Elizabeth Hoffman Movies

A young man wrongly convicted of murder struggles to prove his innocence in this documentary from filmmakers Jeff Werner and Susan Koch. Mario Rocha was 16 years old and a student at a Los Angeles high school when he was charged with the murder of a classmate, Martin Estevez. During his trial, prosecutors suggested that Rocha had gang affiliations that would have provided a valid motive for the killing; however, after the fact, it was proven that Rocha was not a member of any gang. Despite this, Los Angeles city attorneys were eager to convict Rocha as part of a drive to "get tough" on gang-related crime, and a number of observers seriously questioned the competence of Rocha's lawyer, Anthony Garcia, into question, factors which led to a conviction against the youngster. While behind bars, Rocha began honing his skills as a writer as he sought to find legal representation that would join the fight to give him a new trial. When attorneys from the respected law firm of Latham and Watkins agree to take on Rocha's case free of charge, they successfully campaign for a new trial and then methodically gather the evidence that will prove Rocha did not commit the crime. Mario's Story was screened in competition as part of the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

On the devastated planet P35233, Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) comes upon a mirror-like alien artifact. Almost immediately, he is whisked into an alternate reality, in which he is no longer part of the Stargate program--and the earth is under attack from the Goa'ulds. Even worse, the Jaffa Teal'c (Christopher Judge) is still loyal to the Goa'ulds and is leading the attack. In his efforts to escape destruction, Jackson must also find a way to return to his own world and warn SG-1 of the horrors still to come. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A film produced in 1945 reveals that a Professor Langford (Duncan Fraser) and his team had managed to activate a Stargate long before the technology was officially discovered--and that Langford's young associate Ernest Littlefield (Keene Curtis) had disappeared through a wormhole, never to return. In the present, Jackson (Michael Shanks) relates this information to Langford's daughter Catherine (Elizabeth Hoffman), the onetime fiancee of Littlefeild. Catherine and the SG-1 team embarks upon a search for Littlefield, only to find themselves entrapped in a room that may contain all the secrets of the universe--and which they may never be able to leave. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At the end of Sisters' fourth season, Alex Reed (Swoosie Kurtz), oldest of the Reed sisters of Winnetka, was patiently awaiting the release of her new husband, Big Al Barker (Robert Klein), who'd been jailed on a phony tax-fraud charge; Alex's younger sister, Teddy (Sela Ward), had become the bride of Detective James Falconer (George Clooney), who'd been investigating the rape of Teddy's daughter, Cat (Heather McAdam); and Alex, Teddy, and their other siblings Frankie (Julianne Phillips) and Georgie (Patricia Kalember) were trying to reconcile themselves to the discovery that they had a half-sister named Charley (Jo Anderson), the result of a three-decade affair between their late father and his trusted nurse. Season five begins on a tragic note, as Falconer is killed by a booby-trapped car. The only witness to the crime is wife Teddy, who is suffering from hysterical blindness. She eventually regains her sight, but the loss of her husband after only a few hours of wedded bliss has caused her to start drinking again -- whereupon Cat desperately tries to convince her mom to pull herself together. Only when Teddy almost causes the death of her nephew Evan (Dustin Berkovitz) does she come to her senses.

Later in the season, Teddy takes it upon herself to bring her husband's murderer, heroin smuggler Daniel Albright (Gregory Harrison), to justice; she also has an awkward meeting with Jack Chambers (Philip Casnoff), who received Falconer's heart in a transplant operation. Meanwhile, Big Al is paroled from prison when he rescues the governor's wife from drowning, and subsequently runs for mayor of Winnetka -- and wins. When Big Al suffers a mild heart attack, Alex takes over his duties, thereby increasing a workload that has already been intensified by her decision to care for Rosie (Kathryn Zaremba), the daughter of a terminally ill woman (Caroline McWilliams). Elsewhere, Alex's sister Georgie, not fully recovered from the personal problems that weighed her down in the previous season, begins her therapy sessions with smooth-talking shrink Dr. David Caspian (Daniel Gerroll). Not only does Caspian advise Georgie to "divorce" herself from her family, but he also plants the idea that her father molested her years earlier. Before long, Caspian's ulterior motives become crystal clear to everyone by Georgie -- he wants to get her away from her husband, John (Garrett M. Brown), and into his own bed. After she is seduced by Caspian, Georgie dutifully leaves John, only to have Caspian callously inform her that sex was merely a part of his therapy and that he doesn't love her. Also, newly divorced Frankie begins managing Lucky (John Wesley Shipp), a prizefighter whom she has inherited from her first customer when she'd been a marketing analyst. After a brief romantic fling with Lucky, Frankie leaves him (and the series) to head off to Japan on a new business venture, the world-wide promotion of a children's character named Cowletta the Cow. As for Lucky, he hires on as bodyguard for Daniel Albright as part of the sisters' plans to make Albright pay for Falconer's murder. In other developments, Charley is tentatively accepted into the Reed family during Thanksgiving dinner; with Bea's blessing, Alex assists in Truman's suicide, leading her to be put on trial for murder; and Caspian extends his sexual misconduct to another of the Reed sisters. The season ends with a fantasy episode, wherein everyone's dreams (briefly) come true on the enchanted island of Villa Esperanza. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having survived breast cancer, Alex Reed (Swoosie Kurtz), oldest of the Reed sisters of Winnetka, has launched a new career as a motivational speaker as Sisters begins its fourth season. Invited to appear on a local TV talk show, Alex is so hilarious that she causes the show's host, Harry Busby (Jack Betts), to literally die laughing -- whereupon she is invited to take over the show by producer Norma Lear (Nora Dunn). The outlook is less rosy for Alex's sister Frankie (Julianne Phillips), who has broken up with her husband, Mitch (Ed Marinaro). So bitter and vindictive is the custody battle over the couple's baby son, Thomas George, that the fed-up judge awards custody to the child's surrogate mother, Frankie's sister Georgie (Patricia Kalember) -- meaning that Georgie's husband, John (Garrett M. Brown), and sons Evan (Dustin Berkovitz)and Trevor (Ryan Francis) will have to put up with the squalling Thomas George for the next several months. At the same time, Georgie and John have serious problems with son Trevor, who has begun running around with a fast crowd and has gotten into booze and marijuana. After first arranging for Trevor to get a job at the Sweet Sixteen Maltshop, a favorite local hangout which Frankie has purchased, Georgie is forced to admit that her son's problems are beyond her control, and puts him into rehab. Ultimately, Georgie thinks about killing herself, but is saved with some much-needed good news about her other son, Evan.

As for Teddy (Sela Ward), the most troublesome of the Reed daughters, her happiness over making a success of her undergarment business is cut short with the news that her former sweetheart, millionaire Simon Bolt (Mark Frankel), has been lost at sea. The fact that rumors of Bolt's death prove to be slightly exaggerated does not help matters when Teddy finds out the circumstances behind Simon's disappearance. Elsewhere, Alex's daughter Reed returns from California under the influence of a religious cult, forcing Alex and Reed's husband, Kirby, to kidnap the girl in order to "deprogram" her; the sisters' mom, Bea (Elizabeth Hoffman), finds out that her current husband, Truman (Philip Sterling), has Alzheimer's; and Teddy's daughter, Cat (Heather McAdam), is brutally raped. In other developments, Teddy falls in love with James Falconer (George Clooney), the detective investigating Cat's assault; and Alex marries discount-store owner Big Al Barker (Robert Klein), her TV show's biggest sponsor -- only to stand by helplessly when Big Al is carted off to jail on a tax-fraud charge. As the season concludes, the Reed sisters come face to face with Dr. Charlotte "Charley" Bennett (Jo Anderson), the half-sister they never knew they had -- who is in dire need of a marrow transplant. And a nervous Teddy marries Falconer during a chaotic plane ride in the middle of a tornado. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first "trial" season for Sisters runs seven episodes, beginning with the awkward reunion of the Reed sisters in their hometown of Winnetka, IL, not long after the death of their father. Though Mr. Reed has only been in his grave a short time, his widow, Beatrice (Elizabeth Hoffman), has already begun hitting the bottle more than usual, and is in danger of losing the family home. Beatrice's oldest daughter, Alex (Swoosie Kurtz), has gotten the early warning signs that her 15-year marriage to plastic surgeon Dr. Wade Halsey (David Dukes) is in trouble, and she hires a detective to find out if Wade is fooling around with another woman. Alas, it's worse than she could imagine: Wade is not only a philanderer, but a cross-dresser. All of this bad news has the expected negative effect on Alex's overachieving daughter, Reed, played this season (and this season only) by Kathy Wagner. As for Alex's sister, Georgie (Patricia Kalember), her marital woes are manifested in an unemployed husband named John Whitsig (Garrett M. Brown), who refuses to look for a "real" job while he prepares to make his debut as a lounge singer (and never mind that he hasn't gotten any bookings). Before long, Georgie's recently divorced sister, Teddy (Sela Ward), has moved in with her, bringing along her troubled 15-year-old daughter, Cat (Heather McAdam), who is not exactly a favorite with Georgie's own sons, Trevor (Ryan Francis) and Evan (Dustin Berkovitz). Meanwhile, Teddy has vowed to reclaim the love of her ex-husband, Mitch (Ed Marinaro) -- who in turn is currently the boyfriend of Teddy's other sister, Frankie (Julianne Phillips). Among the season's major crises is the revelation during the one-year observance of death of the sister's father that dear old dad had been carrying on an affair with his nurse -- for 30 years. Later, Frankie marches down the aisle with Mitch, just as Teddy invades the wedding with a shotgun (she thinks it isn't loaded -- but she's wrong). So traumatic is this experience that Frankie and Mitch decide to postpone becoming man and wife for the near future. As the season ends, Georgie's son Evan is diagnosed with leukemia -- and he's the only member of the family who takes the news calmly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Winnetka, IL, was the unlikely setting for the semi-serialized 60-minute drama series Sisters, which made its NBC debut on May 11, 1991. The stories revolved around the endless trials and tribulations of the Reed sisters, four highly individualized women who were brought back together in adulthood by the death of their father. Swoosie Kurtz played Alex Reed, the oldest sister, who in the earliest episodes was the wife of philandering plastic surgeon Dr. Wade Halsey (David Dukes). In the course of the series, Alex would divorce Halsey, survive breast cancer, become a popular local TV talk show host, and wed a second time to her show's main sponsor, store owner (and future mayor of Winnetka!) Big Al Barker (Robert Klein). Alex's troubled daughter, Reed Halsey, was played by three different actresses: Kathy Wagner in season one, Ashley Judd in seasons two, three, and four, and Noelle Parker in the sixth and final season. Patricia Kalember was seen as Georgie Reed, a part-time real-estate agent wed to chronically unemployed nightclub singer John Whitsig (Garrett M. Brown); the couple had two sons, Trevor (Ryan Francis) and Evan (Dustin Berkovitz), the latter a leukemia survivor. Sela Ward co-starred as Teddy Reid, initially the most irresponsible of the sisters and a chronic alcoholic, who pulled herself together long enough to establish a successful career as a fashion designer. Her husbands included Mitch Margolis (Ed Marinaro), the father of Teddy's daughter, Cat (Heather McAdam); police detective James Falconer (George Clooney), who was killed only a few hours after the wedding; and Dr. Gabriel Sorenson (Stephen Collins), who had saved Teddy's life after she was beaten by a carjacker. Julianne Phillips was cast as Frankie Reed, the youngest sister, who began the series as a market analyst and eventually became the owner of the sisters' favorite hangout, the Sweet Sixteen Maltshop.

Early in the series, Frankie married Teddy's ex-husband, Mitch, and when the couple was unable to conceive, Georgie offered to be surrogate mother -- thereby setting up one of several outrageously improbable plot twists that would become a Sisters trademark. After breaking up with Mitch, Frankie had a brief fling with a young boxer named Lucky (John Wesley Shipp), then left Illinois to pursue new career vistas in Japan at the end of season five. Also in the cast was Elizabeth Hoffman as the sisters' widowed mother, Beatrice, who like Teddy suffered occasional bouts with the bottle. Beatrice's second husband was Judge Truman Ventnor (Philip Sterling), who after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's opted to commit suicide -- with the assistance of his stepdaughter, Alex. Later in the series, it was established that the Reed girls had a hitherto unknown half-sister, the product of a lengthy affair between their late father and his loyal nurse. In season five, Jo Anderson joined the cast as the girls' "mystery" sibling Dr. Charlotte "Charley" Bennett, a role taken over in season six by Sheila Kelley. Every so often, the series' main characters would indulge in a "thinkback" sequence, in which they would interact with their younger selves. This was but one of the many quirky dramatic touches that set Sisters apart from the standard "sibling angst" series of the period; other examples included the series' occasional forays into such hot-potato topical issues as racism, homosexuality, the AIDs crisis, and repressed-memory syndrome. After six seasons, Sisters ended with a heavily plotted, surprise-studded final episode on May 4, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The second of three films by co-writer/director Oliver Stone to explore the effects of the Vietnam War (Platoon and Heaven and Earth are the others), Born On The Fourth Of July tells the true story of Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise), a patriotic, All-American small town athlete who shocks his family by enlisting with the Marines to fight in the Vietnam War. Once he is overseas, however, Kovic's gung-ho enthusiasm turns to horror and confusion when he accidentally kills one of his own men in a firefight. His downfall is furthered by a bullet wound that leaves him paralyzed from the chest down. He returns home, spends an appalling, nightmarish stint in a veterans' hospital, and follows an increasingly disillusioned and fragmented path that ultimately leaves him drunk and dissolute in Mexico. However, Kovic somehow turns himself around and pulls his life together, becoming an outspoken anti-war activist in the process. The film is long but emotionally powerful; many consider it Stone's best work and Cruise's best performance. Both were nominated for Oscars, as was the film itself, but only Stone, who co-wrote the film with Kovic from the latter's book, won for Best Director. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

High-priced hooker Barbra Streisand has been arrested for the murder of one of her clients. The attorney engaged by Streisand's parents hope to cop an insanity plea so that she can avoid a trial and manslaughter conviction. But she refuses this, citing a proviso in New York law that may result in her spending the rest of her life in an institution. Against all odds, struggling lawyer Richard Dreyfuss tries to prove that Streisand is not crazy and capable of standing trial. Dreyfuss certainly has his work cut out for him: from what we've seen in the film thus far, the violently impulsive Streisand is not only "nuts," but certifiably so. Though she has plenty of opportunity in Nuts to give out with her usual bravura Streisandisms, Streisand (who also produced the film and wrote the songs) is surprisingly restrained through most of the proceedings. And then there's that extended-monologue climax. Nuts was adapted by Tom Topor, Darryl Ponicsan and Alvin Sargent from Topor's stage play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Given the credibility of the story and the sincerity of the players, it is surprising to learn that the made-for-TV Do You Remember Love? is not based on a true story. Joanne Woodward stars as a brilliant college professor and poet, struck down in her prime by Alzheimer's disease. Her husband Richard Kiley tries to cope, but is ultimately disheartened by Woodward's degenerating condition. Even sadder is the fact that Woodward, in her cogent moments, is fully aware that she is losing her ability to function. Written by Vickie Patek, this potentially depressing drama has a logically conceived uplifting finale. Do You Remember Love? was first telecast May 21, 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Face (Dirk Benedict) opens his mail to find the fraternity pin that he gave to Leslie Bektall (Markie Post), the woman who dropped out of his life fifteen years ago. This leads the A-Team to Ecuador, where Leslie is now a nun, working at an orphanage. Though she nervously insists that there's no trouble brewing, Leslie, the other nuns and the orphans are being held captive by gangsters led by the wounded Salvador (Ismael "East" Carlo). In their efforts to save the good people from the bad people, the Team members disguise themselves as whisky salesmen--and later as (you guessed it!) nuns. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide