Janet-Laine Green Movies

Director Kari Skogland takes the reins for a Buffalo Gals Pictures production starring Academy Award winner Ellen Burstyn as author Margaret Laurence's much-lauded heroine Hagar Shipley. Hagar may by 90, but she not ready to lie down and die just yet. Her decisions stem straight from her heart, and that often alienates her family and friends. When Hagar's son, Marvin (Dylan Baker), takes his mother to look at a nursing home, she takes it as her cue to leave her family behind and set out on one great last journey. Her mission is to locate the seaside home she remembers from her youth, but Hagar's memory is quickly fading, making it difficult for her to distinguish the past from the present. As a young girl, Hagar was set to inherit her father's mercantile empire until she was disowned for marrying a bold young man named Bram Shipley (Cole Hauser). Later, when Hagar's romantic illusions fade and she begins to view her husband with contempt, her decision to deny her children the kind of parental approval that she so badly longed for from her own father provokes a deep hereditary flaw. As she makes her way toward the seashore, Hagar realizes her time is running far too short to make up for a lifetime of unacknowledged mistakes. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Based on the literary property by Mordecai Richler, the animated series Jacob Two Two revolved around a young boy named Jacob, who'd earned his double-digit nickname because he repeated everything twice. As the youngest member of a very large family, Jacob was compelled to speak in this "Two Two" fashion in order to get anyone to pay attention to him. Though teased and maligned by his older siblings Daniel (the music-crazy 16 year old), Marfa (the haughty eldest sister), and Emma and Noah (who'd formed their own highly exclusive "Kid Power" clubhouse and created their own alter egos of Shapiro and Fearless O'Toole), Jacob invariably emerged as the hero of the occasion by thwarting sinister secret agents, evil land despoilers and other such cartoony villains. This he did through the auspices of X. Barnaby Dinglebat, an international spy who posed as a gas-meter reader. Other characters included Jacob's dad Morty, an author of adventure novels; his mom Florence, an archetypal workaholic; his loquacious best friend Buford Orville Gaylord Purghe, who possessed the most embarrassing set of initials ever heard in mixed company; nasty, voracious school principal I.M. Greedyguts and his toadying henchman, Leo Louse the janitor; Renee Ratelle, French-born nemesis of everyone in Jacob's classroom; the Hooded Fang, a vicious-looking but golden-hearted pro wrestler who assisted Jake in his adventures; Miss Sweetie Darlingpie, who may have seemed to be nothing more than a nice little old lady but who was actually the ruthless leader of a vast enemy spy organization; and the standard-issue "dumb cops" Sgt. Law and Cpl. Order. Originating as a series of Canadian-produced home videos (some of which were seen on Canada's YTV network),Jacob Two Two was added to NBC's Saturday-morning children's lineup on September 9, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This made-for-cable docudrama stars Penelope Ann Miller as the infamous Mary Kay Letourneau, the married-with-children Seattle schoolteacher who made national headlines when she had an affair with one of her sixth-grade students, 13-year-old Vili Fualaau (Omar Anguiano). Landing in jail on a statutory rape charge, and ultimately bearing Fualaau's baby, Letourneau is released with a warning to stay away from her youthful inamorta. But she is unable to do so, and the result is another out-of-wedlock baby by the same young man. The teleplay, by Julie Herbert, suggests that Letourneau's inability to control her emotions and impules stemeed from her relationship with her mother, a woman who regarded any sign of affection as a form of weakness. Ultimately, however, Mary Kay Letourneau remains an enigma, and it is up to the viewer to determine whether her behavior was motivated by true love or by a psychotic need for "approval". The Mary Kay Letourneau Story: All American Girl debuted over the USA network on January 18, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of the most sensational crime stories of the 1950s was the murder trial of Cleveland doctor Sam Sheppard, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of his wife. Though he protested his innocence and insisted that he'd seen a "curly-haired man" leaving his house on the night of the crime, Sheppard was condemned in the court of public opinion long before the judge handed out his sentence. (This true story served as the basis for the long-running TV series The Fugitive.) Years later, Sheppard was released from prison after it was determined that he hadn't had a fair trial, but his name was never officially cleared. Forty years after the death of his mother, Sheppard's son Sam Reese made it his mission in life to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that his father was innocent. In this TV movie adaptation of the younger Sheppard's autobiographical book, Peter Strauss is seen as Dr. Sam Sheppard, and Henry Czerny as Sam Reese. My Father's Shadow: The Sam Sheppard Story made its CBS network bow on November 17, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Marilu Henner stars as a stalking victim in this made-for-TV movie based on a true story. Henner stars as Nancy Conn, a woman who becomes the obsession of stalker Richard Mark Ellard (Doug Savant). After she and her cousin are targeted by Ellard, both are savagely attacked and left for dead. Conn survives, Ellard is jailed, and over time Conn slowly puts her life back together and begins to heal physically and mentally. Astonishingly though, Ellard comes up for early parole and Conn makes it her mission to keep Ellard locked up for his crimes. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi

The first episode of the comic book-inspired animated series WildC.A.T.S is "Dark Blade Falling," in which the young, leonine WarBlade is recruited into the super-powered Covert Action Team (C.A.T.) to help them in their ages-old war against the alien Daemonites. In subsequent episodes, we learn more about WarBlade and his fellow do-gooders on a "need to know" basis: for example, "Heart of Steel" finds team leader Spartan confronting a past love; the seeds of tension between female barbarian Zealot and taciturn weapons expert Grifter are first sown in "Cry of the Coda"; Grifter is forced into a showdown with his renegade brother Max in "MVP"; and the inner demons of the towering Maul burst forth in "Soul of a Giant." The saga of TV's WildC.A.T.S. comes to a climax with the two-part finale "End Game"; however the Jim Lee comic book on which the series was based was far from finished when this series finale originally aired in late 1994. ~ Rovi

In this lively caper film, an ex-con with uncommon expertise in understanding the workings of high-tech security systems begins preparing to steal a rare diamond that is worth over $5 million. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Josh Morgan (Ron White) is a veteran rodeo cowboy who must care for his young son Shane (Zachary Ansley) after the death of his wife Lucy (Rebecca Jenkins) in this family drama. The two move to the ranch left to them by Shane's grandfather, but Josh can't hold a job, and Shane is in the throes of adolescent angst. Neighbor Lindsay Sutherland (Janet-Laine Green) is the veterinarian who tends to Shane's injured horse and brings father and son closer together. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

A police psychologist and his school-age son become embroiled in the machinations of a mysterious cult religion in this thriller from director John Schlesinger. After his wife is electrocuted in a freak accident, Dr. Cal Jamison (Martin Sheen) and his son, Chris (Harley Cross), move back to Manhattan, where Cal went to school. When not spending time with his son and surrogate extended family -- husband-and-wife anthropologists Kate (Elizabeth Wilson) and Dennis Maslow (Lee Richardson) -- Cal settles into his new job and romances his landlady, Jessica Halliday (Helen Shaver). Soon, though, a series of brutal murders of young children begins to take over Cal's life. Through the ravings of policeman Tom Lopez (Jimmy Smits), who believes the killers have supernatural power over him after stealing his badge, Cal learns of Santeria, a voodoo-like Latin American sect that mixes elements of Christianity and pagan mysticism. Although the religion turns out to have ties to some of the richest men in the city and even Cal's well-meaning maid seems to be a practitioner, he can't get any straight answers as to whether the cult is responsible for the murders. But after a sinister African shaman (Malick Bowens) places a curse on Jessica, Cal finally begins to understand the danger that faces him -- and his son. The Believers was very loosely adapted from Nicholas Conde's 1982 novel The Religion. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Robert Conrad stars in One Police Plaza as a New York homicide detective. A case on which he's working, involving the murder of a beautiful woman, is ordered closed by Conrad's superiors. Refusing to give up, the detective probes deeper, and unearths a hotbed of crooked cops, dirty "brass" and illegal weapons. Made for television, One Police Plaza was initially telecast on November 29, 1986, easily outrating a Jack Paar "comeback" special. The film was based on the bestselling novel by William J. Caunitz. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this drama, set in Alberta, circa 1921, a woman finds her new job as an agent for a troupe of traveling performers is made more difficult by financial hard times. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi