Reed Frerichs Movies
- 2006
A south-of-the border bachelor party goes terrifyingly awry in director Rowdy Stovall's tense entry into the 2007 Newport Beach Film Festival. In less than 24 hours Ryan will be a married man, and in order to celebrate his last night of freedom Ryan's friends have arranged an elaborate bachelor party blowout across the Mexican border. But somewhere along the journey everything falls apart. Now, as one man struggles for survival after being stuffed into a barrel and buried alive, the grim events of that fateful evening unfold in a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards that will leave the viewer guessing until the crucial final seconds. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Drew Powell, Jordan Belfi, (more)
- 2003
NBC wasted precious little time in offering up a TV-movie adaptation of one of the first truly uplifting stories of the Iraq War. Saving Jessica Lynch stars Laura Regan as the title character, a 19-year-old army private with the 507th Ordinance Maintence Company. On March 23, 2003, Jessica is captured by Iraqi insurgents after the rest of her platoon is wiped out in a roadside bombing not far from Al Nasiryah. Curiously, Jessica doesn't get all that much screen time: The primary focus is on the rescue efforts mounted by a group of Army Rangers and Navy SEALS, with special emphasis bestowed upon Mohammed Al-Raheif (Nicholas Guilak), the courageous Iraqi man who shielded the captured woman from harm while she lay wounded in an enemy hospital (it should surprise no one that the script is based on Al-Raheif's own book, Because Each Life Is Precious. An inordinate amount of poetic license is taken with the events surrounding Jessica's rescue, with a plethora of ridiculous coincidences and serial-like thrills and chills thrown in to pep up the story. To her credit, the real Jessica Lynch herself neither authorized nor promoted the film, which first aired November 9, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laura Regan, Nicholas Guilak, (more)
A soldier discovers how elusive the truth can be in this first major film about America's role in the Gulf War. Lt. Col. Nathaniel Serling (Denzel Washington) was the commander of a unit during Operation Desert Storm who mistakenly ordered the destruction of what he believed to be an enemy tank, only to discover that it actually held U.S. soldiers, including a close friend. Since then, Serling has been an emotional wreck, drinking heavily and allowing his marriage to teeter on the brink of collapse. As a means of redeeming himself, Serling is given a new assignment by his superior, Gen. Hershberg (Michael Moriarty). Capt. Karen Walden (Meg Ryan) was a helicopter pilot who died in battle during the Iraqi conflict, and the White House has proposed that Walden be posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Serling is asked to investigate Walden's actions on the field of battle, but he quickly discovers that no two stories about her are quite the same; Ilario (Matt Damon) says Walden acted heroically and sacrificed herself to save the others in her company, while Monfriez (Lou Diamond Phillps) claims she was a coward who was attempting to surrender to enemy troops. Meanwhile, reporter Tony Gartner (Scott Glenn) is hounding Serling, trying to get the inside story on Walden and on Serling's own difficulties. Matt Damon lost 40 pounds to prepare for his role in Courage Under Fire, which resulted in a potentially life-threatening illness for the young actor. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, (more)
This unusual modern-day fable concerns a super-powered teenager who inspires nothing but hostility in the small-minded folk of his hometown. Sean Patrick Flanery stars as Jeremy Reed, nicknamed "Powder" because he is an albino. Powder has been living his entire 16 years in his grandparents' basement, but they have both passed away. The boy is removed from his home and placed in a school. There, science teacher Ripley (Jeff Goldblum) and psychologist Jessie Caldwell (Mary Steenburgen) discover that in addition to being an albino, their new student is the smartest person who ever lived with an IQ off the charts -- and that he is electrically super-charged, which renders him hairless. Powder also has miraculous powers of perception, ESP, and healing, which he uses to ease the death of the terminally ill wife of local Sheriff Barnum (Lance Henriksen) and to give a bigoted redneck hunter (Brandon Smith) a firsthand demonstration of the pain suffered by a deer he's just shot. Powder's gentle nature attracts a pretty coed, Lindsey (Missy Crider), but in spite of his Christ-like demeanor, Powder's abnormalities inspire hatred on the part of many bigoted citizens, especially school bully John Box (Bradford Tatum). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Steenburgen, Sean Patrick Flanery, (more)
