65% (3) Free Willy 112 min, PG, [Adventure, Drama, Family] [Simon Wincer] [16 Jul 1993]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 59%, Rotten Tomatoes: 57%, Metacritic: 79%, External Reviews
Awards: 7 wins & 2 nominations.
Actors: August Schellenberg, Jason James Richter, Jayne Atkinson, Lori Petty, Michael Madsen
Writer: Keith Walker (story), Keith Walker (screenplay), Corey Blechman (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA, France
Plot: Fishermen separate a young orca whale (Willy) from his parents and he ends up in a fish bowl at a marina. Meanwhile, a street kid runs afoul of the law and gets caught vandalising the marina, but his social worker gets him off the hook (so to speak) provided he cleans up his mess at the marina. While there, he befriends the whale and teaches him tricks, something the trainer hasn't been able to do. But when Willy is a dud in front of the audience, the marina owner plans some bad things, and the boy and his friends must try to (*** MAJOR SPOILERS ***) free Willy.
Rotten Tomatoes: The touching story of a boy and his killer whale made this family drama a surprise box office hit. Jesse (Jason James Richter) is a kid without parents who has bounced from one foster home to another and is living on the streets. One night, he's caught spraying graffiti with his friend Perry (Michael Bacall) in a theme park. Jesse and Perry are caught red handed by Dwight (Mykel T. Williamson), a policeman who thinks that Jesse needs a more stable and disciplined environment. Dwight arranges for Jesse to stay with a new foster family, Glen and Annie Greenwood (Michael Madsen and Jayne Atkinson), with whom Jesse has an initially stormy relationship. Part of Jesse's punishment involves cleaning up the damage he caused at the park, where the new attraction is Willy, a killer whale who is being trained to do tricks. However, Willy was traumatized when he was stolen from his family by mercenary fisherman and does not respond well to the genuine concern of his trainers, Rae (Lori Petty) and Randolph (August Schellenberg). Jesse and Willy, both stranded without families in a place where they don't fit in, develop a close emotional bond, and with Jesse's help, Willy begins to display aptitude as a performer. Thanks to his friendship with Willy, Jesse develops a new sense of responsibility and a healthier relationship with the Greenwoods. However, Dial (Michael Ironside), the owner of the park, doesn't much care for animals and isn't happy with the slower-than-expected progress of Willy's training; having insured the whale for $1 million dollars, he figures that Willy is worth more dead than alive, and Jesse, Rae, and Randolph have to rescue their aquatic friend and return him to the ocean when Dial seems ready to live up to his threats. Free Willy, which featured a star performance by a killer whale named Keiko (who is doubled in some scenes by animatronic models) included the theme song "Will You Be There," a top-ten hit for Michael Jackson, and spawned two sequels. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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81% (2) Black Robe 101 min, R, [Adventure, Drama, History] [Bruce Beresford] [04 Oct 1991]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 71%, Rotten Tomatoes: 92%, External Reviews
Awards: 10 wins & 13 nominations.
Actors: Aden Young, August Schellenberg, Lothaire Bluteau, Sandrine Holt
Writer: Brian Moore (screenplay), Brian Moore (novel)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: Cree, English, Mohawk, Algonquin, Latin Country: Canada, Australia, USA
Plot: In the 17th century a Jesuit priest and a young companion are escorted through the wilderness of Quebec by Algonquin Indians to find a distant mission in the dead of winter. The Jesuit experiences a spiritual journey while his young companion falls in love with the Algonquin chief's beautiful daughter underneath the imposing and magnificent mountains. Dread and death follows them upriver.
Rotten Tomatoes: Missionary Father Laforgue travels to the New World in hopes of converting Algonquin Indians to Catholicism. Accepted, though warily, by the Indians, Laforgue travels with the Indians using his strict Catholic rules and ideals to try and impose his religion.
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64% (2) Iron Will 108 min, PG, [Adventure, Family] [Charles Haid] [14 Jan 1994]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 66%, Rotten Tomatoes: 62%, External Reviews
Actors: August Schellenberg, David Ogden Stiers, Kevin Spacey, Mackenzie Astin
Writer: John Michael Hayes, Djordje Milicevic, Jeff Arch
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: When Will Stoneman's father dies, he is left alone to take care of his mother and their land. Needing money to maintain it, he decides to join a cross country dogsled race. This race will require days of racing for long hours, through harsh weather and terrain. This young man will need a lot of courage and a strong will to complete this race.
Rotten Tomatoes: A rousing Disney dog-sled adventure based on a real life event -- a 522-mile dog-sled race between Winnipeg, Canada and St. Paul, Minnesota that occurred in 1917. When his father is accidentally killed, South Dakota farmboy Will Stoneman (Mackenzie Astin) decides to enter the dog-sled race in order to save his family from financial ruin. His mother (Penelope Windust) wants Will to use part of the prospective $10,000 race winnings for college, but Will just wants to save the farm. With the help of Indian handyman Ned Dodd (August Schellenberg), Will begins to train for the race. But the rich mogul underwriting the race, J.P. Harper (David Ogden Stiers), doesn't want Will to enter, thinking the competition too arduous and too dangerous for such a young boy. To Will's aid comes yellow journalist Harry Kingsley (Kevin Spacey), who convinces Harper to permit Will to enter the race. But Harry also has his own agenda -- he sees a great story in Will and thinks it will sell newspapers and advance his journalistic career. With his father's best dog Gus at the head of his dog team, Will is ready and determined to win the race. But Will discovers that winning the race is only half his battle. Dealing with the petty and malevolent human beings involved in the race -- in particular, the egotistical Scandinavian champion Borg Guillarson (George Gerdes) and the wealthy gambler Angus McTeague (Brian Cox) -- prove to be as much of a challenge to his mettle than any natural obstacles Will might encounter.
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45% (2) Free Willy 3: The Rescue 86 min, PG, [Adventure, Drama, Family] [Sam Pillsbury] [08 Aug 1997]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 47%, Rotten Tomatoes: 44%, External Reviews
Awards: 2 wins & 2 nominations.
Actors: Annie Corley, August Schellenberg, Jason James Richter, Vincent Berry
Writer: Keith Walker (characters), John Mattson
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Willy the whale is back, this time threatened by illegal whalers making money off sushi. Jesse, now 16, has taken a job on an orca-researching ship, along with old friend Randolph and a sarcastic scientist, Drew. On the whaler's ship is captain John Wesley and his son, Max, who isn't really pleased about his father's job, but doesn't have the gut to say so. Along the way, Willy reunites with Jesse, who helps Max realize that whales are a little more than just cheese burgers.
Rotten Tomatoes: In the third installment in the Free Willy series, Jesse (Jason James Richter), the once-troubled youth whose life was changed by his friendship with the killer whale Willy, is spending the summer on board a ship assisting a group a whale researchers, including his old friend Randolph (August Schellenberg), and Drew (Annie Corley), an oceanographer. Jesse once used a harmonica to communicate with Willy, and when he plays his mouth harp through the ship's underwater sound system, he is able to find his old friend, who is now raising a family of his own. As Jesse, Randolph, and Drew are out to study and assist the whales, a ten-year-old boy named Max (Vincent Berry) is accompanying his father John Wesley (Patrick Kilpatrick) on the fishing boat that John helps to run. Max soon discovers that John and the crew are not fishing for salmon, as he believed, but killer whales, which is illegal, but very profitable, as whale meat fetches $200 a pound on the black market. Jesse meets Max on shore, and when Jesse learns what John and his crew are up to, he tries to teach Max that while his father may not be a bad man, he's doing a very bad thing in killing the whales, who are intelligent, compassionate, and deserve the right to live; Jesse also acts to save Willy and his family from John and his fellow poachers. As in Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, Free Willy 3: The Rescue used mechanical and animated whales rather than flesh-and-blood aquatic mammals. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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40% (2) Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home 95 min, PG, [Adventure, Drama, Family] [Dwight H. Little] [19 Jul 1995]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 50%, Rotten Tomatoes: 31%, External Reviews
Awards: 2 wins & 2 nominations.
Actors: August Schellenberg, Francis Capra, Jason James Richter, Mary Kate Schellhardt, Michael Madsen
Writer: Keith Walker (characters), Karen Janszen, Corey Blechman, John Mattson
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, Malay, Indonesian Country: France, USA
Plot: Willy the smart and rebellious whale and Jessie the orphaned boy team up to escape Willy's captivity and horrible owner to get back to his pod. Can they succeed with the help of Annie and Glenn Jessie's foster parents, Randolph the spiritual friend of Willy and Jessie, and Rae Willy's trainer?
Rotten Tomatoes: Two unlikely friends -- a boy and a killer whale -- are reunited under potentially dangerous circumstances in this sequel to the successful family adventure Free Willy. Jesse (Jason James Richter) has finally found stability and contentment with his foster parents Glen and Annie Greenwood (Michael Madsen and Jayne Atkinson), but he is confronted with a new emotional challenge when his birth mother (a drug addict who abandoned him when he was young) dies, and his troubled half brother Elvis (Francis Capra) comes to live with the Greenwoods. Jesse also deals with new feelings when he develops a serious crush on Nadine (Mary Kate Schellhardt), the goddaughter of Randolph (August Schellenberg), an animal trainer at the theme park where Jesse helps out. But a much bigger problem is on the horizon when the safety of Willy, the killer whale he befriended and helped return to the wild, is threatened. An oil spill spoils the ocean environment where Willy and his family now live, and an unscrupulous owner of an oceanarium, Wilcox (M. Emmet Walsh), attempts to capture Willie and put him back into captivity as a performing attraction. While Free Willy featured Keiko, a trained whale who (ironically) was living in captivity when the film was shot, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home instead utilized mechanical models and digital animation to bring "Willy" to life. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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72% (1) Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee 133 min, TV-14, [Drama, History, Western] [Yves Simoneau] [27 May 2007]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 72%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 29 wins & 27 nominations.
Actors: Adam Beach, Aidan Quinn, Anna Paquin, August Schellenberg, Chevez Ezaneh, Duane Howard
Writer: Daniel Giat (screenplay), Dee Brown (based on the book by)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: English Country: USA
Plot: In the 1880s, after the U. S. Army's defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the government continues to push Sioux Indians off their land. In Washington, D.C., Senator Henry Dawes introduces legislation to protect Native Americans rights. In South Dakota, school teacher Elaine Goodale joins Sioux native and Western-educated Dr. Charles Eastman in working with tribe members. Meanwhile, Lakota Chief Sitting Bull refuses to give into mounting government pressures.
Rotten Tomatoes: Director Yves Simoneau explores the plight of the American Indian in the later half of the 19th century in this docudrama exploring the effects of westward expansion and based on the book by Dee Brown.
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51% (1) True Heart 92 min, PG, [Adventure, Drama, Family] [Catherine Cyran] [15 Jun 1999]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 51%, External Reviews
Actors: August Schellenberg, Dey Young, Kirsten Dunst, Zachery Ty Bryan
Writer: Catherine Cyran
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: A brother and sister are plane-wrecked in Canada, where they must rely on the help of a native and his bear.
Rotten Tomatoes: Two city kids gain a new perspective on life when they're lost in rugged Northwestern Canada in this adventure for the family. Sam (Zachery Ty Bryan) and Bonnie (Kirsten Dunst) are two teenage siblings who don't always get along, a situation made more uncomfortable by their mother's recent remarriage. While Sam and Bonnie are flying home on a small chartered place, their flight crashes in the wilderness of British Columbia. Sam and Bonnie are the only survivors of the wreck and must fend for themselves until they are discovered by Khonanesta (August Schellenberg), a Native North American who lives in the woods with his only companion, a huge Kodiak bear he's named "Grandfather." Khonanesta teaches Sam and Bonnie how to live off the land, and as they learn how to survive in the wild, they become closer, more confident, and better adjusted; they also help Khonanesta foil a group of game poachers who are illegally hunting bear in the wilderness. Bonnie and Sam's mother and stepfather finally find their missing children, but when they do, they mistakenly implicate Khonanesta in the illegal activities of the game poachers. True Heart also features Michael Gross and Dey Young.
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