Ryan Merriman Movies
This epic western starring Val Kilmer, Steve Zahn, Linda Cardellini, and Rachel Griffiths was adapted from Larry McMurtry's sprawling novel of the same name, and actually constitutes a prequel to Lonesome Dove. Texas Rangers Woodrow Call and Agustus McCrae may be getting up there in years, but their determination to capture Comanche war chief Buffalo Hunt, Comanche horse thief Kicking Wolf, and an elusive Mexican bandit king certainly hasn't faded with age. Now, as Gus attempts to resolve his personal issues with longtime love Clara Forsythe and Call comes to terms with his feelings for local prostitute Maggie Tilton, fellow Texas Rangers Deets, Jake Spoon, and Pea Eye Parker do their best to safeguard the advancing western frontier from the legions of Comanches who have vowed to defend their land to the death. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Val Kilmer, Steve Zahn, (more)
- 2001
Delta Burke takes on a dramatic role for the Lifetime original movie Dangerous Child, based on a story by Karen Stillman. Sally Cambridge (Burke) is a single mother with two sons, Leo (Marc Donato) and Jack (Ryan Merriman). Sixteen-year-old Jack has a lot of emotional problems, which he releases in uncontrollable angry fits toward his mom. She tries to get help for him, but no one believes her until Jack is involved in a tragedy. Due to the circumstances, Sally is mistaken for a child abuser and Jack's violent outbursts are finally recognized. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Delta Burke, Marc Donato, (more)
- 1998
Dennis Quaid made his directorial debut with this TV movie, a contemporary western filmed in Livingston, Montana with Quaid also down as executive producer. Tough, unemotional ranchowner Jim Clay (Quaid) and his faithful wife Kyle (Mare Winningham) have a teenage son Nathan (Ryan Merriman) who hopes to enter the rodeo big leagues, just like his dad. Instead, an auto accident leaves Nathan a paraplegic. Jim is devastated, since he was the cause of the accident. The situation brings father and son closer as the family attempts to deal with the tragedy. Premiered July 12, 1998 on TNT. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Quaid, Mare Winningham, (more)
Death once again shows he's determined to get what he wants in this teen-centric thriller. Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is a high school student hanging out with her friends at an amusement park one night when they decide to ride on the roller coaster. Wendy, however, has a premonition that something horrible will happen, and finds a way to save herself shortly before the ride goes off the rails, killing most of its passengers, including her boyfriend, Jason (Jesse Moss), and best friend, Carrie (Gina Holden). However, while Wendy may have survived the night at the park, she soon discovers that a malevolent spirit is following her and her classmates as they begin dying in strange and horrible ways. Wendy learns that a series of snapshots taken that evening give clues to the mayhem that followed her pals, and she teams up with Kevin (Ryan Merriman), Carrie's sweetheart, to try to warn the potential victims about the fates soon to befall them. Final Destination 3 was directed and co-scripted by James Wong, who also helmed the first two films in the franchise. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ryan Merriman, (more)
Masked serial killer Michael Myers makes his seventh appearance in the eighth installment of this long-running slasher series. Although the climax of the previous installment, Halloween: H20, depicted heroine Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) finally finishing off her brother/tormentor, the opening sequence of Halloween: Resurrection reveals that Laurie actually beheaded the wrong guy. Now confined to a mental institution, she quickly falls victim to her brother and longtime foe (played this time out by Brad Loree). Cut to Haddonfield, IL, where a sextet of college students is assembling for the production of an online reality show in which they'll spend the night locked up in the killer's childhood home being filmed by dozens of cameras and broadcast over the Internet. Presided over by fast-talking producer Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes) and his girlfriend/business partner, Nora Winston (Tyra Banks), the players range from fame-hungry Jen (Katee Sackhoff) and food-obsessed Rudy (Sean Patrick Thomas) to rakish Jim (Luke Kirby) and cerebral Donna (Daisy McCrackin). As these photogenic youngsters hunt for clues about Michael's tortured childhood, engage in on-camera sexual escapades and discover the phony props planted by Freddie and Nora, Michael arrives to stalk them relentlessly one by one. To complicate matters, Freddie himself is skulking around in a Michael Myers mask hoping to scare up some ratings. As the bodies begin to pile up, thoughtful cast member Sara (Bianca Kajlich) manages to survive thanks to wireless email instructions from high-school dork Myles (Ryan Merriman), but even the latest technology might not be enough to outwit Michael Myers. Halloween: Resurrection was directed by Rick Rosenthal, who previously helmed 1981's Halloween 2. The cast also features Thomas Ian Nicholas of American Pie and Billy Kay of L.I.E. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie Lee Curtis, Brad Loree, (more)
A wacky screwball sex comedy for the kids and grandpa too? Seinfeld's Jason Alexander makes his directorial debut with this gentle but funny coming-of-age story set in 1955 about Lenny (Ryan Merriman), a 14-year-old from the Bronx who is dedicated to witnessing a copulating couple. His early attempts at spying on his mom and her new corpulent husband Polinsky are thwarted when he is sent to live with his aunt Norma and uncle Phil in Queens for the summer. He soon learns that Norma is pregnant. No sex. All looks lost until he meets Hedy (Gretchen Mol), a fetching though lovelorn night nurse. Lenny also befriends the equally randy John, who informs him that he has started a sex club with a couple of neighborhood gals. Though the club is all talk, they all discuss the mechanics of coital engagement with language that is equal parts gutter and sex-ed. Meanwhile, as Lenny spies on Hedy, he inadvertently befriends her. Together they muse about the complexities of love and wistfully remember their respective dead fathers. Just Looking is a sweet-minded film about the great mystery of the teenaged years. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ryan Merriman, Joseph Franquinha, (more)
Scripted by David Mamet, this made-for-HBO outing dramatizes the brutal life and career of Meyer Lansky (Richard Dreyfuss), one of the key figures in American organized crime. The tale begins with Lansky's youth, when he was just another Jewish immigrant, and chronicles his rise from petty gambler to powerful crime lord. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dreyfuss, Eric Roberts, (more)
- 2000
Originally titled Mercury Project, this made-for-cable thriller focuses on 17-year-old Todd Baker (Ryan Merriman) and his ex-astronaut grandfather, Gus Baker (Robert Wagner). Hoping to honor the memory of his late father, likewise a space explorer, Todd collaborates with Gus in restoring a Mercury Redstone Rocket (purchased from a junk heap for a mere $80,000) as a high school science project. When Todd grafts the Rocket to a Mercury 10 capsule found in a space museum, he brings down the wrath of the Feds, who inform him that he's committed an infinite number of security breaches. Denied permission to complete his project, our hero is nonetheless redeemed when a space shuttle crew is trapped hundreds of miles above earth...and only Todd's rebuilt rocket and capsule is capable of going to the rescue! About as credible as anything else on the ABC Family Channel ever since, Rocket's Red Glare debuted on August 27, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1999
Based on the novel by Barbara Esstman, this made-for-TV drama concerns Neal (Keith Carradine) and Nora (Rebecca DeMornay), a married couple who run a horse ranch. Neal and Nora have slowly but surely drifted apart; while they still live together, they no longer feel that they have anything to say to each other. Nora dotes on their 17-year-old son Simon (Jordan Brower), while Neal has bonded with his daughter, 15-year-old Clea (Thora Birch). One day, Simon is killed in a riding accident, which throws Nora into a severe depression. Nora's mother Maggie (Ellen Burstyn), along with Neal, struggle to reach out to Nora for the first time in years, as Nora, who blames herself for Simon's death, tries to persuade Neal to sell the ranch and leave behind the life they've known all their lives. Night Ride Home was the 200th production shown as part of the acclaimed dramatic anthology series Hallmark Hall of Fame. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keith Carradine, Rebecca De Mornay, (more)
- 2002
