Judith Hoag Movies

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie is the live-action, feature film adaptation of the cult comic book and the popular animated television show. After prolonged exposure to radiation, four teenage turtles--Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo, and Donatello--have mutated into ninjas and have begun living in the sewers of a large city. Under the guidance of a ninja master Splinter the Rat and television reporter April, the Turtles embark on a mission to run crime out of the city and battle the warlord Shredder. The Turtles have been designed by Jim Henson Productions and effortlessly fit into the live-action surroundings. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Robin Williams stars in this oddball comedy about a fast-talking car salesman who is down on his luck and in over his head until an extreme situation forces him to use his sales skills to save lives. Joey O'Brien (Williams) is the stereotypical car salesman: enterprising, aggressive, and desperate to make enough money to spend on his high-maintenance girlfriends. But suddenly the pressure is really on: he owes money to the mob, his ex-wife is nagging him about not spending enough time with their teenage daughter, and if he doesn't sell at least a dozen cars by the time the big sale is over on Saturday, he's going to lose his job. As Joey attempts to placate several potential buyers, his day is interrupted by Larry (Tim Robbins), the insanely jealous husband of dimwitted showroom receptionist Donna (Annabella Sciorra), who's been having an affair with someone who works at the dealership. With the police surrounding the place, his job (and life) on the line, Joey realizes that it's up to him to use his wits to persuade Larry -- who's not even sure what he wants out of the situation -- not to kill anyone. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

The two-part, four-hour TV movie Switched at Birth is based on an actual event which began unfolding in Wauchula, Florida in 1978. Brian Kerwin and Judith Hoag play the new parents of a baby girl; a few days later, another couple, played by John M. Jackson and Bonnie Bedelia, have a baby at the same hospital. Kerwin and Hoag's baby is healthy; Jackson and Bedelia's baby has a heart defect. Switched at Birth traces the lives of the two girls over a period of eight years--up to the point of a tragedy which opens the possibility that the girls may not have been given over to the correct parents at the hospital. The four parents involved find themselves in court, battling over custody of the surviving child. This intensely personal problem is bloated into a cause celebre by the press and by parents' rights pressure groups. Edward Asner and Caroline McWilliams appear as the opposing attorneys. Those who'd been following the two-part Switched at Birth during its first telecast in April of 1991 may have found themselves in family conflicts of their own, inasmuch as Part Two was shown opposite the network TV premiere of Die Hard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

We're back in Cabot Cove for this episode, in which Jessica's friend Dr. Seth Hazlitt (William Windom) is facing a malpractice suit. It seems that the family of the late owner of Cabot Cove's computer company died of bleeding ulcers while under Seth's care. However, there is something about this death that doesn't quite add up, and Jessica (Angela Lansbury) is determined to find out what that is--while clearing Seth's name, of course. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Reluctant time traveler Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) continues "leaping" in and out of other people's bodies, for purposes apparently known only to his holographic advisor-observer, Al (Dean Stockwell), in season four of Quantum Leap. The season opener, "The Leap Back: June 15, 1945," offers the bizarro situation of Sam being stuck in the present while Al is forced to become the time traveler! Further perils and challenges await Sam as he assumes the form of a KKK member in "Justice: May 11, 1965," a young female rape victim in "Raped: June 20, 1980," and a member of a girl singing trio in "A Song for the Soul: April 7, 1963." He also finds himself the recipient of someone else's guardian angel (whom Al can see) in "It's a Wonderful Leap: May 10, 1958." Sam's most daunting "assignment" occurs when he is relocated into the body of a chimpanzee -- with a chimpanzee's intellect -- in "The Wrong Stuff: January 24, 1961." The final episode of the season, "A Leap for Liza: June 25, 1957," has Sam leaping into the body of the young Al. In so doing, he inadvertently breaks the rules of his mission by changing the course of past history, thereby endangering not only himself but also countless others yet unborn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A motion picture crew descends upon Cabot Cove to film a historical documentary. In the course of production, the crew unearths an old document signed by George Washington, which claims that the town's most venerated Revolutionary War hero, Joshua Peabody, was actually a traitorous scoundrel. Evidently someone isn't pleased about having his or her illusions shattered: shortly after the document appears, the film's director is murdered. Now it is up to Jessica (Angela Lansbury) to burrow through the multitude of likely suspects. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This docudrama recaps the history of silicone breast implants, beginning in 1962 when idealistic Houston medical resident Kevin Saunders (David Schwimmer) gets an idea after seeing how women pad their bras. After he shares his notion with cosmetic pro Dr. William Larson (Chris Cooper), the two create a prosthetic breast from Dow-Corning's silicone gel. Approaching women on the street fails to bring volunteers, but a classified newspaper ad does the trick. As breast sizes increase, so do the doctors' bank accounts. However, physical problems emerge, followed by lawsuits, and the high life soon turns sour and grim. Filmed in LA, and Texas (Galveston, Houston), this TV movie premiered December 13, 1997 on HBO. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Michael Bay (The Rock) directed this science fiction action thriller in the When Worlds Collide tradition. After astronomy students discover a comet-asteroid collision, an asteroid fragment "the size of the Super Dome" threatens. It's destroyed by a secret USA defense in space, but a large chunk veers off toward Singapore. With another asteroid "the size of Texas" en route, a plan is devised to send oil drillers to land on the asteroid and drop a nuclear device down a 1000-foot shaft, a scheme calculated to crack the asteroid into two halves, saving Earth. NASA begins a crash program to train beer-besotted oil roughnecks for the mission. During a stopover to refuel at the Mir Station, the space station is accidentally destroyed, so a Russian cosmonaut also joins the team. Produced by Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer (Con Air), and Gale Anne Hurd (The Relic, The Abyss). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Heavenly caseworker Monica (Roma Downey) continues to work hand in glove with her celestial supervisor Tess (Della Reese) and gentle Angel of Death Andrew (John Dye) to save the souls of earthly mortals, or at the very least to change their lives for the better, as Touched by an Angel begins its seventh season. New to the proceedings is novice angel Gloria (Valerie Bertinelli), who joins the cast in an episode originally telecast on May 6, 2001. Just as Tess has been providing wisdom, guidance and moral support to Monica during the past six seasons, so too does Monica become the mentor of the shy and somewhat awkward Gloria as she tries to do Heaven's work on Earth. Making return appearances this year are streetwise angel Rafael (Alexis Cruz), as well as Adam (Charles Rocket), the Angel of Death whom Andrew effectively replaced at the beginning of season two. Also, actor Ray Walston makes his final TV guest appearance in the season opener "The Face on the Barroom Floor," telecast three months before his death. Other prominent performers appearing guest roles this season include Robert Loggia, as a 102-year-old movie director in "Restoration;" Bonnie Franklin (who coincidentally played the mother of Valerie Bertinelli on TV's One Day at a Time) as a harried foreperson of a murder-trial jury in "Reasonable Doubt;" onetime juvenile actor Scott Baio as a hardnosed narcotics cop in "A Death in the Family;" and Mandy Patinkin as an enigmatic motorist in "Netherlands." Season seven concludes with the two-part "Shallow Water," in which Monica, having passed an important milestone in her celestial career, is awarded by god with a special gift: to see humans "from the inside out," enabling her to instantly realize how everything in those persons' lives -- good or bad -- has profoundly altered their present. ~ All Movie Guide