John Brace Movies

This spinoff from the popular ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy was a vehicle for Kate Walsh, repeating her role from the earlier series as brilliant neonatal surgeon Addison Forbes Montgomery Shepherd, the ex-wife of Seattle Grace Hospital's Dr. Derek Shepherd. Having relocated to Los Angeles, Addison immediately found employment at the high-end Oceanside Wellness Center, a freewheeling "alternative" hospital established by several of her former medical-school classmates. The large ensemble cast included Tim Daly as Dr. Pete Wilder, alternative-medicine specialist and equivalent to Grey's Anatomy's "McDreamy" (aka Derek Shepherd); Taye Diggs as Dr. Sam Bennett, internist and best-selling "self help" author; Audra McDonald as Dr. Naomi Bennett, fertility-and-hormone specialist and Sam's former wife; Paul Adelstein as Dr. Cooper Freedman, pediatrician and resident ladies' man; Amy Brennerman as Freedman's best friend, psychiatrist Dr. Violet Turner; and Chris Lowell as Dr. William "Del" Cooper, the hospital's laid-back receptionist and aspiring midwife. Also on hand were KaDee Strickland as Dr. Charlotte King, chief of staff at nearby St. Ambrose Hospital and staunch opponent of the unorthodox methods practiced at Oceanside; and Shavon Kirksey as Naomi's daughter Maya. Its format and "dramatis personae" previously established in a two-part episode of Grey's Anatomy in the spring of 2007, Private Practice premiered over ABC on September 26 of that same year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The true story of one woman's effort to keep her family afloat under difficult circumstances comes to the screen in this bittersweet comedy drama. Evelyn Ryan (Julianne Moore) was a woman of intelligence, talent, and pluck living in the small town of Defiance, OH, in the 1950s. Evelyn was married to Kelly Ryan (Woody Harrelson), a man who gave her ten children but not much else; Kelly had a severe drinking problem, struggled to hold on to a job, and tended to spend his money as soon as he earned it. It was seemingly up to Evelyn to support the family, but with ten kids to look after, taking a job outside the home hardly seemed practical. But the resourceful Evelyn discovered a way to bring some extra money into the household -- at a time when a number of companies held contests to find new advertising jingles for their products, Evelyn had a genius for coming up with slogans and winning contests, and for the better part of a decade Evelyn kept food on the table and a roof over her head by dreaming up jingles, tag lines, and ad headlines and winning contests with her handiwork, often selling the merchandise she won to pay the bills. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio was based on the best-selling memoir by Terry Ryan, who was the sixth of Evelyn Ryan's ten kids. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The professional roles and real lives of a diverse group of surgeons collide unexpectedly in this Golden Globe-winning ABC television drama. As an intern at prestigious Seattle Grace Hospital, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) tries hard to live up to the reputation of her legendary surgeon mother while hiding the fact that her mom now suffers from Alzheimer's disease. As if life weren't complicated enough, Meredith also falls for her boss, Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), a surgical resident recently relocated to Seattle from New York. Meredith's friend and rival Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) finds herself in a similarly taboo romance with Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington), Derek's chief competition for the title of chief resident. As for Meredith and Cristina's fellow interns -- Isobel "Izzie" Stevens (Katherine Heigl), George O'Malley (T.R. Knight), and Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) -- they've got problems of their own. Izzie doesn't want to be judged for her underwear-model past; Alex is better at bedding the ladies than bedside manner; and George can't get any of the women around him to see him as anything but a cuddly friend. All five interns answer to the roar of senior resident Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), affectionately known as "the Nazi." But even Dr. Bailey jumps to it when Chief of Surgery Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) is on the scene. Although it was a hit from the time of its mid-season launch -- in a plum post-Desperate Housewives time slot -- on March 27, 2005, Grey's Anatomy had sat on the shelf for a year before it saw the light of day. Creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes received plenty of accolades for her color-blind casting, but it was Oh who earned an Emmy nod and a Golden Globe statuette for her work on the show's first season. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Although undergoing a sex change is not as unusual a procedure as it once was in days gone by, it is still hardly an everyday occurrence -- especially in rural, conservative western Illinois, where Normal takes place. After 25 years of marriage, Roy Applewood (Tom Wilkinson) surprises his wife, Irma (Jessica Lange), by announcing that he'd rather be a woman, and in fact has felt like a woman for most of his adult life. As Roy undergoes the standard hormone and prosthetics process to transform himself into "Ruth," his sudden gender switch elicits shock, surprise, and anger from friends, family members, and co-workers alike -- but also is met with support and sympathy from a number of extremely unlikely sources. Tastefully produced and acted, the film wisely avoids shock value in its subject matter and condescension in its treatment of middle-America types. Directed by Jane Anderson, who also adapted the script from her own stage play Looking for Normal, the made-for-cable Normal premiered March 16, 2003, on HBO. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The ABC cop series Karen Sisco was based on characters created by novelist Elmore Leonard, as visualized in Steven Soderbergh's 1998 theatrical feature Out of Sight. In the role originated on film by Jennifer Lopez, Carla Gugino starred as Karen Sisco, one of the toughest (and certainly the sexiest) U.S. Marshals working the Miami gold coast. Patrolling a beat from Palm Beach to South Beach, Karen used brains, brawn, and sheer chutzpah to bring criminals to heel. All of this was most disconcerting for Karen's father, veteran private detective Marshall Sisco (Robert Forster), who had hoped that his darling daughter would have picked a less risky profession -- and, on a more personal level, wished that Karen would exercise better discretion in her choice of boyfriends. Karen Sisco premiered October 1, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Somewhere in L.A., Peter (Kenneth Branagh), a washed-up British playwright, struggles to duplicate his past glory as he surfs a foul-smelling tide of disenchantment. His wife, Melanie (Robin Wright Penn), manages to maintain an optimistic outlook even as she longs for the baby that her husband is hesitant to help her conceive. When Peter befriends Amy (Suzi Hofrichter), a neighborhood girl who has mild cerebral palsy, their friendship softens him to the idea of fatherhood and propels Melanie's maternal yearnings into hyperdrive. As if baby fever weren't enough, Peter is plagued by a seemingly benevolent stalker (Jared Harris), his neighbors' incessantly noisy dog, and the flighty cast and crew of his latest play. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

In this comic drama about fame, sports, and small-town life, Mystery, Alaska is a small town in one of the least accessible parts of the coldest state in the union. It's a town where everyone knows each other and there isn't much to do. In places like this, small things tend to become very important, and in Mystery, the one thing that keeps everyone sane is hockey. Most of the men of Mystery are obsessive hockey fans, and a local hockey league has sprung up, with pools of neighborhood talent facing off on the ice every week. When a national sports magazine does a story on the hockey fans of Mystery, Alaska, someone at the National Hockey League gets an idea for a publicity stunt: send the New York Rangers to Mystery to play the local all-stars in a nationally televised game. Most of the locals are thrilled; the game will give the people of Mystery a chance to bask in the limelight and make their sleepy town a household word. On the other hand, in a small town where everyone knows everyone else's secrets, this event could cause everyone to start airing their dirty laundry in public, with the whole world watching. Mystery, Alaska was directed by Jay Roach, who enjoyed considerable success with the two Austin Powers films, and stars Russell Crowe as John Biebe, Mary McCormack as his wife Donna, Burt Reynolds as Judge Burns, and Lolita Davidovich as Mary Jane. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This thriller takes place in Blue Bay, Florida, where social-climbing guidance counselor Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon) is indifferent to teen-socialite Kelly Van Ryan (Denise Richards), who retaliates by accusing him of rape, an accusation that leads to his suspension by the school and a rejection from the country club. He can't afford a big attorney, so he hires shrewd Ken Bowden (Bill Murray), while Kelly's mom, Sandra Van Ryan (Theresa Russell), Sam's former lover, gets a platoon of top lawyers. Trailer-trash Suzie Toller (Neve Campbell) backs up Kelly's claim and additional plot twists and turns develop. The seldom-seen Carrie Snodgrass (Diary of a Mad Housewife) has a supporting role in this film. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Michael Apted (Gorillas in the Mist) directed this Walter Mosley script adaptation of Mosley's short story collection, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned. Ex-con Socrates Fortlow (Laurence Fishburne) returns to L.A., looks for work, becomes friends with Right Burke (Bill Cobbs), is told he's too old for a construction job, helps youngster Darryl (Daniel Williams), and romances cafe-owner Iula Brown (Natalie Cole). Socrates provides a moral uplift to the neighborhood, while Burke's voiceover narration has a Sunset Boulevard twist. The TV movie premiered March 21, 1998 on HBO. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Comic leading man Hugh Grant gets serious in this drama about a physician who uncovers a truly disturbing secret. Guy Luthan (Hugh Grant), a British doctor serving a residence in a hospital in New York City, is very puzzled by a patient brought to the emergency room one night. Naked, disoriented, and bearing a hospital bracelet and a fresh surgical scar, the mystery man is suffering from a baffling variety of symptoms, and though he dies not long after he's admitted, Luthan can't get the patient out of his mind. When he asks to see the records on the patient a few days later, he's told they no longer exist, and the more he digs, the more he's convinced that someone knows something they're not telling. Against the advice of his friend Jodie Trammel (Sarah Jessica Parker), a nurse and colleague, and the instructions of his superiors, Luthan keeps digging into this and other strange cases that have come through the hospital lately. Luthan's sleuthing eventually brings him to the door of Dr. Lawrence Myrick (Gene Hackman), a well-known surgeon who is doing research in experimental surgery that could allow patients with severe spinal injuries to walk again. While Myrick's work is done with the most noble of intentions, there turns out to be a sinister undercurrent to his research techniques. Actress Elizabeth Hurley, Grant's offscreen significant other, was co-producer for this picture, the first from their joint production company. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Poor Max Grabelski doesn't have any luck at all. What little he had runs out when local racketeers set the bungling delivery man up to take the fall for their money-laundering schemes. Sure enough, when the government agents arrive, he is found holding a package filled with loot. Not only that, but the Feds think he is the one who killed a notorious gambler/con artist. Max flees and ends up being mistaken, by six Boy Scouts, for the veteran mountain guide who is supposed to take them into the wilderness for a weekend campout. This slapstick comedy chronicles his crazy adventures as the lifelong city dweller tries to survive in the rugged new environment after he leads the trusting troop down the wrong trail to Devil's Peak. Comic mayhem ensues, but in the end, the young men and their new leader learn valuable lessons about themselves. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Miffed at having to meet the fiancé of the hometown sweetheart (Amanda Wyss) who rejected him, Woody (Woody Harrelson) is determined to prove that he has a new girlfriend (actually, he is forced to prove this, thanks to the "helpful" Diane [Shelley Long]). Desperate, Woody looks up a few names in Sam's (Ted Danson) legendary Little Black Book. A girl known as "Desiree" sounds very promising, but names, like appearances, can be very deceiving. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide