Victor Garber Movies
Broadway actor
Victor Garber was born on March 16th, 1940 in London, Ontario, Canada. Through years of working on-stage, he has earned several Tony and Drama Desk nominations. He earned his first Obie award for his performance in Wenceslas Square at the 1988 New York Shakespeare Festival. Some of his other stage credits include Macbeth, Sweeney Todd, Damn Yankees, and
Yasmina Reza's Art. After playing Jesus on-stage in Toronto,
Garber reprised his role in
David Greene's 1973 film musical
Godspell. He joined
Greene again to play the lead in
Liberace: Behind the Music (1988).
Staying busy with theater,
Garber occasionally acts in supporting roles on the big screen. He appeared in two of
Nora Ephron's feature comedies:
Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and
Mixed Nuts (1994). He also appeared in the tense drama
Exotica in 1994, directed by fellow Canadian
Atom Egoyan. Throughout the '90s and beyond, he appeared in countless TV movies, from
Woman on the Run: The Lawrencia Bembenek Story (1993) to
Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story (2002). Some of his mainstream feature appearances include small parts in
The First Wives Club,
Titanic, and
Legally Blonde. Meanwhile, he regularly appeared in a Canadian television mystery series, Criminal Instincts, based on the novels by
Gail Bowen, starting with the first installment Love and Murder in 2000. He played Inspector Phillip Menard to head police detective Joanne Kilborne (
Wendy Crewson). He also had a very comfortable home in Disney movies during this time, as he played the dad in
Tuck Everlasting, the king in
Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, and Daddy Warbucks in
Rob Marshall's 1999 TV feature
Annie.
In 2001,
Garber was cast as another dad in the dramatic spy series
Alias. He played Jack Bristow, the CIA agent dad of Sydney Bristow (
Jennifer Garner). He earned an Emmy nomination for his work on the show. Characters for 2003 included a mayor in the ABC musical
The Music Man and a detective in the independent drama
Home Room. The actor continued his work in Alias until 2005, and enjoyed further success on the television series’ Justice and Eli Stone. In 2008, the actor took on the role of Mayor Moscone for the Academy Award-winning Milk, and lent his voice to Kung Fu Panda 2 in 2011. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

- 2011
- PG
- Add Kung Fu Panda 2 to Queue
Add Kung Fu Panda 2 to top of Queue
The saga of Po continues in this sequel that finds the newly anointed Dragon Warrior (voice of Jack Black) teaming with The Furious Five to safeguard the Valley of Peace. But when a new adversary launches a treacherous bid to seize control of China and obliterate the martial arts, Po must look back to his enigmatic origins in order to unleash his true potential, and defeat his most powerful opponent to date. Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Michelle Yeoh provide addition voices for this sequel directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson from a screenplay by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, (more)

- 2010
- PG
- Add You Again to Queue
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A high-powered PR professional discovers that her brother is about to marry the woman who made her high school life a living hell in this comedy starring Kristen Bell and Odette Yustman. Back in her teens, Marni (Bell) was a little awkward. These days she's a successful career woman, but the memories of being tormented by popular cheerleader Joanna (Yustman) still make her break into a cold sweat. Flying home for her brother's Will's wedding, Marni realizes to her horror that she will soon be sister-in-law to the pompon-wielding mean girl who once humiliated her in front of the entire student body. And apparently her nemesis learned from the best, because back when Marni's mom (Jamie Lee Curtis) was in high school, Joanna's aunt (Sigourney Weaver) served up the same kind of treatment. Now that they're about to become family, Marni and her mom do their best to let bygones be bygones. But old grudges die hard, and by the time the wedding bells chime, these old foes will already have some saucy stories to share with their grandchildren. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, (more)

- 2009
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- Add The Last Templar to Queue
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A Manhattan archeologist teams with an FBI agent to uncover the buried secrets of the legendary Knights Templar in this romantic adventure mini-series starring Mira Sorvino and Scott Foley. Based on Raymond Khoury's international bestseller, The Last Templar opens in 1921, as Sultan's army burns the city of Acre to the ground. The Latin Kingdom's reign has come to a close. All that's left of its legacy is a single galley, which drifts out to sea carrying young Templar Knight Martin of Carmax, his mentor Aimard of Villiers, and an enigmatic chest entrusted to the pair by the order's dying Grand Master. Flash forward to present-day New York City, where a gala is being held to celebrate the opening of an exhibition of Vatican treasures at the Metropolitan Museum. As the upper crust of Manhattan society marvel at the priceless treasures, four men dressed as Templar Knights storm into the museum on horseback, sending the crowd into mass chaos. Amidst all the confusion, archeologist Tess Chaykin (Sorvino) watches in horror as the leader of the horsemen steals a mysterious geared device from the exhibit before disappearing into Central Park. Later, as the horsemen begin turning up dead, Tess and FBI Agent Sean Daley (Foley) realize the importance of the device and learn the dark history of the last living Templars' fateful journey at sea. Now, in order to solve a mystery centuries in the making, Tess and Agent Daley will embark on a journey that leads them from the sewers and cemeteries of Manhattan to the desolate Turkish highlands and onto a remote Greek Island, where one of the Vatican's best-kept secrets will be revealed right before their very eyes. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Mira Sorvino, Scott Foley, (more)

- 2009
- PG13
- Add Green Lantern: First Flight to Queue
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The creators of Superman: Doomsday, Batman: Gotham Knight, and Wonder Woman re-team to tell the origins of the Green Lantern in this animated DC Comics feature. When Hal Jordan (voice of Christopher Meloni) is recruited to join the Green Lantern corps, he is placed under the direct supervision of senior Lantern Sinestro. But the Green Lantern corps has come under attack by a powerful foe. When Hal discovers that Sinestro is actually part of a vast conspiracy that aims to dismantle the entire organization, he must use his newfound powers to restore order and combat the treason that threatens to tarnish the Green Lantern legacy. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Christopher Meloni, Victor Garber, (more)

- 2009
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This documentary examines the life and work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, one of the most talented American sculptors of the 19th century. The program shows off some his most famous works, including numerous civil war tributes, and explains how his creations have had a lasting effect on American art into the 21stcentury. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Victor Garber

- 2008
- R
- Add Milk to Queue
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Academy Award winner Sean Penn takes the title role in Gus Van Sant's biopic tracing the last eight years in the life of Harvey Milk, the ill-fated politician and gay activist whose life changed history, and whose courage still inspires people. When Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, he made history for being the first openly gay man in American history to be voted into public office. But the rights of homosexuals weren't Milk's primary concern, as tellingly evidenced by the wide array of political coalitions he formed over the course of his tragically brief career. He fought for everyone from union workers to senior citizens, a true hero of human rights who possessed nothing but compassion for his fellow man. The story begins in New York City, where a 40-year-old Milk ponders what steps he can take to make his life more meaningful.
Eventually, Milk makes the decision to relocate to the West Coast, where he and his lover, Scott Smith (James Franco), found a small business in the heart of a working-class neighborhood. Empowered by his love for the Castro neighborhood and the success of his business, Castro Camera, Milk somewhat unexpectedly begins to emerge as an outspoken agent for change. With a growing support system that includes both Scott and a like-minded young activist named Cleve Jones (Emile Hirsch), the charismatic Milk decides to take a fateful leap into politics, eventually developing a reputation as a leader who isn't afraid to follow up his words with actions. In short order, he is elected supervisor for the newly zoned District 5, though this seeming triumph is in fact the catalyst for a tragedy that starts to unfold as Milk does his best to forge a political partnership with Dan White (Josh Brolin), another newly elected supervisor. Over time it becomes apparent that Milk and White's political agendas are directly at odds, a revelation that puts their personal destinies on a catastrophic collision course. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, (more)

- 2008
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- Add Eli Stone: Season 01 to Queue
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Follow Eli Stone (Jonny Miller) on his quirky quest for answers in this exciting and upbeat comedic drama. When Eli awakens to an unending George Michael soundtrack that only he can hear, gets dive-bombed by a WWI biplane on a busy San Francisco street, and faces a fire-breathing dragon outside his office window, there are two possible explanations: delusions caused by a potentially fatal brain aneurysm or the chance that something greater is at work. He might just be a prophet sent to change the world. Victor Garber and Loretta Devine lead an acclaimed supporting cast in this wonderfully wacky new series, ELI STONE: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON. Complete with every Season One episode, exclusive bloopers and behind-the-scenes footage, this 4-disc box set will surprise, inspire and leave you feeling like you gotta have faith.
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- Starring:
- Jonny Lee Miller, Victor Garber, (more)

- 2006
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Originally titled American Crime, the Fox network legal/procedural series Justice focused on the California law firm of Trott, Nicholson, Tuller & Graves (also known as "TNT&G"), a "dream team" specializing in high-profile cases guaranteed to draw maximum media attention. Victor Garber starred as TNT&G's head man, Ron Trott, a "celebrity lawyer" in every sense of the word, who when not found in the courtroom was doing the rounds of all the best and highest-rated TV talk shows. The "N" of TNT&G was Tom Nicholson (Kerr Smith), described by Trott as "the American face of not guilty," who charmed judges and juries alike with his man-of-the-people demeanor, and whose polite, self-effacing exterior masked a win-at-all-costs aggressiveness that was second only to his senior partner. The final "T" of the firm was ambitious young female attorney Alden Tuller (Rebecca Mader), a genius at research and cross-examination. The "G" of TNT&G was former prosecutor Luther Graves (Eamonn Walker), well-connected in both political and special-interest circles, whose specialty was scrutinizing each case from both sides so as to anticipate the opposition's every move. Most of the episodes were inspired by real-life court cases, and each featured a meticulous, high-tech reenactment of the alleged crime, assembled by Trott and his colleagues to figure out all the angles. And each episode ended with a flashback to what really happened before TNT&G decided to defend their client, allowing the viewers at home to decide whether or not justice had been served. Produced for Jerry Bruckheimer Productions by former litigator Jonathan Shapiro, Justice was described by one critic as "CSI at warp speed." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Victor Garber, Kerr Smith, (more)

- 2005
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- Add Alias: Season 04 to Queue
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Despite its late start in January of 2005 after a hiatus of eight months, the fourth season of Alias more than made up for lost time with a plethora of trials, tribulations, jaw-dropping revelations, big-time betrayals, and near-death experiences for the series' secret-agent heroine, Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner). Reeling from the disillusionment and embarrassment of her demotion, Sydney quits the CIA flat; however, it turns out that this is part of a master plan hatched by new CIA director Hayden Chase (Angela Bassett) to arrange Sydney's membership in Authorized Personnel Only (APO), a top-top secret black-ops organization. Sydney's co-workers at APO include several longtime associates: her father, Jack (Victor Garber); her partner and sometime lover, Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan); her steadfast previous partner Dixon (Carl Lumbly) -- and, much to our heroine's surprise, her duplicitous ex-chief, Sloane (Ron Rifkin), who has proven time and again that he can't be trusted. For her first APO assignment, Sydney is sent to Rio, where she has a fateful encounter with her latest adversary, Tamasaki (Rick Yune), a self-styled 21st century samurai. Previously a recurring character, Sydney's half-sister, Nadia Santos (Mía Maestro), becomes a full regular this season, the better to throw a monkey wrench into Sydney's volatile relationship with her father, Jack -- and to share with Jack a startling secret about Sydney's supposedly dead, supposedly traitorous mother. At the same time, Vaughn has a great deal of difficulty overcoming the treachery of his former wife, Lauren, and an equal amount of difficulty assimilating new and disturbing information about his own father. Major developments this season include a huge revival of interest in the Rambaldi code, which when broken may spell the doom of humankind; the surprising temporary recruitment of another of Sydney's longtime enemies, Julian Sark (David Anders), for a special APO mission; a grim prognostication that Sydney and Nadia are destined to duke it out to the death; and the resurrection of a long-presumed-dead central character, who will reveal anew to Sydney that she can never completely rely upon anyone or believe in anything, not even the evidence of her own eyes. Though the season ends with the good news that Sydney and Vaughn are engaged, any hopes for lasting happiness are dashed by still another shocking revelation -- and a spectacular car crash. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Jennifer Garner, Victor Garber, (more)

- 2003
-
- Add Alias: Season 03 to Queue
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As season three of the ABC espionage series gets under way, secret agent Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) has still not entirely adjusted to the startling revelation that she has somehow lost track of two years in her life -- and that her partner and erstwhile lover Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan) is now married to Lauren Reed (Melissa George). Also, she is informed that her double-agent father, Jack (Victor Garber), who thought Sydney was dead, has been jailed -- in solitary confinement -- for a year, and her duplicitous boss, Sloane (Ron Rifkin), has disavowed his evil ways and "gone straight." But just as in previous seasons, what seems true on the surface is a different story as Sydney digs deeper into the mystery of her missing years. Placed back on active duty, Sydney tortuously tries to put the pieces back together, with Vaughn at her side and Lauren agonizing over the likelihood that her marriage is doomed. Various links to Sydney's past include her old nemesis Julian Sark (David Anders), who has hatched a scheme to cripple the nation's satellite system; and freelance thief Simon Walker (Justin Theroux), whose team is involved in stealing a dirty weapon. There are also unexpected encounters with Sydney's old friend Will Tippin (Bradley Cooper), newly dragged from the bowels of the Witness Protection Program, and the redoubtable Allison Doren (Merrin Dungey), the evil doppelganger of Sydney's murdered roommate, Francie. Throughout, there is a concerted effort to prevent Sydney's memory from coming back -- an effort engineered not only by her enemies, but by those who know that she is harboring a terrible secret that will destroy her once she knows all. In the mid-season episode "Full Disclosure," Sydney finally receives the whole shocking story about those lost two years, and her complicity in the murder of a Russian diplomat. Thereafter, we're back to the basics, with Sydney and Vaughn collaborating on a variety of top-secret missions, several tied in with the ubiquitous Rambaldi code, which when broken will lead to a super-weapon capable of wiping out all of humankind. And in the time remaining in season three, the scorned Lauren is at the center of a startling betrayal -- and, ultimately, Sydney is slapped with a bitter disillusionment that makes all past disillusionments in her life pale in comparison. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Jennifer Garner, Victor Garber, (more)

- 2003
-
- Add The Music Man to Queue
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A hit Broadway musical in 1957 and an equally successful Hollywood film in 1962, Meredith Willson's The Music Man was again brought before the cameras in this lavish made-for-TV adaptation. Standing in for the original's Robert Preston is Matthew Broderick as "Professor" Harold Hill, a glib traveling salesman who descends upon the town of River City, IA, in the weeks just prior to the Fourth of July celebration of 1912. Persuading the populace that the youth of River City is in great danger of being corrupted by the presence of a new pool table, Hill convinces them that their only hope for salvation is the organization of a boy's band, with himself as a leader. Naturally, this will require the parents to shell out good money for band instruments and uniforms, and in exchange, Hill promises to teach the kids how to make music by utilizing his revolutionary "Think System." There's only one problem: Harold Hill is an out-and-out con artist, who doesn't know one note from another. Even so, he manages to win over everybody in town except local librarian/music teacher Marian Paroo (Kristin Chenoweth) and thick-eared Mayor Shinn (Victor Garber). Ultimately, however, Marian joins Hill's camp -- mainly because he has brought her sullen brother, Winthrop (Cameron Monaghan), out of his shell -- but as July Fourth approaches, Hill faces exposure and arrest thanks to a vengeful anvil salesman named Charlie Cowell (Patrick McKenna). A meticulously faithful rendition of the Broadway original, The Music Man happily includes all of the show's wonderful songs, among them "Ya Got Trouble," "Seventy-Six Trombones," "The Sadder-But-Wiser Girl," "Lida Rose," "Marian the Librarian," "Pickalittle," "Til There Was You," and "My White Knight" (which was not used in the 1962 movie adaptation). Though some critics found Matthew Broderick a bit too lightweight and Jeff Bleckner's direction a tad gimmicky, no one could fault the full-bodied vocal renditions, nor the consistently inventive choreography of Kathleen Marshall. Produced by the same team responsible for the 2003 movie smash Chicago, The Music Man debuted February 16, 2003, as an "expanded" episode of ABC's Wonderful World of Disney anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Matthew Broderick, Kristin Chenoweth, (more)

