David McFadzean Movies

A family man experiencing an existential crisis sets out on the road in search of his birth father, who as fate would have it is on a life-altering quest of his own, in director David de Vos' tale of two men's search for God in a world fallen to pieces. His marriage in shambles and his bank account drained to the last dollar, Doug Holloway (de Vos) decides to seek clarity in the quest for his biological father - noted physicist Dr. Eugene Holland (Victor Lundin). A renowned genius who has recently been diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease, Dr. Holland is determined to prove the elusive "Theory of Everything" by discovering the formula that will prove the existence of God before he loses his ability to reason. When the two men finally come together, their separate missions merge as they reconnect with family and seek comfort and hope in the glory of God. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Pregnant 17-year-old Novalee Nation (Natalie Portman) runs away from her Tennessee home toward the bright lights of California, accompanied by her boyfriend, Willy Jack Pickins (Dylan Bruno). But Willy gets cold feet and abandons her at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, OK. Novalee's life savings amount to $5.55, so she moves into the Wal-Mart, sleeping there at night and venturing out during the day. With the help of the eccentric Sister Husband (Stockard Channing), and Lexie Coop (Ashley Judd), a nurses' aide, Novalee tries to get her life in order for the sake of her expected child, Americus Nation. Based on a novel by Billie Letts, Where the Heart Is also features Keith David, Joan Cusack, Richard Nance, and Heather Kafka. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Home Improvement begins its eighth and final season with one fewer regular than in previous seasons. Jonathan Taylor-Thomas, who since the series' debut had been seen as Randy Taylor, the middle child of cable-TV star Tim Taylor (Tim Allen) and his wife, Jill (Patricia Richardson), had decided to briefly quit acting to devote himself to his college studies. Thus, it was explained on the series that Randy had left home in the company of his socially conscious girlfriend, Lauren, to go to Costa Rica in hopes of rescuing the rain forest. However, Brad's brothers, Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) and Mark (Taran Noah Smith), remained in the family fold. The series' final episode is truly one for the ages. After yet another fight with his sponsor, Binford Tools, Tim quits his TV show "Tool Time" cold, and prepares to move to faraway Bloomington with wife Jill, who has landed a job at a medical clinic. Since they cannot bear to leave their old house behind, the only solution is to take it with them -- which they do! Elsewhere, Tim's assistant, Al (Richard Karn), heartbroken since the breakup of his engagement to Ilene Markham, finds a happily-ever-after in the arms of his new bride, the pleasantly plump Trudy (Megan Cavanagh). And, in a moment the world has been waiting for, we finally get to see the complete face of Tim's philosophical neighbor, Wilson Wilson (Earl Hindman)! Finally, the terminal season of Home Improvement won an Emmy award for the series' lighting director Donald A. Morgan -- his seventh such Emmy in eight years! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A woman is torn by both romantic and maternal love in this period romantic drama set in the 1830s. Elisabeth (Sophie Marceau), a Swiss governess, is the beautiful daughter of a once-prosperous landowner who has fallen deeply into debt. Charles Godwin (Stephen Dillane) is a prominent British aristocrat whose wife has suffered a crippling accident; doomed to spend the rest of her life in a semi-comatose state, she cannot bear Charles the child he so desperately needs. So Charles strikes an agreement with Elisabeth; she will conceive a child with him and hand it over after it is born in exchange for him paying off her father's debts. Elisabeth and Charles set aside three nights to make a baby, and while the matter is supposed to be purely functional and not romantic, Elisabeth finds it difficult to feel that way at the end of the third evening. She is heartbroken when she has to give up the child, and her obsession with the daughter she gave away is reflected in her journals and sketchbooks. Seven years later, Elisabeth discovers the whereabouts of Charles and their daughter, Louisa (Dominique Belcourt); when she learns they need a governess, she is hired for the position by Charles's sister-in-law Constance (Lia Williams), who is unaware that Elisabeth is Louisa's birth mother. When Charles discovers that Elisabeth is the new governess, he is furious, but he eventually takes pity on her and allows her to stay with the child for one month. However, before long, Elisabeth's attraction to Charles resurfaces, and their clandestine romance forces a number difficult questions. Firelight marked the directorial debut of noted screenwriter William Nicholson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since do-it-yourselfer Tim Taylor (Tim Allen) hosted his first episode of cable TV's "Tool Time" in the opening season of Home Improvement. As the series enters its fifth season, Tim's son Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), ten years old when the series started, is just about to begin his first year in high school, where he is destined to excel as a hockey player (and also to lose his trademarked ponytail). Season five also introduces a new recurring character: Tim's new boss, Bud Harper (Charles Robinson), who takes an instant dislike to Tim's on-air assistant, Al (Richard Karn). Additionally, more screen time is allotted to Irene Markham (Sherry Hursey), Al's off-and-on fiancée. Down from third place in the 1994-1995 ratings, Home Improvement still closed at a strong seventh place at the climax of its fifth season. And, for the fifth year in a row, and Emmy award was bestowed upon the series' lighting director, Donald A. Morgan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Despite a jealous Tim's efforts to fix the votes, Bob Vila has been elected as Tool Time's favorite guest star. Making yet another appearance on the show, Bob challenges Tim (Tim Allen) to a lawn-mowing race. To prepare for the event, Tim soups up his mower with a piece of a Chinook jet helicopter -- and guess what happens next? Elsewhere, Tim's sons, Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan) and Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), persuade their brother, Mark (Taran Noah Smith), to put a tadpole in his mouth (?) which he abruptly swallows. This was the final episode of Home Improvement's second season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Inasmuch as Home Improvement had closed out its first season as the nation's fifth highest-rated TV program, neither its producers nor the ABC network saw the need to make anything but superficial changes for the series' second season on the air. ABC moved the program from its Tuesday night slot to an even better Wednesday-night berth, while one of the recurring characters, long-suffering "Tool Time" assistant Al Borland (Richard Karn), was promoted to "series regular" status. Otherwise, things remained pretty much the same as they'd been during season one. Protagonist Tim Taylor (Tim Allen) was still a fount of wisdom and expertise on his Detroit-based "do it yourself" cable TV series, "Tool Time" but a momument to ineptitude and insensitivity in his own home. Tim's wife, Jill (Patricia Richardson), now employed at a Detroit magazine, continued in her efforts to force culture and class upon her husband, all the while struggling to prevent him from "repairing" the household appliances. The Taylors' three sons -- eleven-year-old Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), ten-year-old Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), and seven-year-old Mark (Taran Noah Smith) -- persisted in causing trouble for themselves and their parents, though it was clear that there was a lot of love and mutual respect in the family's household. Of the remaining characters, ubiquitous neighbor Wilson (Earl Hindman) continued to dispense advice and philosophy to Tim and his brood -- and also continued to remain a somewhat shadowy figure, never showing his face to anyone. Buxom "tool girl" Lisa (Pamela Anderson) was still a fixture of Tim's TV series, seldom saying much but certainly making a big impression whenever she wriggled into camera range. And in a new development, Maureen Binford (Vicki Lewis), ditzy daughter of "Tool Time"'s primary sponsor, became the series' producer, saddling Tim with all manners of idiotic format changes to boost his ratings. Moving from fifth to third place in the real-life ratings, Home Improvement was the second most popular sitcom of 1992-1993, beaten out only by another ABC offering, Roseanne. And for the second year in a row, an Emmy award was bestowed upon the series' director of photography, Donald A. Morgan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tired of being an object of ridicule and abuse for Jill's feminist friend Karen (Betsy Randle), Tim (Tim Allen) finally stands up to her. Somehow this culminates in Tim coming home with a piece of table glued to his forehead. Elsewhere, Jill (Patricia Richardson) tries to teach her son Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan) to dance when he is invited to the anniversary party of his girlfriend Jennifer 's (Jessica Wesson) parents. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first season of Home Improvement drew heavily upon the standup comedy routines of series co-creator Tim Allen, herein cast as Tim Taylor, star of the Detroit cable-TV series "Tool Time" -- sort of a low-rent version of Bob Vila's do-it-yourself opus This Old House (Vila in fact guest-starred on the episode titled "What About Bob"). Allen's humor relied upon barbed but affectionate digs at his wife and kids, and his ever-increasing ineptitude in dealing with the follies and foibles of everyday life. In Home Improvement, Tim Taylor was affirmatively master of his domain on "Tool Time" -- even though he relied a bit too extensively on his all-purpose solution to any mechanical problem, "More Power! More Power!" -- but at home he was all thumbs with the household appliances, and a stumbler-bumbler supreme when dealing with his wife, Jill (Patricia Richardson), and three sons, Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), and Mark (Taran Noah Smith). As for Jill, she spent much of season one fighting a losing battle to imbue her oafish husband with sensitivity and culture (specifically, trying to get him to accompany her to the opera), but loved him all the same. Jill also yearned to find a job of her own, finally landing a position on a high-profile magazine.

The Taylor youngsters were typically mischievous and sometimes irksome but basically good kids, though youngest son Mark (age 6) tended to be victimized by the prankery of ten-year-old Brad and nine-year-old Randy. During the first season, Brad began squiring a classmate named Jennifer Sudarsky (Jessica Wesson), resulting in a variety of amusing and all-too-human "puppy love" situations. Also in the cast was Earl Hindman as the Taylors' philosophical, advice-dispensing neighbor Wilson, whose face was never clearly seen behind the backyard fence that separated the two neighbors' houses. Showing up on a recurring basis was Tim's long-suffering "Tool Time" assistant, Al Borland (Richard Karn), and the show's pulchritudinous "tool girl" Lisa (Pamela Anderson). Likewise making sporadic "Tool Time" appearances were Rock (Casey Sander), Peter (Mickey Jones), and Dwayne (Gary McGurk), the guys from K&B Construction. Initially telecast on ABC's Tuesday evening schedule, Home Improvement ended its first season as the nation's fifth highest-rated program. The series also earned an Emmy award for Achievement in Lighting Direction (the statuette went to director of photography Donald A. Morgan). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide