Kiefer Sutherland

Employing split screens and kinetic pacing, the real-time action thriller-drama 24 became a fast cult hit when it premiered on FOX in late 2001. Each one-hour episode covers an hour in a single day that unfolds over the course of a season. Kiefer Sutherland stars as über-hero Jack Bauer, a daring and seemingly indestructible agent for the fictitious U.S.-intelligence body the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU). Throughout the series, Bauer has stopped an assassination attempt, thwarted a nuclear attack, been widowed, decapitated a witness, died, and become addicted to narcotics while undercover with a drug cartel. Among the other characters are President David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert), who was candidate Palmer throughout the first season, later had the Presidency swiped from under him, and was the victim of a bio-attack at the end of the second season; Kim Bauer (Elisha Cuthbert), Jack's trouble-prone, damsel-in-distress daughter; and Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard), a fellow-CIA agent with whom Jack has both butted heads and allied. Noted for its unflinching ability to kill off major players for the sake of the show, an assortment of other characters have come and gone throughout the show's history. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

The second season of the FOX series 24 comes to DVD on this seven-disc set from 20th Century Fox Home Video. Originally aired from 2002-2003, season two takes place on Day Two from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. (encompassing a full 24-hour period). Each episode is presented with a widescreen anamorphic transfer and Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Sound in English. A Spanish-language soundtrack, closed captions, and English and Spanish subtitles are also available. Special features include commentary on six episodes, 44 deleted scenes with optional commentary, and multi-angle functions. The featurettes are "On the Button: The Destruction of CTU," "Making of an Episode: Production," and "Making of an Episode: Post-Production." ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Season four of the wildly successful "real-time" adventure series 24 begins some 18 months at the end of season three. John Keeler (Geoff Pierson) has succeeded David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) as president of the United States, and the new secretary of defense is James Heller (William Devane) -- who is also the new boss of crack CTU agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland). One of Heller's first moves is to reunite Jack with his old nemesis Erin Driscoll (Alberta Watson), now the head of the CTU. Unbeknownst to most of the principal characters, Jack is in love with Heller's daughter (and policy assistant), Audrey Raines (Kim Raver), this despite the fact that Audrey is still legally married to estranged husband, Paul (James Frain). Outside of Jack Bauer and President Keeler, the only series character from season three to return as a regular in season four is CTU tech analyst Chloe O'Brien (Mary Lynn Rajskub); the rest of the cast is virtually brand-new. The "day" that comprises the fourth season begins, typically, with a nail-biting crisis, when James Heller and his daughter Audrey are captured by a terrorist group headed by Habib Marwan (Arnold Vosloo), who has already set a fiendish master plan in motion with a train bombing in the U.S. It soon develops that the abduction of Heller and Audrey is but a subterfuge to allow an enemy stealth bomber to blow up Air Force One and eliminate the president -- and ultimately to gain control of a nuclear warhead that will destroy a major U.S. city. Making matters worse, there is a turncoat in the ranks of the CTU -- and without giving the game away, it can be noted that CTU agent Sarah Gavin (Lana Parrilla) tumbles to the mole's identity before Jack Bauer does. As the tension mounts, Paul Raines is seriously wounded saving Jack during a covert mission, which "ices" Jack's relationship with Audrey; a shattering personal tragedy forces Erin Driscoll to resign from her post in mid-season; there is dissension in the terrorist ranks during a concerted effort to trigger nuclear meltdowns in six different cities; the seldom-used 25th Amendment is invoked to change presidents in midstream; and an old enemy of Jack's from the series' first two seasons appears virtually out of nowhere to make a terrible situation far worse than could ever be imagined. Clearly, the fourth season of 24 drew inspiration from the headlines of the day, notably the controversial treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. The series also was attacked by certain special-interest groups for making several of the villains Arabs, or of Arab descent. And of course, there were those who carped that the series' notion of "real time" (each episode consisted of a single uninterrupted hour in the same day) resulted in some rather ludicrous lapses of logic. But 24 was as big a hit in the ratings throughout its fourth season as it had been all along. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson) takes the law into his own hands after the legal system fails to adequately punish the men who brutally raped and beat his daughter, leaving her for dead. Normally, a distraught father could count on some judicial sympathy in those circumstances. Unfortunately, Carl and his daughter are black, and the assailants are white, and all the events take place in the South. Indeed, so inflammatory is the situation, that the local KKK (led by Kiefer Sutherland) becomes popular again. When Hailey chooses novice lawyer Jake Brigance (Matthew McConaughey) to handle his defense, it begins to look like a certainty that Carl will hang, and Jake's career (and perhaps his life) will come to a premature end. Despite the efforts of the NAACP and local black leaders to persuade Carl to choose some of their high-powered legal help, he remains loyal to Jake, who had helped his brother with a legal problem before the story begins. Jake eventually takes this case seriously enough to seek help from his old law-school professor (Donald Sutherland). When death threats force his family to leave town, Jake even accepts the help of pushy young know-it-all lawyer Ellen Roark (Sandra Bullock). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The weapon in question is not a firearm (as might be expected) but a camera: from the 1950s through the early 21st century, photojournalist and sports photographer Eddie Adams (1933-2004) caught a series of indelible images through his lens that dramatically reshaped the way in which the general public perceived the world. Adams perhaps gained broadest recognition for his wartime photography, delivering his most leaden punch in Vietnam, with a series of gritty, grainy and ere-shocking images that never shied from revealing the carnage and vile brutality of the war; in particular, his image of General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Vietcong prisoner via a gunshot to the head attained iconic status and led many to attribute the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam to Adams. Yet Vietnam only represented one of the photographer's coups; among other accomplishments, he "served" in twelve additional wars and used a series of photographic images to convince then-president Jimmy Carter to offer asylum to two hundred thousand boat people from Vietnam. In her documentary An Unlikely Weapon, filmmaker Susan Morgan Cooper takes on Adams as her subject, and - shearing away all explorations of his personal life and history - focuses exclusively on his professional life and personal vision as a photographer. Cooper cross-cuts between onscreen images of Adams's work and revealing interviews with many of his colleagues including Morley Safer, the late Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

The title Article 99 refers to a fictional legal loophole which states that American veterans cannot be treated in VA hospitals unless their illnesses are related to their military service. The pinchpenny administrator of a Kansas City hospital intends to follow this proviso to the letter, while his irreverent staff does everything it can to circumvent rules and red tape. When freewheeling surgeon Ray Liotta is fired for exhibiting traces of humanity, the patients stage a revolt. Playing a new medico, Kiefer Sutherland also stars. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

William S. Burroughs' ill-fated performance of his "William Tell act" -- resulting in his wife Joan Vollmer getting a bullet in the brain with a shot glass atop her head -- soon became the stuff of Beat legend. This film, directed by Gary Walkow, traces this doomed romance from its inception to its bloody end. The movie opens in 1944 New York, where Columbia journalism student Vollmer is already living a bohemian life filled with pharmaceuticals and a host of future beatniks, including hunky Jack Kerouac (Daniel Martinez), a young Allen Ginsberg (Ron Livingston), and of course, Burroughs (Kiefer Sutherland). Also frequenting Vollmer's pad is Lucien Carr (Norman Reedus) whom everyone is enamored with, especially Dave Kammerer (Kyle Secor), who winds up dead after trying to jump the object of his affection. Seven years later, Joan and William have married in spite of Burroughs' obvious homosexual predilections. Their domestic bliss is strained when the two have to flee to Mexico City after they get slapped with a drug rap. Ginsberg and Carr, now correspondents for the UPI, visit the couple only to discover that Burroughs split town with his lover-for-hire. Vollmer and the boys decide to go on a road trip that is brimming with heterosexual tension. William eventually returns from his sex-binge suspecting that Joan had a fling with Carr. During that fateful night, Burroughs pulls out a gun that he was going to sell for drug money and performs one of the most spectacularly botched party-tricks in literary history. This film was screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Michael J. Fox once more makes a courageous effort to shed his nice-guy image in Bright Lights, Big City. Fox plays an impressionable Kansan who comes to the Big Apple to take a job at a major magazine. It isn't long before he falls into the twin traps of drug and alcohol abuse. His only hope for redemption is in the hands of Vicky (Tracy Pollan), the cousin of his scuzzy drinking buddy Tad (Kiefer Sutherland). Jay McInerney's bestselling novel does not translate easily to the big screen, but Fox strives hard to please, as do all of his costars. The white stuff snorted by Fox wasn't really cocaine, but powdered milk. Watch for Frasier's David Hyde Pierce in a small role and Jason Robards in a significant unbilled cameo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Concert for Diana captures a 2007 tribute to the deceased Diana Spencer, the former Princess of Wales. Among the many performers who appear on the bill are Nelly Furtado, Elton John, Duran Duran, Rod Stewart, and Kanye West. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

This romance concerns the courtship between Brooks (Kiefer Sutherland), an erratic, brash rich kid who dresses in 1930s garb, and Anne (Vanessa Vaughan) a shy, deaf salesgirl. Brooks first notices Anne when he steals a mannequin from the sporting goods store where she works. The two later get together because Brooks decides to follow Anne home. Eventually, Brooks decides he has to learn sign language, and Anne provides the maladjusted young man with a relationship that is healthy. Along the way there are a few comical moments deriving from Brooks's manic behavior. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide