Brian Brown Movies
Director Ron Howard turns to the Western genre in this tale of a father and daughter who are brought together under difficult circumstances. Samuel Jones (Tommy Lee Jones) is a man living in New Mexico in the 1880s. He had abandoned his family years before to live and travel with a band of Apaches, but his conscience has finally gotten the better of him and he's decided to return home. Jones, however, does not receive a warm welcome upon arrival -- his wife has died and his daughter Maggie Gilkeson (Cate Blanchett), now grown and raising two children with her husband Brake (Aaron Eckhart), has no desire to see the man who left her mother to fend for herself. As Jones prepares to depart on a note of bitterness, a band of ruthless bandits, let by Army deserter Chidin (Eric Schweig), descends upon the homestead, murdering Brake and kidnapping his 15-year-old daughter Lily (Evan Rachel Wood). While Maggie feels no desire to forgive her father, she realizes he's her best hope to track down the criminals who took her child, and Jones and Maggie team up to find the bandits before they can disappear into Mexico. The Missing was based on the novel The Last Ride by Thomas Eidson. Val Kilmer and Jenna Boyd highlight the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Lee Jones, Cate Blanchett, (more)
- 2003
Zoo York, a team of professional skateboarders, grab their decks and hit the road in the first installment of the Skate Maps video series, which follows the skaters around the world as they search for good trails and good times. Skate Maps, Episode 1 follows the Zoo York team from their home in New York City to Cologne, Germany (and later Munich) as they skate the streets, steps, and anything else in their path while seeing the sights and goofing off. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2003
The Zoo York professional skateboarding team make their way across Europe with a camera crew in tow in this installment in the Skate Maps series, which follows the crew as they seek out the best skating in each city they visit and chronicle the personal ups and downs of the riders. In Skate Maps, Episode 2, the Zoo York team travels to Prague where they skate Stalin Square, enter one of Eastern Europe's most prestigious skating competitions, and party Czech-style with a group of friendly local women. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
The true story of the formation of the Texas Rangers provides the backdrop for this youth-oriented Western. In 1875, after the Civil War, Leander McNelly (Dylan McDermott) organizes the Texas Rangers to battle the outlaws terrorizing Texas, notably crime kingpin John King Fisher (Alfred Molina). With a team of experienced gunmen (Robert Patrick and Randy Travis) and enthusiastic but green recruits (James Van Der Beek, Usher Raymond, and Ashton Kutcher), McNelly and his Rangers bring law and order to the wild Texas plains; McNelly must also keep order among his charges when two rangers fall in love with the same woman, Caroline Dukes (Rachael Leigh Cook). Tom Skerritt and Vincent Spano are also featured in the supporting cast; the screenplay, adapted from a script by John Milius, was at one time set to be filmed by Sam Peckinpah, shortly before the legendary Western director's death in 1984. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Van Der Beek, Dylan McDermott, (more)
- 1975
In this low-budget western, a golden-hearted traveling prostitute who plies her back-breaking trade in the bed of her wagon, rolls into a mining camp and ends up saving the prospectors from vicious outlaws. She also has time to do a little matchmaking for her less worldly companion. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