Vacationing on Seven Bay Island in the summer of her 16th year, budding poet Victoria "Vicky" Austin (Mischa Barton) is faced with the approaching death of her beloved grandfather (James Whitmore), who is suffering from leukemia. In hopes of briefly forgetting her troubles, Vicky begins assisting a handsome young researcher named Adam (Ryan Merriman) who is working with sea mammals. In this capacity, Vicky discovers that she possesses the unique gift of being able to communicate with dolphins -- and also finds herself romantically torn between Adam and a wealthy suitor named Zach (Jared Padalecki). Suspense enters the picture when the dolphins "tell" Vicky of an illegal driftnet fishing operation. Based on the 1981 novel by Madeleine L'Engle and location-filmed in Australia, A Ring of Endless Light made its cable-TV premiere over the Disney Channel on August 23, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mischa Barton, James Whitmore, (more)
Ryan Merriman, Katey Sagal and Kevin Kilner star in this comedy from Disney about a single father and his two children who win an unusual prize in a sweepstakes -- a state-of-the-art computer controlled house in which everything can be easily controlled with the touch of a keypad. Directed by LaVar Burton. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ryan Merriman, Katey Sagal, (more)
James Redford, the son of actor and filmmaker Robert Redford, made his directorial debut with this independent coming-of-age drama set in the 1950s. After his parents are killed in the wreck of a light plane, young Eddie Haley (Max Madore) is left in the care of his uncle Frank (Stanley Tucci), an emotionally removed man who was once a major in the air force. When Frank decides to take an extended leave of his ranch in Arizona, Eddie is left behind with caretaker Ernesto (Rubén Blades) and his wife, Margaret (Dana Delany), a schoolteacher. Ernesto and Margaret are caring and capable surrogate parents to Eddie, but the boy has grown into a troubled and hot-headed teenager (now played by Ryan Merriman) by the time Frank comes back. As both Ernesto and Frank try to put Eddie back on the right track, the young man struggles with his decisions about his future, his love for his classmate Francesca (Paula Garcés), and some unanswered questions about the death of his parents. Spin was adapted from a novel by Donald Everett Axinn. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ryan Merriman, Stanley Tucci, (more)
The made-for-cable The Colt takes place in Virginia in the fourth year of the Civil War. The mare owned by young Jim Rabb (Ryan Merriman) of the First Michigan Cavalry gives birth to a colt, which battle-weary Sgt. Longacre (Steve Bacic) orders Jim to shoot so as not to slow down the other soldiers in the unit. Jim refuses to do so, risking severe disciplinary action. As it turns out, the Confederates strike before Longacre does, stealing both colt and mare. Again defying orders, Jim heads out alone to rescue his beloved horses, saving the life of a dying Rebel prisoner along the way. Ultimately, the colt proves to be an inspiration to Jim's comrades in arms, and is duly immortalized by another member of the First Michigan, army artist Covington (Darcy Belsher). An uplifting tale of unassailable innocence in the midst of America's bloodiest war, The Colt made its Hallmark channel debut on July 9, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ryan Merriman, Steve Bacic, (more)
Beth Cappadora (Michelle Pfeiffer), a photographer, is married to Pat (Treat Williams), a restaurateur, and they would seem to have a perfect life in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1988, they have three small children that Beth takes along to her high school reunion in Chicago. While checking in at a crowded hotel lobby, her middle child, three-year-old Ben, disappears. Despite a frantic search and much media coverage, the boy is not found, and Beth soon falls apart. Nine years later, the family has only barely recovered when they move to Chicago so Pat can open a restaurant with his father. A few months later, a neighborhood boy named Sam Karras (Ryan Merriman) knocks on the door, asking to mow the lawn. Beth notices the boy's appearance exactly matches a time-elapsed photo of Ben constructed by the police; she takes pictures of the boy and contacts both her husband and police detective Candy Bliss (Whoopi Goldberg). School fingerprints of Ben and Sam match, and the boy is taken to foster care while Candy and Beth confront the father, George (John Kapelos). It seems Ben was abducted by an unbalanced woman who was Beth's high school classmate; the boy was eventually adopted by George when he married "Sam's" new mother, and she later committed suicide, leaving no one to blame. Having grown up happily with George, Sam has no memories of his real parents. Now Beth and Pat must find a way to bond with Sam, and heal older brother Vincent (Jonathan Jackson), who was supposed to be watching Ben at the time he disappeared, and has been suffering from guilt ever since. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michelle Pfeiffer, Treat Williams, (more)
- 2001
In this made-for-TV comic fantasy, a teenager finds he's going through some unexpected changes thanks to a little secret his folks have been keeping from him. Kyle Johnson (Ryan Merriman) is a typical American kid who likes girls, plays basketball, and does well with his schoolwork. But one day Kyle learns that his good luck isn't just an accident -- it seems Kyle's mother is actually a leprechaun, and much to Kyle's annoyance, he finds he's turning into one of the little people himself. Luck of the Irish also features Alexis Lopez, Glenndon Chatman, and Henry Gibson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ryan Merriman, Alexis Lopez, (more)
A terrifying legacy haunts a single mother in this sequel to the frightening box-office hit The Ring. Hoping to leave their terrifying experiences in Seattle behind them, Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) and her son, Aidan (David Dorfman), move to the small town of Astoria, OR, where Rachel takes a job writing for the local newspaper. When Rachel learns of an unexplained murder, which occurred after a teenager watched a strange videotape with his girlfriend, she suspects her past is following her and she begins looking into the case. Rachel believes that the otherworldly Samara has come back; however, as she tries to convince others of the young girl's powers, her own son falls ill and is hospitalized, and Rachel's stories fail to convince either Dr. Emma Temple (Elizabeth Perkins), who suspects Rachel is guilty of child abuse, or David Rourke (Simon Baker), one of Rachel's colleagues who fears for Aidan's safety. Also starring Sissy Spacek, The Ring 2 was directed by Hideo Nakata; it was the first English-language project for the Japanese filmmaker, who previously made Ringu, the picture that was the basis for The Ring. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Naomi Watts, Simon Baker, (more)
- 2001
Aspiring teenage photojournalist Jason Harris (Ryan Merriman) begins assembling a picture profile of his father Will (Tom Irwin), a highly respected opthamologist. But while snapping candid shots of Will, Jason discovers to his chagrin that his father is having an affair with his receptionist (Angela Lambert)--and when Will begs his son to keep his indiscretions a secret from wife Renee (Christine Healey), Jason completely loses his faith and trust in his father. Before long, the boy's bitterness has spread to everyone and everything he cares about, like a disease. Ultimately, Jason has an accident which may render him permanently blind--but he angrily refuses to let his father operate on his eyes. Clearly, Monica (Roma Downey) has a truly daunting "forgiveness and redemption" assignment ahead of her! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2003
From the creators of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider came this weekly, 60-minute ABC adventure-fantasy series. The titular Veritas was a high-tech archeological team headed by brilliant scientist Solomon Zond (Alex Carter) and his long-estranged teenaged son Nikko (Ryan Merriman). As the two Zonds awkwardly tried to reconnect after so many years apart, they also embarked upon thrill-packed missions aimed at solving the riddles of long-dead civilizations. Helping Solomon and Nikko in their quest (and also dodging innumerable villains and mercenaries along the way) were gorgeous female computer geek Maggie (Cynthia Martells), narrow-visioned pedant Calvin (Eric Balfour) and Solomon's raffish buddy Vincent (Arnold Vosloo). Veritas: The Quest debuted January 27, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alex Carter, Ryan Merriman, (more)
- 2009
When a high school senior finds out that she's about to be crossed off her jock boyfriend's sex list right before giving him her virginity, she enlists her friends to plan the ultimate revenge in this teen comedy from director Dana Lustig (Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber). Rob Schneider stars as the girl's father, with Tania Raymonde, Kristin Cavallari, Rumer Willis and Ryan Merriman rounding out the rest of the cast. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Schneider, Tania Raymonde, (more)
