Jodi Thelen Movies

Eight years after her mother died under bizarre circumstances, a teenage girl gets the opportunity to change the past when she finds the cell phone that was given to her as a birthday gift, and begins using it to communicate with a younger version of herself. As a young girl, Jessie Graver (Jadin Gould) was ecstatic to receive a cell phone for her birthday, but her happiness was short-lived when her mother was found floating lifeless in the pool later that same day. Nearly a decade later, Jessie (Julie Carlson) has grown distant from her father, preferring to spend most of her time with her best friends Damon (Johnny Pacar) and Mia Brooke Vallone). Stumbling across the phone as she sorts through some of her old belongings, Jessie decides to dial her old phone number, and is surprised when a little girl answers. The more the two talk, the more Jessie realizes that she's somehow managed to reach her younger self before the tragedy that changed her life. With no time to lose, the desperate teen focuses all her energy on convincing the little girl on the other end of the line to prevent her mother from entering the pool at all costs. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

When a woman hopes that a night of passion will grow into something deeper, she finds that her new beau may have some secrets in this erotic thriller. Ever since her divorce, Michelle Sanderson (Ally Sheedy) has tried to focus on her career in advertising, but she's become terribly lonely, and when she meets handsome stranger Jack Gillman (A. Martinez), without thinking, she joins him at his apartment for a long night of lovemaking. The next morning, she discovers that Jack is gone, along with his furniture; when she comes back later in the day, a man named Michael Joslyn (Frederic Forrest) is living at Jack's place and claims to know nothing about him. Jack eventually calls Michelle, and she sees him again; he tells her that he runs a construction business and that his wife passed away not long ago. However, Michelle later encounters Michael and his wife (Diane Salinger), and she discovers that they were the parents of Jack's late wife -- and that they're convinced that Jack is responsible for her death. One Night Stand marked the directorial debut of actress Talia Shire, best known for her roles in the Rocky films. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Made for television, Follow Your Heart was first telecast April 2, 1990. Ex-marine David Larson (Patrick Cassidy) is tooling along aimlessly in the middle of Wyoming when his jeep breaks down. Awaiting the verdict from the local repair shop, Larson takes a part-time job as a rest-stop attendant. Not the most outgoing of men, Larson is brought out of his shell when he befriends peppery widow Cloe Sixbury (Frances Sternhagen), her developmentally delayed son (Jace Alexander), and an orphaned Vietnamese girl (Nicole Francois). Deftly blending warmth, humor, and unexpected melodrama, Follow Your Heart is a winner all the way. The film has been rereleased as Walk Me to the Distance. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A TV pilot film, Doctor's Story explores the rights--or rather, the lack of them--of geriatric patients. Howard E. Rollins Jr. plays a young doctor who resents the throwaway attitude conveyed towards the elderly. Among Rollins' patients are a near-senile old man (Art Carney), a woman (Vivece Lindfors) with a mysterious abdominal ailment, and a suicidal widow (Uta Hagen). Stymied by hospital bureaucracy and indifference, Rollins fights to give his older charges the same care and attention afforded younger patients--and in so doing, his own marriage on the critical list. Whether or not this premise could have sustained a weekly series is problematic (the pilot didn't sell), but as a self-contained drama, Doctor's Story was certainly worth two hours of anyone's attention, young or old. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this drama, a Yugoslavian native leaves the US and returns home after a 20-year absence. Back in his home fishing village, he begins caring for his grandchildren so their parents can go to West Germany and work. The grandfather makes the children work very hard, despite the fact that a local teacher begs him to ease up on the boy so he can attend school. The grandfather eventually dies, but by that time, the children have become determined to keep caring for the farm. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi