Andrew Adelson Movies
Four people get a crash course in the difference between love and desire in this independent drama. Ellis (Kuno Becker) and Renee (Eliza Dushku) are a young couple who've grown tired of one another, and though they're still in love, they aren't sure how to reignite the spark in their relationship. Elsewhere, James (Macaulay Culkin) and Heather (Alexis Dziena) are another young couple who are having trouble in the bedroom; he's not as attracted to her as he once was, and she's determined to do something about it. Heather arranges for her and James to attend a lecture by relationship therapist Dr. Wellbridge (Joanna Miles), where they meet Ellis and Renee. In a private meeting with Dr. Wellbridge, the two couples are encouraged to swap partners as a way of breaking up the monotony and confronting their problems, but after a few days together the four know more about one another and their troubles than they ever expected to learn. Sex and Breakfast was the first feature film from writer and director Miles Brandman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Macaulay Culkin, Kuno Becker, (more)
Beauty and Power tells the sordid tale of Judith Exner (Natasha Henstridge), who claimed to have dated Frank Sinatra (John Ralston) and to have been the mistress of Jack Kennedy (Kevin Anderson, who played also Bobby Kennedy in Hoffa). The story is told in flashback, from Exner's point of view. In voice-overs, Exner breaks her life down into three critical mistakes -- the three major romantic relationships in her life. The first, she explains, was marrying Billy Campbell (Grant Nickalls), who was more concerned with his acting career than with their marriage, and who cheated on her frequently. Her friendship with an L.A.-based mobster leads to an affair with Sinatra, which she breaks off after he tries to involve her in a ménage a trios. She remains friends with Sinatra, and then meets Kennedy while he's just beginning his primary campaign for the presidency, and she soon falls in love with him. At around the same time, she meets Chicago gangster Sam Giancana (Peter Friedman), who falls in love with her and is jealous of her romance with Kennedy. Eventually she becomes a liaison between the presidential candidate and the mob, carrying briefcases of Kennedy money to Giancana for his help with the election. Kennedy professes his love for her and tells her that his marriage is just for show, and that he'll get a divorce if he doesn't win the presidency. Of course, things don't work out the way Exner might have hoped. The FBI begins harassing her, and she grows frustrated with her arrangement with the president. Beauty and Power debuted on Showtime in July 2002. It was directed by Susan Seidelman (Desperately Seeking Susan). ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natasha Henstridge, Kevin Anderson, (more)
Can it truly be said that a family is torn apart when they were never truly "together" to begin with? This is one of the disturbing questions posed by the wrenching made-for-cable drama We Were the Mulvaneys. Adapted from the novel by Joyce Carol Oates, the film stars Beau Bridges and Blythe Danner as Michael and Corinne Mulvaney, the parents of four "ideal" children. Outwardly the picture of domestic perfection, the Mulvaneys reveal the truth about themselves when their daughter Marianne (Tammy Blanchard) is raped. Desperately trying to avoid a public scandal, Michael and Corinne force Marianne to keep quiet about her violation, then ship her off to an undisclosed location where she can "recover." In the ensuing three years, Corinne tries to expunge her outrage and guilt over her daughter's plight by overzealously embracing religion, while the once-ambitious Michael degenerates into an abusive drunkard. The story is told from the viewpoint of youngest Mulvaney son, Judd (Thomas Guiry), whose life is likewise adversely altered forever. Heavily promoted by the Lifetime cable network publicity team, We Were the Mulvaneys made its initial TV appearance on April 8, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
On April 19, 1989, an explosion during training exercises in Gun Turret number two of the U.S.S. Iowa, a storied battleship, created more than one firestorm; Besides the one that killed more than 40 sailors, a scandal swept the nation that put the U.S. Navy on the defensive. The Navy, in what some suspected was an attempt to cover up unauthorized artillery experiments by enlisted men, accused one of the dead men of being a suicidal homosexual and setting off the explosion in a fit of jealous rage. Idealistic Lieutenant Dan Meyer (Robert Sean Leonard), a witness to the tragedy, whose father was an honored military man, must square off with the ship's longtime, but remote captain, Fred Moosally (James Caan), when testifying during the heated and nationally televised investigation by the Pentagon. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Caan, Robert Sean Leonard, (more)
- 2001
This made-for-TV movie opens as photojournalist Jo Ellen Hathaway (Melissa Gilbert) awakens from a horrible nightmare. As it turns out, Jo Ellen would have been better off if she had stayed in bed: She is being stalked by a love-obsessed psycho. In hopes of saving her own life and determining the identity of her pursuer, the heroine heads back to her hometown to solve the disappearance of her own mother back in 1983. Before the truth comes out, however, the audience bears witness to a few gruesome murders, including one committed by hatchet. Based on a novel (as indicated by its title), Nora Roberts' Sanctuary premiered February 28, 2001 over the CBS network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1999
- NR
The true story of the world's first submarine and its maritime usage by the Confederacy during the U.S. Civil War. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Armand Assante, Donald Sutherland, (more)
Vanessa Stewart (Janine Turner) has the soul of an artist, but her business tycoon father insists that she follow in his footsteps. As a result, Vanessa convinces herself that she wants to be a globetrotting executive, and also that she truly loves the man to whom she is engaged. But while in Venice on a business trip at the behest of her father, Vanessa meets and falls in love with adventurous Irish TV war correspondent Bill Fitzgerald (Paudge Behan). Deciding to kick over the traces, Vanessa is prepared to turn her back on her family obligations and plight her troth with Bill. But Fate, as it often does, takes a hand in matters when Bill is reported killed during a dangerous combat assignment. Based on a novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford (as if the full title of this made-for-TV feature left any doubt), A Secret Affair first aired October 27, 1999 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janine Turner, Paudge Behan, (more)
- 1998
Reuniting several China Beach talents, this three-hour, fact-based TV miniseries dramatizes the apparent government cover-up of the after-effects of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Exposure to toxic agents by some 100,000 men and women led to skin rashes, respiratory infections, and cancer, but the Department of Defense claimed the Gulf War Syndrome was psychosomatic. When Vietnam veteran and retired U.S. Secret Service agent Jim Tuite (Ted Danson) begins work with Sen. Donald Riegle (Brian Dennehy), he sees vets denied proper medical benefits and concludes billions in payouts would result if the government admitted that toxic chemicals were sprayed about during the war. Healthy Chris Small (Matt Keeslar) comes back from the Gulf War in only a few months with digestive and respiratory problems, while his wife Teri (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and baby daughter both experience rashes from contact with Chris. In the post-war operations, Waco farmer Jared Gallimore (Steven Weber) stumbles across uranium dust and has brain tumors by the time he goes home to his sister Jerrillyn Folz (Marg Helgenberger). Interview footage with real soldiers and officers is intercut into the drama, filmed in Toronto and the California Mojave Desert. Premiered May 31, 1998 on Showtime. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ted Danson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, (more)
- 1997
In this delightfully lachrymose Barbara Taylor Bradford confection, Maggie Sorrell (Victoria Principal) moves to a different town after she is dumped by her cheating husband. Within what seems to be a few minutes, Maggie has carved out a new career for herself as an immensely successful interior designer. She then meets Jake Cantrell (Adrian Pasdar), a much-younger man who, unbeknownst to Maggie, has likewise been abandoned--but not divorced--by a faithless spouse. Beyond the expected May-December complications, the plot also manages to incorporate a car accident, a fatal illness, and a side trip to Scotland (Well, why not Scotland?). Barbara Taylor Bradford's Love In Another Town originally aired October 19, 1997 by CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victoria Principal, Adrian Pasdar, (more)
This Canadian-Japanese co-production uses both vintage historical footage (including armed forces films and period newsreels) and contemporary dramatic reenactments to tell the story of how the scientific and military minds behind the Manhattan Project, under the orders of President Harry Truman (Kenneth Welsh), developed the first atomic bomb. The weapon was first used to attack the city of Hiroshima near the end of World War II, changing forever the shape of modern warfare and bringing fearsome devastation to a previously quiet Japanese city. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
