Jesse Beaton Movies
- 2008
Noir suspense specialist Carl Franklin and screenwriter Ralph Farquhar team with syndicated radio host and author Michael Baisden to adapt Baisden's novel about a gigolo experiencing an existential crisis. When a Juilliard graduate and promising musician realizes that he can make a fortune by seducing married women, he puts his musical aspirations on hold in order to focus on his ill-gotten finances. His plan goes unexpectedly awry, however, when he falls in love with one of his marks and tires of lying to her. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Drawing on the controversial "Bloodline" conspiracy that claims Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene actually married and had children, director Bruce Burgess' documentary cuts to the heart of the matter by speaking with two alleged members of the Priority of Scion -- a secret society rumored to have closely guarded the bloodline of Christ thought the centuries. In 1982, Christians around the world were shocked by a best-seller titled Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and though it was that book that is often credited with promulgating the "Bloodline" theory, it was author Dan Brown's 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code that propelled the theory to the forefront of contemporary religious debate. Could it be that the church has been covering up this secret for thousands of years? Now, in order to find out if there is any element of truth to the "Bloodline" theory, Burgess and his crew explore a wooden chest that may contain the greatest secret in the history of Christianity, discover a collection of handwritten letters penned by a late-19th century priest who openly repudiates official Christian Doctrine, and contacts two supposed representatives of the Priority of Scion in hopes of finding the evidence that will solve a mystery 2,000 years in the making. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Burgess
Carl Franklin directed this family drama adapted from the 1995 novel by former New York Times columnist Anna Quindlen about a young woman who goes back home to take care of her dying mother. In 1987-88, independent Ellen Gulden (Renee Zellweger), a Harvard grad, is working on a New York Magazine investigative article when she hears from her father, George (William Hurt), a literary critic and university professor. He tells Ellen she's needed at home to care for her mother, Kate (Meryl Streep), who's due for surgery. Ellen needs to get away from the problems of her relationship with her boyfriend Jordan (Nicky Katt), but she plans to continue work on the magazine article from home. In truth, Ellen is uncomfortable with her mother's various ladies club lunches, and holiday preparations, and she finds communication with her mother awkward. Once Ellen arrives back home, she's dismayed to find herself caught in the web of her mother's Middle America activities. Ellen's attitude changes when it becomes apparent this probably will be the final Thanksgiving and Christmas with all family members present. But tensions erupt as long-buried family secrets emerge. Locations in New Jersey were used to create the film's Eastern coastal college town. Shown at the 1998 Montreal Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meryl Streep, Renée Zellweger, (more)
Denzel Washington stars in this adaptation of the novel by African-American crime author Walter Mosley, the first of his stories to reach the screen. Ezekiel Rawlins (Washington), known to his friends as "Easy," has just lost his job at an aircraft plant in post-WW II Los Angeles, a time when good-paying jobs for black men are hard to come by. He's wondering how to make his mortgage payment when he's approached by De Witt Albright (Tom Sizemore), who describes his job as "doing favors for friends." It seems that a woman named Daphne Monet (Jennifer Beals) has gone missing; Daphne is the former girlfriend of wealthy mayoral candidate Todd Carter (Terry Kinney) and a known habitué of the black jazz clubs and night spots on L.A.'s Central Avenue. Albright offers Easy $100 to help him find Daphne, and while he doesn't have any detective experience, the price is right, so Easy agrees. After a passionate affair with a friend of Daphne's, Coretta James (Lisa Nicole Carson), leads to that woman's murder, Easy enlists the help of his friend Mouse (Don Cheadle), who seems to know just a bit too well how to use a gun, which gives Easy all too clear a look at the lower depths of L.A.'s upper crust. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Denzel Washington, Tom Sizemore, (more)
Carl Franklin made his directorial bow with the story of three LA drug dealers who, after committing a rather messy murder, hide out in a rural Arkansas town. Assuming that the local "rubes" will offer them little interference, the criminals have not reckoned with sheriff "Hurricane" Dixon (Bill Paxton). Despite the arrogance of the LAPD agents sent to Arkansas to collar the crooks, it is down-home Dixon who puts the final bloody showdown into motion (the fact that the thieves have been falling out throughout the film doesn't hurt things either). Carl Franklin knows where he's going in every frenetic frame of One False Move, and his movie was one of the most acclaimed independent releases of 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Paxton, Cynda Williams, (more)
