Lorne Cardinal Movies
- 2004
One of the most popular comedy series in Canadian TV history, Corner Gas largely took place in a gas-station-convenience store located in the tiny Saskatchewan town of Dog River, halfway between Saskatoon and Regina--or, as the locals put it "40 Km. from Nowhere and Way Beyond Normal." In charge of the station was Brent LeRoy (Brent Butt), a comic-book freak who'd taken over the operation from his slightly cracked father Oscar (Eric Peterson). Brent's assistant was the incongruously well-educated Wanda Dollard (Nancy Robertson), a single mom whose never-seen baby son Tanner was one of the series' multitude of running gags. Managing the station's coffee shop was Lacey Burrows (Gabrielle Miller) a displaced intellectual, while hanging around the place for the express purpose of getting in everyone's way was Brent's best friend, caffeine-addled Hank Yarbo (Fred Ewanuick). The rest of Dog River seemed to be populated exclusively by the sort of wacky, self-absorbed eccentrics that one might find on Northern Exposure and similar cult-favorite series: Brent's (implicitly) heavy-drinking mom Emma (Janet Wright), trouble-prone local constables Davis (Lorne Cardinal) and Karen (Tara Spencer-Nairn), and so on down the line. The deceptively simple-minded dialogue, which always seemed to be improvised right on the spot, was actually quite barbed and sophisticated, yielding all manner of quirky nonsequiturs and oddball pearls of wisdom. A measure of the show's success in its native country was its steady stream of unexpected guest stars, including Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin), whose appearance marked the first time that a man holding this office ever showed up on a scripted TV series (it also proved to be a "last" for Martin, due to a major political scandal which toppled his administration not longer afterward). Equally popular was the series' whimsically inaccurate theme song, "Not a Lot Goin' On", by Craig Northey and Jesse Valenzuela. Although the multi-award-winning Corner Gas was widely distributed throughout the world after its CTV debut on January 22, 2004, it was not seen in the United States until picked up by Chicago's WGN Cable Superstation in the fall of 2007. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Director Christopher Nolan follows up his breakthrough sophomore film Memento with this remake of a stylish Norwegian thriller. Al Pacino stars as Detective Will Dormer, a Los Angeles Police Department legend who temporarily escapes an internal affairs investigation that may ruin his career by traveling to Nightmute, AK, the remote site of a murder that has the local authorities flummoxed. Along with his partner, Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan), and the small town's wide-eyed rookie investigator, Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank), the exhausted Dormer probes the brutal slaying of a teenage girl who was rumored to have a secret lover. A clever ruse quickly lures the killer into a police trap, but the suspect escapes and a tragic accident at the scene leaves Dormer at the mercy of the murderer, a pulp crime novelist named Walter Finch (Robin Williams). As Finch plays a dangerous game of extortion with Dormer, the detective's mental health deteriorates rapidly from guilt over his complicity in a crime and sleep deprivation compounded by the lack of darkness in the land of the midnight sun. Meanwhile, the bright and dogged Ellie continues putting the pieces of a complex puzzle together despite Dormer's skillful attempts to lead the investigation toward the right suspect, but away from his own malfeasance. Insomnia co-stars Paul Dooley, Nicky Katt, Maura Tierney, and Jonathan Jackson. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, Robin Williams, (more)
- 2000
Robert Mantegna stars as tough Boston private eye Spencer in this made-for-cable adaptation of the Robert B. Parker novel Thin Air. It all begins when Lila St. Claire (Yancy Butler, the new bride of police detective Frank Belson (David Ferry), is kidnapped by Latino ganglord Luis DeLeon (Jon Seda). As a personal favor to Belson, Spencer agrees to burrow into the barrio in hopes of rescuing Lila. In so doing, Spencer is made privy to more unsavory aspects of Beantown's Latino subculture--and also learns more than he cares to know about Lila's clouded past. Thin Air was originally telecast by the A&E network on September 12, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Joe Mantegna, Marcia Gay Harden, (more)
