Jay Tavare Movies
The sole survivor of a Viking "dragon" vessel shipwrecked on the eastern shores of the New World 15 years ago provides the only hope for the a Native American tribe faced with certain destruction by Norse berserkers in director Marcus Nispel's (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) dark action adventure. Reared by the Wampanoag tribe following a failed attempt by the Vikings to raid coastal villages for slaves, a ten-year-old shipwreck survivor is nicknamed "Ghost" by his adoptive tribe due to his pale complexion and blond hair. Legend says that death and destruction will follow the boy wherever he travels, yet the peaceful people of the Wampanoag tribe selflessly take the frightened child in as if he is one of their own. Over the course of the following decade, the adopted young Norseman eventually grows into a strong warrior (Karl Urban) determined to prove his worth to the people he calls family. When the rampaging Vikings return to the New World to rain destruction down on the Native Americans and to claim the fertile land of the peaceful people, Ghost finds himself in the precarious position of having to stop his own people from destroying his village and ruthlessly slaughtering the woman he loves (Moon Bloodgood). Now, as Ghost's true destiny is revealed by the powerful shaman known as the Pathfinder (Russell Means), the fearless warrior sets out to stage a savage one-man war on the marauding Vikings and become the savior once prophesied to defend the Wampanoag people in their darkest hour. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karl Urban, Moon Bloodgood, (more)
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)
Based on the novel by Charles Frazier, Anthony Minghella's star-studded Cold Mountain is a sweeping tale set in the final days of the American Civil War. Jude Law stars as Inman, a young soldier who, despite an injury, is struggling to make his way home to Cold Mountain, NC, where his beloved Ada (Nicole Kidman) awaits. In Inman's absence, Ada befriends Ruby (Renée Zellweger), who helps her keep up her late father's farm. Meanwhile, in his travels, Inman encounters a menagerie of interesting folks. Also starring Natalie Portman, Giovanni Ribisi, Donald Sutherland, and Philip Seymore Hoffman, Cold Mountain features original music by Jack White of the White Stripes. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, (more)
The creative team behind Being John Malkovich -- director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman -- return with this equally offbeat comedy, in which Kaufman himself becomes the leading character. Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) is a gifted but profoundly neurotic screenwriter who, after the success of Being John Malkovich, has been hired to write a script adapted from the nonfiction book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. But while Charlie is obsessive about his work, he's also intensely paranoid, given to deep depression, socially inept, and terrified of talking to women, qualities which are making it difficult to get on with his work or hold on to his tenuous relationship with girlfriend Amelia (Cara Seymour). Meanwhile, Charlie's identical twin brother, Donald Kaufman (also played by Cage), has shown up to move in with his brother. Emotionally, Donald is Charlie's polar opposite -- a loudmouthed, over-confident, superficial party animal who has an easy way with the ladies. Donald has decided to follow his brother's footsteps and take up screenwriting as well, but embracing the dictates of screenwriting tutor Robert McKee (Brian Cox), he's cranking out a cliché-ridden serial-killer thriller when not busy making time with new girlfriend Caroline (Maggie Gyllenhaal). As Donald blazes through his screenplay, Charlie slowly picks away at his story, in which author Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) chronicles John Laroche (Chris Cooper), a scruffy but devoted plant enthusiast who tries to save rare species of orchids by stealing them from their natural home in the swamps of Florida. As John and Susan become better acquainted, they find themselves attracted to one another; similarly, Charlie finds himself increasingly fascinated with Susan, and finds himself falling in love with her, even though he's only seen her photo on the dust jacket of her book. Charlie arranges to meet Susan, but is too nervous to confront her face to face, so he sends Donald (who has just scored a seven-figure deal for his script) in his place, while he attends a screenwriting seminar held by McKee. Adaptation also features Tilda Swinton, Judy Greer, and Stephen Tobolowsky. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, (more)
A boy travels through time, and makes an unlikely friend along the way, to help save an animal from harm in this adventure fantasy for the whole family. Jimmy Dobson (Miko Hughes) is a preteen boy who visits a traveling carnival, "Aunt Molly's Circus," and is shocked to see a bear cub being treated with great cruelty by his trainers. Appalled, Jimmy decides that the bear cub, whom he calls Dudley, should be set free. Jimmy discovers a magical cave where one can travel back and forth in time, and he hits upon the idea of using the cave to take Dudley and himself back to the year 1841, where Dudley can be released into wilds where the carnival minders won't be able to reach him. However, Dudley wanders away at the last moment, and Jimmy travels into the past all by himself. There, he meets a mountain man and bear tracker (Dan Haggerty) who agrees to travel back to the 20th century with Jimmy so they can rescue the bear and take him to safety. Escape to Grizzly Mountain also stars Jan-Michael Vincent and Miles O'Keeffe. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1999
Nanci Rossov directs this cross-cultural drama about captured Native Americans enrolled in a turn of the century "Negro" college. The film opens with Richard (Chuma Hunter-Gault) and Cleola (Tembi Locke) announcing their engagement. Though the college prides itself on its integrationist philosophy, the sharp-witted Cleola soon chafes under Richard's and the school's patronizing attitudes toward women. Meanwhile, three Lakota braves are accepted into the school at the behest of a U.S. Army officer who wants to prove that Indians can function in mainstream culture. The trio's reluctance to participate is more and more pronounced as their upwardly mobile Black classmates antagonize them with racial asides. Unbowed won Best Feature at the 1999 American Indian Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tembe Locke, Jay Tavare, (more)
In this action thriller, a group of Islamic terrorists, led by Nagi Hassan (David Suchet), highjacks a 747 jetliner with 400 passengers aboard, but Lt. Col. Austin Travis (Steven Seagal), a United States intelligence agent, is convinced that this isn't an ordinary case of air piracy. His suspicions are soon confirmed; Hassan's men have obtained a large cache of stolen Soviet nerve gas, and they are using the 747 to smuggle the deadly gas into the United States, where they intend to use it to wipe out Washington D.C. and possibly the entire East Coast. As the jet approaches the U. S., engineer Dennis Cahill (Oliver Platt) designs a plan in which a military plane will be able to transfer U.S. soldiers onto the 747 and regain control of the plane and its deadly cargo. However, when Travis dies in the course of the mission, intelligence agent Dr. David Grant (Kurt Russell) is forced to take his place alongside explosives expert Cappy (Joe Morton), commando Rat (John Leguizamo), and stewardess-turned-anti-terrorist Jean (Halle Berry). Executive Decision was the first directorial assignment for veteran film editor Stuart Baird; he cut the film as well. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kurt Russell, Halle Berry, (more)
Based on the popular video game Street Fighter II, Street Fighter stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as Col. Guile, the cocky but brave leader of an Allied Nations fighting force. When the evil General Bison (Raul Julia), the power-mad leader of Shadaloo, kidnaps a bus full of Allied Nations relief workers and holds them for a multi-billion dollar ransom, Guile and his team are sent in to do battle with Bison; aiding Guile is intrepid TV journalist Chun-Li (Ming-Na Wen), while a pair of con men (Damian Chapa and Byron Mann) try to play both sides against the middle for their own purposes. Raul Julia died of cancer shortly before the film was released. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Claude Van Damme, Raul Julia, (more)
