Gil Birmingham Movies

Xander (Nicholas Brendon) becomes a real mummy's boy in this second season episode. Sunnydale High is sponsoring a foreign exchange student program and Buffy's (Sarah Michelle Gellar) mom has signed up to host a student, Ampata Gutierrez, from South America. Meanwhile, during a field trip to a museum, a student attempts to steal a seal on the mummified remains of an Incan princess, and the seal is accidentally broken in the process. In classic mummy style, the mummy girl awakens and sucks the life out of the student, leaving him in her place. The mummy -- actually a princess sacrificed 500 hundred years earlier -- also happens upon Ampata waiting for Buffy at the bus station and drains his life as well. Buffy, expecting to pick up a boy, is surprised to find a beautiful teenage girl waiting for her. Nobody is more surprised though than Xander, who immediately falls for Ampata -- the mummy. Ampata, also smitten with Xander, must keep draining the life out of people to live. It is interesting to note that Oz's (Seth Green) rock band, Dingoes Ate My Baby, make its first appearance in this episode at a school dance. It is at this dance that Oz first expresses his attraction to Willow (Alyson Hannigan), but still does not talk to her. ~ All Movie Guide

The second of two made-for-cable films inspired by the old Ivan Tors series Gentle Ben, Gentle Ben 2: Danger on the Mountain was more blatantly a "pilot" for the revival of the series than its predecessor. Dean Cain stars as Jack Wedloe, overseer of a North California wilderness preserve which serves as the home for himself, his young nephew Mark (Reiley McClendon) and a big, lovable bear named Gentle Ben. Trouble begins when Jack's headstrong friend, land developer Fog Benson (Corbin Bernsen), enters into a business arrangement with a pair of shady entrepreneurs. Intending to cultivate the land abutting Wedloe's preserve, Fog naïvely insists that his partners intend to open a natural spring-water business. By the time Fog realizes that his new cronies actually plan to drill for oil, poor Jack has been arrested on trumped-up charges and Mark is bundled off to a foster home. Not surprisingly, it is Gentle Ben who sets things right in his own inimitable bruin fashion. Gentle Ben 2: Danger on the Mountain debuted January 5, 2003 on the Animal Planet cable channel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Executive produced by Steven Spielberg, the sprawling six-part, 12-hour TV miniseries Into the West covers 65 years of American history, from the first major migration westward in the mid-1820s to the massacre at Wounded Knee in the early 1890s. The story is largely seen through the eyes of two protagonists (and their families): Jacob Wheeler (Matthew Settle), a wheelwright who leaves his Virginia hometown and his family's business in 1827 to seek his destiny in the company of legendary mountain man Jedediah Smith (Josh Brolin); and Loved by the Buffalo (George Leach), a Lakota Sioux holy man who spends a lifetime seeking the answers to his profound and disturbing images about the future of his country -- and his people. Eschewing the usual "old-age makeup" route often pursued in epic tales of this nature, the main characters are played by progressively older actors in the course of the story: for example, Loved by the Buffalo is portrayed by no fewer than four different performers! In a more traditionalist How the West Was Won vein, the miniseries is festooned with major stars, some cast in very brief roles: among these are Josh Brolin, Keri Russell, Matthew Modine, Beau Bridges, Gary Busey, Tom Berenger, and Judge Reinhold. Nor is How the West Was Won the only inspiration for the multi-plotted storyline: other films echoed and emulated throughout the saga include The Iron Horse, The Big Trail, Westward the Women, The Searchers, and Dances With Wolves. As mentioned, the story is divided into six parts: "Wheel to the Stars," in which the fates of Jacob Wheeler and Loved by the Buffalo become forever intertwined; "Manifest Destiny," chronicling the first major trek to California; "Dreams & Schemes," wherein the Lakota lands are despoiled by Gold Fever and war breaks out between the North and South; "Hell on Wheels," chronicling the postwar chaos and the coming of the railroad; "Casualties of War," wherein the conflict between Native Americans and the white man results in wholesale bloodshed -- and, surprisingly, a "counter-revolution" of compassion and understanding; and "Ghost Dance," the last great stand of the Lakota, which brings the story full circle. Largely filmed in the Canadian Rockies over a six-month period, and utilizing the talents of six directors, Into the West premiered June 10, 2005, on the TNT cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

To those who have grown up with the radio and TV versions of the old Lone Ranger series, this retro TV-movie adaptation will appear as if it has just landed from another planet. Gone are such familiar trappings as "The William Tell Overture," the bushwhacking Butch Cavendish Gang, the title character's backstory as a genuine Texas Ranger, and faithful Indian companion Tonto's Pidgin English. Instead, the viewer is offered a wall-to-wall rock score; a twentysomething hunk of a Boston law student named Luke Hartman (Sebastian Spence) who morphs into the Lone Ranger; an equally youthful and remarkably articulate Tonto (Nathaniel Arcand) who dabbles in mysticism and has a hottie sister named Alope (Anita Brown); authentic 19th century dialogue such as "I love you guys!"; and even a skinny-dipping sequence. Yes, the Lone Ranger still rides a white stallion named Silver and fills his guns with silver bullets; yes, he still sports a mask; and yes, he dedicates his life to being a "champion of justice" after the brutal murder of his Ranger brother. Otherwise, it's "Hi Yo, Dude!" in this radical rethinking of The Lone Ranger, which debuted February 26, 2003, on the WB network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) reluctantly moved to the perpetually overcast town of Forks, WA, and set out to carve a niche for herself, she assumed it would be one similar to the low-profile social position she held back in Phoenix. First on the list of surprises was the unfamiliar attention from the male population of her new high school; second, the attention from one male in particular: Edward Cullen, Vampire (Robert Pattinson). Before long, the unlikely soul mates find themselves in a passionate relationship with a variety of significant setbacks, including Edward's special-needs diet (he doesn't eat humans, but Bella's scent inspires a nearly impossible to harness bloodlust) and the human girl's mortality. Though things proceed relatively smoothly at first (Edward even introduces Bella to his adoptive vampire family), a visiting vampire clan consisting of James (Cam Gigandet), Victoria (Rachelle Lefevre), and Laurent (Edi Gathegi) catches Bella's unique scent and threatens the young couple's budding, if dangerous, happiness. James, known for his powerful tracking ability, becomes obsessed with making Bella his next victim. Fearing for Bella's safety and that of her loved ones, the Cullens must combine their collective talents in order to stop the highly predatory James before his goal is accomplished. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide