Matthew Rauch Movies
Carol Fuchs adapts writer/director Sandra Nettelbeck's screenplay for the 2001 romantic drama Mostly Martha for this Scott Hicks directed remake starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart, and Patricia Clarkson. Kate Armstrong (Jones) is the master chef who is equally intense both in and out of the kitchen. Though Kate's "Type A" personality serves her well when whipping up meals in the trendy Manhattan eatery where she has made a name for herself, it threatens to sink her when she is named as the guardian of her nine-year-old niece Zoe (Little Miss Sunshine's Abigail Breslin). To complicate matters, an impetuous new sous chef named Nick Palmer (Eckhart) has recently joined the kitchen staff and his freewheeling personality seems to stand in direct opposition to Kate's unwavering perfectionism. Yet, despite the fact that they couldn't be more different on the surface, there's no denying the strong attraction between Kate and Nick. As the rivalry between the competitive cooks gradually gives way to romance, the lessons learned by compromising in the kitchen reveal to Kate the importance of learning to openly express herself in order to truly connect with Zoe and find romance with the good-natured Nick. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart, (more)
Writer-director Loren Marsh's black comedy Invitation to a Suicide - an official selection at the AFI Fest and HBO Comedy Festival - concerns the plight of Kaz Malek, a witless young man raised in a Polish enclave of Brooklyn. In a (very) misguided attempt to escape from his dead-end life as a baker's son, Kaz slyly lifts $10,000 from a Russian mobster, but is promptly caught. The mobster threatens to kill Kaz's father if he can't come up with the payola. To escape from this plight, Kaz devises a wild yet workable scheme: he'll publicly hang himself and sell tickets for the show, thus raising the money to pay off his creditor but dying in honor instead of living in shame over his father's death. To his utter shock, everyone - his father and the Mafioso included - wholeheartedly applauds the idea. But it remains unclear whether Kaz will follow through and off himself. Marsh pulled influence for the film from such classic films as Harold and Maude and King of Hearts. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- 2003
A mentally challenged man named Robbie Delgado (Chandler Adrian Parker) is arrested for the murder of a luxury-car dealer. It turns out that Delgado may have killed at the behest of Tina Montoya (Vanessa Ferlito), a beautiful and manipulative young woman with very expensive tastes. The problem: Although a case can be mounted against Delgado, the mercenary Montoya may very well get off scot-free. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
