Mark Holden Movies
Inspired by a play that has been presented dozens of times to middle- and high-school students throughout the United States, Bang, Bang, You're Dead ponders the possible reasons that outwardly "normal" teenagers periodically resort to Columbine-style violence. The focus here is on Trevor Adams (Ben Foster), an intelligent but hypersensitive high schooler whose troubled past has designated him "at risk." Feeling persecuted by those stronger and more popular than himself, Trevor has already run afoul of classmates and teachers alike by making death threats against the school football team. Now he has aligned himself with a group of fellow "outsiders" who call themselves the Trogs. Indulging in prankery that runs the gamut from merely irritating to potentially dangerous, Trevor and the Trogs plan an all-out deadly assault against their so-called enemies. Although the script points out that peer pressure and bullying has gone beyond the point of harmlessness in today's society, it is careful not to blame any one person or group for what ultimately happens to Trevor; even Trevor himself is shown to be comprised of equal parts villain and victim. First screened at the Seattle International Film Festival, Bang, Bang, You're Dead formally premiered October 13, 2002, over the Showtime cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Cavanagh, Ben Foster, (more)
Seattle bomb-squad operative Lt. Tom Royko (Judge Reinhold) forms an uneasy alliance with brilliant but aloof heart surgeon Dr. Gillian Hayes (Penelope Ann Miller) to investigate a bizarre series of events, wherein three of Hayes' former patients have literally exploded. The culprit is a disgruntled lunatic (Timothy Busfield), determined to avenge the death of his son in a surgical accident. The modus operandi: a small explosive device, implanted in the pacemakers of the unfortunate patients. As Royko races against time to rescue a whole slew of "walking time bombs," Hayes is forced to come to terms with her own shortcomings as a medical professional -- and as a human being. Filmed in Vancouver, Dead in a Heartbeat premiered March 3, 2002 on the TNT cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2001
Born-again Wayist Rev Bem (Brent Stait) is reunited with his mentor, Brother Thaddeus Blake (Mark Holden), at the Serendipity Mission. Hunt (Kevin Sorbo) is less concerned with Rev's religious pilgrimage than he is by the band of Nietzchean slavers who are poised to attack the mission. An ideological crisis arise when Rev refuses to allow Hunt to teach the pacifistic Wayists to defend themselves against their attackers. "The Devil Takes the Hindmost" first aired on April 16, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this teenage horror film, a young man avoids the hand of death, only to find that he can't get away from it so easily. On the way to Paris with his high-school French club, Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) has a vivid premonition of the plane crashing and killing all its passengers. After Alex and some other passengers demand to be let off the flight, his premonition turns out to be true, and the jet explodes during takeoff. While the FBI is convinced that Alex was involved in some kind of foul play, the passengers who got off the flight are all dying in horrible ways, as if whoever determined that the passengers would perish is punishing those who cheated death. Final Destination marked the feature directorial debut of James Wong, a producer and director for the TV series The X Files. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Devon Sawa, Amanda Detmer, (more)
- 1999
On a routine mission to the planet PJG-877, the SG-1 crew is captured and spirited away in an invisible cargo ship by alien bounty hunter Aris Boch (Sam J. Jones). When escape proves next to impossible, the crew tries to bargain for their lives by agreeing to help Boch catch his current prey, the Gou'ald Kel'tar. But the mercenary Boch is not entirely swayed by this bargain: after all, he has the opportunity to collect the generous bounty on the heads of SG-1's O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson), Carter (Amanda Tapping) and Teal'c (Christopher Judge)--and three heads are better than one. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
It has been 20 years since Federal agent Dane Corvin (Richard Chamberlain) left his home town of Raven Island -- and also 20 years since Dane's fiancée Helen (Karen Allen), a talented sculptor, bitterly broke off their engagement when he was forced to arrest her brother for poaching. Now Corvin has returned, hoping to somehow, some way win back Helen's love. As it turns out, however, Helen herself is harboring a secret that Dane may not be able to forgive. Some lovely location footage of the Pacific Northwest makes this adaptation of Evan Maxwell's novel seem more compelling that it truly is. All the Winters That Have Been originally aired over CBS on September 21, 1997, posting the eighth highest rating of its broadcast week. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Chamberlain, Karen Allen, (more)
An adventure tale for movie buffs, Jake Speed deftly lifts scenes from detective films of the '40s through the '70s to bring an added dimension to its spoof of the detective and adventure genres. When a family gets word that their daughter has been kidnapped in Paris, her father comments that they should get "Jake Speed" to find her. However, Jake is a comic strip character, and the reaction is that he might as well ask for Batman. But lo-and-behold, the other daughter Margaret (Karen Kopins) gets a message to meet Speed (Wayne Crawford) and his author, Remo (Dennis Christopher), and the men tell her they must go to Africa, where her sister is being held. After a certain amount of trial and error, they eventually find the nation where she's being held -- which happens to be in the middle of a revolution. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wayne Crawford, Dennis Christopher, (more)
