Jon Tenney Movies

The crime drama's fourth season continues to track detective Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) as she utilizes her sly interrogation techniques to close L.A.-area crimes and finally takes her romance with FBI man Fritz Howard (Jon Tenney) to the next level. A red-hot case opens the season when Brenda smokes out a pyromaniacal nutcase after fires threaten vast swaths of L.A. In other prime-crime events, Brenda and her Priority Homicide Division (later renamed the Major Crimes Division after a moniker overhaul) scrutinize the suicide of a high-school girl in a case that spins around a hotheaded sheriff (Daniel Baldwin). The team also probes the vanishing of a troubled tween boy; sleuths when two Tijuana cops are murdered; investigates the death of a teen involved in an explosive bombing scheme; and tangles with a known sex offender and his sly and slimy attorney. It also gets hairy in Hollywood when a TV-show hairstylist is found slain, prompting Brenda to comb for clues. On the fringe and complicating matters is pesky journalist Ricardo Ramos (Stephen Martines), whose vitriolic column puts the team on the defensive. The year proves to be a difficult one for Det. Sanchez (Raymond Cruz): Not only is his brother shot, but he's shot as well. It's also rough going for gruff yet lovable Provenza (G.W. Bailey) when he loses crucial evidence gained from a sting operation. And wedding bells might ring for a Southern belle: Brenda prepares for her upcoming nuptials with Fritz, but the ceremony could give new meaning to "shotgun wedding" when they both grow obsessed with solving two separate crimes on their big day. At least Brenda's parents (Frances Sternhagen, Barry Corbin) and Fritz's colorful psychic sister (Amy Sedaris) are in town to keep the wedding plans moving-but it won't be a piece of cake. ~ Dean Maurer, All Movie Guide

Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick), head of the LAPD's Priority Homicide Division, continues to cope with high-profile murders, higher-profile suspects, and the downright hostility of her coworkers and superiors in Season Two of The Closer. Determining much of the drama this season are the ever-growing romantic difficulties between Brenda and her unit's FBI liason Fritz (Jon Tenney). There is also a pivotal--and very bloody--moment in the midseason episode "No Good Deed",when Priority Homicide's headquarters are nearly reduced to rubble by a frenzied shoot-out. In the season opener "Blue Blood", the murder of an off-duty cop forces Brenda to forestall an important decision involving Fritz. "Mom Duty" finds Brenda bending the rules to the breaking point in order to interrogate the members of a sequestered jury in the middle of a mob trial. In "Slipping", a homicide on the USC campus puts a damper on a visit from Brenda's mom. Brenda herself begins exhibiting stranger behavior than usual in the wake of a restauranteur's murder in "Aftertaste". Two of Brenda's associates, Andy Flynn (Anthony Dennison) and Det. Lt. Provenza (G.W. Bailley), endanger the future of the unit by spending too much time at sporting events in "Protect and Serve". In "Out of Focus", a stalker who specializes in shadowing other stalkers is killed. A possible pregnancy weighs heavily upon Brenda's mind as she investigates the grisly murder of a porn star in "Head Over Heels". In "Criticial Missing", a serial killer could be involved in the alleged suicide of two Japanese women. A small boy may not be guilty of murder, but the kid's mom may know more than she's letting on, in "Heroic Measures". Then follows the aforementioned "No Good Deed", itself followed by "Overkill", in which a reluctant Fritz must act as peacemaker between Brenda and another FBI agent. The two-part season finale "Serving the King" finds Brenda, forced to take administrative leave, going undercover on her own to root out a possible terrorist--even while her longtime adversary Commander Taylor (Robert Gossett) is pulling strings to break up the Priority Homicide Division. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

No sooner has transplanted Atlantan Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) arrived in Los Angeles to assume her duties as deputy police chief of the LAPD's Priority Homicide Division that she is plunged into a bizarre murder case--which, like all those that will follow, is embarrassingly high-profile. Season One of The Closer also establishes that there is no love lost between the abrasive, temperamental Brenda and her coworkers, who don't so much resent her for being a woman than for the infuriating fact that her brash behavior and unorthodox methods always yield results. The season's remaining twelve episodes include "About Face", in which the murder of a supermodel brings Brenda literally face-to-face with the Hollywood scene, phony tinsel and all. In "The Big Picture", the victim is a Russian call girl with a list of celebrity clients. Latino gang members are apparently being picked off one by one by a well-trained military sniper in "Show Yourself". "Flashpoint" involves a murder motived by corporate intrigue in the pharamaceutical industry, but Brenda finds that media scrutiny of her checkered past is more troublesome than the case at hand. In "Fantasy Date", Brenda's team embarks upon an odyssey into the seamy underworld of S&M to find the rapist-killer of a congressman's daughter. The only witness to the murder of a much-despised judge is the victim's autistic son in "Batter Up". In "The Butler Did It", Brenda faces the double whammy of a wealthy and fatally dysfunctional family, and an apparent deliberately freeze-out by her own superiors. In "Good Housekeeping", Brenda's zeal to bring a murderer to justice threatens to cost her her job, while I "LA Woman", Brenda's romance with FBI agent Fritz (Jon Tenney) is jeopardized when they both probe the deaTH of an Iranian businessman. The plot complications "Fatal Retraction" include the premature release of a convicted murderer, a victim whose identity is a mystery, and the possibility of evidence tampering within Brenda's own department. And finally, in "Standards and Practices", an unknown antagonist sabotages Brenda's career as she tracks down clues in the murder of a film producer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Andy Dick and Cynthia Nixon star in the romantic comedy Advice from a Caterpillar as best friends who become two points in a love triangle when they each become attracted to the same man. Their feelings make a mess of their once strong friendship, as well as their opinions of themselves. Jon Tenney and Timpothy Olyphant round out the cast. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a German woman treasures a ring, the one tie she has left to her life before WWII. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this drama a Florida newspaper owner's daughter gets involved with her daddy's biggest competitor who uses her to help destroy her father's business. Trouble ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Season two of Murphy Brown begins as the staff of the investigative TV magazine "FYI" is introduced to Josh Silverberg (Jon Tenney), the handsome, extroverted older brother of the show's nerdish producer Miles (Grant Shaud). It doesn't take long for poor Miles to feel upstaged by his dashing sibling--especially when Josh begins making romantic overtures to the not-entirely-resistent star of the show, Murphy Brown (Candice Bergen). Future Frasier regular Jane Leeves makes her first appearance as Miles' off-and-on girlfriend Audrey Cohen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Directed by onetime Rookies co-star Georg Stanford Brown, Alone in the Neon Jungle has all the earmarks of a TV pilot film-albeit a better-than-usual example of the genre. Suzanne Pleshette plays a no-nonsense police captain, assigned to the town's most corrupt police district. In attempting to clean things up, She is handicapped by the fact that she can't tell her friends from her enemies. Director Brown costars as a police sergeant who turns out to be a valuable ally to the new captain. Filmed in Pittsburgh, Alone in the Neon Jungle was first telecast January 17, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After five years of dating, David (Jerry O'Connell) gets what he feels is an ultimatum from his girlfriend, Sarah (Bridgette Wilson). She thinks they should get married. When his old buddy, Tyler (Ron Livingston of Swingers), a legendary womanizer, calls to announce his wedding plans, it only increases the pressure on David. When Sarah leaves town on a business trip, David has a chance to explore his options. He turns to his friends, Jonesey (Bill Bellamy), and the unrepentant lothario Michael (Ryan Reynolds, who also starred in director Walt Becker's National Lampoon's Van Wilder) for advice. Jonesey half-heartedly encourages David to marry Sarah. Michael, who treats women shabbily, tries to talk David out of it. David tells his friends about an epiphany that he had many years earlier, when he saw beautiful blond Julie (Erinn Bartlett) in an airport, and was instantly smitten. He knew she was the one. He courageously handed the strange girl his phone number, and a brief romantic correspondence ensued, but it ended disastrously. Uncertain about his destiny with Sarah, David spots another woman at a Mexican restaurant, and has the same feeling he had with Julie. He spends a lot of time and effort trying to track this mystery woman down, while Sarah, frustrated by their lack of progress, considers ending their relationship. Michael, meanwhile, has a real identity crisis, when he wakes up in a strange bed after a night of drinking, drugs, and debauchery, only to find a gay man in the bedroom with him. Buying the Cow also stars Alyssa Milano, Annabeth Gish, and Jon Tenney. The film was co-written by director Becker and Peter W. Nelson. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

A filmmaker tries to sort out the scattered emotional baggage of his love life in Entropy. Jake Walsh (Stephen Dorff) is a film director who attends a fashion show with some friends and meets a French model named Stella (Judith Godreche). The attraction between the two is immediate, and after a brief courtship they're living together. However, between his career in film and her career as a model, they don't spend as much time together as they'd like, and they begin to drift apart; when Stella one day announces she's pregnant, Jake displays no particular enthusiasm for the idea of raising a child, and Stella ends up having an abortion. Eventually, the two break up and Jake finds himself married to a woman he barely knows, not quite sure what happened. As he muddles through his romantic problems, Jake also has to deal with the often puzzling hierarchy and the bizarre office politics of Hollywood. A rare independent effort from Phil Joanou, who previously directed State of Grace, Final Analysis and a wealth of popular music videos, Entropy was the opening night attraction at the 1999 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Life among insecure, middle-aged character actors, former New Yorkers in L.A., is the main plot focus of this Philip Frank Messina comedy about four friends who want the same role in the next Martin Scorsese gangster flick. Balding Johnny DiMartino (Robert Costanzo) is so excited by the news of a possible part as Al Capone in a Scorsese film that he informs ladies' man Dorian Masstandrea (Jon Tenney), who cheats on his wife Samantha (Elle Macpherson). Dorian immediately makes moves to get his own audition. Johnny goes to Armand (David Strathairn) for coaching in Sicilian characteristics, and he worries that his look-alike, Rudy Ptak (Jon Polito) will get the part. Steve Hersh (Adam Arkin) tries to get through to Scorsese, although his wife Joanne (Laura San Giacomo) is convinced he doesn't have a chance. Cameos by Bill Murray and Scorsese (portraying himself at the audition). Shown at the 1998 Santa Barbara Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Oliver Stone, the most outspokenly political American filmmaker of the 1980s and '90s, directs this epic-length biography of Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the U.S., who was re-elected by a landslide in 1972, only to resign in disgrace two years later. Taking a non-linear approach, Nixon jumps back and forth between many different periods and events, from Nixon's strict upbringing at the hands of his Quaker mother, through the many peaks and valleys of his political career, to his downfall in the wake of the Watergate scandal. The facts of his life are blended with supposition and speculation to create a portrait that is often critical of the man's policies but displays an unexpected compassion toward his failings as a human being. Anthony Hopkins stars as Nixon, Joan Allen plays his long-suffering wife Pat, Mary Steenburgen portrays his mother Hannah, Bob Hoskins is cast as J. Edgar Hoover, Powers Boothe plays Alexander Haig, Paul Sorvino portrays Henry Kisinger, and Ed Harris plays E. Howard Hunt. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A high-energy action adventure based on legend rather than historical fact finds Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) desiring to retire from law enforcement. With brothers Virgil (Sam Elliot) and Morgan (Bill Paxton), he arrives in Tombstone, Arizona intending to build his fortune. He discovers that long-time friend Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) is there and that the town is run by a group of brutal outlaws called the Cowboys. Earp, frustrated with his laudanum-addicted wife, begins a romance with traveling stage actress Josephine Marcus (Dana Delany). Meanwhile, the Cowboys terrorize the citizens of Tombstone unchecked.

When the town marshal is killed by a Cowboy, Earp steps in to prevent a lynching by an angry mob. He also refuses to hand the killer over to his fellows, beginning the enmity between the Cowboys and the Earp brothers. Virgil, overcome with guilt at doing nothing to help the Tombstone citizens, accepts the position of town marshal. With Wyatt and Morgan as his deputies, and the help of Doc, Virgil attempts to arrest several Cowboys, resulting in the famous OK Corral shoot-out. The Cowboys take revenge by ambushing two of the brothers and injuring Virgil and killing Morgan. The Earps leave town, apparently cowed. Wyatt returns, wearing the badge of a U.S. marshal, vowing to destroy every last Cowboy. He hunts them mercilessly, until the leader, Johnny Ringo (Michael Biehn) challenges Wyatt to a duel. While not regarded as an artistic masterpiece, "Tombstone" is considered the best of director George P. Cosmatos' prolific films. The all-star cast (including Thomas Haden Church and Billy Bob Thornton in small roles) delivers solid performances. Both William A. Fraker's cinematography and Bruce Broughton's stirring musical score are expertly designed for dramatic effect. Blood is shown liberally in several key scenes, but seems intended to show that there is nothing glorious in Wyatt Earp's actions, only necessity. He and his deputies take on the symbolism of the horsemen of the apocalypse -- dispensing judgement, and the Biblical references form a symmetry at the beginning and end of the film.
~ Lucinda Ramsey, All Movie Guide