Gavin O'Connor Movies

Two estranged brothers and Mixed Martial Arts fighters confront the forces that tore their family apart as they prepare to do battle in the ring in this drama from director Gavin O'Connor (Pride and Glory). Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy) is an ex-Marine from Pittsburgh who's never quite shaken his troubled past. Upon learning that the purse in an upcoming MMA tournament is the largest in the league's history, Tommy recruits his father, Paddy (Nick Nolte), a former coach and recovering alcoholic, to whip him into shape in time for the competition. Meanwhile, as Tommy steadily ascends the ranks by defeating one powerful opponent after another, his brother, Brendan, struggles to provide for his family with his job as a public school teacher. A former MMA fighter with a devastating punch, Brendan begins to wonder if he, too, could have a shot at winning the coveted purse. In time, Brendan and Tommy both emerge as dark horse contenders in the competition, setting the two brothers on a brutal collision course. But Tommy and Brendan's biggest battle won't be fought in the ring -- it will be fought in their hearts and minds. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director Gavin O'Connor collaborates with Narc director/screenwriter Joe Carnahan on this family-focused police drama concerning an honest homicide detective (Edward Norton) assigned to investigate the precinct run by his potentially crooked older brother (Noah Emmerich). As the investigation begins to reveal some troubling facts about the precinct, it gradually becomes apparent that the policeman who is also the older brother's best friend (Colin Farrell) may be the man orchestrating many of the suspected crimes. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A small-town beauty queen and an unlicensed mortician set out across the Texas plains on a journey of self-discovery in director Will Geiger's meditative road movie. Annabelle has never known what life is like outside the fiercely competitive world of beauty pageants; her mother's constant demands of physical perfection a never-ending stream of acute, soul-crushing criticism. Elvis doesn't have his mortician's license, but that doesn't stop his eccentric father from putting him to work in the family mortuary. When the sting of her mother's words becomes too painful to endure, Annabelle flees to the town mortuary knowing that is the last place her mother would come looking for her. When Elvis discovers the beautiful Annabelle cowering among the corpses, he sweeps her away on an impromptu road trip so that the pair may free themselves from their daily drudgery long enough to discover their own identities and realize what they really want out of life. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Mark Kerr is one of the great champions of a violent and dangerous sport -- "no holds barred fighting" or "mixed martial arts fighting," in which challengers of any fighting sport (boxing, wrestling, kickboxing, karate, and so on) may challenge one another, without observing the official rules of either sport. In "no holds barred" fighting, the two competitors attempt to reduce one another to a bloody pulp, and Kerr is one of the best men in the game. But behind his violent exterior is an intelligent man who has made a decision to pursue a career in a wildly dangerous profession. The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Mark Kerr is a documentary which looks at Kerr's life in and out of the ring, as he attempts to deal with his demons and hold his personal life together while traveling the world and fighting some of the world's most formidable foes. The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Mark Kerr was originally produced for the premium cable network HBO, where it first aired in 2003. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A teenager at a personal crossroads finds himself questioning the things that have given his life meaning in this independent coming-of-age drama. Roy Chutney (Ryan Gosling) is a high school senior in a small Montana town. Roy doesn't have an especially close relationship with his mother Evangelline (Kelly Lynch), and he hasn't seen his father in years. That doesn't prevent Roy from feeling emotionally devastated when he learns that his father has killed himself, and Roy's self-esteem takes a beating when he's cut from the high school football team shortly afterward. Roy wiles away his time swilling beer with his best friend, Tracy Two Dogs (Eddie Spears), and falling into a romance with Skyla (Clea Duvall), a barmaid at a local tavern, but it seems Roy's short time on the high school gridiron impressed Gideon Ferguson (David Morse), a local character who coaches a semi-pro six-man football team when he isn't delivering newspapers or trying to score a gig singing country songs at nearby honky-tonks. Gid thinks Roy has potential, and asks him to join his team; encouraged by Gid's belief in him, Roy agrees, and he persuades Tracy to tag along. While playing hardscrabble six-man football helps restore Roy's self-confidence, he finds it doesn't answer his questions about his future or his relationship with Skyla, and when Gid's overwhelming interest in Roy begins to lend credence to the rumors that Gid is gay, Roy starts to wonder just why he was asked to join the team. Jay Farrar, founder of the acclaimed alternative country bands Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, composed the film's musical score. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Set in Florida's beach community, Mule Skinner Blues chronicles a group of locals who crave self-expression in the midst of their Southern Gothic lifestyles. Chief among the figures is Beanie Andrew, a fifty-something former alcoholic who acts, sings, dances, writes, and lives in a trailer park outside Jacksonville and who finds work as an extra in a music video. He then presents Stephen with a series of home videos displaying his and his friends' talents. Most of them are out-of-work shrimpers, such as Steve Walker, a Vietnam veteran and troubadour; Ricky Lix, an ill-tempered blues guitarist; Miss Jeannie, a country singer who also has a penchant for yodeling; and Annabelle Lea, an art school grad and costume designer who keeps her departed bulldog's dead body in a backyard freezer. After the music video shoot, Stephen returns to Florida to find the group beginning work on an ambitious horror film called "Turnabout Is Fair Play," which has no completed script; still, the team tries to pull together to make the picture. The subject matter is very similar to Chris Smith's award-winning documentary American Movie, which also followed a struggling group of filmmakers through their production of a very low-budget genre piece.
~ Jason Clark, Rovi

William Best, a well-heeled Connecticut lawyer, leaves the family firm to work with the Manhattan DA's office. His first friend there is Hamlin Day, whose rise to the top from the ghetto has been as much a struggle as Best's has been a piece of cake. The disparate partners go out on a double date and that is where Best meets the sophisticated, sexy Meadow Adare. He is immediately attracted to her and this attraction doesn't wane when he learns she is a call girl. He likes her so much that he takes her home to meet his parents. Though Meadow is well-educated and classy, she has a drug problem and it is she who introduces Best to snorting heroin. The rest of this drama chronicles his subsequent slide to ruination. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi