Alan Shearman Movies

The lovable characters from the popular comic strip by Charles M. Schulz appear in this full-length feature. The perennial failure Charlie Brown attends the National Spelling Bee and manages the worst sandlot team in the history of baseball. Linus loses and retrieves his security blanket. Snoopy the beagle dances wildly and plays shortstop. The irascible Lucy Van Pelt tricks Charlie Brown into kicking the football, but at the last minute she pulls it back and sends him flying onto his back. Although he loses the spelling bee, his friends gladly welcome Charlie Brown back to town upon his return. Nearly two-dozen songs are included. The characters remain true to the original works of Schulz, and great care was taken in matching the appropriate voices to the character's personalities. This is the first of many successful animated features of the gang from Peanuts. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Plot is a secondary consideration in this partially successful, partially failed take-off on the Bulldog Drummond series of the 1930s. "Bullshot" Crummond (Alan Shearman) is a square-jawed hero of World War I who longs to face off against his German arch-nemesis Count Otto von Bruno (Ron House) one more time. He gets his chance when he must save Rosemary Fenton (Diz White), a damsel in distress -- her father made a top-secret discovery before he died and Count von Bruno wants that secret for himself, no matter what happens to the good Rosemary. As the hijinks unfold inside the requisite Sinister Mansion (Bullshot fights a giant octopus and leaps onto a plane in mid-air as the action reaches a crescendo), caricature, and zany anarchy provide the humor. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Meant to be a parody of the recent invasions of Grenada and the Falkland Islands, this comedy about the laid-back governor (Michael Caine) of "Cascara," a fictional British island somewhere in the Caribbean, and the international parade of characters who come through his territory is a pastiche without a clear center. Among these multinational characters are an American industrialist out to exploit the island's rich source of mineral water -- also the source of all the subsequent trouble on the island -- some inexplicable French-German visitors, a singing revolutionary with ties to Fidel Castro, and various parodies of Brit diplomats and politicians, Margaret Thatcher included. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

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

Fondly remembered by Next Generation devotees as "The Sherlock Holmes episode," "Elementary, Dear Data" originally aired December 10, 1988. While awaiting their next assignment, Data, Geordi, and Dr. Pulaski head to the Holodeck to participate in a virtual reality Sherlock Holmes mystery. Insisting that Data's deductive skills are no match for a human being's, Pulaski challenges the android to match wits with archvillian Professor Moriarty (Daniel Davis). Alas, Moriarty escapes into the "real world," ostensibly for the purpose of wreaking his usual havoc, but there's a surprise in store for everyone before the final fadeout. Written by Brian Allan Lane, "Elementary, Dear Data" earned two Emmy nominations, one for Best Art Direction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

On the day of the state assembly election, Dan (John Larroquette) comes face to face with his opponent Joan Hobson (Janet Zarish) for the first time. Before the returns are in, Dan and Joan have put their political differences aside for an evening of pulsating passion! Meanwhile, Harry (Harry Anderson) accidentally passes along a flu bug to his idol Mel Torme--causing the Velvet Fog to cancel the concert at which Harry was to have been his special guest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The wife of a wealthy man hatches a plan to gain his inheritance by murdering her unsuspecting husband. She is helped by the sniveling man with whom she's having an affair. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

This British television docu-drama dishes up the turbulent royal marriage of Charles and Lady Di. The story is based on Andrew Morton's tell-all book and is considered the most accurate version of the situation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Anxious for revenge against the corporation that has refused to promote her, an ambitious secretary beguiles a naive stockbroker into helping her enact a deadly plan. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In a fit of nostalgia, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and Niles (David Hyde Pierce) purchase their favorite restaurant, a landmark establishment that has fallen on hard times. The brothers eagerly look forward to the opening of the newly christened "Les Frères Heureux," which translates as "The Happy Brothers." But "happy" is not the word that immediately springs to mind on opening night -- especially after Frasier and Niles have managed to either injure or scare off virtually the entire staff. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on the manga works of Hiro Mashima, the half-hour anime series Rave Master took place 50 years after a phenomenon called the "Overdrive" resulted in the near-destruction of the world. Before this catastrophe, the Rave, or power of light, had managed to vanquish the Dark Bring, or power of darkness. But after the Overdrive, the Dark Bring was reactivated, and intended to gain control of the world by sending its Power Guard minions to retrieve the five precious Rave Stones. It was up to 16-year-old Haru Glory, son of legendary warrior Gale Glory, to lead the resistance against the Power Guard, and to fulfill his destiny as the new Rave Master. Leaving the safety of his home on Garage Island at the behest of the shaman Shiba, Haru assembled a team of like-minded warriors, including amnesiac gambler Ellie, former thief Musica (whose family had been wiped out by the Shadow Guard), "morphing" fighter Griff, and rave bearer Plute, who looked like a dog and thus obligingly "sniffed out" the missing Rave Stones. Another valuable member of Haru's team was his transforming sword, the Ten Powers. Among the villains were Shadow Guard leader King Gale, his son Blonde Demon (who possessed the powerful Shadow Stone Sinclair), and the King's six flunkeys Shuda, Reina, Jegan, Berial, Iulius, and Haja. Rave Master made its American debut over the Cartoon Network on June 1, 2004. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The legendary rogue of the seven seas confronts a new assortment of dangers and thrills in this animated action-adventure tale. Sinbad (voice of Brad Pitt) and his crews of pirate adventurers are hoping to retire to Fiji, and they discover a treasure that could make that possible -- the Book of Peace, which has kept the Twelve Cities in harmony for centuries. But Sinbad's plan to snatch the magic book is complicated when he learns it's on board a ship captained by his longtime friend Proteus (voice of Joseph Fiennes). While Sinbad still has his eye on the book, so does the mischievous goddess Eris (voice of Michelle Pfeifer), who sends a deadly sea monster into Sinbad's path to scuttle his plans. With the help of Proteus, Sinbad prevails over the beast, and determined Eris responds by snatching the book and framing Sinbad for the crime. Noble Proteus offers to step in for Sinbad and take his punishment, so now the adventurer has ten days to rescue the book from Eris or Proteus will pay with his life. While Sinbad is at first uncertain if he should take on such a dangerous assignment or simply high-tail it to Fiji, someone is on hand to persuade him -- Marina (voice of Catherine Zeta-Jones), Proteus' lovely but hard-headed fiancée, who has stowed away on Sinbad's ship. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas was the first animated feature written by John Logan, who received an Oscar nomination for his script for Gladiator. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A former nun moves into the suburban home of her deceased aunt only to make a shocking discovery concerning a gruesome crime committed thirty years ago in director Kevin Conner's twisting tale of murder, matricide, and injustice. Together, prodigious savants James and Edward Talley's remarkable brilliance was nearly incalculable, but a sudden act of cold-blooded murder would find them forever confined to separate mental health institutions by strict court order. Ordered to spend the rest of his days at the Greenwillow care center for developmentally disabled adults, James Talley is housed in the same facility as ex-nun Christine Bennett (Megan Ward)'s cousin Gene (Matt Lutz). Upon moving into her aunt's former home in a bid to be closer to Gene, Christine becomes transfixed on the details of the Talley case and soon learns that, despite their current status as a danger to society, neither James nor Edward had ever been officially charged with the crime they were committed for. With the future of the Greenwillow care facility on the line, Christine vows to find out what really happened on that tragic night three decades ago, and ensure that her brother Gene and the other innocent souls housed at Greenwillow will always have a place to call home. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide