Kiersten Warren Movies
Three kids have an unexpected adventure as they try to protect some rare birds in this comedy drama based on a book for young adults by Carl Hiaasen. Roy Eberhardt (Logan Lerman) is a 14-year-old boy whose family has moved so often he's literally lost count of the number of times he's changed schools in the last ten years. Roy ought to be used to being the new kid at school by now, but making the switch from the big sky of Montana to the Gulf Coast of Florida proves to be a major challenge. While Roy quickly becomes the target of school bully Dana Matherson (Eric Phillips), he's befriended by Beatrice Leep (Brie Larson), a spunky girl with enough nerve to stand up to Dana, and her brother Mullet Fingers (Cody Linley). Beatrice and Mullet share their big secret with Roy -- they have a hidden hideaway where they look after a flock of wild owls. The owls in question are on the endangered species list, but that's of little concern to Chuck Muckle (Clark Gregg), a top executive from the Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House chain, who is planning to build a new restaurant in the hollow where the owls nest. Roy, Beatrice, and Mullet are determined to find a way to save the owls, but Muckle and his right-hand man, Curly Brannitt (Tim Blake Nelson), are less interested in saving the birds than in turning a profit. The kids have a plan, however, and they uncover some evidence of interest to David Delinko (Luke Wilson), a well-meaning but slow-witted policeman investigating some dirty doings tied in to the pancake house. Hoot features a handful of new recordings from popular Florida musician Jimmy Buffett, who also helped produce the film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luke Wilson, Logan Lerman, (more)
An aspiring astronaut who was forced to forsake his dream of exploring space in order to save the family farm begins building his own personal rocket as a means of reaching the stars in this quirky rural drama starring Billy Bob Thornton. There once was a time when Charlie Farmer (Thornton) seemed like a shoo-in for NASA's esteemed astronaut training program. An Air Force pilot who held a degree in aerospace engineering, Charlie was well on his way to blasting off when a family crisis grounded his celestial aspirations. Of course, Charlie's feet may be firmly planted on terra firma these days, but his thoughts are constantly ascending into the clouds and beyond. It's been ten long years since the man who would navigate the stars began tending to the family farm, and during that time, Charlie has dedicated every moment of his spare time to building the rocket that will one day launch him into space. Though his devoted wife, Audie (Virginia Madsen), the pair's three children, Sunshine, Stanley, and Shepard, and even his father-in-law, Hal (Bruce Dern), all support Charlie in achieving his lifelong goal of becoming the nation's first independent astronaut, a last-minute hitch on the eve before the big launch unexpectedly stalls Charlie's countdown. It seems that Charlie's quest to obtain a substantial amount of high-grade rocket fuel has attracted the attention of not only the FBI, but the CIA, the FAA, and the United States military as well. Now, as the powers that be attempt to ground Charlie, citing concerns for civilian safety, a media frenzy descends upon the once-quiet farm as the reluctant renegade hero vows to show his children just how far one's courage and willingness to pursue one's own ideals can get a person when one refuses to give up hope. Northfork writing/directing duo Mark and Michael Polish team up to tell the tale of a man considered an oddity by his neighbors, a criminal by the government, and an inspiration by the media and the people. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Bob Thornton, Virginia Madsen, (more)
The Lord works in mysterious ways, and when astronaut Bobby Paradise (David Strathairn) has a divine vision during a moon mission gone wrong, he returns to terra firma a changed man. Subsequently devoting his entire existence to God and the ministry in order to do better spread the gospel, Bobby soon builds a vast religious empire as one of the most successful televangelists to ever grace the airwaves. When a corporate merger sparks a government investigation that reveals both a searing sex scandal and a son about to be paroled from prison, Bobby will need every ounce of faith he has to make it out of the coming storm with the grace of God still on his side. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Strathairn, Barbara Hershey, (more)
Thirteen-year-old Jenna (Shana Dowdeswell) has had enough with the trials of adolescence. In addition to being saddled with a devoted-but-nerdy best friend, Matt (Sean Marquette), she falls victim to one of the dangers of playing Seven Minutes in Heaven with the coolest kids in school: being stranded without a willing make-out partner. Humiliated, Jenna buries herself in the aformentioned make-out closet, wishing she could skip the whole adolescence bit and move straight into adulthood, and miraculously wakes just weeks away from her 30th birthday. Of course, a lot has changed since going to bed the night before, not the least of which being an impressive set of womanly curves. The new, older Jenna (Jennifer Garner) is a successful magazine editor with friends in high places and a lion's share of potential suitors -- including a hockey-playing boyfriend and a swarthy married man. The problem is that her mind hasn't matured with her body; Jenna not only finds living on her own more terrifying than cool, but is quick to dismiss any male over the age of 14 as "gross." Half excited, half mortified, Jenna seeks out Matt (Mark Ruffalo), whom she learns she had spurned as a teenager in an effort to join the popular crowd. Gary Winick directed, from a script by Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa; Gina Matthews produced. Choreographer Michael Peters - who died in 1994 - received posthumous credit, as his choreography from the Michael Jackson Thriller video is used in one scene. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, (more)
Based on John Grisham's semi-autobiographical novel (which he regarded as his favorite because it "contains no lawyers"), A Painted House is set in the rural community of Oak Park, AR, in 1952. The story is told through the eyes of ten-year-old Luke Chandler (Logan Lerman), who lives and works on a rundown cotton farm with his parents (Robert Sean Leonard and Arija Bareikis) and grandparents (Scott Glenn and Melinda Dillon). It is Luke's personal mission to earn enough money picking cotton to be able to afford a new coat of paint for the Chandler house. But as harvest time approaches, a number of plot complications distance Luke from his goal, including failed crops, dangerous weather, periodic run-ins with a family of migrant workers, and -- this being a John Grisham story -- a murder to which Luke is the sole eyewitness. Filmed on location in the Arkansas town of Lepanto, A Painted House first aired April 27, 2003, as a CBS Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Logan Lerman, Scott Glenn, (more)
Supposedly inspired by events experienced by director John Murlowski, Black Cadillac centers on a trio of friends who are left stranded after their car malfunctions on a winding mountain roadway. Although they are fortunate enough to happen upon a deputy, they are constantly menaced by the headlights of the title vehicle. Soon the environs and the friends' frayed emotions make their struggle as difficult as the troublesome car does. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Randy Quaid, Shane Mikael Johnson, (more)
Joel and Ethan Coen take on the classic battle-of-the-sexes screwball comedy with Intolerable Cruelty. George Clooney plays Miles Massey, a high-powered Los Angeles divorce lawyer nearing a midlife crisis . While representing wealthy client Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann), Miles meets his match in Rex's gold-digging wife, Marilyn Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones). He's impressed by her similarly heartless ways of using marriage to fuel an expensive lifestyle, but he still defeats her in court. With Marilyn looking to get her revenge and Miles finding himself attracted to her, the two engage in a ruthless romantic pursuit to out-swindle each other. Billy Bob Thornton shows up in a small role as Texas oil tycoon Howard Doyle. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, (more)
Charles Martin Smith's romantic adventure film The Snow Walker concerns a brave risk-taking pilot (Barry Pepper) and an Inuit woman in frail health who is his passenger. When the pair experience a plane crash, each is forced to learn from and help the other in order to survive the variety of obstacles the harsh landscape throws in their path. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barry Pepper, Annabella Piugattuk, (more)
- 2002
- PG13
- Add Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood to QueueAdd Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood to top of Queue
Screenwriter Callie Khouri makes her directorial debut with this adaptation of a pair of popular novels by author Rebecca Wells, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Little Altars Everywhere. Sandra Bullock stars as Sidda Lee Walker, a New York playwright who opens a can of emotional worms with her estranged, boozy mother, Vivi (Ellen Burstyn), when she discusses her painful childhood and particularly Vivi's less-than-enviable mothering skills in a Time magazine article. The eccentric Louisiana drama queen Vivi has already been barred from her daughter's oft-delayed wedding to her fiancé, Connor (Angus Macfadyen), so the article sends her into a rage. Coming to the rescue of the relationship are Necie (Shirley Knight), Caro (Maggie Smith), and Teensy (Fionnula Flanagan), a trio of bickering women, who, along with Vivi, formed a secret society of feminist empowerment and friendship 60 years earlier that they dubbed the "Ya-Ya Sisterhood." The Ya-Yas kidnap Sidda and bring her home to Louisiana, where they reveal to Sidda via a carefully maintained scrapbook her mother's painful past (with Vivi portrayed in flashback by Ashley Judd), effecting a rapprochement between mother and daughter. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood also stars James Garner. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, (more)
A man hoping to move out of the closet falls into a trap of drug-fueled hedonism in this cautionary drama. John (Jonathan Wade Drahos) is a police officer from a small town who is forced to leave his career behind when it is discovered that he's gay. Hoping to find more tolerant surroundings, John moves to West Hollywood and rents an apartment with Nina (Kiersten Warren), an old friend from his high school days. One night, John attends a party where he meets Hector (Andre Khabazzi), an attractive hustler with whom he quickly strikes up a relationship. Hector is a regular on the L.A. party circuit, and John soon falls in with him, but the endless barrage of music, drugs, and anonymous sex proves more than John can handle, and he soon develops a dangerous dependence on amphetamines. William Katt, Nancy Allen, and Bruce Vilanch also appear in the supporting cast. Circuit had its premiere at the 2001 L.A. Outfest, a festival devoted to gay and lesbian-themed films. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jonathan Wade Drahos, Kiersten Warren, (more)
Director Bruce Paltrow teams with his Oscar-winning daughter Gwyneth Paltrow for this road comedy with music. Paltrow plays Liv, a struggling professional singer whose meets her father, Ricky Dean (Huey Lewis), for the first time at the funeral of her mother. As it turns out, both Liv and Ricky supplement the income from few-and-far-between gigs by singing in karaoke contests, and soon father and daughter are competing on the same circuit. Meanwhile, Todd Woods (Paul Giamatti), a salesman who has grown disenchanted with his job, his family, and his life, picks up a hitch-hiker named Reggie Kane (Andre Braugher), and during a stop at a tavern, they discover they make a good duet team while belting out a version of "Try A Little Tenderness." And waitress Suzi Loomis (Maria Bello) sweet talks Billy (Scott Speedman), a cabbie, into driving her to Omaha, where the national karaoke finals will determine who does the best job of singing along with the records, as the lives of these six characters begin to intersect. Duets also features Angie Dickinson as Blair, Liv's grandmother who was once a showgirl in Frank Sinatra's Las Vegas floorshow; Brad Pitt was originally cast in Speedman's role but withdrew after he and Paltrow announced the end of their off-camera relationship. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Bello, Andre Braugher, (more)
If a robot spends enough time around humans, can he learn to become one of them? The Martin family purchases a domestic android as a servant and names him Andrew (Robin Williams). Andrew comes to know the man of the house as Sir (Sam Neill), his wife as Ma'am Wendy Crewson, and their daughter as Portia (Embeth Davidtz); before long, the Martins suspect that they do not have an ordinary robot on their hands. Andrew seems capable of expressing emotion and generating original thoughts, and the longer he stays with the Martins, the more strongly these human traits manifest themselves. Over the next 200 years, Andrew becomes less a machine and more a member of the family, until a mechanic (Oliver Platt) tells Andrew that he might be able to turn him into a human being. Based on a short story by renowned science fiction author Isaac Asimov (surprisingly, it's only the second Asimov story to be brought to the screen), Bicentennial Man was directed by Chris Columbus, who previously worked with Robin Williams on Mrs. Doubtfire. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Williams, Sam Neill, (more)
Writer/director Barry Levinson returns to his home town of Baltimore, where he previously set three nostalgic features (Diner, Tin Men, and Avalon) for this story of two brothers growing up in the tumultuous days of 1954, as rock 'n' roll, the atom bomb, and the civil rights movement changed the way teenagers looked at the world. One of the brothers has fallen in love with a beautiful girl who, to the chagrin of his family, is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Protestant, while the other has an even bigger shock for his folks: his new girlfriend is black. Joe Mantegna and Bebe Neuwirth play the parents, with Adrien Brody, Vincent Guastaferro, Orlando Jones, David Krumholz, and Kiersten Warren also topping the cast. Tom Waits wrote several original songs for the film, while Andrea Morricone (daughter of Ennio Morricone) wrote the score. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrien Brody, Ben Foster, (more)
- 1998
The comedy-drama TV series, adapted from Elmore Leonard's best-selling novel, is directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, who previously brought Leonard to film as the executive producer of Out of Sight (1998) and the director of Get Shorty (1995). Beau Bridges stars as Judge "Maximum" Bob Gibbs, czar of the courtroom in the tiny Florida town of Deep Water. His wife is former aquarium mermaid Leanne Lancaster (Kiersten Warren), currently working as a psychic possessed by 12-year-old Wanda Grace (RaeVen Larrymore-Kelly), a 19th-century Southern slave. Judge Gibbs develops a strong romantic interest in public defender Kathy Baker (Liz Vassey), and dispatches an alligator to frighten Leanne into a divorce. Honest Sheriff Gary Hammond (Sam Robards) reacts to the loss of his late wife by stepping out as a ballroom dancer, and a dance instructor plots the overthrow of the Castro government. Meanwhile, an unseen character steals and explodes autos to protest pollution. Gibbs also has to deal with the Crowe family (Brent Briscoe, Beth Grant, Paul Vogt, Peter Allen Vogt, William Sanderson) of Southern slackers and yahoos. Filmed in and around Miami, this eccentric series kicked off August 4, 1998 on ABC. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Beau Bridges, Liz Vassey, (more)
A group of intrepid humans attempts to save the Earth from vicious extraterrestrials in this extremely popular science-fiction adventure. Borrowing liberally from War of the Worlds, Aliens, and every sci-fi invasion film inbetween, director Roland Emmerich and producer and co-writer Dean Devlin present a visually slick, fast-paced adventure filled with expensive special effects and large-scale action sequences. The story begins with the approach of a series of massive spaceships, which many on Earth greet with open arms, looking forward to the first contact with alien life. Unfortunately, these extraterrestrials have not come in peace, and they unleash powerful weapons that destroy most of the world's major cities. Thrown into chaos, the survivors struggle to band together and put up a last-ditch resistance in order to save the human race. As this is a Hollywood film, this effort is led by a group of scrappy Americans, including a computer genius who had foreseen the alien's evil intent (Jeff Goldblum), a hot-shot jet pilot (Will Smith), and the President of the United States (Bill Pullman). While some critics objected to the film's lack of originality and lapses in logic, the combination of grand visual spectacle and crowd-pleasing storytelling proved irresistible to audiences, resulting in an international smash hit. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Pullman, Will Smith, (more)
Country music star Dwight Yoakam plays a rodeo clown in this actioner. Virgil Kidder is running from his girlfriend and his son. He left them seven years ago and finds a haven working in small-time rodeos. At night he occupies himself with brief, meaningless affairs. As the story really opens Virgil is pushed by his old buddy Brownie to return to Waco and face his past. Among those he must deal with is Sheriff Gil Acuff who blames Virgil for his debilitating rodeo accident. Soon after his arrival to town, Acuff's delusional niece, who thinks she is a vampire, is found dead in Virgil's car with a stake protruding from her chest. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dwight Yoakam, Michelle Joyner, (more)
- 1993
Based on a true story, the made-for-TV Fugitive Among Us stars Peter Strauss and Eric Roberts. Strauss plays Max Cole, a police detective obsessed with tracking down a rapist. Cal Harper (Roberts), who is as outgoing and uninhibited as Cole is buttoned-up and repressed, is the number-one suspect. After a two-year pursuit across the Southwest, Cole is close to cornering his quarry--at great personal and emotional expense. Suddenly he is seized with the notion that Harper may not be the man he's looking for, sparking yet another deluge of angst. Full of surprising plot twists and offbeat characterizations, Fugitive Among Us debuted February 4, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
In this bizarre thriller, based on a true story, a family moves into their dream house and are appalled to discover that they are not alone when strange things begin to happen. It soon becomes apparent that the special tenants are angry spirits out to destroy the family and their neighbors who have built their homes on top of a graveyard. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patty Duke, David Selby, (more)
- 1991
Silhouette, an excellent made-for-cable thriller, is the story of a businesswoman who is stranded by car trouble in a small town and who is the only witness to a murder. Samantha Kimball (Faye Dunaway), while waiting for her car to be repaired, stays in a rundown hotel in a small town. There, unable to sleep, she watches through her window as a car drives up to the home of a local waitress. She sees the shadow of a man get out and a violent attack and murder take place inside the home. After having made her statement to the police, Samantha becomes increasingly frightened as the killer begins to stalk her and her daughter, afraid that he can be identified. Dunaway is terrific as the woman who must fight to protect herself and her child, and she gives a cool, nuanced performance in a somewhat cliched role. The identify of the killer, not revealed until the bloody finale of the film, is not much of a surprise, but Silhouette, fast-paced and nicely directed by Carl Schenkel, makes the most of its familiar material and delivers an exciting, suspenseful lady-in-distress thriller. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Though based on fact, the two-part TV movie False Arrest plays more like one of those Linda Blair "babes in prison" flicks. Donna Mills plays Joyce Lukezic, a well-off Phoenix businesswoman/homemaker accused of murder. She knows, and we know, that she didn't do it. The double homicide was the handiwork of her sleazy husband Robert Wagner, who works diligently behind the scenes to make certain his wife is convicted. And with the "guilty as charged" verdict, he leaves Joyce high and dry at the end of part one. Part two of False Arrest was telecast three days later, with Joyce fending off hostile and sexually abusive inmates, courting a nervous breakdown, and battling to have her conviction overturned. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
The made-for-TV Exile can be summed up as a kindler, gentler Lord of the Flies. Twenty somewhat sheltered American students are marooned on a Malaysian island. The "survival of the fittest" theme is shunted aside in a spirit of camaraderie and cooperation, as the kids pull together to survive. Corey Feldman heads the cast of young Hollywood "hunks" and "babes," each given ample opportunity to show off their physical attributes (within TV-censor limits). Exile premiered January 14, 1990, on -- of all places -- The Magical World of Disney. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Barbara Rush guest stars as Magnum's beloved Aunt Phoebe, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright known for her extremely vivid imagination. When Phoebe insists that she is being stalked by a murderer, Magnum (Tom Selleck) wonders if the old dear is suffering from the early stages of Alzheimers'. As it turns out, she is--but that doesn't necessarily mean that her life isn't in danger. As an added complication, Magnum must do all of his investigating on the sly: thanks to a bureaucratic oversight, his detective's license has expired. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
