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Blair Brown Movies

Trained at the National Theatre School of Canada, Blair Brown distinguished herself as one of the most versatile young actresses at the Stratford (Ontario) Shakespeare Festival. Shortly after her off-Broadway debut in A Comedy of Errors, Brown made her first, fleeting film appearance as Miss Farranti in The Paper Chase (1973); her "official" starring bow in films came four years later with The Choirboys. Never one to accept roles merely for their box-office potential, Brown has agreed to co-star in chancy film projects with such offbeat screen personalities as Paul Simon (One Trick Pony), John Belushi (Continental Divide), Mark Harmon (Stealing Home), and Richard Jordan (A Flash of Green), who was also her first husband. A frequent visitor to television, Brown has starred in several TV-movies, most notably as Jackie in 1983's Kennedy. She also essayed the title character in the "succès d'estime" seriocomedy series The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd (1987-1991) which after its network cancellation was kept alive on cable by a small but fervent coterie of fans. While Molly Dodd was on hiatus in 1989, Blair Brown made her first Broadway appearance in Secret Rapture. Though she never became an A-list star, she worked steadily on both the big and small screen. Highlights include her Gertrude opposite Campbell Scott in a 2000 version of Hamlet, Lars Von Trier's 2003 drama Dogville, and a key role in the 2008 sci-fi series Fringe. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
2010  
 
He remains one of the most legendary and influential of all religious progenitors, but what of his actual life? In this biographical documentary, Emmy Award-winning director David Grubin tells the historical tale of Gautama Buddha (563-483 BC), from his initial enlightenment under a fig tree through his death around the age of 80. In the process, Grubin makes an unusual point: that Gautama never once claimed to be God or God's emissary, but instead sought to find a way to bring peace and alleviation from suffering to others in a cruel and often insane world. In telling this story, Grubin combines a number of elements including original animations, testimony by contemporary Buddhists such as the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, glimpses of sculptures and paintings that help tell Gautama's story, and much more. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

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Starring:
Richard GereBlair Brown, (more)
 
2008  
 
The lines between science fiction and reality blur as J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman, the team behind Star Trek and Alias, regroup to craft this mind-bending series that begins as an international flight lands at Boston's Logan Airport with everyone of the passengers and crew members brutally murdered. When FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) and her partner Special Agent John Scott (Mark Valley) are called in to investigate, a mysterious, near fatal mishap prompts Special Agent Dunham to seek out the assistance of famed genius Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble). Dr. Bishop has a reputation as our generation's Einstein, but due to the fact that he's been institutionalized for the past twenty years, the only way of contacting him is by going through his estranged son Peter (Joshua Jackson). Later, Special Agent Dunham's investigation leads her into the lair of unscrupulous corporate schemer Nina Sharp (Blair Brown, who may hold the key that reveals the incident on Flight 627 as a small piece in a much larger, and frighteningly sinister, conspiracy. Only with the assistance of fellow FBI agents Phillip Broyles (Lance Reddick), Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo), and Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole) will Agent Dunham and her partner have any hope of uncovering the twisted truth behind the crime that seemed too strange to be true. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Starring:
Anna TorvMark Valley, (more)
 
2008  
 
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Teleportation. Mind control. Invisibility. Astral projection. Mutation. Reanimation. Phenomena that exist on the Fringe of science unleash their strange powers in this thrilling series, co-created by J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias), combining the grit of the police procedural with the excitement of the unknown. The story revolves around three unlikely colleagues - a beautiful young FBI agent, a brilliant scientist who's spent the last 17 years in a mental institution and the scientist's sardonic son - who investigate a series of bizarre deaths and disasters known as "the pattern." Someone is using our world as an experimental lab. And all clues lead to Massive Dynamic, a shadowy global corporation that may be more powerful than any nation.

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Starring:
Anna TorvMark Valley, (more)
 
2007  
R  
Add Dark Matter to Queue Add Dark Matter to top of Queue  
Inspired by actual events, director Chen Shi-Zheng's socially conscious psychological drama follows the journey of an ambitious Chinese scientist working towards his Ph.D. in America, only to be marginalized to the extent that he ultimately loses his way. All Liu Xing (Liu Ye) ever wanted was to study the origins of the universe at a Western university. Upon arriving at the school, Liu immediately rents a modest apartment with a few other Chinese students and begins flirting with the pretty American who works at the local coffee shop. Personally welcomed into Department Head Jacob Reiser's (Aidan Quinn) select cosmology group, Liu remains dedicated to his studies and optimistic about the future. Things continue to look up as Liu becomes close with wealthy university patron Johanna Silver (Meryl Streep) after the two become acquainted at an orientation for foreigners sponsored by a local church.

Eventually, Liu becomes Reiser's protégé, and makes a sizable impression at a prestigious conference attended by the pair. But attitudes start to shift when Liu's studies in dark matter come into direct conflict with his mentor's prominent theories and well-established studies. His excitement about a potential breakthrough causes him to ignore repeated warnings that he must pay his dues, and Liu's findings are eventually eclipsed by that of more studious fellow student Laurence. Determined to have his studies published, Liu goes behind Reiser's back, but he ultimately becomes the target of ire rather than accolades, with Johanna's naïve encouragement prompting him along a dangerous collision course. While Liu remains enamored with the concept of the American dream and optimistic about American science being a free market of ideas, he begins to grow dejected after his dissertation is rejected, the girl at the coffee shop blows him off, and his roommates all find lucrative jobs. Essentially left behind at the university, Liu rejects Johanna's offer for help and vows not to return home to disappointed parents. Now, as he coasts on the fumes of his unrealized dreams, the dishonored student prepares to lash out with one final act of devastating annihilation. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Starring:
Liu YeAidan Quinn, (more)
 
2007  
 
A collaboration between Award-winning filmmaker David Grubin and the PBS affilitates WNET-New York and WETA-Washington DC, The Mysterious Human Heart was a three-part miniseries offering a guided tour of that vital organ, showing how it work, where things can go wrong, and the medical and technological methods to keep the heart running at capacity. The production included testimony from people whose hearts had failed them, but lived to tell about it, and also itemized the myths, misunderstandings and misconceptions surrounding the heart. Individual episodes included "Endlessly Beating", the story of the artificial heart; "The Spark of Life", aka "Anatomy of a Pacemaker"; and "The Silent Killer" (atherosclerosis). The series was released in conjunction with a Community Outreach campaign and the distribution of an Education Guide. Narrated by actress Blair Brown, The Mysterious Human Heart first aired over the nationwide PBS hookup on October 15, 2007. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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2006  
 
Add Marie Antoinette to Queue Add Marie Antoinette to top of Queue  
Explore the live of the woman whose name has become synonymous with the French monarchy as filmmakers explore just how one wanton sovereign set into motion the wheels of the French Revolution. From her early childhood in the powerful Austro-Hungarian Empire to her grim final hours in a French prison cell, this two-hour portrait of Marie Antoinette paints a vivid portrait of a historical figure that was as tragic as she was courageous. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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2006  
 
Add American Experience: Test Tube Babies to Queue Add American Experience: Test Tube Babies to top of Queue  
This reflective documentary from the Public Broadcasting Company explores the history and consequences of the innovations in reproductive technology that have enabled the conception of "Testtube Babies" - children conceived outside the womb. Tracing the history of the topic's research from its roots in the 1940's, through to the first successful baby born from lab conception in 1978, the film examines a practice that's served as a God-send for childless couples, and a controversial topic for others. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

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2006  
PG13  
Add Griffin & Phoenix to Queue Add Griffin & Phoenix to top of Queue  
Ed Stone's bittersweet drama Griffin & Phoenix concerns Griffin (Dermot Mulroney), a divorcee suffering from cancerous lesions in his chest that give him a life expectancy of less than two years. He falls in love with academic advisor Phoenix (Amanda Peet), and the pair decide to 'live life to the fullest' by fulfilling all of Griffin's childhood fantasies, from painting water towers to sneaking into movies to hopping freight trains. But a secret of Phoenix's threatens to damper the joy of their time together. Sarah Paulson, Blair Brown, Alison Elliott and Lois Smith co-star; John Hill authored the script. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

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Starring:
Dermot MulroneyAmanda Peet, (more)
 
2006  
PG13  
Add The Sentinel to Queue Add The Sentinel to top of Queue  
A man who has devoted himself to serving the leader of the free world is accused of plotting against him in this thriller. Pete Garrison (Michael Douglas) is a veteran Secret Service agent who has had a long and distinguished career helping protect the president of the United States. David Breckinridge (Kiefer Sutherland) is a fellow Secret Service agent who learned most of what he knows from Garrison and holds him in great respect. When intelligence data suggests that there is a mole within the Secret Service who is part of a plot to assassinate President Ballentine (David Rasche), Garrison launches an investigation to ferret out the rogue agent, and asks Breckinridge to go over the evidence with a fine-toothed comb. Breckinridge is shocked when the clues point to Garrison as the traitor within the Secret Service, but his sense of duty compels him to see that his former mentor is placed under arrest. Garrison eludes his captors and struggles to prove his innocence while tracking down the real conspirator and eluding the agents who were once his colleagues. As Breckinridge leads the search for Garrison, another ranking agent, Jill Marin (Eva Longoria) plays devil's advocate, convinced that Garrison couldn't possibly be the rat in the house. The Sentinel also co-stars Kim Basinger as the First Lady. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Starring:
Michael DouglasKiefer Sutherland, (more)
 
2006  
PG13  
Add First Born to Queue Add First Born to top of Queue  
A woman who wanted nothing more in life than to become a mother finds her sanity slipping after the birth of her child in a terrifying look at the horrors of parenthood starring Academy Award nominee Elisabeth Shue. The only thing that seems to be missing from Laura (Shue)'s otherwise perfect life is a child, and when Laura and her husband discover that she has become pregnant it seems that all the pair's dreams are finally coming true. Motherhood is far from the simple and instinctual task that Laura imagined it would be, however, and soon after the birth of her child the confused new parent finds herself struggling with the pains of post-partum depression. Despite her determination to protect her baby at all costs, Laura begins to question her abilities as a parent after moving into a large and isolated new home. Now, as a plague of rats flood into the basement of the home, a mysterious diary is pulled from inside the decrepit walls of the home, and a new nanny is hired to help the distressed mother care for her newborn child, the situation soon descends into a harrowing battle for sanity as the fate of a young child hangs in the balance. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Starring:
Elisabeth ShueSteven Mackintosh, (more)
 
2006  
 
Add The Treatment to Queue Add The Treatment to top of Queue  
A man and a woman are faced with an unusual "fifth wheel" in their relationship -- his analyst -- in this offbeat independent comedy. Jake Singer (Chris Eigeman) is a schoolteacher working at a respected private school for boys. Jake recently parted ways with his longtime girlfriend and isn't especially happy about being single again. Jake begins seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Morales (Ian Holm), whose advise often seems to cause more harm than good. Jake meets Allegra (Famke Janssen), a woman whose adopted son attends his school; Allegra is still getting over the death of her husband, but Jake is strongly attracted to her and she seems to feel the same way. Morales is convinced Allegra is simply using Jake (there are questions about her ability to care for her son that may cause her to lose custody if she remains single), and he advises Jake that if he must go on dating her, he should seduce Allegra without becoming emotionally involved. This is more easily said than done, but as Jake and Allegra spend more time together, he begins seeing and hearing Morales at the most inopportune moments, with the doctor offering un-called-for tips on their relationship. The Treatment received the award for best "Made In New York" feature at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Starring:
Christopher EigemanFamke Janssen, (more)
 
2005  
 
In 1931, Hawaii had not yet been granted statehood, but the presence of the United States was already strong - the islands had been declared a U.S. territory, and the American military wasted no time in taking advantage of their strategic location, while agricultural firms made use of the abundant sugar and fruit crops. Late in the summer that year, news of a shocking crime swept the islands -- Thalia Fortescue Massie, whose husband was a lieutenant in the Navy, claimed that she had been beaten and raped by a gang of five men while traveling from Waikiki to Honolulu. While she claimed to be unable to identify the men who had attacked her (she also bore no physical signs of the alleged attack), and despite the lack of any evidence tying them to the crime, two Hawaiian islanders were arrested, along with two men of Japanese descent and one of Chinese heritage. At the men's trial, Mrs. Massie suddenly claimed that she did remember what had happened, offering detailed and graphic details and even identifying the accused by name. While evidence presented at their trial clearly proved the men could not have committed the crime, the jury was unable to reach a verdict, and when they were arrested on bail pending a new trial, one of the men was attacked and brutally beaten by American servicemen. Soon afterward, Grace Hubbard Fortescue, Thalia's mother, arrived in Hawaii determined to protect her family's reputation; later, one of the accused men was found dead in her car in what she eventually admitted was a revenge killing. The American Experience: The Massie Affair is a documentary that examines the facts behind this series of crimes, and explores the tragic legacy it has left on the people of Hawaii. Produced for PBS, The American Experience: The Massie Affair was first aired on April 18, 2005. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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2004  
 
Add American Experience: RFK to Queue Add American Experience: RFK to top of Queue  
This documentary explores Robert Kennedy's life and his search for a purpose to devote it to both before and after his legendary brother's death. Sympathetic and tragic, the perspective of this program is that Robert Kennedy's true voice was suppressed over and over again until it was silenced forever with an assassin's bullet. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

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2004  
R  
Add Loverboy to Queue Add Loverboy to top of Queue  
A mother once neglected as child but possessed of a heart overflowing with love grows increasingly despondent as her beloved child begins to claim his independence in director Kevin Bacon's adaptation of Victoria Redel's best-selling novel. If loving too much were a crime, well-meaning but overbearing mother Emily (Kyra Sedgwick) would be spending life behind bars with no hope of parole. When Emily was a child, her parents were deeply in love with one another but tragically indifferent to their affection-starved daughter. Now a grown adult with a deep-rooted desire to bear a child, Emily goes to desperate lengths to conceive before eventually giving birth to an exceptionally gifted boy whom she names Paul. Emily's devotion to Paul burns brighter than a thousand suns as she creates a wondrous world of books, music, art, and games to share with her growing child, but her ever more desperate attempts to preserve the purity of their relationship reach a frantic fever pitch as a kindhearted local man opens his life to the pair and Paul prepares for his first year of school. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Starring:
Kyra SedgwickKevin Bacon, (more)
 
2004  
 
Missing for several days, 16-year-old Tani McCain (Amanda Seyfried is found bound and beaten in an abandoned building. When the girl claims that she was kidnapped and raped by three uniformed men, suspicious immediately falls on a group of college army cadets. But in the days that follow, Tami keeps changing her story, much to the confusion of the men and women of the SVU: Obviously, the girl was raped by someone, but who? With media rabble-rousers and an outraged public breathing down the SVU's neck, the detectives work overtime to track down the actual perpetrator--only to find that the solution to the case may be tragically close to Tandi's own home. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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2003  
 
This entry in the PBS documentary series American Experience traces the history of the birth control pill, from the moment of FDA approval in 1960 to the present day. The Pill also generously provides the backstory to its subject matter, detailing older and less reliable forms of contraception, the occasional criminalization of and ongoing religious resistance to birth control, and the tireless efforts of such pioneers as Margaret Sanger, Katherine McCormick, biological researcher Gregory Pincus and Catholic gynecologist John Rock to develop a safe and universally acceptable method of reigning in the so-called "population explosion." The more controversial aspects of the subject are also fully chronicled, including the dangerous side effects attending early testing of the pill in Puerto Rico. Using archival footage, still pictures, and interviews with women whose lives were forever altered by being allowed to have "power over their ovaries" (to quote one observer), The Pill is narrated by actress Blair Brown. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Blair Brown
 
2003  
 
The remarkable life of the immigrant christened "the most dangerous woman in America" is explored in this documentary focusing on noted birth-control advocate and anti-military conscription activist Emma Goldman. A noted Russian-born woman who became the leader of the anarchist movement upon immigrating into the United States, Goldman subsequently earned such nicknames as "Red Emma" and "Queen of the Anarchists" for her outspoken vocal attacks on the government and her staunch opposition to World War I. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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2003  
R  
Add Dogville to Queue Add Dogville to top of Queue  
Set in a small fictional town in the U.S. during the 1930s, Lars von Trier's Dogville was filmed in a studio with a minimal set and features narration by John Hurt. On the run from a group of gangsters, Grace (Nicole Kidman) arrives in the small mining town of Dogville. Town philosopher Tom Edison (Paul Bettany) takes her in and strikes a deal with her: She'll work for the townsfolk in exchange for a safe place to hide; after two weeks the people will vote for her to either stay or go. Grace agrees to the terms and ends up meeting the locals, including the town doctor (Philip Baker Hall), shopkeeper (Lauren Bacall), and apple farmer (Stellan Skarsgård). Eventually, Grace's standing in the town takes a downward shift as the search for her intensifies. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

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Starring:
Nicole KidmanJohn Hurt, (more)
 
2003  
 
The detectives are skeptical when Tim Grayson (Robert Stanton), a self-proclaimed psychic, insists that he has envisioned the murder of his attractive neighbor, who is found beaten to death outside a sex club. The fact that Grayson is the archetypal misfit loner, coupled with the discovery of his shoe print at the crime scene, is enough for the DA's office to draw up murder charges against him. But though Assistant District Attorney McCoy (Sam Waterson) is confident of a conviction, it turns out that just appearing to be guilty as hell isn't quite enough -- and that there are radically different degrees of "guilt." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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