in mind Burke's dictum that "nothing is as it seems," especially when Clayton is given a special assignment -- find the mole within the Agency's training program who is actually feeding information to America's enemies. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Initially titled The Colony, this made-for-TV thriller offers the nightmarish scenario of thousands upon thousands of verminous rats swarming over a posh Manhattan department store. Inevitably, the dirty rodents threaten the entire city, and it is up to such hardy souls as hero Jack (Vincent Spano) and heroine Susan (Madchen Amick) to prevent this catastrophe. As The Rats, the film was originally slated for broadcast on September 17, 2001. For reasons that should be obvious, the Fox Network felt it would be more diplomatic to shelve the film for a while--for 367 days, to be exact, so it would not appear to be a tasteless exploitation of the first "9.11" anniversary. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Campbell Scott stars in this zany send-up of '50s body-snatching, alien invasion flicks. Scott plays Dr. Karel Lamonte, a pipe-smoking atomic scientist fresh from the Atomic Academy, who finds himself in the small town of Exceptional Vista -- situated somewhere between Fetus and New Imbroglio -- just before a large meteor strikes the local TV tower. Does this herald the beginning of a bizarre alien invasion? The town is littered with unusual characters: Sandy (Fiona Loewi) has an unnervingly close relationship with her brother, Guy (Tom Everett Scott); the town's sole policeman (Hardee T. Lineham) seems more interested in spanking Sandy than in solving crimes; and the mayor (Bernard Behrens) is a religious fanatic who claims that the aliens were sent from God to punish us for watching TV. When freshly gnawed-upon corpses start appearing at the edge of town, Dr. Lamonte responds like any other red-blooded atomic scientist: he bathes with a naked, inflatable likeness of himself. Top of the Food Chain was screened at the 1999 Vancouver Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

The first thirteen episodes of the satirical Canadian series The Newsroom were originally telecast as two separate "seasons" on CBC, with the last seven half-hours comprising Season Two (they have since been released on DVD as "The Complete First Season"). TV news director George Findlay (played by series creator-writer Ken Finkleman) continues resorting to the sleaziest methods possible to advance himself professionally and obtain high ratings during his second season on the air. Offering token opposition to George's cutthroat tactics are his new boss Nancy Trimbell (Nancy Beatty), and regional programming head Gillian Soros (Elisa Moolecherry), whose tireless efforts to find a "Canadian" angle on each and every news story that crosses her desk reaches hitherto unscaled heights of absurdity. Also added to the cast is Karen Hines as Karen Mitchell, the latest in a long line of beleaguered news-segment producers, and Pamela Sinha as on-air reporter Rani Sandhu. In the first of the seven new episodes, George exhibits more paranoia than usual after being besieged by bizarre voice mails, and being left couch-less by an unknown furniture thief. Shortly thereafter, the series is plunged into a three-part story arc wherein a nearby nuclear meltdown throws George's staff into a panic--and keeps our "hero" up nights trying to figure out how to make a nuclear expert seem interesting on TV. Elsewhere, thickheaded news anchor Jim Walcott (Peter Keleghan) runs for political office, an ambition all but thwarted by his so-called campaign manager George before being stopped literally dead in its tracks by a totally unanticipated act of violence. The Canadian-based guest stars this season are certainly an eclectic mix, including movie director David Cronenberg, newspaper columnists Linda McQuaig and Jeffrey Simpson, Conservative commentator Hugh Segal, hockey player Eddie Shack, novelist John Haslett Cuff, and TV producer Pamela Wallin ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide