Navid Negahban Movies
- 2003
NBC wasted precious little time in offering up a TV-movie adaptation of one of the first truly uplifting stories of the Iraq War. Saving Jessica Lynch stars Laura Regan as the title character, a 19-year-old army private with the 507th Ordinance Maintence Company. On March 23, 2003, Jessica is captured by Iraqi insurgents after the rest of her platoon is wiped out in a roadside bombing not far from Al Nasiryah. Curiously, Jessica doesn't get all that much screen time: The primary focus is on the rescue efforts mounted by a group of Army Rangers and Navy SEALS, with special emphasis bestowed upon Mohammed Al-Raheif (Nicholas Guilak), the courageous Iraqi man who shielded the captured woman from harm while she lay wounded in an enemy hospital (it should surprise no one that the script is based on Al-Raheif's own book, Because Each Life Is Precious. An inordinate amount of poetic license is taken with the events surrounding Jessica's rescue, with a plethora of ridiculous coincidences and serial-like thrills and chills thrown in to pep up the story. To her credit, the real Jessica Lynch herself neither authorized nor promoted the film, which first aired November 9, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Laura Regan, Nicholas Guilak, (more)
The NBC made-for-TV movie Homeland Security endeavors to put a human face on the events leading up to 9/11, and the post-tragedy formation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. On the verge of retirement, FBI agent Joe Johnson (Scott Glenn) is brought back to help organize the department, in concert with Admiral McKee (Tom Skerritt). Also on the ground floor of the department is feisty female CIA operative "Jungle Jane" Fulbar (Marisol Nichols) who has enjoyed (if that is the word) a long-standing friendly rivalry with the FBI. The "conscience" character hereabouts is security expert Sol Binder (Leland Orser), who blames the failure to "connect the dots" in the months prior to 9/11 on the lack of cooperation between the two major governmental peacekeeping agencies. Adding a dash of suspense to the otherwise predictable proceedings is the presence of McKee's daughter Melissa (Stephi Lineburg), who, along with her Arab boyfriend, is booked on the ill-fated Flight 29. Likewise enlivening things a bit is the lively-if-traditional villainy of all-purpose terrorist Saif Khan (Nicholas Guilak). The uneven, sometimes incoherent story structure can be attributed to the fact that Homeland Security was the heavily re-edited combination of two pilot episodes for a never-sold TV series. The "finished" product originally aired on April 11, 2004. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Scott Glenn, Tom Skerritt, (more)
Kevin VanHook's horror film The Fallen Ones concerns an archeologist who must battle a fallen angel who has come to Earth in order to reanimate a mummified giant and use him to take over the world. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
One of the "popular girls" decides to put her mean streak to work in this black comedy. Kimberly Joyce (Evan Rachel Wood) is an outwardly friendly but inwardly cold and manipulative teenager who attends an exclusive private school in Beverly Hills when she's not making fun of her twentysomething stepmother (Jaime King) or listening to her business mogul father (James Woods) rant about the many people he hates. Kimberly's best friend is Brittany (Elisabeth Harnois), who doesn't seem to notice that Kimberly holds a bit of a grudge over the fact Brittany is now dating Troy (Stark Sands), Kimberly's former boyfriend. When Randa (Adi Schnall), an exchange student from the Middle East, arrives at school, Kimberly is asked to show her around, and soon she's giving her the inside scoop on the school's social hierarchy. Kimberly, Brittany, and Randa, like most of the girls at school, don't much care for Mr. Anderson (Ron Livingston), a teacher who doesn't make much of a secret of his lust for the female student body, though he doesn't do much besides look. Kimberly decides to do something about Mr. Anderson by fabricating a story that he has had inappropriate contact with her, Brittany, and Randa, and it doesn't take long for the matter to become a local scandal, though it does end up backfiring on Kimberly in time. Pretty Persuasion also features supporting performances from Selma Blair, Jane Krakowski, and Michael Hitchcock. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Evan Rachel Wood, Ron Livingston, (more)
- 2005
Dina's been killed, and Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) is now genuinely Marwan's (Arnold Vosloo) prisoner. After some bickering with Jack, Marwan learns that the local police are looking into the disappearance of the murdered pilot's family, and comes up with a plan to distract CTU so they won't notice the report when they get it. He calls CTU and offers to exchange Jack for Behrooz (Jonathan Ahdout). CTU has no idea why Marwan would want Behrooz, so Tony (Carlos Bernard) tells Curtis (Roger R. Cross) to interrogate the boy and find out if he's withheld any information. Just as Marwan planned, the decision over whether or not to make the exchange, and the logistics of the exchange prevent Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) and Edgar (Louis Lombardi) from noticing the pertinent information in the local police report until it is too late. Bill Buchanan (James Morrison) shows up from Division to oversee operations at CTU Los Angeles, and decides to go through with an exchange, putting a hidden tracking device on the distraught Behrooz in hopes of finding Marwan. Meanwhile, Anderson (Ned Vaughn) faces a setback in his efforts to steal a Stealth fighter. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi
The title - with its distinctly Middle Eastern origins - refers to a spirit existing on a lower plane than angels, capable of assuming both human and animal forms and influencing mankind for either beneficial or nefarious ends. Director Shahin Sean Solimon's fairy tale concerns a young man named Imad whose love, Anima, is stolen by such an entity; to retrieve her, the hero must surmount the great vices of fear, greed and lust, and embark on a journey through such formidable regions as the Black Desert, guided by an angel and a fortune teller. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
Jim Sheridan's film, adapted from Susanne Bier's 2004 movie, concerns Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire), a Marine who receives orders to ship out for yet another tour of duty in Afghanistan. But before he leaves his supportive wife, Grace (Natalie Portman), and his two elementary-school-age daughters, Sam picks up his black sheep brother, Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), who has finished a prison stretch for robbing a bank. While overseas, Sam's aircraft gets shot down and he's thought dead. Back home, irresponsible Tommy gets his act together in order to be an anchor for Grace and the girls, and the two grow emotionally -- though not physically -- close. As the family finally begins to make peace with their grief, soldiers rescue POW Sam and he returns home. Sam's experiences overseas have caused him such emotional turmoil, he has a difficult time adjusting to civilian life, and soon his fear and paranoia manifest themselves in the form of jealousy for his brother's relationship with his wife. Sam Shepard and Mare Winningham co-star as the brothers' father and stepmother. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, (more)
This adaptation of Ayn Rand's 1957 objectivist novel Atlas Shrugged tells the first installment in the story of a dystopian future in which a collectivist society has forced the great thinkers of the world to go on strike, leaving the functioning world without scientists, engineers, philosophers, or artists. Set against this stark backdrop, a railroad heiress named Dagny Taggart tries to bring her failing company back from the brink with the development of a new alloy to repair breaks in the lines, and hopefully calm the business' vital corporate partnership with an oil company. But with the endless bureaucracy of an evil and corrupt government fighting her at every turn, and her own inept brother battling her for control, Dagny soon finds that in order to set things right in her world, things must be set right in the world at large. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Taylor Schilling, Grant Bowler, (more)
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