Lynn Cohen Movies

After surviving a blast from a double-barrelled shotgun, Henry Jackson (Joe Seneca) is still able and willing to identify his assailant. It turns out that the shooter is an outspoken white supremacist -- and a serial killer who preys upon minorities. This is why Assistant D.A. Stone (Michael Moriarty) is astonished when the accused is defended by a prominent African-American lawyer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the late 1980s, noted theatrical director Andre Gregory assembled a group of friends and actors and began rehearsing a new translation of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya by David Mamet, not with any specific performance in mind but as a way of exploring the beauty and precise construction of Chekhov's play. Louis Malle, a friend of Gregory's, became interested in the project and spent two weeks filming Gregory's actors as they performed Uncle Vanya without an audience in a run-down theater near New York's Times Square. In these performances, the line between theater and real life is blurred as conversations between actors -- juggling take-out cups of coffee and wearing street clothes -- slowly grow into a superb performance of Chekhov's classic, with Wallace Shawn as Vanya, Julianne Moore as Yelena, Brooke Smith as Sonya, and Larry Pine as Dr. Astrov. With a certain sad irony, this marvelously realized adaptation of a play about people wondering what they've done with their lives proved to be Louis Malle's final film; he died of cancer in 1995. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The detectives spring into action when a 12-year-old is killed in a bombing at a renovation site. As usual, there is a plethora of suspects, but Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Logan (Chris Noth) pay special attention to antagonistic contractor Arthur "Buzz" Palley (Robert John Burke). Either Palley is the guilty party, or someone hated the man so much that they were willing to commit murder. The key to the solution is a taped telephone conversation, which Assistant D.A. McCoy (Sam Waterston) brings into play even though it has already been ruled as inadmissible evidence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Manhattan woman struggles with loneliness in the face of her best friend's imminent marriage in this well-received independent comedy from first-time writer-director Nicole Holofcener. Amelia (Catherine Keener) feels isolated because her friend Laura (Anne Heche) has been devoting all her time to preparing for her upcoming wedding. Desperate, she resorts to the unthinkable: dating the nerdy, Fangoria-obsessed clerk at her local video store (Kevin Corrigan). This discouraging encounter, along with some awkward conversations with her former boyfriend, leave her even more depressed and jealous of Laura's good fortune. However, Laura soon reveals that she is having her own doubts about her future. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

A teenager tries to do the right thing with heavy odds stacked against him in this hard-hitting independent drama. Marcus (Brendan Sexton III) is a 14-year-old growing up in a tough section of New York City. Marcus' father is dead, and his mother is in prison; while she told him that it was for helping to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States, he later discovers that she was actually convicted of the murder of his dad. Living with his grandmother, who works as a bartender, Marcus doesn't get much in the way of guidance, and he soon falls in with a group of kids who ride bikes, hang out, and engage in small-time theft for fun and profit. Marcus and his new friends shoplift CDs and sneakers and then sell them in the schoolyard; however, before long, some of the other kids bring up the idea of pulling bigger thefts for bigger profits, and while Marcus is resistant to the idea at first, the decision isn't entirely his to make. One of Marcus' few friends who wants to see him straighten up is Melena (Isidra Vega), who is growing up with a strong set of principles despite being raised in an abusive home. Hurricane (also released under the title Hurricane Streets) won both the Audience Award and the Director's Award at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival; it was the first feature for director Morgan J. Freeman (not to be confused with actor Morgan Freeman). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Set in New York's East Village, director Emanuele Crialese wrote this light romantic comedy about two couples, four "strangers" determined to make love and the American dream work, despite the odds. Ajay Naidu plays Apu, an Americanized native of India; more than 20 years after leaving his homeland he awaits his bride by arranged marriage. Devi Anjalee Deshpande has trouble adjusting to the new culture. Apu's acquaintance, Antonio Vincenzo Amato, is an illegal alien from Italy, who has his own tryst with the object of his desire -- a radio talkshow host Jessica Whitney Gould--but their match is ill-timed. The trials, errors and demands of looking for a love in the late '90s is studied to great comic effect. All of the characters, despite their foibles, are incredibly appealing, due in no small part to a fine unknown cast, script and direction. ~ Denise Sullivan, All Movie Guide

The investigation following the stabbing of a female police officer could result in either the re-election or defeat of D.A. Adam Schiff (Steven Hill). Meanwhile, Briscoe's (Jerry Orbach) troubled daughter Cathy (Jennifer Bill) is arrested for drug dealing, and his partner Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) is wounded in the line of duty. Robert Vaughn and Charles Grodin make return appearances as, respectively, vindictive millionaire Carl Anderton and politically ambitious judge Gary Feldman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A wealthy patroness of the arts is found murdered in her apartment, her hands severed from her body. The subsequent investigation turns up evidence that the motive for the murder may have been a painting, which bears a startling resemblance to the scene of the crime. Chief among the suspects is the victim's newest protégé -- who has a history of violence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "D.C. Sniper" case was still very much in the news when this Law & Order episode first appeared in the spring of 2003. Detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Green (Jesse L. Martin) race against time to track down the unknown gunman who has randomly picked off four victims in broad daylight. Once the suspect is in hand, Assistant District Attorneys McCoy (Sam Waterston) and Southerlyn (Elisabeth Rohm) are shocked by the revelations attending the arrest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Actor and playwright Tom McCarthy makes his feature film debut as a writer/director with the quirky comedy drama The Station Agent. In New Jersey, Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage) is a four-foot-tall lonely man who chooses to live the life of a hermit in an abandoned train yard following the death of his friend. While he is there, he unexpectedly meets and befriends a couple of fellow loners. Troubled Olivia (Patricia Clarkson) is an artist devastated by the loss of her son and separation from her husband, while carefree and friendly Joe (Bobby Cannavale) runs a hot dog stand. The three unlikely friends each deal with their urge to connect compared with their individual need for isolation. Also starring Raven Goodwin, Paul Benjamin, and Michelle Williams. The Station Agent won the Audience award at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Much as Steven Spielberg followed 1993's special-effects blockbuster Jurassic Park with a far more downbeat and personal project later the same year, Schindler's List, in 2005 after tearing up the box office with War of the Worlds the director closed out the year with a powerful and thoughtful drama about the human costs of international terrorism. The 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany, were supposed to be a peaceful gathering of outstanding athletes from around the world, but on September 5, the games took a sinister turn when eight masked Palestinian terrorists invaded the Olympic village, killing two Israeli athletes and abducting nine others. The kidnappers demanded safe passage out of Germany in addition to the release of Arab prisoners in Israeli and German prisons, but when they arrived at the Munich airport they were met by German police and military forces, and in the melee that followed, all nine hostages were killed. In the wake of the killings, the Israeli government gave Mossad, the nation's intelligence agency, a special assignment -- to track down and eliminate the Palestinians responsible for the death of the Israeli athletes. A young and idealistic Mossad agent (Eric Bana) is assigned to the four-man unit created to wipe out the Olympic terrorists, but while he believes in serving his country, as their bloody work goes on he begins to buckle under the weight of his work and wonders if he can morally justify his nation's acts of revenge. Munich also stars Geoffrey Rush, Daniel Craig, Mathieu Kassovitz, and Ciarán Hinds. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Academy Award-winning actress Helen Hunt makes her feature directorial debut with this adaptation of Elinor Lipman's best-selling novel about a Philadelphia schoolteacher (Hunt) whose long-lost birth mother (Bette Midler) reappears at the very moment her daughter is careening into a midlife crisis. Abandoned by her husband (Matthew Broderick) and still grieving the death of her adoptive mother, the emotionally fragile teacher enters into a relationship with the father of one of her students just as her biological mother, an eccentric talk-show host, appears on her doorstep attempting a reconciliation. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide