Todd Thaler Movies

A woman who loves opera finds herself playing a romantic version of musical chairs in this independent comedy from writer and director Maria Maggenti. Allegra (Elizabeth Reaser) is a writer who has been involved with Samantha (Julianne Nicholson) for some time, but Allegra just isn't willing to make a commitment. Eventually, Samantha decides she's had enough, and she not only leaves Allegra, she jumps to the other side of the gender divide and starts dating a man. While Allegra is none too pleased with Samantha's actions, she unwittingly finds herself following suit when she meets Philip (Justin Kirk), a college professor, at a party. After a few cocktails, Allegra and Philip end up in bed, and while Allegra is content to leave it as a one-night stand, Philip has different ideas, and goes so far as to dump his girlfriend to pursue a relationship with Allegra, even though she's made it clear to him she's not at all serious about him. At the same time, Allegra strikes up a new romance with Grace (Gretchen Mol), but she doesn't know all that much about Grace's previous lovers -- who happen to include Philip. Puccini for Beginners was screened in competition at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This series is a gritty hard-driving look at an insane asylum. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Over the course of one year, a group of friends gathers for three parties (a birthday dinner party, a Halloween costume party, and a New Year's celebration) at the Brooklyn apartment of a young married couple (Chris Reed, Lauren Katz). Friendships and relationships are formed, dissolved, and re-formed amidst witty banter.
~ Keith Phipps, All Movie Guide

Gene Wilder wrote and starred in this detective story produced for the A&E cable television network. Set in 1938, Wilder plays Larry "Cash" Carter, a one-time Broadway theatrical director who has moved to a quiet Connecticut town, where he oversees a community theater group and works as a private investigator. When a local philanthropist with strong anti-Nazi sentiments is murdered, the police ask Cash to help them track down the killer. Cash discovers his little town isn't as quiet as he imagined, with nefarious servants, devious relatives, and an Axis agent all figuring into the deadly puzzle before he can determine the killer's identity. The Lady in Question was the second in a projected series of made-for-cable "Cash" Carter mysteries written by Wilder; the character was introduced in the first film, 1999's Murder in a Small Town. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Jimmy Corona (James Lorinz) is related to a bunch of mafia types, sure, but he has always earned his living writing potboiler exposés on the killing of John F. Kennedy. Now his publisher insists that he write something gritty about society's underside instead. This makes the youngish man suicidal, but none of his amateurish attempts to end his own life succeeds. Eventually he decides to seek out his mobster uncle (Tony Darrow), who takes him under his wing. He is just getting into the swing of this new life when he is snared by the cops to get the goods on his uncle's second in command. However, Jimmy's competence and luck in this, as in everything else, soon turns sour, when his body mike starts playing that day's ball game. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A hard-nosed star reporter learns who her real friends are -- and gets in way over her head -- investigating a murder in this twisty thriller. Perfect Stranger stars Halle Berry as Rowena, a prominent New York journalist who writes using a pseudonym to entrap some of the tri-state area's most corrupt individuals, using a network of informants, acquaintances, and digital gadgets. When her latest exposé is buried at the behest of her paper's corporate backers, she walks off the job and into a personal quagmire. Her childhood friend Grace (Nicki Aycox) is murdered when she threatens to reveal she's been sleeping with married advertising mogul Harrison Hill (Bruce Wills). With the help of her loyal techie friend Miles (Giovanni Ribisi), she goes undercover -- and online -- to find the smoking gun that will indict Hill. But Rowena soon finds herself caught in a web of manipulation, deceit, and false truths. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Todd Field teams with novelist Tom Perrotta to adapt Perrotta's acclaimed novel concerning the suburban malaise experienced by a handful of small-town individuals whose intersecting lives converge in a variety of surprising, and sometimes ominous, ways. Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly, and Patrick Wilson star in a cinematic adaptation that doesn't aim so much to simply reproduce the book for the screen as it does to re-imagine the written word by exploring new possibilities for the characters and situations originally presented in Perrotta's 2004 best-seller. Sarah (Winslet) is a suburban outsider who, unlike the other playground moms, isn't afraid to approach the dreamy but long-absent father whom smitten housewives have taken to calling the "Prom King." Long days at the local community pool with their respective children soon find Sarah becoming acquainted with local husband and father Brad (Patrick Wilson) -- who seems to share in her seething discontentment with life in their quaint commuter town. An English literature major who never envisioned a fate as a soccer mom, Sarah has a growing dissatisfaction with her successful husband (Gregg Edelman) that parallels Brad's increasing frustration with his inability to pass the bar and connect with his wife, Kathy (Jennifer Connelly), a successful documentary filmmaker. It's not long before the dejected pair is meeting for a series of illicit afternoon trysts as their unsuspecting spouses work and their children lie quietly napping. Meanwhile, after the community is riled by the return of a convicted sex offender (Jackie Earle Haley) who leaves the concerned parents scrambling to protect their young ones, an attempt made by Sarah and Brad to legitimize their clandestine relationship by dining together with their respective spouses begins to awaken Kathy's suspicions about the fidelity of her husband. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Directed by Reverge Anselmo, Stateside revolves around the unique love story of two very different teens -- namely, the rich but lonely Mark Deloach (Jonathan Tucker) and Dori Lawrence (Rachael Leigh Cook), a schizophrenic singer and actress -- whose lives spiral out of control in separate but nonetheless connective ways. After Mark's prank on a local girl (Agnes Bruckner) results in a deadly drunk-driving accident, and Dori's mental health continues to deteriorate, Mark is forcibly sent to the Marines as Dori is admitted into a mental hospital. Despite the state of havoc in their lives, however, Dori and Mark are drawn to each other -- it would appear that their mutual need for love and some semblance of understanding has bonded them more tightly together than all of their more traditional relationships combined. Of course, those very relationships are insisting the young couple stay as far apart as possible; Mrs. Hagen (Diane Venora), head of Dori's halfway house, is particularly insistent. When Mark is deployed to a combat unit overseas, it looks as though Mrs. Hagen's wishes have been granted. Unable to forget each other, Mark and Dori do their best to heal one another in spite of the distance between them. Stateside features supporting performances from Ed Begley Jr., Carrie Fisher, Val Kilmer, and Joe Mantegna ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

An alienated young man begins to question his own sanity in the wake of a horrible crime in the psychological thriller Fever. Nick Parker (Henry Thomas) is an aspiring artist who spends his evenings working on paintings and teaches art at the local YMCA to make ends meet. Nick has an apartment in a run-down building, where he often finds himself arguing with the landlord, Sidney (Sandor Tecsy). One night, Nick is disturbed by loud noises from the apartment above; he soon discovers the room has been rented to Will (David O'Hara), a threatening character who doesn't particularly care that Nick asked for an apartment without upstairs neighbors so he could work in peace. When Sidney is soon found murdered, Nick is questioned by a police detective (Bill Duke); Nick tells him he saw Sidney arguing with a drunk he evicted a few days before. However, when Nick passes the story along to Will, Will angrily replies that the old rummy wasn't capable of such a brutal crime. Before long, Nick starts sinking deeper into paranoia, wondering if his occasional rages might have something to do with his building's sudden crime wave. Fever was directed by Alex Winter, best known for his role opposite Keanu Reeves in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure; the film was screened in the Directors Fortnight series at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Actor John Turturro, who made his directorial debut with the Cannes Camera d'Or winner Mac (1992), returned to directing with this period farce about a struggling, turn-of-the-century New York repertory company owned by Astergourd (Beverly D'Angelo) and Pallenchio (Donal McCann). Egotistical playwright Tuccio (Turturro) has written a new play, Illuminata, for the troupe's actress-manager Rachel (Katherine Borowitz), daughter of aging actor Flavio (Ben Gazzara), who's lost his memory. Tuccio would like to see Illuminata staged, but the owners feel the play is unfinished. Young Piero (Matthew Sussman) collapses while performing in Cavalleria Rusticana, and this provides the ambitious Tuccio with an opportunity to introduce his new work to audiences. Unfortunately, foppish critic Bevalaqua (Christopher Walken) is unimpressed and issues a vicious attack on the production -- while also making unsubtle overtures to company clown Marco (Bill Irwin). Diva Celimene (Susan Sarandon) seduces Tuccio with her promises to bring him worldwide fame and fortune. Other liaisons are played out with the juvenile leads (Rufus Sewell, Georgina Cates), a veteran clown (Leo Bassi), and a supporting actress (Aida Turturro). Shown in competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Co-star Denis Leary co-wrote the script for this romantic comedy-drama. Leary plays Frank O'Brien, a no-class, small-time hood who is the boyfriend of Roz (Sandra Bullock), a cashier with a New York Jewish background who dreams of settling down and having kids. Roz wants out of the relationship but is fearful to break up. On a Friday, she accompanies Frank as he steals a painting. He tells her that it's his last job as a thief. Frank plans the delivery for Sunday evening so that they can turn the job into a getaway weekend. They go to a New England town and break into a huge home; the owners are on vacation. A sophisticated neighbor, Evan Marsh (Stephen Dillane), believes that they are friends of the owners' children and invites them to a party. Evan is an upper-class bachelor and is attracted to Roz. Roz goes horseback riding and boating with him, pretending a sophistication she doesn't possess, while Frank fumes at the rich rival. Meanwhile, Frank's crime boss Beano (Wayne Robson) learns that the painting Frank has stolen is a four-million-dollar Matisse and comes to the town with three henchmen. They are pursued by Detective O'Malley (Yaphet Kotto), who is trying to find a mysterious master art thief. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

This character drama, set in a local pub in rural New York State, focuses on the lives, thoughts, and emotions of a group of social outcasts. The lead misfit is Victor, a shy and very rotund man in his '30s who works as a pizza maker in a roadside inn. His mother, Dolly owns the establishment. She dominates his life. The senior waitress there is Dolores, an aging woman with a reputation for being easy. Dolores is resentful when Dolly hires the vivacious teenager Callie, who is in love with Jeff, a garage mechanic. Victor develops a painful crush on Callie and fantasizes about rescuing her from a life with Jeff. To help himself, he begins to diet and enrolls at a chef school. His mother becomes suddenly ill. Then Delores makes a pass at him, but he doesn't respond. He does however, feel emboldened to make a play for Callie. His actions lead him into a new world of expression. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide