Michelle Wong Movies

Executive produced by Steven Spielberg, the sprawling six-part, 12-hour TV miniseries Into the West covers 65 years of American history, from the first major migration westward in the mid-1820s to the massacre at Wounded Knee in the early 1890s. The story is largely seen through the eyes of two protagonists (and their families): Jacob Wheeler (Matthew Settle), a wheelwright who leaves his Virginia hometown and his family's business in 1827 to seek his destiny in the company of legendary mountain man Jedediah Smith (Josh Brolin); and Loved by the Buffalo (George Leach), a Lakota Sioux holy man who spends a lifetime seeking the answers to his profound and disturbing images about the future of his country -- and his people. Eschewing the usual "old-age makeup" route often pursued in epic tales of this nature, the main characters are played by progressively older actors in the course of the story: for example, Loved by the Buffalo is portrayed by no fewer than four different performers! In a more traditionalist How the West Was Won vein, the miniseries is festooned with major stars, some cast in very brief roles: among these are Josh Brolin, Keri Russell, Matthew Modine, Beau Bridges, Gary Busey, Tom Berenger, and Judge Reinhold. Nor is How the West Was Won the only inspiration for the multi-plotted storyline: other films echoed and emulated throughout the saga include The Iron Horse, The Big Trail, Westward the Women, The Searchers, and Dances With Wolves. As mentioned, the story is divided into six parts: "Wheel to the Stars," in which the fates of Jacob Wheeler and Loved by the Buffalo become forever intertwined; "Manifest Destiny," chronicling the first major trek to California; "Dreams & Schemes," wherein the Lakota lands are despoiled by Gold Fever and war breaks out between the North and South; "Hell on Wheels," chronicling the postwar chaos and the coming of the railroad; "Casualties of War," wherein the conflict between Native Americans and the white man results in wholesale bloodshed -- and, surprisingly, a "counter-revolution" of compassion and understanding; and "Ghost Dance," the last great stand of the Lakota, which brings the story full circle. Largely filmed in the Canadian Rockies over a six-month period, and utilizing the talents of six directors, Into the West premiered June 10, 2005, on the TNT cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Undercover Christmas first aired over CBS on December 7, 2003, a number of critics lauded the film for its "fresh" and "unique" storyline--blissfully unaware that the film bore a marked resemblance to the 1940 Fred MacMurray-Barbara Stanwyck vehicle Remember the Night. Jamie Gertz tops the cast as Brandi O'Neill, a sassy cocktail waitress who is the "great and good friend" of billionaire Scott Shift (Cameron Bancroft). Determned to nail Shift on a tax fraud charge, FBI agent Jake Cunningham (Shawn Christian) figures that Brandi will make an excellent federal witness, and takes her into protective custody. Unfortunately, not long afterward Jake receives word from his mother Anne (Tyne Daly) that his father Joe (Winston Rekert), a very wealthy and very conservative jurist, has suffered a heart attack--and that it would behoove Jack to come home for Christmas to see his dad just one more time. Naturally, Jake is forced to take Brandi along to meet his folks, who are shocked beyond measure when, to avoid compromising his case against Shift, Jake passes Brandi off as his new girlfriend! Things get dicier still when it turns out that Joe Cunningham's heart attack was just a sham to force Jake to come home and get his annual dressing-down for not living up to his parents' hopes--and all the while, Brandi begins to really enjoy her new luxurious surroundings, and seriously considers latching onto Jake for keeps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted from Jackie Collins' best-selling novel of the same name, this glittery made-for-TV movie stars three veteran small-screen divas as the "newest" generation of Tinseltown spouses. Farrah Fawcett heads the cast as film favorite and top recording artist Lissa Roman, who hires handsome private eye Michael Scorsini (Jack Scalia) to trail her much-younger husband, who is not only a philanderer but psychotic. While all this is going on, Lissa seeks out moral support from her two best friends: Taylor Singer (Melissa Gilbert), the wife of a major movie director, who has enough on her hands with the young writer with whom she is collaborating on a screenplay and cohabitating in the bedroom, and vocalist Kyndra Rossiter (Robin Givens), who, alone among her peers, aspires merely to a happy, well-balanced life -- and a closer relationship with her daughter Saffron (Kandyce McLure). Ultimately, melodrama creeps into the picture when Lissa's daughter Nikki (Pascale Hudson) is kidnapped. Jackie Collins' Hollywood Wives: The New Generation debuted October 19, 2003, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ellen Barkin stars in this mystical comedy about a detestable male chauvinist temporarily reincarnated into the body of a woman. Steve Brooks (Perry King) foolishly accepts an invite for an evening of debauchery from three former girlfriends, and thinks he's got it made when he shows up to find them waiting for him in a hot tub. Eager to exact revenge on the scoundrel, the women proceed to drown him, and Steve is cast into a purgatory in which two unseen voices are deciding whether to send him to heaven or hell. Steve is given one chance to save himself from damnation -- if he can find a woman alive who actually liked him. To complicate his task and teach him a lesson, Steve is reincarnated as a sexy woman (Barkin), just the type who would have been the target of his cheesy advances. Sloppily adjusting to his new body, Steve (now Barkin) tells people he is the sister of the missing Steve Brooks, and begins working at his old advertising agency as a means toward completing his arduous task. As Steve's sister, he also enlists the help of his best friend, Walter (Jimmy Smits), despite the complication that Walter is noticeably attracted to the woman he has become. Steve's homophobia -- and several of his other hateful traits -- are put to the test. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide

Once again, Charles Bronson plays a renegade cop out for vigilante justice in the darkest heart of the urban jungle. This time, he is targeting an especially ruthless pimp who has been leading innocent young girls into prostitution. When the pimp kidnaps the beautiful daughter of a Japanese businessman, rapes her and forces her to begin streetwalking, the cop decides to let nothing, not even the law, stop him from bringing the slimeball to graphically violent justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide