Zack Shada Movies

A young girl learns to believe in herself and value her intelligence in this critically-acclaimed, family-friendly drama. Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer) is an 11-year-old being raised by her mother, Tanya (Angela Bassett), who was left on her own after the death of her husband. While Akeelah is a very bright girl, she's hardly a star student and seems afraid of acting like a bookworm around her friends and classmates. However, Akeelah's teacher sees genuine potential in her student and encourages her to enter the school's spelling bee, convinced Akeelah has the brains and the talent to win. Akeelah applies herself and emerges victorious in the local competition, but discovers the going gets tougher when she goes to a statewide bee, studying for the regionals under the aegis of strict English teacher Dr. Larabee (Laurence Fishburne), who consents to act as her coach A college professor who was a spelling-bee champ as a child, Larabee is a stubborn taskmaster who questions Akeelah's ability and commitment, but in time he develops a respect for his pupil and helps her prove her talent as she climbs the ladder to the National Spelling Bee. Meanwhile, Tanya feels intimidated when she finds the contests are dominated by children from wealthy families and privileged backgrounds, and argues that the competition may not be in Akeelah's best interest, believing instead that homework should be the one and only priority in Akeelah's life. It soon becomes apparent that if Akeelah has any intention of entering the national spelling bee championships in Washington, D.C., she will not do so with Tanya's permission or blessing. This marks the first onscreen reunion of Bassett and Fishburne since their Academy Award-nommed performances as Ike Turner and Tina Turner in Brian Gibson's 1993 biopic, What's Love Got to Do with It.
~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Lea Thompson is both star and director of this made-for-cable movie, another entry in the Hallmark Channel's series about a suburban housewife who leads a double life as a government agent. Not long after he is fired from the staff of a billionaire cereal-company mogul, former Central Security Agency operative Jim Monroe (Dorian Harewood) is found floating in a lake, the apparent victim of an accidental drowning. Suspecting foul play, CSA head Frank Darnell (Joe Penny) prevails upon his former colleague Cathy Davis (Lea Thompson) to investigate. Assuming her CSA identity as "Jane Doe", Cathy quickly deduces that Monroe was killed 48 hours before his alleged drowning. There's only one problem with this theory: Monroe was seen on a nationally telecast interview at the exact time of his death! In her efforts to crack the case, Cathy must once again delicately balance her high-risk espionage activities with her "normal" marriage to the long-suffering Jack Davis (William R. Moses). Jane Doe: The Harder They Fall was first seen on March 4, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jane Doe: Vanishing Act is the first of several Hallmark Channel TV-movies starring Lea Thompson as Simi Valley housewife and mom Kathy Davis (Lea Thompson), who unbeknownst to her family occasionally moonlights as an undercover special agent and "problem solver" for the NSA. Having previously worked as a spy, Kathy is pulled out of an 18-year retirement by NSA operative Frank Darnell (Joe Penny) in hopes that she will be able to locate a missing file containing all of America's defense secrets, which was stolen from a plane in flight--along with the computer whiz who created the file. Adhering to her policy of "eliminating the impossible", Kathy--cover name "Jane Doe"--tries to figure out a logical method by which the file was heisted, a task made difficult by the vague recollections (and shady pasts) of the witnesses to the crime. As she gets deeper into the case, Kathy herself is placed in harm's way, to say nothing of her unwitting family. Jane Doe: Vanishing Act originally aired January 21, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The three most glamorous and butt-kicking private detectives in the business are back and ready to take on bad guys in this sequel to the 2000 blockbuster screen adaptation of the once-popular television series. Dylan (Drew Barrymore), Natalie (Cameron Diaz), and Alex (Lucy Liu) are once again summoned to the office of their boss Charlie (voice of John Forsythe), where they're introduced to his new right-hand man Jimmy Bosley (Bernie Mac) and given their latest assignment. It seems a pair of rings have gone missing and need to be recovered, but this was no ordinary jewel heist -- the rings have been coded with special information that can be used to access a list of every person in the FBI's Witness Protection Program, and when a handful of protected informants are murdered, the Angels are brought in to help crack the case. As the women search for the culprits, they encounter Madison Lee (Demi Moore), one of Charlie's former agents who decided that the wrong side of the law pays better, and Seamus (Justin Theroux), who once dated Dylan and wants revenge for her decision to turn him over to the police. Luke Wilson and Matt LeBlanc return as (respectively) Natalie and Alex's love interests, as does Crispin Glover as the Thin Man; John Cleese, Robert Forster, and Eric Bogosian also appear in supporting roles. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi