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In Andrew Davis' 1996 thriller "Chain Reaction," Keanu Reeves plays Eddie Kasalivich, a machinist at the University of Chicago who is overseeing a special scientific experiment to turn hydrogen into energy. Eddie isn't a genius, but he knows how the water-filled chain reaction chamber works. Then, one night, he accidentally discovers an obscure sound frequency that stabilizes the experiment and gets it to succeed. It seems that the world's energy supply issues are going to be solved.

Of course, this immediately kicks off a shadowy cover-up wherein the chain reaction chamber is blown up by unknown conspirators and Eddie is framed for the destruction. (The explosion takes out eight full city blocks.) Innocent scientists are killed, so Eddie has to go on the run with a physicist named Lily, played by Reeves at-the-time-future "Constantine" co-star Rachel Weisz. Naturally, they must find a way to prove their innocence and discover who would...

The finalists for the 37th annual Humanitas Prize — which honors writers from both television and film whose work “explores the human condition in a nuanced, meaningful way” — have been revealed, and several fan fave TV shows, buoyed by standout episodes, are vying for recognition.

In the 30-Minute category, How I Met Your Mother‘s Season 6 examination of death and grief will compete with Mitchell and Cameron’s first Modern Family kiss plus two Showtime standouts, while the 60-Minute category includes House’s Season 6 finale — the one from May of last year — and the Friday Night Lights series-ender (which aired on...

We alerted you to this project last July, and here we have our first look at Taraji P. Henson in the Lifetime TV original movie, Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story – a “ripped-from-the-headlines” project which centers on mother, Tiffany Rubin, who fights and succeeds in rescuing her seven-year-old son, Kobe, who was taken away by his South Korean father in 2007 (her ex-husband, with whom she was engaged in a bitter custody battle over Kobe).

The rest of the story goes… “Along with Mark Miller, president of the organization, Rubin traveled to South Korea, launching a surveillance operation to chart Kobe’ daily schedule. After a careful planning, one day Rubin went into her son’s school and was able to snatch him. The two, along with Miller, ran to the U.S. Embassy before being able to return home safely.”

It’s certainly an intriguing story, and not necessarily standard Lifetime TV material,...

Taraji P. Henson will star in the Lifetime TV original movie, Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story – a “ripped-from-the-headlines” project which centers on mother, Tiffany Rubin, who fights and succeeds in rescuing her seven-year-old son, Kobe, who was taken away by his South Korean father in 2007 – her ex-husband, with whom she was engaged in a bitter custody battle over Kobe.

After a visit to his father’s Brooklyn apartment, Kobe was stolen away to South Korea. Rubin, a public school teacher from Queens, with little help from authorities, and little money to spend on an intensive search for her son, turned to the non-profit organization, The American Association for Lost Children, who located Kobe in a town near Seoul.

The rest of the story goes… “Along with Mark Miller, president of the organization, Rubin traveled to South Korea, launching a surveillance operation to chart Kobe’ daily schedule. After a careful planning,...

PARK CITY -- Sportswriters need their athletic stars to be big for them to be big. That's the sports-talk wisdom that is flattened in this knock-out story about a skid-row, one-time contender and a mediocre sports writer who find they don't need their inflated glory-days lies to puff themselves up.

Charged by a knock-out performance from Samuel L. Jackson, this compelling story of manly redemption will deliver a winning boxoffice combination of word of mouth and ultimately step outside the generic ring of sports lore.

In this age of round-the-clock sports talk and super-sized sports events, journalists feed us the triumphs of the games and satiate us with the larger-than-life puffery of the winners. Ex-jock celebrities and egotistical experts rant incessantly about the moment's big victor, ever-hyping the transitory world of triumph. But we rarely see the winners down the road, when the arthritic knees collapse or the addled brain, jolted by concussions and poundings, no longer functions. Resurrecting the Champ shows the darker side of both the sporting world and its incestuous partner in profit and celebrity, the media who feed a couch-potato public the only news they want to hear about -- the glorious world of the winners.

In this sobering and uplifting tale, an ex-boxer (Jackson) shuffles in skid-row Denver, his brain cells sotted by beer but his will to live fortified by remembrance of his past, when he was ranked No. 3 in the world and sparred valiantly with Rocky Marciano. In his squalor he's stumbled upon by an end-of-the-bench sports writer (Josh Harnett) who needs a big story to revive his lackluster career. And the punch-drunk but still-cagey boxer serves up the inspiring words and tales of woe that scream "cover story" and certain glory days for the struggling scribe.

In short, we see the co-dependent nature of the relationship between sports figure and sports writer, and this is where Resurrecting the Champ delivers it's biggest story punch, an unexpected personal uppercut that knocks both men flat on their backs. Most gloriously, their "defeat" gives them the opportunity to discover personal strengths they never would have realized.

Jackson -- shuffling, bobbing, weaving, mumbling -- is terrific as the bedraggled champ. In his down-on-the-pavement strength, Jackson shows the innards of a man who recovers for one last go at life. As the sportswriter, Josh Harnett convincingly shows the stoop of a proud man carrying the weight of a legendary father on his back. As his high-achieving wife, Kathryn Morris is aptly overwhelming and supportive.

Smartly distilling their script from an L.A. Times magazine story by J.R. Moehringer, screenwriters Michael Bortman and Allison Burnett have woven a touchingly vibrant tale. Rod Lurie's direction is smartly measured, both robust and delicate, giving full whallop to the personal dimensions.

Technical contributions are top of the card, nicely framed by cinematographer Adam Kane's gritty compositions.

Resurrecting the Champ

Yari Film Group Presents

A Phoenix Pictures, Battleplans Prods. Production

A Rod Lurie Film

Producers: Bob Yari, Marc Frydman, Rod Lurie; Director: Rod Lurie; Screenwriters: Allison Burnett, Michael Bortman; Based on an L.A. Times magazine article by J.R. Moehringer; Executive producers: Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messer, Bradley J. Fischer, Louis Phillips, Frederick Zollo; Director of photography: Adam Kane; Editor: Sarah Boyd; Casting: Candice Elzinga, Rhonda Fisekci, Kathleen Tomasik; Production designer: Ken Rempel; Art director: Bill Ives; Costume designer: Wendry Partridge.Cast:

Champ: Samuel L. Jackson

Erik: Josh Hartnett

Flak: Teri Hatcher

Joyce: Kathryn Morris

Polly: Rachel Nichols

Metz: Alan Alda

Whitley: David Paymer

Teddy: Dakota Goyo

Epstein: Peter Coyote

Kenny : Ryan McDonald

Satterfield Jr.: Harry J. Lennix.

No MPAA Rating, Running time -- 112 minutes...