Martin Sheen

A powerful financial executive whose career was sent spiraling down the drain due to sudden lack of confidence finds the answers to his inexplicable setback in an imaginary world dreamt up by his young daughter in a fantasy comedy starring Eddie Murphy and co-scripted by Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson (the writing duo behind Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Narrated by esteemed screen veteran Martin Sheen, director John Bohm's socially conscious documentary details the efforts of Los Angeles-based Jesuit priest Father Greg Boyle in helping to redirect the troubled lives of four gang-bangers living in the battle scarred area of Boyle Heights. Affectionately known to his many followers as "Father G," Boyle and his non-profit group "Homeboy Industries" have been working for over twenty-years to help kids prone to gang violence prepare for a future free of deadly turf wars and premature funerals. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Don Cheadle stars as outspoken ex-convict and iconic radio personality Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene in a powerful biopic detailing the life and career of a media figure whose voice instilled the black community with hope during the turbulent 1960s. After talking his way onto the Washington, D.C. airwaves in the era of free love, a man emboldened by the inspirational soul music and rapidly expanding social consciousness that defined the decade openly courts controversy as his put-upon producer, Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor), runs interference. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This program documents the culmination of the historic season of the St. Louis Rams, a team that had little optimism when the season began due to a season ending injury to their starting quarterback. Back-up Kurt Warner went on to have one of the greatest seasons in NFL history, leading the team to the Super Bowl XXXIV title. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Twenty-two people become unwitting participants in a tragic and defining moment of the 1960's in this period drama from actor and director Emilio Estevez. It's early June in 1968, and the California presidential primary elections are occupying the minds of many in the Golden State, with Robert F. Kennedy in a close race against Eugene McCarthy and Hubert Humphrey. The Kennedy campaign staff has set up camp at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, while the staff and guests become observers as the brother of fallen president John F. Kennedy sets out to pick up where his sibling left off. Paul (William H. Macy) is the manager of the Ambassador, and his wife Miriam (Sharon Stone) is a hairdresser who runs's the hotel's beauty salon. Angela (Heather Graham) is a receptionist working the hotel's switchboard who has been sleeping with Paul behind Miriam's back. Timmons (Christian Slater) is in charge of the hotel's restaurant and catering department, and makes no secret of his dislike of the African-Americans and Latinos under his employ. Miguel (Jacob Vargas) and Jose (Freddy Rodriguez) are two young Chicanos on the kitchen staff who have it in for Timmons, while Robinson (Laurence Fishburne) is an older black man who counsels them on dealing with their rage. Virginia Fallon (Demi Moore) sings in the hotel's cocktail lounge and has a serious problem with alcohol; her husband Tim (Emilio Estevez) is a Kennedy supporter and also her manager, and he's nearing the end of his rope in dealing with her problem. William (Elijah Wood) is a young man desperate to avoid being drafted and sent to Vietnam; Diane (Lindsay Lohan) is a pretty young woman dating William's brother who agrees to marry him so William can avoid being drafted, though William is clearly infatuated with her while she considers this a marriage in name only. John Casey (Anthony Hopkins) is one of the owners of the Ambassador, and Nelson (Harry Belafonte) is an old friend who works at the hotel. And Jack (Martin Sheen) is a wealthy Kennedy campaign financier who is married to Samantha (Helen Hunt), an attractive but much younger woman. Bobby also features Joshua Jackson, Nick Cannon and Shia LaBeouf as young Kennedy campaign volunteers, while Ashton Kutcher, Joy Bryant, Kip Pardue and Mary Elizabeth Winstead also highlight the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

James Dean: Forever Young documents the brief but memorable career of the now iconic James Dean. The film focuses much attention on his early work for television, and utilizes a variety of archival footage in order to ale the tale of the young man who gained immortality with only three feature films to his credit. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

The crises facing the various members of the Bartlet administration at the outset of The West Wing's sixth season include the ever-escalating hostilities between Israel and Palestine, with President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) refusing to exploit the situation by staging a preemptive strike against a longtime enemy; and the slow recovery of Donna Moss (Janel Moloney), assistant to Barlet's deputy chief of staff, Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford), after her surgery to remove a pulmonary embolism. Nor is this the only health crisis facing the staff: it is painfully clear that Josh's boss, veteran chief of staff Leo McGarry (John Spencer) is himself suffering from an as-yet-undetermined ailment. Alas, this doesn't take long to "determine": three episodes into season six, Leo has been rushed to the hospital to undergo an emergency bypass after suffering a massive heart attack. In his absence, press secretary C.J. (Allison Janney) is thrust into the responsibility of negotiating a peace accord in the Israeli-Palestine war with the UN and NATO. In another plot development, the race has begun for a worthwhile Democratic candidate to run for the Presidency now that Bartlet is winding down his second term. One of the leading contenders is the party's first Hispanic Presidential candidate, Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits). Emerging as the most viable Republican opponent is the venerable Senator Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda), who, somewhat surprisingly, shares many of Bartlet's more liberal opinions. Amidst these and other intrigues, the series actually finds time to pause for a somewhat comic episode, "In the Room," featuring gonzo magicians Penn and Teller as "themselves" in a story which gently tweaks the nose of activists who equate desecration of the American flag with wholesale treason. The season climaxes at the Democratic National Convention, as Matt Santos vies with the two other leading candidates for the precious 2,162 votes needed to choose a nominee who can successfully halt the apparently invulnerable Arnold Vinick political juggernaut come November (the choice of the Democratic running mate is quite a surprise!); and the outgoing Bartlet finds he still has one final crisis to deal with, this one a matter of life or death in outer space. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An insightful examination of the controversial School of the Americas, director John Smihula's Hidden in Plain Sight offers a rare look inside the U.S.-based military training school where such notorious figures as Manuel Noriega learned their trade. Over the course of its history, the Fort Benning, GA, school for Latin soldiers has provided training for more than 60,000 military personnel. Hidden in Plain Sight is narrated by actor and political activist Martin Sheen. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Shortly after graduating from the University of California at Santa Barbara, filmmaker Tom Peosay and his wife Sue (an Asian Studies major) set out on a tour of Asia that culminated in an extended stay in the Chinese-occupied nation of Tibet. With that formative visit, the Peosays became actively interested in the small Himalayan nation's tempestuous history and, over the course of the next decade, made a number of return visits to document Tibet's story, as well as interview a number of its residents and higher-profile participants of the "Free Tibet" movement. Their completed documentary, entitled Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion, encompasses a brief history of China's invasion and subsequent five decades of rule, as well as the various uprisings that have occurred over the years -- with particular emphasis on the 1987 riots. A number of high profile Hollywood actors lent their voices to this project, including Martin Sheen (who narrated the film), Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, and Ed Harris. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

Throughout the late '90s and early 2000s, film archivists unearthed millions of feet of color footage shot by both professionals and amateurs during WWII but long tucked away and forgotten due to reasons of security and economics. Several TV series and specials were culled from these vivid color images; foremost among these is the four-hour PBS documentary The Perilous Fight: America's World War II in Color. Narrated by Martin Sheen, this remarkable assemblage includes disturbing on-the-spot film coverage of the aftermath of Pearl Harbor (reportedly shot by John Ford's military unit) and the Warsaw Ghetto, some heart-stopping combat coverage of the landings in North Africa and Normandy, and fascinating glimpses of the home front in both city and country. The images were complemented by poignant off-camera readings of correspondence written by the combatants and their friends and families back home, and by pointed editorial comments about the role of women and minorities in the war years. The Perilous Fight was first telecast on February 12 and 19, 2003 (two hour-long episodes per night), and was tied in with the publication the coffee-table book America at War in Color. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A long-lost letter transcends time and death in this moving tale of a mother's love and the strength of the human spirit. Days before her death in the Thereseinstadt concentration camp in World War II, Valli Ollendorf writes a heartfelt letter to her young son Ulrich, urging him to have faith in the human spirit and to live a life of love, even in the face of humankind's most unfathomable inhumanity. Lost for 50 years, the letter finally reaches her son when he is 79 years old. The letter would remain a family secret in the years to come, though upon Ulrich's death his family asked the rabbi to read it at his wake and the letter has since had a profound inspirational effect on anyone who has come into contact with it. Join documentarians Dominik and Jakov Sedlar as they investigate this remarkable story. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide