Terry Parks Movies
- 2005
- R
- Add The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada to QueueAdd The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada to top of Queue
Veteran screen star Tommy Lee Jones makes his directorial debut with the fractured tale of murder and injustice on the U.S.-Mexico border scripted by Amores perros and 21 Grams screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga. Mike Norton (Barry Pepper) is a fresh-faced Border Patrol officer in Cibolo County, Texas whose dedication to his new job leaves his lonely wife Lou Ann (January Jones) with little to do but spend her days at the local diner, where she strikes up a friendship with waitress Rachel (Melissa Leo). Despite her own status as a married woman, Rachel is unfulfilled in her marriage and is intimately involved with both rugged rancher Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones) and local Sherrif Belmont (Dwight Yoakam). Soon after Pete hires Mexican illegal Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cesar Cedillo) as a ranch hand, the growing bond between the pair is suddenly shattered when, in a moment of panic on a routine patrol, Mike hastily guns down the innocent Melquaides. When an enraged Pete learns that Mike had unceremoniously buried the illegal immigrant in an unmarked desert grave and local authorities opt to overlook the case, he kidnaps the crooked lawman and sets out to ensure that justice is served with or without the involvement of the local police force. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, (more)
Directed by Stephen Herek, Man of the House follows hard-nosed Texas Ranger Lt. Roland Sharp (Tommy Lee Jones) in an undercover job as a cheerleading coach. Though his assignment is fairly cut-and-dried -- after witnessing the murder of a federal informant, a group of cheerleaders from the University of Texas need temporary protection -- he ends up forming a variety of unexpected and decidedly less simple relationships. Aside from his immersion into the struggles and triumphs of the UT cheerleading squad (Monica Keena, Kelli Garner, Christina Milian, Paula Garces, and Vanessa Ferlito), Roland finds himself dealing with a strong attraction to college professor Molly McCarthy (Anne Archer). Formerly titled Cheer Up, Man of the House also features supporting performances from Brian Van Holt, Shea Whigham, and Paget Brewster. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Lee Jones, Cedric the Entertainer, (more)
H.G. Bissinger's best-selling true-life account of a few months in the life of a high-school football team comes to the screen in this adaptation written and directed by Peter Berg. Odessa, TX, is an oil town in the western part of the state that's home to the Permian High School Panthers, the football team with the best winning record in the state. Odessa is a town with more than its share of problems; the decline of the oil business in Texas has set the city's economy into a tailspin, and racial tensions still erupt into violence on occasion. But football is the one thing that brings all the people of Odessa together, and on Friday nights every fall, as many as 20,000 people fill Permian's football stadium to watch Coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton) and his boys try to lead the team to victory. As Gaines works to build a winning team in a town where victory is prized above all else, however, his players struggle through the emotional trials common to any teenager and ponder the fact that there is little future in their hometown...and that a championship season can be as much a burden as a triumph. Friday Night Lights also stars Lucas Black, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez, and country singer-turned-actor Tim McGraw. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Bob Thornton, Derek Luke, (more)
