William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones star in this slow burn revenge thriller that sees the pair as former P.O.W.s of the Vietnam War finally returning home. Unfortunately, the world isn’t the way Major Charles Rane (Devane) left it. His city welcomes him back, gifting him a giant Cadillac convertible, and a hefty collection of…
Tag: tommy lee jones
The Package (1989) – Andrew Davis
Gene Hackman, Joanna Cassidy and Tommy Lee Jones headline another Andrew Davis chase movie that counts among its cast, Pam Grier, Kevin Heard, and Dennis Franz. It’s a fairly well-crafted military thriller that seems to have the recurring themes of chases, Chicago and conspiracies running through it. This time out, Gene Hackman plays Master Sergeant…
Blown Away (1994) – Stephen Hopkins
Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones star in a cop thriller about revenge and the past. Set in Boston, Jimmy Dove (Bridges) is verging on retirement from the Bomb Squad following his marriage to Kate (Suzy Amis). Unfortunately, Dove’s past comes calling for him in the form of Ryan Gaerity (Jones) an IRA extremist with…
Ad Astra (2019) – James Gray
James Gray delivers one of the most authentic looks at space travel since Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, throw in a little of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and you have the basic groundwork for this science fiction drama that sees astronaut Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) travelling to the outer reaches of our solar system, all…
U.S. Marshals (1998) – Stuart Baird
Director Stuart Baird delivers a semi-sequel to 1993’s The Fugitive with this film that sees the return of Tommy Lee Jones as U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard, a role he won an Oscar for in the Harrison Ford thriller. This time around, even though he’s accompanied by a score by Jerry Goldsmith, the film doesn’t have…
TIFF ’23: The Burial
I think every actor wants to do a courtroom drama, to voice their objections, to thunder at a witness during cross-examination, to let that look play across their face that suggests they may have just found a way to win the case. Then, when you throw in the fact that the case you’re bringing to…
No Country For Old Men (2007) – Joel and Ethan Coen
I remember watching No Country For Old Men when it first came to home video, I was hip-deep in discovering everything that the Coen Brothers had made, and loving every single one of them. Unfortunately, my first time through it, I didn’t pay lots of attention to it, though some moments are burned into my…
Lincoln (2012) – Steven Spielberg
Daniel Day-Lewis takes the titular role in Spielberg’s masterful film about the iconic president and his struggle to pass the 13th Amendment in support of his Emancipation Proclamation, even as the Civil War continues to tear the country apart. Filled with themes and ideas that are still sad, and frighteningly relevant, this looks at a…
Jason Bourne (2016) – Paul Greengrass
Director Paul Greengrass got the band back together for the fourth Bourne sequel, bringing Matt Damon’s turn at Robert Ludlum’s iconic character another shot at the big screen. And while there’s some cool ideas at work in the story, when the plot makes it ‘personal’ for Bourne to get him involved in the narrative, the…
Natural Born Killers (1994) – Oliver Stone
When you combine a story by Quentin Tarantino and the directorial style of Oliver Stone, you know you are going to get something unique to filmmaking, and Natural Born Killers is very much that. It is also the title on the What Else to Watch list from DK Books’ The Movie Book following their recommendation…
The Mind Reels 