Polly Adams Movies
- 2008
Intrigued by the transformation his country went through following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., American filmmaker Roland Tec ponders what became of "The Land of the Free" through telling the stories of a country still stuck in a state of post-catastrophic anxiety. Comprised of 13 vignettes (each set in a different state of the republic), We Pedal Uphill explores the common threads that tie us together, as well as the divisive factors that drive us apart. From the Mississippi mother who fears that her outspoken son will meet the same grim end as his later father to the man who drives 12 hours to thank another for saving his life and the librarian who returns for work following a mysterious three-month absence, Tec's stories draw inspiration from actual headlines in order to offer a contemplative snapshot of a country at odds with itself. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
This warm and breezy romantic comedy from director Jay Jonroy explores an interracial romance between the unlikeliest of partners: a Muslim refugee and a New York Jew. David Fine (David Moscow), the host of a Big Apple man-on-the-street TV show called "Sex and Happiness," never expected to meet and fall in love with a Middle Eastern immigrant - particularly given his marital engagement to a Jewish partner, Abby (Callie Thorne). But his path soon intersects with that of Layla, a young woman orphaned when Saddam Hussein's troops gassed the rest of her family. She now lives with relatives in Manhattan, and (unbeknownst to the kinfolk, who believe she's a nursing student) supports herself by collecting under the table for a slightly suggestive dance act - the warm-up for a local belly dancer. With deportation looming, Layla looks for an out; a customs official suggests a marriage of convenience, but that soon becomes unnecessary when Layla meets David and deep, abiding love blooms. . . to the horror of both families. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Moscow, Shiva Rose, (more)
Bloody Sunday director Paul Greengrass marks the five-year anniversary on the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States with this speculative meditation on the events that took place onboard the fourth hijacked plane, and the actions of the passengers who gave their lives to ensure the safety of others. Told in real time and acted out by a cast of unknowns who were provided with detailed studies of their real-life counterparts, United 93 attempts to reconstruct the airborne tragedy from the view of the ground and flight controllers, the passengers, and their nervous families awaiting word on the fate of their loved ones. As the terrified travelers and crew gradually become aware of the historical events taking place on the ground so far beneath them, the 90 minutes in which a random collection of strangers realized their fate and came together to confront an unthinkable threat are re-created. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Alan Basche, Richard Bekins, (more)
- 2003
The recent, highly publicized arrest of a longtime fugitive from American justice was the evident source of this 2003 Law & Order episode. It all begins with a jewelry-store robbery in which the owner is killed and a customer (Mandy Patinkin) is wounded. A suspect is brought into court, only to be dismissed when the surviving victim fails to show up to testify -- and with good reason: The missing witness is none other than a notorious political activist, who had fled the U.S. years earlier to avoid a murder rap of his own. The question: Can a man who was tried and convicted in absentia still be sent to prison on the basis of the original trial -- or do the detectives and the lawyers have to reopen a case in which most of the evidence is cold and many of the original participants are dead? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A powerful behind-the-scenes man in politics and show business finds himself skidding into a very public scandal in this taut drama. Eli Wurman (Al Pacino) was raised in the deep South, attended Harvard Law School, and has devoted his spare time to progressive political causes since working alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s. However, Wurman now makes his living as a press agent and PR man, and while he's near the top of his profession, years of overwork, constant smoking and drinking, and ceaseless tension are taking their toll, leaving him on the verge of collapse, with only the prescriptions of his friend Dr. Napier (Robert Klein) keeping him on his feet. One of Wurman's biggest clients is Cary Launer (Ryan O'Neal), a fading film star with political aspirations who, after attending a disastrous Broadway opening, asks Wurman to do him a big favor -- bail Launer's girlfriend, Jilli (Téa Leoni), out of jail and keep an eye on her. Wurman manages to get Jilli out of the stir, but she insists upon being escorted to an exclusive sex and opium den for a night of heavy drinking and drugging, and then reveals to Wurman that she owns a device which she's used to record footage of the most public figures who attend the club, including Elliott Sharansky, a billionaire Jewish civic leader (Richard Schiff). That night, a half out-of-it Eli accompanies Jilli back to her hotel room when an intruder barges in and forces an overdose on her, killing her instantly. The next morning, Wurman has only fuzzy memories of what transpired. He decides to focus on his attempts to set up a political fundraiser, but has a hard time getting the right A-list celebs to appear, just as many of New York's power brokers aren't especially interesting in working with Wurman or Launer. In the midst of this chaos, Victoria (Kim Basinger), who was married to Wurman's late brother, arrives in New York and urges him to leave the city and his career behind while he still can. People I Know was screened in competition at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, Kim Basinger, (more)
- 1999
A woman must choose between secure affection and fiery passion in this romantic costume drama. In 1899, Emilie van Thuile (Johanna Ter Steege), a delicate woman prone to fainting, is still getting over the death of her husband, an archeologist, when his assistant Hugo (Anthony Calf) asks for her hand in marriage. Emilie doesn't find Hugo terribly exciting, but she misses the security of a husband and agrees to wed him anyway. She accompanies Hugo to Italy, where he's completing the project that Mr. Van Thuile was working on at the time of his death, the uncovering and reconstruction of an ancient temple. While staying in a nearby spa and hotel, Emilie meets Capt. Aldo (Massimo Ghini), a doctor who has recently returned from military service in Africa. Emilie is captivated by the ruggedly handsome physician, who seems quite interested in her as well. Emilie impulsively runs off with Aldo, despite the warnings of innkeeper DeSantis (Alessandro Haber), who tells Emilie that Aldo is a notorious ladies' man who will abandon her once he's had his way with her. A Woman of the North received its most positive notices for Gianni Giovagnoni's production design and Goert Giltay's cinematography. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johanna ter Steege, Massimo Ghini, (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, All Movie Guide
A woman serving on the jury of an anti-Mafia trial must protect herself and her young son from a psychopathic gangster in this thriller. Demi Moore stars as Annie Laird, a single mother and artist who readily agrees to do her civic duty on the jury in the trial of a major organized crime figure. She quickly comes to regret this decision when a mysterious and eccentric Mafia associate known as The Teacher (Alec Baldwin) threatens to kidnap her son and harm her friends unless she promises to vote not guilty. Fearing for their lives, she plays along, but unfortunately the Teacher shows no sign of backing away from his plans, having become personally obsessed with Annie. Unwilling to trust the authorities, Annie instead develops a plan to save her child by taking on the Teacher and the mob. Adapting a novel by George Dawes Green, the screenplay was written by Ted Tally (The Silence of the Lambs). ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Demi Moore, Alec Baldwin, (more)
- 1995
Detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Logan (Chris Noth) dedicate themselves to identifying a young woman who was apparently killed while making a snuff film. They are both shocked and relieved to discover that the so-called victim, teenager Corey Russell (Monica Keena), is still very much alive. But things take another grim turn when it is revealed that Corey is somehow involved in a high school "sex-for-points" club. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
Like the 1977 British children's comedy series of the same name, the 1994 effort Just William was based on a series of popular children's books by Richmal Crompton. Oliver Rokison starred as William Brown, the most mischievous schoolboy in the entire British Empire. Unlike the 1978 version, which was set in contemporary times, the later series returned the property to its original 1930s milieu. Still in attendance were William's beleaguered parents, and the boy's gang of troublemakers, the "Outlaws." Lasting 12 half-hour episodes, Just William was first seen on November 13, 1994, and last seen on December 17, 1995. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Oliver Rokison, Polly Adams, (more)
- 1994
Sam Waterston joins the cast as Executive Assistant D.A. Jack McCoy in Law & Order's fifth-season opener. The case at hand is a "revolutionary" breast-cancer treatment that may have caused a woman's death. The D.A.'s office pursues the woman doctor who developed the treatment -- and who may very well be the "quack" that her colleagues have claimed her to be. In his pursuit of the accused, Jack McCoy demonstrates early on that his zeal for justice does not always adhere to the letter of the law. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Dale (Clio Goldsmith) is a married, expectant mother who holds down a job as a radio announcer and when a Frenchman, Maurice (Roger Hanin), telephones the station one day to correct a mistake she made in reference to the cinema, the two eventually end up agreeing to meet. Dale is part-French and this is one of the reasons for their first rendezvous. After the divorced Maurice sees Dale, he is attracted by her personality and charm, and the two become good friends, getting together whenever they can. Soon Maurice's son Bob (John Moulder-Brown) also meets Dale and is smitten by her just like his father. This adds a wrinkle to the already unstated feelings that pervade each meeting, feelings complicated by the fact that Dale does not have a very happy marriage but is unwilling to face up to it. Then one day, she goes into labor while her husband is away and in a series of comic sequences, Maurice is faced with seeing her through to a successful birth in the hospital (barely) -- an event that begins to finally resolve the many underlying countercurrents in the romantic tendencies of the protagonists. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roger Hanin, Clio Goldsmith, (more)
- 1967
The third of the many British TV miniseries adaptations of Jane Austen's slyly satirical 19th century novel Pride and Prejudice was, like its predecessors, originally telecast in six half-hour episodes. Michael Gough, best known to contemporary filmgoers as Alfred the Butler in the Batman movies of the 1990s, was cast as the smug, self-important young aristocrat Mr. D'Arcy, who was determined not to be bamboozled into wedding one of the daughters of the socially ambitious Mrs. Bennet (Vivian Pickles). But D'Arcy had not reckoned with the resourceful, and fiercely independent, Elizabeth Bennet (Celia Bannerman), who managed to slyly ensnare the haughty gentleman without his ever being aware that he was ensnared. This version of Pride and Prejudice was shown in the U.K. in 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lewis Fiander, Celia Bannerman, (more)
