J. Todd Harris Movies

A multiracial Native American connects with his proud heritage by coaching his reservation's scrappy lacrosse team to the state finals in this inspirational sports drama starring Brandon Routh. Joe Logan (Routh) wants to give his reservation a modern makeover. But the locals don't trust him, and they're happy with the way things have always been. Meanwhile Joe's father, the Tribal Chairman, senses that his son has lost his way. In order to get him back on the right path, Joe's father puts him in charge of the reservation's high school lacrosse team on the eve of a big match against their most fierce rivals. When Joe proves a better coach than anyone could have anticipated, his team soon realizes that they may have a chance of beating their most fierce rivals - an athletically-gifted prep school team - in the annual championship game. In the process, cynical Joe learns that some traditions are worth holding onto. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A sweet young woman trying to get ahead in the workplace gets in touch with her inner homicidal maniac in this dark comedy from filmmaker Tim Cox. Sarah Jane McKinney (Leslie Bibb) has been working as a secretary at Judge Pharmaceuticals for years, and she's eager to earn better pay and more prestige. Standing between Sarah and a promotion is Milo Beeber (Brandon Routh), her creepy boss who doesn't think she deserves a better job. One day, Sarah is fending off Milo's unwanted sexual advances when she accidentally kills him; Sarah not only gets away with the crime, but she's advanced into a new job. Sarah figures that since murder worked once, she might as well try it again, and as her superiors bite the dust, Sarah slowly but surely rises to a position of power within the corporation. But as police detective Bill Malloy (Adam Goldberg) investigates the workplace homicides, Sarah wonders if she's done enough to cover her tracks; she also finds herself becoming infatuated with the cop who could put her behind bars. Also featuring Vivica A. Fox, Kathy Baker, David Anthony Higgins and Eddie Jemison, Miss Nobody received its world premiere at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A mother forgets her troubles the hard way in this independent black comedy. If the Burnett family isn't the most dysfunctional household in town, they're a good bet to be in the top three. Man of the house Jack (Dermot Mulroney) is a depressed businessman having an affair with a buxom co-worker (Christina Hendricks), his wife, Bunnie (Hope Davis), plays curious sexual role-playing games with their neighbor Simon (Chi McBride), sexually adventurous teenage daughter Kelly (Britt Robertson) is having an affair with a female classmate (Madeline Zima) while blackmailing one of her teachers (Selma Blair), and son Eric (Max Thieriot) is a fervent Christian whose loyalties are divided between a preacher obsessed with guns (Keith Carradine) and a drug-addled punk rocker (John Patrick Amedori) with a soft spot for Kelly. Things have gotten so bad for the Burnetts that their analyst has given up on them, but fate gives the family a curious second chance -- after suffering a head injury during a tryst with Simon, Bunnie develops a mild case of amnesia that wipes most of the family's troubles from her memory. The first feature film from director Vivi Friedman, The Family Tree received its world premiere at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A group of returning vacationers boards a late-night shuttle bound for home, but soon finds their journey taking a dark turn in this tale of terror from writer/director Edward Anderson. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Robert Celestino's drama Yonkers Joe stars Chazz Palminteri as an aging gambler and professional cheat. Although Joe is quite good at his various unethical endeavors, he feels guilt about his chosen profession. He has a grown son (Tom Guiry) who suffers from Down syndrome, and the dad firmly believes that the ailment is some sort of punishment. When the difficult to control son leaves the institution that has cared for him, Yonkers Joe tries to reconnect with him, while also planning a big score that will allow the son to live in comfort and safety. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

A young man struggles to grow up with principles as his family begins to self-destruct around him in this coming of age drama. Cole McKay (Michael Angarano) is a boy in his middle-teens growing up in an Irish-Catholic family in Boston. While Cole has dreams of playing major league baseball some day, his parents Desmond (Brendan Gleeson) and Margaret (Melissa Leo) are blind to his ambitions, and his older brother Terry (Tom Guiry) is a petty criminal who is unwittingly drawing Cole into his orbit. While Margaret is obsessed with projecting an image that the McKay family are happy and God-fearing folk, Desmond has been sinking deeper into depression ever since he lost his job, and his marriage is slowly but surely falling apart. The family's pride takes a body blow when Cole's teenage sister Kathleen (Emily Van Camp) discovers she's pregnant, but Cole decides it's time he took on some adult responsibilities, and gets himself a part-time job at a restaurant. Black Irish was the first directorial effort for screenwriter Brad Gann. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Thirty years after realizing that they had they had both found that rare once in a lifetime love, a man and a woman separated by fate decide to take a second shot at romance despite the fact that both had moved on with their lives a long time ago. As children growing up together in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, Mark and Sara were inseparable. As teens it just seemed that the two adolescents were just really close friends, but when Mark's family moves to New Orleans in the early 1970s the letters that he and Sarah exchange reveal that their true feelings for one another run far deeper. Though their love is vividly expressed in a pair of intensely heartfelt letters, any chance for romance is effectively destroyed when Mark's meddling mother Carole (Brooke Adams) intercepts the letters and hides them from her son. Mistakenly believing that each has rejected the other's love, Mark and Sara both manage to move on with their lives despite their initial devastation. Years later, Mark and Sara are both in their forties, living in different cities and locked in unhappy marriages - Mark to a career-driven psychiatrist named Laura (Jessica Hecht) and Sara to struggling alcoholic named Chris (Michael Arata). Mark feels like his life has become hollow, and spends the majority of his time confiding his true feelings in his older brother Earl (M.C. Gainey), an eccentric French Quarter artist. But one day, when Mark discovers the letters that had been hidden by his mother, he sees the opportunity for a new life of happiness and contacts Sara to tell her the truth. The moment the two make contact, it's as if they were both transported back to that special time when nothing else mattered aside from their growing feelings for one another. Neither Mark nor Sara are particularly happy with the way their lives have turned out, and excitedly make plans to rendezvous in New Orleans. Could it be that Mark and Sara were truly meant to be with one another, or did their one chance at a lifetime of happiness actually end with the hiding of those passionate correspondences so many moons ago? ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

One family comes face-to-face with the forces of the unknown in this supernatural thriller based on actual events. On April 14, 1755, something terrible happened to Lucy Keyes in the forest surrounding Wachusett Mountain. 250 years later, Guy (Justin Theroux) and Joanne Cooley (Julie Delpy) move their family into an 18th century farmhouse at the foot of the mountain to escape the city, and recover from the death of their youngest child to SIDS. It seemed like the perfect place to get a fresh start and raise their two young daughters Molly and Lucy. Upon discovering that the Keyes family had occupied the farmhouse at the time of their daughter's death, Joanne begins having strange dreams, and hearing haunting cries coming from the woods. After finding a letter admitting to the murder of Lucy Keyes, Joanne becomes convinced that Martha and Lucy Keyes' spirits are attempting to contact her in hopes that she can set them free from their earthly limbo, and begins to fear that their grieving mother plans to claim Lucy Cooley as a substitute for her own missing daughter. As Guy attempts to convince the townspeople to approve construction of a wind farm project that he's currently working on, his wife's sanity begins to slip and their marriage starts to falter. Joanne's attempt to expose the truth about Lucy Keyes' disappearance only leads to greater terror, however, when the townspeople turn on the family, and young Lucy Cooley vanishes into the woods one cold and windy night. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The romantic comedy Knots follows what happens to a group of friends when their romantic entanglements begin to transform the nature of their relationships. Scott Cohen plays Dave, a man who is shocked when he comes home one night to find his wife Greta (Annabeth Gish) in bed with their mutual friend Lily (Paulina Porizkova). This stunning turn of events upsets the balance of their social circle, which includes resident good guy Jake (Michael Leydon Campbell, who also has the hots for Lily), lothario Cal (John Stamos), and Cal's clueless girlfriend (Tara Reid), and triggers a hilarious chain reaction of further infidelities and lies among the group. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

An alcoholic must choose between love, life, and the bottle in this independent comedy drama. Tulley (Anthony LaPaglia) is a self-described "drinker with a writing problem," who after publishing a handful of well-respected short stories, began work on a novel. The novel, however, turned out to be a harder task than Tulley imagined, and he opted to take a job as an advertising copywriter, where he earns a good living but makes scant use of his talent. Tulley has also fallen into a habit of heavy drinking, as his best friend, Levine (Eric Stoltz), looks on with bemused concern. One night at a bar, Tulley meets Natalie (Caroleen Feeney), a teacher who doesn't much care for children, and what starts as a one-night stand turns into a love affair. As Natalie gets to know Tulley better, she discovers the talent lurking behind his alcoholic defenses, and encourages him to devote himself to literature again. However, as they fall deeper in love, Tulley discovers he has a larger problem than his novel to deal with -- he's been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, and won't have long to live if he can't change his ways. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

One of the most talked-about movies of the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, this film, directed by Jon Shear, recalls the edgy, aggressively-political qualities of early '90s queer cinema such as Poison (1991) and Swoon (1991) -- and throws in a few nods to Martin Scorsese's late-night New York City odyssey film After Hours (1985) for good luck. Dashing young yuppie Charlie (Dan Futterman) is losing control of his life after the loss of his longtime companion Chris (Matt Keeslar). Alone in his apartment, he can hear his upstairs neighbors (Bill Sage and Megan Dodds) engage in noisy lovemaking that leaves him lonely, frustrated, and aroused. He wanders the neon-drenched streets of Manhattan at night as if he were a wraith. Later, at a bar with the amorous couple, the trio get into a loud, ugly argument about public displays of affection. Around this same time, Charlie notices a mysterious, tattooed stranger, and the two exchange looks. Intrigued, Charlie sets out looking for the man, and in the process, he launches himself on a nightmarish journey through the underside of New York. He happens upon an increasingly odd array of people, each telling progressively more bizarre tales that are purportedly true. German actress Barbara Sukowa appears in a cameo in which she tells Charlie of a sexual tryst she had in a bar's restroom. Alan Cumming appears as a friend who has a crush on Charlie, while Lothaire Bluteau plays a stammering bum. Soon reality and fiction, straight and gay all fuse and blur in Charlie's increasingly troubled psyche. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Writer-director Del Shores serves up a heaping helping of Southern-fried comic melodrama in this adaptation of his own play about infidelity, country & western music, and Airstream trailers. When their sister dies, Latrelle (Bonnie Bedelia), LaVonda (Ann Walker), and Sissy (Beth Grant) plan her funeral -- an unenviable task, considering that they must carefully hide the deceased's affair with amputee G.W. (Beau Bridges) from his wife, the vindictive Noleta (Delta Burke). Meanwhile, the trio has to come to terms with two cases of sexual orientation: Latrelle's openly gay soap-opera star son Ty (Kirk Geiger), whose sexuality she continues to deny; and their only brother, Boy (Leslie Jordan), who's serving a sentence in a mental ward for his adamant belief that he is actually country & western legend Tammy Wynette. Playing an aspiring singer-songwriter, Olivia Newton-John turns up to provide the film with the occasional musical interlude. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

After giving George of the Jungle human form, Brendan Fraser returns to cartoon-land with another live-action update of an animated TV classic. Set in the peaceful village of Semi-Happy Valley high in the Canadian Rockies, our story focuses on Dudley Do-Right (Fraser), a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who never lets his lack of intelligence get in the way of his dedication and determination to get his man. Dudley's superior, Inspector Fenwick (Robert Prosky), displays a bemused tolerance towards Dudley's enthusiastic ineptitude, and Dudley is beguiled by the Inspector's daughter, Nell (Sarah Jessica Parker), who has made a home in Seattle after traveling the world, but is now paying her father an extended visit. Before Dudley can make much of a (positive) impression on Nell, the evil Snidely Whiplash (Alfred Molina) enters the picture. Determined to take Semi-Happy Valley for everything it's worth, Snidely sends Dudley in search of vampires hiding in the woods, and, while he's away, plants gold nuggets in a nearby stream. When a prospector (Eric Idle) happens upon them, word gets out that Semi-Happy Valley is gold country. Quickly opening a string of businesses to cater to the flood of would-be gold miners, Snidely becomes the town's richest citizen, and Semi-Happy Valley is even renamed Whiplash City. Snidely's fame and wealth gain Nell's attention, while Dudley's search for vampires causes the Inspector to fire him. However, in time, Dudley realizes that something is afoot, and he is determined to expose Snidely Whiplash and bring him to justice. Director Hugh Wilson wrote and directed the first film in the Police Academy series; Dudley Do-Right was his second directorial credit of 1999 with Brendan Fraser, after they worked together on Blast From the Past. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi