Jeremy Renner
- 2008
Based on recently declassified information and the personal wartime experiences of journalist Mark Boal (who adapted his experiences with a bomb squad into a fact-based, yet fictional story), director Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker presents the ongoing conflict in the Middle East from the perspective of those who see the fighting firsthand -- the soldiers. As an elite Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team tactfully navigates the streets of present-day Iraq, they face the constant threat of death from incoming bombs and sharp-shooting snipers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, (more)
- 2007
- R
- AddThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Fordto QueueAddThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Fordto top of Queue
Brad Pitt stars as legendary Wild West outlaw Jesse James in Chopper director Andrew Dominik's cinematic rendering of the events that would eventually bring about the death of the man rumored be the "fastest gun in the West." An eager recruit into James' notorious gang, Robert Ford eventually grows jealous of the famed outlaw. When Robert and his brother Charlie sense an opportunity to kill James, their murderous action elevates their target to near mythical status. Casey Affleck stars as Robert Ford and Sam Shepard co-stars as Frank James -- Jesse's devoted sibling and partner in crime. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, (more)
- 2007
- R
An unwitting murderer and a woman close to his victims struggle to come to terms with where the fates have taken their lives in this independent drama. Ana (Minnie Driver) was a wife and mother caring for an educationally challenged son and a moody-but-loving husband when fate led her to cross paths with Saul (Jeremy Renner). Saul was a gambling addict deep in debt to loan sharks and desperately in need of enough money to keep collectors from killing or injuring him; a foolish decision on his part led to the death of Ana's husband and son. Years later, Saul is on death row, awaiting execution for his crimes, and Ana is unable to find closure, still grieving bitterly for the loss of her family. When Ana and Saul finally meet face to face not long before he's to be put to death, they both find it difficult to express their thoughts about loss, forgiveness, and redemption. The first feature film from writer and director Charles Oliver, Take was screened as part of the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Minnie Driver, Jeremy Renner, (more)
The devastating rage virus that annihilated the British Isles mysteriously resurfaces in Goya Award-winning director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's sequel to the Danny Boyle-directed horror hit that terrified audiences worldwide by offering a breathless new take on the familiar zombie mythos. Six months has passed since the rage virus caused British residents to indiscriminately murder and destroy everything in their paths, and now the U.S. military has declared victory in the war against the rapidly spreading infection. As the reconstruction process gets underway and the first wave of refugees return to British shores, a family separated by the devastation is happily reunited. During the initial outbreak, Don Harris (Robert Carlyle) and his wife Alice (Catherine McCormack) sat holed up with a small band of survivors in a remote farmhouse. Their kids well out of harm's way at a remote boarding school, Don and Alice's outlook for the future is decidedly bright until all hell breaks loose in the country and Don just barely manages to escape the clutches of the infected. The joy of later seeing his son Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) and daughter Tammy (Imogen Poots) as repopulation efforts get underway in London is short-lived, however, when an innocent bid to reconnect with the past sets into motion a tragic series of events. Now, just as society struggles to sort through the rubble and rebuild London from the ground up, the virus that nearly destroyed a nation strikes back with a vengeance. Jeremy Renner, Rose Byrne, and Harold Perrineau, Jr. co-star in the frightful sequel, which highlights the dangers of declaring victory in the calm before the storm. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, (more)
- 2005
- AddNeo Nedto Queue
Ned (Jeremy Renner of Dahmer) is a proud member of the Aryan Brotherhood who has been admitted to a mental institution for his involvement in a racially motivated murder. Dr. Magnuson (Cary Elwes) and Johnny (Ethan Suplee) have trouble keeping Ned in line. Boisterous and belligerent, he's prone to childish tantrums when things don't go his way. Still, the other inmates, like Joey (Eddie Kaye Thomas) seem to look up to him. Ned's life at the facility is upended with the arrival of Rachael (Gabrielle Union of Bring It On), a beautiful young black woman who's brought in shouting German, and seems to believe that she's possessed by the spirit of Adolf Hitler. At first, Ned mocks her, and attempts to provoke her, but soon, his feelings toward Rachael turn surprisingly tender. Eventually, Ned and Rachael open up to each other, revealing the past traumas that left them in such a screwed up state. Ned, still reluctant to give up the accoutrements of skinhead life, tells Rachael about his imprisoned father and his unhappy foster care experiences, and Rachael tells him about being sexually abused, and reveals that she has a young daughter. When Ned is released from the hospital, he convinces Rachael to leave with him, but the couple finds life together on the outside difficult. Neo Ned also stars Steve Railsback and Sally Kirkland. It was written by Tim Boughn and directed by Van Fischer (Blink of an Eye, aka Urban Jungle). It had its world premiere in the Narrative Feature Competition of the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeremy Renner, Gabrielle Union, (more)
Three stories of human treachery are given an unexpected link in this dry comedy drama from Icelandic filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur. Holt (Forest Whitaker) is an insurance investigator who is sent to Minnesota to look into a bus accident; the bus seems to have had significantly more passengers after it crashed than it had when it left the station, and Holt, posing as a police detective, needs to know who is telling the truth and who is attempting to cash in on the tragedy. Later, Holt is back on the job, when a badly burned body is found in a wrecked car, and the ID on the corpse indicates the victim was a small-time con artist with a police record. The victim's sister, Isold (Julia Stiles), claims that her brother's accident happened after his gas tank was drained and he was struggling to make his way home on a stormy night, but Holt isn't buying it; and Isold's husband, Fred (Jeremy Renner), and son, Thor (Alfred Harmsworth), don't seem especially trustworthy. Finally, a man and a woman struggle to make their way to shore after their car sails off a cliff into a body of water. While they seem grateful to make it back to dry land, it seems the woman has reason to be unhappy with her mate when she viciously attacks him. Who are these people, and what is their story? A Little Trip to Heaven received its North American premier at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Forest Whitaker, Julia Stiles, (more)
A trio of troubled suburbanites attempts to come to grips with the personal issues that surface following the tragic death of one of their own in this introspective adolescent drama from L.I.E. screenwriter/director (Michael Cuesta). In the months following the death of Jacob's (Conor Donovan) likeable, athletic twin brother, Rudy (also Donovan), Jacob and friends Malee (Zoe Weizenbaum) and Leonard (Jesse Camacho) struggle to make sense of the unfortunate youth's fiery demise at the hands of local bullies. As Jacob quickly loses himself to revenge fantasies and sets into motion a series of destructive plans designed to destroy the kids responsible for his brother's death, Malee focuses her attention on a dejected patient of her psychotherapist mother, and obese Leonard struggles about weight and health issues with his equally obese mother. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Conor Donovan, Zoë Weizenbaum, (more)
A fictionalized account of one of America's most groundbreaking sexual harassment lawsuits comes to the screen in this hard-hitting drama. In the late '80s, Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron) fled her abusive husband, and needed to find a way to support her two children. Aimes returned to her hometown in Minnesota and followed the lead of her old friend Glory (Frances McDormand), who had bucked tradition and found a job in the iron mines that had long provided employment for much of the community. Aimes found honest labor and a living wage working the mines, but she also discovered she was working with men who were uncomfortable working with women (whose right to work in the mines had been mandated by law almost 15 years prior), and didn't care to show them much respect. However, as Aimes found herself the growing target of sexist jokes and abhorrent behavior, she found that many of her female co-workers were reluctant to stand beside her, afraid of losing a good-paying job at a time when they were increasingly hard to find. But as a personal crisis became a public war of words, Aimes became the center of a nationwide controversy when she attempted to file a class action sexual harassment suit against the mine owners, which put her and her family in a position of scrutiny beyond her worst expectations. North Country also stars Sean Bean, Sissy Spacek, and Woody Harrelson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, (more)
- 2004
- R
- AddThe Heart is Deceitful Above All Thingsto QueueAddThe Heart is Deceitful Above All Thingsto top of Queue
Actress and filmmaker Asia Argento directed this faithful screen adaptation of the fictional J.T. Leroy's fictional memoir, which documents a boy's truly harrowing road to adulthood. Jeremiah (Jimmy Bennett) is the seven-year-old son of Sarah (Asia Argento), an unstable and unwed mother who abandoned her son and left him to be raised by foster parents. Jeremiah has come to love his guardians, and is devastated when Sarah arrives at their doorstep, demanding her child back. Threatening Jeremiah with torture if he tries to run away, Sarah introduces her young son to drugs and encourages her one-night-stand paramours to help "discipline" her son when she feels his behavior is inappropriate. Sarah marries a man named Emerson (Jeremy Renner), but abandons him shortly afterward; Emerson responds by molesting Jeremiah, and soon the child is left in the care of his grandparents (Peter Fonda and Ornella Muti), members of a fundamentalist Christian sect which emphasizes child discipline that's strict to the point of abuse. After three years, Sarah returns with a new husband, Kenny (Matt Schulze), and takes Jeremiah (now played by Dylan Sprouse and Cole Sprouse) with her; Kenny spends most of his time on the road as a trucker, and Sarah supports the family at home as a stripper and a prostitute. Sarah also begins dressing her son is girl's clothing, which excites the perverse appetites of Sarah's latest boyfriend, Jackson (Marilyn Manson); she soon leaves Jackson and pairs off with Chester (Jeremy Sisto), a biker with a dangerous way of making a living. The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened as part of the "Directors Fortnight" series. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Asia Argento, Jimmy Bennett, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Samuel L. Jackson, Colin Farrell, (more)
From director Mark Stratton and screenwriter Dave Eisenstark comes Monkey Love, an independent romantic comedy set in Los Angeles. The film centers on three friends, Amy (Amy Stewart), Dil (Jeremy Renner), and Aaron (Seamus Dever). The trio have been best friends for years, with each of their very different personalities complimenting the other. But now in their college years, a wrench is thrown into the gears of their friendship. It seems that Amy suddenly begins to have romantic feelings. To make matters worse she seems to be falling for not one, but both of her male pals. Monkey Love premiered at the 2002 Seattle International Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amy Stewart, Jeremy Renner, (more)
A low-key glimpse into the life and crimes of one of history's most notorious serial killers, Dahmer doesn't concern itself with the gruesome nature of its protagonist's horrific crimes, but rather the troubled mind of the man who committed them. Focusing on the later years in the life of Jeffrey Dahmer (Jeremy Renner), David Jacobson's film follows the troubled killer from department store to gay nightclub as he stalks his prey and battles his inner demons, all the while providing contrast to current events with flashbacks from the days during which madness finally gained an inescapable grip on his already unstable mind. From his days in a Milwaukee chocolate factory to nights spent haunting the streets in search of prey, the viewer peers cautiously over the edge of an abyss so deep and so far-stretching that most minds will never fathom the truly monstrous nature of Dahmer's heretofore unprecedented crime spree. As he befriends and brings home yet another potential victim in the form of an outgoing young man named Rodney (Artel Kayaru), Dahmer is forced to confront his past as the two grow increasingly close over the course of the evening. Will Dahmer have a glimmer of humanity during a night of intimate and revealing conversation, or is it already too late for the unassuming young man who has fallen into the same trap as so many before him? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeremy Renner, Bruce Davison, (more)
- 2001
Grissom (William L. Petersen), Nick (George Eads), and Sara (Jorja Fox) would seem to have an open-and-shut case on their hands when a suspect is caught burying a body that has been shot three times. But, despite an overwhelming amount of evidence, Grissom doubts that the suspect is the guilty party. And in another development, Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) and Warrick (Gary Dourdan) must determine if a woman found dead in a health spa locker room was a victim of natural causes, murder -- or something else. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Kent Dalian makes his feature debut as writer, director, and star of the independent crime comedy Fish in a Barrel. In a New York apartment, six eccentric characters fight over stolen goods. Bumbling thieves Eddie (Dalian), Casper (Stephen Ingle), Sammy (Rene Rigal), and Remy (Jeremy Renner) manage to pull off a job stealing a case of diamonds. Homicidal Nina (Arly Jover) and cop Bill O'Connor (David Kelsey) try to get the diamonds for themselves. Fish in a Barrel was shown at the 2001 New York Independent Film & Video Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- 2000
Troubled by nightmares in which he returns to his murderous ways, Angel (David Boreanaz) learns that Detective Kate Lockley (Elisabeth Rohm) is hunting a serial killer with the same modus operandi he used to employ: the mark of the cross on the victim's left cheek. As it turns out, however, the killer is actually one of Angel's old cronies, a vampire named Penn (Jeremy Renner). Still unaware of Angel's supernatural origins, Kate eventually cottons on to the nature of both her friend and her prey. She even suspects Angel of the murders until she does some research and learns that Penn has preyed upon Los Angeles before. Kate eventually ends up dusting Penn -- and promising Angel that she'll do the same the next time she sees him. Originally broadcast January 18, 2000, on the WB network, "Somnambulist" marked season one, episode 11 of the supernatural comedy drama. Beginning with this episode, Alexis Denisof is a member of the regular cast in his role as Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- 1997
Katy Boyer stars as Sarah, a professional nurse and the grown daughter of dysfunctional couple Don and Lily Zarn (Gerald McRaney, Shelley Fabares). During a visit home, Sarah can clearly see that Lily is being abused by Don, but she cannot persuade her mother to leave her father. Subsequently, however, Lily disappears, and Don ruefully insists that his wife has finally walked out on him. But when Sarah begins enduring horrific nightmares in which her mother is brutally killed, she decides to learn the truth behind her mom's disappearance--this despite a total lack of cooperation from her family, her boyfriend and even the police. Based on fact, the made-for-TV A Nightmare Come True debuted over the CBS network on February 12, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gerald McRaney, Katy Boyer, (more)
In this over-the-top comedy, a group of rowdy high-school students -- whose idea of a good time is throwing a wild party at the home of Principal Moss (Matt Frewer) while he's busy at school -- winds up in detention. As punishment, they're instructed to write an essay on what's wrong with America's educational system. The class brain, stuck in detention with the partiers, comes up with a well-written piece that's sent to the president of the U.S. The president is so impressed that he invites the students to Washington, D.C., to speak before Congress. Sen. John Lerman (Lawrence Z. Dane), one of the president's chief rivals, knows the truth about the students, and he seconds the idea of bringing them to Washington, certain that their behavior will embarrass the president. Principal Moss, sex-starved teacher Tracy Milford (Valerie Mahaffey), and drug-addled bus driver Red (Tommy Chong) load the troublemakers onto a bus and hit the road for the nation's capitol -- and mayhem ensues. National Lampoon's Senior Trip was helmed by Kelly Makin, who also directed the TV series Kids in the Hall; Kevin McDonald, a former Kid in the Hall, has a small part as a deranged crossing guard. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matt Frewer, Valerie Mahaffey, (more)
