Gary Grubbs

Adrenaline loving director Tony Scott teams with iconic action producer Jerry Bruckheimer for this high flung sci-fi action thriller concerning a New Orleans based maverick ATF agent named Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) who is brought in on a top secret government program to catch the terrorist (Jim Caviezel) responsible for a ferry bombing that kills hundreds. Able to do what most law enforcement officers only dream of, Carlin is now able to look back in time at the perpetrator's movements, and at the life of the innocent woman whose death would set the events into motion. Carlin's instincts tell him that something is amiss, however, and while the government agent who tapped him for the job (Val Kilmer) and the team of ultra-cool scientists who run the project (Adam Goldberg, Erika Alexander) tell him one story about the quantum physics behind this marvel of technology, the hotshot agent suspects that there is a greater power at their fingertips--one that might not just solve the crime at hand, but prevent it. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Directed by Taylor Hackford, this biopic profiles the life of legendary musician Ray Charles. Despite humble beginnings and the loss of his eyesight due to glaucoma at the age of six, Charles, depicted by Jamie Foxx, would nonetheless become an icon in both the music industry and the civil rights era. While the film delves into his problems with drugs and women, the bulk of the story details his career; among the highlights of that career are 12 Grammy awards and 11 R&B chart-toppers, such as "Unchain My Heart," "Hit the Road, Jack," "Georgia," "Doin' the Mess Around," and "Hallelujah I Just Love Her So." Also among the cast are Larenz Tate as Quincy Jones, as well as Regina King, Kerry Washington, and Clifton Powell. Charles' son, Ray Charles Jr. helped produce the film. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

A man trying to run away from trouble finds it follows him in unexpected ways in this action-packed vehicle for comic actors Eddie Griffin and Orlando Jones. Daryl Chase (Jones) is a successful investment banker who handles international accounts for a major New York firm. Chase discovers to his surprise that one of his biggest clients, a company from Mexico, is actually a front for a cartel of drug smugglers; Chase realizes too late that he's been framed for money laundering, and is now wanted by the FBI. Chase is soon approached by a CIA agent, who thinks Chase's relationship with the Mexican drug kingpins might prove useful, but when his local contact disappears, Chase has to make his way to Mexico in order to save his skin and hopefully clear his name. Needing a new identity to get out of town and across the border, Chase obtains a stolen passport -- and soon learns the man whose name he's using is in even deeper trouble with the law than himself. With nowhere else to turn, Chase asks streetwise hustler Freddie Tiffany (Griffin) to help him get out of town; Chase will pretend to be Freddie, while Tiffany will pose as a businessman like Chase. However, Chase finds out Tiffany isn't the man he thought he was, and that his sticky situation is even more perilous and fraught with secrets than he imagined. Double Take was inspired by the 1957 drama Across The Bridge, which was in turn based on a novel by Graham Greene; the supporting cast includes Edward Herrmann, Gary Grubbs, Garcelle Beauvais, and Daniel Roebuck. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Months after being rescued from the demon dimension of Pylea, Fred (Amy Acker) still acts like a shell-shocked recluse. Taking a rare break from scribbling equations on her bedroom walls, she hangs out with Gunn (J. August Richards), Wesley (Alexis Denisof), and Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter). Since Angel (David Boreanaz) is off reuniting with the newly resurrected Buffy, Wes and Cordy poke a little fun at their boss' doomed romance with the Vampire Slayer. Just then, an unamused Angel returns and enlists Fred's help in hunting a Durslar Beast that's on the loose. While they're gone, a middle-aged couple turn up seeking help in locating their daughter, who disappeared without a trace five years earlier. As it turns out, they're Fred's parents, and they've tracked the girl to Angel's hotel. Far from being delighted to reunite with her folks, though, Fred hightails it into hiding the moment she sees them. Eventually, after a long search that involves another demonic run-in, Angel and the gang catch up with Fred and she confesses what's bothering her: The sight of her parents has brought back all of the repressed pain from her long years as a demon slave. Now finally allowing herself to feel the joy of seeing her family again, Fred prepares to move back home with her parents -- until yet another skirmish with the supernatural convinces her that her place is by Angel's side. Originally broadcast October 22, 2001, on the WB network, "Fredless" marked episode five of the supernatural comedy drama's fifth season. Because of the WB's refusal to allow crossovers between Angel and its network-hopping parent series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the reunion between Angel and Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy Summers is alluded to rather than depicted here. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Slipping on the ice outside a bus station, Monica (Roma Downey) suffers a severe concussion--and a complete loss of memory. Not only does she not realize that she is an angel, but she also fails to recognize Tess (Della Reese), Andrew (John Dye). . .or God. Falsely arrested for theft, Monica must be taught how to pray by a mortal, and is able to recover only after being the beneficiary of someone else's forgiveness. Once she has figured out who she is and what she's supposed to be doing in this episode, Monica tackles her latest assignment--persuading an embittered doctor (Michael Moriarty) to forgive the man who murdered his wife--with a new and somewhat overpowering zeal! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The small-screen melodrama Love's Deadly Triangle: The Texas Cadet Murder first premiered on Monday, February 10, 1997 on NBC, and now arrives on home video in this release, under the title Swearing Allegiance. The picture dramatizes the infamous Zamora-Graham 'crime of passion' that unfolded in Fort Worth, Texas in 1995, whereby teen lovers (and soon-to-be naval cadets) Diane Zamora and David Graham viciously murdered Adrianne Jones, a local girl to whom Graham had given himself sexually. The incident inspired numerous articles including a September 1996 New York Times piece by Sam Howe Verhovek, and the cover story of the December 1996 Texas Monthly. The telemovie opens with Jones's body discovered beside a road, dead from gunshots to the head and several blows with a blunt object. The police question numerous suspects, before landing on the two culprits: Zamora (played by Holly Marie Combs) and Graham (portrayed by David Lipper). At the time of the arrest, Zamora and Graham are enrolled, respectively, in the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy. E.T. mom Dee Wallace Stone co-stars as Jones's mother; Richard A. Colla directs, from a script by Steve Johnson. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

The perils and pitfalls of the so-called "repressed memory syndrome" are brought home in a chilling fashion in this fact-based TV movie. After attending a Christian retreat, young Rebecca Bradshaw (Lisa Dean Ryan) returns home to accuse her deputy sheriff father Matthew (John Shea) of sexually abusing her as a child. Matthew protests that he is innocent, but as Rebecca's claims become more vivid and outrageous--involving satanic rituals and the like--even he begins to wonder if there is any truth to the story. Making matters worse, Rebecca spreads her accusations to Matthew's old poker-playing buddies, insisting that they are all involved in a diabolical coven which requires the molestation of children! With nowhere else to turn, Matthew goes to the local pastor for advice--only to be bluntly informed that the only way he can find peace is to confess to horrendous crimes that may never have happened. Adapted from a series of articles by Lawrence Wright, Forgotten Sins originally aired March 7, 1996 on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Texas housewife plots hire a hit man to kill the girl who beat out her daughter for a place on the cheerleading squad in this made-for-cable satire based on a true story. Holly Hunter stars as Wanda Holloway, a twice-married Baptist mother of two who becomes obsessed when her daughter, Shanna (Frankie Ingrassia), gets disqualified from the election for the eighth-grade cheerleading squad because of overly manipulative campaign tactics (i.e. handing out free rulers imprinted with her name). Looking down her nose at neighbor Verna Heath (Elizabeth Ruscio), whose daughter, Amber (Megan Berwick), made the squad, Wanda becomes convinced that there's a conspiracy afoot and decides to do something about it. Getting in touch with her ex-husband's brother, Terry Harper (Beau Bridges) -- a lowlife with a liquor and drug habit and a wife (Swoosie Kurtz) who sees imaginary creatures on the floor -- Wanda all but orders him to find her an assassin on the cheap. Terry chickens out, contacts the police, and helps get the goods on his former sister-in-law before she can do any actual damage. A media circus soon engulfs the participants' small Texas town as Wanda heads to court and tries to prove she was the victim of a setup. Set against the backdrop of the Gulf War and the fall of communism, The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom was filmed for HBO by Bad News Bears and Smile director Michael Ritchie. In adapting the Wanda Holloway story for the small screen, the film followed Willing to Kill: The Texas Cheerleader Story, a 1992 ABC TV movie starring Lesley Ann Warren. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Although his Mother denies his involvement in a brutal attack that left her critically injured and her husband dead, a college student is forced to deal with his guilt. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Based on a true story, the made-for-TV Child Lost Forever was advertised as a "docudrama." A unwed teenage mother is forced to give up her baby for adoption. 16 years later, the girl (played as an adult by Beverly D'Angelo), now married and the mother of two, decides to look for the son she lost. She finds that the boy died at age three under mysterious circumstances. The more she investigates, the more she realizes that she's stumbled upon a long-hushed-up case of child abuse. Child Lost Forever debuted November 16, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The November 22, 1963, assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy shocked the nation and the world. The brisk investigation of that murder conducted under the guidance of Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren distressed many observers, even though subsequent careful investigations have been unable to find much fault with the conclusions his commission drew, the central one of which was that the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, acted alone. Instead of satisfying the public, one result of the Warren Commission Report was that an unimaginable number of plausible conspiracy theories were bruited about, and these have supported a sizeable publishing mini-industry ever since. In making this movie, director Oliver Stone had his pick of supposed or real investigative flaws to draw from and has constructed what some reviewers felt was one of the most compelling (and controversial) political detective thrillers ever to emerge from American cinema. Long before filming was completed, Stone was fending off heated accusations of artistic and historical irresponsibility, and these only intensified after the film was released. In the story, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) is convinced that there are some big flaws in the investigation of Oswald (Gary Oldman), and he sets out to recreate the events leading up to the assassination. Along the way, he stumbles across evidence that a great many people had reason to want to see the president killed, and he is convinced that some of them worked in concert to frame Oswald as the killer. Among the suspects are Lyndon Baines Johnson (the next president), the CIA, J. Edgar Hoover, and the Mafia. Over the course of gathering what he believes to be evidence of a conspiracy, Garrison unveils some of the grittier aspects of New Orleans society, focusing on the shady activities of local businessman Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones). Garrison's investigations culminate in his conducting a show trial that he knows he will lose and which he is sure will ruin his career in order to get his evidence into the public record where it can't be buried again. This movie won two of the many Academy Awards for which it was nominated: one for Best Photography (Robert Richardson) and the other for Editing (Joe Hutshing). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Made for the TNT cable network, The Court Martial of Jackie Robinson concentrates on the wartime service of major league baseball's first black player. Robinson (Andre Braugher), a star athlete at UCLA, is drafted during World War II. He hopes that his academic record will assure him entry into Officers Candidate School, but the racism inherent in the military at the time puts several roadblocks in his way. After finally making OCS, Robinson's belief in himself is strengthened tenfold--to the point that he refuses to bow to the "Jim Crow" laws regarding the seating arrangements on an Army bus, and is subsequently threatened with a court martial. Stan Shaw costars as boxing great Joe Louis, likewise a victim of prejudice during the war years (the script intimates that Louis was more willing to roll with the punches than Robinson). Ruby Dee, who played the ballplayer's wife in the 1950 film The Jackie Robinson Story, is here seen as Robinson's mother. The Court Martial of Jackie Robinson premiered on October 15, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While visiting a friend in Nashville, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) comes face to face with Bobby Diamond (Jimmy Dean), a popular country singer with more than a few of the requisite skeletons in his closet. A maelstrom of greed and philandering yields a murder, whereupon Jessica tries to find out who among Bobby's many enemies hated him enough to kill him. Featured in the cast is C&W entrepreneur-club owner Mickey Gilley, and "Carol Brady" herself, Florence Henderson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide