Paul Johansson Movies
At 6'2", with a handsomeness best-termed "rugged," the towering and burly Paul Johansson originally developed his ability in sports -- unsurprising, given his physical stature and the fact that he was the child of hockey demigod Ching Johnson, a key player on the 1954 Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. Born in Spokane, WA, but raised in the Vancouver area, Johansson landed all-Canadian status as a basketball player for the University of British Columbia, where he was, by his own account, ejected from five games against the University of Saskatchewan for overly aggressive behavior (in 1987). Johansson had his eyes on a stint in the Olympics and full-time work in the NBA (and in fact, the Atlanta Hawks offered him a spot on their team) when he suddenly realized that he no longer cared seriously about a sports career.Seeking fulfillment and actualization elsewhere, Johansson planned (with the help of his UBC English degree) to launch himself as a writer, and traveled to Los Angeles with friend Jason Priestley with that goal in mind. Instead, he soon discovered a love of acting, and a recurring role on the soap Santa Barbara (as Greg Hughes) followed. Johansson appeared on the Ferris Bueller-like series Parker Lewis Can't Lose from 1991-1992 (as an impossibly hip counterman) and as Sally Field's husband in the 1991 Soapdish, prior to his portrayal of Austin Peale in the blockbuster Western series Lonesome Dove (1994-1995) and its follow-up, Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years (1995-1996).
Alongside on-camera appearances in such projects as Highlander: The Raven (1998), Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies (1999), and John Q. (2002), Johansson moved quietly into writing and directing, first with the 1997 short film Conversations in Limbo (based on an Oscar Wilde story), then with the direct-to-video coming-of-age picture The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie, co-starring Gena Rowlands and James Caan. Johansson also starred in the popular teen series drama One Tree Hill, as Dan Scott. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
Dominic Swain, Master P, Tom Sizemore, and Danny Trejo star in this flashy action thriller about a beautiful mental patient who embarks on a violent killing spree after learning that her own father has put a bounty on her head. Anyone who gets in this lethal lady's way is sure to pay with their lives, whether it be the nightclub owner, the bartender, the call girl, or even the exotic dancer. Who will be alive when her violent rampage has ended, and what will be left of them but a fleshy bag of broken bones? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Ward, Corey Large, (more)
Goodbye, Tree Hill High. Graduation nears. And with its approach comes the realization that, for students and parents alike, life is changing forever. There are new loves to nurture, old scores still to settle. The longtime triangle of Lucas, Peyton and Brooke finally comes down to two. The memory of Keith - or is it his spirit? - inspires Lucas and Nathan, and haunts Dan. Peyton is terrorized by a stalker. Two expectant mothers are about to raise Tree Hill's population stats. Lucas begins to wonder what really happened the terrifying day Keith died. And the Ravens - led by Coach Whitey Durham - have one last chance for hoops glory and the state championship. Live for now. Make way for what's to come. Hello, future...
- Starring:
- Chad Michael Murray, James Lafferty, (more)
Senior year. A time to grow up, to forget, to forgive, to dream, to learn to love all over again. People come together -- except Dan, consumed by anger as he tracks down whoever started the fire that almost took his life. Tree Hill is rocked by powerful new events -- the good, the bad and the catastrophic. The good: Haley fights to save her marriage, Peyton comes to terms with her birth mother, Brooke creates a hot clothing line, and Keith comes home. The bad: Dan gets a rival for worst person in Tree Hill -- a conniving redhead named Rachel, the new girl at school. The catastrophic: Tragedy strikes Tree Hill High, and suddenly who wins the cheerleading tournament or basketball championship seems insignificant compared to who lives. And who doesn't.
- Starring:
- Chad Michael Murray, James Lafferty, (more)
The big news that broke during the finale of One Tree Hill's first season -- namely, the marriage between wealthy, arrogant high school basketball star Nathan Scott (James Lafferty) and Haley James (Bethany Joy Lenz), the lifelong friend of Nathan's half brother, Lucas (Chad Michael Murray) -- determines much of the action and most of the dicier plot complications in the series' second season. The season opens as Lucas and his uncle Keith Scott (Craig Sheffer) abandon plans to leave the North Carolina community of Tree Hill when Lucas' father and Keith's brother, Dan (Paul Johansson), suffers a heart attack. As for Dan, he persuades everyone that the coronary has changed him and that he wants to mend fences -- not only with Lucas and his mother (and Dan's high-school sweetheart), Karen Roe (Moira Kelly), but also with Dan's estranged wife, Deb (Barbara Alyn Woods, who this year joins the cast as a regular). In reality, Dan is just as evil as ever, scheming to destroy Haley and Nathan's nuptials, ruining Deb's life, and vying with high school basketball coach Whitey (Barry Corbin) to control Nathan's future. Meanwhile, two of the women in Lucas' life, Peyton (Hilarie Burton) and Brooke (Sophia Bush), both nurse grudges toward Lucas. In later developments, Nathan goes to work for Keith; new neighbor Felix (Michael Copon), a specialist in mind games, forces everyone to look deep into their souls; Karen opens a club called "TRIC" where Peyton runs an "all-ages" night; Lucas ends his romance with Anna (Daniella Alonso) when he realizes that he's still in love with Brooke, and worries that his dad's heart condition may be hereditary; Nathan and Haley's marriage seems to be on the rocks even before it can properly get under way, especially when Nathan finds out that he'd once had a fling with Haley's sister Taylor (Lindsey McKeon), and Haley launches an e-mail tryst with Chris (Tyler Hilton). And these only represent a few of the season's many melodramatic hooks! As the season concludes, Karen considers moving to Australia with her new love, Andy, until an unidentified "spoiler" enters the scene to threaten everyone's future happiness. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chad Michael Murray, James Lafferty, (more)
Showcasing heavy influence from the Canadian box office legend Porky's, the teen sex comedy Window Theory concerns the antics of a City of Angels stoner, Ethan (Corey Large), who jets back to his Canadian hometown with the full intent of wooing his nuptial-entrenched ex-girlfriend, Steph Jennifer O'Dell out of the arms of her intended, Jeff (Luke Flynn) -- who also happens to be Ethan's onetime best buddy. Once there, Ethan parties hard with his other pals, Brad (Luke Kirby) and Sean (Tom Lenk), and the three devise a scheme to wheedle Steph away from her groom-to-be. Neophyte Andrew Putschoegl directed, with Large and Kyle Kramer co-authoring the script. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Corey Large, Jennifer O'Dell, (more)
Paul Johansson's The Incredible Mrs. Richie stars Gena Rowlands as the title character. The film stars Kevin Zegers as Charlie Proud, a young man on the path to juvenile delinquency. Having had enough of Charlie's troublemaking, school principal Mr. Dewitt issues the boy an ultimatum. Charlie must begin working for Mrs. Richie or be expelled from the school. She puts him to work in her garden, a place she believes is home to the spirit of her late husband. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gena Rowlands, Kevin Zegers, (more)
Growing up on the proverbial "opposite sides of the tracks" does not prevent wealthy high-school basketball star Nathan (James Lafferty) and less-than-wealthy but equally athletic Lucas (Chad Michael Murray) from becoming teammates, competitors, and occasional kindred spirits as One Tree Hill begins its first season. No sooner has the locale of Tree Hill, NC, been established than we discover that the egotistical Nathan and the introspective Lucas are half-brothers, both sharing the same father (but compelled to keep this information secret, mainly because many in town still believe it to be merely a rumor). Lucas' entrée into Nathan's privileged world has its perks, namely gorgeous teenager Peyton Sawyer (Hilarie Burton), though Nathan's girlfriend is somehow drawn to the humble Lucas. As for Nathan, he forges a curious friendship with Lucas' best friend, Haley (Bethany Joie Lenz), an enigmatic young lady for whom the phrase "still waters run deep" might have been coined. Meanwhile, the adults in the boys' lives try to come to grips with the choices (good or bad) that they've made in the past, simply because the relationship between Nathan and Lucas has suddenly forced the issue. As as the season draws to a close, one wonders if the boys are destined to become close chums or bitter enemies -- while a number of deep dark secrets involving the rest of Tree Hill begin bubbling to the surface. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chad Michael Murray, James Lafferty, (more)
A national health care crisis in the United States yields this tense drama from screenwriter James Kearns and director Nick Cassavetes, who experienced a real-life dilemma with his daughter's congenital heart disease that mirrors the one in this film. Denzel Washington stars as John Q. Archibald, a factory worker facing financial hardship as a result of reduced hours in his workplace. When his young son, Michael (Daniel E. Smith), is stricken during a baseball game, John and his wife, Denise (Kimberly Elise), discover that their child is in need of an emergency heart transplant. Although the Archibalds have health insurance, they are informed by hospital administrator Rebecca Payne (Anne Heche) that their policy doesn't cover such an expensive procedure. Unable to raise the money himself, John persuades the hospital's compassionate cardiac surgeon, Dr. Raymond Turner (James Woods), to waive his lofty fee, but is still left with too much of a financial burden to bear. With no recourse but to take his son home to die, John snaps and holds the staff and patients of the hospital's emergency room hostage at gunpoint. John is soon a media hero, the focus of intense news coverage, even as police chief Gus Monroe (Ray Liotta) and hostage negotiator Frank Grimes (Robert Duvall) try to resolve the situation before it leads to bloodshed. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Denzel Washington, Robert Duvall, (more)
In remote Canada in the middle of the 19th century, 16-year-old Annie (Caroline Dhavernas) is taken from an orphanage by Simon (Brendan Fehr), a young Scot who needs a bride to help him settle his rural homestead. Upon arriving at the land Annie finds the cabin is only partially built -- they'll have to live in a tent -- and Simon's brother George (Corey Sevier) will also live there. As it happens, Simon proves to be a selfish, drunken brute who sexually abuses his young bride; George, a gentleman with an intellectual bent, can't stand to see the hateful treatment Annie undergoes at the hand of his brother -- because he's fallen in love with her. So when George returns from a hunting trip with Simon's dead body wrapped in a blanket, it doesn't look good and Annie panics even though George insists the death was an accident. A local constable, James Mullen (Paul Johansson), begins investigating after locking up Annie for safekeeping. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Caroline Dhavernas, Corey Sevier, (more)
- 2001
Thanks to his disastrous double marriage to Kate (Christa Miller) and Nicki --to say nothing of his sham "gay" marriage to boss Mr. Wick (Craig Ferguson)--Drew (Drew Carey) is now known throughout Cleveland as "the impotent sexual bigamist." Though he somehow manages to legally extricate himself from his marital mess, Drew is still in love with Kate and hopes to win her back by mounting a garish public ad campaign, posting declarations of his ardor on the sides of city buses. Unfortunately, thanks to a mixup one of Drew's posters is combined with an anti-child-abuse ad, transforming Kate into a public pariah! Meanwhile, Lewis (Ryan Stiles) and Oswald (Diedrich Bader) try to help Drew by creating a "substitute Kate" (Lesley Fera). The singing group Motorhead and baseball players Bobby Bonds and Jay Johnstone appear as themselves. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
As the Civil War draws to a close, a gang of women, bitter toward the society that did not see fit to help them, goes on a crime spree in the name of helping themselves. Some seek to bring the women to justice, but no one anticipates the fallout that will occur for trying to reel these criminals in. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- 1999
In this sequel to 1997's Wishmaster, an evil genie is released from captivity in a museum and quickly takes human form, where he starts granting wishes to the weak-willed in exchange for their souls. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrew Divoff, Holly Fields, (more)
- 1998
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Although Highlander: The Raven was a spin-off of the long-running sci-fi adventure series Highlander, it actually bore scant resemblance to its "parent" show. Top-billed Elizabeth Gracen, a former Miss America, reprised her Highlander role as the beautiful Amanda Darieux, a reformed cat burglar, who like her ex-lover Duncan MacLeod (played in the original series by Adrian Paul), was an "Immortal" -- though she certainly didn't look like she was 1,200 years old! Foresworn to uphold Duncan's values and fight against evil and injustice throughout the world (provided she could avoid being beheaded, the only way that an Immortal could be permanently killed), Amanda was teamed with detective Nick Wolfe (Paul Johanssen), whom she had met after being "reborn" when Nick shot down his crooked partner. Quitting the force due to ethical disagreements with his superiors, Nick became a private detective, circumventing proper legal procedure whenever it suited his purposes. He also carried a torch for his partner Amanda, and shared the secret of her immortality, as did Amanda's middle-aged companion, a con artist named Lucy Becker (Patricia Gage). As often as possible, Nick and Amanda did leg work for ex-federal agent Bert Myers (Hannes Jaenecke), who ran a security organization. In the tradition of Highlander, Highlander: The Raven filmed the first half of its debut season in Canada, and its final episodes in Paris, where Amanda and Bert had relocated to set up a new private-eye agency, with Nick handling exclusively European cases. Added to the cast at this time was Robert Cavanah as Amanda's platonic roommate and confidante, Father Liam Riley. Debuting in American syndication on September 26, 1998, Highlander: The Raven lasted 22 hour-long episodes, the last of which was "open-ended" enough to warrant a revival somewhere down the line (Nick discovered that he himself was an Immortal, and was a bit uncomfortable about his new status!). ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Gracen, Paul Johansson, (more)
- 1997
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Not only is the teeming metropolis of Isola in the grips of its worst heat wave in history, but the city is also in the thrall of a serial rapist who is targeting his previous victims. Hoping to stop the predator in his tracks, police detective Eileen Burke (Erika Eleniak) goes undercover, posing as one of those prior victims -- only to be raped for real by the elusive assailant. Thus does the search for the perpetrator become a personal mission, especially for Eileen's detective boyfriend, Bert Kling (Paul Johansson). Along the way, the media's culpability in making celebrities out of scumbag criminals is carefully scrutinized, dissected, and condemned. Inspired by Evan Hunter's popular "87th Precinct" novels (written under Hunter's nom de plume , Ed McBain), this made-for-TV thriller features most of Hunter's familiar recurring characters, among them detectives Meyer Meyer (Paul Ben-Victor) and Steve Carella (Dale Midkiff), as well as Carella's deaf-mute wife, Teddy (Andrea Ferrell). Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Heatwave made its ABC network bow on January 12, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Gross, Dale Midkiff, (more)
This made-for-TV cop drama was the second in a series of films inspired by the best-selling "87th Precinct" novels, written by Ed McBain under the nom de plume of Evan Hunter. The major American metropolis of Isola (it's actually Toronto, as indicated by several familiar landmarks) is in the grip of its coldest and iciest winter in recent memory -- and the men of the 87th precinct are themselves gripped by the determination to solve a baffling murder. The victim was a popular dancer, found dead on a snowy street near the theater where she worked. The subsequent investigation unearths an elaborate showbiz-themed scam, a cache of stolen diamonds found on another corpse, and a drug pusher who is killed by having ice injected in his veins. Unfortunately, the killer (or killers) manages to elude the cops at every turn -- and it's getting colder, snowier, and icier outside with every passing day. Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Ice originally aired over NBC on February 18, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dale Midkiff, Joe Pantoliano, (more)
