Amy Jo Johnson Movies

A man tries to rebuild his life and reconnect with his family after a stretch in prison in this independent drama. Eben Cole (Thomas Hildreth) is a lobster fisherman who lives and works on a small island off the coast of Maine. Eben takes pride in his work and works hard to provide for his wife, Cheryl (Amy Jo Johnson), and daughter, Sara (Mackenzie Young). However, Eben also has a temper, and when a pair of commercial fishermen from the mainland try to take over one of his fishing spots, the argument escalates into violence. Eben's attack on the fishermen earns him five years behind bars, and his father (Larry Pine) tells him he'll no longer have anything to do with him. After serving his time, Eben is released from jail only to find that many of his worst fears have been confirmed: Cheryl refuses to see him anymore, she's moved in with Jimmy (Mark Kiely), another local lobster trapper, and she won't allow Eben to visit with Sara (now played by Emma Ford). Regarded as a black sheep by the local fisherman, Eben takes a job at a scrap yard to keep body and soul together, but it's not until Popper (Philip Baker Hall), a veteran fisherman, befriends him that he begins to regain his self-respect and show the world he's changed. Islander was screened at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

As a condition of her parole from juvenile hall, embittered teenager Kris Furillo goes to work at Raintree Horse Farm, located in Fremont, CA, as the ABC Family Channel series Wildfire inaugurates its first season. Upon her arrival, Kris saves the life of Wildfire, an unbroken horse who'd been slated to be destroyed because it was deemed "useless" and "un-trainable." Having herself been consigned to the ash heap of society as an incorrigible loser, Kris forms a strong bond with Wildfire, who will respond only to her commands. As the friendship between girl and horse intensifies, the owner of Raintree, divorcée Jean Ritter (Nana Visitor), begins to see potential in Wildfire as a racing horse, and before long she is pinning her hopes on the notion that Wildfire -- and by extension, Kris -- will enable Jean to restore her family's fortune. Meanwhile, the Ritter family's traditional rivals, the Davis clan, demonstrate that they are willing to do practically anything to prevent Wildfire from stealing thunder from their own stable of horses. In particular, snooty teenager Danielle Davis (Nicole Tubiola) is determined to force Kris off the Raintree property, if for no other reason than Kris has stolen the heart of Danielle's erstwhile boyfriend, Jean's son Matt Ritter (Micah Alberti). Curiously, Danielle's down-to-Earth brother Junior Davis (Ryan Sypek) ends up as one of Kris' best friends and strongest supporters! During the 12 episodes of season one, Kris has a disturbing run-in with her mother Barb (Stacy Haiduk), who is accused of stealing valuables from the Ritter home; Matt develops a gambling problem which siphons much-needed money from his mom's bank account (already depleted by the exigencies of feed bills, IRS payments, and the like); Jean Ritter's troublesome ex-husband Pete (Joe Lando) pops up at the least opportune moment; Kris risks being returned to "juvie" when she starts taking prescription painkillers; and there is intrigue aplenty involving a famous female jockey named Tina Sharp (Amy Jo Johnson). As the season ends, we see a more vulnerable side of the unlovable Danielle Davis as she desperately seeks out the mother who had deserted her many years before. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dark Angel-lead Jessica Alba stars in the title role of this film, the feature debut from music-video director Bille Woodruff. Honey is a girl from the streets who works in a record store, teaches the occasional dance class at a community center, and treks downtown every weekend to hit the clubs and try out some new moves. There, she meets a music video producer (David Moscow) who offers her a chance to be a choreographer -- but at a price she eventually learns she's unwilling to pay. Determined to pick herself back up, Honey goes back to the inner-city of her youth with plans of starting a dance school. Lil' Romeo co-stars as Honey's protege; other real-life musicians (including Missy Elliott, Tweet, Jay-Z, and Ginuwine) appear as themselves. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

When tragic circumstances bring five old friends back to their hometown, revisiting their favorite childhood vacation home seems like a great way to mourn the recent death in their lives. None of them, however, are privy to the fact that a mysterious colony of mutant flies have been breeding in the house during their long absence. Within hours of their arrival, the reunited friends become ill-fated hosts for the flies reproductive cycle -- once the eggs have been laid within their bodies, hope for survival is nil. Infested features Zach Galligan and Amy Jo Johnson, as well as Lisa Ann Hadley, Daniel Jenkins, and Robert Duncan McNeill. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

An unusually heavy rainstorm brings a inordinate amount of "traffic" into the ER. Outside the doors of the hospital, Weaver (Laura Innes) and a nervous, inexperienced Gallant (Sharif Atkins) risk electrocution from downed power lines to save a pregnant woman and her unborn baby. Inside, Greene (Anthony Edwards) treats a young boy whose brother was swept into a river. Carter's (Noah Wyle) grandmother, brought into the ER after sustaining injuries in a hit-and-run, begins hallucinating. Nicole (Julie Delpy), the troubled young girl befriended by Kovac (Goran Visnjic), may be stealing personal items from the staff. And Benton (Eriq La Salle) gets some disturbing news about his son, Reese (Matthew Watkins). Lisa Vidal makes her first series appearance as feisty firefighter Sandy Lopez. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season two of Felicity was the celebrated "year of the haircut," in which series star Keri Russell became a tabloid favorite through the simple expedient of shearing her familiar long tresses. Evidently, Russell's character, Felicity Porter, had made the big snip while traveling cross-country with her erstwhile boyfriend Ben Covington (Scott Speedman). Now summer has segued into fall, and Felicity enters her sophomore year at the University of New York in Greenwich Village. Changing her major from pre-med to fine art, Felicity also undergoes a few changes in her personal life as well. For starters, Ben briefly drops her to have a fling with a caterer named Maggie Sherwood (Teri Polo) but eventually returns to our heroine. Meanwhile, Felicity's former beau, dorm advisor Noel Crane (Scott Foley), starts dating a freshman named Ruby (Amy Smart) but ends the relationship upon learning that Ruby is pregnant with another man's baby. At the same time, Felicity's best friend and Ben's ex-flame, Julie, surprises one and all by moving in with Ben and his naïvely idealistic roommate Sean Bloomberg (Greg Grunberg) -- who, as it turns out, is harboring a crush on Felicity, expressing his ardor by way of a student documentary film. And in another "affair d'amour," Felicity's classmate Elena Tyler (Tangi Miller) falls for new student Tracy (Donald Faison) -- who, in a reversal of the standard "teen TV" cliché, refuses to have sex until marriage. Later in the season, Ben pines away as Felicity dates Greg Stenson (Chris William Martin), who runs the health center where she occasionally does volunteer work. By the time Felicity goes back to Ben, he has accepted a construction job in faraway California. On the verge of taking a summer internship at the Metropolitan Museum, Felicity discovers that her parents are divorcing, which sends her into therapy. And at season's end, Felicity's former boss Javier returns to New York, intent upon wedding his gay lover in an elaborate ceremony. Of the many individual Felicity episodes this season, the best remembered is "Help for the Lovelorn," a black-and-white Twilight Zone spoof in which the viewer learns a lot more about Felicity's somewhat spooky roommate Meghan Rotundi (Amanda Foreman). ~ All Movie Guide

One of two filmed biographies of late track star Steve Prefontaine to be produced in the late '90s, Without Limits comes from director Robert Towne, who previously took a stab at the track-star drama with his directorial debut, 1982's Personal Best. Billy Crudup stars as the ill-fated athlete who overcame physical obstacles to win an NCAA championship and compete in the 1972 Munich Olympics. The film follows Prefontaine from his youth in Oregon where, despite one leg being longer than the other, he shows himself to be a talented runner. Later, while attending the University of Oregon, Prefontaine meets and forms a strong bond with his coach, Bill Bowerman (Donald Sutherland), the man who would later go on to found the Nike shoe corporation. College is also where Prefontaine falls for classmate Mary Marckx (Monica Potter), beginning a romance that lasts until his untimely death in a 1974 automobile accident. The other film about Steve Prefontaine was 1997's Prefontaine which starred Jared Leto in the titular role. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Popular high school student Mark Kinney (Scott Bairstow) wants to get even with tyrannical English teacher John Griffin (Jay Thomas) for humiliating him in class. Together with a group of like-minded friends, Mark hatches a plot to kidnap Mr. Griffin, using his girlfriend Susan (Amy Jo Johnson) as bait. All Mark wants to do is put a scare in Griffin and take a bunch of photographs that will show up the teacher for the fatuous phony that he seems to be. But the student prank goes horribly awry when Griffin turns up dead, the victim of heart failure! Now it falls upon Mark and his co-conspirators to furtively cover their tracks, lest they be accused of felony murder. Based on the bestselling novel by Lois Duncan, the made-for-TV Killing Mr. Griffin debuted April 7, 1997, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on the hit children's television series The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, this film has the teenage superheroes doing battle with the other-worldly villainess Divatox (Hilary Shepard Turner). She is the wife of an evil lord named Maligore who is imprisoned in an energy vacuum inside one of Earth's volcanos. Freeing him would mean doom for the universe. Divatox needs to bring a good wizard named Lerigot (Jon Simanton) to the volcano, because he has the key to unlocking the energy prison. Lerigot flees his planet and escapes to Earth just before Divatox's henchmen capture him. The five Rangers disguise themselves as ordinary teenagers, but their secret is discovered by ten-year-old Justin (Blake Foster), and he is allowed to don a power suit and become one of them. Zordon, the Power Rangers' boss, gives his crew extra powers to thwart Divatox, who with her pirates has captured a submarine. The showdown between the forces of universal good and evil includes plenty of karate and kick-boxing around a seething cauldron of lava. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

The popular children's television show comes to the screen in this sci-fi adventure about a group of teenage superheroes battling an evil leader bent on world domination. The film's six heroes lead double existences as normal young teens who, when needed, don color-coded costumes to become the Power Rangers. Under the guidance of the valiant Zordon (Nicholas Bell), the Rangers fight crime with kung-fu skills and specialized attack vehicles. This time, the Rangers are battling Ivan Ooze (Paul Freeman), a millennia-old villain who hopes to take over the world with an army of phlegm creatures. The Rangers' only hope for victory is to acquire a special power source, leading to a dangerous journey into outer space. Despite the larger budget, the film remains true to the style of the show, which often recalls Japanese monster movies in its depictions of battling giant monsters through obvious special effects. The fast-paced fantasy action attracted a good portion of its intended youthful audience, while not becoming quite as much of a sensation as the TV series; some adults attacked the film for its reliance on violence (though of a bloodless, cartoon variety) and its status as a blatant promotional tool for the best-selling Power Ranger toys. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide