Maria Tucci Movies
Supporting actress, onscreen from the early '80s. ~ Rovi
A successful psychiatrist and doting grandfather resurrects his dormant dream of becoming a professional singer while experiencing a personal crisis that mirrors that of his increasingly neurotic daughter in this endearing comedy drama from Flannel Pajamas director Jeff Lipsky. Frank Gregorio (Chazz Palminteri) lives a charmed life; he has a unique gift for helping his patients work through their problems, a beautiful wife, and two gorgeous grandchildren thanks to his eldest daughter Lana (Drea de Matteo). Introduced to karaoke through a patient with parent issues, and then again at his granddaughter's birthday party, Frank finds himself drifting back to the days when all he wanted in life was to become a professional singer. Instead of following his dream back then, Frank chose the practical route in life. When Frank starts exercising his rusty vocal chords, his wife Angela (Maria Tucci) assumes that he's just practicing to sing at their younger daughter's upcoming wedding. Lately, the wannabe crooner is spending more and more time with femme fatale karaoke aficionado Lydia (Linda Fiorentino), who hasn't been entirely forthright about her true intentions towards Frank. Meanwhile, Lana is becoming increasingly neurotic about her post-pregnancy weight, considering plastic surgery and an affair with a strapping police officer in hopes of boosting her self-esteem. As the rash decisions made by Frank and Lana yield unexpectedly dire consequences, the family comes together in a sincere attempt to ensure that the insecure father and daughter realize they will always be loved despite their insecurities. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Chazz Palminteri, Drea de Matteo, (more)
- 2007
Filmmaker Lucy Kostelanetz celebrates the life and work of one of her ancestors in this documentary, which deals in part with the confluence of gender, religion and politics in the world of 20th Century art. Kostelanetz's great aunt Sonia Dymshitz-Tolstaya was born to a wealthy and socially prominent Jewish family in St. Petersburg, Russia before the Soviet Revolution, but she threw off her life of privilege to become both an artist and a political activist. Sonia earned a potent reputation for her work as a painter, working on both canvas and glass, and she soon became a key figure in the revolutionary art movement in Russia, socializing with some of the most important poets, musicians and visual artists of the day. Sonia also enjoyed a freewheeling and tempestuous love life, including a long-term relationship with Vladimir Tatlin. However, as Josef Stalin rose to power, Sonia struggled to make a creative statement within the creative confines imposed on her by the Soviet state, and in time she was expelled from the official Artists Union, a group she helped to create. Sonia also found her creative energies sapped by the demands of marriage and raising children, and her status as a Jewish woman certainly didn't help her in her struggles to keep her work before the public; by the mid-1940's, Sonia's creative life had ended, though she remained intelligent, aware and defiant. Featuring photographs from Kostelanetz's family archive and excerpts from Sonia Dymshitz-Tolstaya's journals, Sonia was screened as part of the 2007 New York Jewish Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- 2003
American independent filmmaker Adam Yaffe makes his writing and directing debut with the coming-of-age movie Book of Danny. Shot in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., the film follows teenage stoner Danny (Daniel Randell), who constantly gets in trouble while living with single mother Fritzi (Marcia Jean Kurtz). She sends him to live with his deadbeat dad Harry (Larry Block) and stepmother Monique (Elaina Erika Davis). At first, Danny is happy to assist in his father's latest money-making scheme involving leather goods manufacturing. However, he eventually wises to the deal and realizes the shady business plan for what it is. Book of Danny was shown at the 2003 Nantucket Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Daniel Randell, Larry Block, (more)
- 2003
Memories of a certain multimillionaire household-advice diva may be stirred up by this episode, which begins with the murder of a stockbroker. The first suspect is the victim's girlfriend, who happens to be the daughter of powerful, much-despised cosmetics queen Jackie Scott (Lucie Arnaz). Scott ultimately stands trial for murder, using "hormone replacement therapy withdrawal" as her defense. Complicating matters is the accused's long-standing friendship with District Attorney Arthur Branch (Fred Dalton Thompson). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1999
Carey Lowell makes a return appearance as former A.D.A. Jamie Ross, now in private practice as a defense attorney. Jamie's reunion with her former partner Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) and boss Adam Schiff (Steven Hill) is hardly a festive occasion: She is representing a previous client who claims to have new evidence concerning a death-row prisoner. If what her client says is true, Jamie is in the unenviable position of going head to head with her ex-colleagues in a tense courtroom battle. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1999
The D.A.'s office has quite a full docket in this episode. Vital ingredients include an assault on a former attorney, a messy divorce, the death of a patient during a routine operation, charges of criminal negligence leveled against two doctors, and a significant name spoken in passing. As A.D.A. Abbie Carmichael, actress Angie Harmon provides most of the episode's dramatic intensity. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The price of fame is murder -- or at least it is in the mind of one woman in New Hampshire. Suzanne Stone (Nicole Kidman) has spent most of her life wanting to be famous; she's attractive, speaks well, and imagines herself to be intelligent ("imagines" is the key word here), so she has set her sights on becoming a TV anchorwoman. However, opportunities for female broadcasters are hard to come by in Little Hope, New Hampshire, and she's convinced that her husband, the once handsome but now flabby restaurant manager Larry Maretto (Matt Dillon), is just getting in her way. Suzanne gets herself a spot hosting a weather report on a local public access station, and is preparing a documentary called "Teens Speak Out," which puts her in touch with a trio of high school students -- Jimmy (Joaquin Phoenix), Russell (Casey Affleck), and Lydia (Alison Folland) -- who are even more desperate for attention than she is. When Suzanne hatches a plot to get Larry out of her life once and for all, she uses Jimmy, who has developed a serious crush on her, to do her dirty work, but Larry's sister Janice (Illeana Douglas), who has long believed there was something fishy about Suzanne, eventually begins to realize what happened to her brother. Nicole Kidman won a Golden Globe award for her work in this film, which represented something of a comeback for director Gus Van Sant after the commercial and critical disaster of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Screenwriter Buck Henry plays a small role as a high school teacher. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon, (more)
- 1995
- R
This unflinching and straightforward look at a middle-class man's descent into drug addiction was based on the diaries of an addict named Angel. Found in a Bronx apartment, the diaries were made into a film by screenwriter Lee Drysdale and director Gary Winick. Angel (Michael Imperioli) is a Wall Street functionary who lives modestly with his wife Monika (Mira Sorvino) and their young children. One day, an old friend from the Marines, Raymond (Paul Calderon), offers Angel a hit on a pipe of crack cocaine and a chance to get in on dealing drugs. Monika reluctantly agrees to the plan, and they set a limit of a couple of months in which they hope that Angel will make a quick killing and get out. The movie then flashes forward three years. Angel has become a hopeless crack addict, while Monika has become enamored of designer clothes. As Angel becomes more unreliable, Raymond kicks him out of the business. Monika achieves independence, gets a job, and finally kicks Angel out. Angel gets more desperate, even trying to sell his wife's jewelry, and finally hits bottom. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Imperioli, Mira Sorvino, (more)
- 1995
The reinstatement of New York's death penalty is the catalyst for this emotion-charged episode. Executive Assistant D.A. McCoy (Sam Waterston) insists upon using capital punishment to deal with the murderer of an undercover cop. But McCoy's more moderate associate Kincaid (Jill Hennessy) disagrees, citing a powerful argument against execution presented by defense attorney Helen Brolin (Maria Tucci). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1994
A young married couple, Eileen and Marty Willick (Kevin O'Rourke, Julie Boyd), tell the police that their baby has been kidnapped. As detective Logan (Chris Noth) pursues the investigation, he begins to suspect that someone (the parents, perhaps?) murdered the missing child. The case veers off into a wholly unexpected direction with the introduction of a seriously ill serial killer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1993
The D.A.'s office charges teenager Chris Pollit (Wil Horneff) as an adult in a murder case. The teen's lawyer, Helen Brolin (Maria Tucci), aims for a not-guilty plea by claiming that her client is "violently predisposed." Her argument: The killer was born with an extra Y chromosome, and thus is inherently unable to discern right from wrong. Broadway musical comedy favorite Helen Gallagher plays it straight as the killer's anguished foster mother. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1986
- R
Michael Keaton plays a famous Chicago-based hockey player who befriends trouble-prone teenager Ajay Naidu (after Naidu's gang has tried to mug him!) He also extends the hand of friendship to Naidu's mother Maria Conchita Alonso, a friendship that blossoms into a physical relationship. Too self-centered to make a commitment to Alonso, Keaton tries to break things off, but Naidu won't let him go so easily. This seemingly frivolous situation is underscored by the more serious efforts of Alonso to make a better life for herself and her son. The comic and dramatic elements of Touch and Go never quite jell, but the winning performances of the three main characters help gloss over the film's unevenness. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Keaton, Maria Conchita Alonso, (more)
- 1983
Enormous Changes at the Last Minute is a compilation film of three feminist yet disheartening stories of failed relationships. The first story features Virginia (Ellen Barkin) whose deadbeat husband has just left her and their three children. As a result, she is forced to go on welfare. She begins an affair with a now-married old flame, and struggles to keep sanity and humor alive against high odds. In the next vignette, Faith (Lynn Milgrim) visits her still-hip, literary parents in their retirement home to let them know that she and her husband have separated -- and she gets some shocking news in return from her father. In the last story, a social worker and a cabbie (Kevin Bacon) start an affair on a feeble pretext for mutual attraction, and when the social worker gets pregnant, her one-sided decisions on the matter have unexpected effects. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ellen Barkin, Kevin Bacon, (more)
Sidney Lumet directed this film version of E.L. Doctorow's novel The Book of Daniel (scripted by Doctorow) that deals in a thinly veiled (although dispassionate way) with the Rosenberg spy case of the 1950s, as seen through the eyes of their children. The Rosenbergs are the Isaacsons here, and the first image of the film is a close-up of their son Daniel's (Timothy Hutton) eyes as he recites a dictionary definition of the word "electrocution." Daniel becomes a detective as he seeks out friends and relations of his parents -- Paul (Mandy Patinkin) and Rochelle (Lindsay Crouse) -- to discover some meaning from his parents' conviction as Russian spies and their execution in the electric chair during the communist paranoia of the 1950s. Daniel is prompted to investigate the past by the near-suicide of his hysterical sister Susan (Amanda Plummer). The film weaves back and forth in time, recalling the period from the 1930s to the 1950s. In a strangely uninvolving way, Lumet's film takes no point of view, the only emotion derived from the almost continuous sounds of Paul Robeson's singing on the soundtrack. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Mandy Patinkin, (more)
- 1980
The ABC Afterschool Special series kicks off its ninth season with a decidedly non-comic spin on a premise popularized by The Brady Bunch. Dominic Ginetti (Danny Aiello), a widower with two daughters named Ginger (Laura Dean) and Rose (Mara Hobel), marries Marie Mills (Maria Tucci), a divorcée with one daughter named Carrie (Lauri Hendler). At first, it appears that the three "instant" siblings will never get along, with Ginger and Rose immediately setting up a wall of defense against newcomer Carrie ("Just 'cause you and your mom are moving in does not mean you can start changin' everything around"). Eventually, Dominic's two daughters adjust to the situation -- which is more than can be said for Carrie, who remains cold towards her new stepfather, hoping against hope that her real dad (whom she hasn't seen for eight years) will one day return. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Danny Aiello, Maria Tucci, (more)
- 1976
Kojak (Telly Savalas) is both angered and frustrated when a known child molester is set free because he is protected by diplomatic immunity. The challenge now is to stop the smirking pedophile before he attacks again. Unfortunately, Kojak (Telly Savalas) is stymied by Federal agents who are duty-bound to shield the criminal from prosecution to avoid a potentially explosive international incident. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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