Brent Smiga
- 2007
A small-town beauty queen and an unlicensed mortician set out across the Texas plains on a journey of self-discovery in director Will Geiger's meditative road movie. Annabelle has never known what life is like outside the fiercely competitive world of beauty pageants; her mother's constant demands of physical perfection a never-ending stream of acute, soul-crushing criticism. Elvis doesn't have his mortician's license, but that doesn't stop his eccentric father from putting him to work in the family mortuary. When the sting of her mother's words becomes too painful to endure, Annabelle flees to the town mortuary knowing that is the last place her mother would come looking for her. When Elvis discovers the beautiful Annabelle cowering among the corpses, he sweeps her away on an impromptu road trip so that the pair may free themselves from their daily drudgery long enough to discover their own identities and realize what they really want out of life. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max Minghella, Blake Lively, (more)
A self-assured Midwestern girl finds her confidence gradually crumbling as a barrage of terrifying visions prompt her to investigate a brutal murder in a supernatural thriller directed by Asif Kapadia and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. Joanna Mills (Gellar) is a successful sales representative for a local trucking company, and though her professional life is at an all-time high, her personal life couldn't be any more troubling at the moment. Estranged from her father (Sam Shepard) and menacingly stalked by an obsessive ex-boyfriend (Adam Scott), Joanna feels all alone in the world as her downward spiral rapidly begins to accelerate. When Joanna has a psychic experience in which she literally sees and feels the brutal murder of a female stranger, she soon begins to suspect that she has been targeted as the killer's next victim. Joanna isn't the type to go down without a fight, however, and as her increasingly vivid visions guide her ever closer to the victim's hometown, the secrets that will be revealed leave her wondering if the murder she is investigating may be her own. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sarah Michelle Gellar, Adam Scott, (more)
- 2005
- R
- AddThe Three Burials of Melquiades Estradato QueueAddThe Three Burials of Melquiades Estradato 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)
