Christopher Franke Movies

Marvel Comics' vigilante character The Punisher gets another big-screen outing in this third film incarnation of the character, this time from Green Street Hooligans director Lexi Alexander. Fueled by revenge and aided by his trusted weapons expert, Microchip (Wayne Knight), vigilante Frank Castle (Rome's Ray Stevenson) turns the New York City streets red with blood as he takes down each and every member of the crime syndicate responsible for the death of his wife and two kids. As the law-appointed "Punisher Task Force" closes in on him, the antihero does battle with Billy Russoti (Dominic West), aka Jigsaw, a nickname given by him to reflect the disfigurement handed to him by Castle. With the help of his psychotic brother, Loony Bin Jim (Doug Hutchison), Jigsaw recruits the criminals of the city to band together to bring down The Punisher, using the wife (played by Dexter's Julie Benz) and daughter of a slayed FBI agent as bait. Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, and Nick Santora provide the screenplay for the Lionsgate release. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

A young man is thrown into the center of the political and social tumult of the late '60s in this drama. It's 1968, and Ben Sweet (Nick Roth) is 18 years old and has just received his 1A draft classification. Ben does not want to go to Vietnam, and his father Sy (Henry Winkler) is understanding, though he believes Ben does have a responsibility to his country. As a compromise, Ben enrolls at the University of California in Berkeley, where he majors in economics but also hopes to indulge his interest in writing. Ben hasn't been in Berkeley long before his horizons are broadened by his childhood friend Mishkin (Sebastian Tillinger), who introduces him to marijuana and LSD, and Sadie (Laura Jordan), a classmate who takes him to bed for the first time. As Ben begins reconsidering the middle-class values he was raised with, he starts indulging his passion for playing guitar and joins a rock band with keyboard player Buddy (Wade Allain-Marcus) and drummer Blue (Tom Morello). Ben's political viewpoints also begin evolving when he meets campus radical Henry Wolf (Jake Newton), who believes a Marxist revolution is necessary in the United States -- and who steals Sadie away from him. On the rebound, Ben falls for Alice (Sarah Carter), the pretty blonde daughter of the college dean, but she bristles at his embrace of the counterculture as Ben becomes more deeply involved in music and politics. Ben's desire to write blossoms when he takes a class with Professor Hawkins (Bonnie Bedelia), a bohemian writing instructor who encourages him to explore his poetic side, but Ben's family are not entirely happy with the changes in his lifestyle. Nick Roth wrote and sang his own songs for Berkeley; he's also the son of director Bobby Roth. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Literally "torn from today's headlines," this made-for-cable drama recounts the sordid story of Max Factor heir Andrew Luster (here played by Jason Gedrick), who, over a period of several years, used the "date-rape" drug GHB to render several impressionable young woman unconscious, at which point he raped them while a video camera recorded his assaults. Galvanized by Luster's first victim, herein identified only as Connie Doe (Marla Sokoloff), two other girls who had been drugged and ravished by the wealthy predator joined Connie in bringing about legal action against him. Although the girls were forced to relive their horrendous experiences during testimony, their combined efforts so moved the jury that Luster was convicted on 86 criminal charges and sentenced to 124 years in prison. At the time this film went into production, the real-life Luster was fugitive from justice; escaping from house arrest and skipping off to parts unknown, he was tried and convicted in absentia. In June of 2003, one week before filming on A Date With Darkness wrapped, Luster was recaptured in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, by bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman (played in the film by an uncredited stunt man). This necessitated a hasty rewrite of the film's final scenes and an equally hasty refilming (as evidenced by the patently false beard on the face of actor Jason Gedrick). In its final form, A Date With Darkness: The Trial and Capture of Andrew Luster debuted August 11, 2003, on the Lifetime Network; the telecast was followed by an impassioned warning against the dangers of GHB, delivered by the film's co-star, Marla Sokoloff. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In June of 2002, 13-year-old Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from her own bedroom in Salt Lake City, a crime witnessed by her younger sister Mary Katherine. The desperate search for Elizabeth evolved into a gigantic media event, as her anguished parents combined forces with the authorities -- and a number of top-rated cable talk show hosts -- to follow any lead, big or small, that would help them find their daughter. Eight months into the girl's disappearance, hopes for her safety were growing dim -- until, miraculously, she was spotted only a short distance from her home, accompanied by a pair of bizarre and seriously disturbed personalities, Brian David "Emmanuel" Mitchell and Wanda Barzee. Originally telecast November 9, 2003, by CBS, the made-for-TV Elizabeth Smart: The Long Way Home is divided into two plains of action: the ordeal of the abducted Elizabeth and her uncanny ability to keep her wits and optimism intact despite the ever-growing possibility that she would never see her parents again; and the dogged determination of Elizabeth's parents Ed and Lois, who against all odds, never gave up hope that their daughter was still alive and well. The film was released shortly after Elizabeth's rescue. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One man's insatiable appetite for sex begins upending his life in this biting independent comedy. Jack (Nestor Carbonell) is a photographer known to his friends as "Jack the Dog," thanks to his compulsive womanizing; Jack seems incapable of staying with one partner for long before he finds himself attracted to someone else, and given his good looks and easy charm, Jack doesn't have much trouble convincing the women he meets to spend the night with him. Deep inside, Jack wants to change, and he tries to put himself on the straight and narrow by marrying Faith (Barbara Williams). Jack and Faith soon have a son, Sam (Andrew J. Ferchland), whom Jack dotes upon, but Faith turns out to be a poor advertisement for long-term monogamy; she's not especially warm or forgiving, and she's started to show her age, which only intensifies Jack's taste for younger women. Jack soon slides into chronic infidelity, and Faith leaves him, relocating to London and leaving Sam behind. This is good news as far as Jack's concerned, but as he tries to watch over his son, while also seducing an endless parade of beautiful women, Jack finds himself increasingly puzzled by the opposite sex, and he wonders if he might have a problem he hasn't learned to deal with. Jack the Dog received its world premiere at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Lots of women get the feeling that their boyfriends become different people after they've married them, but one finds herself dealing with a much bigger problem than leaving socks around the house or not taking out the trash in this supernatural thriller. Kristie (Laura Harris) is a sweet but slightly naïve young woman who is soon to marry the man she loves, Marc St. Clair (Richard Lintern), a television reporter. On the night of their wedding, Marc leads Kristie away from the wedding reception and takes her virginity near a strange stone monument in the woods. Kristie is a bit surprised by this behavior and even more startled when she discovers she's pregnant. Nine months after her wedding day, Kristie's son, Dylan, is born and the new mother is thrilled, but as the child grows older, she begins to sense that things aren't right. Marc seems to take an obsessive interest in his son, while even more surprisingly, his boss, Elizabeth (Alice Krige), is nearly as interested as Marc. In time, when Dylan begins to display telekinetic powers and Kristie discovers Elizabeth has given him a book of Satanic prophesy, Kristie begins to wonder what sort of a person Marc really is -- and whose child did she really bear? ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Reviving Ophelia, based upon the book of the same name by Mary Pipher, explains the difficulties teenage girls face in today's media-driven society which pressures girls to be beautiful and cool, as opposed to being themselves. Pipher refers to the mass media's unhealthy influence on teenage women as "girl poisoning" and offers several possibilities for combatting it. The tape strives to enable parents and teenagers alike to form an identity based on real-life experiences, rather than television, film, and print symbols. ~ Betsy Boyd, Rovi

Why is it that, in holiday-themed TV movies, someone always comes to a small town to close down some business or other during Christmas week? In the case of A Holiday Romance, it is straitlaced school administrator Cal Peterson (Gerald McRaney), who arrives in town in the middle of the holiday season for the purpose of shutting down a local school that has been deemed extraneous. Inevitably, of course, Peterson will change his mind once he finds true love, as personified by winsome music teacher Lily Waite, played by Naomi Judd. About the only surprise in the film is the fact that neither Judd nor anyone else sings a country song at any point in the story. CBS brought forth A Holiday Romance on December 8, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Los Angeles district attorney Jess Kostner (Lori Laughlin) inaugurates her own personal descent into hell when she agrees to prosecute an accused rapist named Sean Ferguson (Tracey Walter). Having just recovered from a nervous breakdown brought about by the mysterious death of her mother, Jess is in no mood to discover that Sean's defense attorney is her own ex-husband Don Shaw (Bruce Greenwood). Things get really dicey when Ferguson's victim Connie (Lauren Tom) refuses to appear in court. Jess manages to persuade Connie to testify, only to be plunged into the abyss of guilt and self-loathing when Connie is "mysteriously" killed just before her testimony. The only positive aspect of this sordid affair is Jess' growing relationship with amiable courtroom spectator Adam Stiles (Joe Flanigan). Ultimately, the trial--and acquittal--of Sean Ferguson is revealed to be an elaborate charade, designed as a prelude to a uniquely perverse form of vigilante justice! Boasting so many plot twists that one virtually needs a scorecard to keep abreast of new developments, Tell Me No Secrets debuted January 20, 1997 on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The American military-industrial complex has a blueprint for the perfect mechanical soldier. Unfortunately, the prototype, Solo (Mario Van Peebles), has responded appropriately to his programming (which requires him to reason things out on his own), with results that the designers didn't anticipate and don't like. For one thing, he objects to killing innocent bystanders. Already one of their covert operations has been ruined by his scruples. The manufacturers have given orders that he is to be taken back to the lab and reprogrammed. Now on the run from his makers, he comes to a village of oppressed peasants and teaches them how to fight back successfully in a sequence which harkens to the classic The Seven Samurai.









































































































~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi