Michael Ryan Way Movies
- 2005
A trio of lifelong friends returns to their hometown of Kalamazoo, MI, for their ten-year high-school reunion, only to discover that their graduation time capsule contains embarrassingly unmet goals for all of them in director David P. O'Malley's affectionate comedy. For Carol Cavanaugh (Josie Davis), Maggie Goldman (Mayim Bialik), and Joan Branson (Joanna Clare Scott), life hasn't necessarily been as fruitful and as glamorous as they may have hoped in the idealistic days of their carefree youth. Though still relatively young and hopeful about the road that lies ahead, the prospect of having all of their unfulfilled dreams trumpeted before every member of their graduating class is much too humiliating to take lying down. Now, as the three lifelong friends attempt to recover the capsule before it can be read aloud, the spirits of their deceased grandmothers appear to offer solace and consolation in an uncertain time of progress and transition. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mayim Bialik, Josie Davis, (more)
- 1997
If it worked for Speed, it'll work for Runaway Car--or at least, that seems to have been the philosophy behind the making of this highly derivative made-for-TV actioner. Having suffered through an unusually rotten day on the job, timid nurse Jenny Todd (Nina Siesmaszko) heads to the garage where her 1978 Rambler Hornet is being repaired. Here she meets neurotic computer programmer Ed Lautner (Judge Reinhold), who asks her to give him a ride home. En route, Jenny picks up her baby nephew, as well as an unexpected hitchhiker: wiseguy skateboarder Dex Strang (Brian Hooks), whom Jenny may or may not have caused to suffer a nasty fall. Once the "dramatis personae" is established, the situation goes from bad to horrendous: The brakes jam, the door latches lock, the accelerator sticks at 100mph, and our wide-eyed heroine finds herself at the wheel of an out-of-control death machine, dangerously zooming through the busy city streets, barely avoiding crashes and collisions at every corner. The film's abundance of thrills, spills and impossible coincidences come to a climax of sorts when a police helicopter attempts to rescue Jenny's screaming nephew. Based (believe it or don't) on a true story, Runaway Car rolled off the Fox network TV-movie assembly line on January 21, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Judge Reinhold, Nina Siemaszko, (more)
- 1997
Feeling that she is living on borrowed time, Murphy wants to fulfill a lifelong dream: conducting a symphony orchestra. She is given this chance during a charity auction, only to find that Olivia Newton-John) is determined to fulfill the same dream herself. Meanwhile, Jim (Charles Kimbrough) launches a campaign to win back his estranged wife Doris. With this episode (originally scheduled to air on November 24, 1997), Concetta Tomei takes over from Janet Carroll in the role of Doris Dial. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1993
- R
In this crime drama, a talented, ambitious young lawyer takes the case when one of his colleagues, jealous of the other attorney's flawless court record, is found murdered. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
In Patriot Games, Harrison Ford plays former CIA agent Jack Ryan, taking over from Alec Baldwin, who had played author Tom Clancy's brainy protagonist in Hunt for Red October. This time around, Ryan foils an attempted assassination, thereby incurring the wrath of a maniacal Irish radical (Sean Bean). After seemingly neutralizing the villains, and deciding to celebrate the occasion with his wife (Anne Archer) and daughter (Thora Birch), everything appears to be back to normal; then all hell breaks loose. Author Tom Clancy himself bemoaned the liberties taken with his novel in the final sequences; the picture scored with audiences, however, and soon inspired a followup, A Clear and Present Danger (1994), also starring Ford. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Harrison Ford, Anne Archer, (more)
- 1991
This is about as loosely based on the original Mary Shelley novel as you could ever get. A college experiment goes on to become REALLY Big Man on Campus--amazing the student body on the dance floor and on the football field. Get real! ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi
- Starring:
- William Ragsdale, Christopher Daniel Barnes, (more)
