Rossif Sutherland
Released from prison after serving ten years for pummeling his opponent to the point of inflicting severe brain damage, working class pugilist Donnie Rose (Rossif Sutherland) finds his efforts to start life anew complicated by simmering racism and long-suppressed vengeance. In the aftermath of Donnie's notorious bout with aspiring boxer Charlie Carvery (K.C. Collins), racial tensions in Halifax, Nova Scotia sharply divided the community between black and white. During his sentence Donnie not only honed his boxing skills to near perfection, but he also entered into a furtive affair with his black cellmate - a fact which he struggles to keep from his deeply prejudiced brother Keith (Greg Bryk. Though Charlie's vengeful father George (Danny Glover) has long looked forward to the day he will take revenge on the man who destroyed his son's life, the conflicted father discovers that he simply isn't a killer when finally given the opportunity to pull the trigger on Donnie. Subsequently offered $20,000 to step into the ring with fearsome local boxing champion Ossie Paris (Flex Alexander) for a high profile grudge match that will surely spell his doom, Donnie soon finds help coming from the most unlikely of places. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rossif Sutherland, Danny Glover, (more)
- 2005
Season Four of Monk begins as obsessive-compulsive detective Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) seemingly meets his match in the form of private eye Marty Eels (Jason Alexander), whose disheveled appearance and careless manner evidently masks a keen analytical mind. Both Monk and Eels are working on robbery-murder at a jewelry store, and Monk is none too pleased that his rival is continually two steps ahead of him in uncovering evidence and arriving at the right conclusions--in fact, Eels' skills are something short of miraculous! Eventually, Monk discovers that Eels has been cheating all along with the help of his mother (!)...and it is a suddenly humbled and contrite Marty Eels who begs Monk's help when his duplicity puts his mom in harm's way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The retired patriarch of a New York-based Chinese-American family finds that escaping the insanity of his decidedly dysfunctional clan is more difficult than he anticipated in a thoughtful family drama from writer/director Georgia Lee. There was a time when the Wong's were happy, but time has a strange way of transforming relationships and now all that Ed Wong (Tzi Ma) can see in his family is frustration and rebellion. Though he longs to flee to the calming confines of an upstate Buddhist monastery, Ed is about to find out just how the actions of his three mischievous daughters can throw his outwardly perfect plan for the future into question. As his well-heeled oldest daughter Samantha (Jacqueline Kim) reevaluates her love life and professional career while preparing for an upcoming wedding, middle daughter Julie (Elaine Kao) strives to improve the failing social life that has taken a back seat to her demanding schedule as a medical student, and youngest daughter Katie (Kathy Shao-lin Lee) enters into an increasingly dangerous prank war with longtime neighbor and determined nemesis Simon. Though a look back at the family's old home movies offer Ed a nostalgic glimpse into a happier time when the Wong's were actually able to communicate their feelings to one and other, the dejected father soon discovers that the stories and images from the past may provide new hope for the future as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacqueline Kim, Elaine Kao, (more)
Directing his first film since 1998's Lethal Weapon 4, Richard Donner helmed this big-budget adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel of the same name. Featuring a script by first-time screenwriter George Nolfi, Timeline begins in France in the near future. A group of students from Yale are there studying a medieval site, when their professor, played by Billy Connolly, mysteriously goes missing. To make matters more enigmatic, the students are then taken back to the United States by a shadowy technology company called ITC, led by Robert Doniger (David Thewlis). The eccentric Doniger explains that because of a machine that his company built, their professor is trapped in 14th century France. In order to rescue him, two of the students, Chris Hughes (Paul Walker) and Kate Erickson (Frances O'Connor), along with Andre Marek (Gerard Butler), an archeological site manager, must travel to France, circa 1357, amid archaic war, deadly diseases, and other unexpected pitfalls. Meanwhile, David Stern (Ethan Embry), a third student, stays behind to keep an eye on the shady Doniger. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Walker, Frances O'Connor, (more)
