Greg Beeman Movies

Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) is slated for electroshock therapy to erase his "delusional" memories. Summoned to the hospital where Lex is being held, Clark (Tom Welling) is determined to prove that his friend is sane before any further damage can be done. What Clark doesn't know is that he is walking into a trap devised by three of his longtime enemies. Elsewhere: While Lana (Kristin Kreuk) is undergoing physical therapy in the wake of her riding accident, she meets an affable but somewhat secretive fellow patient named Adam Knight (Ian Somerhalder), whose parents died under suspicious circumstances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Clark's new friend, Jordan (Joseph Cross), has the power to see into the future -- but does not have any control over his disturbing visions. When Jordan forsees a horrific fire in which Lana (Kristin Kreuk) is killed, it is up to Clark (Tom Welling) to save the girl -- and to find out who is destined to start the futuristic conflagration. Meanwhile, Chloe (Allison Mack) delves into the past of the mysterious, mercurial Adam Knight (Ian Somerhalder). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season three of the Superman-derived adventure series Smallville had ended with young Clark Kent (Tom Welling) disappearing into a mysterious portal opened by his Kryptonian birth father, Jor-El (Terence Stamp), while Clark's Earthling adoptive father, Jonathan (John Schneider), lay comatose. Meanwhile, Clark's high-school sweetheart Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) had gone off to study in Paris; his mercurial friend Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), having downed a poisoned cocktail, writhed in agony; Lex's crooked industrialist father, Lionel (John Glover), was sitting in the slammer; and while preparing to make public damning evidence against Lionel's criminal activities, budding journalist Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) was apparently killed in an explosion. As season four begins, Clark is hurtled buck-naked back into "our" dimension -- now armed with the knowledge that he is Kal-El of Krypton, fully aware of his destiny on Earth and that he will continue evincing superpowers, and determined to fulfill the mission set down by his father to retrieve several powerful kryptonite crystals lest they fall into human hands. No sooner has Clark returned than he has his first meeting with big-city reporter Lois Lane (Erica Durance), who has arrived in Smallville to investigate the reported death of her cousin, Chloe -- and to say that Clark and Lois do not exactly hit it off at first sight is an understatement! As it turns out, Chloe is still alive, forcing the jailed Lionel to step up his efforts to silence her for keeps. Likewise, Lex has recovered from his poisoning, but the traumatic experiences of the past few months seems to have aroused his "darker" side -- an aspect of his personality that will reveal itself disturbingly in the form of his evil doppelganger, Alexander, a manifestation brought about by the effects of that renegade kryptonite (which, it is revealed this year, comes in a variety of colors, each with its own special powers).

One of the season's most significant story arcs concerns one Jason Teague (Jensen Ackles), a handsome but strangely off-putting young man whom Lana met in Paris, and who has followed her back to Smallville. Jason's presence precipitates the arrival of his wicked mother, Genevieve Teague (Jane Seymour), who evidently has vital information about the missing kryptonite crystals, and who also has connections with the estimable Luthor family. It also comes to pass that she had carefully stage-managed the meeting between Jason and Lana, the better to solve the mystery of the strange tattoo on Lana's back -- a mystery that stretches all the way back to Lana's previous existence in medieval times. In the season finale, Clark is poised to graduate from high school, but first he must solve a perplexing puzzle left for him by his father -- and this done, Clark is suddenly teleported to the North Pole, just as Lana, with a murder charge hanging over her head, needs him most. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The two-part season-three opener of Smallville picks up three months after the cataclysmic events that brought season two to a close. Feeling responsible for the series of disasters that culminated in the death of his adoptive mother Martha's (Annette O'Toole) unborn baby, troubled teenager Clark Kent (Tom Welling) has bolted Smallville and exiled himself in Metropolis, still under the influence of the dangerous, addictive red kryptonite. Under the alias "Kal" (as in Kal-El, which had been his name when he was born on the planet Krypton), Clark is living the life of a rebellious street punk, and has fallen in with criminal boss Morgan Edge (Rutger Hauer). Following the leads given him by Clark's high school friend Chloe (Allison Mack), the boy's human adoptive father, Jonathan Kent (John Schneider), armed with temporary superpowers bestowed on him by Clark's real dad, Jor-El, is determined to bring his adopted son back to Smallville -- and back to normal. Meanwhile, it seems that Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) did not die in that plane crash at the end of season two -- but he may wish he had. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season three of Smallville brought several more hidden facts about the Kryptonian heritage of young Clark Kent (Tom Welling) to the forefront -- and also provided a few additional links to Clark's future life as Superman. The series also found the unsavory past of billionaire industrialist Lionel Luthor (John Glover) catching up with him, profoundly affecting his mixed-up son, Lex (Michael Rosenbaum), who had already been battered about when a team of doctors attempted to purge him of his "delusions" (read: his memories of Lionel's perfidy). The season began with Clark, still under the addictive influence of red kryptonite, angrily renouncing his friends and family in Smallville and exiling himself to Metropolis, where he briefly entered into a life of crime under the tutelage of sinister Morgan Edge (played variously during this season by Rutger Hauer and Patrick Bergin), who, like many villainous characters on the series, was an associate of the redoubtable Lionel Luthor. In order to rescue Clark, the boy's adoptive father, Jonathan Kent (John Schneider), entered into a strange bargain with Clark's Kryptonian birth father, Jor-El (Terence Stamp), the ramifications of which would permeate the action for the remainder of the season. Once safely returned to Smallville, Clark underwent the by-now-standard curious experiences wherein he was obliged to utilize his unique powers wisely and without giving his dual identity away. He also discovered a few new powers, among them super-hearing and (it was implied) the ability to fly. On the romantic front, Clark's relationship with Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) went through a variety of ups and downs -- especially during a rather harrowing story arc involving a mercurial young man named Adam Knight (Ian Somerhalder) -- reaching a climax of sorts at season's end when Lana decided to leave Smallville in order to study art in Paris. Meanwhile, another of Clark's female acquaintances, budding girl reporter Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) drew ever closer to unearthing a number of secrets involving both Clark and Lex. She also revealed something that many viewers had long suspected: she was related to a certain high-profile Metropolis reporter named Lois Lane (who would become a regular character in season four). Not satisfied with dangling this tantalizing foretaste of things to come for young Clark Kent, the Smallville producers also used season three to introduce Clark's future boss, Perry White, here played by Michael McKean -- the real-life husband of Annette O'Toole, the actress who played Clark's adoptive mother, Martha Kent.

As season three drew to a conclusion, Clark had come face to face with another refugee from Krypton, a superpowered girl named Kara (Adrianne Palicki), who urged our hero to renounce his earthly ways and fulfill his "destiny." Meanwhile, the true nature of Lex Luthor was exposed in all its tawdry glory, and two of the series' most stalwart characters, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross (Sam Jones III), were poised to make their respective exits -- and it was painfully clear that at least one of them would never, ever return. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season two of the WB network's popular Smallville upheld its excellent ratings by adhering religiously to the same mixture as before: combining tantalizing elements of the Superman legend with the sort of "teen angst" indigenous to such series as Beverly Hills 90210 and Dawson's Creek, all the while effectively weaving a mythos of its own. The first episode of the new season resolved the cliffhanger left over from season one, with teenager Clark Kent (Tom Welling) -- who 13 years earlier had crash-landed in a spaceship in the tiny Kansas farming community of Smallville -- rescuing local high school homecoming queen Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) from a devastating tornado. At the same time, local playboy and aspiring business mogul Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), heir apparent to the billion-dollar LutherCorp firm, forgot his differences with his ruthless CEO father, Lionel Luthor (John Glover, graduating from "recurring" to "regular" status), long enough to rescue his dad from a certain-death situation. Also returning to the series were John Schneider and Annette O'Toole as farming couple Jonathan and Martha Kent, adoptive parents to Clark; Allison Mack as budding journalist and teenaged paranormal specialist Chloe Sullivan, who by now had resigned herself to being merely Clark's friend rather than his sweetheart; and Sam Jones III as Clark's best bud, Pete Ross, who a few episodes into season two became the only person other than Jonathan and Martha to be apprised that Clark was actually a "visitor" from the planet Krypton. Gone were Eric Johnson as Whitney Fordham, Clark's rival for the hand and heart of Lana Lang; and Tom O'Brien as unscrupulous reporter Roger Nixon, who was conveniently killed off just as he was poised to reveal Clark's true identity to the world.

Among the more prominent of the new cast members was Emmanuelle Vaugier as Dr. Helen Bryce, an anger-control specialist hired by Lionel Luthor to curb Lex's violent temper. Ultimately, Lex and Helen would fall in love and marry, but this union was sorely threatened by events occurring in the second season's cliffhanger finale. New plot complications involved another of Clark's newly emerging superpowers, "heat vision," and the introduction of red kryptonite, a mineral indigenous to Clark's home planet, which in true hallucinogenic fashion had the capability of transforming our straight-arrow hero into a violently rebellious teenaged punk. In other developments, the orphaned Lana Lang discovered that her biological father was still alive, while Martha Kent went to work for LutherCorp as Lionel Luthor's personal assistant. In the extraordinary season-closing cliffhanger, Clark Kent received mystical messages from his late Krypton-dwelling father, Jor-El, informing him that he was destined to rule the world. Choosing instead to continue striving for "human" normality, Clark was moved to a desperate act that had devastating consequences on his friends and loved ones -- and pushed him into a dangerous dependence on the addictive red kryptonite, which led him into a life of crime in the wicked city of Metropolis. Hoping to retrieve his adopted son, Jonathan entered into a bargain with the spirit of Jor-El, briefly developing superpowers of his own, while wife Martha mourned the death of her unborn child (one of those aforementioned devastating consequences). And as if that wasn't enough, Lex Luthor found himself on a plane that was doomed to crash -- a disaster that may or may not have been engineered by someone very, very close to him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) is outraged when his billionaire father, Lionel (John Glover), closes down the Smallville branch of LutherCorp, thereby throwing hundreds out of work. Elsewhere, Clark (Tom Welling) and Chloe (Allison Mack) are about to share their first kiss -- a tender moment rudely interrupted when Clark must dash off to save Lana (Kristin Kreuk) from an approaching tornado. This final episode of Smallville's first season culminates in a cliffhanger climax wherein one of the key characters must make a fateful decision...while another character may be lost to the world forever. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season two of Smallville resolves the cliffhanger established at the end of season one, with Clark Kent (Tom Welling) using his superpowers to save Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) from an approaching tornado, and Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) likewise managing to rescue his father, Lionel (John Glover, now a series regular). Now, however, Clark's adoptive father, John (John Schneider), is missing, as is the spaceship which brought Clark to earth from Krypton some 13 years earlier. Other complications involve Clark's erstwhile girlfriend Chloe (Allison Mack) and unscrupulous reporter Roger Nixon (Tom O'Brien, in his final series appearance). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"What was life like for Superman before he grew up to be Superman?" That was the questioned posed, and brilliantly, answered, on the weekly sci-fi/adventure series Smallville, the WB network's most successful new program of the 2001-2002 TV season. Without wreaking undue damage on the sacred Superman legend, as set down by 65 years' worth of comic books, radio series, TV shows, and movies, Smallville artfully wove its own mythos concerning the early years of Clark Kent -- not yet "the man of steel" Superman, but born Kal-El, "strange visitor from another planet" (namely, the doomed planet Krypton). The first episode, telecast October 16, 2001, rapidly established the fact that the child Kal-El's arrival on Earth in the year 1989 profoundly affected virtually the entire population of Smallville, a tiny Kansas farming community. The spacecraft bearing the alien toddler arrived at the same time as a cataclysmic meteor shower, which all but devastated Smallville. Among other things, the meteor bombardment brought about the deaths of the parents of little Lana Lang, and rendered completely hairless nine-year-old Lex Luthor, son of ruthless billionaire businessman Lionel Luthor. Though Lana was able to put the tragedy behind her thanks to the loving care of her aunt Nell (Sarah-Jane Redmond), Lex's sudden and spectacular hair loss left him cynical and suspicious of humankind in general, and his grasping father in particular. On a happier note, childless farming couple Jonathan and Martha Kent (John Schneider, Annette O'Toole) rescued Kal-El, renamed him Clark, and raised him as their own son.

As the years passed, it was painfully obvious that Clark (played in his teen years by Tom Welling), possessed Herculean strength and other powers "far beyond those of mortal men." To protect their adopted son from being exposed as an alien, and to prevent others from being accidentally injured by the boy's superstrength, Martha and Jonathan kept Clark from indulging in youthful horseplay, and refused to allow him to participate in contact sports. As a result, Clark earned a reputation as something of a namby-pamby nerd -- and his own growing realization that he was different from his peers kept him perpetually on the outside looking in, a natural-born loner. Which is not to say that Clark didn't have his own circle of friends at Smallville High School. Lana Lang (played as a teen by Kristin Kreuk), who had matured into the campus queen, regarded Clark as a loyal and faithful friend -- but, much to Clark's dismay, she reserved her romantic feelings for high school jock Whitney Fordman (Eric Johnson), who, thanks to a series of neat coincidences, tended to get the credit for the heroics performed by Clark (which of course, young Mr. Kent was bound not to claim as his own lest his secret be revealed). Conversely, fellow student Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack), a budding paranormal investigator who wrote for the Smallville High newspaper, the Torch, harbored a hidden crush on Clark. Our hero's best bud was the shy and self-effacing Pete Ross (Sam Jones III), who like everyone else in Smallville could not help but notice that strange things happened whenever Clark was around, but who seldom questioned these happenings for fear of damaging their friendship. As for Lex Luthor (played as an adult by Michael Rosenbaum), several years Clark's senior, he lived the life of a swinging bachelor in his family mansion, while dad Lionel (John Glover) wheeled and dealed from his headquarters in the city of Metropolis. A firm friend of the young Kent since Clark saved his life, Lex had his share of good and noble impulses, but they were often mitigated by his inbred avariciousness and lust for power -- and his overpowering desire to wrest the family business from the grasp of his father.

During season one, Lex had a fling with sexy Victoria Hardwick (Kelly Brook), but their romance fell victim to his self-absorption. And though Clark generally got along with Lex, the same could not be said for Jonathan Kent, who (not without reason) felt that the Luthor family's business ambitions posed a threat to Kent and his fellow farmers. Also muddying up the Luthor legacy was the cache of kryptonite -- the green, glowing element indigenous to Clark Kent's home planet -- which was kept on the premises of Smallville's LutherCorp plant. As everybody familiar with the Superman canon knows, kryptonite has an adverse and possibly deadly effect on Clark; in this series, the mineral also brought out the worst in everyone else who came in contact with it. The first season of Smallville studiously avoided any mention of Clark's future alter ego, Superman, though the viewers would see the young misfit painfully adjusting to his awesome powers, some of which (such as his x-ray vision) were brand-new to him. Also, several episodes placed those closest to him in dire jeopardy, forcing him to utilize his powers without giving himself away -- and in at least a couple of cases, Clark's friends would themselves develop temporary superpowers that they too had to learn to properly deploy. Along the way, Clark's campus rival, Whitney Fordham, would leave Smallville after a series of daunting personal setbacks, joining the Marines to see the rest of the world. Like many another network series of its ilk, Smallville closed out its initial season by setting up a cliffhanger, to be resolved at the beginning of season two. In this case, the "to be continued" elements involved the first kiss between Clark and Chloe, a potential unholy alliance between Lex and Lionel Luthor, a startling discovery made by an unscrupulous big-city news reporter named Roger Nixon (Tom O'Brien), and a devastating tornado that threatened to bump off the helpless Lana Lang. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A young rollerblader is torn between money and his personal morality in this family friendly made-for-TV movie. Andy Brinker (Erik Von Detten), known to his friends as "Brink," is a teenager who lives for in-line skating. Andy and his skating buddies skate for the sheer love of the sport, and view professional skaters with no small degree of suspicion. However, when Andy's family falls on hard times financially, he wants to do something to help, and after Andy is approached by Val Horrigan (Sam Horrigan), the manager of a team of pro skaters, he decides to swallow his pride and sign up. Andy's friends think he's betrayed his principles, and begin to shun him. What's worse, Andy soon learns just how corrupt and underhanded Val can really be, and he has to decide if bringing in a few bucks for his family is worth having to deal with someone so inherently dishonest. Brink first aired on The Disney Channel on August 29, 1998. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy romp around like coked-up versions of The Three Stooges in the frantic Disney romp Hocus Pocus. The film begins in 1693 where three witches -- Winifred (Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Mary (Kathy Najimy) -- are preparing a potion that will grant them immortality and eternal youth. But before they finish mixing their cocktail, the people of Salem capture them and execute them for practicing witchcraft. Before their deaths, they vow to return to Salem 300 years hence on Halloween to exact their revenge. Three hundred years later, a skeptical, newly transplanted Californian, Max (Omri Katz), explores the ruins of the legendary witches' house and dares the witches to manifest themselves. Disregarding the warnings of his sister Dani (Thora Birch) and girlfriend Allison (Vinessa Shaw), Max lights the Candle of Black Flame. With that, the witches reappear to wreak havoc on the town. The kids take off with the witches' spellbook and a musty tome of hexes and recipes. The sorceresses, who will die by the morning light if they don't recite the incantation for immortality, have to get the books by whatever means they can. So, Winifred, Sarah, and Mary hop on their broomsticks for a chase through Halloween night. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide