Steve Jacobs Movies

Originally slated to premiere on November 27, 2007, then held back until December 4, the hour-long dramedy Cashmere Mafia finally made its ABC debut on January 6, 2008. The series focused on a quartet of highly successful female executives, friends since their days in business college, who continued to meet, compare notes, and advise and console one another in various expensive Manhattan restaurants and watering holes. Miranda Otto played the "anchor" of the group, Juliet Draper, the powerful COO of the Stanton Hall hotel chain, who wryly observed the passing scene, dispensed sage wisdom, and merrily dissed most of the males who crossed her path--with the occasional exception of her husband Davis (Peter Hermann). Lucy Liu costarred as Mia Mason, high-powered functionary at Barnstead Media, a publishing firm run by a Murdoch clone; Mia was so ambitious that she was even willing to sacrifice her love life for her career, maneuvering her own fiancee out of the job she finally grabbed for herself. Frances O'Connor played Zoe Burden, senior marketing VP for Lily Parish cosmetics, who after several dead-end heterosexual romances suddenly found herself attracted to another woman, Alicia Lawson (Lourdes Benedicto). And Bonnie Somerville appeared as Zoe Burden, managing director of mergers and acquisitions at the investment firm of Gorham Sutter, who encountered considerable difficulty juggling her career and her private life with her stay-at-home husband Eric (Julian Ovenden) and twin children Luke (Nicholas Reese Art) and Sasha (Peyton List). Also in the cast was Addison Timlin as Juliet and Davis' mildly rebellious 14-year-old daughter Emily. If Cashmere Mafia seemed to be an upscale variation of HBO's Sex and the City, it may have been because it was executive-produced by former Sex and the City producer Darren Star. The ABC series also bore a marked resemblance to Lipstick Jungle, a novel written by Starr's onetime Sex and the City partner Candace Bushnell; ironically, the TV-series version of Lipstick Jungle made its NBC bow some four weeks after Cashmere Mafia's inaugural episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Made for television, Heart of Fire stars Patrick Duffy as Max Tucker, a veteran firefighter who has seen so much in his lifetime that he regards himself immune to the tragedies and heartaches of the world. Tucker's cynicism is put to the test when he tries to save a little girl named Katy (Alex McKenna), trapped beneath a burning tanker. Though the other firefighters have given up the girl for dead, Tucker puts his own life on the line in hopes of pulling off an "impossible" rescue--and restoring his faith in miracles. Produced by Arnold Shapiro of Rescue 911 fame, Heart of Fire (cable TV title: The Tanker Incident) first aired January 7, 1997 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this darkly funny horror movie, gore and severed limbs abound. It is the story of a young medical genius doing genetic research into regrowing organs. His work is based upon that of his father, a renowned geneticist who was murdered. Before he can continue, he needs a fresher supply of cadavers and his mother is more than happy to help her son. Unbeknownst to him, she and her lover secretly work for an evil bio-chemical company and are behind his father's death. With his mother's help, the boy finally succeeds, but when he finds out his mother's true allegiance he takes the newly developed material and flees. Unfortunately, just before he gets out, the steel door shuts and cuts off his arm. He grabs the limb and then injects the new genetic formula in hopes that it will reattach. It does, but unfortunately, his arm has developed a mind and can attach or detach itself from the boy whenever it feels like it. The young genius ends up befriended by a group of vagabond amputees who live in the sewer system. With their help, the assistance of his arm, and the formula the boy begins working to get revenge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This stylish chiller tells the grim tale of a sleeping vampire, Czakyr, who is inadvertently awakened when his ancient crypt beneath a church is flooded. At the same time, Cindy and Lucy, two teenage girls, prepare to go to college. Cindy is only visiting the town while Lucy is a local. Just before they go, the girls must go for a late night dip in the flooded crypt as this is a local rite of passage. Unfortunately, Lucy's cross falls from her neck and the blood-thirsty Czakyr attacks her while Lucy escapes. Later Father Frank Aldin informs his pal Mark Garnener, a teacher, that Cindy has become a vampire and has made her mother Karen a bloodsucker too. Frank has captured the two and locked them in a room. He feeds them on blooded leeches. Mark decides to investigate this wild claim and with Lucy returns to her home town and finds that most of the residents have become Czakyr's minions. They capture the two invaders, but the two manage to get away. The town drunk, piloting a religious van, picks up the fleeing couple and takes them to an abandoned lumber mill. That night Cindy visits Lucy and asks her to help destroy Czakyr. Lucy has already killed her mother. The next morning Mark and the drunk find that Lucy has disappeared. They race to town to save her and embark upon their final confrontation with the evil bat man and in the end, good does indeed triumph over evil but not before much blood is spilled. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a daughter defends her aging father against scandalous accusations. Joseph Mueller (Max Von Sydow) was born in Germany but emigrated to Australia shortly after the end of World War II. Joseph is happily spending the autumn of his years doting on his two grandchildren and giving friendly business advice to his daughter Anne Winton (Carol Drinkwater) and son-in-law Bobby (Steven Jacobs), who have inherited the hotel that Mueller founded. One morning, as Joseph walks his grandchildren to school, he discovers that a camera crew is following him from a distance, led by reporter Leah Zetnick (Julia Blake). A few days later, Leah broadcasts a report alleging that Joseph is in fact Franz Kessler, a former member of Hitler's S.S. and a war criminal responsible for the death of Leah's parents, among many others. Suddenly besieged by the media, Anne and Joseph go into hiding after authorities issue an indictment against him. Joseph eventually steps forward to stand trial, defended by attorney George Coleman (Tom Robertson). After George calls Leah's credibility into serious question in court, Joseph is cleared of all charges, and a seriously distraught Leah commits suicide in front of Joseph and Anne. But Joseph's casual reaction to Leah's shocking act makes Anne wonder if Bobby's suspicions about her father's past might have a basis in fact. Max Von Sydow and Julia Blake both won Australian Film Institute awards for their performences. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Living on the island of Tasmania off the coast of Australia in the 1950s, it's hard to be a teenager, knowing that momentous and exciting changes are happening on the mainland. This story is based on an autobiographical novel by C.J. Koch, and explores the relationships of a group of young people whose ruling ambition in life is to get to the mainland, and in particular to Melbourne, where things are livelier. Indeed, once they get there, they find that things are very much livelier than they had expected, and they are soon in over their heads. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This comic fantasy stars Howie Mandell as a monster who lives under a little boy's bed. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Greg Morris, who played electronics expert Barney Collier on the original Mission:Impossible series, guest-stars on the "new" version in the November 20, 1988 episode "The Condemned." Framed for murder, Barney is locked up in a brutal Turkish prison and sentenced to death. It is up to Barney's son, new IMF agent Grant Collier (played by Morris' real-life son Phil Morris), to stage-manage his dad's daring rescue. Scripted by Ted Roberts and Martin Fisher from a story by John Truman, "The Condemned" is a remake of a 1968 Mission:Impossible episode written by Laurence Heath. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although many genre filmmakers have managed to blend horror and humor with great success, movies employing this formula often run the risk of both elements canceling each other out, resulting in a horror comedy that is neither scary nor funny. Alas, Dead Heat is a textbook example of this kind of failure. It details the weird misadventures of a pair of mismatched L.A. cops -- the straitlaced and by-the-book Roger Mortis (Treat Williams) and wisecracking loose cannon Doug Bigelow (muscle-headed Saturday Night Live alum Joe Piscopo). Their quest is to reach the heart of a sinister crime ring that employs indestructible undead henchmen. In a strange twist, their inept handling of the case results in both cops -- first Williams, then Piscopo -- being killed in action and subsequently reanimated in a secret laboratory managed by the barely seen Vincent Price (whose walk-on role is more entertaining than the combined performances of the two leads). The potential for "splatstick" comedy in the mode of Evil Dead 2 or Peter Jackson's Bad Taste is defeated by two major obstacles: first, the painfully unfunny mugging of Piscopo, who was unwisely allowed to ad-lib much of his performance; and second, the MPAA's trimming of several minutes from Steve Johnson's sensational makeup effects in order to avoid the dreaded X rating -- including a clever scene involving a zombie go-go girl played by Linnea Quigley. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Hiding Out, a surprisingly entertaining and engaging action comedy, directed by Bob Giraldi, takes the implausible idea that an adult man could enroll in high school and pass as a student and makes it real. Andrew (Jon Cryer) is a stockbroker hunted by a professional killer. He flees to stay with his sister and her teenage son Patrick (Keith Coogan). Andrew shaves off his beard, cuts his hair, and enrolls in Patrick's high school, pretending to be 17 years old. Cryer does a great job of convincingly playing both ages, and Coogan shines as the teenage son. Director Giraldi has great visual style and gives the film an energy that makes it both enjoyable and believable. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Al (Richard Moir) lands a job as chef at a resort in Fraser Island in this situation comedy. He has been fired several times for accusing fellow employees of sleeping with his wife. Al finds comfort in the arms of the waitress Cindy (Helen Mutkins), which makes the hotel manager Bob (Steve Jacobs) jealous. Jennifer Cluff and Tina Bursill co-star with Ken Radley as more characters who end up at the resort to overcome their previous romantic disappointment. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Maria McEvoy (Wendy Hughes) deals with the death of her beloved father and discovers her attorney husband George (Steven Jacobs) is a philandering louse in this romantic drama. At the suggestion of a friend, Maria takes a vacation in Thailand, where she falls for Raka (John Lone), an exiled dancer from Bali. She also wonders about the sexual ambiguity of fellow Australian Terry (Rod Mullinar), the expatriate who runs the vacation resort. The film gives Hughes ample opportunity to show the full range of human emotions in her role of the grieving daughter and wronged wife. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide