Michael Paul Chan Movies

The crime drama's fourth season continues to track detective Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) as she utilizes her sly interrogation techniques to close L.A.-area crimes and finally takes her romance with FBI man Fritz Howard (Jon Tenney) to the next level. A red-hot case opens the season when Brenda smokes out a pyromaniacal nutcase after fires threaten vast swaths of L.A. In other prime-crime events, Brenda and her Priority Homicide Division (later renamed the Major Crimes Division after a moniker overhaul) scrutinize the suicide of a high-school girl in a case that spins around a hotheaded sheriff (Daniel Baldwin). The team also probes the vanishing of a troubled tween boy; sleuths when two Tijuana cops are murdered; investigates the death of a teen involved in an explosive bombing scheme; and tangles with a known sex offender and his sly and slimy attorney. It also gets hairy in Hollywood when a TV-show hairstylist is found slain, prompting Brenda to comb for clues. On the fringe and complicating matters is pesky journalist Ricardo Ramos (Stephen Martines), whose vitriolic column puts the team on the defensive. The year proves to be a difficult one for Det. Sanchez (Raymond Cruz): Not only is his brother shot, but he's shot as well. It's also rough going for gruff yet lovable Provenza (G.W. Bailey) when he loses crucial evidence gained from a sting operation. And wedding bells might ring for a Southern belle: Brenda prepares for her upcoming nuptials with Fritz, but the ceremony could give new meaning to "shotgun wedding" when they both grow obsessed with solving two separate crimes on their big day. At least Brenda's parents (Frances Sternhagen, Barry Corbin) and Fritz's colorful psychic sister (Amy Sedaris) are in town to keep the wedding plans moving-but it won't be a piece of cake. ~ Dean Maurer, All Movie Guide

Writer-director Eric Byler adapted his ensemble comedy-drama Americanese from Shawn Wong's bestselling 1995 roman American Knees. The film, like the novel, dramatizes the seriocomic, day-to-day experiences of a number of Asian American immigrants in the City of Angels. At the story's center is milquetoast-dull, middle-aged college professor and divorcé Raymond Ding (Chris Tashima) - so ineffectual that he barely seems to have control over the events that befall him, and so emotionally distant in his relationship with live-in lover, the Japanese-American photojournalist Aurora (Allison Sie), that his inaccessibility destroys their union. Forced to move out of their house, Raymond instead rooms with his aging father, Wood (Sab Shimono), making periodic, unannounced visits back to Aurora's home when she is absent. While Aurora kindles her own romance with American Steve (Ben Shenkman), Raymond moves into his own apartment and takes up with Vietnamese-American Betty (Joan Chen) - a university associate plagued by deep-seated emotional and mental problems. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

No sooner has transplanted Atlantan Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) arrived in Los Angeles to assume her duties as deputy police chief of the LAPD's Priority Homicide Division that she is plunged into a bizarre murder case--which, like all those that will follow, is embarrassingly high-profile. Season One of The Closer also establishes that there is no love lost between the abrasive, temperamental Brenda and her coworkers, who don't so much resent her for being a woman than for the infuriating fact that her brash behavior and unorthodox methods always yield results. The season's remaining twelve episodes include "About Face", in which the murder of a supermodel brings Brenda literally face-to-face with the Hollywood scene, phony tinsel and all. In "The Big Picture", the victim is a Russian call girl with a list of celebrity clients. Latino gang members are apparently being picked off one by one by a well-trained military sniper in "Show Yourself". "Flashpoint" involves a murder motived by corporate intrigue in the pharamaceutical industry, but Brenda finds that media scrutiny of her checkered past is more troublesome than the case at hand. In "Fantasy Date", Brenda's team embarks upon an odyssey into the seamy underworld of S&M to find the rapist-killer of a congressman's daughter. The only witness to the murder of a much-despised judge is the victim's autistic son in "Batter Up". In "The Butler Did It", Brenda faces the double whammy of a wealthy and fatally dysfunctional family, and an apparent deliberately freeze-out by her own superiors. In "Good Housekeeping", Brenda's zeal to bring a murderer to justice threatens to cost her her job, while I "LA Woman", Brenda's romance with FBI agent Fritz (Jon Tenney) is jeopardized when they both probe the deaTH of an Iranian businessman. The plot complications "Fatal Retraction" include the premature release of a convicted murderer, a victim whose identity is a mystery, and the possibility of evidence tampering within Brenda's own department. And finally, in "Standards and Practices", an unknown antagonist sabotages Brenda's career as she tracks down clues in the murder of a film producer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Veteran character actor Turhan Bey makes a rare TV appearance in this episode, set in Cairo, Egypt. Having arrived in the Land of the Pharoahs as part of a cultural exchange program, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) soon becomes involved in a perplexing case involving the theft of a priceless Egyptian relic, a gang of smugglers, and the CIA. And as usual, she helps to extricate an old friend from a murder charge. Also showing up in this installment is Jeri Ryan, still a few years removed from her costarring stint as Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A recently transferred high-school student finds herself walking a double-edged sword in her attempt to court friendship with the powerfully popular but frighteningly unpredictable head cheerleader in a disturbing look at the adolescent social hierarchy starring Tori Spelling and Kellie Martin. Angela Delvecchio (Kellie Martin) has just transferred to a new high school, and popularity is her highest priority. Her burgeoning friendship with beautiful cheerleader Stacy Lockwood (Spelling) a sure sign that she is fast making headway with the in crowd, Angela quickly discovers that it doesn't take much for her new best friend to become her new worst enemy. Now, as the vengeful Stacy unleashes a firestorm of cruelty and humiliation on the increasingly vulnerable transfer student, Angela grows unstable for fear of what horrors her venomous teen tormentor will inflict upon her next. But Angela isn't one to take Stacy's abuse in stride, and before the semester is over, the unrelenting tyranny of the cold-blooded cheerleader will lead the newest girl in school to commit an act so shocking that it will shake the entire community. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Lauren Holly plays the hasn't-got-a-clue heroine of the made-for-cable melodrama Dangerous Heart. When her policeman husband is killed, the grieving wife seeks comfort and companionship. She falls for the line dispensed by slick Timothy Daly, never dreaming that her new beau is the man responsible for her husband's death. Daly is only after the money stolen from him by Holly's late husband, and he isn't particular as to how to get it. The suspenseful denouement of Dangerous Heart helps one to forget the conspicuous lack of logic in the establishing scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kevin Dobson stars in the made-for-TV melodrama Fatal Friendship. Playing the longtime best friend of Gerald McRaney, Dobson is somewhat taken aback when he learns that McRaney is a contract killer. This revelation puts a crimp in their relationship, and also drains Dobson's energies as he tries to catch McRaney in the act. Yes, we know: the audience didn't swallow this one either. Fatal Friendship was first telecast (with an ominous lack of network promotion) on December 1, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a Vietnam vet takes a stand when government agents attempt to take his ranch so they can build a missile base there. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

On his deathbed, a syndicate hitman confesses that it was he who killed Hunter's mobster father fifteen years earlier. No sooner has Hunter (Fred Dryer) digested this news than he learns that the man who put out the contract was his father's former partner--still very much alive. To prove the culprit's guilt, Hunter must locate a prostitute (Kay Lenz) who has vital information before the homicidal ex-partner can strike again. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Thief, James Caan plays Frank, a professional jewel thief who wants to marry Jessie (Tuesday Weld) and settle down into a normal life. In order to achieve his dream of a family, Frank--who is used to working solo--has to align himself with a crime boss named Leo (Robert Prosky), who will help him gain the money he needs to begin his domestic life. Frank plans to retire after the heist, yet he finds himself indebted to Leo and he struggles to break free. Thief is the first feature film from director Michael Mann and it seethes with his stylish, atmospheric direction. Though his cool approach may put off some viewers, it's a distinctive and effective story-telling approach, and Caan's performance ranks among his very best, making Thief a crime movie like few others. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Brad Pitt is reunited as a co-star with his A River Runs Through It (1992) director Robert Redford for this espionage thriller from Tony Scott. On the verge of retirement from the Central Intelligence Agency, veteran spy Nathan Muir (Redford) learns that his one-time protégé Tom Bishop (Pitt) has gone rogue and been taken prisoner after attempting to smuggle a prisoner out of China. Although Muir and Bishop had once been close friends, sharing adventures from Vietnam to Berlin, bad blood and resentment developed between them, and the two men haven't seen each other in years. As his memories of their friendship come flooding back, Muir sets about arranging the rescue of his old friend from a Communist jail. Spy Game (2001) co-stars Catherine McCormack as a human rights activist and Bishop's love interest. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

The Insider tells the true story of a man who decided to tell the world what the seven major tobacco companies knew (and concealed) about the dangers of their product. Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe) was a scientist employed in research for a tobacco firm, Brown and Williamson. Not long after he was fired by Brown and Williamson, Wigand came into contact with Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino), a producer for 60 Minutes who worked closely with journalist Mike Wallace (played here by Christopher Plummer). Bergman arranged for Wigand to be interviewed by Wallace for a 60 Minutes expose on the cigarette industry, though Wigand was still bound by a confidentiality agreement not to discuss his employment with the company. Despite Wigand's willingness to talk, CBS pulled his interview from at the last minute after Brown and Williamson threatened a multi-billion dollar lawsuit. The staff of 60 Minutes and CBS News were soon embroiled in an internal struggle over the killing of the story, and Wigand found himself the subject of lawsuits and a smear campaign, without his full story reaching the public. The Insider was directed by Michael Mann and also features Diane Venora, Philip Baker Hall, Debi Mazar, Colm Feore, and Rip Torn. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide