McG
The fourth installment of the Terminator series follows an adult John Connor (played by Christian Bale) as he attempts to organize a human resistance force which could prove to be humankind's last true hope for survival in the war against their intelligent robot overlords. Aussie Sam Worthington portrays Marcus, an early version of the Terminator robot, with Anton Yelchin filling Michael Biehn's shoes as a young Kyle Reese in what is planned to be a new trilogy from director McG (Charlie's Angels). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, (more)
- 2009
A 13-year-old evil genius tries his hand at running for class president of his middle school in order to impress his father, who knows little of the sinister empire awaiting his son on his 18th birthday in this Warner Bros. comedy from Daily Show writer Josh Lieb. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- 2007
Zachary Levi starred as computer geek and social misfit Chuck Bartowski in this heady NBC combination of comedy, fantasy, espionage, teen angst and wish fulfillment. While working a technical-support firm called the Nerd Herd, Chuck accidentally downloaded millions of megabytes of government secrets into his own brain! This made him an invaluable commodity to his former college roommate Bryce Larkin (Matthew Bomer), whom Chuck had always assumed was an accountant but was actually a CIA agent. Recruiting Chuck as a human "secret weapon", Bryce was also saddled with the responsibility of keeping our hero alive--or at least, out of the hands of the Enemy. Lightening Chuck's burden considerably was his sexy contact person Sarah Walker (Yvonne Starhovski), who somehow managed to shed most of her clothes in each episode. Also in the cast were Adam Baldwin as irascible CIA boss Maj. John Casey, Joshua Gomez as Chuck's goofy best friend Morgan Grimes, Sarah Lancaster as Chuck's troublesome sister Ellie, and, at Nerd Herd headquarters, Mark Christopher Lawrence as manager Big Mike, C.S. Lee as assistant manager C.S. Lee, and Chuck's coworkers Anna (Julia Ling, Lester (Vik Sahay and Jeff (Scott Krinsky). The weekly, hour-long Chuck was first seen on September 24, 2007. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2007
Fanboys director Kyle Newman helms this remake of the classic 1984 comedy that was produced by Charlie's Angels director McG and penned by Adam Goldberg, Andrew Jacobson, and Adam J. Epstein. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
A group of teens discover that the next generation of survival horror games are more realistic than they thought when they begin dying in the same manner as their pixilated counterparts in director William Brent Bell's bloody tale of video games gone bad. In the days following the mysterious death of an old friend, a young group of gaming enthusiasts comes into possession of a chillingly realistic game based on the exploits of a 17th century noblewoman who earned the name "The Blood Countess" for her murderous exploits. Their curiosity piqued by the fact that they were obviously not supposed to come into possession of the grisly game, the teens soon give in to temptation and begin doing battle for high score. When the chilling events of the game begin to bleed over into the real world and the real-life deaths of the players begin to mirror the deaths of their in-game characters, the race is on to defeat the murderous Blood Countess and ensure that other curious gamers don't fall into the same deadly trap that they did. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Foster, Samaire Armstrong, (more)
A true story of tragedy, hope, and resilience comes to the screen in this sports drama. Huntington, WV, is home to Marshall University, a school where college football is a way of life. Huntington is also a town that learned to deal with tragedy in the fall of 1970 when Marshall's "Thundering Herd" boarded an airliner to return home after a football game in North Carolina. The jet crashed into a hill due to bad weather, and 75 members of Marshall's football squad and athletic staff died that night. The accident dealt a crippling blow to the city of Huntington, as well as Marshall's faculty and student body, and university president Donald Dedmon (David Strathairn) considered abandoning the school's football program. But instead Coach Jack Lengyel (Matthew McConaughey) was recruited from Ohio's College of Wooster to rebuild Marshall's football program. Lengyel was not naïve about the task ahead of him, and working beside Red Dawson (Matthew Fox), an assistant coach who narrowly missed the doomed flight and was one of the program's only survivors, he came to understand his job was not just to put a team on the field, but help a college and a community heal their wounds from the tragic accident. Together Lengyel and Dawson turned a handful of rookies and second-string players into a competitive team who in 1971 showed the world what they could do in a legendary game against Marshall's rivals, Xavier University. Produced with the cooperation of Marshall University and filmed in part on their campus, We Are Marshall also stars Ian McShane, Anthony Mackie, and January Jones. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, (more)
- 2005
A joint effort of filmmakers McG, Eric Kripke, and Robert Singer, the weekly, hour-long series Supernatural starred Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki as Dean and Sam Winchester, the sons of a dogged and determined "spook hunter." Since the death of his wife at the hands of malevolent poltergeists, the elder Winchester refused to rest until he tracked down and vanquished all evil paranormal forces in the world. While older son Dean willingly followed in his dad's footsteps, the young Sam was the rebel of the family, refusing to have anything to with the supernatural and putting as much distance between himself and his father and brother as possible. But when his dad mysteriously vanished, Sam reluctantly teamed with Dean to carry on the family mission. Piling into their 1967 Chevy Impala, the Winchester boys tooled around the country investigating such familiar paranormal mythology, folklore, and urban legends as the Vanishing Hitchhiker, Bloody Mary, the Lover's Lane "Hook" Killer, and the Native American demon Wendigo, among many others. Essentially a male version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- with a few dashes of Scooby-Doo, The Hardy Boys, and Route 66 tossed in -- Supernatural was seen on Buffy's former home network the WB beginning September 13, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2003
- PG13
- AddCharlie's Angels: Full Throttleto QueueAddCharlie's Angels: Full Throttleto top of Queue
The three most glamorous and butt-kicking private detectives in the business are back and ready to take on bad guys in this sequel to the 2000 blockbuster screen adaptation of the once-popular television series. Dylan (Drew Barrymore), Natalie (Cameron Diaz), and Alex (Lucy Liu) are once again summoned to the office of their boss Charlie (voice of John Forsythe), where they're introduced to his new right-hand man Jimmy Bosley (Bernie Mac) and given their latest assignment. It seems a pair of rings have gone missing and need to be recovered, but this was no ordinary jewel heist -- the rings have been coded with special information that can be used to access a list of every person in the FBI's Witness Protection Program, and when a handful of protected informants are murdered, the Angels are brought in to help crack the case. As the women search for the culprits, they encounter Madison Lee (Demi Moore), one of Charlie's former agents who decided that the wrong side of the law pays better, and Seamus (Justin Theroux), who once dated Dylan and wants revenge for her decision to turn him over to the police. Luke Wilson and Matt LeBlanc return as (respectively) Natalie and Alex's love interests, as does Crispin Glover as the Thin Man; John Cleese, Robert Forster, and Eric Bogosian also appear in supporting roles. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, (more)
- 2003
The first new FOX network series of the 2003-2004 season, The O.C. was co-produced and co-created by McG, director of the Charlie's Angels theatrical films, and Josh Schwartz, a 26-year-old University of Southern California graduate, upon whose academic research the series was based. The titular initials stood for "Orange County," as in California. A troubled and troublesome teenager from a rough neighborhood and an unhappy home environment, Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie) was on the verge of becoming a full-time lawbreaker when he was taken under the wing of public defender Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher). Much to the dismay of his social-climbing, ex-beauty queen wife Kirsten (Kelly Rowan), Sandy invited Ryan to live with his family in the high-class Orange County community of Newport Beach. Also participating the series' Beverly Hills 90210-like plot convolutions were Adam Brody as the Cohen's intellectual-loner son Seth; Mischa Barton as gorgeous girl-next-door Marissa Cooper (one of the few "nice" characters amongst the spoiled and narcissistic teen population of Newport Beach); and Tate Donovan as Marissa's rich father, Jimmy. Jumping the gun on the standard September startup date, The O.C. premiered August 5, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Destined to run an impressive 27 hour-long episodes (as opposed to the usual 22), season one of The O.C. wastes little time in setting up its premise: trouble-prone teenager Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie), booted out of his Chino home and apparently foredoomed to a life of crime, is "rescued" by idealistic pro bono defense attorney Sanford "Sandy" Cohen (Peter Gallagher). Over the initial protests of his former beauty-queen wife, Kirsten (Kelly Rowan), Sandy invites Ryan to live in the pool house of the Cohens' lavish Newport Beach home in California's very upscale Orange County. Quickly making friends with the Cohen's intellectual-loner son, Seth (Adam Brody), Ryan also makes a good impression on his attractive next-door neighbor Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) -- much to the disgust of Marissa's jock boyfriend, Luke Ward (Chris Carmack). Unfolding in a serial-like fashion, the remainder of the season details the disintegrating marriage of Marissa's parents, Jimmy Cooper (Tate Donovan) and his avaricious wife, Julie (Melinda Clarke) (who later has an affair with the cast-off Luke); Sandy's job switch, which causes friction in his relationship with Kirsten vis-à-vis his sexy new law partner Rachel Hoffman (Bonnie Somerville); the decision by Sandy and Jimmy to jointly purchase Newport Beach's favorite restaurant, the Lighthouse; Marissa's self-destructive behavior during a vacation in Mexico, and her ill-fated association with the duplicitous Oliver Trask (Taylor Handley); Seth's dilemma as he tries to choose between two girlfriends, Summer Roberts (Rachel Bilson) and Anna Stern (Samaire Armstrong); and the disruptive machinations of Kirsten's high-rolling father, Caleb (Alan Dale), and her hedonistic sister, Hailey (Amanda Rhigetti). The cliffhanger climax of The O.C.'s first season is dominated by two major events: the wedding of the series' two most selfish and mercenary characters, and some devastating news delivered by Theresa (Navi Rawat), Ryan's former girlfriend from his Chino days. ~ All Movie Guide
Clearly inspired by such wall-to-wall action flicks as The Fast and the Furious and XXX, the endearingly mindless TV series Fastlane chronicled the adventures of two tough, hard-driving undercover L.A. cops. Answerable only to their leather-clad superior Billie Chambers (Tiffani-Amber Thiessen), officers Van Ray (Peter Facinelli) and Deaqon Hayes (Bill Bellamy) -- the latter was the brother of the former's murdered partner -- made mincemeat of a variety of nasty urban villains. This the heroes were able to do because they had full access to Billie's "Candy Store," a warehouse full of seized stolen goods, ranging from souped-up cars to state-of-the-art weaponry to hyper-sophisticated computer technology. The series was cocreated by McG, the former music-video director who'd helmed the 2001 theatrical feature Charlie's Angels. Played out larger than life and with tongue firmly in cheek, Fastlane proved to be everyone's favorite "guilty pleasure" when the series debuted on September 18, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Facinelli, Bill Bellamy, (more)
They're beautiful, they're brilliant, and they can kick your butt -- the most glamorous private eyes in the world are back in action in this big-screen adaptation of the popular '70s television series. Natalie (Cameron Diaz) is the smart but silly one, Dylan (Drew Barrymore) is the tough but fun-loving one, and Alex (Lucy Liu) is the classy but hard-as-nails one, and they work for a man named Charlie (voice of John Forsythe), who never meets his employees face to face. Along with their helper Bosley (Bill Murray), the Angels are sent into action when electronics genius Eric Knox (Sam Rockwell) is kidnapped, with the nefarious Roger Corwin (Tim Curry) as the prime suspect. But they soon learn even bigger danger is afoot -- the kidnappers have gotten their hands on Knox's latest invention, a system that can monitor voice communication from anywhere in the world, virtually ending the notion of private conversation. Charlie's Angels also stars Crispin Glover, Luke Wilson, Kelly Lynch, and Tom Green. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, (more)
