Tom Carey Movies
A veteran of the first Gulf War who later went on to serve in Afghanistan and Iraq discovers that returning to civilian life after the trauma he endured is but an empty dream in director Francesco Lucente's harrowing drama. Years ago, when he served in the first Gulf War, Jerry (Jamie Dreven) was a patriotic Marine reservist driven by a desire to protect his fellow countrymen. Later, despite being embittered by the broken promises of the military and still not having received the respect that he so badly craved, the civically minded father of three is redeployed to Afghanistan and Iraq only to be irreversibly damaged by the horrors of war. Now Jerry has returned home to his wife and family, struggling beneath the poverty line in a cramped trailer and devastated by night terrors. Jerry's wife Nora is unsympathetic to her husband's plight, and soon begins stashing their children's newspaper route earnings in order to fund an escape. When Jerry discovers that Nora has betrayed him, the atrocity that he commits proves so shocking that even the most seasoned war veterans will recoil in horror. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie Draven, Grace Fulton, (more)
This Canadian TV movie is based on the true story of infamous serial rapist and killer David Snow, as originally set down in print by Allison Shaw, the woman who brought Snow to justice. After narrowly escaping a sexual assault, Allison (Laura Harris) marries her rescuer Darris Shaw (Eric Johnson) and tries to put her past behind her by moving to a new neighborhood in Vancouver, British Columbia. Before long, however, Allison notices the unnatural interest taken in her by her next-door neighbor David Snow (Eric Johnson). Going public with her stories of David stalking and menacing her, Allison finds herself written off as paranoid and delusional by everyone, including the police and even her husband: It seems that Snow is a pillar of the community, beloved by all and utterly above suspicion. Eventually, a series of rapes and murders occur in the area--yet still no one but Allison is willing to link the amiable Mr. Snow to the wave of terror, despite the fact that several of the victims bear a startling resemblance to Allison! First seen on Canada's CTV network in February of 2005, A Friend of the Family made its US cable debut via the Lifetime channel on July 4 of that same year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Ang Lee's adaptation of E. Annie Proulx's story Brokeback Mountain stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger as young cowboys named Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar. Each of them is hired to corral sheep on the title location and they soon bond very closely. Their platonic relationship explodes into a physical one, but eventually the two are separated when their job comes to an end. Although the two follow different life paths -- one becoming a father of two and the other marrying into a successful business -- they have a reunion years later. Each is affected profoundly by the rekindling of their old feelings for each other. Those feelings lead each to consider what continuing their hidden relationship would cost them. The screenplay was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, (more)
Rather surprisingly inspired by a true story, this made-for-cable movie stars Joely Richardson as Laren Sims, a career con artist who jumps probation and takes it on the lam with her long-suffering young daughter, Haylei (Hayden Panettiere). Using a stolen car and stolen credit cards, Laren ends up in Las Vegas, where she manages to persuade wealthy lawyer and horseman Lucas Mckenzie (Colm Feore) into marriage. Careful not to reveal her sordid past to her new husband, Laren insists to the doubting Haylei (who has been violently opposed to the marriage from the start) that she intends to turn over a new leaf -- and further, that all of her past crimes were committed out of love for her daughter! The trail of lies begins to unravel when Laren's previous life comes back to haunt her, leading inexorably to murder. Lies My Mother Told Me premiered March 7, 2005, on the Lifetime network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joely Richardson, Hayden Panettiere, (more)
When Undercover Christmas first aired over CBS on December 7, 2003, a number of critics lauded the film for its "fresh" and "unique" storyline--blissfully unaware that the film bore a marked resemblance to the 1940 Fred MacMurray-Barbara Stanwyck vehicle Remember the Night. Jamie Gertz tops the cast as Brandi O'Neill, a sassy cocktail waitress who is the "great and good friend" of billionaire Scott Shift (Cameron Bancroft). Determned to nail Shift on a tax fraud charge, FBI agent Jake Cunningham (Shawn Christian) figures that Brandi will make an excellent federal witness, and takes her into protective custody. Unfortunately, not long afterward Jake receives word from his mother Anne (Tyne Daly) that his father Joe (Winston Rekert), a very wealthy and very conservative jurist, has suffered a heart attack--and that it would behoove Jack to come home for Christmas to see his dad just one more time. Naturally, Jake is forced to take Brandi along to meet his folks, who are shocked beyond measure when, to avoid compromising his case against Shift, Jake passes Brandi off as his new girlfriend! Things get dicier still when it turns out that Joe Cunningham's heart attack was just a sham to force Jake to come home and get his annual dressing-down for not living up to his parents' hopes--and all the while, Brandi begins to really enjoy her new luxurious surroundings, and seriously considers latching onto Jake for keeps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The backdrop for this epic Western, which aired in August 2002 on the Hallmark Channel, will be familiar to fans of the genre and students of Western history. The Johnson County War took place in northern Wyoming in April 1892, growing out of the familiar story of big-money ranchers who suspected homesteader neighbors of rustling. Screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana adapted Frederick Manfred's 1957 novel, Riders of Judgment, which used some of the events and people but changed the names, including the county (which becomes Bighorn) and the main town (from Buffalo to Antelope). Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate (1981) also employed elements of the Johnson County War in its story. Manfred's book and this film center on Cain Hammett (Tom Berenger), a lonesome cowboy who hankers for Rory (Michelle Forbes); she has married his younger brother Dale (Adam Storke) in spite of the fact that she really loves Cain. A third Hammett brother, Harry (Luke Perry), unlike his honest, homesteading siblings, is a rustler who runs afoul of Marshal Hunt Lawton (Burt Reynolds), who is in the employ of wealthy Lord Peter (Christopher Cazenove), an Englishman in cahoots with the owners of big ranches to exterminate all of the homesteaders, guilty or innocent. Cain Hammett's real-life counterpart, Nate Champion, was a prime target of mercenaries hired by the big cattlemen, and the siege of Cain's cabin, which was the opening salvo in the war, provides the film with its climax. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Berenger, Luke Perry, (more)
Greene (Anthony Edwards) confronts unforeseen perils as he flies to Indiana and back with a heart-transplant patient. Carter (Noah Wyle) treats teenaged patient Trent Larson (Blake Heron), whose parents have not informed him that he is HIV-positive. Kovac (Goran Visnjic) tries to learn the identity of the mugger he has killed. And no sooner has Benton (Eriq La Salle) returned to work than he is placed in charge of the ER. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This family melodrama, set in modern, rural Wisconsin, chronicles the troubled life of a 23-year old woman who must decide whether to stay within her dysfunctional family or strike out on her own. Randi's choice is difficult. Currently she spends her days milking cows and working at the local truck-stop. If she takes off, she will leave her beloved 10-year old brother, Clovis, at the mercy of her alcoholic father, and ineffectual, addled mother. Her usually taciturn father becomes quite abusive when he drinks. His behavior already chased away Randi's older brother. He spends his free time perched atop a silo staring at the horizon and occasionally snapping pictures of the surrounding grayness. Mama spends her time taking care of her religious icons, playing the lottery and whining. She doesn't understand why everyone is always fighting. Randi almost forced to make a choice when she falls for a friendly milkman who is also an astrologer. Her father becomes meaner than ever when he finds out about it. Randi makes her decision. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melora Griffis, Carlin Glynn, (more)
It is not uncommon for actors to double and triple in roles while appearing in the "omnibus" plays of Neil Simon. Plaza Suite was the first film version of a Simon play to carry over the multiple-role device to the screen. Walter Matthau appears in all three one-act playlets comprising Plaza Suite, with a different leading lady in each. First we see Matthau as the husband of Maureen Stapleton, nostalgically returning to the same hotel suite where they'd spent their honeymoon 24 years earlier. Times have changed, however, and the twosome spend more timing sniping at one another than pitching woo. The second vignette casts Matthau as an effusive movie producer (lavish toupee and all) who hopes to seduce his old sweetheart Barbara Harris. The third and best sequence finds Matthau and Lee Grant playing the parents of a bride who steadfastly refuses to leave her locked room to attend her own wedding. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Matthau, Maureen Stapleton, (more)














