Ron Yerxa Movies

A footloose young man must undergo a dark and brutal "trial by fire" to save the love of his life in this flashy, violent adventure saga from Fredrik Bond, a celebrated director of television commercials. American Charlie Countryman's (Shia La Beouf) heart breaks as his mother (Melissa Leo) expires in a hospital, but seconds after her death, she reappears to him in spirit form and implores him to visit Bucharest, Romania. On the plane, he strikes up a conversation with an enigmatic stranger, who dies in mid-flight; not long after, Charlie crosses paths with the man's daughter, beautiful cellist Gabi Banyai (Evan Rachel Wood). The two quickly grow smitten with one another and begin an affair, but there are complications afoot, including Gabbi's marriage to a dissolute, psychopathic Romanian drug dealer called Nigel (Mads Mikkelsen) and one of his associates, mobster and strip club owner Darko (Til Schweiger) - each of whom despises Charlie and wants to see him dead. A recklessness overcomes Charlie, however, and he soon reveals that he's willing to do anything to claim Gabi, even if it means putting his very life on the line at the hands of these thugs. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Born in Arkansas in 1940, Levon Helm started playing music before anyone thought up the name rock & roll, and after taking up the drums, he teamed with Ronnie Hawkins, a fellow Arkansan who was becoming a popular rockabilly star in Canada. In time, Helm and his bandmates parted ways with Hawkins to go out on their own, and after a spell as Bob Dylan's backing group they became known as The Band, recording a handful of the most honored rock albums of the 1960s and '70s. When guitarist and songwriter Robbie Robertson decided to break up The Band in 1976, the group's final concert was a major musical event that spawned Martin Scorsese's acclaimed documentary The Last Waltz. But Levon Helm wasn't done with music by a long shot, and in spite of three decades that would have tested any man's patience -- including troubles with drug addiction, unpaid record royalties, bankruptcy, legal skirmishes over the rights to his music, accidentally shooting himself in the leg, the death of two of his closest friends, and a battle with throat cancer -- in 2008 Helm had a banner year as he earned a Grammy nomination for his first studio album in years, Dirt Farmer, and he was given a lifetime achievement award by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Filmmaker Jacob Hatley offers an intimate look at a legend of American music as he struggles to keep moving forward against long odds in the documentary Ain't In It For My Health: A Film About Levon Helm, which was an official selection at the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Kate Hudson portrays modern American artist Margaret Keane in this Bureau of Moving Pictures production, helmed by screenwriters-turned-directors Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Man on the Moon, Ed Wood). Keane gained notoriety for her large-eyed portraits of children in the 1950s, which then led to a headline-making lawsuit filed against her husband, Walter (played by Thomas Haden Church), during the emergence of feminist movement. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

Steve Coogan stars in the comedy Hamlet 2, which follows a drama teacher who tries to put together a production of "Hamlet 2" to rescue his high-school theater department. Catherine Keener co-stars in the Andrew Fleming-helmed production. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Documentary filmmaker and photographer Sam Jones (I Am Trying to Break Your Heart) makes the leap from real life to feature films with this comedy concerning the efforts of a young eccentric to wrestle his life back from his overbearing parents. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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, Rovi

Two men on the run from the mob end up negotiating more than their share of obstacles along the way in this comedy drama from director Harold Ramis. Vic Cavanaugh (Billy Bob Thornton) and Charlie Arglist (John Cusack) are a pair of friends who work for Bill Gerard (Randy Quaid), a mobster with his finger in a number of illegal businesses. Vic runs a pornography distribution outfit for Bill, while Charlie is a lawyer who keeps Bill and his partners out of jail, and between them, Vic and Charlie have stolen over two million dollars in cash from Bill. On Christmas Eve, Vic and Charlie plan to make off with their money and escape Bill's clutches once and for all, but while Vic stays cool and collected, an increasingly nervous Charlie stops off at a topless bar to fortify his courage with a few drinks, and ends up causing a scene with Renata (Connie Nielsen), a dancer he's long had his eye on. It doesn't take long for word about Charlie to get back to Bill, who sends an enforcer out to track him down, but while Charlie tries to make tracks, he ends up having to look after his friend Pete (Oliver Platt), who is much more drunk than Charlie and even more inclined to make a nuisance of himself. The Ice Harvest was adapted from the novel by Scott Philips. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Adam Larson and Tony R. Abrams' directorial debut Pumpkin is an unconventional love story. College senior Carolyn McDuffy (Christina Ricci) agrees to coach handicapped athletes from a local town in order to help her sorority win an award. She and her sorority sister Jeanine (Dominique Swain) are put off by the activity. Carolyn's discomfort begins to dissipate after meeting Pumpkin Romanoff (Hank Harris), a young man in a wheelchair who has dreams of competing in the shot put. Slowly, Carolyn falls in love with Pumpkin, sending her into conflict with her boyfriend Kent (Sam Ball), her sisters, and Pumpkin's mother (Brenda Blethyn). This film was screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

A man who's uncertain about the biggest step forward of his life steps back to take a look at his younger days in this comedy/drama. Roland (Taye Diggs) is a few hours away from getting married, and he is starting to have second thoughts; as much as he loves his fiancée, he can't stop thinking about Tanya (Tamala Jones), his first serious girlfriend in high school. Roland is hanging out with his two best friends, whom he also first met in school, Mike (Omar Epps), a solid regular guy, and Slim (Richard T. Jones), a flashy personality who plays pro basketball in Europe. They talk about the old days and flash back on growing up in Inglewood, California (nicknamed "The Wood") in the 1980's, when Run DMC and Eric B & Rakim were the happening sounds, and guys used to argue over who was hotter, Vanity or Apollonia. At the last minute, Roland takes off, wanting to pay Tanya a visit, and Mike and Slim are determined to track him down and make sure that he gets to the altar on time. The Wood was the debut feature film for writer/director Rick Famuyiwa, whose first short subject, Blacktop Lingo, won an enthusiastic response at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Marshall Herskovitz directed this tearjerking schizophrenic combination of The Wonder Years and To Kill a Mockingbird. It is 1972, and John Leary (Danny De Vito) and his two sons Jack (Robert J. Steinmiller Jr.) and Dylan (Miko Hughes) have just moved to Oakland, California. John is a television celebrity who has been fired from one station after another, appearing now on a cheap local station as the Saturday night host of a horror-film showcase. But John spends most of the time drinking and grieving over the loss of his wife, who was recently killed in an accident. The children try to adapt to their new school, and the family tries to adapt to the collection of kooks that populate their neighborhood. Foremost among them is Norman Strick (Gary Sinise), a sinister neo-Nazi who lives across the street. When Strick circulates a petition for the local white-supremacist candidate, John gets drunk and attacks him on his television show. As a result, Strick takes his revenge by abducting one of John's children. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi