Shannon Wilcox Movies

Way back when she was 13 years old, lonely Holly Grant (Kelli Williams), envying the busy social lives of her best friends, made a wish to receive a boyfriend for Christmas. Instead, Holly was given a glass globe, ostensibly by "Santa Claus" himself, with the attached message that her wish would be granted within the next two decades. Flash forward 20 years: Now a dedicated pro bono attorney, the still-unattached Holly has experienced great success in making everyone happy -- except herself. Enter two men in our heroine's life: Ted Powell (Bruce Thomas), her onetime high school heartthrob, and some guy calling himself Doug, who strangely resembles a person whom Holly ardently dislikes -- and who may well be the answer to the wish posted to Santa twenty years before! A Boyfriend for Christmas originally aired over the Hallmark channel on November 27, 2004. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Director David Fincher's dark, stylish thriller ranks as one of the decade's most influential box-office successes. Set in a hellish vision of a New York-like city, where it is always raining and the air crackles with impending death, the film concerns Det. William Somerset (Morgan Freeman), a homicide specialist just one week from a well-deserved retirement. Every minute of his 32 years on the job is evident in Somerset's worn, exhausted face, and his soul aches with the pain that can only come from having seen and felt far too much. But Somerset's retirement must wait for one last case, for which he is teamed with young hotshot David Mills (Brad Pitt), the fiery detective set to replace him at the end of the week. Mills has talked his reluctant wife, Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow), into moving to the big city so that he can tackle important cases, but his first and Somerset's last are more than either man has bargained for. A diabolical serial killer is staging grisly murders, choosing victims representing the seven deadly sins. First, an obese man is forced to eat until his stomach ruptures to represent gluttony, then a wealthy defense lawyer is made to cut off a pound of his own flesh as penance for greed. Somerset initially refuses to take the case, realizing that there will be five more murders, ghastly sermons about lust, sloth, pride, wrath, and envy presented by a madman to a sinful world. Somerset is correct, and something within him cannot let the case go, forcing the weary detective to team with Mills and see the case to its almost unspeakably horrible conclusion. The moody photography is by Darius Khondji; the nauseatingly vivid special effects are by makeup artist Rob Bottin, best known for more fantasy-oriented work in films like The Howling (1981). ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

This sexy farce stars Dan Aykroyd and Rosie O'Donnell as Fred Lavery and Sheila Kingston, a pair of cynical detectives investigating the disappearance of a key witness in a diamond-smuggling case. The case leads them to a Club Med-styled S&M resort where dog collars and cat o' nine tails abound; further complicating matters, the smugglers end up on the island as well. The missing witness, photographer Elliot Slater (Paul Mercurio), takes a job as a bondage boy, and he falls in love with the resort manager, Mistress Lisa (Dana Delany. Adapted from Anne Rice's novel of the same name. ~ Jeremy Beday, Rovi

Terrence McNally's stage play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune was a two-character piece, which starred Kathy Bates and F. Murray Abraham on Broadway. Garry Marshall's film version of the McNally play streamlines the title to Frankie and Johnny, expands the dramatis personae to include at least a dozen fascinating characters, and "glamorizes" the decidedly unglamorous Frankie and Johnny in the forms of Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino (their first co-starring stint since Scarface). Purists carped at the changes, but overall the film is likeable enough to transcend these carps. While serving an 18-month sentence on a forgery charge, Johnny (Al Pacino) discovers the joys of cooking and classical literature. Upon his release, he is hired by gruff but good-hearted New York diner owner Nick (played by Garry Marshall "regular" Hector Elizondo). Also working for Nick is a waitress named Frankie (Michelle Pfeiffer). When Johnny expresses interest in Frankie, she keeps him at arm's length, her mistrust of men stemming from an unmentioned but obviously traumatic experience in her past. Eventually, however, Frankie and Johnny do get together, their curious relationship setting the stage for a dramatic denouement wherein both lovers bare their souls. The bulk of the original McNally play is concentrated in the film's final 20 minutes; the rest of the picture is a kaleidoscope of comic and poignant vignettes and quick-sketch character studies. Of the newly minted characters, the standout is Nathan Lane in the traditional "gay best friend/severest critic" role: he plays the character so effectively that one forgets he's essentially a cliché. As for the stars, Al Pacino is ideally cast as Johnny, but Michelle Pfeiffer, superb though she is, seems a bit ill at ease as the emotionally tattered Frankie; she totally wins the audience's hearts, however, in the film's memorable bowling-alley sequence. Smoothing over the rough spots in Frankie and Johnny is the evocative musical score by Marvin Hamlisch. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

83 Hours 'Til Dawn utilizes a plot device originally seen on another fact-based TV movie, The Longest Night (1972). Robert Urich stars as a wealthy business executive whose 20-year-old daughter is abducted by sociopathic Peter Strauss. The kidnapper seals his victim in a small box and buries it deep underground, with an air-tube as her only conduit to the outside world. Strauss threatens to never reveal the girl's whereabouts unless Urich ponies up half a million dollars. The original telecast of 83 Hours 'Til Dawn ran a distant second to a competing network showing of the theatrical feature Three Men and A Baby (87). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Ivan Reitman directed this film, starring Robert Redford, Debra Winger, and Daryl Hannah, that is an amalgam of a thriller, courtroom drama, mystery and Tracy-Hepburn romantic comedy, with a little Mark Rothko-type scandal thrown in. The film revolves around troubled Chelsea Deardon (Daryl Hannah) who as an eight-year-old girl witnessed her father, a famous artist, perishing in a blaze along with his valuable art works. Twenty years later, Chelsea is arrested for stealing one of her father's paintings from an unscrupulous New York art dealer. She claims many more of her father's paintings survived the fire long ago. Defending Chelsea is lawyer Laura Kelly (Debra Winger). Pitted against her is suave district attorney Tom Logan (Robert Redford). Laura thinks if Tom knew the facts behind the case, he would reconsider and exonerate Chelsea. He doesn't, but one night when Chelsea appears at his doorstep, he does permit her to seduce him. The next morning, one of the art dealers involved in the case is found dead, and Chelsea is found in Tom's apartment. Chelsea becomes the prime suspect in the murder and Tom's career is ruined. Inexplicably, Laura hires Tom to help her defend Chelsea. The two lawyers, in researching their defense, not only uncover a scandal involving art dealership, but also fall in love. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Written, directed by, and starring Robert Forster and his daughter Katherine, Hollywood Harry is a routine detective/human interest story about a low-end P.I. who sleeps with women at a rate of $5.00 each (they pay him) and is drinking his way into oblivion when his niece (Katherine Forster) arrives on the scene to snap him into shape. A client also comes in with a case Harry has to accept; money is running low. And so as the profligate detective is ready to hunt down his client's daughter, roped into porno films against the irate wishes of her father, his niece Danielle comes into the office indicating that her parents may be dead, while Harry's sharp secretary appears to have come into some sudden wealth. The plot lurches forward in several directions at once, as Harry's niece gets him out of the doldrums and into work. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

A trio of rich ex-cops begin to investigate a murder involving baseball and gangsters. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

In this made-for-television comedy drama, a divorcee reels even further when her married lover dumps her too. On the rebound, she takes up with a peculiar policeman. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Tony Bill directed this sentimental weepie starring Dudley Moore as California politician Patrick Dalton. When Nicole (Katherine Healy), the daughter of the well-to-do Charlotte Dreyfus (Mary Tyler Moore) asks to work for his campaign, Patrick initially turns her down. But when he discovers that she is dying from leukemia, Patrick is determined to make her final days happy ones. Along the way, Patrick and Charlotte have an affair and they take Nicole on a dream trip to New York City. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi