Ellen McElduff Movies

Impostors is a low-budget, hard-to-figure independent film by director Mark Rappaport. The actors intentionally parrot lines in an emotionless fashion as the story about two seemingly murderous, vaudeville magicians unfolds. Chuckie (Charles Ludlam) and Mikey (Michael Burg) borrow from models like Peter Lorre characters or the Marx Brothers in their antics. Their assistant Tina (Ellen McElduff) is of a dual sexual persuasion, apparently. One of her liaisons (Peter Evans) turns out to be a bit of an imposter himself but a lot can be forgiven because of the cash that comes with him. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This romantic comedy features the troubles occurring between a selfish man and his unfaithful love. ~ All Movie Guide

Writer-director Stephen King falls short in his debut at the helm with Maximum Overdrive, an absurd tale about a radiation storm that somehow animates machines across the world, causing them to turn on their makers. The film focuses on a group of survivors held captive at the Dixie Boy Diner by a group of bad-tempered semis. Led by Emilio Estevez, the diner-goers do their impression of Ten Little Indians, waiting their turn until each gets bumped off one by one. There are holes in the plot big enough for the semis to drive through; for example, why don't the trucks run over the diner at the start of the film rather than wait for ninety minutes? Maximum Overdrive's only distinction is that it is, without question, one of the worst films released in the '80s. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

The Working Girls in this New York-based film are laboring away at the World's Oldest Profession. Molly (Louise Smith), a Yale grad whos lives with her lesbian lover, turns tricks to keep food on the table. She approaches each day with fear and loathing, carrying out her responsibilities with crisp, businesslike efficiency. Her coworkers include Gina (Marussia Zach), who hopes to stay a hooker just long enough to finance her own business, and Dawn (Amanda Goodwin), an outspoken college student who harbors dreams of becoming a lawyer. The film covers a single day in the lives of these three ladies, neither judging nor apologizing: a job's a job, the film seems to be saying, whether it's punching a clock or rolling in the sack with an elderly stranger. Director Lizzie Borden's matter-of-fact approach to her material (based on six months' worth of interviewing genuine prostitutes) places Working Girls head and shoulders above the usual lachrymose "ladies of the evening" drama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The November 22, 1963, assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy shocked the nation and the world. The brisk investigation of that murder conducted under the guidance of Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren distressed many observers, even though subsequent careful investigations have been unable to find much fault with the conclusions his commission drew, the central one of which was that the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, acted alone. Instead of satisfying the public, one result of the Warren Commission Report was that an unimaginable number of plausible conspiracy theories were bruited about, and these have supported a sizeable publishing mini-industry ever since. In making this movie, director Oliver Stone had his pick of supposed or real investigative flaws to draw from and has constructed what some reviewers felt was one of the most compelling (and controversial) political detective thrillers ever to emerge from American cinema. Long before filming was completed, Stone was fending off heated accusations of artistic and historical irresponsibility, and these only intensified after the film was released. In the story, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) is convinced that there are some big flaws in the investigation of Oswald (Gary Oldman), and he sets out to recreate the events leading up to the assassination. Along the way, he stumbles across evidence that a great many people had reason to want to see the president killed, and he is convinced that some of them worked in concert to frame Oswald as the killer. Among the suspects are Lyndon Baines Johnson (the next president), the CIA, J. Edgar Hoover, and the Mafia. Over the course of gathering what he believes to be evidence of a conspiracy, Garrison unveils some of the grittier aspects of New Orleans society, focusing on the shady activities of local businessman Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones). Garrison's investigations culminate in his conducting a show trial that he knows he will lose and which he is sure will ruin his career in order to get his evidence into the public record where it can't be buried again. This movie won two of the many Academy Awards for which it was nominated: one for Best Photography (Robert Richardson) and the other for Editing (Joe Hutshing). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Howard Franklin wrote and directed this film noir character study based on the famed New York Daily News photographer Weegee. Joe Pesci plays a character named Bernstein, a freelance photographer for the New York City tabloids of the 1940s. His life is dedicated to his work; with a police radio under the dashboard of his car and a darkroom in his trunk, he quickly and efficiently races to the scene of crimes, accidents and murders to snap photographs of gangsters, politicians, cops, and prostitutes, which he promptly delivers to the newspapers. His knack for arriving at a crime scene before the police earns him the nickname the Great Bernzini. The trouble begins for Bernstein when he agrees to look up a gangster for Kay (Barbara Hershey), the sexy owner of a fancy Manhattan nightclub. After making inquiries, Bernstein traces the man Kay is looking for, but he turns up dead. When he informs the police, he becomes a suspect in the murder; it also turns out that the FBI is interested the case. Bernstein then uncovers an elaborate conspiracy concerning gas rationing, the mob, and the government. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

While investigating the possibility that an HIV-positive man was murdered by an embittered AIDs victim, Ballard (Callie Thorne) and Gharty (Peter Gerety) inadvertently dig up more information on the Luther Mahoney shooting. Elsewhere, the Waterfront Bar gears up for a big Christmas party, to which Bayliss (Kyle Secor) invites Cox (Michelle Forbes). And Munch (Richard Belzer) is unexpectedly reunited with his ex-wife, Gwen (Carol Kane), who is in town for the funeral of her mother, a much-despised literary agent. Author Peter Maas makes a cameo appearance as himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Coroner Griscom (Austin Pendleton) alerts the homicide unit to the fact that several recent deaths have been caused by a poison named phospozine. FBI agent Mike "McGee" Giardello (Giancarlo Esposito) is put in charge of investigating this possible act of terrorism, whereupon tension develops between McGee and his father, Al (Yaphet Kotto), while Gharty (Peter Gerety) quietly and methodically traces the source of the poison. Meanwhile, Ballard (Callie Thorne) is none too pleased that the entire unit knows that she has dated Falsone (Jon Seda). And why is Munch (Richard Belzer) seeing a doctor? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season seven of Homicide: Life on the Street begins not long after the Baltimore homicide unit's squad room has been renovated as a means of expunging all memory of the Mahoney shoot-out. Fully recovered from their wounds, detectives Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor), Stuart Gharty (Peter Gerety), and Laura Ballard (Callie Thorne) are back on the job -- but Frank Pembleton and Tim Kellerman have resigned from the force and are gone forever (or at least Pembleton is). Among those expressing an interest in the department's newest detective, sexy ex-beauty queen Rene Sheppard (Michael Michele), is Meldrick Lewis (Clark Johnson), who has recently separated from his wife. The first case on the board concerns a series of slayings in Little Italy, including the murder of skipper Al Giardello's (Yaphet Kotto) cousin Mario. At the funeral for his cousin, Giardello endures an uncomfortable reunion with his son Mike (Giancarlo Esposito in his first series appearance), an Arizona-based FBI agent. It will, of course, not be the last time that the senior and junior Giardellos are brought together professionally. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alfre Woodard reprises her St. Elsewhere role as Dr. Roxanne Turner in this episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. The homicide detectives are called in when a woman insists that her cancer-ridden brother was euthanized by Dr. Turner. In the interrogation room, Turner admits that she has frequently injected terminal patients with a lethal dose of morphine, leading to a variety of reactions from the detectives. Elsewhere, Stivers (Toni Lewis) and Falsone (Jon Seda) become personally involved in their investigation of a pizza-parlor holdup which resulted in the death of a schoolgirl. And, still hoping to spare the department from a multimillion dollar lawsuit, Kellerman (Reed Diamond) secretly tapes Judge Gibbons (Rick Warner) while they discuss Gibbons' ruling in the Luther Mahoney wrongful-death case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This episode of Homicide: Life on the Street, originally telecast as two-hour special, has since been edited into two hour-long installments for syndication. In part one, Lewis (Clark Johnson) completely drops out of sight after being suspended for a heated confrontation with litigious drug dealer Georgia Rae Mahoney. The murder of a priest yields a bizarre videotape which may lead Munch (Richard Belzer) and Kellerman (Reed Diamond) to the suspected killers, a pair of young Guatemalan refugees. And Falsone (Jon Seda) continues to battle his ex-wife over custody of their son. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sheppard (Michael Michele) and Ballard (Callie Thorne) have trouble sustaining their objectivity as they investigate the death of a teenaged member of an all-girl street gang. Meanwhile, Billie Lou (Ellen McElduff) prevails upon her fiancé, Munch (Richard Belzer), to mediate in her neighbors' domestic disputes -- with devastating results. Series regular Richard Belzer's stepdaughter Bree Benton appears as Lizzie Solek in this episode, which was orginally scheduled to air on May 7, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A man is found murdered -- with his nose removed -- in his own backyard. To solves this case, Mike Giardello (Giancarlo Esposito) plumbs the depths of the Federal Witness Protection program, only to conclude that his FBI bosses aren't being up-front with him. Elsewhere, a bartender at a strip club is killed, the medical examiners "misplace" the identity of a corpse, and Gharty's (Peter Gerety) drinking increases. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide