Sam Freed Movies
For the fifth and final season of this groundbreaking urban drama, series creator David Simon returns to his old stomping grounds at the Baltimore Sun, where he worked for many years as a crime reporter, to examine the media's role in modern society. This fictionalized version of what was once a newspaper of record is experiencing tough economic times, precipitating layoffs and a hollow mantra from management to "do more with less." These marching orders are met with derision by Gus Haynes (Clark Johnson), an old-school City Desk editor who encourages eager young journalists such as Alma Gutierrez (Michelle Paress) to hone their craft. The cutbacks at the Sun mirror those at City Hall, where Mayor Carcetti (Aidan Gillen) -- who's too busy angling for a gubernatorial run and convicting corrupt politico Clay Davis (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) to care-slashes the police budget to save money. But the decimation of the department's morale and matériel is too much for Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West). The maverick detective, who is not only back in Homicide but regressing to his tomcatting ways, fabricates a grisly crime that catches the eye of self-serving Sun reporter Scott Templeton (Tom McCarthy). And although his sensational articles about a rampaging serial killer are met with skepticism by Haynes, they're championed by his prize-hungry bosses. McNulty's scheme doesn't sit well with his partner Bunk (Wendell Pierce), but is embraced by Det. Freamon (Clarke Peters) if the means justify the restoration of funding to pursue drug lord Marlo Stanfield (Jamie Hector). Free of law-enforcement scrutiny, Marlo shields himself with onetime Barksdale attorney Maurice Levy (Michael Kostroff) on a quest to rule the entire city's drug trade, and tempts fate by luring stickup artist Omar (Michael K. Williams) back to town to settle an old score. Meanwhile, former addict Bubbles (Andre Royo) struggles to stay clean, but finds it hard to face his demons at Narcotics Anonymous meetings. ~ Joe Friedrich, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dominic West, Clarke Peters, (more)
A family struggles to keep their business afloat as they're dogged by personal crises in this drama from writer and director Kevin Jordan. Frank Giorgio (Danny Aiello) is the owner of Giorgio's Lobster Farm, a seafood shop in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn. The store has been in the Giorgio family for generations, and Frank, who takes enormous pride in Giorgio's, has had ambitions of expanding the business by adding on a restaurant. However, the bank has called in the loan Frank took out to build the dining room during a business downturn, and he goes through a series of both funny and desperate efforts to keep the wolf from the door. Meanwhile, Frank's grown children -- son Michael (Daniel Sauli) and daughter Lauren (Marisa Ryan) -- are torn between their desire to help their father, their mixed feelings about the man who put his business ahead of his family while they were growing up, and the knowledge that he's too proud to accept their assistance. As the familial tensions mount, Frank's marriage to Maureen (Jane Curtin) has begun to collapse, as her love for her husband is outweighed by her desire to move on. Produced in part by Martin Scorsese, Brooklyn Lobster was a personal project for Kevin Jordan, whose own father owned a lobster business which was suffering severe financial problems when he began the film. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Danny Aiello, Jane Curtin, (more)
- 1999
The D.A.'s office has quite a full docket in this episode. Vital ingredients include an assault on a former attorney, a messy divorce, the death of a patient during a routine operation, charges of criminal negligence leveled against two doctors, and a significant name spoken in passing. As A.D.A. Abbie Carmichael, actress Angie Harmon provides most of the episode's dramatic intensity. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The plot of Thinner concerns massively overweight lawyer Billy Halleck (Robert John Burke), who is receiving an oral gift from his wife (Lucinda Jenney) while driving down the street one night, when he becomes so carried away that he runs over an old Gypsy woman (Irma St. Paule), killing her. Nobody in town likes the traveling Gypsies much, so Halleck's pals -- a judge and a cop -- cover up the incident. After the cover-up, the dead woman's father, Tadzu Lempke (Michael Constantine), touches Halleck's face and whispers "thinner." Pretty soon, Halleck is losing weight at an incredible rate of more than 40 pounds a week. He tries everything, but learns that Lempke is the only man who can remove the curse. In the meantime, the judge dies of a mysterious skin ailment, and the cop commits suicide. When begging and pleading with Lempke doesn't work, Halleck turns to more drastic methods of persuasion. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert John Burke, Joe Mantegna, (more)
"The Coneheads" were a sketch on the Saturday Night Live television show of the late '70s which were expanded to feature-length proportions with this film. The story concerns Beldar (Dan Aykroyd) and Prymaat (Jane Curtin), who leave the planet Remulak to prepare for an invasion of Planet Earth. But due to a malfunction, they find themselves plunged into the Hudson River and forced to take up residence in Paramus, New Jersey where Beldar gets work as an appliance salesman and makes a deal for a phony social security card. Before long, all thoughts of invading Earth are left behind as Beldar and Prymaat quickly adapt to suburban life -- except for their coneheads and metallic-sounding voices, they become a typical middle-class suburban family. The Coneheads have a child, Connie (Michelle Burke) and Beldar becomes a New York cab driver and starts up his own driving school. Connie grows into a teenager and a neighborhood boy, Ronnie (Chris Farley), develops a crush on her because he likes to rub her conehead. But a nefarious INS agent, Gorman Seedling (Michael McKean), and his toady assistant, Turnbull (David Spade), are hot on The Coneheads' trail because of Beldar's false social security card. Not only that, but the Remulakian Highmaster (Dave Thomas) is beginning to wonder what ever happened to Beldar's invasion of the third rock from the sun. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, (more)
Marshall Herskovitz directed this tearjerking schizophrenic combination of The Wonder Years and To Kill a Mockingbird. It is 1972, and John Leary (Danny De Vito) and his two sons Jack (Robert J. Steinmiller Jr.) and Dylan (Miko Hughes) have just moved to Oakland, California. John is a television celebrity who has been fired from one station after another, appearing now on a cheap local station as the Saturday night host of a horror-film showcase. But John spends most of the time drinking and grieving over the loss of his wife, who was recently killed in an accident. The children try to adapt to their new school, and the family tries to adapt to the collection of kooks that populate their neighborhood. Foremost among them is Norman Strick (Gary Sinise), a sinister neo-Nazi who lives across the street. When Strick circulates a petition for the local white-supremacist candidate, John gets drunk and attacks him on his television show. As a result, Strick takes his revenge by abducting one of John's children. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Danny DeVito, Robert J. Steinmiller, (more)
- 1992
A wealthy young bride is killed in what appears to be a mugging gone awry. The ensuing investigation reveals that the victim's husband was cheating on her. As it turns out, the solution to the case hinges on a valuable silver pin that was owned by the unfortunate woman. Nancy Marchand, best remembered as the aristocratic newspaper owner on Lou Grant and the mob matriarch on The Sopranos, is here seen as the imperious Mrs. Barbara Ryder. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1991
Jessica (Angela Lansbury) comes to the aid of Ellen Woer (Dee Wallace Stone), whom she'd previously helped to beat a murder rap. In the interim, Ellen has become owner of a diner, in which three patrons died of arsenic poisoning. While Jessica labors to find out what really happened, several disgruntled "locals", convinced that Ellen had actually been guilty of murder the first time around, aren't about to let her slip through the fingers of the law a second time--and no one is more vituperative (or profane) than the town's chief hothead, Edge Potter (Don Swayze). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1988
- R
In Call Me a lonely, frustrated journalist for an alternative newspaper begins receiving intriguing erotic telephone calls, calls which trigger her own fantasies and leads her into danger. Anna (Patricia Charbonneau) is having an affair with Alex (Sam Freed), who travels frequently and has little time for her. She meets an interesting stranger named Jellybean (Stephen McHattie) in a local bar and begins to believe that he might be the source of the erotic calls. As the calls increase in frequency and become more explicitly sexual, Anna finds herself increasingly aroused and interested. Call Me, despite a sometimes contrived plot, is well-directed by Sollace Mitchell who uses her strong cast to explore the outer-limits of sexual desire and obsession. Charbonneau is excellent as Anne, and Patti D'Arbanville as her friend Con gives a refreshing, relaxed and convincing performance. Steve Buscemi, one of the finest contemporary character actors, gives one of his usual satisfying performances as the creepy Switch Blade who menaces Anne. The film's "surprise" ending will surprise only the most unsophisticated viewer, but the film, because of its great cast and excellent direction is a fresh, exciting thriller with an interesting twist. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi
- Starring:
- Patricia Charbonneau, Stephen McHattie, (more)
This three-hour TV movie stars Sophia Loren as New Yorker Marianna Miraldo. Hurt and angered by her son's cocaine addiction, Marianna discovers that a close friend also has ties with the drug scene. After several of her imprisoned friend's associates try to contact him through her, the DEA persuades Marianna to aid them in an undercover operation headed by cop Bobby Jay (Billy Dee Williams). Despite the "don't get involved" admonitions of her husband (Hector Elizondo), Marianna agrees to cooperate with the DEA, if only for the sake of her son. This fact-based film, which first aired September 24, 1986, concludes with the feds closing in on a $3.5 billion cocaine ring. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Billy Dee Williams, (more)
- 1978
In a desperate effort to pay his gambling debts, Dr. Shane (Peter Brandon) performs unecessary surgery on an old woman who subsequently dies. Shane then applies pressured upon the dead woman's timid son Irving (Ben Piazza), demanding that he pay for the fatal operation. When Irving refuses, a vicious loan shark proceeds to make his life hell. Clearly, it is high time that Lt. Kojak (Telly Savalas) take a hand in matters. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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