- 2003
- R
- Add Home Room to Queue
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American independent filmmaker Paul F. Ryan makes his feature debut with the psychological drama Home Room. The students of Valley High School try to get on with their lives in the aftermath of a traumatic school shooting in which nine students were killed. Even though the perpetrator is dead, the townspeople still want to find some answers. Detective Martin Van Zandt (Victor Garber) decides to interrogate high school student Alicia Browning (Busy Philipps), who was present during the attack. Because of her cynical attitude and dark fashion choices, she is viewed as a possible threat. Principal Robbins (James Pickens Jr.) sentences her to regular hospital visits with the pretty and popular Deanna Cartwright (Erika Christensen), who was seriously injured in the attack. Alicia and Deanna overcome their initial differences and develop a nurturing friendship with psychological help from Dr. Hollander (Holland Taylor). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Busy Philipps, Erika Christensen, (more)

- 2002
-
- Add Alias: Season 02 to Queue
Add Alias: Season 02 to top of Queue
Cunningly presaged by the cliffhanger at the end of season one, the first episode of Alias' second season confirmed what heroine Sydney A. Bristow (Jennifer Garner) -- college student by day, counterespionage agent the rest of the time -- had feared most: that "The Man," the evil leader of a vast criminal cartel, was no man at all, but instead Sydney's supposedly dead mother, former KGB agent Irina Derevko (played by new series regular Lena Olin). Though Irina would eventually claim to have reformed and insisted that she was looking out for Sydney's best interests, her actions -- which included innumerable double-crosses, sellouts, and betrayals -- would seem to indicate otherwise. Even so, nothing that was ever "indicated" on Alias was ever quite what it appeared on the surface. Meanwhile, both of the spy organizations for which Sydney worked, the CIA and the more sinister SD-6, were dedicated to destroying the cartel formerly run by Irina and now in the hands of her mercurial lieutenant, Sark (played by another new series regular, David Anders). The two rival agencies also continued their search for the missing Rambaldi fragments, which when assembled would become a terrifying weapon of mass destruction, as well as "The Bible," the operations manual used by Irina's old criminal empire.
Still embittered by the knowledge that she had been used all her life by SD-6, Syd persisted in covertly working against the organization by throwing in with the CIA, under the supervision of agent Michael C. Vaughn (Michael Vartan), who by the time season two rolled around, was making no secret of his love for Syd. Two other SD-6 operatives, computer genius Marshall Flinkman (Kevin Weisman) and agent Marcus Dixon (Carl Lumbly), likewise crossed over to the CIA, with tragic results for at least one of them. Syd was given even more reason to despise the espionage business when she learned that, as a child, she had been a guinea pig for a program designed to indoctrinate spies at an early age -- a program developed by her own father, Jack Bristow (Victor Garber). There was another "father figure" in Syd's life in the form of her SD-6 boss, Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin), who despite his cruel cunning and ruthlessness was genuinely fond of both Bristows. Sloane would launch a second career as a solo villain when, disillusioned by the SD-6, he bolted the organization and set about to harness the awesome power of the Rambaldi device for his own purposes. His replacement at SD-6 was the no-nonsense Geiger (Rutger Hauer), who, shall we say, harbored no great love for either Syd or Jack. In addition to Rutger Hauer, season two of Alias would feature guest-star turns by Faye Dunaway as the duplicitous head of SD-6 counterintelligence; Richard Lewis as a CIA counterintelligence analyst investigating Vaughn; and Christian Slater as a scientist who was kidnapped by the renegade Sloane -- and whose past life experiences bore striking resemblances to those of the Bristow family.
Elsewhere, it was business as usual for crusading journalist Will Tippin (Bradley Cooper), who doggedly continued his crusade to expose and destroy SD-6 and all the other agencies in the Alliance of Twelve. The basic through line of Alias took off on a radical and wholly unanticipated new direction with its January 26, 2003, episode "Phase One." In this truly shocking entry, Syd's roommate, Francie (Merrin Dungey), was murdered and replaced by an exact double, thereby further blurring the series' distinction between its heroes and its villains. Also in that episode, the CIA put an end to SD-6, thus freeing Sydney from her double-agent balancing act and allowing her and Vaughn to finally express their feelings for each other. But even those developments paled in comparison with Alias' second-season cliffhanger finale, in which after being rendered unconscious in a fight with the "bad" Francie, Syd awoke to discover that two whole years had passed -- and her erstwhile lover Michael Vaughn was now beyond her reach! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Jennifer Garner, Victor Garber, (more)

