Cyrus Yavneh Movies

A joint effort of filmmakers McG, Eric Kripke, and Robert Singer, the weekly, hour-long series Supernatural starred Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki as Dean and Sam Winchester, the sons of a dogged and determined "spook hunter." Since the death of his wife at the hands of malevolent poltergeists, the elder Winchester refused to rest until he tracked down and vanquished all evil paranormal forces in the world. While older son Dean willingly followed in his dad's footsteps, the young Sam was the rebel of the family, refusing to have anything to with the supernatural and putting as much distance between himself and his father and brother as possible. But when his dad mysteriously vanished, Sam reluctantly teamed with Dean to carry on the family mission. Piling into their 1967 Chevy Impala, the Winchester boys tooled around the country investigating such familiar paranormal mythology, folklore, and urban legends as the Vanishing Hitchhiker, Bloody Mary, the Lover's Lane "Hook" Killer, and the Native American demon Wendigo, among many others. Essentially a male version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- with a few dashes of Scooby-Doo, The Hardy Boys, and Route 66 tossed in -- Supernatural was seen on Buffy's former home network the WB beginning September 13, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Employing split screens and kinetic pacing, the real-time action thriller-drama 24 became a fast cult hit when it premiered on FOX in late 2001. Each one-hour episode covers an hour in a single day that unfolds over the course of a season. Kiefer Sutherland stars as über-hero Jack Bauer, a daring and seemingly indestructible agent for the fictitious U.S.-intelligence body the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU). Throughout the series, Bauer has stopped an assassination attempt, thwarted a nuclear attack, been widowed, decapitated a witness, died, and become addicted to narcotics while undercover with a drug cartel. Among the other characters are President David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert), who was candidate Palmer throughout the first season, later had the Presidency swiped from under him, and was the victim of a bio-attack at the end of the second season; Kim Bauer (Elisha Cuthbert), Jack's trouble-prone, damsel-in-distress daughter; and Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard), a fellow-CIA agent with whom Jack has both butted heads and allied. Noted for its unflinching ability to kill off major players for the sake of the show, an assortment of other characters have come and gone throughout the show's history. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

A shy radio telescope operator named Zane Ziminski (Charlie Sheen) picks up a series of regular signals coming from space -- and deliberately pointed toward Earth. Convinced that he has discovered alien transmissions, Ziminski is first chastised and then fired by his boss (Ron Silver). Obsessed, he builds a makeshift radio telescope in his house to find out where the signals were sent. Convinced that they're intended for aliens already hidden on Earth, he tracks them to a bleak, isolated Mexican village, where he joins forces with a female scientist (Lindsay Crouse), who has suspicions of her own after witnessing an acceleration of global warming. The villagers turn out to be aliens, and the village a front for an underground alien complex. The aliens are here to "terraform" Earth and prepare it for the arrival of the rest of their race, who will die unless they leave their homeworld and colonize elsewhere. Only Ziminski can stop them. Written and directed by David N. Twohy, The Arrival is a throwback to the genre chillers of the '50s. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

Comedian Pauly Shore goes to boot camp in this comedy adventure set in Chad. It was filmed on location in the California and Arizona deserts. Shore is cast as Bones, a dreamer who wants to open his own stereo shop with his best friend Jack. To earn the cash, Bones talks Jack into joining the Army reserves. In boot camp, they are trained as water purifiers. While in camp, they meet the feisty Christine who takes no guff from men and Fred who is afraid of everything. The foursome are called to active duty and positioned in the deserts of Chad. Through a great mix up, they find themselves driving a water tanker behind Libyan enemy lines. There they must extricate themselves and eventually save the day. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Made for cable television, a TV-show homemaker (Dyan Cannon) invites a local hero (Kris Kristofferson) over for a live-broadcast Christmas dinner, but her lack of cooking skills could cause a problem. The film was directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. ~ John Bush, Rovi

The original made-for-TV Pair of Aces starred Kris Kristofferson as a Texas Ranger who, while searching for a serial killer, is aided and abetted by introspective safecracker Willie Nelson. The Kristofferson-Nelson combo proved so unbeatable in the ratings that a sequel was immediately commissioned. In Another Pair of Aces: Three of a Kind, Kris and Willie team up to rout out a dangerous vigilante organization, headed by Rip Torn. The "third" of the kind is Joan Severance, playing Kristofferson's unlikely love interest. Written by Rob Gilmer and directed by actor Bill Bixby (Courtship of Eddie's Father, The Incredible Hulk et. al.), Another Pair of Aces was first telecast April 9, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Gemma (Winona Ryder) is a young teen raised by her crusty grandfather Dillard (Jason Robards) in this drama of a young woman's coming of age. When she goes to the city to spend the summer with her estranged mother Juanella (Jane Alexander), she falls for Rory (Rob Lowe), a rural rube of less-than-average intelligence, but her only true friend in a hypocritical town. Gemma's promiscuous mother delights in reminding the emotional Gemma that her father could be any one of several men, and Gemma's frustration leads to an inevitable confrontation between mother and daughter. Deborah Richter plays the town floozie Gwen. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi