Brandon Smith Movies
When a Vietnam veteran discovers two million dollars while wandering through the aftermath of a Texas drug deal gone horribly awry, his decision to abscond with the cash sets off a violent chain reaction in a stripped-down crime drama from Joel and Ethan Coen. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) has just stumbled into the find of a lifetime. Upon discovering a bullet-strewn pickup truck surrounded by the corpses of dead bodyguards, Moss uncovers two million dollars in cash and a substantial load of heroin stashed in the back of the vehicle. Later, as an enigmatic killer who determines the fate of his victims with the flip of a coin sets out in pursuit of Moss, the disillusioned Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) struggles to contain the rapidly escalating violence that seems to be consuming his once-peaceful Lone Star State town. Woody Harrelson, Javier Bardem, and Kelly MacDonald co-star in a distinctly American crime story that explores timeless biblical themes in a contemporary Southwestern setting. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, (more)
- 2005
Many changes have taken place between the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth season of The Shield. The Strike Team has been disbanded. Shane (Walton Goggins) is now working vice. Lem (Kenny Johnson) is with the Youth Authority, leaving Vic (Michael Chiklis) and Ronnie (David Rees Snell) working the AGC money-laundering sting operation at The Barn. Aceveda (Benito Martinez) is finally getting ready to leave to begin his work on the city council, and his replacement, Monica Rawling (Glenn Close), who got her start patrolling Farmington, has arrived and is preparing to take over. Dutch (Jay Karnes) and Claudette (CCH Pounder) arrive on the horrific scene of the drowning of a family of four. Because of Claudette's conflict with the DA last season, her and Dutch have been blackballed, and Aceveda assigns the high-profile case to another detective, Billings (David Marciano). It's discovered that the family's youngest child is missing from the scene, and when clues point toward gang involvement, Vic takes Monica out on the street with him to hook up with his sources. They stop in on Antwon Mitchell (Anthony Anderson), an ex-con who is now presenting himself as a community activist. Vic and Monica (who has her own history with Antwon) are not buying it, and believe that Antwon is still running the One-Niners. Recognizing how dangerous Antwon is, Vic makes a surreptitious trip to see Dead-Eye (Marcuis Harris), a One-Niner dealer who Antwon is pushing out of power, and offers to set him up if he helps Vic put Antwon back in jail. Later, Monica tells Vic that she's planning to set up a special gang task force at The Barn, and she wants him to run it, but she's not sure if she can trust him. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- 2000
It is just possible that the made-for-TV biopic Muhammad Ali: King of the World was hastily pieced together to capitalize on the popular theatrical documentary When We Were Kings and the publicity attending the upcoming Will Smith movie vehicle Ali. Actually, the title of the TV film was something of a misnomer, since the story covers the formative days of Ali's career and fame, when he was still fighting under his given name Cassius Clay. Played by Terrence DaShon Howard, the young Clay slugs his way from poverty-stricken obscurity to the 1960 Olympics, garners both positive and negative publicity with his incessant self-worship and improvised rhymes, and proves that he is more than just talk when he defeats Sonny Liston (Steve Harris) in 1964. It is in fact at this point that the film draws to a close, with a few hints of what is to come manifested in an early meeting between the impressionable Clay and Islamic activist Malcolm X (Gary Dourdan). Based on the bestselling 1998 biography by David Renwick, Muhammad Ali: King of the World debuted January 10, 2000, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terrence Howard, Gary Dourdan, (more)
