Charles Siegel Movies
When a failed assassination attempt occurs on the President's (Cotter Smith) life by the teleporting mutant Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), it's Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and his School for Gifted Youngsters who are targeted for the crime. While Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and Storm (Halle Berry) try and locate the assassin, Cyclops (James Marsden) and Xavier (also known as 'Professor X') seek answers from their old foe Magneto (Ian McKellan) in his glass cell...Little do they know they're walking into a trap set by the villainous William Stryker (Brian Cox), a mysterious governmental figure that figures into Wolverine's (Hugh Jackman) secretive past, along with information about the X-Men's operation, supplied by Magneto through a mind-controlling agent. Meanwhile Wolverine, just home from a failed mission to regain his memory, is in charge of the students when a crack-commando team led by Stryker infiltrates the school by order of the President. With a mansion full of young, powerful mutants and the ferocious Wolverine in babysitter mode, can he defend the school against the one man who can answer his questions? What roles do the sinister Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) and Lady Deathstrike (Kelly Hu) have in all of this? Why does Stryker want Professor X and his Cerebro machine? With the war between humanity and mutants escalating to extremes, can the rest of the X-Men trust their old foes to help them? Director Bryan Singer returns and raises the stakes in this sequel to the highly lauded 2000 adaptation of Marvel Comics' X-Men. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, (more)
In her TV-movie acting debut, singer Amy Grant is cast as Maryann Lowery, a blind music teacher. When her conservatory classroom is presumptively taken over by arrogant New Age pianist Gregory Pavan (D.W. Moffett), Maryann, unimpressed by the man's celebrity, is outraged -- until Pavan enthusiastically declares that Maryann has what it takes to become a world-renowned concert cellist. As the two temperamental musicians become romantically involved, Maryann's sensitive widowed neighbor Oliver Comstock (Keith Carradine), who has always worshipped her from afar, quietly despairs. It will take a sight-restoring operation before Maryann's eyes are (literally) opened to her true and lasting love. Also known as Music From the Heart, A Song From the Heart premiered September 26, 1999 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amy Grant, D.W. Moffett, (more)
- 1997
It is not merely jealousy that prompts psychology major Darcy Canfield (Rena Sofer) to mistrust her widowed father Derek's new bride Joan (Linda Evans) and Joan's daughter Melinda (Bridgette Wilson). In fact, the audience is way ahead of Darcy: Joan is revealed early on to be a serial killer of wealthy husbands, who with the help of the equally sociopathic Melinda has bumped off a number of former mates for their money--and, of course, Dr. Derek Canfield (Alan Rachins) is loaded! This time, however, Joan falls in love with Derek and drops her plans to bump him off. Not so Melinda, who now takes it upon herself to eliminate not only her stepdad but also her own mother. In the end, it falls to Darcy to use her college-honed psych kills in a desperate effort to expose Melinda before she can kill again! Capped by one of those endings which suggests that "it ain't over till it's over", the made-for-cable The Stepsister was first broadcast May 7, 1997 by the USA network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
- Add Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story to QueueAdd Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story to top of Queue
Popular comedienne Joan Rivers and her real-life daughter Melissa portray themselves in this made-for-television movie about their family's trials and tribulations in the 1980s. After suffering through some public blows to her career, Rivers' husband Edgar (often the butt of her jokes) committed suicide. The film shows how the mother and daughter struggled to save their already troubled relationship in the wake of the devastating death. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- 1987
The made-for-TV The Stone Fox is set in 1905 Wyoming. Young Joey Cramer is determined to enter his dog--played by a canine named O.J., previously the star of the "Disney Family Movie" Skeezer--in an adult-dominated sledding race. It's all for the sake of Cramer's ailing, destitute grandpa Buddy Ebsen. The boy's competition for the $150 prize is more than formidable: the winner for the past several years has been taciturn Shoshone Indian Stone Fox (Gordon Tootoosis) and his intimidating team of Samoyeds. Filmed in Canada, The Stone Fox was originally telecast March 30, 1987--smack-dab opposite the annual Academy Awards ceremony (no wonder you've never heard of the film). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
