Edward Herrmann Movies

Narrated by Edward Herrmann, this documentary examines many different aspects of Alzheimer's disease. In addition to profiling people who suffer from it, and the family members who help care for the afflicted, the filmmakers explain how even though the diagnosis rates for the disease continue to climb, the illness does not get the attention that other major medical challenges - such as cancer - receive. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

How could the planet that was once a simmering sea of radioactive, molten rock evolve to become the universe's greatest refuge for human life? This is the question asked by filmmaker Peter Chin as he descends deep into the volcanoes that formed the planet's crust and dives to the bottom of the ocean to explore the first evidence of life on Earth. Beginning in the distant past and stretching into the far-off future, this documentary utilizes cutting edge special effects and breathtaking footage from remote locations in order to find out not only where life came from, but where it could be heading as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Gilmore Girls begins its seventh season with a new executive producer David S. Rosenthal and a new network (CW, which of course was the successor to the series' former stamping grounds, WB. Alas, Season Seven will turn out to be Season Last: unable to come to financial terms with series stars Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel (Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, respectively) the network will bring the series to an end with its 153 rd episode on May 15, 2007. It is said by some observers that this move has been implemented so that CW can clear its decks of its "aging" properties to develop its own new series; others opine that the show never really recovered from the 6th- season defection of Gilmore Girls creators Dan Palladino and Amy Sherman-Palladino, and that its ever-declining (though still respectable) ratings are the true reason for the cancellation. Whatever the case, plans to extend the series past its seventh season with thirteen additional episodes will be quietly scuttled--though the "official" finale is open-ended enough to warrant a sequel or a reunion special somewhere down the line. It cannot be denied that, no matter what the future may hold for Gilmore Girls, the series is still both willing and able to deliver plenty of "bang for the buck." The seventh season begins right where the sixth season ended, as Lorelai agonizes over her one-night stand with her former lover (and father of daughter Rory) Christopher Hayden (David Sutcliffe) following her breakup with her foot-dragging fiance Luke Danes (Scott Patterson). Though Lorelai will marry Christopher during a romantic Parisian getaway, it is clear that her heart still belongs to Luke--and he knows it. Meanwhile, Rory prepares to graduate with a journalism degree from Yale while carrying on a frustrating long-distance romance with Logan (Matt Czuchry), the son of millionaire publisher Mitchum Huntzberger (Gregg Henry). Rory also aquires a brace of new--and typically eccentric--friends in the form of Lucy (Krysten Ritter) and Olivia (Michelle Ongkingco). In other key developments, Lorelai's father Richard (Edward Herrmann) suffers a heart attack, which results in her mother Emily (Kelly Bishop) becoming even more insufferable than usual; Rory's friend Lane (Keiko Agena) returns from her disastrous honeymoon with musician Zach (Todd Lane) with the proverbial "bun in the oven"; Rory interviews for a prestigious reporting job with "The New York Times", but ultimate opts for what she considers a higher purpose in life; and, emboldened by the example of new parents T.J. (Michael DeLuise) and Liz (Kathleen Wilhoite), Luke demands that his former girlfriend Anna (Sherlyn Fenn) to be granted equal parental rights vis-a-vis their daughter April (Vanessa Marano). As all climaxes gather for the Grand Finale, Lorelei divests herself of her new husband Christopher just in time for a reconciliation with Luke, an event fueled by a drunken night on the town and a soulful karaoke rendition of a Dolly Parton tune. And just as all of Stars Hollow is celebrating Rory's graduation, who should appear from the blue but Logan Hertzburn, with a Very Important Question on his lips. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In 1789, only a few years after France helped colonists in America win their freedom from Great Britain, a band of Parisian rebels staged an attack on the Bastille, looting needed supplies of food and materiel after the increasingly callous French authorities ignored their pleas. The incident proved to be the first salvo in a civil war that raged in France for the next ten years, with the allies of freedom and democracy (mostly in the working or peasant classes) struggling to tear down the rule of the French aristocracy and their long-standing feudal system. The French Revolution is a documentary which offers a detailed look at this pivotal event in European history, created using historical re-enactments, classic painting and drawings, and interviews with authors and historians who share the story of the revolution and the major players in the tale, including Marie Antoinette, King Louis XVI, Jean-Paul Marat, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Maximilien Robespierre. Narrated by Edward Herrmann, The French Revolution was originally produced for the cable television network The History Channel. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The powerful medieval order known as the Knights Templar have inspired popular fiction like The Da Vinci Code, with speculated links to grand religious conspiracies. In this documentary, historical scholars and experts explore the history and theories surrounding the group, separating truth from fiction. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

Returning home to Stars Hollow after a whirlwind European trip at the outset of Gilmore Girls' fourth season, single mom Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) is informed that her business partner, Sookie St. James (Melissa McCarthy), is pregnant, while Lorelai's daughter, Rory (Alexis Bledel), prepares for her freshman year at Yale University. Arriving on campus, Rory meets her new roommates: 15-year-old prodigy Tanna (Olivia Hack), sports jock Janet (Katie Walder), and -- surprise, surprise -- Rory's former prep-school nemesis Paris Geller (Liza Weil). Perhaps inevitably, Rory will become so involved in her roomies' trials and tribulations that she will begin neglecting her schoolwork. Back at home, Lorelai and Sookie encounter a number of formidable roadblocks, legal and otherwise, in their efforts to open their new bed-and-breakfast, the Dragonfly Inn; and Rory's friend Lane Kim (Keiko Agena) has severed all ties with her uncompromisingly traditionalist Korean mother by launching a career as a rock singer. In other season-four developments, Lorelai's close friendship with café owner Luke (Scott Patterson) is threatened by events that had occurred during his summer vacation; Sookie and her husband, Jackson (Jackson Douglas), nervously prepare for a "home birth"; Rory and Paris vie for the attentions of their professor, Asher Fleming (Michael York); Rory's troublesome grandma, Trix Gilmore (Marion Ross), suddenly dies; and as for Rory's high-school beaux, Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) tries to rekindle their romance, while Dean (Jared Padalecki) gets married to Lindsay Lister (Arielle Kebbel) on the rebound. The season ends with the grand opening of the Dragonfly Inn, yet another breakup between Rory and Jess, a disturbing turn of events concerning Rory and Dean, a hint of divorce in the offing for Lorelei's parents -- and a distinct deepening of the relationship between Lorelai and the newly divorced Luke. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first in a week-long series of History Channel specials marking the first anniversary of the September 11th "Attack on America," this two-hour documentary concentrates on the destruction of the World Trade Center's twin towers. Combining TV news tapes, interviews, still photos, and computer graphics, the program re-creates the horrible moment when a jet crashed into Tower I, followed closely by another suicide attack on Tower II. The rest of the program concerns itself with the cleanup of the rubble, the forensic evidence found during this process, an analysis of why the towers collapsed so quickly, and reactions of those nearest to "ground zero." Originally telecast September 2, 2002, World Trade Center: Rise and Fall of an American Icon was followed in subsequent evenings by the related specials The Day the Towers Fell, Relics From the Rubble, Inside Islam, and War on Terror: A Year in Review. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This program is the final installment in a four-part series, produced by the Arts and Entertainment Network, that examines the Impressionist art movement in France. The idea of the free use of color and light to depict scenes of nature and common life was revolutionary indeed. The program looks at some of the major proponents of the new aesthetic sensibility, including Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Pissaro, Sisley, and Bazille. Paintings by these and other artists illustrate the documentary, and are accompanied by the commentary of artists, art historians, and curators. Journals and letters shed light on the private lives of the artists who started the other French revolution. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide

This program is the second volume in a four-part series, produced by the Arts and Entertainment Network, that examines the Impressionist art movement in France. The idea of the free use of color and light to depict scenes of nature and common life was revolutionary indeed. The program looks at some of the major proponents of the new aesthetic sensibility, including Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Pissaro, Sisley, and Bazille. Paintings by these and other artists illustrate the program, and are accompanied by the commentary of artists, art historians, and curators. Journals and letters shed light on the private lives of the artists who started the other French revolution. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide