Post by managermike99 on Jul 20, 2016 18:42:22 GMT -5
2006-2007
Sept 13 - "Chasing A.Q. Kwan" (Original Movie)
This movie depicts the CIA investigation into the activities of Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr. A.Q. Khan. From a blip in the radar screen to a snowballing interest within the CIA the years of painstaking international sleuthing are dramatized. The trail of illegal activities went back 18 years including several trips to Iran, Libya, and North Korea. In April 2003, Egyptian customs officials intercepted 22 tons of aluminum tubing from Germany, which would be enough for about 100-200 centrifuges. The movie takes pain to explain the nuclear technology innovated by Khan, replacing one central nuclear bomb with a series of smaller centrifuges.
In the spring of 2004, it was reported that Khan visited North Korea and was shown three nuclear devices. The US then put pressure on Libya leader Moammar Gadhafi, who under fear of American military attack confessed to purchases of nuclear secrets and materials from Khan. Libya then agreed to abandon their nuclear activities and give a full accounting of Khan’s activities as they knew them. In October 2003 US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage presented Khan’s nuclear laundry list to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf who denied any knowledge of the program. To appease his new American friends Musharraf persuaded Khan to appear on National TV in Pakistan and apologize (in English). They then placed him on indefinite house arrest but allowed him to keep his wealth amassed from the illegal programs.
The movie concludes with more current CIA investigations into Khan’s ties with North Korean’s nuclear program. CIA requests to interview Khan about his involvement have been denied by Pakistan, but because they are an important ally in the US war against terror the state department refuses to pursue the issue with vigor. Meanwhile Khan has taken on a mythical, hero status within Pakistan for his role in bringing nuclear power to the war against the infidels. The show ends with two CIA agents watching Khan walk around the outside of his lush house, under the guard of an armed security man stationed outside his home, and another across the street. Wearing his pajamas he picks up his paper, kicks off his slippers and sits at a table on his lawn reading and sipping his morning coffee. The ending has that hopeless kind of feeling from movies like “Traffic” and “Syrianna”.
In early 2004, Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr. A. Q. Khan revealed that he had sold gas-centrifuge technology to North Korea, Libya and Iran. Libya has since abandoned its nuclear ambitions and is cooperating with the IAEA and the United States, which has revealed much about Khan's network. In April 2003, Egyptian customs officials intercepted 22 tons of aluminum tubing from Germany, which would be enough for about 100-200 centrifuges. In the spring of 2004, it was reported that Khan visited North Korea and was shown three nuclear devices. However, the report lacks details, and its contents have not been confirmed.
In 2003, after years of painstaking international sleuthing, the CIA pieced together a detailed rundown of the Pakistani icon's illicit activities going back 18 years, including several trips to Iran. Libya's mercurial dictator Moammar Gadhafi, fearful of U.S. military intervention, clinched the CIA's case when he decided to go public with his own purchases at Khan's nuclear Wal-Mart.
In October 2003, then Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage presented Khan's nuclear laundry list to President Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf feigned surprise and said this was the first time he'd heard about it though he'd been army chief of staff since 1999.
To placate his American friends, Musharraf persuaded Khan to grovel a tongue-half-in-cheek apology on national television - in English. The national language is Urdu. He also placed him under house arrest, but allowed him to keep his ill-gotten gains - abroad. This reporter drove by Khan's house in Islamabad one evening last September. A single security guard stood on the street, as did security guards in front of all the other houses in the upscale neighborhood.
When IAEA Director Mohammad ElBaradei suggested this week that direct dialogue with Khan would help solve the puzzle of Iran's secret nuclear weapons activities, a Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman quickly reminded him the policy on Khan was unchanged: Whatever information is required would be provided by the Pakistani government.
Sept 20 - "The Ranger & The Kid" (Original Movie)
Colton is your typical shy, introverted 10 year old boy growing up in the 1960's. When his family moves him to a new town in the dustbowl of Texas he finds it difficult to find new friends. However, things start turning around for Colton when he befriends the town's headcase an old hermit known by the townsfolk only as "Ranger" because he likes to claim being a former Texas Ranger law officer.
The boy spends his time after school listening to the old man's stories of the wild Texas west. In turn he tells the old man of his anxieties and problems. Neither one gives advice, they just listen and understand.
Colton's neurotic Mother and absentee Father begin to resent the influence that Ranger holds over Colton and seek to discredit the old man to their son, and ultimately ban him fron visiting anymore. Of course Colton goes behind their back to further the friendship.
As Colton comes to grips with his own anxiety problems he makes a couple of new friends but when they meet the old Ranger they turn against him, calling him a freak (because their parents think so). Colton is upset but the old man tells him to go and mend fences. The boy objects but the old Ranger says the boy needs friends his own age, and that he won't be around forever.
Then one day Colton goes to visit and finds a doctor and medical examiner on site, along with the Sheriff. Ranger has died and Colton bikes away in tears.
His parents are very understanding when Colton tells him what happened, they express remorse for banning the old man from his life.
That night Colton wakes up in the middle of the night and goes to his parents bed. He tells them he needs their help, to find out the truth about the old man. He startles his parents by saying "if the Ranger couldn't get respect from the town while he was alive, he should at least get it when he's dead".
The next day Colton and his Dad sneak into a window and into the small house that was the Ranger's home. Looking around they find mounted guns that indicate he was a Texas Ranger. They also find a large memory box. Inside is all the Rangers badges, photos, etc. There are also pictures of the Ranger with a wife and kids.
Finally, at the bottom of the box lies a letter. Colton reads it out loud to his father, it is a letter of accomadation attached to a medal and a yellow ribbon. It tells of the Ranger standing in a pass, fighting off a half dozen Mexican banditos allowing two other men time to haul another injured soldier some 100 yards to safety. When the time was right the Ranger took off trying to outrun the guns of the banditos. With his men providing some cover fire the Ranger (limping from an earlier bullet wound) made his way safely across the open space to safety. He received another superficial bullet wound during his run, to the back of the head.
Later that week we see the Ranger's funeral, the small town church is packed, and many whispers of the rumored heroics of the now dearly deceased.
Colton's Father and Mother guide him forward to the open coffin. He says goodbye to his friend, laying the medal, ribbon, and letter on the old Ranger's chest.
Sept 27 - "Dead Poets Society" (1989)
Oct 4 - "No Ordinary Joe" (Joe Paterno biography) (Original Docudrama)
-based on the book "No Ordinary Joe" by Michael O'Brien
One of the best known coaches in College Football history, Joe Paterno became an assistant coach at Penn State in 1950, and head coach in 1966, where he has remained ever since despite more monetarily lucrative offers from colleges and the pros.
This movie focuses primarily on Joe's early years as head coach and his efforts to instill the attitude that the aim of college is primarily a college education and only secondarily a headline on the sports page. Joe Paterno is a complex man who has been said to be a friend of the intellectuals, himself a graduate of Brown University (Ivy League), and originally deemed his efforts to combine Penn St's success in the classroom and the gridiron as the "Grand Experiment". On the downside we see a man who's unbending pride and rules have sometimes led to students failures when all they needed was to see a different side of Joe, one he was not willing to reveal. As well the challenges of the individualism of the hippy era and its lack of respect for authority is shown as a major challenge for Joe's vision of his team.
Go inside a major college program and inside the head of the man who helped shape NCAA Football and many young men into the product they are today.
Oct 11 - "Threads" (1984)
One of the biggest controversies of the 1980's returns to warn a new generation.
Warning: While this movie may serve as a great teaching tool into both the potential horrors of nuclear war as well as a history of the cold war, it contains graphically distubing images that may not be appropriate for young children.
Documentary style account of a nuclear holocaust and it's affect on the working class city of Sheffield, England; and the eventual long run affects of nuclear war on civilization.
It is the mid-1980's, during the Cold War. Ruth Beckett & Jimmy Kemp, residents of the town of Sheffield, England, are planning for their upcoming marriage and birth of their first child. Sheffield is home to a major R.A.F. base and has a major industrial base of steel, energy & chemical production. But the Soviet Union marches troops into Iran, in a plan to convert it to a Soviet satellite state. The United States, Great Britain, and other members of NATO and the U.N. angrily condemn the Soviet aggression and military activity in England starts to mount, especially at the nearby R.A.F. base. The families of Ruth & Jimmy go about their daily business, paying little attention to what is going on in Iran. One spring day, without warning, the Soviet Union attacks England with ICBMs - two of which hit Sheffield, annihilating most of the city and its inhabitants. But what is even more horrifying is the aftermath that follows - a world without public order, clean food, water, electricity, or the ability to produce any of them. Ruth struggles for more than 10 years just to stay alive in this horrible, barren, radioactive homeland.
Oct 18 - "Eyes Front"
This single-camera movie follows a WWII paratrooper, real time, during the last two hours of his life. From the moment he falls from the sky offcourse and behind enemy lines until his eyes are closed for the final time. The entire two hour movie is presented in first person style as the viewer sees and hears the action exactly as the doomed paratrooper would have seen it as he is pursued by, and fights with the enemy German army. This is an experience you don't want to miss.
Oct 24 - "U.S. Mid-Term Election Preview" (News Special) (180 min)
Oct 25 - "Hawkes Harbor" (based on S.E. Hinton novel)
Oct 31 - "The Death of Houdini" (Special) (120 min)
Nov 1 - "Journal of Professor Van Helsing" (based on Allen Kupfer novel)
Nov 7 - "U.S. Mid-Term Election Coverage" (News Special) (180 min)
Nov 8 - "We Were Soldiers" (2002)
Nov 15 - "Parking Lot"
TBA has just announced that they have agreed to fund the rest of a movie currently being shot by Canadian director Dwayne Beaver ("Rhino Brothers" "Robson Arms").
Parking Lot (Rated PG: some mature themes and brief violence) says Beaver is a character study shown from the point of view of a suburbian parking lot where the entire movie is shot. Beaver says the difficult part is trying to relate the stories of the individuals with the limited amount of time they spend in the lot. Overall some 20 character stories will be told, with some interaction. The film will also feature some time lapse video techniques reminisent of a Madonna video. While he did not want to give the ending away Beaver said the conclusion may surprise and even anger some people.
The cast includes mostly unknown actors in the US, many imported from Beaver's native Canada where the Polo Park Shopping Center in Winnipeg has been transformed into a mid-west US stand-in. "Many people were angered when they saw all the American flags and other regilia that was put up. But we're Canadians so we just complained about it to our neighbors over a coffee at Tim Hortons."
Nov 16 - "Kingdome Come: The Disney Wars (Part 1)" (180 min)
Nov 22 - Battle of the 80's Stars (Special)
Nov 23 - "Kingdom Come: The Disney Wars (Part 2)" (180 min)
Nov 29 - "Encore"
When a record label runs a battle of the bands promotion to help relaunch the career of a former 80's supergroup, 30 and 40 somethings all over the San Fransisco Bay area begin to reunite their garage bands for one more shot at glory. The prize, a short summer tour as an opening band for "Destination".
The 5 members of the band "Encore" all come back for various reasons.
Clint the charismatic lead singer (Anthony Michael Hall) is a corporate lawyer who's career has taken a turn for the worse.
Marshall the goofy Angus Young devote guitar player (Curtis Armstrong) is a bored CPA who has never really left the 80's behind.
Ronnie the introverted bass player (Clint Howard) who toils daily in his small plumbing supplies shop and lives in the shadow of his big Hollywood producer brother.
Maggie the lovelorn keyboardist (Molly Ringwald) who has never got over losing Clint to another woman.
and of course,
Jasmine the renegade heavy metal girl (Joan Jett) who never really fit in with the group in the first place.
While Clint's focus is 100% on winning the contest he becomes very frustrated when the rest of the group see's this as more of an opportunity to visit and work through personal baggage.
Encore will also have a whole slew of guest stars made famous in the 80's including;
John Cusack...lead singer of "The Johns", the cool guy who would torment Encore at every turn; and nothing has changed in the last 20 years.
Huey Lewis...the old white guy who leads a band of black soul musicians.
Steve Perry...in real life the former lead singer of Journey, in Encore he plays the lead singer of Destination.
Shaun Cassidy...radio executive running the contest
Danny Bonaduce...radio DJ who is hosting the contest despite his personal disdain for all things retro.
Samantha Fox...as herself, her role is a talent judge.
Dec 6 - "The End of Poverty In Our Time" (Special)
Dec 13 - "Fargo Rock City" (Rockumentary)
Dec 20 - "Black Hawk Down" (2001)
Dec 23 - "Tom Sawyer"
Dec 24 - "American Family Christmas" (Special) (180 min)
Dec 25 - "Twang! Country Christmas Special" (180 Min)
Dec 26 - "The Manhunter Movie" (120 min)
Dec 27 - "Code Name Sweet"
Dec 31 - "American Family New Year's Eve" (Special) (180 min)
Jan 1 - "Bill Maher New Year's Special" (180 min)
Jan 2 - "Violence in Darfur, Sudan" (News Special) (120 min)
Jan 3 - "American Storm"
Jan 4 - "Nancy Pelosi: Speaker of the House" (News Special) (120 min)
Jan 10 - "The End of Poverty In Our Time" (Special) (R)
Jan 17 - "Jennifer Government" (based on Max Barry novel)
Jan 24 - "Fly Like An Eagle: Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards"
Jan 31 - "The War of the Worlds" (1953)
Feb 7 - "American Storytellers: Springsteen/Seger/Joel) (Special)
Feb 14 - "The Runner (part I)" (based on novel by Christoper Reich)
Feb 21 - "The Runner (part II)" (based on novel by Christopher Reich)
Feb 28 - "Miracle" (2004)
Mar 7 - Cheeseburgers in Paradise: Jimmy Buffet Special
Mar 14 - "Panama, USA" (exec prod. Oliver Stone)
Mar 21 - Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (Special)
Mar 28 - "Apollo 13 " (1995)
Apr 4 - "Pitching Around Fidel" (based on work of S.L. Price)
Apr 11 - "The Rookie" (2002)
Apr 13 - "Trainwreck"
Apr 16 - "Special Coverage: Virginia Tech Shooting" (News Special) (180 min)
Apr 18 - Parkinson's Fund Raiser (special)
Michael J. Fox Celebrity Hockey Game
Apr 25 - "The Right Guy: The James Cagney Story"
Apr 27 - Parkinson's Fund Raiser (special)
Michael J. Fox Celebrity Hockey Game
May 2 - "The Big Lebowski" (1998)
May 4 - "Matthew Shepard Act" (News Special) (120 min)
May 9 - "In Third Person"
an original script thriller/suspense movie slated for two and a half hours and is being touted for a sweeps period appearance.
The story centers around an attractive husband and wife in their 40's who try to rekindle the flames of their marriage after their child leaves for college. It starts when the wife writes a one page fictional entendre about a wife's erotic fantasy and leaves it for her husband to find. However, instead of acting on it the husband elects to write another page furthering the story, writing in a fictional husband for the wife, and leaves it for his wife to find.
Neither spouse overtley acknowledges this childlike game but it begins to have the desired effects of heating up their lives as they continue to write and live out the escapades of this fictional couple. Then one day the latest installment is left for them to find, but in a totally different writing hand then theirs, and in red ink. Both just believe the third author is the other spouse trying to raise the level of risk and intrigue in the game, and continue to go along with most but not all of the suggestions in the story.
Soon, the third author becomes a regular contributor to the story, but those particular pages grow darker and more twisted, and demand the spouses to do things beyond what they are willing; like seducing strangers. When the couple confront each other they finally come to believe that a real 3rd person is involved and decide to stop writing pages.
However, this doesn't stop the 3rd person's pages from continuing to appear out of the blue, and it does not stop the demands on their behaviour. When the couple refuses to play along bad things begin to happen to them at home and at work, forcing them to cede to many of the demands all the while investigating who is behind these unwanted installmetns.
Video surveillance of their home is thrwarted by the 3rd person, a handwriting analysis suggests that it is the work of a person capable of murder and not of their right mind, and when the couple go to the police things begin to happen in the house that make them start believing it could even be some sort of ghost or spirit.
As the 3rd person pages begin to wrap up the story its obvious that the last page is leading up to a finale where one of the spouses will finally lose their mind and kill the other. Husband and wife become paranoid of friends and family, and then of each other, believing the other may have a multiple personality crisis.
Finally, the climatic moment arrives and the husband and wife find for the first time two different last pages, one left for each, each with the opposite ending. What will be the final twist to this killer plot in a movie that you won't want to put down?
May 11 - "Tornado Alley, Kansas" (News Special) (180 min)
May 16 - "The Sentinel"
May 23 - "How Little Kenny Ho Became A Millionaire"
a family comedy/drama from yet another original script offering.
The story centers around an extremely enterprising young boy (Kenny Ho) the only child of refugee parents from China, recently arrived in America (1980's). They take up roots in the mid-west where the father takes a menial job as a mechanic and the wife works as a short order cook. The parents, after risking their lives to flee China, dream of a future where their son will earn a college degree and have a white collar job.
But young Kenny isn't willing to wait that long. Follow this incredible pint-sized entrepeneur as he explains to you (Ferris Bueller style) his business strategies, and begins to amass his fortune. During the movie a running "ticker" appears on the bottom of the page updating Kenny's net worth and percentage of the $1,000,000 he wants to earn.
While other children are content to have one paper route, Kenny gets 3, having to register the other two under the names of his friends, and then sub-contracting some of the deliveries to a network of other kids. When other kids in the neighborhood are content to trade comic books and sports cards, Kenny sees an opportunity to invest in his own inventory and begins to do profitable business out of his tree fort, not only with kids but with an increasing number of adult collectors as well. Along the way Kenny has no shortage of run-ins with his parents, friends and their parents who don't like Kenny making a profit off them, and some prejudiced cops who don't belive the American dream should be open to "Chinamen".
Onward to high school and when Kenny gets a job in the laundromat so he can study at the same time, he does the math, and ends up buying the operation, and adding video games and a snack counter. His business plan is simple, make the laundrymat such a fun place to be for the neighborhood kids that the parents will give them extra money to spend, in return for the kids doing the family laundry. In his spare-time Kenny begins to publish a local newsletter that rivals "National Enquirer" for content and rumors, except on a much more local scale. This brings a new level of danger to Kenny's life, but also brings him his first girlfriend.
That relationship however, ends shortly before high school graduation when she finally decides that Kenny's mission to have a million dollars, and his resulting frugality is not her style.
Undaunted Kenny graduates and goes to college seeking the finance degree his parents have long dreamed of. In typical Kenny fashion, after selling his laundrymat and using some of the proceeds to pay for his college, he takes a job as a nighthingychman so that he can study while being paid. Soon however at the urgings of a workmate he begins to spend more time reading about the stock market then studying. While his grades slip he begins to trade stocks and make some money, but feels that classes are getting in the way of where the real money is; daytrading.
Then one night at work Kenny gets the call to go to the hospital, but arrives too late to say goodbye to his father who has fallen to a massive heartattack. Kenny's life is turned upside down, and despite his mother's pleas he drops out of college to begin his new career as a daytrader. As with everything else in life Kenny does well and makes a good living trading stocks, and even enrolls back in college part-time.
All is going well for Kenny, until once again he gets a call, this time his Mother has fallen and was rushed to the hospital. The timing could not be worse as the stock market is taking a beating that morning. Kenny must make a last second decision to sell it all or hold before heading to the hospital.
At the hospital Kenny is able to spend the time with his Mother that he could not with his Father, as she passes away over the course of the day. Leaving the room in tears Kenny passes by the nurses station and see's CNN showing footage of a stock broker throwing himself out of a skyscraper window and then a chart of the stockmarket's biggest single day drop in 15 years before trading was halted.
We flash back to moments before and his mother's dying wish to her son to slow down, enjoy life's precious moments, meet a nice Chinese girl and settle down, have children, and buy the nice house we never could. She looks up at her son and asks him if he ever made that million dollars he always wanted. Through his tears he tells his mother he cashed out this morning, and he had made it. He was a millionaire. She smiles, tells him to go out now and live the American dream.