Astin, Mackenzie

Love's Enduring Promise

Set in a frontier world of bonnets and one-room schoolhouses, Love's Enduring Promise follows a headstrong young teacher named Missie (January Jones, Bandits), the daughter of Clark and Marty Davis (Dale Midkiff and Katherine Heigl) from previous prairie romance Love Comes Softly. After Clark injures himself in a woodcutting accident, the family farm is in danger of failing--until a handsome young stranger (Logan Bartholomew) helps out. Missie finds herself drawn to this man, but the intelligence and graciousness of young railroad magnate (Mackenzie Austin, How to Deal) appeals to a side of her that yearns to go beyond the hills and valleys of her childhood. What could be romantic froth becomes a quiet, well-paced, and thoughtful love story, thanks to a solid script, capable performances, and clean direction. Jones is particularly engaging; Missie could have been blandly virtuous, but Jones draws a rich and subtle range of emotions out of her scenes. Religious viewers will appreciate the movie's commitment to wholesome storytelling and clear moral perspective. Love's Enduring Promise, like Love Comes Softly, is based on a novel by Christian writer Janet Oke, though Love's Enduring Promise departs more from its source. --Bret Fetzer

Clark and Marty Davis were caught in a "marriage of convenience" that over time turned into deep mutual respect and love. In this sequel, they now preside over a growing family in their little prairie house. But as they reach out to those in their frontier community, they discover that love is not limited by the size of a dwelling.

The Garbage Pail Kids Movie

"Vile smelly rude ugly" (Variety) your favorite grime bandits come to life with all the farts snot and vomit you can take in this hilarious cult classic full of "gross-out humor" (The New York Times). Based on the wildly popular and irreverent trading cards The Garbage Pail Kids® Movie stars Mackenzie Astin ("The Facts of Life") as a perfectly nice teenager who discovers the Kids...to his disgust!When Dodger (Astin) accidentally releases the Kids from their magical trash can prison all smell breaks loose. Despite their offensive personal habits and attitude problems Dodger soon becomes fond of the Kids. But when Messy Tessie Foul Phil Valerie Vomit and the whole misfit crew join his fight against thuggish bullies their efforts just might land them behind bars at the State Home for the Ugly!System Requirements: Running Time 97 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 027616925718 Manufacturer No: 1008562

Iron Will

A young man enters a dangerous cross-country dog sled race in an attempt to win the grand prize that will save his family from financial ruin.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: PG
Release Date: 11-NOV-2003
Media Type: DVD

A complete lack of imagination is what qualifies this as a B movie. Thankfully, this snowy adventure about a boy and his dogs is charming enough to entice the kiddies. Charismatic MacKenzie Astin plays a teenager trying to save the family farm by entering a 522-mile sled-dog marathon. Except for Astin, the lusciously scenic background has more depth than most of the characters. This is so predictable you could take a nap and miss nothing except a few rousing scenes in the 1917 Winnipeg-to-St.-Paul sled race. Although this is visually more appealing than most family fare, one wishes more attention had been paid to the script. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Wyatt Earp (Single Disc Edition)

This massive, in-depth study of the dark Western icon comes off with mixed results. Trying to capture the whole life, (warts and all) of the lawman-criminal-brother-fortune hunter, director Lawrence Kasdan gains points for sheer scale, giving us a rich epic painted in dark colors with gritty settings. But the visual poetry and extensive foreshadowing ruin the dramatic drive. Some scenes have as much impact as stalker movies; you're just waiting for someone to get knocked off. As Earp, Kevin Costner is not afraid to look rumpled and play colorlessly (as in The Bodyguard), but it saps the energy of this 3-hour-plus film. The only relief is Dennis Quaid as a droll Doc Holiday, a much more engaging character. New faces Linden Ashby and Joanna Going (as an Earp brother and a lover, respectively) are solid finds, though the remainder of the female cast is barely given anything to do. Best is the first half, with Costner, as hip as he was in his Silverado days, going through a series of ups and downs until he accidentally finds his profession. Great set design (Ida Random) utilizes dozens of similar settings that always look distinctive. Recommended to fans of the star and the genre, but the story never justifies its length. --Doug Thomas

Costner plays Wyatt Earp, a famous lawman of the wild West.
Genre: Westerns
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 4-SEP-2007
Media Type: DVD

How to Deal (New Line Platinum Series)

Teen idol Mandy Moore (A Walk to Remember) learns how to deal with an awful lot--How to Deal crams divorce, teen pregnancy, a wedding, a car accident, and a pot-smoking grandmother into a single year in the life of Halley Martin (Moore). Halley's so resentful of her parents' divorce (and her father's impending remarriage) that she resolves not to fall in love--so of course a hunky guy named Macon (Trent Ford) decides that she's the girl for him and woos her with gentle persistence. Two things save all of this from being a teenage soap opera: First, a refreshingly realistic (though not explicit) and unjudgmental look at teenage sex; second, a sterling supporting cast, including Allison Janney (The West Wing), Peter Gallagher (sex, lies, and videotape), and Dylan Baker (Happiness), alongside pleasant young actors like Alexandra Holden (Sugar and Spice). --Bret Fetzer

Mandy Moore stars as Halley, a young hip high school student who believes that love will never happen to her and that her life is a mess. Her father is marrying a woman she can't stand, her mother is alone, her sister's wedding plans are taking over her life and her friends at school only care about cheerleading and football. All seems lost until she meets a boy who shows her what love is all about.

Mating Habits of the Earthbound Humans

This whimsical sex comedy presents itself as an alien documentary on the rituals and habits of terrestrial romance. Featuring Mackenzie Astin (The Last Days of Disco) and a tightly clad Carmen Electra (from the once-popular TV show Baywatch) as the Male and Female, the movie's at its best when the alien's commentary (voiced with supercilious aplomb by David Hyde Pierce, Wolf, Frasier) misinterprets flirting behavior at nightclubs. The jokes grow thinner as dating turns into a relationship (and the humor's perspective is decidedly male). Still, there are moments of wit, and the overall tone of The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human is more silly than smarmy, which sets it apart from most of the sex comedy genre. Also featuring Lucy Liu (Charlie's Angels). --Bret Fetzer

In Love and War

This disastrous 1996 film by Sir Richard Attenborough was meant to be part of his informal series of movies about great men, including Gandhi, Chaplin, Cry Freedom (the Steven Biko story), and Shadowlands (C.S. Lewis). In Love and War is a recounting of young Ernest Hemingway's World War I love affair with Red Cross nurse Agnes von Kurowsky, who was eight years older than he and who became the basis for the Catherine Barkley character in A Farewell to Arms. O'Donnell is terrible, in a word, and Bullock mostly seems out of sorts when playing someone real. Except for the scene in which Hemingway is introduced, fearlessly making his way to a trench under heavy bombardment, you have no idea that this person O'Donnell "portrays" will eventually change the direction of American literature. For a much better experience, look toward Attenborough's previous works. --Tom Keogh

Sandra Bullock and Chris O'Donnell star in Academy Award-winner Richard Attenborough's epic love story about Ernest Hemingway and the romance which inspried him to write his masterpiece A Farewell to Arms.Running Time: 113 min.System Requirements: Running Time 113 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PR UPC: 794043478529

Selma, Lord, Selma

No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 25-JAN-2005
Media Type: DVD

Dream For an Insomniac

Frankie (Ione Skye) is looking for a man "with the soul of a poet and eyes like Frank Sinatra." Her world is black and white--literally in this film--until the blue eyes of David (Mackenzie Astin) enter the café where she works with her uncle and cousin. But Frankie's about to leave San Francisco for L.A. with her best friend, Allison (Jennifer Aniston), where they'll both become actresses. Time is running out for Frankie to convince David that she's the love of his life.

Unfortunately for Frankie, and this film, the lackluster plot and trite characters don't give her much to work with. The dialogue is atrocious (Frankie says, with complete sincerity, "I'm going to circumnavigate his soul until he's anchored on all sides by my love"), and her character is so utterly spoiled and obnoxious you can't understand what David--or her friends--see in her. What makes the film all the more disappointing is the promising cast. Jennifer Aniston is underused, and Michael Landes does the best he can with his clichéd role as a gay man who desperately wants to come out to his father but can't work up the courage. Dream for an Insomniac tries too hard to be the kind of hip '90s love story that films such as Walking and Talking and Naked in New York succeed in being. --Jenny Brown

Dream for an Insomniac (Repackaged)

Frankie (Ione Skye) is looking for a man "with the soul of a poet and eyes like Frank Sinatra." Her world is black and white--literally in this film--until the blue eyes of David (Mackenzie Astin) enter the café where she works with her uncle and cousin. But Frankie's about to leave San Francisco for L.A. with her best friend, Allison (Jennifer Aniston), where they'll both become actresses. Time is running out for Frankie to convince David that she's the love of his life.

Unfortunately for Frankie, and this film, the lackluster plot and trite characters don't give her much to work with. The dialogue is atrocious (Frankie says, with complete sincerity, "I'm going to circumnavigate his soul until he's anchored on all sides by my love"), and her character is so utterly spoiled and obnoxious you can't understand what David--or her friends--see in her. What makes the film all the more disappointing is the promising cast. Jennifer Aniston is underused, and Michael Landes does the best he can with his clichéd role as a gay man who desperately wants to come out to his father but can't work up the courage. Dream for an Insomniac tries too hard to be the kind of hip '90s love story that films such as Walking and Talking and Naked in New York succeed in being. --Jenny Brown

Once upon a time a lovely maiden lived in an enchanted land. Surrounded by great friends and a terrific job yet cursed with insomnia she longed for the day when Prince Charming would enter her life ... so she could finally get some sleep. DREAM FOR AN INSOMNIAC is a charming hip romantic comedy a reverse Sleeping Beauty tale for everyone who's ever dared pursue their wildest dreams starringIone Skye Jennifer Aniston and Mackenzie Astin. Frankie (Ione Skye Gas Food Lodging) hasn't slepta full night since she was six years old. She's convinced that once she and her best friend Allison(Jennifer Aniston The Good Girl) leave San Francisco to pursue acting careers in Los Angeles she'll meet her dream man: one "with the soul of a poet and eyes like Frank Sinatra." Then she'll be able to sleep. Four days before moving to L.A. David (Mackenzie Astin The Evening Star) walks into Frankie's life. She's convinced he's her very own Prince Charming. She now has only three days to convince him that she's the love of his life.System Requirements:Running Time: 87 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 043396169449 Manufacturer No: 16944