Lynn Kressel Movies

A handsome cardiologist and his late brother's wife enter into a marriage of convenience while realizing that the harder they work to maintain their "pretend" union, the deeper their love for one another grows. When successful, 30-year-old Washington, D.C. surgeon Jake Lever (Adam Kaufman) learns that his estranged older brother Benjamin has died, the news comes as a startling surprise. Jake and his mother Janice (Mercedes Ruehl) hadn't spoken to Benjamin since he moved away to become a rabbi and began devoting all of his time to his faith and his rabbinical duties. They aren't religious, so when they arrive in Benjamin's Hasidic, Brooklyn, New York community and meet his young widow Leah (Lauren Ambrose), Jake and Janice are virtual strangers to the people Benjamin devoted his entire life to. When the still-single Jake is asked to honor an ancient Levirate marriage law stating that he marry the childless Leah in order to carry on his brother's name or reject Benjamin's existence entirely, he finds latter prospect unthinkable despite being seriously involved with beautiful surgeon Carol (Christy Pusz). On a whim, Jake suggests to Leah that they marry under accordance with Levirate law and secretly maintain a plutonic relationship. Realizing that this may be her one opportunity to follow her own dreams without disappointing her domineering mother Malka (Susie Essman), Leah accepts. But love works in mysterious ways, and over time, Jake and Leah's affections for one another blossom into true love. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A Manhattan archeologist teams with an FBI agent to uncover the buried secrets of the legendary Knights Templar in this romantic adventure mini-series starring Mira Sorvino and Scott Foley. Based on Raymond Khoury's international bestseller, The Last Templar opens in 1921, as Sultan's army burns the city of Acre to the ground. The Latin Kingdom's reign has come to a close. All that's left of its legacy is a single galley, which drifts out to sea carrying young Templar Knight Martin of Carmax, his mentor Aimard of Villiers, and an enigmatic chest entrusted to the pair by the order's dying Grand Master. Flash forward to present-day New York City, where a gala is being held to celebrate the opening of an exhibition of Vatican treasures at the Metropolitan Museum. As the upper crust of Manhattan society marvel at the priceless treasures, four men dressed as Templar Knights storm into the museum on horseback, sending the crowd into mass chaos. Amidst all the confusion, archeologist Tess Chaykin (Sorvino) watches in horror as the leader of the horsemen steals a mysterious geared device from the exhibit before disappearing into Central Park. Later, as the horsemen begin turning up dead, Tess and FBI Agent Sean Daley (Foley) realize the importance of the device and learn the dark history of the last living Templars' fateful journey at sea. Now, in order to solve a mystery centuries in the making, Tess and Agent Daley will embark on a journey that leads them from the sewers and cemeteries of Manhattan to the desolate Turkish highlands and onto a remote Greek Island, where one of the Vatican's best-kept secrets will be revealed right before their very eyes. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Adapted from author Nicholas Sparks' popular romance novel, director George C. Wolfe's Nights in Rodanthe tells the tale of a doctor (Richard Gere) en route to reconcile with his estranged son when his benevolent mission is sidelined upon checking into a North Carolina beach-town inn. When the doctor arrives at the inn, he enters into a passionate affair with an unhappily married woman (Diane Lane) who is currently considering divorce. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A small time con artist and his loyal companion must fight to prove their innocent when they are accused of attempting to poison a princess in this adventure mini-series directed by David Wu (The Bride with White Hair) and starring David Carradine. D.B. (John Reardon) was abandoned at birth on the docks of Shanghai, but while most children never would have survived that traumatic start David was rescued from certain death and soon forged a close bond with the resourceful Bird (Carradine). As D.B. grew into a young man, Bird became his constant companion. It always seemed like there was no jam that D.B. and Bird couldn't eventually work their way out of, and when it came to swindling this cunning pair were always at the top of their game. Neither D.B. nor Bird would have ever imagined that one of their brash schemes that would ultimately change the course of their entire lives, yet a daring mission to steal the royal court's jewels did precisely that. Upon carrying out the potentially profitable but highly dangerous mission, D.B. fell desperately in love with the stunning princess Li Wei (Desiree Siahaan). Though his affections were indeed reciprocated, it began to look like their love was doomed as the princess' father attempted to find her a more suitable husband. The princess, however, thwarted this plan by challenging her suitors to a series of arduous and impossible tests ostensibly staged to prove their love for her. When the nefarious Prince of the North (Rupert Graves) frames D.B. and Bird for attempting to murder the princess and sentences them to death, the wily companions rightly begin to surmise that they may have finally gotten themselves into a jam from which there is no escape. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Produced for the Sci-Fi Channel, this twisted variation on L. Frank Baum's classic tale follows a young girl named D.G. and her newfound friends as they embark on a wondrous adventure through the Outer Zone (O.Z.) on a mission to locate a powerful wizard known as the Mystic Man, and break the spell of the wicked sorceress Azkadellia. An ordinary girl suddenly thrust into an extraordinary world, D.G. (Zooey Deschanel) arrives on the Outer Zone prepared to follow the fabled Old Road and fulfill her destiny. When D.G. discovers that the evil Azkadellia (Kathleen Robertson) has cast an oppressive spell over the Outer Zone, she enlists the aid of half-brained eccentric Glitch (Alan Cumming), kindly-but-cowardly beast Raw (Raoul Trujillo), and heartbroken former lawman Cain (Neil McDonough) in seeking out the wisdom of the fabled Mystic Man (Richard Dreyfuss) who lives at the end of the Old Road. With the future of the Outer Zone hanging in the balance, this adventurous group ventures down a perilous road that will find them doing battle with nightmarish flying monkey bats and Azkadellia's malevolent henchmen as they attempt to break a spell with the power to destroy them all. Perhaps before their journey is over, D.G. and her new friends will discover a few things that they never even knew about themselves as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Masters of Horror creator Mick Garris joins forces with literary horror icon Stephen King for this, the pair's sixth onscreen collaboration. In the wind-swept Nevada town of Desperation, a malevolent sheriff (Ron Perlman) delivers arrestees to a jail cell from which, by all accounts, no one has emerged alive. The streets are littered with the corpses of dead residents, and it appears that a sinister supernatural force has tightened its deadly grip on the once-thriving community. Arrested by the sinister lawman and subsequently thrown behind bars, a vacationing family, a traveling writer (Tom Skeritt), and a drifting hitchhiker (Steven Weber) narrowly thwart death by escaping their cold metal confines. Upon coming into contact with a mysterious prepubescent boy named David (Shane Haboucha) who seems to possesses an eerie insight into the ancient evil that haunts the town, the brave group boldly determines to solve the combat the evil that has infected this desolate landscape. Despite some notable help from the surviving town veteran (Charles Durning) and the dejected female half of a married couple (Annabeth Gish) who recently incurred the wrath of the nefarious sheriff, this unlikely band of weakened mortals seems no match for the powerful evil that now inhabits the town of Desperation. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Another Law & Order spin-off from producer Dick Wolf, NBC's weekly, hour-long Conviction starred Stephanie March, recreating her familiar Law & Order: SVU role as Assistant DA Alexandra Cabot. Formerly imbedded in the Federal Witness Protection Program, Alexandra was once more able to move about and practice her trade, this time as bureau chief for a group of young, ambitious ADAs. Her new colleagues included deputy DA and law-office manager Jim Steele (Anson Mount); born-into-privilege lawyer Nick Potter (Jordan Bridges), who idealistically left a lucrative private practice to work with Cabot for a paltry 51,000 dollars per year; arrogant grandstander Billy Desmond (J. August Richards), who went to great lengths to secure for himself only those cases that he was sure to win; Jessica Rossi (Milena Govich), Nick Potter's unofficial assistant and a woman with a murky, working-class past; Brian Peluso (Eric Balfour), whose legal brilliance was mitigated by his slovenliness and his messy private life; and Christina Finn (Julianne Nicholson), who'd been working in the office for two years before finally landing her first case and was understandably anxious to make up for lost time. Eschewing the "procedural" format of the other series in the Law & Order franchise, Conviction was built more along the lines of the medical drama Grey's Anatomy, focusing more on the various lawyers' personal problems and hang-ups than on their professional activities. Also breaking away from the Law & Order formula was the series' predilection for having the attorneys inaugurate legal investigations before it was entirely certain that a crime had actually been committed. Conviction first aired on March 3, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the tradition of Dore Schary's Sunrise at Campobello, the made-for-cable biopic Warm Springs focuses on one of the least publicized aspects in the life of America's most-publicized (and longest-serving) president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, here played brilliantly by British actor Kenneth Branagh. Like Sunrise, Warm Springs uses as its starting point the year 1921, when the 39-year-old Roosevelt was permanently paralyzed from the waist down by an attack of polio. But whereas the earlier film concentrated on FDR's battle to return to public life despite his handicap, this film zeroes in on Roosevelt's efforts to cure himself of his affliction. Having heard of the therapeutic value of the waters of Warm Springs in rural Georgia, Roosevelt makes a pilgrimage to the area, which is little more than a swamp surrounded by dilapidated shacks. Though he never experiences the "miracle" cure that he so desperately seeks, Roosevelt is instrumental in the conversion of Warm Springs from a backwater hellhole to a streamlined, efficiently managed polio-treatment center, a virtual mecca for hundreds of thousands of others who had been crippled by the debilitating illness. And in the process, he also brings hope, optimism, and racial enlightenment to the poverty-stricken, multiethnic citizens of Warm Springs. Even more significantly, FDR removes the stigma of polio from the public consciousness, forever abolishing the misguided notions that the disease adversely affected the brain, that it could be spread merely by physical contact, or that it represented celestial "punishment" of the victim (it is noted, however, that Roosevelt was always careful never to reveal the true extent of his immobility nor his atrophied legs in public, feeling that it might diminish the nation's image of an "invulnerable" Commander in Chief). Also in the cast are Cynthia Nixon as Roosevelt's devoted wife, Eleanor; Jane Alexander (who'd previously played Eleanor Roosevelt in two TV miniseries) as his over-protective mother Sara; David Paymer as his crusty chief aide Louis Howe; Kathy Bates as his no-nonsense physical therapist Helena Mahoney; and Tim Blake Nelson as Tom Loyless, the man in charge of Warm Springs. Originally telecast by HBO on April 30, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The jury is in! From creator Dick Wolf comes the most innovative Law & Order series yet: Law & Order: Trial by Jury - The Complete Series. Partner up with Jerry Orbach, Fred Dalton Thompson and Bebe Neuwirth to explore the judicial system like never before: not only from the point of view of police and prosecutors, but also the defense team, judges, jurors and the defendants themselves. This highly collectible three-disc DVD set contains all 13 original episodes of the entire series, including one never broadcast on network TV! Plus witness exciting deleted scenes, a landmark Law & Order: SVU cross-over episode starring Chris Meloni and Emmy winner Mariska Hargitay, the philosophy behind this unique show presented by the cast members, and powerful guest-star performances from Lorraine Bracco, Peter Coyote and Candice Bergen. You have the right to Law & Order: Trial by Jury!

Differentiating this TV-movie version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol from the hundreds of other adaptations of the same Yuletide classic is its tongue-in-cheek ambience and a bundle of memorable tunes by perennial Disney composer Alan Menken and former Schoolhouse Rock lyricist Lynn Ahrens. Inspired by a stage musical which used to be presented annually at New York's Madison Square Garden, this Christmas Carol stars Kelsey Grammer as tight-fisted Ebenezer Scrooge, who sees the errors of his ways just in time to oversee the "best Christmas ever" for his long-suffering clerk Bob Cratchit (Edward Gower) and "God Bless Us Everyone" Tiny Tim (Jacob Moriarty). On this occasion, the spirits materializing for Scrooge's benefit include Jason Alexander as a neurotic Jacob Marley, Jesse L. Martin as a laid-back Ghost of Christmas Present, Jane Krakowski as a sexy Ghost of Christmas Past, and Geraldine Chaplin as a spooky Ghost of Christmas Future (in Wizard of Oz tradition, three of these four actors also appear as "real" people in Scrooge's everyday life). Highlights include the song "Link by Link," wherein the ghostly Marley and a chorus of wraiths perform a lively ball-and-chain dance number, and the outsized Christmas celebration in the home of Scrooge's first boss, Mr. Fezziwig (Brian Bedford), which features among other things a "pole dance" by the Ghost of Christmas Past! Filmed on-location in Budapest (which sort of looks like Dickensian London if you squint real hard), A Christmas Carol: The Musical won an Emmy award for musical director Michael Kosarin -- and, alas, tanked in the ratings when first telecast by NBC on November 28, 2004. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mitch Albom wrote the screenplay for this made-for-television adaptation of his best-selling story, which offers a novel perspective on life, death, and the meaning of our existence. Eddie (Jon Voight) is an elderly maintenance man who has spent most of his life keeping the rides at an amusement park in good repair; Eddie has had a hard life, sustaining a serious injury during World War II and losing his wife, and he often wonders what the purpose behind it all is. One day, Eddie is killed while trying to save a young girl who has fallen from a ride, and in the afterlife, he's greeted by five people he knew during his lifetime, who explain to him what the key moments in his life were, and what was to be learned from them. The Five People You Meet in Heaven also features Steven Grayhm (who plays Eddie as a younger man), Ellen Burstyn, Jeff Daniels, Michael Imperioli, and Callum Keith Rennie. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

After incorporating elements of comic book style and design into many of his films, director Sam Raimi helms this straight-ahead, big-budget comic book adaptation, which also marks acclaimed young actor Tobey Maguire's first dip into live-action blockbuster filmmaking. Spider-Man follows the template of the original Stan Lee/Steve Ditko source material, with hero Peter Parker an orphaned, intellectual teen loner living in Queens with his aunt (Rosemary Harris) and uncle (Cliff Robertson), and dreaming of the girl next door, Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst). On a field trip to a Columbia University lab, Peter is bitten by a genetically altered spider and overnight he gains superhuman strength, agility, and perception. At first, Peter uses his powers for material gain, winning a wrestling match with a purportedly lucrative prize. But when Peter apathetically fails to stop a burglar from robbing the wrestling arena, a tragedy follows that compels him to devote his powers to fighting crime -- as the superhero Spider-Man. When he's not busy fighting crime in a spider suit, Peter moves into an apartment with his best friend, Harry (James Franco), and begins work as a photographer at the Daily Bugle. Meanwhile, his do-gooder alter ego finds a nemesis in the form of the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), a super-powered, megalomaniacal villain who happens to be the alter ego of Harry's father, weapons-manufacturing mogul Norman Osborn. Spider-Man was written by the prolific blockbuster scribe David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Panic Room). ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide