Roma Maffia Movies

One man's unguarded honesty threatens to destroy the longtime friendship between an aspiring screenwriter and a successful magazine editor in writer/director Russell Brown's blistering comedy about the high price of being truthful. Sam has written a screenplay. He believes the film he has dreamt up could be his ticket to the big time, but before anything else, he wants to get some feedback from his old friend David. David is a magazine editor who's currently at the top of his game. He doesn't think too much of Sam's screenplay, and his admission of this fact opens up a critical rift between the two longtime writers. As the tension begins spreading to other areas of both men's lives, they suddenly find themselves forced to confront their motivations for becoming writers in the first place. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Director Lee Abbot takes a satirical look at the stereotypes and mythologies of marijuana in this satirical mockumentary following a father who is forced to speak honestly with his daughter about pot, and a pro-pot advocate who hatches an ingenious plan to change the way America views weed. Thirty-seven year old concerned father Dave Berman was hosting a barbecue for his old college debate team when militant medical marijuana activists kicked in the door and seized his home. Later, after discovering that his teenage daughter Gina Marie has taken to reefer, Dave is forced shed his preconceptions about the drug if he holds out any hope of reconnecting with her. Meanwhile, pro-pot advocate Dr. Willa Peterson has grown so frustrated with her grassroots campaign being sabotaged by prohibition-minded corporations that she ultimately decides to take the battle to the next level. After convincing the makers of Fun-Onion snack foods that their profits would soar following legalization, Dr. Peterson enlists the aid of Public Relations genius Arturo Goldman in changing public opinion about pot. If his firm can successfully counter the government's tactics of using terrorism to frighten people away from pot by convincing the masses that pot can prevent homosexuality, Goldman may achieve the elusive goal of finally decriminalizing a substance that has never been proven either addictive or deadly. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

He -- or is it she? -- slices, they stitch. He maims, they heal. Plastic surgeons Sean McNamara and Christian Troy have vowed to make whole the victims of the elusive, mysterious serial slasher called the Carver. But mending the rifts in their own families and careers will require much more than their famed technical skills. Dylan Walsh and Julian McMahon return for a sensational Season 3 filled with eroticism, suspense and medical challenges ranging from a daring facial transplant to a 650-pound woman whose skin has fused with her sofa. There's a new doctor on staff, too: Dr. Quentin Costa, a tango expert and perhaps an expert at dissecting the practice for his own ends. Plus: Julia launches a new career, troubled Matt falls in with skinheads and the Carver turns out to be.... Sorry, our lips are sealed. Watch and find out.

A boy being punished for a crime he didn't commit learns there's more going on at a juvenile correctional facility than meets the eye in this comedy drama. Stanley Yelnats IV (Shia LaBeouf) is a teenager who has been told all his life that the men in the Yelnats family are cursed, thanks to a false promise his great, great grandfather made to a fortune teller. Given his frequent bad luck, and that which follows his father (Henry Winkler), Stanley has no trouble believing this. Stanley's bad luck hits a new low when a pair of sneakers literally falls out of the sky on him -- and turn out to be stolen. A judge sentences Stanley to a stay at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile correctional facility stuck in the middle of the desert, where he finds himself sharing a tent with a gang of misfits, including ringleader X-Ray (Brenden Jefferson), pushy Squid (Jake M. Smith), small but wiry Zero (Khleo Thomas), tough and stinky Armpit (Byron Cotton), paranoid ZigZag (Max Kasch), and thief-in-training Magnet (Miguel Castro). The Warden of Camp Green Lake (Sigourney Weaver) has her own ideas about rehabilitation, which consist of having the boys spend their days digging holes five feet deep under the desert sun. While well-mannered counselor Pendanski (Tim Blake Nelson) tries to help the boys however he can, Mr. Sir (Jon Voight), The Warden's right hand man, is a heartless creep who enjoys making Stanley and his friends suffer. Before long, Stanley wonders if there's a good reason why the Warden seems so curious about what (if anything) the boys find during their digging, and in time he suspects there's something they haven't been told which might be connected to the Yelnats family curse. Holes was based on the award-winning book for young people by Louis Sachar, who also wrote the film's screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Did middleweight boxing champ Laroi Steele die accidentally from the beating administered in the ring by his hated rival Javier Molina (Greg Serano)? Or was this accident actually premeditated murder? Grissom (William L. Petersen) leans decidedly toward the latter option. Meanwhile, Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) investigates the shooting of an L.A. gang member, while Nick (George Eads) looks into a violent jewelry-store heist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Unable to get away from his workload, Benton (Eriq La Salle) may lose Reese (Matthew Watkins) in a court custody battle with Roger (Vondie Curtis-Hall). Carter (Noah Wyle) makes a play for Lewis (Sherry Stringfield), who is not resistant to his charms. While treating a married couple who may literally be allergic to sex, Weaver (Laura Innes) begins a relationship with feisty female firefighter Sandy Lopez (Lisa Vidal). Kovac (Goran Visnjic) learns more about Nicole's (Julie Delpy) "pregnancy." And while preparing to leave County General, Cleo Finch (Michael Michele) is reluctant to say goodbye to anyone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The women of a suburban town are suddenly forced to live without men in a feminist comedy that parodies the mood and look of '50s sci-fi thrillers. Lisa LaStrada (Mary Woronov) is a seemingly happy housewife in the quiet desert community of Lacuna. But looks can be deceiving, and not all is well in the LaStrada household; Lisa's husband, Jay (Michael White), the local sheriff, is having an affair with her friend Virginia (Roma Maffia). Lisa's sister, Janet (Jaime Tolbert), has problems of her own, running her grocery delivery business and propping up her marriage to Steve (Matt North). One day, a bizarre lightning storm hits Lacuna, and the next morning, while the women wake up, all the men in the community appear to be in a comatose state. Soon it appears that every man in America has fallen into a deep sleep, and no one can wake them, and the women of Lacuna discover they have wildly different reactions to this crisis -- some are lost without their husbands, some are perfectly happy getting to know one another better, while a few ponder the future of the human race without men, who may never wake up again. The New Women also stars Sandra Kinder, Jane Ray, Amy Hill, Jenny Shimizu, and Cheryl Dunye. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Although Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her does bear some similarities to Short Cuts and Magnolia in its setting (Southern California) and mood (modern malaise), and its multiple story format, its focus is exclusively on female characters, and it's possible to view each story on its own. The film begins with a prologue: Police detectives are investigating the apparent suicide of a Hispanic woman (Elpidia Carillo). "This Is Dr. Keener" deals with Dr. Elaine Keener (Glenn Close), a single professional woman attempting to care for her aging and infirm mother and deal with her own loneliness. She invites Christine (Calista Flockhart), a tarot card reader, into her home to make some sense of her life. "Fantasies About Rebecca" profiles a successful bank manager (Holly Hunter) involved with a married man (Gregory Hines). When she learns that she is pregnant, he coldly advises her to take care of the "problem." Before she visits Dr. Keener to have an abortion, she impulsively has a fling with a colleague (Matt Craven). She is also confronted by a female street person in the bank's parking lot. "Someone for Rose" is about a single mother (Kathy Baker), a writer of children's books. She is attracted to a new neighbor, a dwarf (Danny Woodburn), and he catches her spying on him in his house. She's also amazed to find that her son is more sexually active than she knew -- and more than she is herself. "Good Night Lilly, Good Night Christine" details the relationship between the tarot card reader Christine and her lover, Lilly (Valeria Golino), who is critically ill with an unnamed disease. The final story, "Love Waits for Kathy," concerns two sisters, Carol (Cameron Diaz), a lovely blind woman with an active social life, and her police detective sibling, Kathy (Amy Brenneman), one of the detectives who appeared in the prologue. Kathy is attracted to the medical examiner in the suicide case, and her story ends with him taking her out on a date. In an epilogue, Dr. Keener drops in to a bar, where she meets a male character from one of the earlier stories. Debuting director Rodrigo Garcia, a noted cinematographer, is the son of writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Things You Can Tell made its debut on cable television, although it was originally intended to be a theatrical release. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

The fourth and final season of Profiler begins with the three-episode conclusion of the cliffhanger established in Season Three, when the elusive serial killer Jack of All Trades (Dennis Christopher) manages to kidnap psychic forensic special Sam Waters (Ally Walker) and seriously wound Sam's boss Bailey Malone (Robert Davi). Spiriting Sam away to his hideout, Jack (whose real name and raison d'etre is finally revealed) embarks on a series of fiendishly clever mind games, designed to transform Sam into one of his disciples. Jack also indulges in some long-distance brainwashing with Sam's daughter Cloe (Evan Rachel Wood), intending to turn the girl violently against her mother. Meanwhile, the convalescing Bailey appoints another FBI "profiler", Rachel Burke (Jamie Luner), to take charge of the Violent Criminal Task Force and hopefully rescue Sam before it's too late. At this point, longtime series regulars Ally Walker, Dennis Christopher, Evan Rachel Wood and Erica Gimpel (cast as Sam's best friend Angel) leave the series, and Jamie Luner is promoted to star billing. It doesn't take long for Rachel Burke to foment ill will amongst the VCTF team members with her brusque know-it-all attitude, though it cannot be denied that she is every bit as talented in tracking down multiple murderers as her predecessor. Rachel also makes powerful enemies within the FBI, most notably rogue agent Mark (Gregory Itzin), who as the season wears on develops into Rachel's own "Jack of All Trades"-style tormentor. Rachel's more sensitive side is revealed in the episode "Clean Sweep", a crossover with the NBC series The Pretender in which the leading character of that series, Jarod Russell (Michael T. Weiss), falls in love with the mercurial Ms. Burke. The series ends on an uncertain note, as Rachel is plunged into despair over her inability to prevent the death of a loved one, her colleagues Grace (Roma Maffia) and George (Peter Frechette) respectively struggle with a crumbling marriage and an increasing dependency upon prescription pain killers, and Congress prepares to yank all funding from the VCTF. An additional episode, "Tsuris", originally scheduled to air at an earlier date, brings Profiler to an end with everyone's fate still dangling precipitously. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As Season Three of the paranormal crime drama Profiler gets under way, a trap set by psychic forensic specialist Sam Waters (Ally Walker) to capture elusive serial killer Jack of All Trades has failed dismally, leaving Jack's demented disciple "Jill" (Traci Lords) dead and Sam empty-handed. As Sam's colleagues in the Violent Criminal Task Force try to figure out a new strategy to bring in Jack, they come to the disturbing conclusion that the killer has been stalking Sam since both were children, and that he may have something even worse than murder in mind when he finally gets his hands on her. This story arc ends abruptly when the team captures Donald Lucas, who confesses to being Jack. Lulled into a sense of security, Sam purchases a new home for herself and her daughter Cloe (now played by Evan Rachel Wood, replacing Caitlin Wachs), re-enters the dating scene, and even attempts to mend fences with her estranged family. Alas, just when we thik that Jack is out of the picture, along comes the episode "Otis, California", in which we see Jack's face for the first time--and it isn't behind bars. The full truth comes out during the trial of Donald Lucas, who is merely another disciple of the demonic Jack--who has shown up in a different guise to testify in the trial, and to finally gain access to Sam without fear of being stopped! Outside of this explosive season finale, the most interesting of the third-season Profiler episode is "Grand Master", a crossover story with another NBC series The Pretender, featuring Michael T. Weiss in his familiar TV role of Jarod Russell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Two of the quasi-paranormal crime drama Profiler begins with the resolution of the Season One cliffhanger, as psychic forensic specialist Sam Waters (Ally Walker) takes charge of the Violent Criminal Task Force while supervisor Bailey Malone (Robert Davi) hovers between life and death in a hospital bed. Having quit the VCTF at the end of the previous season, John Grant (Julian McMahon) comes back to provide Sam with moral support; at the same time, another team member, Brubaker (played during Season One by Michael Whaley) has departed without explanation. Also, Bailey's rebellious daughter Frances (Heather McComb), who is essentially responsible for her father's plight, is now a fugitive from justice. Later on, Frances will return, intending to hurt her father by driving a wedge between himself and Grant. New to the cast is Sheik Mahoumad-Bay as Detective Marcus Peyton, a skeptic who doubts Sam's ability to "see" through the eyes of serial killers and their victims, making his first appearance in the episode "Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick." Marcus will remain on the series only until the end of the season. That title is one of many references to Sam's bete noire, the psychotically brilliant and frustratingly elusive multiple murder Jack of All Trades, who killed Sam's husband and apparently will not rest until he adds Sam and everyone else whom she holds dear to his list of victims. The "Jack" throughline permeates virtually every episode this season, especially those spotlighting the killer's protégé, paroled felon Sharon Lescher (Traci Lords), whom he has brainwashed, renamed "Jill of All Trades", and voyeuristically made over in the image of Sam Waters! "Jill" not only goes on her own murder spree copying Jack's modus operandi, but she also succeeds in wiping out Sam's first-season sweetheart, ATF explosives expert "Coop" Cooper (A Martinez). In an effort to help Sam get over this tragedy, her best friend Angel (Erica Gimpel) arranges a reunion of several of Sam's old friends--but even this is marred by a murder, which also launches a disturbing new story arc. Eventually, Sam is able to arrest Jill, wounding Jack in the process. While Jack remains out of sight, Sam has other problems relating to her daughter Cloe (Caitlin Wachs), custody of whom may be taken away from Sam and placed in the hands of her resentful in-laws. In the season's two part finale "Root of All Evil", Sam struggles to come to grips with her personal travails as she sets up trap for Jack using "Jill" as bait--but the results are far from successful! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It's Fatal Attraction with a bit of gender and age fine-tuning in this made-for-TV melodrama. Bonnie Bedelia stars as Dr. Diane Weston, a professor in Shakespearean studies who has a brief fling with graduate student Jeff (Brian Austin Green). Once she has gotten over her attraction to Jeff, Diane tries to break off the romance, only to find out that he is obsessed with her. To win back Diane's "love", Jeff contrives to seduce the prof's daughter Tess (Gina Philips). And of course, when all else fails, things really get nasty (though no rabbits are boiled during the making of this picture)! Her Costly Affair made its NBC network debut on October 28, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wings begins its eighth and final season with a virtual replay of the season seven opener, in which Brian (Steven Weber) and Casey (Amy Yasbeck) accidentally burned down the house of newlyweds Joe (Tim Daly) and Helen (Crystal Bernard). This time, however, it is Joe and Helen who have unintentionally burned Brian and Casey's domicile to the ground. Expecting a big insurance check, Brian instead finds himself suspected of fraud and arson by no-nonsense insurance investigator Claire Barnett (Roma Maffia). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide