Jason Jones Movies

A news cameraman attempts to rescue a mother trapped in the rubble of her decimated home during the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and learns the true meaning of compassion after seeing the tragedy through his own two eyes rather than the lens of his camera. Based on actual events. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The three sons of a reckless, recently-deceased gambler make a shocking discovery that causes them to reassess their lives as they race to make the most of the precious little time they have left. A hard living father of five, Duke White (Harvey Keitel) had a bad habit of gambling away every penny that came his way. Now Duke is dead, and he's got one last surprise for his three oldest sons: years ago, Duke signed up Cal, Jacob, and Nuts for a series of drug tests that drastically reduced their life expectancies. Upon learning that his time on Earth is quickly running out, Cal (Scott Caan) goes after Miranda (Tricia Helfer), the one girl he always regretted letting slip through his fingers. Former boxer Nuts (Jason Jones), meanwhile, decides to step back into the ring to prove that he can still deliver a crowd-pleasing punch. And then there's Jacob (Paulo Costanzo), the son who stopped taking risks after settling into a comfortable career. Now, with his youngest brother Todd (Siam Yu) by his side, Jacob is going to throw caution to the wind, and do all of the things he was too afraid to do before he knew that his days were numbered. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Ham & Cheese director Warren P. Sonoda takes the helm for this caustic conceptual comedy detailing one Christmas in the lives of an outrageously dysfunctional 1980s-era family as seen through the lens of their brand new VHS video camera. Christmas 1985: Gord Cooper (Jason Jones) has decided to go all out this year, purchasing an expensive video camera for his wife Nancy (Samantha Bee) so the couple can document their holiday with the entire family. Nancy is several months pregnant with their latest child, and seems unusually excited by the fact that Gord's sleazy brother Tim (Peter Keleghan) will soon be arriving to take part in the festivities. Uncle Nick (Mike Beaver) might just be the world's worst dinner guest, and the polar opposite of the group's anti-social grandmother (Jayne Eastwood), who lives with the Coopers and requests that they simply slip her portion of the holiday dinner under her bedroom door. The yuletide festivities have never been as gloriously grating as they were at the Cooper's place back in 1985, and thanks to their then- state of the art video camera, they were able to capture every agonizing and humiliating moment for eternal posterity. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Persistence makes up where talent is lacking as two aspiring actors cling to the elusive dream of stardom despite receiving little encouragement and precious few callbacks. The world of showbiz can be a cruel one, especially when you're an actor with no clue about your lack of talent. Richard and Barry are two such actors, yet despite the fact that there isn't a single ounce of onscreen charisma between them, their persistence is what keeps them going. But how much humiliation can an aspiring actor endure before they finally call it quits? As Richard and Barry endure humiliating auditions, calamitous television shoots, and embarrassing stints as animal mascots, the answer to that pressing question finally may be closer than either had hoped. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Created by author/entertainer Kay Thompson in 1955, precocious six-year-old Eloise, who lived in the Plaza Hotel with her long-suffering nanny, her dog Weenie, and her turtle Skipperdee, was the heroine of several delightful children's books written by Thompson and whimsically illustrated by Hilary Knight. The charm of the "Eloise" books has proven elusive whenever the property is adapted for another media, as witness a disastrous musical version which aired live on Playhouse 90 in 1956. On this occasion, Eloise came off as a spoiled obstreperous brat, which was as much the fault of the child actress cast in the role (Evelyn Rudie) as the adapters. Disney decided to give little Eloise another chance 47 years later with the location-filmed Eloise at the Plaza, a two-hour movie presentation of ABC's The Wonderful World of Disney anthology. This time around, Sofia Vassilieva played the title role, with Julie Andrews as Eloise's nanny (something of a full-circle for Andrews, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of a rather different nanny in the 1964 Disney theatrical feature Mary Poppins). The plot finds Eloise insisting upon attending a debutante ball at the Plaza and further conniving to have a runaway foreign prince (Denis Akiyama) -- who isn't much older than she is -- as her escort. Our heroine also mends fences between a reluctant teenage deb and the girl's pushy mother. Jeffrey Tambor is typecast as the Plaza's supercilious concierge Mr. Salomone, whose dithering efforts to keep Eloise from nosing into other people's business avail him not one bit. Hilary Knight appears in a cameo role as himself. Eloise at the Plaza first aired April 27, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The setting for this nail-biting thriller is a snowbound rural airport. A group of outer-space aliens, disguised as human, take over the airport, in preparation of conquering the earth. The fate of mankind ultimately rests in the hands of two others trapped in the terminal: a fiercely combative female pilot named Cathy Garrett (Chase Masterson), and convicted murderer Jack (Bruce Campbell). The only problem is, with the aliens totally camouflaged as earthlings, no one can tell the good guys from the bad. Filmed under the title The Devil's Pass, Terminal Invasion made its American cable-TV premiere via the Sci-Fi Channel on September 14, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this stark independent drama, Virgil (Clint Jordan) is a small-time thief with a bad temper and poor social skills who winds up in prison for armed robbery. But Virgil wants to make something better of his life, and when he makes parole, he's determined to get (and keep) a decent job, hoping to someday find a good woman and start a family. While living in a halfway house, Virgil meets Ruby (Kirsten Russell), a drug addict who sometimes turns tricks to support her habit. While Rudy isn't quite the sort of woman Virgil was dreaming of, they share a genuine affection for each other, and Virgil moves in with Ruby after getting a job as a janitor. Like Virgil, Ruby wants to straighten out her life, hoping to someday regain custody of her son, but both Ruby and Virgil find that a lifetime of emotional abuse and years of bad judgement are not simple things to overcome. Shot on digital video, Virgil Bliss had its premier at the 2001 Slamdance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Jerri (Amy Sedaris) struggles with a lesson in motherhood on this "painfully special" episode of Comedy Central's demented ode to the after-school special. Clueless as to how to care for the baby that was assigned to her in Coach Wolf's (Sarah Thyre) health education class, Jerri takes Principal Blackman's (Greg Hollimon) advice and heads to the library to watch a film on single motherhood. The film seems to have little impact on Jerri, and after taking the baby home, Jerri nicknames it "Dizzy" when it falls into a laundry basket after being left unattended on top of a dresser. Subsequently learning that her family is housing criminal Cambodian war refugee Kim Luc in their basement, Jerri decides that the baby is cutting in on her social life and abandons Dizzy in the park. Discovering the abandoned infant in the park later that same night, Mr. Noblot (Stephen Colbert) and Mr. Jellineck (Paul Dinello) report the incident to Principal Blackman the following day. In an attempt at resolving the situation, Principal Blackman teams Jerri with Tammi Littlenut (Maria Thayer) despite Coach Wolf's insistence that Jerri learn to be responsible on her own. Quickly assuming the role of the abusive husband, Jerri gives Dizzy to Kim Luc to sell on the black market and books a cheap room at the Horizon Motel in hopes of seducing her new partner, though Tammi tips Principal Blackman off to the rendezvous behind Jerri's back. When Jerri notices Principal Blackman arriving at the motel, she rushes outside and pins the crime on Tammi, causing Principal Blackman to believe Tammi is lying when she reveals all-too-familiar sounding truth. Exhausted after her brief brush with motherhood, Jerri finally learns that it's much easier to be a single mother when you're neither single nor a mother. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi