Margaret Loesch Movies

Cuba Gooding Jr. stars as real-life neurosurgeon Ben Carson in this made-for-TV biographical drama from TNT. Directed by Thomas Carter (Coach Carter), the film reveals Carson's inspiring life story as a poor, inner-city youth who overcame great odds to become one of the world's best surgeons, thanks to the love of his determined single mother (played by Kimberly Elise) and an unswerving Christian faith. ~ Sandra Bencic, Rovi

When thirteen year-old goth girl named Cassie (Emily Osment) moves into a new neighborhood with her family and starts pulling spooky pranks on the popular kids, the appearance of a mysterious books finds events taking a truly terrifying turn. Cassie isn't comfortable in her new surroundings, and feels rejected by her new classmates. Frustrated, she launches a tireless campaign to frighten the wits out of the entire student body as well as her younger brother Max (Alex Winzenread). With Halloween just twenty-four hours away, Cassie discovers an odd little book entitled "The Evil Thing." Despite the warning that implores owners never to read the book aloud, Max demands to hear the story and as a result, Cassie begins reading. Curiously, the story begins in the darkened woods behind their home, and soon introduces a mysterious stranger who may alter the course of the young sibling's lives. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Directed by Joe Camp, Benji: Off the Leash! follows the plight of three underdogs: Benji, who is literally a dog; the funny but none-too-bright Sheldon; and Colby, a 14-year-old facing some real problems. The unlikely trio is brought together by the nefarious efforts of an ill-intentioned puppy breeder who wants to use Benji's mother in an irresponsible backyard puppy mill. The film serves as a prequel of sorts to the Benji franchise, and features Chris Kendrick, Nick Whitaker, Duane Stephens, Randall Newsome, and, of course, Benji the Dog. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

When Golobulus (Burgess Meredith) and Cobra plot to eliminate mankind and repopulate the world with a vicious race of ancient reptilians, it's up to Duke and company to prevent them from acquiring the technology that will enable them to do so in this feature-length adventure based on the classic cartoon series. Centuries after being driven underground during the ice age, the Cobralas are back, and ready to reclaim the planet. They've developed a plant with spores that possess the power to drain humans of their life force, but the only way they can get the spores to mature is by using the Broadcast Energy Emitter - a revolutionary device with the capability to provide enough energy for the entire planet. As Duke sinks into a deep coma following a fierce fight on the battlefield, Lt. Falcon (Don Johnson) rises to the challenge of leading the Joe team on their most important mission to date. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The robotic cartoon adventure series The Transformers begins its second season with the episode "Autobot Spike," in which one of the human allies of the Autobots in their ongoing battle against the Decepticons literally loses his mind to a super-Transformer. "Autobot Spike" is one of the few single-episode storylines to be found this season. Many of the other scenarios take up two episodes or more, notably "Dinobot Island," wherein the discovery of a remote island populated by prehistoric beasts leads to a serious schism in the time-space continuum; "Megatron's Master Plan," in which the leader of the evil Decepticons does his best to turn public opinion against the Autobots; and "Desertion of the Dinobots," which finds the title characters rebelling against their enslavement by the robots and trying to claim the Autobots' home planet as their own. The best of The Transformers' two-parters during the series' second season is "The Key to Vector Sigma," a story built around a computer from the planet Alpatrian with which the Decepticons intend to bestow artificial intelligence upon their newly created flunkies, the Stunticons. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi