Dan McCann
The classic science fiction novel by H.G. Wells becomes this big-budget adventure directed by the author's great-grandson Simon Wells. Guy Pearce stars as Alexander Hartdegen, a scientist, professor, and inventor in 1895 New York City who believes that time travel is possible. The sudden and unexpected death of his fiancée spurs Alexander to build a time machine, which he hopes to use in an effort to change the past. When he is unable to change the past, Alexander hurls himself more than 800,000 years into the future, seeking answers about the nature of time, but instead encountering a dystopian world where humanity has divided up into two races, the peaceful Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks. Befriending the beautiful Eloi woman Mara (pop singer Samantha Mumba), Alexander must set out to save her from the underground world of the Morlocks when she is captured by them. Along the way, he is aided by Vox (Orlando Jones), a bio-mechanical being from the 21st century. Ultimately, Alexander makes a shocking discovery about the true nature of the Eloi and Morlocks and decides that the only way to change the future is to alter the present. Due to exhaustion, director Wells was briefly replaced during the last few weeks of production by Gore Verbinski, director of The Mexican (2001). The Time Machine co-stars Jeremy Irons and Mark Addy. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guy Pearce, Samantha Mumba, (more)
- 1999
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Wagner's massive opera cycle Der Ring Des Nibelungen is examined from a fresh perspective in this documentary from director Jon Else -- from the point of view of the stagehands. The San Francisco Opera Company is performing the entire 17-hour "Ring" cycle over four nights, and a group of union stagehands ends up pulling a 85-hour week as they try to keep the show running smoothly. In between hauling scenery back and forth and making the special effects work, the crew members play cards, squabble among themselves and try to make sense of the opera's German-language story (as one member of the tech crew puts it, "Every time the gold changes hands, somebody ends up dead"). Sing Faster won honors in its premier showing at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
First telecast February 4, 1980, Golden Honeymoon is an easygoing adaptation of the Ring Lardner short story. James Whitmore and Teresa Wright play a New Jersey couple who celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with a second honeymoon. Their Florida idyll is disrupted when the couple's old acquaintance Stephen Elliott shows up. Elliot had been engaged to Teresa 52 years earlier, a fact that prompts Whitmore to behave in an uncharacteristically obnoxious nature. Calculated to put Elliott in his place, Whitmore's boorishness succeeds in alienating Teresa as well. Scripted by Frederic Hunter, the 60-minute Golden Honeymoon was the second-season opener of PBS' American Playhouse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
- AddWho Are The DeBolts? (And Where Did They Get 19 Kids?)to QueueAddWho Are The DeBolts? (And Where Did They Get 19 Kids?)to top of Queue
This Academy Award-winning documentary focuses upon Robert and Dorothy DeBolt, a California couple with six children of their own-and 13 adoptees and/or legal wards. The DeBolt's extended family includes black, Korean, and Vietnamese children, many of whom are physically challenged. In cinema verite fashion, we are shown the courageous adjustments made by the handicapped children, particularly Karen, who was born without legs or forearms, and J.R., a blind paraplegic. Introduced and narrated by Henry Winkler, this life-affirming feature was cut from its original 72 minutes to 50 when it was first networkcast December 17, 1978. Even in its truncated form, the telecast was honored with an Emmy award for "outstanding individual achievement-informational program." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Cinematographer/director Don Coscarelli gleefully indulged in calisthenics with the camera in his low-budget Kenny and Company. The story is a simple one, centered on the anguished but not atypical childhood of young Dan McCann. Coscarelli has a marvelous knack of breathing nuance into the most commonplace fears and desires of children. The end result makes one wish we'd seen a lot more of both Dan McCann and Don Coscarelli after the limited release of Kenny and Co. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dan McCann, Mike Baldwin, (more)
- 1973
In this film, also released under the title Crazy Jack and the Boy, a young autistic boy, Eric (Ian Geer Flanders), loses himself in the woods while on a visit to the California wilderness. As his parents organize a search party for him, he is discovered by a hermit known as Crazy Jack, who manages to reach the troubled boy. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
