Tom Cox Movies

High Noon is one of four made-for-TV movies adapted from Nora Roberts' romance novels for the Lifetime channel in 2009 (along with Tribute, Northern Lights, and Midnight Bayou). Emilie de Ravin (Lost) stars as Phoebe McNamara, a single mom who works a stressful job as a high-stakes hostage negotiator for the police department. Phoebe's hectic life gets more complicated when she begins dating hunky bar owner Duncan Swift (Ivan Sergei) -- and finds herself targeted by a psychotic stalker obsessed with the Gary Cooper Western High Noon. This romantic thriller features Cybill Shepherd in a supporting role as Phoebe's neurotic mother, Essie. ~ Sandra Bencic, All Movie Guide

Midnight Bayou is one of four made-for-TV movies adapted from Nora Roberts' romance novels for the Lifetime channel in 2009 (along with Tribute, Northern Lights, and High Noon). Jerry O'Connell stars as lawyer Declan Fitzpatrick, who decides to buy a New Orleans mansion that captured his imagination when he was still a college student. After experiencing some ghostly visions, Declan comes to believe that his new home is haunted --and that he and a local Cajun beauty, Lena Simone (Lauren Stamile), are somehow connected to events that happened at the manor over 100 years ago. This supernatural romantic thriller features a supporting turn from screen legend Faye Dunaway as Lena's psychic grandmother, Odette. ~ Sandra Bencic, All Movie Guide

Years after her family's pizza parlor was burned to the ground by an out of control arsonist, a girl does her best to overcome her childhood trauma by becoming a seasoned arson investigator in this thriller starring Scott Bakula and Alicia Witt. But some careers are more dangerous than others, and when a madman emerges from the flames to terrorize the respected investigator it begins to appear as if her infernal destiny may have been sealed as a young girl. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Donal Logue (Grounded for Life) stars as a hard-drinking, has-been TV director who gets a second shot at success when he's assigned to run a fishing show in Scotland. Though he has to work with a miniscule budget, a challenging partner (who just happens to be his ex-wife), and a total lack of booze, his time in the highlands may be just the thing he needs to be happy. ~ Carly Wray, All Movie Guide

Heather Locklear and Johnathon Schaech star in this screen adaptation of the Nora Roberts novel concerning a withdrawn young woman who is forced to reconnect with the human race after her car fails in the town of Angel's Fist. The only problem is that by seeking the help of others, she may put her own life in danger once again. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Made for television, The Christmas Blessing is a sequel to the earlier CBS holiday offering The Christmas Shoes, with Rob Lowe briefly reprising his portrayal of Robert Layton, a lawyer whose life was forever changed by a pair of "enchanted" shoes. This time around, the shoes have passed into the hands of Tucker Bennett (Shaun Johnston), the son of a seriously ill youngster named Charlie (Angus T. Jones. As fate would have it, Charlie is a student of schoolteacher Meghan (Rebecca Gayheart), who is endeavoring to set up a day-care center for single moms in the small town where she lives. At the same time in the same town, young medical resident Nathan Andrews (Neil Patrick Harris), his self-confidence shattered by the death of a teenage patient on the operating table, has returned home to work in the garage owned by his dad Jack (Shaun Johnston). In due course, Nathan meets Meghan and Charlie, and becomes intimately involved in the trials and tribulations of both, leading to an emotional climax in which Nathan must decide whether or not to summon his dormant medical skills to save Charlie's life. Singers NewSong and Blake Shelton appear as themselves, respectively performing the title song and the new composition "Nobody But Me". The Christmas Blessing originally aired on December 18, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a true story (and all the more terrifying because of it!), this made for cable movie begins as Michelle Brown (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) fills out an ordinary rental form. Looking on enviously is penniless Connie Volkos (Annabella Sciorra), who can't understand why there are "haves" and "have-nots" in the world (but who has never put in the necessary work to become a "have"). When Michelle briefly lays down her credit card, it is stolen by Connie--who subsequently steals Michelle's identity as well, toting up $50,000 in purchases in Michelle's name. When Michelle tries to have Connie arrested, she finds herself at the mercy of the blind-deaf-dumb American credit system and is herself accused of theft! Desperate to win back her reputation (not to mention her own name!), Michelle pleads her cast before the US Senate in July of 2000, resulting--belatedly in her case--in the passage of bill HR 1731, with imposes stronger penalties for stealing one's identity and puts in tighter safeguards against people being victimized by such thieves. Even so, the film underlines the sobering fact that what happened to Michelle happens to someone else at a rate of once every six minutes! Identity Theft: The Michelle Brown Story debuted November 1, 2004 on the Lifetime channel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This weekly,hour-long crime drama made its Canadian network bow on February 25, 2002, under the title Tom Stone. Set in Calgary, the series starred Chris William Martin as the titular Tom Stone, a former cop, former rig worker and former convict sprung from prison and recruited as an undercover detective for the RCMP by "commercial crime" specialist Cpl. Marina Marina Di Luzio (Janet Kidder). It was Kidder's aim to entrap those "untouchable" white-collar criminals who used money and connections to escape prosecution, and to that end Stone was obliged to orchestrate elaborate sting operations with himself as the central character. The only reason that Stone went along with these plans was that he needed the money to reclaim his family's land and start life anew. At the same time, Marina hoped that her work with the RCMP Commercial Control Unit would enable her to escape the boonies of Calgary and return to the "big city" environs of her native Toronto. Thus, a much as they disliked each other, Stone and Marina needed each other even more. Others in the cast included Di Luzio's all-purpose assistants, Sgt. Grant Davidson (Tim Webber) and police clerk Amy Matuziak (Natascha Girgus). Seen on the CBC for two seasons, Stone Undercover was syndicated to the US beginning September 15, 2006, its package including three never-before-seen episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director and co-screenwriter (along with Chris Gerolmo, Allison Burnett, and Michael Bortman) Rod Lurie tells the uplifting tale of a sports writer who almost lost it all before stumbling into the story of a lifetime in this uplifting sports-themed drama starring Josh Hartnett and Samuel L. Jackson. Erik (Hartnett) is a Denver-based sports writer whose prose is dull and whose marriage is failing. Not only is Erik having a difficult time dealing with his stubborn editor Metz (Alan Alda) - who refuses to take the suffering scribe off of the boxing beat - but the pain of being separated from his young son has weighed heavier on Erik's conscience than he could have ever imagined. When Erik sees a local homeless man (Samuel L. Jackson) being violently assaulted by a gang of sadistic street toughs, he instinctively comes to the suffering man's rescue. As fate would have, Erik discovers that the nondescript homeless man is actually the former boxing champion Battling Bob Satterfield, whom many sports fans had assumed dead. Now driven to tell the story that may establish him as a successful sports writer, Erik gradually begins to make the transformation from ordinary man to extraordinary champion - largely by turning inward and by reexamining his relationship with his own son. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide