Anne Lange Movies

Amazingly, Season Eight of Law & Order begins with the cast from Season Seven intact, with no additions or deletions. The case at hand: the murder of a pizza delivery man, which the detectives believe was deliberate and not a random shooting. As it turns out, the dead man was the victim of a thrill killing committed by a pair of teenagers (Rob McElhenney, Michael Marrona). Complications: Each teen blames the other for the murder, an eyewitness saw only one of the boys pulling the trigger, and the key clue is the recording of a Confessional -- which cannot be admitted as evidence. In the course of events, detective Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) receives some bad news. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A midtown auto accident leaves two people dead. The subsequent investigation reveals that one of the "victims," a woman, was placed in the driver's seat after the accident -- and that she was raped before she died. Ultimately, city councilman Spencer Talbot (Anthony Heald) is charged with the crime. He manages to beat the rap, but tireless Assistant D.A. Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) has another ace -- and another charge -- up his sleeve. This episode represents a reunion between former I'll Fly Away co-stars Sam Waterston and Regina Taylor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Michael J. Fox stars as Doug Ireland in this romantic comedy about a brash concierge at a swanky New York hotel who always makes it a point to go out of his way for the hotel guests. But Doug doesn't want to be a concierge forever. What he would really like to do is build a swanky hotel of his own, and all he needs is $3 million to do it. When haughty and patronizing tycoon Christian Hanover (Anthony Higgins) comes to the hotel for a rendezvous with his mistress Andy Hart (Gabrielle Anwar), Doug sees the opportunity to convince Christian to invest the $3 million in his dream of a hotel. So, Doug willingly agrees to baby-sit Andy when Christian has to leave her to see his wife. But the more time he spends with Andy, the more affectionate he feels toward her, until finally he has fallen in love with her. Now Doug must make a choice concerning what he really wants -- his dream of a hotel or the love of Andy. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Woody Allen's black-and-white curiosity piece is a mixture of influences -- from German silent film expressionism to Franz Kafka's nightmare worlds to the contemporary fables of Wim Wenders. Woody Allen plays the nebbish clerk Kleinman (in a throwback to his characters from Sleeper and Love and Death), who is awakened in the middle of the night by a vigilante group who want him to help capture a serial killer on the loose. Kleinman reluctantly agrees, but when he gets to the street, the vigilantes are gone and Kleinmen spends most of the film wandering the shadowy back alleys in search of the citizen's brigade. Meanwhile, a circus is in town. When sword-swallower Irmy (Mia Farrow) catches her creepy clown husband (John Malkovich) getting familiar with trapeze artist Marie (Madonna), she packs her bags and heads for town, where she meets up with Kleinman. This meeting sets up a number of plot lines that has Irmy befriending a trio of prostitutes (Jodie Foster, Lily Tomlin and Kathy Bates) at the local brothel and accepting $700 from a university student (John Cusack) who wants to sleep with her. She finally meets up with her husband, and they then find an abandoned baby which they decide to raise as their own. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

The once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between star Gene Wilder and director Leonard Nimoy resulted in the charmingly haphazard and anachronistic Funny About Love. Wilder plays political cartoonist Duffy Bergman, who falls in love with much-younger Meg (Christine Lahti) during a book-signing session. Once married, the old "clash of careers" bugaboo arises: Meg wants to continue working as a chef in a fancy New York restaurant, while Duffy would prefer that she think about starting a family. When it seems as though Meg may be incapable of bearing children, the self-involved Duffy impregnates earthy college coed Daphne (Mary Stuart Masterson). How a happy ending can grow from this complication is a puzzlement. Funny About Love was based--extremely loosely--on a speech once delivered by Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene. The laughs tend to be sporadic, though Stephen Toblowsky scores high marks as a jocular fertility doctor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a wealthy young heiress endeavors to discover if her life does indeed have any meaning after she participates in a far-from-harmless parlor game at an exclusive costume party held in a grand old mansion. Sasha, the heiress, has fallen into a deep depression following the suicide of her brother and is strongly thinking about joining him when she goes to the party and begins playing a card game in which the winner's reward is a drink of deadly poison. Unfortunately, Sasha wins and must now reconsider her rashness. The plot is based on a story from Robert Louis Stevenson. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide