Josh Charles Movies

Psychotherapy sessions are provocatively examined as Dr. Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne) delves into the minds of his patients in this adaptation of a highly acclaimed Israeli series. Scheduled appointments include Mondays with Laura (Melissa George), an attractive anesthesiologist who wonders if her fiancé is the answer to happiness or if it lies in the arms of other men. Navy pilot Alex (Blair Underwood) relates his experiences in Iraq on Tuesdays but combats the analyst every step of the way. Midweek visits become complicated for teen Sophie (Mia Wasikowska) when Paul hesitates to sign an insurance document after a biking accident ruins her chances of joining the U.S. Olympic gymnastic team. Quarrelsome couple Amy and Jake (Embeth Davidtz, Josh Charles) seek help dealing with Amy's pregnancy but find that it is their compatibility that may be fruitless. Though the respected therapist offers them all insight, his perspective appears changed when summing up the week on Fridays with his own counselor, Gina (Dianne Wiest). Their professional history creates an open door to challenging each other's viewpoints. Paul's problems with his wife, Kate (Michelle Forbes), and children don't make things easier. But it's the doctors' opposing opinions that create the most friction, leading to a dissection of inner troubles that would otherwise never rise to the surface. ~ All Movie Guide

Four men come together to find out how and why the woman who raised them was killed in this hard-edged urban drama from director John Singleton. Short-tempered Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), struggling musician Jack (Garrett Hedlund), streetwise Angel (Tyrese Gibson), and hard-working Jeremiah (Andre Benjamin) are four guys who don't appear to have much in common, in terms of either race or temperament. However, these men have one very important bond -- all four were adopted and raised by the same woman (Fionnula Flanagan), and they all love her as a mother, and respect one another as brothers. When their mother is killed during a robbery at a grocery store, the four brothers come together for the funeral, but when they don't get straight answers about what happened to her, they begin looking into the crime themselves. The deeper they dig into the case, the more the brothers begin to suspect that the shooting wasn't an accident, and that powerful and unexpected forces were involved. Four Brothers marked one of the first starring roles for Andre Benjamin, better known as Andre 3000 of the top selling hip-hop group OutKast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Clark Johnson's big-screen adaptation of the 1970s television series S.W.A.T. stars Colin Farrell as Jim Street, a young special weapons and tactics team member who, in the film's opening sequence, is demoted after his hothead partner Jeremy Renner shoots a hostage while trying to kill her captor. In need of good press, the higher-ups call in SWAT expert Hondo Harrelson (Samuel L. Jackson) to put together an elite team that can bring some luster back to the badge. He chooses Street, veteran T.J. (Josh Charles), and tough single mother Chris Sanchez (Michelle Rodriguez). The new team survives a series of tests before hitting the streets. Their first big assignment involves transporting an international criminal (Olivier Martinez) to federal authorities. The criminal had offered a hundred million dollars to anyone who can bust him out. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

A handful of friends find their love lives criss-crossing unexpectedly in this comedy set in San Francisco. Adam (Josh Charles) is a struggling artist who makes ends meet by driving a cab. Adam can't stop thinking about his ex-girlfriend Kate (Joanna Going) ever since she left him for Anne (JoBeth Williams), a lesbian art instructor with a knack for seducing other women. Meanwhile, Adam's current flame, Nina (Annabella Sciorra), is fooling around on the side with Kevin (Jon Bon Jovi), a bartender who is also Adam's best friend. Not wanting to limit his options, Kevin also takes an interest in Rebecca (Penelope Ann Miller), a new barmaid he's working with. Rebecca, on the other hand, has been approached by Anne, but while Rebecca is interested, she's new to lesbian love and isn't very comfortable yet with other women (or her own body). Little City was the debut feature film for former TV writer Roberto Benabib. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this low-budget sci-fi adventure, a nerdy college student is shocked to discover that he has been chosen to save the Earth from intergalactic invaders. Joe E. Talbott learns of his mission from the mysterious beauty who suddenly appears in his dorm late one night. Upon hearing her story, he agrees to help. Accompanied by the girl, and an alien mercenary who knows the enemy too well, he sets off to save the day. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In the mode of Quentin Tarantino, this film, directed by Gary Fleder from a script by Scott Rosenberg, concerns itself with hip, smart gangsters. The film is set in Denver, and the title comes from a Warren Zevon song. A retired, good-hearted gangster named Jimmy the Saint (Andy Garcia) runs a company that videotapes dying people giving life advice to their children and grandchildren, to be delivered when they come of age. Jimmy's former crime boss, The Man with the Plan (Christopher Walken), summons him. The Man is wheelchair-bound and doesn't have long to live; he explains that Jimmy owes him a favor and must perform one final job. It involves frightening the boyfriend of the ex-girlfriend of Bernard (Michael Nicolosi), the son of The Man, who has been so shaken by the girl's rejection of him that he has been fondling schoolyard children. Jimmy rounds up his old gang -- including Pieces (Christopher Lloyd), a porno theater projectionist; Franchise (William Forsythe), an ex-biker with a trailer-trash family to support; Critical Bill (Treat Williams), a psychotic, trigger-happy ex-con; and Easy Wind (Bill Nunn), an exterminator. Pieces and Bill pose as cops as part of the needlessly elaborate plan, which misfires badly. The Man, enraged, gives Jimmy 48 hours to leave town, and he orders his comrades wiped out, hiring the notorious hitman Mr. Shhh (Steve Buscemi) to track them down. But Jimmy can't seem to get the others to leave town, and despite The Man's decree, Jimmy is also reluctant to leave, because he's become romantically entangled with Dagney (Gabrielle Anwar). Jack Warden's character serves as a kind of Greek chorus who comments from time to time on the unfolding action. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

This comedy chronicles the romantic exploits of a rather stodgy young man with a traffic fetish. Even as a child Charlie Dunlap was totally fixated by freeway traffic. Charlie's biggest idol is Alan Davenport, a radio traffic reporter. As a young man, Charlie falls in love with the lively, free-spirited Amy and they become lovers the night before she leaves for college. Their relationship disintegrates during her absence and Charlie ends up moving to LA to be near the great freeways. Even his rundown apartment overlooks the freeway. Single-minded Charlie is determined to get a job working for Alan Davenport, but his efforts to get hired at Metro Traffic are thwarted by an officious employee. He goes to a neighboring cafe and there discovers Amy working as a waitress. When not working, she performs with an experimental dance troupe that stages its productions at toxic-waste dump sites. Though he wants to start up their relationship again, she tells him she has found another. Charlie ends up having a passionate affair with his landlady. Later he meets Davenport and manages to achieve his dream and become his assistant. Through it all he still longs for Amy and in the end the two do indeed come together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This gentle baseball fantasy centers on a former ball player who has spent thirty years bitterly brooding over the fact that he has been overlooked by the Baseball Hall of Fame. He finally decides to take action when his long-lost best friend returns from the dead to talk to him. Just before he died, the friend was inducted into the famous museum. The rest of the story is comprised of touching and sometimes funny vignettes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Christina Applegate stars in this convoluted comedy that comes across as a teen fantasy combination of Home Alone and Working Girl. The premise is all in the title -- when the mother (Concetta Tomei) of a sniveling group of surly kids goes on a much-deserved summer vacation, she leaves her kids under the charge of an elderly distaff granny (Eda Reiss Merin). When granny ups and dies, the kids load her dead body in a trunk and deposit the package on the steps of the local funeral home. The kids are ecstatic thinking that with the big wad of cash Mom has left, they can have a summer of consumer madness. But when they find out that the money has been buried with the baby-sitter, the kids have to fend for themselves to make ends meet. Dream teen Sue Ellen (Christina Applegate) tries working at a fast food restaurant but she can't stand the grease. So, she puts together a false resume and, posing as a twenty-eight-year old, she applies for a job as a receptionist at a garment manufacturing company. The company vice president, Rose (Joanna Cassidy), is so impressed by her resume that she hires her on the spot as her executive assistant. Her deception looks to be working out great -- Sue Ellen manages to hold off the office lady killer Gus (John Getz), avoids exposure by the embittered receptionist, borrows money from the company's petty cash box for household incidentals, and continues her relationship with restaurant employee Bryan (Josh Charles). But suddenly, the clothing firm is set to go under, and Sue Ellen must use her teen fashion sense to save the company and her job . . . and she has to get the rest of the brood involved. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Robin Williams toned down his usually manic comic approach in this successful period drama. In 1959, the Welton Academy is a staid but well-respected prep school where education is a pragmatic and rather dull affair. Several of the students, however, have their thoughts on the learning process (and life itself) changed when a new teacher comes to the school. John Keating (Williams) is an unconventional educator who tears chapters of his textbooks and asks his students to stand on their desks to see the world from a new angle. Keating introduces his students to poetry, and his free-thinking attitude and the liberating philosophies of the authors he introduces to his class have a profound effect on his students, especially Todd (Ethan Hawke), who would like to be a writer; Neil ( Robert Sean Leonard), who dreams of being an actor, despite the objections of his father; Knox (Josh Charles), a hopeless romantic; Steven (Allelon Ruggiero), an intellectual who learns to use his heart as well as his head; Charlie (Gale Hansen), who begins to lose his blasé attitude; unconventional Gerard (James Waterston); and practical Richard (Dylan Kussman). Keating urges his students to seize the day and live their lives boldly; but when this philosophy leads to an unexpected tragedy, headmaster Mr. Nolan (Norman Lloyd) fires Keating, and his students leap to his defense. Dead Poets Society was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Williams; it won one, for Tom Schulman's original screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide