J.K. Simmons Movies

Barry Pepper stars as stock-car racing legend Dale Earnhardt in this made-for-cable drama. Dale was raised by Ralph Earnhardt (J.K. Simmons), a proud man who worked at a mill to feed and clothe his family but found true satisfaction rebuilding jalopies in his garage and racing them at local events on the weekends. Ralph was a minor legend in Southern stock-car racing, and when Dale dropped out of high school to follow his own passion for racing, he started out in his father's shadow -- and with no illusions about the odds stacked against him. But after more than a decade of struggle, Dale finally began to break into the big leagues in the late '70s, and in time he became the biggest money maker in NASCAR history, tying with the great Richard Petty as the winner of the Winston Cup trophies. But the lessons Dale learned from his father took on a deeper meaning when his own teenage son, Dale Jr. (Chad McCumbee), also decided to take up racing at the age of 16 -- and Dale tried to keep his hot-headed son away from the track. Named for Earnhardt's racing number, 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story debuted on the ESPN cable network on December 11, 2004, and was released on home video shortly afterward. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A group of kids defend their Maine vacation home from knee-high alien invaders in this adventure comedy for the entire family. When Michigan native Bethany Pearson (Ashley Tisdale) arrives home after a secret outing with her boyfriend (Robert Hoffman), her father, Stuart (Kevin Nealon), decides that it's high time for a family vacation. Packing up the car with wife Hannah (Ashley Boettcher), teenage son Tom (Carter Jenkins), and big sister Bethany in tow, Stuart invites the extended family to join them at the vacation home for some much-needed R&R and sets his sights on Maine. Much to Tom's dismay, Bethany's stuck-up boyfriend, Ricky (Hoffman), even manages to wrangle an overnight visit. Shortly after the Pearsons arrive at their sprawling summer home, however, things start to get strange. As dark clouds start to swirl overhead, four glowing objects blast through the sky on a collision course with the Pearsons' roof. But these aren't your typical meteors, because inside dwells tough-talking alien commander Skip, muscle-bound weapons specialist Tazer, lethal female Razor, and geeky four-armed techie Sparks. Before long, the aliens have taken Ricky over via a powerful mind-control device, and announced their intentions to claim Earth for the "Zirkonians." While the adults are completely oblivious to the extraterrestrial threat, the kids fight to save the planet with a little help from Sparks, the alien tech-specialist and one nonhostile invader. John Schultz directs a script penned by British scribe Mark Burton (Wallace & Gromit). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Joel and Ethan Coen's jet-black comedy Burn After Reading begins with CIA agent Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) losing his job. This prompts his long-suffering, unfaithful wife (Tilda Swinton) to consult a lawyer about divorcing him. Osborne decides to write a book about his exploits, but an early draft of his work ends up lost at a gym where it's found by the dim-witted Chad (Brad Pitt, and the plastic-surgery obsessed Linda (Frances McDormand). They decide to blackmail Osborne in order to help Linda pay for the numerous procedures she wants to undergo. Things grow even more complicated when Linda starts an affair with Harry (George Clooney), who also happens to be sleeping with Cox's wife. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

An ex-con (Tim Allen) realizes that prison life is a lot less tough than the outside world in this comedy that finds the Home Improvement star in his feature-film-directing debut. Ray Liotta, Carrie-Anne Moss, Julie Bowen, and Kelsey Grammer co-star in the indie production, written by Judd Pillot and John Peaslee. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, Ben Affleck, Kristen Wiig, Clifton Collins, and J.K. Simmons star in writer/director Mike Judge's comedy about a flower-extract plant owner contending with an ever-growing avalanche of personal and professional disasters. An employee at the factory has just suffered an unfortunate accident on the assembly line, but little does the put-upon owner realize that things are about to get much worse. As the injured employee threatens to sue and it begins to look like his company will be bought out, the frazzled owner attempts to catch the culprit responsible for stealing wallets from the coat room and begins to suspect that his wife is sleeping with the gigolo he hired to seduce her. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A man desperately tries to keep a strange prediction from coming true in this independent psychological thriller. Jimmy Starks (Guy Pearce) is a traveling salesmen who is in New Mexico on business when he crosses paths with a psychic. The psychic offers to read Jimmy's fortune, and quickly informs him that he will die before the first snow of the winter. Jimmy's girlfriend, Deirdre (Piper Perabo), doesn't think much of this prediction, but with the winter months on the horizon, this notion makes Jimmy a bit nervous. Jimmy's anxieties grow as the weather suddenly conspires against him and his fate begins taking a number of turns for the worst. Can Jimmy somehow escape his fate, or has he been doomed by the fortune teller's words? The first feature film from director Mark Fergus, First Snow received its North American premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An unstable Gulf War veteran with a savior complex receives a shocking wake-up call upon returning stateside and accepting a position with the Department of Homeland Security in the directorial debut of Training Day screenwriter David Ayer. Jim (Christian Bale) is a Gulf War veteran who believes his sworn duty to protect his fellow Americans extends to the streets of Los Angeles, and he longs to fulfill his destiny by joining the LAPD. Rejected by the force and left to ponder his future with his impoverished Mexican paramour -- whom he had intended on bringing to the city after joining the police -- the dejected and unemployed veteran is offered a second shot at helping his country when he is subsequently approached by the Department of Homeland Security. As Jim and his unemployed best friend, Mike (Freddy Rodriguez), carve a swath of chaos through the streets of Los Angeles, the weight of their American dream soon comes crashing down in a devastating blow that threatens to dash their high hopes for a bright future. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This episode of Homicide: Life on the Street is the conclusion of "Charm City," a two-part story introduced on the TV series Law & Order. Baltimore homicide detectives Pembleton (Andre Braugher) and Bayliss (Kyle Secor) have gone to New York to investigate a subway bombing which may be linked to a similar case that occurred in their own city five years earlier. It soon becomes clear that their investigation is being thwarted by a widespread official coverup. Also involved in the case are three Law & Order regulars: detectives Rey Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) and Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), and ADA Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy). The presence of Briscoe ticks off Baltimore detective John Munch (Richard Belzer); it seems that Lennie was once intimate with John's ex-wife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Demon possession, devilish cheerleaders, and Satanic rock stars are all on the chopping block with this horror comedy from the production team behind Juno. Screenwriter Diablo Cody provides the script, with producing duties handled by Jason Reitman and Dan Dubiecki. The story centers on an impish high-school student (Amanda Seyfried) who has to protect her town against her best friend, Jennifer (Megan Fox), who after being bedeviled by an evil rock band, develops a taste for human flesh. Girlfight's Karyn Kusama directs the Fox Atomic production. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

The Justice League may have met its match in the form of hostile aliens who cannot be stopped in their efforts to overwhelm the earth. Upon disovering that the aliens are not living beings but actually compried of millions upon millions of tiny nanotech machines, Superman turns to the one man who may be able to come up with a means to destroy the invaders. That man is scientist Ray Palmer, who in his alter-ego form as The Atom shrinks himself to microscopic dimensions in order to face down the nanotechs on their own terms! ~ All Movie Guide

"In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important, groups: the police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories." With this pithy but all-inclusive prologue, thus began each hour-long episode of Law & Order, American network television's longest-running police drama.

This was not the first such program to equally divide its time between the arrest and the trial; indeed, there had been a series precisely titled Arrest and Trial back in 1963. But Law & Order was easily the most popular and successful of the batch, and as the series eased gracefully past its 11th, 12th, and 13th season, it was very likely that its creator and executive producer Dick Wolf would fulfill his dream of matching and even surpassing the longevity of Gunsmoke, which lasted 20 years, setting a record as American network television's most durable dramatic series. Although Law & Order boasted a large and fluid ensemble cast, there were no real "stars" per se, save for the city of New York (a point made by scores of TV historians, notably Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh). Virtually every episode starts out with the discovery of a dead body or evidence of a violent crime. A pair of NYPD detectives arrive on the scene, begin gathering evidence and eyewitnesses at the behest of their superiors, and -- generally after a handful of frustrating dead ends and false leads -- manage to collar the principal suspect. The story then shifts to the offices of the DA, where a team of brilliant prosecuting attorneys do their best to build a case against the accused, dodging the obstructive tactics of defense lawyers all along the way. Even when the case gets to court, the story is far from over, with several twists and turns -- and usually a shocking and unexpected denouement -- awaiting both the prosecutors and the viewer.

The series made its NBC network debut Thursday, September 13, 1990, moving to its originally scheduled Tuesday-night slot October 23. The fact that Law & Order was frequently pre-empted by network specials indicated that NBC wasn't all that sure of the series' success. By the end of the first season, however, the ratings, if not spectacular, were good enough to warrant a renewal -- while backstage intrigues assured that the series would undergo the first of its many abrupt cast changes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) learn that a murdered coed was in a relationship with college professor Miguel Clemente (Miguel Sandoval). Of equal interest to the D.A.'s office are two other suspects, a pair of male students with seemingly airtight alibis. The original print ads for this episode were right on the money when they promised "Shocking evidence will uncover the truth." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In another episode loosely inspired by actual events, the limo driver for star baseball player Kevin Seleeby (Reynaldo Rosales) is murdered. When it turns out that the victim was regularly supplying steroids to his boss, Seleeby becomes the prime suspect. But, as often happens on this series, the DA's office discovers that nothing is cut and dried, not even what seems to be irrefutable evidence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide