Angela Paton Movies
A place where baseball is more than just a game fights to hold on to the national pastime in this drama inspired by a true story. Norway, Iowa is a little town where folks take baseball seriously -- so much so that even though Norway's high school boasts less than a hundred students, their baseball team has brought home the state championship nineteen times. Jim Van Scoyoc (Powers Boothe), Norway High's baseball coach, has received national attention for his skill with players, and when passionate baseball fan Kent Stock (Sean Astin) lands a teaching position nearby, he volunteers to work as an assistant for Van Scoyoc. While Stock cherishes his time with Van Scoyoc, he takes a job working in Saint Louis, where he plans to move with his fiancée. However, he changes his plans when he gets some unexpected news -- due to shrinking enrollment and budget cuts, Norway's high school is soon to close, and their upcoming baseball season is likely to be their last. Over the fierce objections of his girlfriend, Stock passes on the job in St. Louis to spend one last spring in Norway and help Van Scoyoc as he takes one last shot at taking his team to the state championship. Meanwhile, the citizens of Norway wage a legal battle to keep the school open, and the state sends a lawyer, Polly Hudson (Rachael Leigh Cook), to Norway to represent them. While Stock and Hudson are bitter enemies at the start of the season, with time she begins to understand the sense of tradition and love of the game that fuels Stock and the people of Norway. Also featuring Larry Miller, Tom Arnold and Michael Angarano, The Final Season received its world premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Astin, Powers Boothe, (more)
- 2007
Though filmed in Oregon, this Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation is set in the American South, several months after the end of WW2. Decorated war hero Noah (Chris Klein) returns home to find his parents dead, his brother Travis (Jackson Rathbone) in prison, and his family farm in the hands of strangers. With literally nothing to keep him in his home town, Noah embarks on a personal odyssey, using his remarkable fishing skills to stay alive. In the course of his perambulations, he meets a mysterious old codger named Hoke (Robert Prosky), who claims a gift for "seein' the other side." Hoke guides Noah to another small town "over the ridge", where he is immediately made welcome by the townsfolk, and before long has become a local legend by virtue of his fishing prowess. He has also bonded with a lonely war widow named Eleanor (Gretchen Mol), and with a fatherless mute boy named Matthew (Zach Mills). But when tragedy strikes again, will the disillusioned Noah desert his new home, to say nothing of his new friends and loved ones? Throughout the latter half of the story, Noah's fate is inexorably linked with that of a huge bass which has eluded capture for years--and which has transformed the town into a mecca for fishing enthusiasts throughout the nation. Made for television and first seen over the CBS network on January 28, 2007, Valley of Light is based on the novel by Terry McKay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris Klein, Gretchen Mol, (more)
- 2005
Larry (Larry David) meets Cheryl (Cheryl Hines) and Yoshi (Greg Watanabe), an art dealer, at a Japanese restaurant for lunch. The staff of the restaurant call Larry "Chicken Teriyaki Boy" due to his penchant for ordering the same meal every time. At lunch, Larry is surprised to learn that Yoshi's father (Ken Takamoto), who lives in the same nursing home as Nat (Shelley Berman), was a kamikaze pilot during WWII. "Shouldn't he be dead?" Larry asks Yoshi, who is forced to explain, "He grazed the ship." The meal ends disastrously, with Yoshi believing that the oblivious Larry is calling him a chicken. Later, Larry is at a poker game when the host, Kevin (Kevin Nealon) is called away because Yoshi, who happens to be his brother-in-law, has attempted suicide. The guests decide to keep playing cards. Also, Larry catches Nat watching an inappropriate video at an even more inappropriate volume, debates the merits of a doctor's prescription vs. a pharmacist's recommendation, and demands an investigation into the legitimacy of the bingo game at Nat's nursing home. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Jesse Dylan's American Wedding rounds up the characters from the American Pie films for a trip to the altar. Jim (Jason Biggs) proposes to Michelle (Alyson Hannigan). Hoping to make the wedding day as special as possible for his bride, Jim enlists the help of his friends Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), and the always obnoxious Stifler (Seann William Scott) to help him convince a dressmaker to create the perfect gown, make a good impression on his future in-laws, and assist him in getting out of the embarrassing situations in which he so often seems to find himself. Stifler and Finch battle for the attention of Michelle's younger sister Cadence (January Jones), Jim's Grandmother objects to the wedding because Michelle is not Jewish, and Stiffler's poorly timed surprise bachelor party are just some of the obstacles that must be overcome before the happy event can transpire. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, (more)
- 1998
Slinky blonde con woman Barbara Beatty (Rebbeca De Mornay) knows how to use all her charms to get what she wants. But one day, a scam goes awry and she finds herself deeply in debt. If she does not pay quickly, she will die. Hearing of a favorable situation in Mississippi, she heads southward in hopes of seducing an heir out of his impending fortune. He is an awkward and introverted gas-station attendant and has no idea that he is about to become a rich man. On her part, the conniving marriage-minded Barbara has no idea that she is about to fall hopelessly in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rebecca De Mornay, William H. Macy, (more)
- 1995
Though Ross (George Clooney) has been redeemed in the eyes of his superiors thanks to his heroic rescue of a 12-year-old trapped in a flooded culvert, he still gets into a violent argument with Greene (Anthony Edwards), who, it is learned, is suffering from problems above and beyond professional pressures. Elsewhere, Carol Hathaway (Julianna Marguiles), who the previous year had attempted suicide, forms a close bond with a 17-year-girl (Miriam Reichmeister) who has likewise tried to end her life -- and in the process, a serious wedge is driven between Carol and Shep (Ron Eldard). Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) discovers that the woman (Angela Paton) she is considering as Suzy's babysitter is suffering from a terminal blood disease. And Benton (Eriq La Salle) finds out that Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) has not quite divorced her husband, Al. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
The crew of the Voyager must decide if their should put the safety of their allies before their own in this episode of the sci-fi series Star Trek: Voyager. The U.S.S. Voyager is on a search mission, trying to find a Maquis ship which has gone missing, when they're drawn into the Delta Quadrant by a mysterious but power individual known as "The Caretaker." The Caretaker knows he has only a short time to live, and is devoting the last of his days to establishing a colony of Ocampas on another planet. After the death of the Caretaker, Capt. Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), the commanding officer of the Voyager, opts to destroy the Camps space station rather than allow their advanced technologies to fell into the glands of their enemies; however, this decision also leaves the Voyager crew stranded in space with no where to go. Star Trek: Voyager: The Caretaker first aired on January 18, 1995. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
An ordinary woman is driven to the point of violent revenge in this tense thriller. Karen McCann (Sally Field) is a suburban wife and working mother with two daughters. Karen's life is turned upside down when her 17-year-old daughter is raped and murdered, a crime she overhears on her cellular phone. Sgt. Denillo (Joe Mantegna), a bright and resourceful police detective, soon tracks down the culprit, an especially sleazy criminal named Robert Doob (Kiefer Sutherland). However, due to a minor technicality, Doob escapes conviction, even though he's clearly guilty. Karen's husband Mack (Ed Harris) suppresses his grief and tries to go on with his life, but Karen doesn't find this quite so easy; she joins a support group for parents of murdered children, and she discovers that within the group is an underground society that seeks vigilante justice against killers who've slipped through the net of the judicial system. Karen buys a gun, learns how to use it, and begins training in martial arts. She starts keeping tabs on Doob, and learns that he not only intends to kill again, he's targeting her younger daughter. Beverly D'Angelo co-stars as Karen's best friend Dolly, and Philip Baker Hall plays Sidney Hughes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Field, Kiefer Sutherland, (more)
- 1995
As the Sipowicz-Costas nuptuals approach, Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) expresses a desire to get married quickly in a Maryland civil service, while Sylvia Costas (Sharon Lawrence) wants a big, fat Greek Orthodox Wedding. Back on the job, Sipowicz and Simone (Jimmy Smits) investigate an execution-style multiple slaying at an upstate restaurant. And in the midst of a rape investigation, Martinez (Nicholas Turturro) expresses jealousy when his partner Lesniak (Justine Miceli) is reunited with her high-school friend Paul (Tom Verica), who happens to be the doctor tending to the elderly rape victim. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Three brothers who are inept criminals butcher one last attempt to pull off a big heist in this caper comedy. Bill Firpo (Nicolas Cage) is sick of thievery and has retired from crime to run an upscale restaurant in New York. But when his two brothers, Alvin (Dana Carvey) and Dave (Jon Lovitz), get out of prison, Bill is sucked back into their world of crime. The three end up on the run and hide out in the small town of Paradise, PA. The friendly townspeople include a bank president (Clifford Moffat) whose trust in people has left his bank an easy target. The brothers can't resist lifting $275,000 from the vault. Unfortunately, Alvin drives their getaway car in circles and they end up back in town and get in an accident. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cage, Jon Lovitz, (more)
Blue Sky was the last film directed by Tony Richardson (Tom Jones) before his death in 1991 and one of the last releases from once-thriving Orion Films, whose bankruptcy kept the picture on the shelf for several years. It also features two career-high performances by Tommy Lee Jones and Jessica Lange, who won the Best Actress Oscar for this role, as Hank and Carly Marshall, a military couple whose marriage unravels under the pressure of his job and her mental instability. Hank is an Army captain at odds with his superiors over the wisdom of nuclear testing. Carly is a free spirit spiralling into a dangerous depression after the family's move from Hawaii to a nowhere base in Alabama alarms the couple's older daughter (Amy Locane) and sends Carly into an affair with the base commander (Powers Boothe). ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jessica Lange, Tommy Lee Jones, (more)
- 1994
In 1962, a Georgian woman serves a light sentence for a petty crime. Upon her release, she discovers that her children have been sold by a dubious adoption agency, causing the woman to spend the next 20 years searching for her lost babies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marg Helgenberger, Corbin Bernsen, (more)
Dana Carvey plays a private detective who forgets everything when he goes to sleep at night, waking up each morning with a "clean slate," in this hit-and-miss comedy that plays like a companion piece to the much funnier Groundhog Day. Pogue (Carvey) is afflicted with his unique form of amnesia after getting injured in a car explosion. With the aid of a mysterious woman (Valeria Golino) who allegedly died in the bombing, he must find a priceless coin and evade the murderous clutches of the mobster (Michael Gambon) who executed the explosion and who wants to silence Pogue before he can testify against him. Carvey fares reasonably well in his role, but the best moments are provided by Pogue's dog, a one-eyed Jack Russell named Barkley who makes a habit out of running into things headfirst. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dana Carvey, Valeria Golino, (more)
The late journalist Randy Shilts' best-selling book on the burgeoning AIDS crisis was adapted for cable TV by Arnold Schulman. In 1981, researchers begin discerning a mysterious new disease that apparently affects only homosexual males (or so they thought at that time). Working independently, and with marked hostility toward one another, an American and a French research team manage to identify and name the dreaded HIV virus. The long-range effects of AIDS is experienced through the first- and secondhand experiences of several unfortunates, including a choreographer (Richard Gere) whose character is said to be based on Michael Bennett. The all-star cast (most of whom eschewed their usual high salaries) includes Lily Tomlin as San Francisco health official Selma Dritz, Matthew Modine as Centers for Disease Control researcher Don Francis, Alan Alda as NIH official Robert Gallo (who emerges as the villain of the piece), Ian McKellan as gay activist Bill Kraus, and Glenne Headley, Steve Martin and Anjelica Huston in cameo roles. And the Band Played On debuted September 11, 1993, on HBO. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Bill Murray plays Phil, a TV weatherman working for a local station in Pennsylvania but convinced that national news stardom is in his grasp. Phil displays a charm and wit on camera that evaporates the moment the red light goes off; he is bitter, appallingly self-centered, and treats his co-workers with contempt, especially his producer Rita (Andie MacDowell) and cameraman Larry (Chris Elliot). On February 2, 1992, Phil, Rita, and Larry are sent on an assignment that Phil especially loathes: the annual Groundhog Day festivities in Punxsutawney, PA, where the citizens await the appearance of Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog who will supposedly determine the length of winter by his ability to see his own shadow. Phil is eager to beat a hasty retreat, but when a freak snowstorm strands him in Punxsutawney, he wakes up the next morning with the strangest sense of déjà vu: he seems to be living the same day over again. The next morning it happens again, and then again. Soon, no matter what he does, he's stuck in February 2, 1992; not imprisonment nor attempted suicide nor kidnapping the groundhog gets him out of the loop. But the more Phil relives the same day, the more he's forced to look at other people's lives, and something unusual happens: he begins to care about others. He starts to respect people, he tries to save the life of a homeless man, and he discovers that he's falling in love with Rita and therefore wants to be someone that she could love in return. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, (more)
Graham Greene stars as Ishi, the lone survivor of the Yahi Indian tribe, who is discovered and cared for by anthropologist Albert Kroeber (Jon Voight) in this made-for-cable docudrama. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Graham Greene, Jon Voight, (more)
- 1992
Based on a novel by Thomas McGuane, this made-for-TV feature stars William Petersen as Joe Starling, a painter suffering from creative block. For inspiration, he returns to his family's Montana home, only to find the land coveted by a malevolent developer (Jack Palance). ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Farrah Fawcett stars as a struggling defense lawyer in the made-for-TV Criminal Behavior. Defending a nurse on theft charge, Farrah ends up ferreting out clues in a ticklish LA murder case. The path to the truth is labyrinthine, and no one can be trusted. A. Martinez, Andy Robinson and Cliff DeYoung costar. Based on a Ross MacDonald novel, Criminal Behavior debuted May 11, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett, A. Martinez, (more)
- 1992
In the now-legendary final episode of Murphy Brown's fourth season, pregnant Murphy (Candice Bergen) goes into labor right in the middle of an "FYI" telecast. Once in the hospital, Murphy still can't believe that she's about to give birth, especially when the process seems to be so easy and free of care. . .at first. But when the contractions begin coming more rapidly--and the baby steadfastly refuses to make its debut appearance--the situation quickly deteriorates into comic chaos, as the pain-racked Murphy launches into her famous "childbirth rant", loudly and profanely railing against every male on the face of the earth--especially her Lamaze partner Eldin (Robert Pastorelli), who for reasons unknown has not showed up for the Big Moment. This episode earned an Emmy award for Candice Bergen, who has listed "Birth 101 as her all-time favorite (an opinion clearly not shared by Vice President Dan Quayle, but that's another story). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
In this frothy romantic comedy set in a small Texas town, a never-married high school principal starts a scandal when she falls in love with the handsome school janitor. Unfortunately, he is Mexican and she Anglo. The local community frowns on such relationships and ultimately, their new love seems doomed. This film was made especially for cable television. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christine Lahti, Rubén Blades, (more)
- 1991
- PG13
Love, Lies and Murder is based on a true story that began its tragic unspooling on March 19, 1985 in Garden Grove, California. 23-year-old wife and mother Linda Brown is murdered. She leaves behind her computer-consultant husband Clancy Brown, her 17-year-old sister (Sheryl Lee), a 14-year-old stepdaughter (Moira Kelly) from her husband's previous marriage, and an 8-month-old infant. When police investigate, the stepdaughter confesses to the killing. This closes the case--until Mr. Brown callously marries his late wife's sister, and doubts begin to stir as to whether or not the stepdaughter was coerced into confessing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clancy Brown, John Ashton, (more)
- 1991
While the gang sympathizes with Helen's anger over her breakup with Joe (Tim Daly), they are worried that she'll never overcome her wrath, and that could be injurious to her mental health. At the urging of her friends, Helen (Crystal Bernard) agrees to undergo group therapy. No one is happier over this turn of events than Joe's brother Brian (Steven Weber), who is willing to provide "testimony" against his brother. The situation comes to a head when Helen finds herself commiserating with a group of senior citizens. And on a less uplifting note, Helen's jeep strikes again! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
- R
The romantic rivalry between twin psychologists in love with the same beautiful model takes a deadly turn in this dark made-for-cable-TV thriller. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isabella Rossellini, Aidan Quinn, (more)
- 1990
- PG13
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In this film, the small town of Clyde, Ohio is buzzing with excitement when it is said that the famous Roxy Carmichael is leaving her luxurious Hollywood life to return to her old hometown. Her return causes upheaval in the lives of family-man Denton Webb (Jeff Daniels), her old boyfriend, and an angst-ridden teen, Dinky Bossetti (Winona Ryder), who is convinced that Roxy Carmichael is her natural mother. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Winona Ryder, Jeff Daniels, (more)
