The second night of the Lonesome Dove miniseries was 6 February, 1989. William D. Wittliff’s adaptation of Larry McMurtry’s novel continued chronicling the journey of the Hat Creek outfit’s cattle drive to Montana. And it picks up exactly where the previous episode closed out, with the vicious water moccasin attack. Beginning with this death, we…
Tag: tommy lee jones
Lonesome Dove (1989) – Leaving
Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was adapted into an Emmy-winning mini-series. The epic novel was broken up into four parts, with the first part debuting on 5 February, 1989. It was adapted by William D. Wittliff, and the opening feature-length episode was directed by Simon Wincer. I remember the ads for this on television, and…
Batman: Revolution (2025) – John Jackson Miller
John Jackson Miller delivers the second story in his Batman series that connects the 1989 Tim Burton film with is follow up, Batman Returns. It works to sew all of the narrative and connective tissue together, and it does it well. It’s a fun, expansive and while I can’t always hear the actors’ voices in…
Rolling Thunder (1977) – John Flynn
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…
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…
The Mind Reels 