Ryan Kennedy Movies
- 2007
First time feature filmmaker Tracy D. Smith takes the helm for this spirited romantic comedy concerning a single sex toy party organizer who faces increasing pressure from her ailing father to settle down and find a man. Tammy (Sarah-Jane Redmond) may be single, but she's happy that way. She loves her job as much as her freedom, but her father Burt (Gary Chalk) has just fallen severely ill, and he wants to know that his little girl will be well cared for after he is gone. When Tammy moves home to care for her dad, Burt takes advantage of the situation by setting her up with the handsome vice president of his successful company. But while the successful businessman appears to be the ideal marriage candidate in Burt's eyes, the truth is that the vice president has is far more interested in Tammy's openly gay brother Tristan than he is in the president's daughter. As it turns out, Tristan too has been struggling to gain Burt's approval due to the fact that the picky patriarch has deemed his current boyfriend Lucas unacceptable. When Burt makes the decree that no one can date his son until his daughter finds a suitable mate, the desperate Tristan quickly determines to set Tammy up with handsome ex-boxer and aspiring songwriter Sy (Aleks Paunovic). Of course Tristan isn't above offering a little bribery to speed love along, and in order to convince Sy to pursue his sister, the scheming brother offers musically inclined ex-pugilist an opportunity to sing his original, yet abhorrently awful, songs at a popular local bar. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aleks Paunovic, Sarah-Jane Redmond, (more)
- 2007
Made for television and first telecast April 22, 2007 by CBS, Crossroads: A Story of Forgiveness) is based on the true story of Kansas City contractor Bruce Murakami, played by Dean Cain. On November 16, 1998, Bruce's wife Cindy (Chelah Horsdal) and daughter Chelsea (Katie Pezarro) are killed in a street accident by drag-racing teenager Justin Suarez (Shiloh Fernandez). Despite the admonitions of Bruce's surviving sons Brody (Landon Liboiron) and Josh (Ryan Kennedy), and those of family friend Melissa (Julie Warner), the bitter, vengeance-driven Murakami hires attorney Erin Teller (Peri Gilpin) to see to it that Suarez is punished to the full extent of the law. But during the boy's trial, Bruce experiences an epiphany, and realizes that revenge is not the answer. Without tipping off the ending of the film (which unfortunately was telegraphed by CBS' publicity campaign--to say nothing of the film's title itself), it can be noted that the real Bruce Murakami is the founder of Safe Teen Driver Inc. Filmed in British Columbia, Crossroads: A Story of Forgiveness was the 230th presention of The Hallmark Hall of Fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dean Cain, Shiloh Fernandez, (more)
A severely beaten teenager, trapped in a walking purgatory between life and death, must help authorities to the location of his broken body before it's too late in this remake of the 2002 Swedish thriller Den Osynlige. Graduating senior Nick Powell (Justin Chatwin) has plans to attend a prestigious writing workshop in London, despite the protests of his widowed mother (Marcia Gay Harden). In the days before his departure, he gets into a cafeteria brawl with a delinquent classmate, Annie Newton (Margarita Levieva), while defending his friend from her extortion attempts. Annie and her crew track Nick down on the night he's planning to leave, mistakenly thinking he ratted her out to the police regarding a smash-and-grab burglary committed the night before. When the subsequent beating goes too far, the assailants dump the body in the woods in a panicked attempt to dispose of it. Only, Nick isn't dead -- he's walking invisible among his classmates, friends, and family, desperately trying to alert them that he's still alive. Robbed of the traditional forms of communication, Nick must figure out supernatural methods of manipulating his environment -- and he soon realizes the very girl who attacked him may be the only one who has the power to save him. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Justin Chatwin, Margarita Levieva, (more)
- 2006
This true-crime biopic explores the life of mother-and-son grifters Sante and Kenny Kimes, from Kenny's childhood apprenticeship in early-'80s Honolulu to Sante's murder trial in late-'90s New York City. Fortyish Sante Kimes (Judy Davis) uses her looks and her brazen disregard for the law to acquire whatever she wants in life, from jewels to cars to large insurance settlements. Her most frequent accomplice in these endeavors? Son Kenny (former General Hospital actor Jonathan Jackson), who spends most of his childhood serving as a bit player, then later a co-star, in his mother's schemes. When a slavery -- yes, slavery -- conviction sends Sante to prison, Kenny enjoys a more or less normal adolescence with his wealthy father (Chelcie Ross), who has long refused to marry Sante. But upon her return from the big house, the now over-the-hill Sante re-enlists her son's assistance in her amoral activities. Eventually fingered for the murder of a wealthy Manhattan matron, Sante finds herself in court, where her son's testimony may well end her lifelong crime spree once and for all. Adapted by Randy Stone and Teena Booth from Jeanne King's book Dead End: The Crime Story of the Decade: Murder, Incest and High-Tech Thievery, A Little Thing Called Murder premiered January 23, 2006, on the Lifetime cable network. It was actually the second TV movie to explore the Kimes' story, following Mary Tyler Moore's turn in the 2001 CBS offering Like Mother, Like Son: The Strange Story of Sante and Kenny Kimes. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judy Davis, Jonathan Jackson, (more)
- 2004
A suspense novel by Sue Miller was the source for the made-for-TV While I Was Gone, which made its CBS network debut on October 10, 2004. Boston veterinarian Jo Beckett (Kirstie Alley) feels trapped in her marriage to kindly but unexciting minister Daniel Beckett (Bill Smitrovich). Then, one day, a dog that may have to be put down is brought into Jo's office. The dog's owner turns out to be her old college friend Eli Mayhew (Peter Horton), with whom Jo shared a hippie pad along with several other shaggy students back in the 1960s. As she waxes nostalgic over her carefree youth, Jo considers leaving staid Daniel for footloose Eli, and goes so far as to set up a clandestine meeting with him. But Jo's dream romance turns into a nightmare with the revelation of a horrible secret from her past -- and the fulfillment of a strange "out-of-body" premonition which Jo had experienced in the opening scenes of the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirstie Alley, Peter Horton, (more)
