Mark Johnson Movies

A young girl discovers a hoard of monsters living underneath her father and stepmother's house in this remake of the spooky 1973 made-for-TV production. Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins adapt the screenplay, with directing duties handled by comic artist Troy Nixey. Katie Holmes stars in the Miramax Films production. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

One of several fascinating original series from cable's American Movie Channel, Breaking Bad was produced by Vince Gilligan of X-Files fame. Former Malcolm in the Middle regular Bryan Cranston starred as high school chemistry teacher Walter White, who at age 49 was told that he was suffering from terminal lung cancer--even though he'd never smoked a cigarette in his life. Unable to pay for his medical treatment or provide for the future financial security of his pregnant wife Skyler (Anna Gunn) and his son Walt Jr. (RJ Mitte), the latter a victim of cerebral palsy, Walter began moonlighting at a car wash. When this proved inadequate to make ends meet, Walter entered into a slighly unholy alliance with former student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). Using Walter's chemical knowhow, the two partners set up a crystal meth lab, with Walter supplying and Jesse dealing. Now the unfortunate Mr. White found himself straddling two worlds, one legitimate, one definitely not. Adding to Walter's crown of thorns was the omnipresence of his brother-in-law Hank (Dean Norris), a DEA agent who'd been trying to bust Jesse for several months--and who of course had to be kept completely in the dark as to Walter's new "sideline." Breaking Bad debuted on January 20, 2008. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Simon Baker stars in this weekly, 60-minute drama series as Nick Fallin, a hotshot attorney working for his father Burton's (Dabney Coleman) prestigious Philadelphia law firm. Arrested for doing cocaine, Nick is sentenced to 1,500 hours of community service. Reluctantly, he signs on as a part-time child advocate for an inner-city Legal Aid Services, all the while handling his usual high-profile clients. Ever so gradually, Nick finds himself caring more about his younger, poorer charges than he does about his wealthier customers -- and in so doing, he becomes the titular "guardian" of this CBS series. Also in the cast are Alan Rosenberg as Nick's skeptical new Legal Aid supervisor Alvin Masterson, Erica Leerhsen as Amanda Bowles, and Raphael Sbarge as Jake Strata. Created by David Hollander, The Guardian was originally set to premiere on September 18, 2001, but late-breaking news events caused the network to move the series up to September 25. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This TV medical drama examines egos and ethics as a trio of doctors enter private practice. Doctors Roger Cattan (Ken Olin), Tim Lonner (Matt Craven), and Evan Newman (Rick Roberts) recruit Dr. Sarah Church (Sheryl Lee) to join their team, and they're in business -- occupying a posh office with dubious decor, and ready to display their bedside manners while building bank accounts. Will workaholic Sarah and sensitive, single-dad Newman become a twosome? Filmed in L.A., this series premiered September 21, 1998 on CBS. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Set during the Allied invasion of the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theater during WWII, this film is based on the novel by James Jones. Keir Dullea is Private Doll, who dreads the invasion and steals a pistol to help him protect himself. Sergeant Welsh (Jack Warden), a caustic, battle-scarred veteran, hates Doll, whom he considers a coward. In battle, Doll kills a Japanese soldier and is filled with remorse, which further angers the sergeant. The next day, an emboldened Doll wipes out an entire enemy machine gun post and begins to feel as sadistic as Welsh. The two must work together to clear away some mines, but as they do, their platoon is surprised by a Japanese raid. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

A top Marine sniper who previously abandoned the military after a routine mission gave way to tragedy is double-crossed by the government after reluctantly being pressured back into service in Training Day director Antoine Fuqua's adaptation of Stephen Hunter's novel Point of Impact. There was a time when Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) was the best trigger-man in the military, but after growing disillusioned with the system, he disappeared without a trace. After being located at his remote mountain retreat by high-profile government officials following an extensive search, Swagger is coerced back into service in order to stop a determined assassin from taking out the President of the United States. In the process of carrying out his mission, however, Swagger suddenly realizes that he has been betrayed when he becomes the subject of a nationwide manhunt. Now wounded and desperate to reveal the culprits behind the conspiracy before it's too late, Swagger sets into motion a revenge plan that will send shockwaves rippling to some of the most powerful and corrupt leaders in the free world. Danny Glover, Rhona Mitra, and Ned Beatty co-star in this conspiracy-driven action thriller that asks what it truly means to serve one's country. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Can the world's oldest adolescent maintain his cool while living with his grandmother? Alex (Allen Covert) is a 35-year-old video-game fanatic who gave up a career in accounting to take a job testing games for Brainasium, the company behind the wildly popular game "Eternal Death Slayer." While Alex took a big pay cut to land his dream job, he's happy with his work and is making ends meet -- until he discovers that his roommate hasn't paid the rent for the last six months, using the money to finance repeated visits to a local massage parlor. After running out of friends who will let him sleep on their couch, Alex swallows his pride and moves in with his grandma Lily (Doris Roberts), who loves Alex and is happy to give him a place to stay in exchange for doing chores around the house. Lily shares her home with two friends, perpetually confused Bea (Shirley Knight) and sexually adventurous Grace (Shirley Jones), and between the three of them, there's always work to be done, keeping Alex busy nearly every night. While Alex tells his co-workers he's living with three attractive women who are running him ragged, they don't know the real story; in the meantime, Alex is trying to charm Brainasium's beautiful new executive, Samantha (Linda Cardellini), while butting heads with the firm's space-case CEO Cheezle (Kevin Nealon) and J.P. (Joel David Moore), a teenage game designer who is no longer in touch with reality. Grandma's Boy was the first feature film from director Nicholaus Goossen. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Director Barry Levinson attempts to repeat the success of several recent, low-budget British imports such as The Full Monty (1997), Waking Ned Devine (1998), and Saving Grace (2000) with this comedy about a pair of prison barbers trying to make a success of a hairpiece business in Northern Ireland. Colm (Barry McEvoy), a Catholic, and George (Brian F. O'Byrne), a Protestant, are friends who toil away in a lackluster job cutting the hair of convicts in a prison for the insane where Colm's girlfriend Bronagh (Anna Friel) also works. When the two lads hear of a prisoner nicknamed The Scalper (Billy Connolly), they learn that he was the only seller of hairpieces in the country, and decide to begin crafting their own toupees for sale as a way to start their own business. As they ply their wares through the war-torn country, the friends are not above using their respective religions to make sales, but competition soon arrives in the form of Toupee or Not Toupee, a rival company, and a race to be the first outfit to sell 30 units quickly ensues. Politics, business, and religious beliefs soon intersect to cause big trouble for both men. Actor McEvoy also wrote the script for An Everlasting Piece, loosely basing his character on his real-life father. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

This drama about an undercover cop who learns the hidden dangers of working his way inside the mob was based on a true story. Joe Pistone (Johnny Depp) is an FBI agent who is given an assignment to infiltrate the Mafia; calling himself Donnie Brasco, he befriends Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino), a low-level mob hit man whose personal life is in tatters. Lefty's marriage is falling apart, his son is a junkie, and his health is failing, which only adds to his growing disillusionment about having spent 30 years with the Mafia (and killing 26 people) with little to show for it. But in Donnie, Lefty sees someone who can succeed where he failed; he takes the young man under his wing, and under Lefty's tutelage Donnie quickly rises through the ranks of organized crime; however, the longer he plays the role of the gangster, the more Joe Pistone finds himself becoming Donnie Brasco in his increasingly rare off hours; it drives a wedge between himself and his wife (Anne Heche) and children, and Joe realizes that a break in character among the hoodlums he's come to know could mean a death sentence for himself and his family. Just as importantly, Joe has come to regard Lefty as a close and trusted friend, and Joe realizes that when the day comes where he has to turn in his Mob associates, he'll be ending Lefty's life as surely as if he put a slug in his head himself. The supporting cast includes Michael Madsen as Sonny, Lefty's boss, and Bruno Kirby as Nicky, one of Sonny's henchmen. The real-life Joe Pistone today lives under an assumed name with a 500,000-dollar contract on his life still in effect. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this fast-paced military thriller, Tom Berenger is Thomas Beckett, a tough, grizzled, U.S. Marine Corps veteran sharpshooter who goes through target-spotter partners faster than bullets on his ultra-dangerous missions. The National Security Council secretly assigns Beckett to assassinate a Panamanian rebel bankrolled by a drug cartel in his bid for the presidency. The NSC also gives Beckett a sidekick: raw recruit Richard Miller (Billy Zane), a former Olympic marksman who's never killed anybody. Miller technically outranks the more experienced Beckett, a source of friction between the men as they make their way through the jungle to find their prey. Once they locate their target, Beckett and Miller not only have to pull off a complex shooting but also must avoid a covert shooter who's been trained by Beckett and is now gunning for them. A Panama native, director ($Luis Llosa later repeated the trick of crafting a visually exciting genre film out of thin material with Anaconda (1997). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Self-centered, avaricious Californian Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) is informed that his long-estranged father has died. Expecting at least a portion of the elder Babbitt's $3 million estate, Charlie learns that all he's inherited is his dad's prize roses and a 1949 Buick Roadmaster. Discovering that the $3 million is being held in trust for an unidentified party, Charlie heads to his home town of Cincinnati to ascertain who that party is. It turns out that the beneficiary is Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman), the autistic-savant older brother that Charlie never knew he had. Able to memorize reams of trivia and add, subtract, multiply, and divide without a second's hesitation, Raymond is otherwise incapable of functioning as a normal human being. Aghast that Raymond is to receive his father's entire legacy, Charlie tries to cut a deal with Raymond's guardian. When this fails, Charlie "borrows" Raymond from the institution where he lives, hoping to use his brother as leverage to claim half the fortune. During their subsequent cross-country odyssey, Charlie is forced to accommodate Raymond's various autistic idiosyncracies, not the least of which is his insistence on adhering to a rigid daily schedule: he must, for example, watch People's Court and Jeopardy every day at the same time, no matter what. On hitting Las Vegas, Charlie hopes to harness Raymond's finely-honed mathematical skills to win big at the gaming tables; but this exploitation of his brother's affliction compels Charlie to reassess his own values, or lack thereof. A longtime pet project of star Dustin Hoffman, Rain Man was turned down by several high-profile directors before Barry Levinson took on the challenge of bringing Ronald Bass' screenplay to fruition (Levinson also appears in the film as a psychiatrist). All three men won Oscars, and the movie won Best Picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The film begins in 1965, when disc jockey Adrian Cronauer (Robin Williams) is assigned to take over the AFR's Saigon radio broadcasts. In contrast to the dull, by-rote announcers that have preceded him, Cronauer is a bundle of dynamite, heralding each broadcast with a loud "Goooooood morning, Vietnaaaaam," playing whatever records tickle his fancy (even those not officially sanctioned by his hidebound superiors), and indulging in wild flights of improvisational fancy. Cronauer's immediate superior Lt. Hauk (Bruno Kirby), whose own notions of humor are puerile and pathetic, jealously attempts to dethrone Vietnam's favorite rock jock. Fortunately, Cronauer's popularity is such that he enjoys the full protection of the higher-ups. But when Cronauer, after experiencing the horrors of war first-hand, insists upon telling his listeners the truth instead of the official government line, he is instantly replaced by the unfunny Hauk and must struggle to get back on the air. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide