A Hole in One 2005  N/R, 97 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Richard Ledes
Cast: Michelle Williams, Tim Guinee, Meat Loaf, Wendell Pierce, Bill Raymond, Merritt Wever, Louis Zorich, Jonathan Watton, Mark Day, Ileen Getz, Gerry Mendicino
When Dr. Harold Ashton (Bill Raymond) comes to town promoting lobotomies, Anna (Michelle Williams) opts for a transorbital lobotomy as the solution to the depression she has suffered since the death of her brother. Anna's gangster boyfriend, Billy (Meat Loaf), asks a friend to pose as a neurologist, Dr. Tom Franklin (Tim Guinee), and convince Anna that she doesn't need surgery. The ploy works, but complications ensue when Tom falls in love with Anna.
|  | |
Into the Wild 2007  R, 140 min.
Genre: Adventure / Drama
Director: Sean Penn
Cast: Emile Hirsch, William Hurt, Brian Dierker, Vince Vaughn, Hal Holbrook, Marcia Gay Harden, Jena Malone, Catherine Keener, Kristen Stewart, Zach Galifianakis, Haley Ramm, Merritt Wever
Based on Jon Krakauer's nonfiction story, this is the tale of troubled Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) who, after graduating from Emory University, got rid of his possessions, donated his savings to charity, changed his name to Alexander Supertramp, and headed out on a journey through the American West. He eventually ended up living in an abandoned bus in the Alaskan wilderness, where he died of starvation four months after arriving in Alaska. The story is told in flashbacks after he arrives in Alaska, starting with his life at home. Emile resented his father's (William Hurt) materialism and his family's way of life. Heading west, he experienced several adventures, including kayaking down the Colorado River to Mexico, stopping at a homeless shelter, hopping on trains with the hoboes, and meeting assorted characters along the way. Narration of the saga is by Jena Malone who plays his sister in the film. Was Emile just seeking adventure, or was there a deeper problem within him? A good movie, though long. The film received two Academy Award nominations including Best Supporting Actor (Hal Holbrook).
| | |
Michael Clayton 2007 R, 119 min.
Genre: Drama / Thriller
Director: Tony Gilroy
Cast: George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Sean Cullen, Tom Wilkinson, Sydney Pollack, Michael O'Keefe, Ken Howard, Denis O'Hare, Robert Prescott, Austin Williams, Merritt Wever, David Lansbury, Bill Raymond, David Zayas
Corporate lawyer Michael Clayton (George Clooney) routinely gets damage control assignments from his Manhattan law firm, and when the firm's lead attorney Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) suffers a mental breakdown during a deposition, Clayton steps in to meet the largest challenge of his career. It appears that Eden has uncovered the fact that the company, U/North, he was representing was guilty of putting a carcinogenic pesticide on the market and claiming innocence. Meanwhile, U/North's chief counsel Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) steps in and offers a solution to relieve her employer from paying out billions. Will Clayton take the money and run, or will he stand firm in what he knows is right? The film received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (Swinton); six other nominations included Best Picture, Actor (Clooney), Supporting Actor (Wilkinson), Supporting Actress (Swinton), and Director.
| | |
Series 7: The Contenders 2001  R, 88 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Daniel Minahan
Cast: Brooke Smith, Glenn Fitzgerald, Marylouise Burke, Michael Kaycheck, Richard Venture, Merritt Wever, Angelina Phillips, Nada Despotovich, Donna Hanover, Danton Stone
This parody on reality-based TV shows centers on the TV program "The Contenders" on which contestants, selected at random by the lottery, find they must kill or be killed–all for the glory of winning the game.
| | |
 Signs 2002 PG-13, 106 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin, Cherry Jones, M. Night Shyamalan, Patricia Kalember, Ted Sutton, Merritt Wever, Lanny Flaherty
When a 500-foot crop circle is discovered on a Philadelphia farm where he grows corn, it creates a frenzy in the media and a spiritual crisis for the farm's owner, Graham Hess (Mel Gibson), who is an Episcopalian minister.
| | |
Strike! 1998  PG-13, 94 min.
Genre: Comedy
aka: All I Wanna Do
Director: Sarah Kernochan
Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Gaby Hoffmann, Lynn Redgrave, Rachael Leigh Cook, Tom Guiry, Heather Matarazzo, Vincent Kartheiser, Monica Keena, Matthew Lawrence, Merritt Wever
Set during the 1960s, this story relates actions of students at Miss Godard's School for Girls when plans for a merger with a neighboring New England boys' school are implemented. Warning: this comedy is aimed at very young teenage girls.
| | |
| 1. A Hole in One (2005)
2. Into the Wild (2007)
3. Michael Clayton (2007)
4. Series 7: The Contenders (2001)
5. Signs (2002)
6. Strike! (1998)
aka: All I Wanna Do
In The News
|
