Tannis Burnett Movies

Writers Eric Garcia and Garrett Lerner team with director Miguel Sapochnik to adapt Garcia's novel about a repo man named Remy whose body has been constructed almost entirely of artificial organs. When Remy (Jude Law) fails to keep up on payments for his recent heart transplant, his former partner vows to take back the organ by force if necessary. Meanwhile, Remy finds an unexpected ally in the form of his long-lost wife, Beth (Alice Braga), who has also been retrofitted with numerous artificial organs. Now, despite the fact that they haven't seen each other since Remy joined the army ten years ago, the desperate repo man and his sympathetic wife attempt a daring escape from a man who holds the lives of millions in the palm of his hands. Forest Whitaker and Liev Schreiber co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Having lived a respectable and rather dull existence for most of his time on earth, database designer Frank Griffin (Joe Mantegna) is rudely awakened from his ennui when his wife Ellen (Jean Smart) announces that she is having an affair and wants a divorce. Although the couple agrees to stay together for the present out of respect for their daughter Zoe (Jordy Benattar), it is clearly going to be an unhappy Christmas for Frank. In his efforts to get his mind off his problems, Frank signs up to be a volunteer Santa Claus, subjecting himself to a curious training regimen conducted by a relentlessly optimistic fellow named Ozzy (Charles Durning). Although his first Santa experiences are grueling, Frank finds a kindred spirit in photographer Donna (Kari Matchett), who has similarly split from her husband and is raising her son Gabe (Andrew Chalmers) by herself. In his efforts to help Donna and to patch up his own domestic troubles, Frank begins to wonder if he should consider a future not with Ellen but with Donna. . .and that's only the beginning of the story. A few mildly risqué scenes notwithstanding, A Very Married Christmas proved to be suitable family fare when it was first broadcast by CBS on December 5, 2004. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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

This tongue-in-cheek ABC adventure series used the basic premise of the old Robert Wagner starrer It Takes a Thief, but with an attractive addition to the formula. John Stamos and Melissa George starred as Johnny and Rita, a brace of good-looking professional cat burglars (in an amusing twist, he was the brains and she was the brawn!). Caught in the act, Johnny and Rita were approached by the FBI and made an offer they couldn't refuse. If they hoped to avoid jail time, they would have to assist the authorities by using their larcenous talents to "recover" stolen or missing government property. Though Johnny and Rita insisted that they could not abide each other's company, the viewer knew better. Assigned to supervise the two not-quite-reformed crooks was harried FBI special agent Shue (Robert Knepper). Filmed in Toronto by Warner Bros./Kopelson Entertainment, the weekly, one-hour Thieves made its first network appearance on September 28, 2001 (its original September 21 debut date was pushed forward by ongoing coverage of the World Trade Center disaster). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi