Peter Coyote
- 2008
- PG
Inspired by a true story, director Dennis Fallon's emotional family drama tells the tale of a family attempting to cope with a tragic loss, and a young girl who finds the strength in the last place she ever expected. Twelve year old Belle (Vivien Cardone) has just lost her mother in a horrible auto accident, and she places the blame for that loss squarely on the shoulders of her grieving father Cody (Jason London). Unable to deal with his daughter's newfound rebellious streak and contend with his own sorrow at the same time, Cody sends Belle away to live with her grandfather Hock (Peter Coyote), a genuine cowboy who lives by a strong code of ethics. But Hock is unable to look at Belle without thinking about his deceased daughter, a sad fact that only deepens the young girl's intense feelings of alienation. Just as Belle begins to feel as if there's no one in the world with whom to share her sadness, along comes a loyal pup named Atticus that helps her to focus on the positive things in life. Perhaps with a little help from a kindly veterinarian, an empathetic farm manager, and a good-humored motel owner, this family will finally find the strength needed to move past their pain while building a joyous new life together. Patton Oswalt co-stars in a drama also featuring the final onscreen appearance of legendary actor Peter Boyle. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Coyote, Jason London, (more)
- 2008
This documentary shines a light on the seemingly effective practice of incorporating poetry into the lives of patients recovering from surgery and major illnesses. Spearheaded by Dr. John Graham-Pole and John Fox, this rather inexpensive addition to the healing benefit has had a positive effect on many lives. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Coyote
This comedy concerns Maya Doolittle, a veterinarian with an over-the-top skill for dealing with animals. Maya gets a call from the president himself, hoping to enlist her help in preventing a pet problem from becoming a canine catastrophe. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kyla Pratt, Peter Coyote, (more)
- 2008
The 2000 presidential election -- marked by an extremely narrow margin of victory, troubles with ballots going missing, and mechanical problems with poorly designed paper ballots in the state of Florida -- led many pundits to debate how effective the mechanics of voting had become in America. However, many who have set out to "solve" these problems have in fact only made them worse; many commonly used electronic voting systems are significantly less accurate than their mechanical counterparts, a number of them offer no hard-copy backup of the votes cast, and one of the largest manufacturers of electronic voting machines, Diebold, is headed by Walden O'Dell, a man who told attendees at a Republican fund raiser in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president (George W. Bush) next year," leading many to question his objectivity and if certain problems with his machines occurred entirely by accident. A growing number of political activists are looking to the 2008 presidential race as a test of whether fair elections are still possible in the United States, and the battle to see that all votes are accurately counted and election laws are properly observed is explored in the documentary Stealing America: Vote by Vote. Filmmaker Dorothy Fadiman weighs the evidence that political influence may have been used to leverage presidential election results in certain states, that a significant number of voters may have been illegally prevented from casting a ballot, and that the latest generation of electronic voting machines could be easily susceptible to tampering. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Coyote
- 2007
- AddFog City Mavericks: The Filmmakers of San Franciscoto QueueAddFog City Mavericks: The Filmmakers of San Franciscoto top of Queue
While Los Angeles has been the capital of major studio filmmaking in America since the early ears of the 20th Century, in the northern part of California, San Francisco has become home to a different breed of filmmaker -- artists who treasure their independence and carefully guard their creative vision, even while working in the highest echelons of the commercial movie business. Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas are just two of the best-known directors to emerge from the San Francisco film community, and Fog City Mavericks is a documentary which pays homage to a number of important filmmakers from the City by the Bay. In addition to Coppola and Lucas, Fog City Mavericks profiles directors Clint Eastwood, Carroll Ballard, Philip Kaufman and Chris Columbus, pioneering independent auteur John Korty, experimental filmmaker Bruce Conner, producer Saul Zaentz, editor and sound designer Walter Murch, cinematographer and director Caleb Deschanel, digital animation moguls Brad Bird, Pete Docter, John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton, and actor Robin Williams, and many more. While examining these individuals, the film also embraces the whole of the San Francisco film scene, and explains why these artists remain so loyal to their hometown. Fittingly, Fog City Mavericks received its world premiere at the 2007 San Francisco International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2007
This 100 minute program takes a look at the brain and its ability to change and adapt itself based on what it's presented with. Dr. Michael Merzenich of the University of California and his team of scientists present a series of computer stimuli developed to encourage this growth and adaptation within the brain so that viewers can improve their own brain function. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
Filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson examines a strange miscarriage of justice amplified by post-9/11 hysteria in this imaginative fusion of documentary and docu-drama. Steve Kurtz is an artist and political activist who was an associate professor at State University of New York's Buffalo campus and a member of a politically oriented creative collective known as the Critical Art Ensemble. In the spring of 2004, Kurtz was preparing an installation of pieces commenting on the potential dangers of genetically modified foods for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art when his wife Hope Kurtz unexpectedly suffered heart failure. Kurtz called 911 to report the emergency, but by the time the police arrived she was dead. While looking through Kurtz's home, authorities found Petri dishes used to grow bacteria and genetically modified flies the artist had obtained for his exhibit; soon a Hazmat crew had sealed off the house, and Kurtz was behind bars under laws designed to combat bio-terrorism. While Kurtz purchased his materials legally through the internet and the case against him is flimsy at best, the FBI has refused to drop charges against him, in part because the federal government is eager to strengthen bio-terrorism laws rather than call attention to their flaws, and in part because the Food and Drug Administration would prefer to keep critics of bio-engineered food (which the FDA has embraced over the objection of many in the scientific community) as quiet as possible. Since Kurtz is not able to tell his own story on camera, for the film Strange Culture Leeson has combined interviews and newsreel footage with cinema verite-style recreations, featuring actors Thomas Jay Ryan as Steve Kurtz, Tilda Swinton as Hope Kurtz, and Peter Coyote as Steve's associate Robert Ferrell. Strange Culture also features an original score by pioneering experimental rock group the Residents. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2006
- R
- AddBehind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evilto QueueAddBehind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evilto top of Queue
North Korea is threatening to flex its nuclear muscle, and it's up to a team of US Navy SEALs to prevent a catastrophe in this action-packed sequel to Behind Enemy Lines starring Bruce McGill, Keith David, and Peter Coyote. Everything was going as planned, but when the mission is aborted after the troops have already deployed, four American soldiers are forced to fight for their lives deep in enemy territory. As the rebel forces close in on the stranded men, the battle heats up and the fate of the free world hangs in the balance. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2006
A mail-order bride from Thailand arrives in America with bright hopes for the future, only to find that her new home is a virtual prison in director Thymaya Payne's emotionally turbulent short film. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Coyote, Matthew Carey, (more)
An orphaned drifter recently released from the hospital and seeking gainful employment finds that sometimes fate can play cruel tricks on the desperate in a tightly wound tale of adultery, deception, and murder starring Peter Coyote and Lucas Black. Nat Banyon (Black) is an orphan just looking to get back on his feet after an extended convalescence in a Wyoming hospital. When by chance Nat spots a bad car accident and bravely acts to save the life of the car's eccentric driver, Herman Finch (Coyote), the grateful wheelman kindly extends an offer of work to the young drifter, with the understanding that room and board will be provided free of charge. Assigned the task of cleaning up Finch's rundown Deepwater motel in exchange for a street-worthy car, Nat sets about performing his duties while slowly becoming aware that, in this ramshackle motel, nothing is as it seems and no one can be trusted. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucas Black, Peter Coyote, (more)
Three stories of human treachery are given an unexpected link in this dry comedy drama from Icelandic filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur. Holt (Forest Whitaker) is an insurance investigator who is sent to Minnesota to look into a bus accident; the bus seems to have had significantly more passengers after it crashed than it had when it left the station, and Holt, posing as a police detective, needs to know who is telling the truth and who is attempting to cash in on the tragedy. Later, Holt is back on the job, when a badly burned body is found in a wrecked car, and the ID on the corpse indicates the victim was a small-time con artist with a police record. The victim's sister, Isold (Julia Stiles), claims that her brother's accident happened after his gas tank was drained and he was struggling to make his way home on a stormy night, but Holt isn't buying it; and Isold's husband, Fred (Jeremy Renner), and son, Thor (Alfred Harmsworth), don't seem especially trustworthy. Finally, a man and a woman struggle to make their way to shore after their car sails off a cliff into a body of water. While they seem grateful to make it back to dry land, it seems the woman has reason to be unhappy with her mate when she viciously attacks him. Who are these people, and what is their story? A Little Trip to Heaven received its North American premier at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Forest Whitaker, Julia Stiles, (more)
In 1968 members of San Francisco's Mime Troupe and Digger Movement decided to separate from society and form their own community, known as the Black Bear Ranch, to reconnect with nature and experience a different way of life. At the turn of the new century the resilient counterculture settlement was still active at the base of majestic Mount Shasta, and filmmaker Jonathan Berman traveled to the eighty-acre tract to explore just how the Black Bear Ranch continues to thrive despite the concerns of their suspicious neighbors and the ever-present eyes of the F.B.I. Life is lived at a different pace at the Black Bear Ranch, and now, as nostalgic members of the commune openly discuss just how life in the community has changed over the years, outsiders can finally see precisely how the bold social experiment has continued to defy all predictions regarding its longevity. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2005
- R
- AddReturn of the Living Dead 4: Necropolisto QueueAddReturn of the Living Dead 4: Necropolisto top of Queue
A pair of orphaned teens experience an unexpected reunion with their parents in this fourth installment of the long-running Return of the Living Dead franchise. After a traffic accident kills his folks, high-school senior Julian (John Keefe) leads a more or less typical suburban life. Sure, he's a little depressed, and sure, his brother, Jake (Alexandru Geoana), has a problem with matches. But otherwise everything is business as usual. All of that changes when their friend Zeke (Elvin Dandel) is injured in a dirt-bike accident and rushed to the hospital. Although the authorities claim Zeke is dead, he's actually carted off to a secret laboratory by the evil Hybratech corporation, whose scientists plan to experiment on him with a chemical that can reanimate the dead. Unfortunately for Julian and Jake, their uncle Charles (Peter Coyote) is one of the bad guys -- and he's not above using members of his own family as test subjects. With a group of friends in tow, the boys must infiltrate Hybratech's lab, find Zeke, and fend off a horde of angry zombies. Filmed back to back in Romania and Ukraine with Return of the Living Dead 5: Rave to the Grave, Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis premiered on the SciFi Channel cable network before receiving a DVD release. Both films were directed by Ellory Elkayem, who previously helmed Eight Legged Freaks. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aimee Lynn Chadwick, Cory C. Hardrict, (more)
- 2005
- R
- AddReturn of the Living Dead 5: Rave to the Graveto QueueAddReturn of the Living Dead 5: Rave to the Graveto top of Queue
In this sequel to 1985's Return of the Living Dead, a bunch of horny teens discover that their new designer drug is actually a chemical that turns humans into flesh-eating zombies. Unfortunately, they don't make this discovery until they're in the middle of an enormous outdoor dance party, where the wild costumes and chemically induced shenanigans make it difficult to tell who's a zombie and who's simply having a good time. Although it shares plot points, characters, actors, and crew with Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis, Return of the Living Dead 5: Rave to the Grave features only a cameo from Peter Coyote, the sole bold-faced name from the previous film. Both movies were co-written by William Butler, who previously acted in 1990's Night of the Living Dead remake, among other horror films. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aimee Lynn Chadwick, Cory C. Hardrict, (more)
- 2004
This deeply critical and often humorous documentary opens with President George W. Bush's acceptance of the 2000 Republican nomination and Bush's assertion that each U.S. president must be fully responsible for his actions. It then moves forward in time to examine the extent to which Bush failed to live up to this oath, via eviscerating commentary from numerous left-wing spokespeople including Arianna Huffington, Michael Moore, Bill Maher, Al Franken, and others. Peter Coyote narrates. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- 2004
The Lakota Native American tribe has a long tradition of ceremonial horseback rides, which are used to celebrate within the community or bring positive spiritual energies toward matters of concern. In 1990, members of the Lakota Nation felt it was time the tribe addressed the growing need for peace around the world, and with this in mind they began a series of rides dedicated to ending war and bringing greater understanding to the peoples of the Earth. Documentary filmmaker James Kleinert examines the growing Native American peace movement in Spirit Riders, which looks back to Lakota traditions and takes them into the present with the continuing phenomenon of the Spirit Rides for Peace. The film includes interviews with activists and ride participants, including Charlotte Black Elk, Chris Leith, Ron His Horse Is Thunder, and actor Viggo Mortensen; Peter Coyote narrates. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Viggo Mortensen, Charlotte Black Elk, (more)
The documentary Oil on Ice discusses various factors that are having negative effects on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The film explains how America's energy policy, the rights of Gwich'in Indians, animal rights, and global warming are all causing serious disturbances to the Refuge. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 2004
- R
- AddEnron: The Smartest Guys in the Roomto QueueAddEnron: The Smartest Guys in the Roomto top of Queue
Alex Gibney, who wrote and produced Eugene Jarecki's The Trials of Henry Kissinger, examines the rise and fall of an infamous corporate juggernaut in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, which he wrote and directed. The film, based on the book by Fortune Magazine reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, opens with a reenactment of the suicide of Enron executive Cliff Baxter, then travels back in time, describing Enron chairman Kenneth Lay's humble beginnings as the son of a preacher, his ascent in the corporate world as an "apostle of deregulation," his fortuitous friendship with the Bush family, and the development of his business strategies in natural gas futures. The film points out that the culture of financial malfeasance at Enron was evident as far back as 1987, when Lay apparently encouraged the outrageous risk taking and profit skimming of two oil traders in Enron's Valhalla office because they were bringing a lot of money into the company. But it wasn't until eventual CEO Jeff Skilling arrived at Enron that the company's "aggressive accounting" philosophy truly took hold. The Smartest Guys in the Room explores the lengths to which the company went in order to appear incredibly profitable. Their win-at-all-costs strategy included suborning financial analysts with huge contracts for their firms, hiding debts by essentially having the company loan money to itself, and using California's deregulation of the electricity market to manipulate the state's energy supply. Gibney's film reveals how Lay, Skilling, and other execs managed to keep their riches, while thousands of lower-level employees saw their loyalty repaid with the loss of their jobs and their retirement funds. The filmmaker posits the Enron scandal not as an anomaly, but as a natural outgrowth of free-market capitalism. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Coyote
The first season of USA Network's sci-fi thriller The 4400 begins (pardon the cliché) with a bang, as a huge, glowing object falls from the sky and lands near Highland Beach, Washington. The comet-like object then disgorges some 4400 human beings, all of whom had vanished from the earth over the past 58 years! After a brief quarantine, the "4400" leave for various parts of the world--and then several returns, exhibiting such paranormal abilities as telekinesis, mind control, supersensitve hearing, and even, in the case of Shawn Farrell (Patrick Flueger), the power to revive the dead. Another of the 4400, Lily Moore, is pregnant with the child of Richard Tyler (Mahershalahashbaz Ali) Acutely aware that the returnees' otherworldly powers can be used for evil as well as good, Dennis Ryland (Peter Coyote), head of the National Threat Assessment Command division of Homeland Security, dispatches agents Tom Baldwin (Joel Gretsch) and Diana Skouris (Jacqueline McKenzie) to locate the rest of the 4400 to make certain that nothing terrible happens. Unfortunately, the damage has already been done, as witness the serial killer who has the power to make others do his dirty work. Also, whatever has caused the 4400 to develop these skills also has a profound effect on the two NTAC agents--to say nothing of Tom's son Kyle (Chad Faust), whose erratic behavior turns is a harbinger of things to come. Meanwhile, another of the 4400, the mysterious Jordan Collier (Bill Campbell), offers protection and shelter to his fellow retunees at Arcadia Estates--an outward act of altrusim that may be a cover up for a sinister hidden agenda. The five-episode first season ends after several of the 4400 are assassinated once their identities are made public--and after the startling secret behind the 4400 is revealed (we won't give too much away here: suffice to say that, though the 4400 were definitely abduction victims, their abductors were NOT aliens from another planet!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Coyote, Joel Gretsch, (more)
