Rachel Blanchard

A gruesome discovery sends an inquisitive bookstore clerk on a wild trip through the bizarre underbelly of Los Angeles in this quirky comedy mystery starring Colin Hanks and Tony Shalhoub. Wiley Roth (Hanks) is a sucker for a good whodunit, so when he discovers a severed finger on his kitchen floor, his detective instincts seem to naturally kick in. Perhaps with the aid of his eccentric father (Shalhoub) and his resourceful best friend (Fran Kranz) this amateur sleuth can track down the owner of this disconnected digit. Somewhere in the process of chasing leads, contending with incompetent cops, consulting with shady taxidermists, and dealing with his mysterious neighbors, Wiley discovers that the finger might just belong to the nine-fingered girl of his dreams (Rachel Blanchard). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Bruce McCulloch's buddy comedy Comeback Season stars Ray Liotta and Shaun Sipos as a pair of unlikely friends. Liotta plays Walter Pearce, a man who ends up without a place to stay after a fight with his wife of 24 years. Walter ends up in jail after an incident with another man, and in the cell meets up with Skylar Eckerman (Sipos), a promising football player who has landed in the clink after a drinking binge. Eckerman worries for his future as he has recently suffered a severe injury. Although Eckerman and Pearce share an uncomfortable history, the two bury the hatchet and soon are able to depend on each other. Comeback Season had its world premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

In a rare and refreshing reversal of roles, filmmakers put the powerful Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA for short) under the microscope for inspection in Academy Award-nominated director Kirby Dick's incisive look at stateside cinema's most notorious non-censoring censors. Compelled by the staggering amount of power that the MPAA ratings board wields, the filmmaker seeks out the true identities of the anonymous elite who control what films make it to the multiplex. He even goes so far as to hire a private investigator to stake out MPAA headquarters and expose Hollywood's best-kept secret. Along the way, Dick speaks with numerous filmmakers whose careers have been affected by the seemingly random and sexual-content obsessed judgments of the MPAA, including John Waters, Mary Harron, Darren Aranofsky, Wayne Kramer, Kevin Smith, Matt Stone, and Atom Egoyan. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Wasting no time after shooting his 2003 Sundance Film Festival entry The Event, director Thom Fitzgerald returned to Romania, the country that served as the setting for his 2001 Canadian-TV film Wolf Girl, for this cerebral study of commerce, camaraderie, and degradation. The Wild Dogs explores the circumstantial relationship of Geordie (played by the director) and Victor (David Hayman), two men who meet on a plane to Bucharest. Each is in the country for different reasons: Victor is a British diplomat in the city, and he and his wife Natalie (Alberta Watson) and daughter Moll (Rachel Blanchard) are among Romania's privileged class; Geordie, on the other hand, is a Canadian porn photographer sent to the country to shoot underage "talent" for his employer's website. Repulsed by the job he's been sent to accomplish, Geordie is instead captivated by the teeming masses of orphans, disfigured beggars, and the other homeless that flood Bucharest's streets. Just as he makes it his goal to help a crippled young man nicknamed "Sour Grapes" (Visinel Burcea, the spiritually-empty Natalie focuses on the dejected orphan Dorutu (Mihai Calota. Shot on digital video, the low-budget The Wild Dogs premiered at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival just a few months before the premiere of The Event. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

A man struggling to do the right thing for his child finds himself at odds with his family in this emotional drama. Tony Romano (Harvey Keitel) runs a successful clothing company in New York City; eager to share his good fortune with his family, Tony's daughter and younger son both have important positions in the firm, while his wife Fern (Mary Kay Place) has a solid business of her own running a flower shop. Tony's oldest son Jeff (Brad Rowe), however, lives in Los Angeles and is trying to get a career as a screenwriter off the ground. Jeff is already a father as the result of a short and ill-advised romance with a woman with poor self-esteem, and when he finds himself falling for Kelly (Rachel Blanchard), who works at a plasma center where Jeff sells his blood, history repeats itself and Kelly finds herself pregnant. Jeff and Kelly initially decide that an abortion would be the logical answer, but in time Kelly changes her mind, and Jeff feels he must handle his share of the responsibilities. Tony is convinced Jeff will be throwing his life away if he stays with Kelly to raise the baby (especially since Jeff admits he doesn't love her); while Jeff is determined to do the right thing for his child, he is torn between his need to face up to his responsibilities and his love for his father. Nailed was the first feature film from writer and director Joel Silverman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this raunchy comedy, Josh (Breckin Meyer), a student at a college in Ithaca, NY, videotapes his one-night stand with beautiful sorority girl Beth (Amy Smart). A few days later, Josh discovers that one of his friends accidentally mailed the homemade porn tape to his girlfriend, Tiffany (Rachel Blanchard), who is spending some time with her family in Austin, TX. Josh and his friends Barry (Tom Green), Kyle (D.J. Qualls), E.L. (Seann William Scott), and Rubin (Paulo Costanzo) borrow a car and hit the road in a desperate bid to intercept the tape before Tiffany loads it into her VCR; Beth, however, wants Josh for herself and has her own plans to track down Tiffany. Road Trip is the first fiction feature from director Todd Phillips, noted for such edgy documentaries as Hated: G.G. Allin & the Murder Junkies, Screwed, and Frat House. The cast also includes Fred Ward and Andy Dick. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The British children's series Chris Cross chronicled the comically anarchistic pranks of two troublesome schoolboys. Chris Hilton (Simon Fenton) and Oliver Cross (Eugene Byrd) were students at Stansfield Academy, a tradition-bound private school. Forever seeking out methods of undermining authority and wreaking havoc, Chris and Cross hatched all manner of schemes, from staging elaborate "escapes" for themselves and their classmates to clandestinely recording their own rock songs. Needless to say, the series was extremely popular with youngsters, far less so with grownups. Created by D.J. McHale and originally telecast on ITV from 1994 to 1995, the 13 25-minute Chris Cross episodes were later seen in America over the Showtime cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the most atypical weekly series to emerge from the Aaron Spelling TV factory, 7th Heaven, created by Spelling and Brenda Hampton, has eschewed the sex-and-sin shenanigans of such series as Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place in favor of honest, three-dimensional family values, with generous doses of warmth, heart, humor, and pathos. There can be no doubt that this fundamentally wholesome program has struck a universal chord. The series has not only been lavishly praised by critics, honored by such organizations as the Parents Television Council, the Academy of Religious Broadcasting, and the Anti-Defamation League, and given innumerable industry awards, but it is also one of the most successful offerings of the WB network; indeed, it was the first WB series to run more than seven seasons, and during four of those seasons, it was the network's highest-rated show. Set in the suburban L.A. community of Glen Oak, the series revolves around the Camden family, headed by Eric Camden (Stephen Collins), pastor of the town's Community Church, and Eric's homemaker wife, Annie (Catherine Hicks). In the tradition of The Waltons, loyal 7th Heaven viewers have enjoyed the rare privilege of watching the Camden children grow up before their very eyes. When the series debuted on August 26, 1996, handsome and personable Matt Camden (Barry Watson) was 17 years old; basketball-playing Mary Camden (Jessica Biel) was 13 going on 14; intellectual, inquisitive Lucy Camden (Beverley Mitchell) was 12; happy-go-lucky Simon Camden (David Gallagher) was ten; and precocious Ruthie Camden (Mackenzie Rosman) was five. By the time the series entered its eighth season, the three oldest Camden kids were married and pursuing careers, while the two youngest were seasoned veterans of the school dating scene. (Two more Camden youngsters, twin boys Sam and David, were born halfway through the 1998-1999 season). All of the Camdens, parents included, have had more than their share of setbacks and tragedies (some of them absolutely devastating) as the series has rolled forward, but somehow all of the members of the clan, from patriarch Eric on down, have been able to recover, rally, and persevere with the help and support of their family and friends -- not to mention their inner faith. And unlike so many other TV series which traffic in personal interrelationships, the characters in 7th Heaven are very much a part of the "real" world. During its lengthy WB run, the series has exposed its principals to a wide variety of contemporary issues: teen suicide, racial prejudice, substance abuse, drunken driving, homelessness, negative peer pressure, teen pregnancy, Alzheimer's disease, the Holocaust, the war in Iraq, and the crisis in the Sudan. Eminently suitable for viewers of all ages, but never a mere sop to the "kiddie" trade nor a placebo for the clean-up-TV brigades, 7th Heaven has been and will likely always remain the jewel in the WB crown. ~ All Movie Guide

In this haunting and complex coming-of-age drama, a 15-year-old student at a boy's preparatory school grows up a little faster as he tries to deal with his own problems and those of his fragmented family. His parents are divorced and since the split, he has become estranged from his father. The trouble begins when he learns that his mother has developed schizophrenia. His reactions to her illness and the changes it brings form the core of this provocative film. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Alex: The Life of a Child is based on the true story of Sports Illustrated writer Frank Deford and his dying 8-year-old daughter Alex. Craig T. Nelson plays Deford and Gennie James is Alex, both of whom come to grips in different ways with Alex's fatal cystic fibrosis. A subplot involves the torment of Deford's wife (Bonnie Bedelia), who wonders whether she should adopt a child after Alex's death in 1980. Alex: The Life of a Child is effective, but not as well made as its subject matter deserves. Better examples of this particular TV-movie genre include Death be Not Proud (75), based on author John Gunther's recollections of his son's struggle against a degenerative brain tumor, and Mary White (77) the story of a personal tragedy in the life of Kansas journalist William Allen White. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide