HBO Movies

George Carlin's fourteenth and final special for HBO features the revered funnyman at his most cantankerous, throwing out verbally dexterous tirades about modern parenting, death, religion, and how annoying most people are. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

The abrasive comedian and his brethren take on pop culture, politics and all the things that most stupefy and pervert our society. With the help of comics like Patton Oswalt, Greg Giraldo and Andrew Daly, Lewis Black will help you find the Root of All Evil.

Sure it would be great to have it all, but at what price? For Vince, Eric, Drama and Turtle, life in Hollywoods fast lane can be an intoxicating ride. In Season Four, in fact, Eric and Vince have taken on new roles as producers. Will their film be hailed as a critical masterpiece, or will it end up on the trash heap of broken Tinseltown dreams?

Emmy Award-winning director Tom Hopper takes the helm for this epic, seven-part miniseries produced by Playtone's Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, and presenting American history as seen from the perspective of fiercely independent founding father John Adams (Paul Giamatti). Based on author David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, the film tells the tale of a leader whose remarkable vision helped to guide a burgeoning republic through an especially tumultuous period. Thanks to the tireless support of his loving wife Abigail (Laura Linney), and lifelong friendship with political rivalry Thomas Jefferson (Stephen Dillane), John Adams rose to prominence as the spokesman for the American independence movement before moving on to become America's first ambassador to Holland and England, the first American Vice President, the second American President, and the father of the sixth American President. As with McCullough's best-selling biography, the film draws on a comprehensive collection of letters, diaries, and family papers in order to create the most accurate representation of Adams' life and achievements ever captured on film. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

This animated program for toddlers introduces even the youngest tykes to some of the greatest works of literature, including selections by Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Frost, and William Shakespeare. Top notch stars such as Susan Sarandon and John Lithgow perform the excerpts, accompanied always by fun and engaging imagery to help plant the earliest seeds of interest in the arts. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

Created by the same team responsible for the quirky, iconoclastic HBO western series Deadwood, John from Cincinnati was a magical mystery tour of the California surfing scene. Set in the town of Imperial Beach, the story focused on the multigenerational Yost family, led by Mitch Yost (Bruce Greenwood), a onetime surfing legend who had been forcibly retired (except for a few early-morning forays into the waves) by a serious knee injury. The fall of the Yost fortunes had a deleterious effect upon Mitch's son Butchie (Brian Van Holt), who had become a seemingly hopeless druggie; conversely, Butchie's own son Shaun (Grayson Fletcher) was a surfing phenom who bade fare to surpass his grandfather's celebrity--if he ever got the chance. Holding the family together was Mitch's levelheaded wife Cissy (Rebecca De Mornay), owner of the surfing-goods store that provided their income. Into this dysfunctional family unit came a fabulously wealthy and truly bizarre dude known as John Monad (Austin Nichols), who when pressed for details identified himself as "John from Cincinnati." Outwardly a boorish dimwit with an annoying habit of repeating everyone else's conversations, John was clearly operating on some Higher Plane or other, implicitly possessing the ability to heal the sick and revive the dead, and holding out the hope of redemption for the fractured Yosts. With John in the vicinity, no one found it odd that, for example, Mitch suddenly developed the ability to float in the air; everyone seemed to accept the newcomer without question or prejudice. Only the Yosts' friend Bill Jacks (Ed O'Neill), a fancier of birds and pro wrestlers, distrusted John and his motives, suspecting that he was more Satan than Saint. The series' events--subtly but inextricably linking each character with the other--unfolded in a leisurely, day-by-day "need to know" basis, with small, tantalyzing clues as to the story's outcome (Rapture? Armageddon? The Perfect Wave?) buried within each episode. Cocreated by Deadwood's David Milch and "surf noir" novelist Kern Nunn, and featuring Luke Perry and Deadwood alumnus Jim Beaver in key supporting roles, John from Cincinnati began its HBO run on June 10, 2007. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

 

UCLA Dynasty documents the twelve year span from 1964 through 1975 where the UCLA Bruins under the steady hand of coach John Wooden won ten NCAA men's basketball titles, considered by many experts to be the greatest dynasty in American team sports. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Derek Jacobi stars as former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet (1915-2006) in this account of his 1998 arrest in England for crimes against humanity. ~ Joe Friedrich, Rovi

While the subject of brain injury is challenging and sometimes frightening for doctors as well patients and their families, few such maladies are as misunderstood as the coma. Many factors come into play when a patient falls into a coma, and it's often difficult to predict what will happen if and when they regain consciousness. Filmmaker Liz Garbus explores the human side of a difficult medical situation in Coma, a documentary that follows four patients at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center's Center for Head Injuries. Each has suffered a coma following an accident of some sort, and as each struggles to regain the life they knew before, their doctors and loved ones must wrestle with tough choices and unhappy realities. Produced for the premium cable television network HBO, Coma was screened in competition at the 2007 Silverdocs Film Festival, a competition founded by the American Film Institute and The Discovery Channel. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Paul Freedman directs this sobering documentary about the genocidal crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan. Freedman followed a group of African Union peacekeeping forces on a journey through the area, observing the 2.5 million people displaced from their homes by brutal violence, and forced to stay in the squalor of temporary camps. Analyzing the cultural, political, and historical background of the area, the film examines how the government in Sudan was able to turn so ruthlessly against its own indigenous people, creating what would most likely go down in history as one of humanity's most shameful moments. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

Dave Attell: Captain Miserable captures an hour-long performance by the respected stand-up comic familiar to many from his Comedy Central series Insomniac. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi