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Somewhere, at this very moment, someone's dad is probably watching one of the Jesse Stone movies on DVD, and that man is having a great afternoon. After this, he might pop in "Ford v. Ferrari" for the seventh time.

The character of Jesse Stone began his life in a series of airport novels written by the late Robert B. Parker. The first Jesse Stone novel, "Night Passage," was published in 1997 and it followed the titular former LAPD detective (and divorced recovering alcoholic) as he investigated money laundering and murder in Paradise, Massachusetts. Parker had a hit on his hands with "Night Passage," and proceeded to writer eight additional Jesse Stone novels from 1998 up until his death in 2010. Jesse Stone had become an institution at that point, and other authors began writing Stone novels in Parker's style. There have been 11 additional Jesse Stone novels written after Parker's death. 

Starting in 2005, Jesse...

This 2001 made-for-tv movie does get very silly at times, but it does make a surprisingly good fist of the history of the infamous Hun king

Director: Dick Lowry

Entertainment grade: C–

History grade: C

Attila was a fifth-century Hun king who ravaged much of Europe.

Culture

Little is known of the Huns. Some historians think they originated on the borders of China before making their way to Europe. It's a pleasant surprise to find that the film-makers have cast their eyes over what information exists. In an early scene, the young Attila correctly identifies the Huns' sacred animals as the wolverine, the she-bear and the horse. Later, his court is depicted in line with the description by the historian Priscus, who saw it with his own eyes. Granted, neither Gerard Butler as Attila, nor Steven Berkoff as his predecessor, King Rua, looks like he might have originated on the borders of China; then again,...

Creating a tornado in a film has always been a test of the limits of special effects, but most people, luckily, haven't gotten up close and personal with enough of them to spot the differences.

Keith Cecere and Rich Ruggiero, both active storm chasers (and co-stars in IFC's storm-chasing mockumentary "Funnel of Darkness"), have.

That's why they've offered their judgments on five movies known for their wicked weather sequences, which they've rated (both for the effects and the acting -- hey, everyone's a critic) on the Fujita scale, a scale for rating tornado intensity, from f1 (weakest) to f5 (strongest).

"Twister" (1996)

Directed by Jan de Bont

Rich Ruggiero: This classic gets an F5. The effects are really good -- and it came out 13 years ago! In special effects time, that's like 200 years. There've been a lot of advancements since then, but the filmmakers did a sick job with what they had back then.

CBS has quietly put together a disaster-themed longform project for next season. Brian Dennehy, Dianne Wiest, Randy Quaid, Nancy McKeon and Thomas Gibson have been tapped to star in the project, believed to be a miniseries. Dick Lowry (Lifetime's Heart of a Stranger) has come on board to direct the project from a script by Matt Dorff (A&E's See Arnold Run). Frank von Zerneck and Robert Sertner (CBS' Reversible Errors) are executive producing through Von Zerneck Sertner Films.