Josh Brolin Movies

Inspired by Howard Zinn's bestseller A People's History of the United States and it's companion book Voices of a People's History of the United States this star studded documentary takes an unguarded look at our nation's decades-long struggle with the pressing issues of war, race, class, and women's rights. Viggo Mortenson, Danny Glover, Marisa Tomei, Matt Damon, and Kerry Washington, and other Hollywood stars stage impassioned readings of historical testimonies by the people who helped to shape our country's socio-political landscape, including Langston Hughes, Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglas, and Bob Dylan. Additional actors assume the roles of labor leaders, civil rights demonstrators, abolitionists, and various other trailblazers who weren't afraid to speak out during some of the more turbulent periods in our nation's history. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Maverick filmmaker Robert Rodriguez details the violent struggle between a ravenous army of zombie-like humanoids who have taken control of the planet and the remaining survivors who refuse to go down without a fight. A dangerous government experiment has unleashed an abominable contamination that turns normal people into murderous mutants. Now, as an infinitely multiplying horde of frenzied psychotics flood the Texas plains, a dangerous outlaw named Wray (Freddy Rodriguez), a sexy stripper named Cherry (Rose McGowan), an unscrupulous smuggler named Abby (Naveen Andrews), and the curiously incapacitated Dr. Dakota Block (Marley Shelton) must try and make their way to the helicopter that could provide their only means of escaping to a place untouched by this nightmarish scourge that threatens to wipe out all of humankind. This nonstop action-horror hybrid originally was released as part of Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's ambitious Grindhouse double bill. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Executive produced by Steven Spielberg, the sprawling six-part, 12-hour TV miniseries Into the West covers 65 years of American history, from the first major migration westward in the mid-1820s to the massacre at Wounded Knee in the early 1890s. The story is largely seen through the eyes of two protagonists (and their families): Jacob Wheeler (Matthew Settle), a wheelwright who leaves his Virginia hometown and his family's business in 1827 to seek his destiny in the company of legendary mountain man Jedediah Smith (Josh Brolin); and Loved by the Buffalo (George Leach), a Lakota Sioux holy man who spends a lifetime seeking the answers to his profound and disturbing images about the future of his country -- and his people. Eschewing the usual "old-age makeup" route often pursued in epic tales of this nature, the main characters are played by progressively older actors in the course of the story: for example, Loved by the Buffalo is portrayed by no fewer than four different performers! In a more traditionalist How the West Was Won vein, the miniseries is festooned with major stars, some cast in very brief roles: among these are Josh Brolin, Keri Russell, Matthew Modine, Beau Bridges, Gary Busey, Tom Berenger, and Judge Reinhold. Nor is How the West Was Won the only inspiration for the multi-plotted storyline: other films echoed and emulated throughout the saga include The Iron Horse, The Big Trail, Westward the Women, The Searchers, and Dances With Wolves. As mentioned, the story is divided into six parts: "Wheel to the Stars," in which the fates of Jacob Wheeler and Loved by the Buffalo become forever intertwined; "Manifest Destiny," chronicling the first major trek to California; "Dreams & Schemes," wherein the Lakota lands are despoiled by Gold Fever and war breaks out between the North and South; "Hell on Wheels," chronicling the postwar chaos and the coming of the railroad; "Casualties of War," wherein the conflict between Native Americans and the white man results in wholesale bloodshed -- and, surprisingly, a "counter-revolution" of compassion and understanding; and "Ghost Dance," the last great stand of the Lakota, which brings the story full circle. Largely filmed in the Canadian Rockies over a six-month period, and utilizing the talents of six directors, Into the West premiered June 10, 2005, on the TNT cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally staged on Broadway in 1953 and filmed two years later, William Inge's Pulitzer Prize-winning romantic drama Picnic went before the cameras a second time in 2000 as a made-for-TV movie. Josh Brolin stars as Hal Carter, a handsome and impecunious drifter who shows up in a tranquil Kansas town to pay a visit to his wealthy pal Alan Benson. Hal's arrival coincides with the town's upcoming Labor Day festivities, so naturally he is invited to stay a while. Alan soon regrets welcoming Hal into his community when the charismatic drifter falls in love with Alan's fiancée, Madge Owens (Gretchen Mol) -- and the feeling is definitely mutual. Meanwhile, Hal's presence awakens the dormant passion between two of the town's middle-agers -- spinsterish schoolteacher Rosemary Sydney (Mary Steenburgen) and her erstwhile beau Howard Bevans (Jay O. Sanders) -- and also has a disturbing effect upon Madge's mom, Flo (Bonnie Bedelia), and kid sister, Millie (Chad Morgan). Though lacking the star power embodied by William Holden and Kim Novak in the 1955 movie version of Picnic (and also bereft of that film's Oscar-winning musical score), the TV remake nonetheless possesses its own special charm, thanks to the deft directorial hand of Czech filmmaker Ivan Passer. The "new" Picnic aired over the CBS network on April 16, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Road Flower was given a limited release in 1993, then reissued two years later under the title The Road Killers. Essentially a rehash of the old drive-in perennial Hot Rods to Hell, the film stars Christopher Lambert as the taciturn head of a vacationing family. While motoring somewhere in the middle of Nevada, the family man and his loved ones are terrorized by a looney gang of hot-rodders, headed by wild-eyed Craig Sheffer (he did get better). Political correctness be hanged: these dysfunctional drivers must be dealt with, deprived childhoods or no deprived childhoods. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Leathery old stationmaster Teaspoon Hunter moves his Pony Express way-station from Sweetwater, Wyoming to the larger, more urbanized community of Rock Creek, Nebraska, as The Young Riders begins its third and final season. Now a US marshal, Teaspoon has left the care and maintenance of his station in the hands of his loyal young riders, including The Kid (Ty Miller), Billy Cody (Stephen Baldwin), Jimmy Hickok (Josh Brolin), Ike McSwain (Travis Fine), Buck Cross (Gregg Rainwater), Noah Dixon (Don Franklin) and "token female" Lou McCloud (Yvonne Suhor). Also making the big move to Rock Creek are the station's secretive cook Rachel (Claire Wren) and enterprising storekeeper Tompkins (Don Collier). And in the second episode of the season, a brash 14-year-old Missouri refugee named Jesse James (Christopher Pettiet) signs on with the Pony Express. The most startling event of the season is the sudden death of the taciturn Ike McSwain, who dies while protecting the only woman he has ever loved. Less startling but definitely out of the ordinary is one of the few episodes built around the half-Kiowan Buck Cross, in which he is reunited with the woman of his tribe who'd been promised to him in marriage years earlier--and who now is apparently possessed by an evil-spirit. In the not uneventful series finale, Cody signs up as an Army scout (he's getting closer and closer to those Buffalo!), life turns sour for Noah when he is denied entry in an all-white military regiments, Lou and the Kid finally get married, and hotheaded Jesse James is inveigled into joining his brother Frank in a new and less reputable line of work. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season One of The Young Riders begins in 1860, as a rambunctious teenaged hothead known only as The Kid (Ty Miller) signs on as a rider for the Central Overland Express mail service in Sweetwater, Wyoming. This particular branch of the service is overseen by stationmaster Teaspoon Hunter (Anthony Zerbe, a grizzled-old-codger type who is doing his best to live down his past as a gunslinger. Before long, several other youthful buckaroos have joined up as riders, including natural-born scout Billy Cody (Stephen Baldwin), straight-shooter Jimmy Hickok (Josh Brolin), taciturn mute Ike McSwain (Travis Fine), half-Kiowa Indian Buck Cross (Gregg Rainwater), and short-tempered Lou McCloud (Yvonne Suhor)--who, unbeknownst to anyone (at least at first), is a girl in male disguise. Emma Shannon (Melissa Leo) is the station's cook and resident "earth mother", while local lawkeeper Marshall Cain (Brett Cullen) is Emma's would-be beau. This season, Don Collier makes the first of many recurring appearances as versatile general store keeper William Tompkins, who hopes to one day be reunited with the wife and daughter who'd been stolen by the Sioux years earlier; the taciturn Ike demonstrates time and again that it would take a bolt from Heaven to persuade him to abandon his curious set of values; and the Riders come to the defense of runaway slaves, abandoned and abused children and wrongly persecuted Native Americans, and overall demonstrate a stronger sympathy for the abolitionist North than the slaveholding South in the months leading to the Civil War. As for historical accuracy. . .well, you can't have everything. The season ends with a two-hour finale, involving the Young Riders' dangerous encounter with a vigilante character clearly based on the infamous "Kansas Raider" Quantrill. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmmaker Sebastian Gutierrez writes and directs this ensemble comedy following ten Los Angeles women over the course of 24 hours. When porn starlet Electra Luxx (Carla Gugino) discovers that she's pregnant, her wild world of pleasure and excess is suddenly turned upside down. Subsequently stuck in an elevator with neurotic Doris (Connie Britton), Electra realizes she's standing at a pivotal crossroads in life. Meanwhile, adult film up-and-comer Holly Rocket (Adrianne Palicki) struggles with her reluctance to go girl-on-girl in front of the cameras by putting on a private show with her sexy friend Bambi (Emmanuelle Chriqui), a therapist (Sarah Clarke) turns to the bottle after discovering her husband has been unfaithful, a flight attendant (Marley Shelton) applies for membership in the Mile High Club with a famous passenger, and a precocious teen (Isabella Gutierrez) realizes that the adults in her life aren't nearly as well adjusted as they'd like her to believe. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

When a model soldier who recently returned to the U.S. from the front lines of Iraq goes AWOL, his veteran father enlists the aid of a dedicated police detective in seeking out his son's true fate in director/screenwriter Paul Haggis's follow up to the Oscar-winning 2004 indie-hit Crash. Mike Deerfield (Jonathan Tucker) has served his country faithfully, and now the time has come for him to return home to the United States. Shortly after returning, however, Mike simply vanishes without a trace. Mike's father, Hank (Tommy Lee Jones), is a former MP from the Vietnam era, and quickly recruits Detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron) to assist him in his search for the missing soldier. While it remains to be seen whether Hank will ever find his missing son, he gets quickly enmeshed in a tangled web of intrigue, cover-ups, and murder, all related to the Iraqi conflict. The drama thus highlights the profoundly personal tolls taken by combat while striking at the very heart of the American experience in Iraq. Inspired by a Playboy Magazine article written by Mark Boal, Haggis's fictionalized version of the actual events co-stars Jason Patrick, Susan Sarandon, James Franco, and Josh Brolin. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Director Ridley Scott spins this yarn concerning a Harlem drug kingpin (Denzel Washington) who smuggles heroin into the country by hiding it in the bodies of U.S. soldiers killed during battle in Vietnam. There was a time when no one noticed reserved driver Frank Lucas (Washington), but when the criminal kingpin he was charged with transporting through the city streets suddenly dies, Lucas seizes the opportunity to build his own criminal empire. In the following months, Lucas solidifies his status as Harlem's most innovative drug dealer by delivering a product that is purer than the competitors' and cheaper, as well. When innovative businessman Lukas attempts to go semi-legit by becoming one of the Manhattan borough's biggest civil supporters, however, street-savvy outcast cop Ritchie Roberts (Russell Crowe) begins to sense a sizable shift in the hierarchy of the drug underworld. But Roberts is one of the few honest detectives operating within a corrupt system, and as he sets out to investigate the case, crooked detective Trupo (Josh Brolin) does everything in his power to compromise the integrity of his idealistic counterpart. Upon clearing all of the usual Mafia-connected suspects, Roberts begins to believe that a previously unknown black power player has come out of the woodwork to dominate the local drug trade. While Roberts and Lucas may be operating on opposite sides of the law, the one thing that both men have in common is a strict code of ethics that separates them from their opportunistic colleagues. Now, as a confrontation between the two men becomes inevitable and the fate of each becomes inexorably tied to the other, it gradually becomes apparent that only one of them will emerge from the conflict victorious. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Karen Moncrieff, the Independent Spirit Award-nominated director of Blue Car, assembles a stellar cast comprised of Toni Collette, James Franco, Giovanni Ribisi, and Mary Beth Hurt to tell the tale of one girl's mysterious death, and how the tragic actions of the people who surround her eventually led to her savage murder. When the brutalized and lifeless body of a once-vital young girl (Brittany Murphy) is discovered, a community is scarred by the unspeakable horror of seeing one of their own so viciously desecrated. But the discovery of the body is just the beginning of the story, and now as a wife uncovers her husband's dark secret, a mother searches frantically for her missing daughter, and a series of other, seemingly unrelated occurrences slowly begin to converge, the heartbreaking truth behind a tragic act of violence will shake the very foundation of a once close-knit community. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide