Dennis Boutsikaris Movies

Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy are among the impoverished residents of a slum tenement threatened with demolition by evil land developers. Only a miracle can save Cronyn, Tandy, and their friends -- and that miracle manifests itself in the form of a "family" of extraterrestrial flying saucers, who need the electricity provided by the tenement to survive. The grateful humanized spaceships repay their earthbound hosts by doing battle with the villains' henchmen. When the building is engulfed in flames, all seems lost, but the aliens have a few more tricks up their metallic sleeves. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A woman lives in fear as she hides from her abusive husband in this made-for-television thriller. Susan Dey stars as Joanna Matthews, a woman who lives under an assumed name in order to hide from her husband Bradley Matthews (Richard Dean Anderson). A well-liked cop, Matthews has a dark side that only Joanna knows about, and she must fight to expose his true ways in order to survive. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

This emotion-filled story stars Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker, and Drew Barrymore as three women from different walks of life who find comfort in each other through tragedy. Parker plays Robin, an HIV-positive real estate executive who meets Jane (Goldberg), a lesbian lounge singer on her way to the West Coast who needs a driver. Robin volunteers for the job, and along the way, they stop in Pittsburgh to visit her friend Holly (Barrymore), who is pregnant and abused by her boyfriend. In an attempt to save Holly, all three decide to head West together to begin a new life. But they get only as far as Arizona before Robin falls ill and the three are forced to learn to rely on one another for growth and emotional sustenance. Jane, though concerned about Robin's condition, also finds herself with a romantic interest in her ailing companion. Holly confronts her need to be with abusive men, while Robin comes to grips with her fear of being alone and the realization of her own impending death. Fans of Herbert Ross' earlier Steel Magnolias (1989) might appreciate this movie, which tackles some of the same themes. Sometimes referred to as a "feminist road movie," the film deals with women who find one another in a time of crisis and realize that the bonds among women are more powerful than any of life's obstacles. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Produced especially for the Lifetime Cable Network, this emotionally charged and painfully realistic drama looks at the prevalence of heroin addiction in the middle class as it tells the story of one single mother's struggle to overcome her addiction and reassemble her shattered life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

An evil drug baron rears his ugly head in this sequel to the blockbuster Crocodile Dundee, kidnapping Sue so that Dundee will butt out of the Baron's affairs. Using outback strategy, Dundee attempts to rescue his girlfriend. Reversing the procedure of the first film, the story later takes the hero and heroine from America back to Australia, making Sue the fish out of water. In the interim between the two films, stars Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski became husband and wife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Carter (Noah Wyle) is pressed into service as tour guide for the family of Ruth Johnson (Anne Pitoniak), who was born at Chicago's County General exactly 100 years ago. Meanwhile, Carol (Julianna Margulies) cares for eight-year-old stalker victim Wilson (Jesse James Unterthiner); Benton (Eriq La Salle) has second thoughts about a cochlear implant for his son, Reese; and the relationship between Benton and Corday (Alex Kingston) reaches an impasse. Originally telecast as the 100th episode of ER, "Good Luck, Ruth Johnson" is catalogued as number 101 in the series' syndication package. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ross (George Clooney) wants to trick Carol (Julianna Margulies) with a surprise marriage -- but is instead surprised by Carol, and none too pleasantly. Newly revealed facts about the business methods of Syngergix causes a rift between Weaver (Laura Innes) and Ellis West (Clancy Brown). Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) forms a strong bond with Anspaugh's (John Aylward) ailing son, Scott (Trevor Morgan). And Carter (Noah Wyle) tries to come to grips with the fact that his cousin Chase (Jonathan Scarfe) is a heroin addict. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Claire Cooper (Annette Bening), has been having psychic visions all of her life, though she's never been clear of what they mean. Now an adult, she lives an idyllic, small-town life in a Massachusetts farmhouse with her airline-pilot husband Paul (Aidan Quinn) and her young daughter Rebecca (Katie Sagona), while Claire illustrates children's books. A psychopath (Robert Downey Jr.) has been kidnapping young girls in their area, and one is currently missing. Claire has a recurring dream about the killer walking with a girl through an apple orchard. Paul tells police detective Jack Kay (Paul Guilfoyle), who doesn't believe him, as the girl's body had been found at the bottom of the lake. Claire's vision was actually a premonition, starting a chain of events that would create a two-way link to the killer. The key to the mystery is the lake itself, of which Claire dreams, created when the old town of Northfield was flooded to make a reservoir. As her psychiatrist Dr. Silverman (Stephen Rea) does not understand her now waking dreams, Claire alone must now lose herself to the visions. She must relive the killer's memories to find his identity and location. Director Neil Jordan has explored the nature of dreams in a more Freudian manner in his Company of Wolves. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide

The most recent victims of an apparent serial killer are a woman who worked with underprivileged children and a sportscaster. Upon investigating the background of one of the victims, it is discovered that a fondness for kinky sex may have been the motivation for the murder. The captured killer tries to get off on the "Kojak" defense, claiming that his mind was "twisted" by watching too much television. The strategy used by McCoy (Sam Waterston) to attack this argument could well have been Law & Order producer Dick Wolf's own personal response to those who think that purging TV of violence is the solution to violence in real life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The then-contemporary "Preppie Murder" case was the obvious inspiration for this 1990 episode of Law & Order. A wealthy and well-connected young man is charged with the murder of his girlfriend. The efforts of Stone (Michael Moriarty) and Robinette (Richard Brooks) to prosecute the case are stymied by a huge publicity blitz, and by the Defense's strategy of putting the dead woman's character on trial. "Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die" was originally telecast October 11, 1990, as a last-minute replacement for the scheduled episode "Poison Ivy" (which was moved up to November 20). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A 17-year-old suffers a fatal heart attack which results in a major traffic accident. This tragedy leads to a morass of legal complications involving the sale of faulty pacemakers. Assistant D.A.'s Stone (Michael Moriarty) and Robinette (Richard Brooks) must determine who, at the end of the day, is truly to blame: the dead youth's doctor, the pacemaker salesman, or the manufacturer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Love, Lies and Murder is based on a true story that began its tragic unspooling on March 19, 1985 in Garden Grove, California. 23-year-old wife and mother Linda Brown is murdered. She leaves behind her computer-consultant husband Clancy Brown, her 17-year-old sister (Sheryl Lee), a 14-year-old stepdaughter (Moira Kelly) from her husband's previous marriage, and an 8-month-old infant. When police investigate, the stepdaughter confesses to the killing. This closes the case--until Mr. Brown callously marries his late wife's sister, and doubts begin to stir as to whether or not the stepdaughter was coerced into confessing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tragedy strikes the publishing industry when Jessica Fletcher's editor Edward Graham (Robert Desiderio), a man known for his extreme mood swings, falls out of his Manhattan office window to his death. The police are content to rule Graham's demise as a suicide, but Jessica doesn't buy this. She is convinced that Graham was murdered--and possibly by someone very, very close to him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide