Blair Brown Movies

A woman gets a crash course in the realities of love and commitment when she gets some startling news about the child she's carrying in this made-for-TV adaptation of the novel by Luanne Rice. Dianne Parker (Kimberly Williams) is a lovely young woman who is engaged to marry Mark McCune (Eric Close), a successful and self-confident young businessman. Dianne isn't aware that Mark's brother, pediatrician David McCune (Campbell Scott), has also fallen in love with her, but David can't bring himself to break up his brother's relationship. After Dianne and Mark wed, she becomes pregnant, but routine tests reveal that the child will suffer severe genetic defects. Mark decides having an disabled child is not something he can bear and he leaves Dianne. Dianne decides to keep the baby and raise it on her own. She gets valuable help from her mother, Hannah (Blair Brown), but David also pitches in to help raise Dianne's child, and soon Dianne gets a greater appreciation of what love is truly all about as she struggles with David to care for her baby. Produced for the award-winning anthology series "The Hallmark Hall of Fame," Follow the Stars Home first aired on May 6, 2001. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this adventure drama, four men passed over by the space program get one last chance to be heroes and live out their dreams. Frank Corvin (Clint Eastwood), Hawk Hawkins (Tommy Lee Jones), Jerry O'Neill (Donald Sutherland), and Tank Sullivan (James Garner) were top pilots within an elite Air Force squadron and on the fast track to becoming the first Americans in space in the early 1950s. However, when NASA was established, the pilots were cut out of the loop; Corvin went on to become an aerospace engineer, Hawkins continued on as a freelance pilot, O'Neill became an astrophysicist with a sideline in designing roller coasters, and Sullivan took up preaching as a Baptist minister. Years later, a Russian satellite's guidance system has started to malfunction, and it is expected to crash into the Earth within a matter of weeks. The system is identical to the one Corvin designed for Skylab, so NASA head Bob Gerson (James Cromwell) asks Corvin to help him with the emergency mission to repair the satellite. Corvin agrees under one condition -- that he be sent up to do the repairs himself, with Hawkins, O'Neill, and Sullivan as his crew. Clint Eastwood directed Space Cowboys while also starring as Frank Corvin; his supporting cast includes Marcia Gay Harden, Courtney B. Vance, Loren Dean, and William Devane. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Campbell Scott is both star and co-director of this elaborate (albeit economically produced) four-hour TV version of Shakespeare's immortal tragedy Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The film is based on Scott's earlier theatrical production of the same play, with several of the same actors repeating their same roles. Updated to 1900 New York, the text remains substantially the same as it has always been: Hamlet (Scott), the "melancholy" Danish prince, discovers to his horror that his late father, the King, was murdered by his brother (and Hamlet's uncle) Claudius (Jamey Sheridan), who upon ascending to the throne, added insult to injury by wedding Hamlet's mother, Gertrude (Blair Brown). Though his desire for revenge is strong, Hamlet does not want any more bloodshed, and concocts an elaborate scheme to "catch the conscience" of Claudius and force him into a confession. Part of this scheme involves Hamlet's feigned descent into madness -- which, as interpreted by Scott, may not be as "feigned" as he thinks it is. Caught in the middle of this intrigue is Hamlet's lady love, Ophelia (Lisa Gay Hamilton), daughter of Claudius' chief consul, Polonius (played in the manner of a protocol-conscious Victorian diplomat by Roscoe Lee Browne). Some of the choices made by Scott in adapting Hamlet to the screen -- the turn-of-the-century setting; the utilization of black actors in the roles of Polonius, Ophelia, and Laertes (who is played by Roger Guenveur Smith); the casting of Byron Jennings to play both the Ghost of Hamlet's father and the Player King, who pretends to be the father -- were applauded by the critics. Other innovations, notably the use of slow jazz music throughout the action, and Hamlet's violent treatment of poor Ophelia during the "Get thee to a nunnery" scene, were not so enthusiastically received. Whatever the case, Scott does a remarkable job with a tiny budget and a slim 29-day shooting schedule. In addition to the actors' lilting interpretation of the Shakespearean dialogue and soliloquies, the film boasts a truly exciting climactic duel, shot in long takes without the use of stunt doubles. Initially produced for a theatrical release, this Hamlet made its American debut as a cable TV miniseries on the Odyssey Channel, beginning December 10, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Science fiction blends with domestic horror in this thriller. Spencer Armacost (Johnny Depp) is an astronaut on a routine mission in space when something goes horribly wrong and it looks as if he's doomed. However, Spencer is rescued at the last moment and returns to earth a hero. He soon announces that he's retiring from space exploration to spend more time with his wife Jillian (Charlize Theron). Jillian has suffered from depression in the past and would like to start a family, so she's initially thrilled with Spencer's decision. Jillian soon finds herself pregnant, but she starts to notice something odd about her husband, as if the man who returned isn't quite the same person who went away. As her pregnancy advances, Jillian's anxieties increase, but has something really happened to Spencer, or have Jillian's old demons merely resurfaced? The Astronaut's Wife marked the directorial debut of Rand Ravich, who previously penned screenplays for such films as The Maker and Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Two people who've known the pain of loss and the sting of betrayal are brought together under trying circumstances in this romantic drama. Dutch van den Broeck (Harrison Ford) is a police detective based in Washington D.C. whose wife works for an upscale department store; flying to Miami on business, she dies shortly after takeoff in one of the worst aviation disasters in the city's history. However, Dutch finds out that his wife wasn't actually traveling on business: Kay Chandler (Kristin Scott Thomas) is a prominent political figure whose husband was also killed in the crash, and Dutch and Kay discover that their spouses were on the plane together because they were having an affair. Random Hearts was directed by Sydney Pollack, who also worked with Harrison Ford on his previous film, Sabrina. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A father and his teenaged daughter get the shocks of their lives the night he surreptitiously rings for a high-class hooker and she shows up for the appointment. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Milo O'Shea guest stars as Dr. Schachter, a "couples" specialist. During this particular session, the good doctor is counseling a most odd couple indeed -- namely, sibling psychiatrists Frasier and Niles Crane (Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce), whose relationship is in danger of collapsing. In flashbacks, Frasier and Niles woefully recall their foredoomed efforts to save money on office space by opening up a joint practice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Reeling with guilt after he accepts the healthy heart of his darling, deceased grandson, an elderly man lapses into a deep depression that does not abate until he hooks up with a troubled teenage runaway. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this black comedy, elderly Jack Scanlan (Jack Warden) passes away just as he's about to tell his oldest son Johnny (Bob Hoskins) what he's decided is truly important in life, which does little to ease Johnny's mid-life anxieties. Jack's funeral and the subsequent wake brings together the various members of the Scanlan Family, most of whom are having troubles of their own. Johnny's mother Mary (Maureen Stapleton) is not dealing well with losing her husband. His brother Frank (William Petersen), a would-be union delegate, has a nagging wife, Denise (Debra Rush), and a pregnant daughter, Rachel (Teri Polo). His sister Nora (Frances McDormand) is a leftist nun who has brought along a guest, a South American dissident wanted by the INS. Terry (Pamela Reed) is splitting up with her husband Boyd (Tim Curry) after finally realizing that he's gay. And Johnny is thinking of quitting his job and leaving his wife Amy (Blair Brown), which makes the mysterious Cassie (Nancy Travis) seem all the more attractive. Passed Away marked the directorial debut of successful screenwriter Charlie Peters. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a wife is so angered that her husband has been untrue to her that she decides to return to prostitution. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Filmed in semidocumentary fashion, Extreme Close-up features Morgan Weisser as a 16-year-old boy grieving the death of his mother (Blair Brown). Trying to assuage his grief, Weisser runs family videotapes of his mother. It becomes increasingly clear that the woman was falling apart emotionally in the months before her death, and Weisser wants to know why. Looking for answers, he begins taping new videos of his turbulent home life -- which slowly mirror the disintegration of his mother. Made for television, Extreme Close-up was written by thirtysomething veterans Marshall Herkovitz and Edward Zwick; its director was Peter Horton, who'd played Gary on thirtysomething. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The storytelling device of the flashback gets an intense workout in this tragic coming of age drama. Mark Harmon stars as washed-up baseball player Billy Wyatt, who is shocked when he receives news that his childhood sweetheart and friend Katie Chandler (Jodie Foster) has committed suicide and left the disposal of her ashes to his judgment. Although Billy and Katie have not kept in touch through the years, he has always carried a torch for her, his first love. On his way home, Billy recalls his past associations with the free-spirited Katie: their first meeting, the time they made love, and conversations they had, mostly during summers at the New Jersey shore. Billy also remembers the adolescent mischief he got into with his best friend Alan Appleby (played by Jonathan Silverman in the flashbacks, Harold Ramis in the present-day), like when each of them ended up sleeping with other's prom date. Billy finally decides to cast Katie's ashes to the wind in the place where they were happiest, by the seashore. Stealing Home was reportedly based on the real-life experiences of its writers, former Second City troupe members and WKRP in Cincinnati writers Steven Kampmann and Will Aldis. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide