Joy, Mark

The Ultimate Gift

When his wealthy grandfather dies trust fund baby Jason Stevens inherits his grandfather's crash course on life: 12 tasks-or gifts-designed to challenge Jason in improbable ways. The "course" sends Jason on a journey of self-discovery that forces him to reevaluate his priorities and determine what he thinks the most important things in life really are.System Requirements:Running Time: 118 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG UPC: 024543444862 Manufacturer No: 2244486

The Ultimate Gift is a tale of one man's tumultuous journey toward personal growth and fulfillment. Surrounded in life, and death, by avaricious family members fueled by a sense of entitlement, billionaire Red Stevens (James Garner) wants to bequeath at least one member of his extended family "the ultimate gift": something he perceives as immensely more valuable than material wealth. Red's arrogant grandson Jason (Drew Fuller) holds a deep-seated hatred for his newly-deceased grandfather, so he's surprised to learn from his grandfather's friend and lawyer Mr. Hamilton (Bill Cobbs) and assistant Miss Hastings (Lee Meriwether) that he's been mentioned in his late grandfather's will. Far from a straightforward gift of cash, land, or stock, Red's bequest comes in the form of a series of mysterious recorded instructions, the first of which requires Jason to hop on a plane for Texas the very next morning without a hint of the trip's purpose or the nature of the gift that awaits him. Dropped into a life of hard physical labor on a ranch in the middle of nowhere, Jason's bad-tempered fury eventually turns to resignation and he finds himself engaged in, and even taking pride in, the first real manual labor he's ever done in his life. Unbeknownst to him, his journey toward claiming the ultimate gift has only just begun. When he returns from Texas, Jason finds his home cleared out, his car confiscated, and instructions to produce one true friend. While Jason is reduced to sleeping in the park, a young child name Emily (Abigail Breslin) and her mother Alexia (Ali Hillis) make his acquaintance and lead him to re-examine his personal prejudices and perceptions of what's truly important in life. Jason's journey of self-discovery continues throughout a series of other trying experiences and, in the end, Grandpa Red's "ultimate gift" of life lessons profoundly and permanently improves the quality of Jason's life. What's more, Jason's new perspective of his place in society has a very positive affect on the larger community. This very powerful film is funny, heartbreaking, and intensely thought-provoking. --Tami Horiuchi



Stills from The Ultimate Gift (click for larger image)

My Name Is Bill W

Based on the true story of Bill W. James Woods - in an Emmy award-winning performance - plays the successful stock broker whose life falls apart after the stock crash of the 1920's. As a result Bill W. and his loving wife Lois (Jo Beth Williams) must come to grips with his depression and downward spiraling alcoholism. In Bill's quest for recovery he forms a support group with fellow alcoholic Dr. Bob (James Garner) which eventually leads to the formation of Alcoholics Anonymous. In this inspiring portrayal My Name is Bill W. movingly depicts the trials trauma and triumph of people and loved ones coping and recovering from substance abuse. Director: Daniel Petrie. Starring: James Woods Jo Beth Williams James Garner and Gary Sinise.Running Time: 100 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 012569741140 Manufacturer No: 74114

Here's another example of TV giving James Woods the chance to stretch out from the intense-psycho roles he seems restricted to in too many of his movies. In My Name Is Bill W. he plays Bill Wilson, the overreaching businessman from the Roaring '20s who went on to found Alcoholics Anonymous. Woods gets plenty of chances to stretch out here in Bill's headlong slide to the bottom, through the terrors of the Wall Street crash (which amplifies a two-fisted drinking problem) and into the loss of everything he holds dear. Yet Woods also is convincing as the man who understands just how insidious his disease is and learns to try to take everything one day at a time. He receives strong support from James Garner as the alcoholic physician who teams with Bill to make AA a viable proposition. --Marshall Fine

Black Knight

When a Medieval World theme park worker (Lawrence) is magically transported back to 14th century England he must do battle with an evil king deadly assassins - and really bad plumbing!System Requirements:Run time: 95 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/COMEDY OF ERRORS Rating: PG-13 UPC: 024543039907 Manufacturer No: 2003990

In Black Knight, Martin Lawrence plays an amusement park employee who is magically transported back to medieval times and helps return a queen to her rightful throne (while learning some valuable lessons along the way). Despite the script's lack of logic and originality, Lawrence is an engaging performer, with a loose-limbed amiability that makes him most enjoyable company, even if he's not necessarily a better actor than most comedians. If Lawrence ever does a movie with a decent script, he might really have something; as it is we'll have to settle right now for the cheesy yet funny sight of Lawrence teaching a medieval band to play some Sly and Family Stone. --Bret Fetzer

Asunder

A young man becomes increasingly unstable after his wife and unborn child are killed in a freak accident.
Genre: Feature Film Urban Drama
Rating: UN
Release Date: 25-JAN-2005
Media Type: DVD

The Love Letter

No one with romantic tendencies will be able to resist The Love Letter. Campbell Scott plays a Civil War buff who buys a desk from that era. While polishing it, he discovers a secret compartment, in which sits an unmailed letter--a letter written by a young woman named Lizzie (Jennifer Jason Leigh) over a century earlier. Touched by her yearning for passion, he writes her back, egged on by his mystically inclined mother (Estelle Parsons). Magically his letter reaches Lizzie and they begin a correspondence that threatens Scott's impending marriage but promises to bring fulfilment to Lizzie. The Love Letter is absurd, yet somehow that doesn't stop it from being completely engaging and even moving. Scott and Parsons are solid, while Jason Leigh is downright rapturous--the movie may owe its success to her. The plot has surprising twists and the conclusion is sweet and satisfying. An unexpected pleasure. --Bret Fetzer

Pecker

Pecker (so named, at least according to his grandmother, because he always pecks at his food) loves to use the camera to capture his fellow Baltimore residents living their daily lives. Of course, since this is a John Waters movie, those daily lives include visits to strip bars, shoplifting, and various other quirky, and frequently hilarious, human activities. When Pecker's makeshift photo exhibit comes to the attention of a New York art agent (Lili Taylor), Pecker becomes the latest sensation. Unlike the hero in most sudden-fame stories, however, Pecker, as played by Edward Furlong, isn't exactly an innocent; rather, he takes in the world with his eyes, and his mind, wide open. So instead of suffering a precipitous fall, Pecker eventually turns the tables on his more worldly New York peers.

While not as outrageous as early Waters features such as Female Trouble and Pink Flamingos, Pecker still has something to offend just about everyone. But those who take the offenses to heart would be missing out on what amounts to a sweet-natured farce. The movie is not so much a pointed satire as a gentle teasing of the art world and its pretensions. The all-embracing world of John Waters allows for lovable freaks from the big city, too.

The movie sags a bit when it settles into its plot; it can't sustain the comic inspiration reached in the opening scenes of Pecker's encounters with Baltimore's misfits. But running gags about a sugar-addicted child and a ventriloquist-doll Virgin Mary are hilarious. What ultimately makes the movie such a pleasure, though, is Waters's genuine fondness for all of his characters. Aided by a charming cast, including Christina Ricci and Waters regulars Mink Stole and Patty Hearst, Waters has created a surprisingly touching ode to human eccentricity. --Chris Neman

Track Down

A hacker hacks into the computer of a security system and discovers things that place his life in danger.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 5-JUL-2005
Media Type: DVD

Mickey - A Family Story by John Grisham

John Grisham wrote the screenplay for and produced the enjoyable Mickey, a family drama that explores--typical of the bestselling author--seemingly unresolvable conflicts between the personal and the ethical. Harry Connick Jr. plays California attorney Tripp Spence, a widower whose recent bankruptcy has come under scrutiny from the IRS. Admitting wrongdoing to his son, Derrick (Shawn Salinas), Tripp vows to avoid jail, and the two head for Las Vegas under assumed identities. Rather than stay out of sight, however, Tripp talks the manager (Mike Starr) of a first-rate Little League team into drafting Derrick, a 13-year-old, talented pitcher who claims to be younger. Soon Derrick is attracting national attention, precisely what Tripp doesn't want, yet he refuses to squelch his son's brilliant ride to the top. Hugh Wilson (Guarding Tess) directed this brisk, smart feature, which includes a generous amount of on-the-field baseball action and an intriguing subplot about Cuban ball players. --Tom Keogh

Stills from Mickey

Harry Connick Jr. as Tripp Spence

Shawn Salinas as Derrick, a.k.a. Mickey

Writer/producer John Grisham cameos as a Little League Commissioner

When widowed attorney Tripp Spence (Harry Connick Jr. of INDEPENDENCE DAY) finds himself wanted by the IRS, he and his young pitching sensation son Derrick (Shawn Salinas in his movie debut) change their appearance, assume new identities and flee to Las Vegas. Here, Derrick becomes `Mickey' and Tripp enrolls him in a second final year of Little League. But as the nation, the government and a nervous Tripp watch, `Mickey' leads his team from the city championship all the way to the controversial final game of the Little League World Series. Can a 13-year-old fugitive with an 80 mph fastball now find a way to stay anonymous - and honest - as the most famous 12-year-old athlete in the world? Michelle Johnson (FAR AND AWAY) and Mike Starr (DUMB AND DUMBER) co-star in this exciting and powerful drama directed by Hugh Wilson (POLICE ACADEMY, THE FIRST WIVES CLUB) from an original screenplay by #1 best-selling author and proud Little League coach John Grisham

Miracle in the Woods

Emmy-winner Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) and Emmy-nominee Meredith Baxter (Family Ties) star in this powerful family drama as Wanda and Sarah, estranged sisters at odds over what to do with a pecan grove they've inherited in the wake of their mother's death. Wanda wants to keep the land in the family. Sarah, hiding a devastating secret, wants desperately to sell. They are startled to discover an elderly woman, Lilly Cooper (Emmy-nominee Della Reece, Touched by an Angel) living on the property, and claiming it as her own. Against her mother's wishes, Sarah's rebellious teenage daughter, Gina (Anna Chlumsky, My Girl), befriends the delusional Lilly, who mistakes Gina for a figure from her past. Gina is touched by Lilly's heartbreaking life story, and becomes determined to find her long-lost son.

Man of Miracles

In the sleepy town of Vine Creek, preacher and volunteer fireman Joe Cass (John Ritter) wakes up to realize his family and community are at a breaking point. Joe decides to take control of his life and must prove his bravery when he is called to save a child trapped inside a burning building. Lost inside the inferno, a mysterious fireman helps them to safety and quickly disappears. As Joe waits for the mystery fireman to come forward, rumors circulate throughout Vine Creek that the apparition was an angel sent from above. Man of Miracles is a heartfelt family drama of a man struggling to maintain his faith and save his family.