- 2002
- PG
- Add Tuck Everlasting to Queue
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Natalie Babbitt's award winning book for children comes to the screen in a lavish adaptation from Walt Disney Pictures. Winnie Foster (Alexis Bledel) is a girl in her early teens growing up in the small rural town of Winesap in 1914. Winnie's parents (Victor Garber and Amy Irving) are loving but overprotective, and Winnie longs for a life of greater freedom and adventure. One day, while exploring the nearby woods, Winnie gets lost, but she has the good fortune to happen upon the Tuck Family, who live nearby - mother Mae (Sissy Spacek), father Angus (William Hurt), and sons Jesse (Jonathan Jackson) and Miles (Scott Bairstow). The Tucks are warm and caring people, and Winnie feels right at home with them; she also finds herself developing a serious crush on Jesse, and isn't so sure she wants to return; meanwhile, her parents become increasingly distraught as they search for their missing daughter. But in time Winnie discovers there's a secret behind the seemingly idyllic lives of the Tuck Family; they have discovered a magical spring on their property, and anyone who drinks from it will never grow old and never die. While to Winnie this sounds like a wonderful prospect, the Tucks have come to understand this is as much of a curse as a blessing, especially when she realizes Jesse is considerably older than she is. The Tucks also have to contend with the presence of the sinister Man In The Yellow Suit (Ben Kingsley), who wishes to buy their property and make a fortune from their "fountain of youth." Tuck Everlasting was directed by Jay Russell, who previously directed the acclaimed family film My Dog Skip. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Alexis Bledel, William Hurt, (more)

- 2001
- NR
- Add Call Me Claus to Queue
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As a child, Lucy Cullins asked Santa Claus to bring her father home from Vietnam. But when her dad returned in a pine box, the embittered Lucy decided that Christmas -- and every other holiday for that matter -- was a humbug. Now all grown-up (and played by Whoopi Goldberg), Lucy is the hard-as-nails producer for the Shop-A-Lot Channel, a home-shopping cable service. While auditioning actors to play Santa Claus for a hokey Yuletide informercial series, Lucy hires a twinkly eyed old gentleman named Nick (Nigel Hawthorne), who, unbeknownst to everyone but the audience, is the genuine, bonafide "Ho Ho Ho" man himself. Facing mandatory retirement at age 200, Nick must find someone to take his place as Santa Claus for the next two centuries. The person he chooses in none other than Lucy Cullins -- and if she doesn't accept the job, the North Pole will melt, wreaking havoc upon everyone in the world, whether they're "naughty" or "nice." Originally conceived as a vehicle for a black man, Call Me Claus was reshaped as a showcase for Whoopi Goldberg when the actress signed on as co-executive producer. Also in the production lineup was country & western singer Garth Brooks, who penned a handful of new songs for the occasion. Call Me Claus debuted over the TNT cable network on December 2, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Whoopi Goldberg, Nigel Hawthorne, (more)

- 2001
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- Add Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows to Queue
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From her gradual ascent to stardom in the 1930s to her death from a drug overdose at age 47 in 1969, former vaudeville baby Frances Ethel Gumm, aka Judy Garland, endured a string of personal and career ups and downs that continues to color her reputation as an icon whose tragedies outweighed her triumphs. This TV biopic, based on the first half of daughter Lorna Luft's book Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir, attempts to humanize Garland's legend by presenting the singer/actress' story from an insider's point of view. Tammy Blanchard plays the young Garland, an MGM contract player with an overbearing mom (played by Marsha Mason) who helped push her daughter to stardom -- and, along with studio boss Louis B. Mayer (Al Waxman), into a lifelong addiction to booze and barbiturates. From her early performances alongside Mickey Rooney to her breakthrough role in The Wizard of Oz, Life With Judy Garland paints the performer as a sweet kid who just wanted to please her mother, especially after the death of her gentle, beloved father (Aidan Devine). Australian actress Judy Davis takes over as the grown-up Garland as the film traces her five marriages, exile from MGM, countless film and stage comebacks, and crippling addictions. The film's final section concentrates on the home life of Luft, her brother Joey, and their half sister Liza Minnelli, as the kids and their broke mom moved from one hotel to another and Luft nursed Garland through depressions and binges. Life With Judy Garland premiered in February of 2001 on ABC, earning Emmy awards for both Davis and Blanchard. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Judy Davis, Victor Garber, (more)

- 2001
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- Add A Colder Kind of Death to Queue
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A woman coming to terms with her husband's death discovers his killer has run afoul of a violent crime in this detective drama. Joanne Kilbourn (Wendy Crewson) is a former police detective who left the force to teach criminology after the unsolved murder of her husband, Ian (Edward Jaunz). The investigation into Ian's death gets taken off the back burner when a suspect is arrested, Kevin Tarpley (Christopher Bolton); while Kevin claims to be innocent, he knows enough about the case to have raised the suspicions of police. Just when Joanne thinks her husband's killer may finally be brought to justice, Kevin is killed by a gunman as he's brought to the police station. After a strange visit by Kevin's wife Maureen (Kari Matchett), Joanne begins looking into Kevin's life and death, and discovers not all of her late husband's friends are willing to help her with her private investigation. Criminal Instincts: A Colder Kind of Death also stars Victor Garber, Teri Garr, and Robin Dunne. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Wendy Crewson, Robin Dunne, (more)

- 2001
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- Add Alias: Season 01 to Queue
Add Alias: Season 01 to top of Queue
Viewers who tuned into the premiere episode of ABC's espionage series Alias did so already knowing the basic premise: Heroine Sydney A. Bristow (Jennifer Garner) lived a double life, as a "typical" college undergraduate and as an uncover agent for a government organization which she assumed to be the CIA. Sydney never told either her fiancé, Danny Hecht (Edward Atterton), or her roommate, Francie Calfo (Merrin Dungey), about her covert off-campus activities, not out of any great fear of blowing her cover, but merely because she assumed no one would believe her. Then came the fateful day that Sydney let slip her secret to Danny -- who turned up murdered not long afterward. It was then that Sydney began to suspect that her CIA bosses were not all they seemed to be -- and indeed, the truth came out that she wasn't working for the CIA at all, but for a rival agency, SD-6, one of several such organizations gathered together in a rather sinister group known as the Alliance of Twelve. The cruel ruthlessness with which SD-6 went about its business was personified by Sydney's boss, Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin), an enigmatic character who was obviously very fond of Syd and the other agents, but who would not hesitate to sell anyone out who got in his way. Sloane was particularly nasty when dealing with those who would dare prevent him to carry out his obsessive, lifelong search for the fragments of the Rambaldi device, a doomsday weapon concocted some 500 years before by a Renaissance artist who happened to possess a Nostradamus-like gift of prophecy. Other perplexing facets of Sloane's personality were revealed in his curious relationship with Sydney's father, veteran SD-6 operative Jack Bristow (Victor Garber), as well as in an ongoing subplot involving Sloane's terminally ill wife, Emily (Amy Irving) -- who happened to be very close to Syd.
Upon realizing that she'd been a dupe of sorts, the embittered Syd allowed herself to be enlisted as a counterspy by the real CIA; thereafter, whenever she went on a mission for SD-6, she was given a countermission by her new bosses. Her contact at the CIA was Michael C. Vaughn (Michael Vartan), a man with quite a history of his own. As for Syd's father, Jack, he spent much of season one trying to make amends for so perilously misleading his daughter -- all the while trying to shield her from the truth about her supposedly long-dead mother, Laura, who in keeping with the title of this series was actually Irina Derevko, a KGB agent who'd been assigned to seduce Jack nearly a quarter of a century before. Other recurring characters included Francie's chronically faithless fiancé, Charlie (Evan Dexter Parke); Syd's fellow SD-6 employees, agent Marcus R. Dixon (Carl Lumbly) and computer expert Marshall J. Finkman (Kevin Weisman), who was blessed with a photographic memory; and Will Tippin (Bradley Cooper), investigative journalist for the Los Angeles Chronicle, whose determination to find out the facts behind the death of Danny Hecht and expose the activities of SD-6 rendered him a marked man. Getting back to Syd, she spent most of season one chasing and being chased, never quite knowing her friends from her enemies. A mid-season brush with a dangerous rogue agent (played by filmmaker Quentin Tarantino) put Syd on the trail of a vast criminal cartel, whose leader was known only as "The Man." The season's cliffhanger ending revealed that "The Man" was actually a woman -- none other than Syd's "late" mother. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Jennifer Garner, Victor Garber, (more)

- 2001
- R
- Add Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story to Queue
Add Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story to top of Queue
In 1930s Hamilton, Ontario, after her husband's corpse is discovered in the woods without its head or limbs, beautiful would-be socialite Evelyn Dick (Kathleen Robertson) is arrested by Canadian police for the murder. Her ever-changing jailhouse testimony leads Inspector Woods (Callum Keith Rennie) in various directions as the devoted detective tries to piece together a coherent chain of events and motives. But once Dick's manipulative mother (Brenda Fricker) is implicated in the scheme, Dick's story changes again, this time with twist that leads to a tragic denouement. Her future in grave danger -- her sentence could be death by hanging -- Dick hires attorney J.J. Robinette (Victor Garber) for one last attempt at freedom. ~ Buzz McClain, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Kathleen Robertson

- 2001
- R
Playwright Neil Simon got his first big break in the early '50s as a staff writer on Sid Caesar's fabled television series Your Show of Shows, and this comedy (adapted by Simon from his play) takes a fictionalized look at the backstage chaos that went into producing one of the landmarks of television's golden age. Max Prince (Nathan Lane) is the star of The Max Prince Show, a popular comedy-variety series with ratings that have begun to slip; Prince's show is still a major hit on the East Coast, but network executive Cal Weebs (Colin Fox) insists that it's too sophisticated for the Midwest, and urges Prince to dumb down his act. Prince has also become the whipping boy of newspaper columnist Walter Winchell (Frank Proctor), and between the tensions of producing a hour of top-quality comedy each week and being pestered about his ratings, Prince is beginning to unravel. His relationship with his wife Faye (Sherry Miller) and their children is falling apart, and stress is eating him alive. Prince's brother Harry (Richard Portnow) is Max's assistant, and his last line of defense against both the network and his writing staff, which spend its days coming up with business for the show while hurling humorous invective at each other and anyone else within earshot. (The actors playing Max's writers include Mark Linn-Baker, Victor Garber, Dan Castellaneta, Saul Rubinek, Peri Gilpin, and Zach Grenier.) Laughter on the 23rd Floor received its world premiere at the 2001 Palm Springs Film Festival and was scheduled for showings several months later on the Showtime premium cable network (who co-produced the feature). The film was directed by Richard Benjamin, who previously teamed with Mark Linn-Baker for another comedy inspired by the career of Sid Caesar, My Favorite Year. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Nathan Lane, Mark Linn-Baker, (more)

- 2001
- PG13
- Add Legally Blonde to Queue
Add Legally Blonde to top of Queue
Reese Witherspoon stars in this romantic comedy, the feature film debut of award-winning Australian director Robert Luketic. As a ravishing Miss Hawaiian Tropic, sorority president, and calendar girl, Elle Woods (Witherspoon) is a big hit on the campus of her sun-drenched Los Angeles college. She's also got the perfect boyfriend in Warner Huntington III (Matthew Davis), a wealthy East Coast blue blood. Fearing that his snooty friends and family will never accept the bubble-headed Elle, however, Warner dumps her before heading off to graduate law school at Harvard University. Determined to win back her man, Elle enrolls in the same imposing institution, quickly becoming an object of scorn and ridicule, especially to Warner's old prep school flame (Selma Blair). Despite her penchant for malls, makeup, and tanning, Elle is no dummy and is soon showing elite Ivy League snobs a thing or two about class, self-confidence, and courtroom victory. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
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- Starring:
- Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, (more)