Brian Grazer Movies
In Hollywood, producer Brian Grazer garners respect for his creativity and for his knack for picking box-office winners. He also possesses a rare gift for spotting raw talent. He was the one who helped Ron Howard move from juvenile actor to major director and he helped struggling actors such as Meg Ryan, Michael Keaton, Tom Hanks, and John Candy become major stars. Beginning his film career as a story reader and talent agent, Grazer earned his first production credits for television movies, such as Zuma Beach, while working for Edgar J. Scherick Associates in the late '70s. He had his first feature-film production credit on Howard's black comedy Night Shift (1980). In 1984, Grazer received an Oscar nomination for the story for Howard's blockbuster Splash. Shortly thereafter, he and Howard co-founded Imagine Films Entertainment; the company became one of Hollywood's most successful production companies with such popular films as Parenthood (1989) and Kindergarten Cop (1990).Throughout the 1990s, Grazer was responsible for some of the more memorable audience pleasers, producing numerous successful films across a wide spectrum of genres. From dramatic thrillers (Backdraft [1991], Ransom [1996]) to madcap comedy (Nutty Professor [1996], Bowfinger [1999], Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas [2000]) to drama (the widely praised real-life story of the Apollo 13 [1995] lunar mission crisis), Grazer consistently produced quality films that continually captivated the imaginations of filmgoing audiences. In 1998, he re-teamed with Apollo 13 partner Tom Hanks to create the highly acclaimed HBO miniseries From Earth to the Moon, for which he won an Emmy for Outstanding Miniseries. Grazer continued his successful work in television into the new millennium, gaining 17 Emmy nominations for producing such shows as The PJ's, Sports Night, and Felicity. In 2001, Grazer was honored as the recipient of the Producers Guild of America's David O. Selznick Lifetime Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures. As if the honors of that award weren't enough, the following year found the frequent Ron Howard collaborator sharing a Best Picture Oscar with the noted director for their collaboration on A Beautiful Mind. A popular and personal tale of the life of famed mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr., A Beautiful Mind proved to be a heavy contender at that year's Academy Awards as it also took home Oscars for Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Connelly), Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay (Akiva Goldsman). Keeping momentum up after the success of A Beautiful Mind proved no problem for the every busy Grazer, and the following year the prolific producer was back in action with work on Blue Crush and Undercover Brother. Though both films proved a moderate draw at the box office, it was 2002's 8 Mile that proved his biggest success of that particular year. In addition to being the first film with a rap song to win a Best Original Song Oscar, the film found star Eminem holding his own opposite such experienced actors as Kim Basinger and Mekhi Phifer and proved a massive hit during its theatrical run and on home video. Next teaming with the ever-eccentric Coen brother's for 2003's Intolerable Cruelty, Grazer rounded out the year with the triple threat of The Cat in the Hat, The Missing and The Alamo. The revealing Grazer-produced documentary Inside Deep Throat was also released in 2003, just as he was preparing to being work on the Jim Carrey/Cameron Diaz crime comedy remake Fun with Dick and Jane, set for release in 2005. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 2012
Eddie Murphy stars in this new incarnation of Richard Matheson's classic adventure, this time portrayed with a comic slant in the tale of a magician who must break a shrinking hex that's been thrown on him before he grows so small that he ceases to exist. The Reno 911! screenwriting duo of Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant provide the script, with Brett Ratner taking on directing duties. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Murphy
- 2011
Based on the graphic novel by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Cowboys & Aliens starts in 1800s Arizona, where the local cowboys, headed by gunslinger Zeke Jackson (Robert Downey Jr.), and the indigenous Apache tribe have been feuding fiercely for quite a while. Their skirmish is interrupted, however, by the appearance of a spaceship, commanded by an alien creature that's bent on enslaving the human race. It's time for a six-gun shoot-out between these cattle rustlers and space invaders, and there might even be a temporary peace between the cowboys and Indians as they both take aim at these extraterrestrial uninvited guests. Jon Favreau directs from a script by Star Trek scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, with help from Lost's Damon Lindelof. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Downey, Jr.
- 2011
Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe makes his feature directorial debut with this surf drama that follows rough-and-tumble wave riders Sunny, Koby, and Jai Abberton as they spark an underground movement in the Australian seaside suburb of Maroubra. In addition to directing the fictionalized version of the true-life story, Crowe also served as narrator of the 2007 documentary of the same name, which was produced in close collaboration with the Abberton siblings. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2011
Wes Anderson adapts Patrice Leconte's 2006 French feature My Best Friend with this Universal Pictures/Imagine Entertainment co-production. Anderson provides the script, which focuses on a surly antiques dealer who enlists the help of a sweet cab driver to teach him how to make friends in order to win a bet. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- 2010
Spike Lee returns to big-budget thriller territory with this sequel to 2006's blockbuster hit Inside Man. Hotel Rwanda's Terry George provides the screenplay, with Brian Grazer onboard to produce. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- 2010
Mr. Show's Bob Odenkirk takes a stab at the action comedy world with his script for the adaptation of the Hasbro action figure Stretch Armstrong. The Universal Pictures production is being produced by Brian Goldner and Bennett Schneir. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- 2010
Ron Howard directs this adaptation of Claire Messud's novel about a group of young Ivy League socialites in New York City whose aimless lives are put into turnaround when the events of 9/11 disrupt their self-centered existence. Noah Baumbach (Kicking and Screaming) writes the screenplay, with Imagine Entertainment's Brian Grazer handling producing duties. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- 2010
Director Ridley Scott and actor Russell Crowe reunite for their fifth big-screen outing, a retelling of the Robin Hood legend featuring the Gladiator star in the titular role. A bowman in the army of Richard Coeur de Lion, virtuous rogue Robin Hood rises from an unlikely background to become a hero to the impoverished people of Nottingham and lover to the beautiful Lady Marion (Cate Blanchett). Cyrus Voris, Ethan Reiff, and Brian Helgeland collaborate on the screenplay for a costume adventure produced by Brian Grazer (Frost/Nixon, American Gangster). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, (more)
- 2010
John Adams' Tom Hooper helms this new version of John Steinbeck's classic novel of inner family dynamics between a rebellious son and his family in the vast Californian farmland. The novel was made famous by James Dean's brooding performance in Elia Kazan's visually arresting adaptation from 1955. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- 2010
Conceived as a cinematic sequel to author H.G. Wells' landmark science fiction tale, director/screenwriter David Goyer's film follows the British nephew of the original Invisible Man as he discovers his uncle's top-secret invisibility formula and is recruited by British intelligence agency MI5 to assist allied operations during World War II. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Angels and Demons re-teams director Ron Howard and star Tom Hanks for the sequel to their international blockbuster adaptation of Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code. Although the book Angels and Demons was written before the novel The Da Vinci Code, the movie transpires after the events of the earlier movie. Hanks stars as professor Robert Langdon, the most respected symbologist in the United States, who uses his knowledge in order to decode a symbol on the skin of a murder victim. The clues put him on the trail of an international conspiracy involving the Catholic Church. Ewan McGregor and Ayelet Zurer also star in the Sony Pictures production. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, Ayelet Zurer, (more)
- 2009
Inspired by the scientific discoveries of real life body language specialist and criminal investigator Dr. Paul Eikman, the weekly police detective series Lie to Me follows Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) and his special team of experts as assist local police, government agencies, and federal law enforcement in solving some of their most difficult cases. Dr. Lightman can detect a lie simply by studying a person's face, body, voice, and speech. The simplest gesture can tip Dr. Lightman off. He can read every emotion from, from jealousy, to sexual attraction, to resentment his subject had thought they kept hidden. But as helpful as this talent is in his professional life, it often proves a curse in his personal life. As the leader of The Lightman Group, Dr. Lightman presides over a team comprised of gifted psychologist Dr. Gillian Foster (Kelli Williams), who always has a solid grasp on the big picture, lead researcher Eli Loker (Brendan Hines), who despises the human tendency to lie to such a degree that he practices "radical honesty," and agency newcomer Ria Torres, a true natural in the field of deception detection. Together, The Lightman Group can sniff out any lie, and ensure that justice is served even when the culprit is a master manipulator. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2009
A government-built supercomputer designed to serve as the ultimate protection goes sentient and decides that the only way to protect humankind from itself is to assume complete control over the entire human race in this screen adaptation of author D.F. Jones' Colossus novels. Though Jones' original novel was adapted for the screen in 1970's Colossus: The Forbin Project, this new version will deal with much broader issues by also including elements from the author's two subsequent Colossus novels, The Fall of Colossus and Colossus and the Crab -- both of which were penned nearly a decade after the release of the original film. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2009
After exploring the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the HBO documentary When the Levees Broke, veteran director Spike Lee fixes his lens on yet another historic tragedy with this heated period drama set in 1992 and detailing the racially charged chaos that engulfed Los Angeles after four LAPD officers were acquitted by an all-white jury in the brutal beating of African-American motorist Rodney King, despite the fact that the entire event was captured on camera. Brian Grazer produces a script penned by Three Kings scribe John Ridley. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2008
Topher Grace and Anna Faris star in It's All Gone Pete Tong screenwriter/director Michael Dowse's coming of age comedy drama concerning a rowdy group of recent college graduates who venture out for one last night of fun before accepting the responsibilities of adulthood. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Faris, Dan Fogler, (more)
- 2008
Das Experiment director Oliver Hirschbiegel teams with City of God screenwriter Braulio Mantovani for this dramatization of the 2004 siege of a Russian elementary school by armed Chechen rebels. A grueling, three-day ordeal that commanded the attention of the entire world, the bloody siege in Beslan would, when all the smoke cleared, leave 300 people, including thirty-one terrorists, dead. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Hollywood heavyweight Ron Howard adapts playwright Peter Morgan's West End hit for the silver screen with this feature focusing on the 1977 television interviews between journalist David Frost (Michael Sheen) and former president Richard Nixon (Frank Langella). At the time Nixon sat down with Frost to discuss the sordid details that ultimately derailed his presidency, it had been three years since the former commander in chief had been forced out of office. The Watergate scandal was still fresh in everyone's minds, and Nixon had remained notoriously tight-lipped until he agreed to sit down with Frost. Nixon was certain that he could hold his own opposite the up-and-coming British broadcaster, and even Frost's own people weren't quite sure their boss was ready for such a high-profile interview. When the interview ultimately got under way and each man eschewed the typical posturing in favor of the simple truth, fans and critics on both sides were stunned by what they witnessed. Instead of Nixon stonewalling the interviewer as expected, or Frost lobbing softballs as the truth-seekers feared, what emerged was an unguardedly honest exchange between a man who had lost everything and another with everything to gain. In this film, viewers are treated to not only a recreation of that landmark interview, but a behind-the-scenes look at the power struggles that led up to it as well. Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Brian Grazer team to produce a film adapted for the screen by original play author Morgan (The Queen and The Last King of Scotland). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, (more)
A made for TV movie that provides a bridge between the sixth and seventh seasons of the hit FOX action series 24, 24: Redemption features series star Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer. As the program opens, Bauer spends his time doing missionary work in Africa, laying low while the United States government attempts to capture him. His work leads him into contact with an evil warlord who maintains a loyal army by constantly brainwashing children into joining him. Bauer risks his freedom in order to stop the warlord. Redemption co-stars Oscar winner Jon Voight, Gil Bellows, and Robert Carlyle. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kiefer Sutherland, Cherry Jones, (more)
Inspired by actual events that occurred in 1920s-era Los Angeles, Clint Eastwood's The Changeling tells the story of a woman driven to confront a corrupted LAPD after her abducted son is retrieved and she begins to suspect that the boy returned to her is not the same boy she gave birth to. The year was 1928, and the setting a working-class suburb of Los Angeles. As Christine (Angelina Jolie) said goodbye to her son, Walter, and departed for work, she never anticipated that this was the day her life would be forever changed. Upon returning home, Christine was distressed to discover that Walter was nowhere to be found. Over the course of the following months, the desperate mother would launch a search that would ultimately prove fruitless. Yet just when it seemed that all hope was lost, a nine-year-old boy claiming to be Christine's son seemed to appear out of thin air. Overcome with emotions and uncertain how to face the authorities or the press, Christine invites the child to stay in her home despite knowing without a doubt that he is not her son. As much as Christine would like to accept the fact that her son has been returned to her, she cannot accept the injustice being pushed upon her and continues to challenge the Prohibition-era Los Angeles police force at every turn. As a result, Christine is slandered by the powers that be, and painted as an unfit mother. In this town, a woman who challenges the system is putting her life on the line, and as the situation grows desperate, the only person willing to aid her in her search is benevolent local activist Reverend Briegleb (John Malkovich). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, (more)
Director Ridley Scott spins this yarn concerning a Harlem drug kingpin (Denzel Washington) who smuggles heroin into the country by hiding it in the bodies of U.S. soldiers killed during battle in Vietnam. There was a time when no one noticed reserved driver Frank Lucas (Washington), but when the criminal kingpin he was charged with transporting through the city streets suddenly dies, Lucas seizes the opportunity to build his own criminal empire. In the following months, Lucas solidifies his status as Harlem's most innovative drug dealer by delivering a product that is purer than the competitors' and cheaper, as well. When innovative businessman Lukas attempts to go semi-legit by becoming one of the Manhattan borough's biggest civil supporters, however, street-savvy outcast cop Ritchie Roberts (Russell Crowe) begins to sense a sizable shift in the hierarchy of the drug underworld. But Roberts is one of the few honest detectives operating within a corrupt system, and as he sets out to investigate the case, crooked detective Trupo (Josh Brolin) does everything in his power to compromise the integrity of his idealistic counterpart. Upon clearing all of the usual Mafia-connected suspects, Roberts begins to believe that a previously unknown black power player has come out of the woodwork to dominate the local drug trade. While Roberts and Lucas may be operating on opposite sides of the law, the one thing that both men have in common is a strict code of ethics that separates them from their opportunistic colleagues. Now, as a confrontation between the two men becomes inevitable and the fate of each becomes inexorably tied to the other, it gradually becomes apparent that only one of them will emerge from the conflict victorious. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, (more)
- 2006
This weekly NBC reality/game show combined elements from several similar TV series as well as from such recent theatrical films as National Treasure and The Da Vinci Code. The contestants were divided into ten three-person teams, bearing such designations as "Geniuses," "Miss USA," and "Ex-CIA." Five of the teams were dispatched in one direction, five in another, whereupon all the players trotted around the globe, stopping at various historical sites to seek out hidden clues and code words that would enable them to find a "buried treasure" of gold. Along the way, the players were also expected to outperform each other in various mental and physical challenges -- many of them extremely embarrassing and humiliating in nature (especially toward those players who had the misfortune to be too fat, too thin, too short, or too tall -- at least by the prevailing "beautiful people" standards). Hosted by Laird Macintosh, Treasure Hunters debuted June 18, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laird Macintosh
The volatile showdown between a determined cop and a perfectionist bank robber is sent spiraling toward disaster when a scheming power broker steps in to take control of the situation in this hair-raising heist flick directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, and Jodie Foster. Dalton Russell (Owen) is a bank robber with a difference. In his quest to execute the perfect heist, Dalton has taken every possible factor into consideration. Dalton's uncanny ability of staying one step ahead of the law thwarts even-tempered Detective Keith Frazier's (Washington) best efforts. But there's another factor at play. The bank president (Christopher Plummer) has requested the services of high-profile negotiator Madeline White (Foster). Despite her commendable track record, Madeline is something of a wild card, and before the day is over, this bank robbery will go down in history as one of the most elaborate heists ever executed. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, (more)
- 2006
Though packaged for CBS by the successful production team of Brian Grazer, David Nevins and Ian Biederman, the weekly, hour-long legal drama Shark might never have seen the light of day had not celebrated stage and film actor James Woods agreed to sign on as star. Woods was cast as famous and famously arrogant and ruthless defense attorney Sebastian Shark, who literally stopped at nothing to clear his celebrity clients. When one such client ended up beating his wife to death after wriggling out of a domestic-abuse charge, the chastened Shark experienced an epiphany. The formerly flamboyant attorney humbly offered his services as a prosecutor in the office of his longtime enemy, LA district attorney Jessica Devlin (Jeri Ryan), who headed the High Profile Crime Unit. Even though Shark was now working on the side of the angels, he still tended to take an unorthodox (and sometimes underhanded) approach to his job. Others members of Jessica Devlin's team included wealthy, egotistical Casey Woodland (Samuel Page), energetic and eager-to-learn Madline Poe (Sarah Carter), streetwise intellectual Martin Allende (Alexis Cruz) and tough-talking newcomer Raina Troy (Sophina Brown). Also seen in the cast was Danielle Panabaker as Shark's estranged teenage daughter Julie. Shark debuted September 21, 2006, with a pilot episode directed by no less than Spike Lee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
