Sanford Bookstaver Movies

Based on a comic book series created by Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti, the made-for-cable Painkiller Jane stars Emmanuelle Vaugier as Jane Elizabeth Browning, a young Marine captain who is the sole survivor when her Special Ops force is exposed to a biochemical "retrovirus" weapon after raiding an illegal lab. It turns out that the retrovirus has endowed Jane with miraculous self-healing powers, making her virtually invulnerable. Unfortunately, she isn't given much of an opportunity to exercise this unique gift before she is locked up in a military hospital on orders from government shrink Lucas Knight (Tate Donovan). Unwilling to act as guinea pig for an upcoming series of medical experiments, Jane escapes her confines and becomes a fugitive, not only from the government but also from a secret conspiratorial cartel which numbers Dr. Knight (aka Lucas Insley) among its members! She spends the rest of the film thwarting villains and writing wrongs (usually in Bionic Woman-style slow motion action scenes), with the help of her new cohort, handsome thief Nick (Eric Dane). Former Shaft star Richard Roundtree is seen as Jane's Marine mentor Col. Watts, who reluctantly assumes the "Inspector Javert" role in tracking her down on behalf of the authorties. Billed as an "original event" when it first aired December 9, 2005 on the Sci-Fi Channel, the entertaining but highly derivative Painkiller Jane has "two-hour series pilot" written all over it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As several of the younger O.C.ers plan an end-of-summer trip to Tijuana, Sandy Cohen (Adam Brody) takes a new legal job that disturbs his social-climbing wife, Kirsten (Kelly Rowan) -- who in turn must now fend off her suddenly amorous neighbor Jimmy Cooper (Tate Donovan). The sojourn into Mexico swings from delightful to disturbing when Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) finds out about her parents' divorce and learns the whole truth about her boyfriend, Luke (Chris Carmack), all at once. A near-tragedy results when Marissa tries to "solve" her troubles in an extremely dangerous fashion. ~ All Movie Guide

Clearly inspired by such wall-to-wall action flicks as The Fast and the Furious and XXX, the endearingly mindless TV series Fastlane chronicled the adventures of two tough, hard-driving undercover L.A. cops. Answerable only to their leather-clad superior Billie Chambers (Tiffani-Amber Thiessen), officers Van Ray (Peter Facinelli) and Deaqon Hayes (Bill Bellamy) -- the latter was the brother of the former's murdered partner -- made mincemeat of a variety of nasty urban villains. This the heroes were able to do because they had full access to Billie's "Candy Store," a warehouse full of seized stolen goods, ranging from souped-up cars to state-of-the-art weaponry to hyper-sophisticated computer technology. The series was cocreated by McG, the former music-video director who'd helmed the 2001 theatrical feature Charlie's Angels. Played out larger than life and with tongue firmly in cheek, Fastlane proved to be everyone's favorite "guilty pleasure" when the series debuted on September 18, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide