Shane Mikael Johnson Movies
Supposedly inspired by events experienced by director John Murlowski, Black Cadillac centers on a trio of friends who are left stranded after their car malfunctions on a winding mountain roadway. Although they are fortunate enough to happen upon a deputy, they are constantly menaced by the headlights of the title vehicle. Soon the environs and the friends' frayed emotions make their struggle as difficult as the troublesome car does. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Randy Quaid, Shane Mikael Johnson, (more)
- 2002
Don Cheadle makes his first series appearance as Paul Nathan, an overaged med student who chose to enter school only after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. During his first shift, Nathan plunges in to help the other staffers treat the victims of a Halloween party fire -- whereupon his colleagues notice that he doesn't react all that well to intense pressure. In other developments, Corday (Alex Kingston) and Romano (Paul McCrane) battle over a patient who may be facing an amputation; despite her recent erratic behavior, Weaver (Laura Innes) tries to save a baby who was all but killed in a home birth gone awry; and the romance between Chuny (Laura Ceron) and Kovac (Goran Visnjic) is sabotaged by his insatiable addiction to sex. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2002
The hectic early days of live television are spoofed in this irreverent made-for-cable movie. The story is told from the viewpoint of Audrey Drummond (Christina Hendricks), a naïve young script girl hired by the newly formed Empire Television Network in 1948. Among Audrey's colleagues are the network's owner, eccentric scientist Doc Powers (Christopher Lloyd); Doc's blonde, pneumatic young "trophy wife" Marion (Molly Ringwald); the Colonel (Dylan Baker), Empire's visionary programming chief; and Walt Kaplan (Michael B. Silver), a studio floor manager who aspires to be a director. The story revolves around Empire's efforts to stage the first live TV production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, while trying desperately to adhere to Doc Powers' cast-in-stone broadcast edicts: "No profanity, no suicide, no cleavage." Amidst a flurry of missed cues, fainting actors, collapsing scenery, and malfunctioning equipment, the network also manages to outrage its sponsors by allowing a black musician (Sharif Atkins) to actually (gasp! egad!) speak directly into the camera. Co-executive produced by The West Wing's John Wells and ER's Carol Flint (who also wrote the script), The Big Time debuted October 21, 2002 on the TNT network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Adam Larson and Tony R. Abrams' directorial debut Pumpkin is an unconventional love story. College senior Carolyn McDuffy (Christina Ricci) agrees to coach handicapped athletes from a local town in order to help her sorority win an award. She and her sorority sister Jeanine (Dominique Swain) are put off by the activity. Carolyn's discomfort begins to dissipate after meeting Pumpkin Romanoff (Hank Harris), a young man in a wheelchair who has dreams of competing in the shot put. Slowly, Carolyn falls in love with Pumpkin, sending her into conflict with her boyfriend Kent (Sam Ball), her sisters, and Pumpkin's mother (Brenda Blethyn). This film was screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christina Ricci, Hank Harris, (more)
