Patricia Mauceri Movies
A lovelorn matchmaker tries to set up two people about to be married -- but not to each other -- in this independent romantic comedy. George (Tunde Adebimpe) is a Nigerian expatriate living in upstate New York, where he has pledged to marry a woman in a marriage arranged for him in childhood, though he's not especially enthusiastic about the idea. George goes to Buffalo to pick up his fiancée as she arrives in America, only to discover she's already moved on to Niagara Falls, where the wedding will be held in three days. On his way back home, an annoyed and downcast George meets Gerard (Hippolyte Girardot), a man from France who is wallowing in sorrow after being dumped by his girlfriend, and Alicia (Natalia Verbeke), a light-hearted Latin-American woman who is due to marry her fiancé Nathan (James Wilby) in less than a week. Alicia finds George amusing but thinks he needs to loosen up a bit, so she invites him to a party; George brings Gerard along, feeling he needs some cheering up, and Gerard notices an obvious attraction between Alicia and George. Gerard fancies himself an authority on matters of the heart, and is certain George and Alicia would rather be with each other than with the people they're engaged to marry, so joining George, Alicia, and Nathan for a trip to visit Alicia's parents en route to Niagara Falls, he hatches a plan to break Alicia and Nathan apart -- and bring Alicia and George together. Jump Tomorrow was shown in competition at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tunde Adebimpe, Hippolyte Girardot, (more)
- 2001
A diamond dealer is kidnapped in broad daylight, with the assailants leaving two dead men -- a jeweler and a banker -- in their wake. The detectives' subsequent investigation leads to a family-controlled "diamond dynasty," which in turn is linked with a civil war in a faraway country. Originally scheduled to air October 17, 2001, this episode was moved forward to October 24. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2000
Steven Hill, the sole remaining cast member from Law & Order's first season, appeared as D.A. Adam Schiff for the final time in this episode. In a case reminiscent of the theatrical feature Missing, a father obsessively seeks out the persons responsible for the torture and death of his son in Chile in 1973. When the father himself dies, A.D.A. McCoy (Sam Waterston) goes after hospitalized Chilean colonel Emilio Pantoya (Tomas Milian), intending to prosecute the ailing officer for murder. "Vaya Con Dios" originally aired in tandem with another episode, "Stiff," on May 24, 2000, bringing the tenth season of Law & Order to a close. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
A man is shot down and killed while apparently trying to change a tire. In the course of the detectives' investigation, a young man named Mike Bodak (Frank John Hughes) indicates that he'd come to the victim's assistance just before the shooting. Thanks to several holes in Mike's story, the "Good Samaritan" is arrested on suspicion of murder -- leading to yet another startling revelation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
A devoutly Jewish women finds love outside her faith and is forced to make a difficult decision in this drama. Rachel Pearlman (Sabrina Boudot) was raised in a family of Hassidic Jews and works in the jewelry store owned by her father Chaim (Ben Hammer). Chaim thinks that it's time that his daughter got married, and he often arranges meetings with men from the Hassidic community, but none of them strike Rachel's fancy. Nick (Alex Draper) comes to work at the store to pay off a repair bill on a ring he purchased, and he's immediately smitten with Rachel. Rachel finds herself just as attracted to Nick, but Nick is a gentile, and becoming involved with him would be offensive both to her family and her faith. In spite of this, Rachel and Nick begin dating on the sly, until Chiam finds out and demands that she stop seeing him. Chiam makes plans to marry off Rachel as soon as possible, but Rachel still loves Nick, and she is forced to choose between her family and community and the man who has stolen her heart. Nick and Rachel was shown at Cinema Judaica '97, the 1997 Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sabrina Boudot, Alex Draper, (more)
A psychiatrist treats a most unusual patient, only to find that the doctor is the one who gains the most from their sessions in this philosophical romantic comedy. A young man in a mask and cape (played by Johnny Depp) is standing atop a billboard, threatening to jump. When the potential suicide is finally talked down, he's brought to a psychiatric facility where after one doctor washes his hands of the case, he's placed under the supervision of Dr. Jack Mickler (Marlon Brando), an aging psychiatrist soon to retire. The patient informs Mickler that he is actually the great lover Don Juan, who has seduced over 1,500 women, but has fallen into a deep depression after being unable to win the hand of the woman of his dreams. Mickler has ten days to work with "Don Juan," after which he will either be released on medication or committed to a long-term stay in a mental hospital. As Mickler talks with the young man, who speaks rapturously of the art of love, the doctor finds that his philosophies are helping to kick start his failing relationship with his wife (Faye Dunaway), and he slowly becomes convinced that his patient might really be Don Juan after all. Don Juan DeMarco's theme song, "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman," became a major hit for singer and songwriter Bryan Adams; after working with Marlon Brando on this film, Johnny Depp cast the legendary actor in a key supporting role in his directorial debut, The Brave. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlon Brando, Johnny Depp, (more)
Bruce Willis returns as misfit cop John McClane in the third film in the Die Hard series. McClane has fallen on hard times; after moving to New York City and breaking up with his wife, he's developed a drinking problem and has been suspended from the NYPD. However, his past comes back to haunt him in the form of Simon (Jeremy Irons), a terrorist bomber who has been using McClane as his contact as he plants a series of bombs in public places and gives McClane inane "clues" to their whereabouts in the form of riddles and bizarre games. McClane soon discovers he's been involved in Simon's scheme as part of a personal grudge; while associated with an international terrorist group, Simon is also the brother of the man McClane threw off the side of a skyscraper several years back (in the original Die Hard). Now McClane, with the help of a Harlem shopkeeper named Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson), has to find out where Simon has planted the bombs, guess where he'll strike next, and try to find his base of operations before more bombs go off and thousands of people die. The supporting cast features Graham Greene and Colleen Camp; singer Sam Phillips made her acting debut as a member of Simon's terrorist group (Phillips never speaks, so as to not to reveal her Texas accent). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Jeremy Irons, (more)
- 1991
College sophomore Andrea Fermi (Noelle Parker) claims she was gang-raped after attending a Halloween party at a boys' fraternity house. Anxious to bring those responsible to justice, Assistant D.A. Robinette (Richard Brooks) utilizes questionable tactics to nail a confession. This may prove to be the Prosecution's undoing -- and the rapacious college boys may well escape scot-free. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
- PG
This is an Italian comedy about a runaway, incognito Pope who makes his way to a village for a temporary stay and tries to bring a few good works to fruition while there. After Pope Leo XIV gets locked out of the Vatican garden one day, he opts for taking off on a small escape from official and bureaucratic burdens. Since he is not in his robes, who's to know? He heads for a remote village in the south of Italy that has no priest. He finds shelter with a former hooker and her mute daughter and then sets to work overcoming the local thugs and repairing a broken aqueduct. Meanwhile, back at the Vatican, the Cardinals are wringing their hands, trying to hide the fact that His Holiness has taken a powder. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Conti, Fernando Rey, (more)
- 1979
- R
The bizarre premise for this often remote and uninvolving drama is that an otherwise apparently normal man can become so alienated from his own feelings and his own wife and children that he plans their murder. Paul Steward (Hal Holbrook) and his wife (Louise Fletcher) are about as interesting as a TV test pattern. Although Paul has realized the American Dream -- that it to say, he has money and is successful in business -- he finds the dream hollow and meaningless. Instead of waking up, he decides that his family is to blame for everything and begins to make elaborate plans for killing them off, talking it over with others and disguising it as a fictional story for his magazine. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hal Holbrook, Louise Fletcher, (more)
- 1976
Stephen Macht is cast as Joseph Arrow, an unemployed Native American ironworker who breaks into the apartment of a powerful and otherwise unapproachable construction boss, hoping to land a job. But when the boss mistakes him for a burglar, Arrow accidentally kills the man. Though sympathetic to Arrow's plight, Kojak (Telly Savalas) must still track down the reluctant murderer and bring him to justice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
