Brooke "Mikey" Anderson
A brilliant chemist driving down an lonely stretch of Ozark highway stops to pick up a pretty young girl, only to become hopelessly drawn into a deadly scheme involving her violent, drug-manufacturing boyfriend in this thriller from first-time director Kristopher Hardy. Toby (Lance Lee Davis) could have been working on some of the most advanced projects in the world of science, but instead he has chosen to become a high school teacher. One night, while cruising down the Ozark highway, Toby spots a pretty girl named Laurie (Brooke Anderson) whose car appears to have broken down. Little does Toby realize that Laurie's in greater danger than he could ever imagine: Not only is Laurie on the run from the authorities, but her volatile boyfriend Jeff (Lawrence Turner) is hot on her trail as well. Somewhere down the road, Toby and Laurie spot Jeff on the side of the road and pull over to puck him up. Now, with Laurie as his grudging accomplice, Jeff kidnaps Toby and takes him to an isolated farm. Once there, Jeff informs his captor that he will use his knowledge to create a substantial amount of synthetic heroin so that Jeff can pay off a sizable bedt to some dangerous Bolivian traffickers. Should Toby continue in his refusal to cooperate, he'll be framed for the murder of his ex-wife Annette (Dawn Balkin). When Laurie goes missing, Annette stands her ground, and the Bolivians show up to collect, an already volatile situation suddenly reaches critical mass. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lance Lee Davis, Brooke "Mikey" Anderson, (more)
- 2003
Veteran assisted-living facility employee Sevan Matossian spent one year of his career armed with a digital camera and captured 100 hours of footage of three of his developmentally disabled clients as they prepared for an independent life outside the home in Matossian's 2002 documentary entitled Our House. The three clients, Laura, Tim W., and Tim S., were all born with one or more disabilities that required institutionalization, while also being forced to cope with a society that is largely indifferent to their plight. While assisting his charges with their preparations, Matossian witnesses first-hand his clients' fears and anxieties, as well as the minor triumphs each achieves as they move closer to independence. Earning the Grand Jury Award at the 2003 Nodance Film Festival, Our House was also selected for inclusion at the Santa Barbara, Nashville, and Cinequest Film Festivals. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Warinner, Tim Staab, (more)
- 1989
Debuting in May 1989, the Australian TV soap opera E Street was designed as a "hip," youth-oriented variation of the long-running continuing drama A Country Practice, featuring one of the stars of the earlier series, Penny Cook. Set in the inner-city community of Westside, the daily 50-minute series cast Cook as dedicated general practitioner Dr. Ellie Fielding. Other regulars included beat cop George Sullivan (Les Dayman); George's rebellious teenaged daughter Alice (Marianne Howard); feisty legal-aid lawyer Sarah McKillop (Katrina Sedgwick), who was abruptly killed off six months into the series; Sarah's rather sexier replacement, Jennifer St. James (Virginia Hey); social worker Martha O'Dare (Cecily Polson); pub keeper Ernie Patchett (Vic Rooney) and his hotheaded son Chris (Paul Kelman), who was forced via an unwanted pregnancy to wed snooty socialite Megan Bromley (Lisabeth Kennaly); and the series' most popular character, "cool" Reverend Bob Brown (Tony Martin), who like most of the adults on the program was saddled with a contentious offspring, namely his son Harley (Malcolm Kennard). Whenever the ratings flagged -- as they did when Ellie Fielding was written off the series -- the producers hauled in another Country Practice alumnus, notably Kate Raison as rich-bitch dowager Sheridan Sturges and Joan Sydney as Ernie Patchett's sister Mary. The series also indulged in the time-honored practice of sweeping the boards clean by having several characters killed off at once in a single tragedy (an explosion, an auto accident, etc.) so that a whole new flock of younger, prettier regulars could be introduced. By the time the series entered the home stretch, most of the stories focused on a crippled rock singer named Wheels (Marcus Graham) and his entourage. Created by Forrest Redlich, E Street chalked up 404 episodes before its cancellation in 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
