David Richmond-Peck Movies

After entering into a passionate affair with a much younger woman, an unhappily married man resorts to murder as a means of eliminating his wife in director Ira Sachs' period melodrama. Set in the 1940s, Marriage tells the tale of Harry (Chris Cooper) -- a man whose wife, Pat (Patricia Clarkson), only wants sex. Smitten by the beautiful Kay (Rachel McAdams) but ultra-sensitive to his wife's feelings -- so sensitive that he can't stand the thought of breaking her heart -- Harry opts to poison his wife as a means of allowing the marriage to end with her pride still intact. Harry's scheme soon goes horribly awry, however, when after revealing the plan to his best friend, Richard (Pierce Brosnan), Richard too falls in love with the ethereal young beauty and sets into motion a cunning plan all his own. A serpentine tale of murderous deception, Marriage was co-scripted by director Sachs and screenwriter Oren Moverman. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A handful of heroes become superheroes under unlikely circumstances in this action drama adapted from the long-running Marvel comic-book series. Four astronauts are on a mission aboard a new experimental spacecraft when they are unexpectedly exposed to a massive dose of gamma rays. The accident causes strange and unexpected transformations in all four. Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), top scientist and leader of the mission, can now stretch his body like elastic and is dubbed Mr. Fantastic. His partner and sweetheart, Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), develops the ability to become invisible at will, and becomes known as The Invisible Girl. Her younger brother, Johnny Storm (Chris Evans), is renamed The Human Torch for his new talent of being able to summon up fire from his body when he chooses. And Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis), pilot for the journey, mutates into a monstrous creature with superhuman strength and muscles like stone, known as The Thing. Together, the travelers become known as the Fantastic Four, and they set out to use their unusual skills to fight crime, quickly gaining a nemesis in another altered hero who uses his talents for evil, Doctor Doom (Julian McMahon). A long-gestating project that had been talked about by a number of filmmakers since the early '90s, Fantastic Four was previously the basis for a pair of animated television serials, and was made into a feature film in 1994 by producer Roger Corman, though that film was never officially released. (Fantastic Four creator Stan Lee has said the 1994 film was made only so that the producers could hold on to the rights to the characters, and that it was never intended to be distributed to the public.) ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Based on a true story, this harrowing made-for-TV drama centers upon a New Hampshire family headed by ebullient suburban mom Brenda Geck (Kirstie Alley). Much beloved in her community for her many philanthropic enterprises, not least of which is the adoption of several abandoned children, Brenda outwardly seems to be the perfect matriarch of the perfect household. Tragically, nothing can be further from the truth: The bipolar Brenda cruelly and violently manipulates those under her roof to do exactly what she wants, including shoplifting and arson--and God help anyone who gets in her way. Only when her adopted daughter Marie (Denna Milligan), who may have been impregnated by Brenda's biological son, and whose birth mother Nadine (Kathleen Wilhoite) has been held prisoner in the Geck cellar for decades, manages to escape Brenda's clutches is the outside world apprised of the sordid facts. Astonishingly, no one is willing to believe Marie's story--no one, that is, except prosecutor Philip Rothman (Will Patton), and even he is stymied by the beleaguered Nadine's unwillingness to say anything negative about the Gecks! Family Sins first aired March 14, 2004 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Honor student Ian Randall (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) has the ability to clone himself into any human shape. Ian hopes to use this gift to date both Chloe (Allison Mack) and Lana (Kristin Kreuk) without either girl suspecting that they're sharing the same boyfriend. And on a more sinister note, Ian changes his outer shape in order to kill a teacher who threatens to give him a failing grade. Rest assured that the chameleon-like Ian will have a run-in with Clark Kent (Tom Welling) before the episode's conclusion. Emmanuelle Vaugier makes her first series appearance as Dr. Helen Bryce, anger-management consultant for the hotheaded Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi