Every Mother's Worst Fear (1998) Review

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(More customer reviews)OK, so everyone hates Ted McGinley's character in this movie. But he did a great job with the role. McGinley plays Mitch Carson, a sick, perverted, creepy wierdo who lures teenage girls over the internet from their homes to his hideout where he holds them against their will and actually offers them for sale over the internet. The 16 year old girl in this movie is Martha, a lonely and troubled teen who is the latest to fall victim to Carson. Ted McGinley from first glance in this movie appears as a very normal guy. He dresses nicely, talks to Martha nicely when he picks her up from his buddy Drew, whom Martha was first lured to. "Hi Martha" McGinley sais, "I'm Mitch Carson, I'm just another computer geek who works for an organization which helps kids in trouble get back home and away from guys like Drew." "Can I call my mom?" Martha asks him. "Sure", Carson(McGinley) sais, smiling all innocent to her, "you can use the cell in my truck." Well, the nice guy routine works, into his truck she goes. But the cell phone is dead, and with more and more sweet talking, Martha and Mitch carson are off to his hideout, which Martha is totally unsuspecting of. She thinks Carson is taking her to meet her parents somewhere. The suspense really, really builds about 45 minutes into the movie, and does it ever get cree-eeepy!! It's not a movie for everyone, but if you're in the mood for a creepy, suspenseful thriller this is it!! I think it's also a true story which makes it even more chilling. Martha's mother, played by Cheryl Ladd, you will enjoy watching as well, as she is very attractive and does a great job as playing a mother who is about to have a breakdown if she doesn't find her daughter. Another movie I recommend, although I don't think it's on VHS or DVD is a Lifetime Original movie titled, "Video Voyeur: The Susan Wilson Story", starring Angie Harmon. As you guessed, it comes on Lifetime from time to time.

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The Miracle Worker (2000) Review

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(More customer reviews)In her 1987 autobiography "Call Me Anna," Patty Duke writes that, while portraying Helen Keller in the original Broadway production of "The Miracle Worker", she dreamed of playing the role of Helen's determined teacher Annie Sullivan. Seventeen years after she won an Academy Award as Helen opposite Anne Bancroft as Annie in Arthur Penn's brilliant 1962 film version, her dream of playing Annie finally came true. This is the rare TV production that nearly equals the power of the original; in large part due to Duke's extraordinary, intense performance. Melissa Gilbert, then the 14 year old star of the TV series "Little House On The Prarie", has a more difficult time as blind and deaf Helen Keller. Gilbert's performance is certainly admirable. It just misses, by a small margin, the ferocious quality the role of Helen requires.
Duke writes, "As you can imagine, everything about doing that play the second time around carried a terrific emotional charge for me...the years of wishing to play it, wishing to have that stature, the years of screwing up my life, and then this great gift, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, this moment of forgiveness for my transgressions. I thought I would die." Her dream role of Annie Sullivan resulted in an extremely well deserved Emmy Award; the perfect compliment to the Academy Award she received for her earlier performance as Helen. "I have to confess," Duke writes, "the Emmy I won for "The Miracle Worker" is my favorite acting honor.
In the original film, Inga Swenson and Victor Jory give overwrought performances as Helen's parents. Diana Muldair and Charles Seibert are more solid in this version. In contrast to Helen's parents, Annie does not feel any pity for Helen. "Pity? For this tyrant? The whole house turns on her whims," she says. "Is there anything she wants she doesn't get?...I pity that the sun won't rise and set for her every morning and you're telling her it will." Instead of pity, Annie recognizes Helen's hidden human potential and does not see her as impaired or "disabled" in any way. When Helen's mother asks if it is possible to teach an "impaired" child, Annie replies, "Oh, there's nothing impaired in that head. It works like a mouse-trap." During a later, heated exchange with Helen's father, Annie declares, "I treat her as a sighted child because I ask her to see... I expect her to see!" Indeed, Annie asks Helen to reach beyond any perceived limitations.
This worthwhile TV production does have a few flaws, which Patty Duke objectively acknowledged: "it's inescapable that {the TV production] wasn't as powerful as [the original film version]...the choreography of the production was in general lacking in intensity," she writes. The TV production also loses some dramatic intensity because it is in color, and "The Miracle Worker" is much better suited to black and white; like the original 1962 film. Still, there's plenty of emotional power in William Gibson's strong script, and when the battle of wills between Annie and Helen finally results in an amazing triumph, there won't be a dry eye in the audience.

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