Jeff Kloss Movies
After too many years away, brittle big-city doctor Sydney Ludwick (Lisa Hartman Black) returns to her home town of Bloomfield for a high school reunion. She is mildly surprised to find out that her widowed mother Helen (Rue McLanahan), with whom she hasn't communicated since the death of her dad, has transformed the family home into a bed-and-breakfast. Likewise bidding fair to bring change to Sydney's life is the fact that her high school sweetheart Gus (Dale Midkiff) is now a widower. But nothing quite prepares Sydney for the revelation of a dark secret that her mother has been harboring for years, with the tacit assistance of local pastor Ed Jenkins (Don Harvey). The background music is provided by country singer Clint Black, husband of the film's leading lady. Produced for cable's Hallmark channel, Back to You & Me originally aired on July 23, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
A troubled young couple discovers that sometimes you must endure great hardship to discover where you really need to be in life after heading for Mexico on vacation, and finding themselves hopelessly stranded in the dessert. Pete (Jason Priestly) and Donna (Teri Polo) were eager to start a family when their fertility tests revealed they could never have a child of their own. Devastated, the couple accepts an invitation by one of Pete's colleagues to spend some time at his vacation home south of the border. Shortly after crossing into Mexico, however, they take a wrong turn down a rough road, and their SUV breaks down. Thankfully, a road sign indicates that the town of Dommatina is within walking distance, and before long Pete and Donna are safe in the company of kind strangers. Though they'd planned on getting their vehicle repaired as quickly as possible in order to reach their intended destination, a chance encounter with a benevolent priest (Cheech Marin) and a young boy leaves the wayward couple wondering if their true family had been waiting for them in Dommatina all along. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Teri Polo, Jason Priestley, (more)
The made-for-cable The Family Plan will probably seem a breath of fresh air to anyone who hasn't seen such movies as Picture Perfect and Good Neighbor Sam, or who can't remember the mid-1960s TV sitcom Occasional Wife. A longtime employee at Sugar Dot Bakeries, Ms. Charlie McKenzie (Tori Spelling) faces dismissal when the company is taken over by a conglomerate. It seems that new CEO Walcott (Greg Germann) is a staunch advocate of Family Values, and prefers to employ people who are married and with children. Since Charlie cannot meet either one of these requirements, she hastily concocts a job-saving hoax, "borrowing" her best friend's daughter (Kali Rocha) to pose as her own child, then hiring unemployed actor Buck Maddox (Jordan Bridges) to impersonate Charlie's nonexistent dental-hygienist husband. The you-know-what threatens to hit the fan when Germann moves next door to Charlie and her "family". The Family Plan originally aired over the Hallmark channel on February 17, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tori Spelling, Greg Germann, (more)
Robert Tate Miller adapts Lynn Austin's best-selling, Christy Award-winning 2001 novel for the screen in the family-friendly drama Hidden Places. Sydney Penny (All My Children) stars as Eliza Wyatt, a Christian widow and mother of two grappling with a loss of faith, and forced to pull in the harvest before the bank forecloses on her family property. At the end of her rope, Eliza receives some greatly valued assistance from down-and-out military veteran Gabe Harper (Jason Gedrick) and venerable Aunt Batty (The Partridge Family's Shirley Jones). The film thus sings an ode to selfless love, the commitment to family, and the necessity of faith in God and others. Yelena Lanskaya directs this Hallmark Entertainment production. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sydney Penny, Jason Gedrick, (more)
- 2005
In this sequel to the extraordinarily popular 2004 cable movie Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus, Steve Guttenberg returns in the role of Nick, son of the soon-to-be retired Santa Claus (John Wheeler) and heir to the North Pole toyshop. Likewise, Crystal Bernard repeats her characterization of Beth Sawtelle, the widowed mom who has agreed to marry Nick so that his "destiny" will be fulfilled. Nick and Beth have only four days before the Christmas Eve deadline to tie the knot, lest the Santa Claus Legacy crumble into dust. Unable to handle the wedding plans herself, Beth makes the tactical error of turning to her society-doyenne mother Joanna (Mariette Hartley) for help--and as it happens, Joanna just plain despises Nick, and isn't about to let her daughter marry "beneath her station" (Nick of course could solve the problem by revealing that his dad is Santa Claus. . .if only Joanna believed in Santa Claus!) Also returning from Single Santa Meets Mrs. Claus are Armin Shimerman as the Senior S.C.'s head elf Ernest (who prefers the title "executive assistant") and Dominic Scott Kay as Beth's son Jake. Making its television debut on December 17, 2005, Meet the Santas broke the record set by its predecessor, posting the highest-ever ratings for a Hallmark Channel movie. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
A drunken gunfighter, a female outlaw, and three deeply disturbed women discover just what it takes to survive in the wild west when they're targeted by a relentless killer and a jealous husband in this western adventure starring Kevin Sorbo, Lance Henriksen, and Dominique Swain. Preston Biggs (Sorbo) used to be the law in Clearwater, but then his spirit died along with his wife. These days Preston is just another gun-toting drunk, but the new sheriff of Clearwater is about to offer him a deal: escort three women suffering from "prairie fever" back to civilization, and Preston can forget about the debt he incurred by busting up the local saloon. Lettie tried to kill her husband, Abigale proved far too fragile for prairie life, and Bible-quoting Blue just snapped one violent night out on the farm. These women simply can't function in such harsh living conditions, and as Preston leads the group across the prairie plains he happens across a desperate young woman named Olivia (Jamie Anne Allman). Olivia is desperate; she's just escaped from her vengeful partner Monte (Henriksen) and if she doesn't move fast he'll have her head. As chance would have it, Preston could use a girl like Olivia on this trip. But Monte isn't the only one searching for this coveted covered wagon, because Blue's ruthless husband is scouring the plains in search of his missing wife. When the bullets start to fly, this strange band of misfits must rely on each other to make it home alive. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kevin Sorbo
- 2013
- R
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An emergency operator receives a desperate call from a kidnapped teen, and races to locate the young victim while facing a terrifying killer from her own past in this thriller from director Brad Anderson (The Machinist, Session 9). Jordan Turner (Halle Berry) is a 911 operator in the Hive -- the bustling Los Angeles headquarters for emergency operators. Her job is extraordinarily stressful, though the camaraderie she shares with co-workers Flora (Denise Dowse) and Marco (José Zúñiga) helps Jordan to stay sharp and focused during those long nights on the phone. The veteran operator experiences a debilitating bout of self-doubt, however, after making a thoughtless mistake that results in the brutal murder of a young girl at the hands of a sadistic prowler. Six months later, Jordan is taking a group of young trainees on a tour of the Hive when an inexperienced operator receives a frantic call from Casey (Abigail Breslin), a terrified teen who is locked in the trunk of a speeding car after being abducted in a parking lot. Unfortunately, Casey is calling from a disposable phone with no chip, making it impossible for the operator to trace the call. Instinctively taking over the situation, Jordan does her best to calm Casey so that she can provide clues that will help authorities, including Jordan's police-officer boyfriend Paul (Morris Chestnut), identify the car and rescue the frightened abductee. With each passing minute the danger grows, and the hope for a happy outcome fades. Meanwhile, when the kidnapper (Michael Eklund) finds Casey's hidden phone, an ominous exchange with Jordan leaves her convinced that he's the same man who killed the other young girl six months prior. Horrified to discover just what's at stake should she fail to save Casey, the haunted operator takes the situation into her own hands, only to realize she may have unwittingly become the killer's next victim. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
After the death of his beloved wife, Helen (Lynne Moody), wealthy African-American suburbanite William Campbell (James Earl Jones) finds that Helen has left behind a "living will" in the form of a videotape. As William watches the video, his late wife urges him to take his huge personal library down to the tough inner-city neighborhood and to establish a reading room. Though confused by this request, William does exactly that, only to find that none of his new neighbors seem inclined to read -- not until he posts a sign reading FREE SODA. Ever so slowly, a few "regulars" trickle into the reading room, among them an idealistic young special-ed teacher (Joanna Cassidy), a high-schooler (Keith Robinson) studying for his SATS, and a little girl (Gabby Soleil) who hopes to get her mother to learn to read. For the most part, however, William's little sanctuary is the target of break-ins and the hangout for local gang members, and with this in mind it isn't surprising that several people encourage him to pack up and get out -- none more adamantly than the Reverend Rashid Rahim (played by George Stanford Brown, the film's director), a self-appointed urban activist who perceives in William a threat to his supremacy. Eventually, whether or not William stays or goes boils down to his attempt at "redeeming" a youthful thief named Javier (Douglas Spain) -- and it is at this point in the narrative that William finally understands why Helen wanted him to open up the reading room in the first place. Filmed with the endorsement of the National Center for Family Literacy, The Reading Room was produced for cable's Hallmark Channel, where it first aired on November 26, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Earl Jones, Georg Stanford Brown, (more)
A Los Angeles defense attorney discovers that in order to marry the love of his life, he'll first have to convince her rugged father that all lawyers aren't sharks. James White (Jeremy London) is a successful young lawyer who will soon be happily married if all goes as planned. Deeply in love with country-bred doctor Sadie Ryder (Dorie Barton), James plans on asking for his true love's hand in marriage when the pair head back to rural Pine Gap to celebrate Christmas with her family. Trouble is, Sadie's gruff father Karl (James Gammon) doesn't care much for city boys, and the less said about his opinion of lawyers the better. Over the course of the next week, James is prepared to do everything in his power to win Karl over, whether it be baling hay with the good old boys or heading out for the hunt despite the fact that he's never fired a gun. All the while, Sadie's well-meaning Aunt Trudy (Sally Struthers) does her best to convince her niece to date a real man, like the girl's rough-and-tumble high school sweetheart Clint (John Littlefield). Later, when a group of environmentalists hatch a plan to turn the county into a national park, it appears that the days of Ryder Ranch may be numbered. While James realizes that a good lawyer to help get the family out of their current jam, he realizes that Sadie's father isn't willing to listen to reason. Still determined to impress Karl and win Sadie's hand in marriage, James hastily sets out into the wilderness in order to prove that he can live off the land with the best of them. By the time the rescue team is called, few will doubt that James' love for Sadie is genuine. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeremy London, Dorie Barton, (more)
- 2007
Dylan McLaughlin plays Bobby, a boy who recently lost his parents and finds solace in box-car racing with help from the town loner (John Schneider), a former derby racer himself. But victory doesn't come easy for Bobby as he is forced to confront a bully and disapproval from his uncle (Jason Brooks). ~ Brie Hearn, Rovi
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