Jim Lau Movies

An aimless young Chinese-American finds his hoop dreams unexpectedly sidelined when his parents are injured in an accident and he is forced to give ping-pong lessons in the fiction feature debut of acclaimed documentary filmmaker Jessica Yu (In the Realms of the Unreal). Christopher "C-dub" Wang (Jimmy Tsai) may not be able to sink a lay-up to save his life, yet he longs to realize his lifelong goal of playing in the NBA. Add to this the fact that C-dub still lives at home and will likely never emerge from under the shadow of his successful older brother, Michael (Roger Fan), and it's beginning to look like this wannabe pro-athlete is going nowhere fast. C-dub's parents (Jim Lau and Elizabeth Sung) are a pair of former table tennis champs who now own a successful ping-pong supply shop and teach lessons on the side. Much like his parents were back in the day, C-dub's brother Michael (Roger Fan) is a ping-pong wizard who is championed by the Chinese community for taking top rank in the tournaments year after year. But now, Michael and C-dub's parents have both been injured in a car accident, forcing the ill-equipped -- and extremely reluctant -- family slacker to take over the ping-pong teaching duties. While at first C-dub doesn't take his new responsibility all too seriously, he quickly discovers that the future of his family rests in his hands after Michael is injured and rendered unable to compete in this year's championships. Soon, C-dub realizes that by stepping in for Michael and winning the championships, he may also be able to win the heart of the girl he has fallen head over heels in love with. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The world's most famous team of astronauts-cum-superheroes returns in the effects-heavy sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. As the story opens, Sue Storm (aka The Invisible Girl [Jessica Alba]) and Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic [Ioan Gruffudd]) prepare for their upcoming, superhero-studded wedding celebration. But Reed cannot stay focused on the nuptials -- he's distracted by wire reports of a bizarre, comet-like object hurtling toward the Earth with tremendous force, triggering brownouts, blackouts, tropical storms, and various other climatological disasters. When the said object hits the island of Manhattan, destroying much of the city in its wake, its identity becomes resoundingly clear. "It" is actually a "he" -- a psychotic villain known as The Silver Surfer (voice of Larry Fishburne) who intends, for some unascertainable reason, to destroy much of the Earth, just as he obliterated dozens of planets before it. Feeling compelled to rally their old gang and save the day, Sue and Reed summon Ben Grimm (aka The Thing [Michael Chiklis]) and Johnny Storm (aka The Human Torch [Chris Evans]) to take on the Surfer -- and end up battling not only him, but an obnoxious Army general (Andre Braugher) and the cantankerous Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon), who has broken out of his icy prison that held him captive at the end of the first movie. Tim Story returns to direct this sequel. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

While taking the AP Calculus exam, high-school student Matt Davis (John Patrrick Amedori) collapses. Discovering that Matt has been lethally poisoned, House (Hugh Laurie) suspects that the boy has been doing drugs at home. When another student exhibits the same symptoms, however, it is obvious that the source of the poison is the school testing room--but how can this be? Meanwhile, another clinic patient, 82-year-old Georgia Adams (Shirley Knight), suddenly develops an uncontrollable sex drive...and an insatiable lust for Dr. House! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on a novel by Elleston Trevor, director John Moore's The Flight of the Phoenix is a remake of a 1965 film of the same name starring film icon James Stewart. The story revolves around the plight of Captain Frank Towns (Dennis Quaid), a pilot whose C-119 cargo plane full of oil workers could not withstand the violent winds of a desert sandstorm. Stranded in the harsh terrain of Mongolia's Gobi Desert (a departure from the original, in which the plane crashed in the Sahara), Frank and his navigator face an equal challenge in maintaining order among the survivors. The group of oilmen had planned on an uneventful trip to shut off a group of rigs falling below their productivity expectations -- not fending for their very lives. Before long, some men are revealed as cowards, while others exhibit a surprising show of strength, all the while hoping that the wreckage of the original plane can be salvaged before a Lord of the Flies situation occurs. Miranda Otto is featured in a supporting role, as well as Giovanni Ribisi and Tyrese Gibson. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

The real-life drama of the 1994 O.J. Simpson trial is given quasi-fictional treatment in this two-part CBS miniseries, which aired in November 2000. Much of the miniseries' plot focuses on the battle of egos between defense lawyers Johnnie Cochran (Ving Rhames) and Robert Shapiro (Ron Silver) and how the personalities of these men in part shaped the outcome of the trial. Also included in the cast are Bruno Kirby and Christopher Plummer. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

An afternoon of unbridled sex on the floor of the Buchmans' apartment has disastrous consequences when Jamie (Helen Hunt) throws out her back. Virtually immobile, she is at the mercy of her sister Lisa (Anne Ramsay), who enjoys nothing better than "payback time." Meanwhile, husband Paul (Paul Reiser) takes over Jamie's duties at City Hall, all the while struggling to arrange an eye examination for his father, Burt (Louis Zorich). ~ Rovi

Playing in a manner that can be conservatively described as larger than life, Kurt Russell plays a macho truck driver who agrees to go to the San Francisco airport and pick up his friend's (Dennis Dun) fiancee (Suzee Pai, freshly arrived from China. Suddenly, a gang of Chinatown toughs kidnap the girl right before Russell's eyes. After a wild chase sequence, Russell discovers that the girl has been abducted by a genuine, bonafide sorceror (James Hong), the ghost of a 3000 year old warlord. And that's just for starters. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This Western comedy is set in the early 1900's and features the inept duo of Ben (Roy Clark) and Booger (Mel Tillis). The two men visit a bank seeking a loan but carry a shotgun with them. Understandably, this gives the wrong impression to the bank staff and before they know it, they are being chased all over creation by the sheriff (Burl Ives) and an army captain (Glen Campbell). Several songs are interspersed with the chase scenes, and Burt Reynolds makes a cameo appearance as an ace poker player who cleans out Ben and Booger. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi