Ty Burrell Movies
Tall and dark actor Ty Burrell has the kind of deep-set eyes and sharp features that make him ideal for roles such as the self-absorbed yuppie who cast a cold gaze in Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead and the authoritative yet undeniably vain plastic surgeon on the CBS sitcom Out of Practice. And while Burrell's background may indeed be in repertory theater, it is in the worlds of film and television that he has truly come into his own.Equally comfortable on screens both large and small, Burrell found his footing before the camera thanks to walk-on roles on Ellen and The West Wing before supporting performances in Ivan Reitman's Evolution and Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down singled him out as a talent to watch for on the big screen. Never one to stay away from the stage for too long a stretch, the Ashland, Oregon, native subsequently returned to the boards to star in the Signature Theatre off-Broadway production of Burn This opposite Edward Norton and Catherine Keener.
While subsequent television roles in Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit served well to prepare Burrell for his regular role in the comedy series Out of Practice -- a lighthearted affair about a dysfunctional family of physicians -- big-screen roles in Dawn of the Dead, In Good Company, Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, and National Treasure: Book of Secrets virtually ensured a lasting career in film as well. In 2007, he was cast as a regular on the Kelsey Grammer/Patricia Heaton local-news sitcom Back to You as field reporter Gary Crezyzewski, but the show only lasted one season. Burrell bounced back in a big way with a prominent supporting role as Dr. Samson in the summer 2008 release The Incredible Hulk.
In 2009 Burrell enjoyed his most high-profile success so far as a member of the ensemble in Modern Family, the hit ABC sitcom that would earn him a number of award nominations. On the big screen in 2010 he had a small but memorable part as a creepy morning-show host in Morning Glory, and the next year played a part in the political satire Butter as a champion butter carver. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 2013
Two criminals (John Hawkes and Yasiin Bey) help a woman (Jennifer Aniston) take revenge on her husband after he refuses to pay a ransom fee when they kidnap her in this adaptation of the Elmore Leonard book, Switch. Dan Schechter directs from his own adapted script. The story features two of the same characters from the book that Jackie Brown was based on. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Hawkes, Yasiin Bey, (more)
- 2009
This mockumentary-style sitcom chronicles the unusual kinship of the extended Pritchett clan, a brood that includes patriarch Jay (Ed O'Neill), his younger Latina wife, Gloria, and her preteen son, Jay's daughter, Claire, and her family, and Jay's son, Mitchell, who lives with his partner, Cameron. ~ Joe Friedrich, Rovi
Fox's Back to You was a tailor-made vehicle for two sitcom favorites, Frasier's Kelly Grammer and Everybody Loves Raymond's Patricia Heaton. Grammer was cast as vainglorious TV news anchor Chuck Darling, who after publicly humiliating himself with an internet tirade lost his job with a prestigious big-market station, and found himself right back where he started at Pittsburgh's WURG-TV. While Chuck had been away from Pittsburgh, his former co-anchor Kelly Carr (Heaton) had become a star and "news diva" in her own right. Now Chuck and Kelly were forcibly teamed again by the WURG management, and neither was happy over the arrangement. Much of the series' humor arose from the backstage squabbling between these two giant egos, which often focused on Chuck's reputation as a womanizer and Kelly's habit of playing "Ms. Know-It-All". Like most sitcoms of this nature, Back to You boasted a large supporting ensemble: Josh Gad as neurotic news director Ryan Church, Fred Willard as dunderhead sports anchor Marsh McGinley, Ayda Field as well-endowed weatherperson Montana Stevens, Ty Burrell as accident-prone field reporter Gary Crezyewski (pronounced Kre-Shoov-Ski), and Laura Marano as Kelly's 10-year-old daughter Gracie. Originally titled Action News, Back to You made its network bow on September 19, 2007. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton, (more)
- 2003
The "D.C. Sniper" case was still very much in the news when this Law & Order episode first appeared in the spring of 2003. Detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Green (Jesse L. Martin) race against time to track down the unknown gunman who has randomly picked off four victims in broad daylight. Once the suspect is in hand, Assistant District Attorneys McCoy (Sam Waterston) and Southerlyn (Elisabeth Rohm) are shocked by the revelations attending the arrest. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 2000
An extremely likely suspect is arrested after a woman is found murdered in a subway car. Unfortunately, he may be able to beat the rap if it is proven that, due to budget cutbacks, he wasn't provided proper medication in prison. This Law & Order episode provides an interesting contrast to earlier plot lines in which the right of mentally disturbed people not to submit to treatment was the crux of the case. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Jim Field Smith's gentle satire Butter stars Jennifer Garner as Laura Pickler, the wife of the longtime winner of a local butter-carving contest. When he decides to bow out of this year's competition, she can't imagine the family not having the title, so she begins to train herself. Her biggest rival turns out to be a young adopted African-American girl named Destiny (Yara Shahidi), who has a natural gift for sculpture. As the competition gets more and more fierce, Laura resorts to drastic measures, convincing an old flame to perform some dirty tricks in order to get the upper hand. Butter screened at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jennifer Garner, Olivia Wilde, (more)
An Ivy League classics professor becomes mixed up in his lawless identical twin's drug dealings after receiving word that his brother has been murdered, and returning to Oklahoma to discover he's been hoodwinked. To say that Bill Kincaid (Edward Norton) is ashamed of his upbringing is an understatement at best. Turning his back on his working-class parents and working diligently to erase any traces of his Southern accent, Bill develops a reputation as a true scholar dedicated to excellence and philosophical exploration. His brother, Brady (also Norton), on the other hand, grows weed. Arriving home to find Brady very much alive, Bill winds up mending bridges with their capricious mother, Daisy (Susan Sarandon), and reluctantly agrees to help his brother out of a tight jam involving notorious drug kingpin Pug Rothbaum (Richard Dreyfuss), who might just send both siblings to an early grave. Meanwhile, Bill can't help noticing that free-spirited poet Janet (Keri Russell) has somehow managed to find true happiness in the most unlikely surroundings. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edward Norton, Tim Blake Nelson, (more)
- 2006
- R
- Add Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus to Queue Add Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus to top of Queue
Nicole Kidman assumes the identity of visionary photographer Diane Arbus in a film that draws inspiration from author Patricia Bosworth's best-selling biography to tell the tale of a once-shy woman who becomes one of her generation's most strikingly original visual artists. Diane Arbus was a typical wife and mother whose morbid interests stood in stark contrast with her decidedly conventional existence in 1950s-era New York. Upon making the acquaintance of her eccentric, newly arrived neighbor, Lionel (Robert Downey Jr.), the once-content housewife soon embarks on a creative journey that will forever change the way both she and her legions of fans view the world around them. By blending factual aspects of Arbus' life with a fictional narrative, Fur weighs the domestic expectations of the 20th century housewife against the irrepressible drive for an artist to create and explore the world around her in her own unique way. Scripted by Erin Cressida Wilson and directed by Steven Shainberg (Secretary), Fur weaves a fictional romance with intimate details from the iconic photographer's life to offer a fascinating look at Arbus' artistic development. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nicole Kidman, Robert Downey, Jr., (more)
A single woman envies the security of her married friends, while they in turn dream of her freedom in this comedy drama. Olivia (Jennifer Aniston) is a single woman in her mid-thirties who feels she's reached a crossroads in her life. Unhappy with her career as a teacher, Olivia quits and takes a job as a maid until she sorts out her feelings. However, Olivia feels as if she could use some support, both personal and financial, from her best friends, all of whom at very least have more in the bank than she does. But that's not to say they don't have problems of their own. Christine (Catherine Keener) and her husband Patrick (Jason Isaacs) are screenwriters who have discovered that collaborating is more stress than they can deal with. Jane (Frances McDormand) is married to Aaron (Simon McBurney); they work together as designers, but while their professional relationship is cordial, they've become numb to one another as lovers and friends. And Franny (Joan Cusack) and Matt (Greg Germann) are a couple who comfortably support themselves and their children thanks to an inherited fortune; while their material needs are met, emotionally they can barely handle marriage and parenthood. Friends With Money was written and directed by Nicole Holofcener, who previously made the acclaimed independent features Walking and Talking and Lovely & Amazing. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jennifer Aniston, Joan Cusack, (more)
When a San Francisco homicide detective with a keen eye for criminal profiling is fired for botching the arrest of a notorious serial killer, his subsequent effort to reinvent himself as an insurance claims case-investigator leads him to study a series of perplexing wrongful deaths in this comedy starring Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder, Tim Blake Nelson, and Wilmer Valderrama. Michael Burrows (Fiennes) isn't your typical detective. Though Detective Burrows is a paranoid obsessive-compulsive who faints at the sight of blood, his remarkable insight into the criminal mindset has nevertheless made him a valuable asset to the San Francisco Police Department. When Detective Burrows' idiosyncrasies allow the feared "North Beach Killer" to elude capture, however, he is fired by his superiors. Upon offering his unique skills to a doubting insurance company, Burrows is given 30 days in which to prove he can sort out the legitimate claims from the false ones. Now, as Burrows makes for the Midwest in the company of hard-nosed field agent Siri Tyler (Ryder), the film student (Valderrama) who has been following the former detective for his thesis follows the pair as they investigate a series of forehead-slapping deaths, including that of a powerful executive who attempts to prove that his high-rise window is unbreakable and a pair of English tourists who fatally misinterpret the "cruise control" function on their rented RV. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder, (more)
The feature-film debut of director Zack Snyder, Dawn of the Dead is a modern retelling of George Romero's 1978 horror classic, which was actually the second film in a trilogy that began with Night of the Living Dead and concluded with Day of the Dead. Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames star as two of the last remaining people on an earth that has been ravaged by flesh-eating zombies. After escaping to a shopping mall with a handful of other survivors, they decide that they only way to truly elude the approaching throng of undead is to somehow make their way to an island that is supposedly zombie-free. Jake Weber and Mekhi Phifer also star. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, (more)
A quickly forgotten chapter in United States military history is relived in this harrowing war drama from director Ridley Scott, based on a series of Philadelphia Inquirer articles and subsequent book by reporter Mark Bowden. On October 3rd, 1993, an elite team of more than 100 Delta Force soldiers and Army Rangers, part of a larger United Nations peacekeeping force, are dropped into civil war-torn Mogadishu, Somalia, in an effort to kidnap two of local crime lord Mohamed Farah Aidid's top lieutenants. Among the team: Staff Sgt. Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett), Ranger Lt. Col. Danny McKnight (Tom Sizemore), the resourceful Delta Sgt. First Class Jeff Sanderson (William Fichtner), and Ranger Spec. Grimes (Ewan McGregor), a desk-bound clerk getting his first taste of live combat. When two of the mission's Black Hawk helicopters are shot down by enemy forces, the Americans -- committed to recovering every man, dead or alive -- stay in the area too long and are quickly surrounded. The ensuing firefight is a merciless 15-hour ordeal and the longest ground battle involving American soldiers since the Vietnam War. In the end, 70 soldiers are injured and 18 are dead, along with hundreds of Somalians. Black Hawk Down was voted one of the top ten films of the year by the National Board of Review prior to its limited Oscar-qualifying release. On the basis of his work in this film, co-star Eric Bana, a relatively unknown Australian actor playing Delta Sgt. First Class "Hoot" Gibson, won the lead in director Ang Lee's version of The Hulk (2003). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, (more)
Produced by J.J. Abrams and written by Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada), director Roger Michell's comedic glimpse into the cutthroat world of live television finds a desperate female news producer (Rachel McAdams) attempting to put out the flames between an anchorman (Harrison Ford) and his blustery but iconic cohost (Diane Keaton) in a last-ditch effort to save their failing morning show. Jeff Goldblum co-stars in the Paramount Pictures production. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Harrison Ford, Rachel McAdams, (more)
The Bourne Identity director Doug Liman teams with screenwriters Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth to streamline Joseph Wilson's and Valerie Plame's books detailing the explosive outing of undercover CIA agent Plame into a tense docudrama thriller starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. At the time her cover was blown by the George W. Bush administration, Plame (Watts) was combing Iraq for evidence of weapons of mass destruction as part of the CIA's Counter-Proliferation Division. Her husband, American diplomat Joe Wilson was attempting to verify a claim that the Iraqis had recently purchased enriched uranium from Niger when the White House began beating the war drums before any solid evidence had been gathered. When Joe penned an editorial in The New York Times decrying the hasty call to war, a prolific Washington, D.C. journalist took the opportunity to reveal Plame's identity as a CIA operative, an act that not only put her career in jeopardy, but also left her various contacts overseas in a precarious position. Years later, a jobless and publicly disgraced Plame wages a vicious fight to clear her name, set the record straight, and keep her family from falling apart. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, (more)
Mild-mannered scientist Bruce Banner has been traveling the globe in search of the antidote that will allow him to break free from his primal alter ego, but both the warmongers who long to exploit him for their own gain and a horrific creature known as The Abomination are determined to stop him from achieving his noble goal in Transporter 2 director Louis Leterrier's take on the classic Marvel Comics superhero tale. For years, Bruce (Edward Norton) has been living in the shadows, pursued by the military and haunted by the rage within. But traveling the world in secrecy isn't easy, and as hard as he tries Bruce can't get Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) off his mind. The daughter of Bruce's nemesis Gen. Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt), Betty represents everything that is beautiful in the world to a man who lives his life on the run. Eventually, Bruce returns to civilization and faces the wrath of The Abomination. While the Hulk may be a formidable force of nature, The Abomination is decidedly more powerful, and determined to destroy Bruce Banner. Created when KGB agent Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) exposed himself to a higher dose of the same radiation that transformed Bruce into The Hulk, The Abomination is unable to change back into human form and holds Bruce accountable for his frightful condition. With time fast running out for both Bruce and The Hulk, New York City is about to become the ultimate urban battle zone as two of the most powerful creatures ever to walk the earth clash in a massive, no-holds-barred fight to the finish. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, (more)
A middle-aged man finds a callow twentysomething usurping his professional life and worming his way into his family in this alternately funny and poignant comedy drama. Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) is a middle-aged man who has spent 20 years as the head of advertising sales for "Sports America," a leading athletics magazine. Dan is happily married to Ann (Marg Helgenberger) and has a college-age daughter, Alex (Scarlett Johansson), whom he dotes on, but Dan's comfortable life is given a major shake-up when a large multimedia firm buys the magazine. Seen as a bit long in the tooth to be truly competitive, Dan is demoted to second in command of advertising, and his position is handed over to Carter Duryea (Topher Grace), a 26-year-old who talks a good game about sales but has no practical experience in the field. Dan's wounded ego makes working with the arrogant Carter an uphill battle, but when he learns that Ann is expecting another baby, Dan is in no position to quit. Before long, Dan becomes aware of Carter's intense insecurities about his new job as the younger man reaches out to him for guidance, but this doesn't make Dan any less angry when Carter begins a romance with Alex after his marriage to Kimberly (Selma Blair) crashes and burns. In Good Company marked the solo directorial debut of Paul Weitz; he previously worked in collaboration with his brother Chris Weitz, who serves as producer on this film. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace, (more)
The spirit of the mega-hit Ghostbusters (1984) is intentionally recalled with this effects-heavy sci-fi comedy from the same director, Ivan Reitman, co-starring Dan Aykroyd and debuting on the 17th anniversary of the earlier film's release. When a meteor bearing single-celled organisms crashes to the Earth, the life forms are initially confined to a cave. Before long the creatures are evolving at an exponentially rapid rate, resulting in fearsome aliens running amok and possibly spelling mankind's doom, or at least the end of man's domination over life on Earth. Investigating the phenomenon is a community college professor, Ira Kane (David Duchovny), his geologist friend Harry Block (Orlando Jones), wannabe fireman Wayne Green (Seann William Scott), and government scientist Allison Reed (Julianne Moore). Evolution also stars Ted Levine, Ethan Suplee, and Katharine Towne. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, (more)
- 2007
- PG
- Add National Treasure: Book of Secrets to Queue Add National Treasure: Book of Secrets to top of Queue
In this adventure-filled sequel to the 2004 blockbuster National Treasure, Nicolas Cage reprises his role as artifact hunter and archaeologist extraordinaire Ben Franklin Gates. In this outing, Gates learns of his own family's implication in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth. Gates must then locate an elusive diary, not only to clear his family's name, but to unearth and connect several secrets, buried within the book, that point to a massive, global conspiracy. The film co-stars Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel, and Helen Mirren as Ben's mother. Jerry Bruckheimer returns as producer. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cage, Justin Bartha, (more)
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