Josh Lucas Movies

A woman is placed in a dangerous position after a chance meeting with a stranger in this suspense drama. A drifter wanders into a quiet diner off a highway, and the woman who manages the place takes pity on him and gives him breakfast on the house since he doesn't have any money. The stranger looks like he's been injured recently, and when three men come in for something to eat, he warns the manager that the new customers are not to be trusted -- he has information that they want, and they would be willing to hurt her as badly as they hurt him in order to get it. Whom should she believe? And what will happen if the drifter happens to be right? Produced under the title Shearer's Breakfast, When Strangers Appear stars Barry Watson, Radha Mitchell, and Josh Lucas; though set in the United States, the film was actually shot in New Zealand. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Based on an original idea by celebrated French director Luc Besson, The Dancer follows the struggle of its eponymous heroine, a mute dancer by the name of India Rey (Mia Frye), to perform on the Broadway stage. Every Saturday night, India, who teaches movement to school children by day, wins the weekly dance contest at a local Brooklyn disco. Under the management of her brother, Jasper (Garland Whitt), a surly meat delivery boy, she makes the cut at an open audition for a Broadway show. Her dreams are aborted when she is dismissed by the director after giving her name in sign language, and she is told that her disability will hold back the rehearsal process. India despairs, but help is on its way in the unlikely form of Isaac (Rodney Eastman), a stuttering scientist infatuated with her. Isaac toils in his lab to invent something that will allow India to translate her movement into sound, effectively clearing her path to big-time success. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

Stacy Cochran directs this loose, understated comedy about football and celebrity. Pete Barnes (James LeGros) is in desperate straits -- he lost his job as a sports reporter, his married girlfriend has had enough of him, and his muckraking exposé on the seamy side of the NFL has saddled him with a handful of lawsuits. In spite of this, Pete wins an assignment from a loyal editor for a tabloid feature on 19-year old football wunderkind Spanks Voley (Desmond Harrington). When Pete catches up with him, Spanks is playing the lead in a low-budget flick about football; that is until a mysterious assailant rearranges the jock's face, forcing him to drop from the shoot. As Pete starts digging around, he soon learns that Spanks is not what he appears. His murky past is populated with two angry ex-wives; a trail of changed names, ages, and careers; and vague accusations of domestic abuse. This film was screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

East meets West in the changing landscape of Beijing on the cusp of the 21st century in this romantic comedy-drama. Leah Quinn (Catherine Kellner) is an American in her early 20s who has decided to spend some time in China. While studying weiqi, she becomes romantically involved with her teacher, Sun Zhan (Geng Li), a self-styled hipster by night who, during the day, hosts a tacky television program. Meanwhile, Richard Kao (David Wu) is a young American of Chinese heritage who is visiting the country for the first time. He's brought with him the ashes of his grandfather, who wanted them to be scattered in the Chinese village of his birth. As he acquaints himself with the family he's never known, Richard gains a new appreciation for his cultural heritage -- and becomes infatuated with a neighborhood girl, Lin Qing (Shiang-chyi Chen). Restless was the first ever American-Chinese co-production, and marked the first feature for writer/director Jule Gilfillan. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

To Oxford University's rowing team, the annual competitive boat race holds more potential glory than the Olympics. When their long-running winning streak is shattered by the skilled Cambridge athletes, the shattered but determined Oxford rowers begin the long and arduous journey to reclaim their title at next year's race. Matters are complicated when the Oxford team's unconventional methods of preparation clash with the long-standing traditions of the Ivy League school, and the rivalry between old and new threatens to sink their chances of victory. If Oxford is to reclaim their title of boat race champion from their fierce archrivals at Cambridge, they must put aside their differences and row harder than ever before to restore the pride of their beloved school. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

This is the first mainstream film to deal with the harrowing true story of a Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes mountains in October of 1972 and who were forced to resort to cannibalism to survive more than two months of isolation. (The only other film to tackle the subject, Rene Cardona's Survive! was a seedy little mess that delighted in exploiting the cannibalism aspect.) The events depicted are primarily based on the novel of the same name by Piers Paul Read. The interview-style prologue features an uncredited John Malkovich as one of the survivors, whose spiritual ruminations on the disaster kick off the film's main action. We are briefly introduced to the characters before disaster strikes, in the film's most horrifying set-piece -- the depiction of the crash in grueling detail. The handful of survivors who manage to extricate themselves from the twisted wreckage seem incapable of working through their panic as they hope against all odds that a rescue party will locate them. One of the survivors, Nando (Ethan Hawke), awakens from a coma and makes a remarkable recovery -- enough to demonstrate level-headed leadership after team captain Antonio (Vincent Spano) begins to lose his nerve. As the weeks wear on and rations are depleted, the survivors are forced into a moral dilemma: the only remaining source of food seems to be the bodies of the dead. Those who choose for religious reasons not to consume their former companions must face the realization that they will soon starve or freeze to death. In the end, three men who choose survival above all else find the strength to set out on a treacherous mission to a ridge, where hopefully one of them will make it to civilization. Director Frank Marshall infuses the proceedings with sufficient intensity to keep the story moving, but the film fails to fully explore the often-recounted spiritual aspects of the ordeal as established in the opening monologue. Ironically, the writers' apparent attempts to remain true to Read's account of events -- resulting in some rather odd stretches of dialogue -- impede the drama even more than the Hollywood glamorization of the story's nominal "heroes," who remain rugged and handsome despite months of malnutrition and severe frostbite. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Deadbeat dads be damned. Patrick Swayze plays a con man who tries to live up to the ideals of "family values" by kidnapping his son and daughter from the evil clutches of a corrupt orphanage and taking them on a cross-country trip in his vintage convertible. To complicate matters, his daughter has been sexually molested by the head of the orphanage, who fears that she may prosecute if given the opportunity. This family drama is also a zany road movie as the re-united father and children flee the police on a quest to restore their family. ~ Laura Abraham, Rovi