Colin Farrell Movies
Possibly Ireland's hottest cinematic export since Liam Neeson got his kilt off in Rob Roy, Colin Farrell enjoyed a generous helping of trans-Atlantic buzz for his work in Joel Schumacher's 2000 military drama Tigerland. Previously known in his native Ireland for supporting parts in film and television productions, Farrell earned both industry recognition and international heartthrob status for his portrayal of a young drifter recruited to fight in the Vietnam War, winning over critics and audiences with talent, charisma, and his fearless assumption of a Texan accent.The son of famed footballer Eamon Farrell, Farrell was born in Dublin, on May 31, 1976. Growing up, he planned to follow in the footsteps of his father and an uncle, who was also a well-known footballer in the 1960s. However, Farrell's plans changed when, while he was still in high school, his sister enrolled in acting classes at Dublin's Gaiety School of Drama. His interest piqued, the nascent actor followed suit, signing up for classes at the Gaiety School and then making his film debut in a low-budget production called Drinking Crude before he even made it to the Gaiety's classrooms.
Having dropped out of high school in order to pursue acting, Farrell dropped out again -- this time from the Gaiety -- after a successful audition for the Irish TV series Ballykissangel. Joining the show in 1996, he earned a degree of fame in his native country, which opened the door for further work in the U.K. In 1999, he could be seen in the family drama The War Zone, Tim Roth's directorial debut, and on TV in Love in the 21st Century, a segmented series that also featured such up-and-comers as Ioan Gruffudd and Catherine McCormack.
His first glint of overseas recognition came the following year, when Farrell was cast in a supporting role in Thaddeus O'Sullivan's Ordinary Decent Criminal, an Irish gangster drama starring Kevin Spacey and Linda Fiorentino. Criminal, which didn't fare well on U.S. shores, was quickly followed by Joel Schumacher's Tigerland. Although the low-key ensemble film, which was set in a Louisiana boot camp in 1971, received a lukewarm reaction from critics and audiences, Farrell's performance was the subject of almost ubiquitous praise.
Quickly labeled as one of the most exciting new actors to be detected by the Hollywood radar, the young Dubliner subsequently found himself enmeshed in the distinctly American phenomenon of almost overnight success; before the year was out, he had secured starring roles in a number of projects, including American Outlaws, in which he starred as Jesse James alongside Scott Caan and Kathy Bates, and Joel Schumacher's Phone Booth, a thriller about a young man (Farrell) fighting for his life inside the titular enclosure. Although the long-delayed Outlaws did little for Farrell's career, far more ticket buyers were able to see the young actor alongside Bruce Willis in the somber POW drama Hart's War in early 2002.
The following year, Farrell was virtually unavoidable. Not only did 2003 see the release of the aforementioned The Phonebooth, is also found the actor on the right side of the law in both The Recruit and SWAT and on the wrong side as the villainous Bullseye in the comic book superhero film Daredevil. As if the year was busy enough, he also turned up in a pair of smaller films, Veronica Guerin and Intermission.
The two ensuing years might not have seen Farrell churning out a half-dozen pictures apiece, but he continued to grow in stature, first with a supporting part in the indie period piece A Home at the End of the World, then the title role in Oliver Stone's ambitious flop Alexander (both 2004). Indeed, Farrell's most notorious appearance around this time was, like so many before him, in a much-circulated sex tape leaked on the Internet. Two major roles in films by well-respected directors followed: The lead in Terrence Malick's critically-acclaimed but, again, little-seen The New World (2005), and the challenging role of author Arturo Bandini in Robert Towne's Ask the Dust. 2006 promised to turn around Farrell's downward box-office spiral with Michael Mann's much-anticipated remake of his own groundbreaking '80s TV show, Miami Vice. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 1997
Owen McPolin made his directorial debut with this Irish drama set in the refinery business. Boarding a bus, impoverished Paul Kelliher (Andrew Scott) leaves rural Ireland with dreams of better luck in London. Scotsman Al Russell (James Quarton) offers Paul work, but it requires a return to Ireland. Al's bosses want a giant oil-storage tank cleaned, and the pressure increases as the deadline approaches. Meanwhile, Paul attempts to enroll in college as an alternative to toil with crude oil. Shown at the 1997 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrew Scott, James Quarton, (more)
Set in 1930s Ireland, Falling for a Dancer was the poignant tale of young rural colleen Elizabeth Sullivan (Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh). After a one-night stand with a charismatic traveling actor, 19-year-old Elizabeth found herself pregnant. Grimly, her father forced her into a loveless marriage with a widowed farmer several years older than she. Somehow or other, Elizabeth hoped that this bleak situation would culminate in happiness, and, in a manner of speaking, it did. The four 50-minute episodes of Falling for a Dancer launched their BBC1 run on September 13, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Ordinary Decent Criminal is a classic gangster movie in modern-day Ireland. It follows the extraordinary adventures of a Robin Hood character, Michael Lynch, a thief, bigamist, liar, and criminal genius who robs from the rich to give to the poor. Michael is suave, sardonic, and sexy. When his leather-clad figure weaves its way through the Dublin traffic on a powerful motorbike, people stare in awe. He loves his two wives (who happen to be sisters), his wild kids, his gang, and, most of all, his way of life. He has two fundamental beliefs: be loyal to your own and the hell with the establishment. As his ego gets bigger and bigger, he enjoys his notoriety more than the cash it brings. Determined to break him, the police increases its harassment of the whole gang, as Michael makes a mistake that could threaten his good name with the public and his reliability as a bread-winner. But he recovers his equilibrium in time to dream up a final grand scheme to survive the trap set for him. The story is reminiscent of John Boorman's The General about a similar real-life character, Martin Cahill, also a Robin Hood married to two sisters. The impressive cast includes Kevin Spacey, Linda Fiorentino, and Peter Mullan, the tragic hero of My Name is Joe. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Spacey, Linda Fiorentino, (more)
Noted actor Tim Roth made his directorial debut with this powerful drama about a family in crisis. Tom (Freddie Cunliffe) is an awkward and troubled 15-year-old boy whose isolation increases when his family moves from London to a remote community in the Devon countryside. Tom, his 18-year-old sister Jessie (Lara Belmont), his father (Ray Winstone), and his pregnant mother (Tilda Swinton) live in close quarters in a small cottage; they sometimes bathe in the kitchen, and they have grown used to casual nudity around the house. But one day, Tom sees his father in a sexual embrace with Jessie. He tries to discuss what he's seen with her, but she refuses to talk about it. Unable to stand the tension in the household after his mother takes the seriously ill baby to the hospital, Tom confronts his father, who angrily denies the truth. Tom is finally forced to take drastic action to stop his vengeful and violent father. Written by Alexander Stuart from his own novel, The War Zone received an enthusiastic response at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival and was named Best New British Feature at the 1999 Edinburgh International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Winstone, Tilda Swinton, (more)
A young man tries to fight the military system only to find it fighting back in unexpected ways in this hard-edged drama. In 1971, Roland Bozz (Colin Farrell) is a draftee who has been sent to the Advanced Infantry Training Facility in Fort Polk, LA, where with hundreds of other new soldiers he's to be taught a final course in combat skills before being shipped out to Vietnam. Bozz has no interest in going to war, and is determined to get sent home as a troublemaker. But his plan backfires; his superiors regard his insubordination as a sign of intelligence and independent thinking, and he's told he might some day become an officer. Bozz and his fellow soldiers -- aspiring writer Paxton (Matthew Davis), sensitive Miter (Clifton Collins Jr.), philosophical Cantwell (Thomas Guiry), bloodthirsty Wilson (Shea Whigham), and heroic Johnson (Russell Richardson) -- are taught how to survive as they face their fears of death and wonder if they can somehow escape going to war. Tigerland was directed by Joel Schumacher; in a change of pace from his best-known work (Falling Down, Batman Forever, and Batman and Robin), the film was made on a relatively low budget (under $10 million), was written by first-time screenwriters Ross Klavan and Michael McGruther, and features a cast of young, little-known actors. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Farrell, Matthew Davis, (more)
This loosely fact-based oater attempts to mimic the youthful heartthrobs in Western garb formula of Young Guns (1988), as well as the cheeky humor and some plot elements of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Colin Farrell stars as Jesse James, who returns home from the Civil War to his small hometown to find that a crooked railroad baron (Harris Yulin) has been illegally forcing the residents from the homesteads to make way for a new rail line. Enraged, James leads a band of outlaws including his brother Frank (Gabriel Macht), Cole Younger (Scott Caan), and Younger's brothers Bob (Will McCormack) and Jim (Gregory Smith) on a criminal spree of bank robbing. Although their Robin Hood-style tactics soon make them local heroes, the James-Younger gang members find themselves pursued by the dogged Allan Pinkerton (Timothy Dalton), the world's first "private eye." Along the way, Jesse also finds romance with Zee Mimms (Ali Larter), the daughter of a local doctor (Ronny Cox). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Farrell, Scott Caan, (more)
Based on the novel by John Katzenbach, author of Just Cause (1995), this prison camp drama combines elements of A Soldier's Story (1984) and the classic Stalag 17 (1953). Colin Farrell stars as Lt. Tommy Hart, a second-year Harvard Law School student who enlists to fight in World War II but ends up being taken prisoner by the Germans. When a murder at the Nazi-run Stalag Luft 13 leaves a black Tuskegee airman named Lt. Lincoln Scott (Terrence Dashon Howard) accused of the crime, high-ranking prisoner (and fourth-generation war hero) Col. William McNamara (Bruce Willis) persuades camp commandant Col. Werner Visser (Marcel Iures) to allow the prisoners to hold their own trial. Hart is recruited to defend his fellow officer, but as he reluctantly investigates, he discovers that not all of his fellow allied soldiers are fighting the same war and that his "client" may well have been framed. In the meantime, it becomes apparent that McNamara is using events to mask his true intent, a mission to destroy a nearby munitions plant that he still intends to carry out despite his incarceration. Hart's War (2002) co-stars Vicellous Shannon, Cole Hauser, Rory Cochrane, and Jonathan Brandis. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Colin Farrell, (more)
Based on a short story by the late Philip K. Dick, this science fiction-thriller reflects the writer's familiar preoccupation with themes of concealed identity and mind control. Tom Cruise stars as John Anderton, a Washington, D.C. detective in the year 2054. Anderton works for "Precrime," a special unit of the police department that arrests murderers before they have committed the actual crime. Precrime bases its work on the visions of three psychics or "precogs" whose prophecies of future events are never in error. When Anderton discovers that he has been identified as the future killer of a man he's never met, he is forced to become a fugitive from his own colleagues as he tries to uncover the mystery of the victim-to-be's identity. When he kidnaps Agatha (Samantha Morton), one of the precogs, he begins to formulate a theory about a possible frame-up from within his own department. Directed by Steven Spielberg, who hired a team of futurists to devise the film's numerous technologically advanced gadgets, Minority Report co-stars Colin Farrell, Max von Sydow, and Neal McDonough. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, (more)
A brilliant young man is tapped to join the elite branch of American intelligence, only to discover how complex and dangerous the job can really be in this suspense-drama. James Clayton (Colin Farrell) recently completed his studies at MIT, where he graduated at the top of his class and is pondering his next move while he works as a bartender at an upscale nightspot. One evening, Clayton is approached by Walter Burke (Al Pacino), a recruiter for the Central Intelligence Agency, who describes himself as "a scary judge of talent" and believes Clayton is just the sort of man the CIA is looking for. Clayton, who has little interest in an ordinary nine-to-five career and suspects his father (whom Burke claims to have known) worked for the Agency, accepts the offer and is soon sent to the CIA's secret training camp. It soon becomes obvious that Burke's intuition has not failed him; Clayton is smart, fast on his feet, a crack shot, and possesses a very agile mind. In training, Clayton notices a few things, most notably one of his fellow students, Layla (Bridget Moynahan), a beautiful woman whose skills equal his own. Clayton becomes quite infatuated with Layla, and after a fashion the attraction appears to be mutual, but Clayton has to keep in mind Burke's dictum that "nothing is as it seems," especially when Clayton is given a special assignment -- find the mole within the Agency's training program who is actually feeding information to America's enemies. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, Colin Farrell, (more)
In the suburbs of Dublin, more than a dozen strangers find their paths colliding in sometimes violent, sometimes absurd ways in Intermission, the first feature from director John Crowley. Setting the chain of events in motion is Lehiff (Colin Farrell), a small-time crook whose most recent petty theft has him on the run from Jerry (Colm Meaney), a self-aggrandizing police detective who's even more full of himself now that he's being constantly trailed by a TV news documentary crew. Meanwhile, Lehiff's friend John (Cillian Murphy) is going though a trial breakup -- or "intermission," as he calls it -- with his girlfriend, Deirdre (Kelly Macdonald), who has promptly taken up with the older, more conventionally responsible bank manager Sam (Michael McElhatton). When Lehiff suggests that the answer to all of his and John's troubles is to set up Sam and rob his vaults, John's too eager to comply -- and their plan spells dire consequences for everyone in their immediate circle of relations. Also starring David Wilmot, Brian F. O'Byrne, and Shirley Henderson, Intermission had its premiere at the Galway Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award, and secured berths at the Edinburgh, Telluride, and Toronto festivals. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Farrell, Shirley Henderson, (more)
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Joel Schumacher take on the real-life story of an assassinated Irish journalist in the dramatic thriller Veronica Guerin. Cate Blanchett appears as the title character, a relentless crime reporter for The Sunday Independent during the early '90s. Guerin's violent murder in 1996 led to a revision of Ireland's laws and the creation of the Criminal Assets Bureau. The movie picks up with her pursuit of the underground drug trade in Dublin, which she suspects is led by mobster Martin "The General" Cahill (Gerry O'Brien). When Cahill's gang is attacked, she suspects mobster Gerry "The Monk" Hutch (Alan Devine) is responsible. Not deterred by threats or gunshot wounds, she uses thug John Traynor (Ciarán Hinds) as an informer to help out her investigation of psychotic mobster John Gilligan (Gerard McSorley). Schumacher's protégé Colin Farell appears in a small role. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cate Blanchett, Gerard McSorley, (more)
One of the biggest hits of the 1948-1949 Broadway season, the classic Cole Porter musical Kiss Me, Kate was triumphantly revived in 2000, running over 881 performances in New York and winning a Tony Award in the process. This faithful-to-its-source TV production of the "new" Kiss Me, Kate was taped during several live performances at London's Victoria Palace. The story concerns the efforts by an egocentric but likable actor, Fred Graham (Brent Barrett), to stage a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. Hoping to boost the show's box-office value, Graham has cast his temperamental ex-wife, film star Lilli Vanessi (Rachel York), in the role of the shrewish Katharine. As the production unfolds during a tryout in Baltimore, Fred and Lilli discover that they can't live with each other and can't live without each other -- just like Petruchio and Kate in Taming of the Shrew. Other ingredients in this heady blend of modern showbiz savvy and classic Elizabethan theater are the play's second leads, chronic gambler Bill Calhoun (Michael Berresse); the incurably flirtatious Lois Lane (Nancy Anderson); Lilli's current fiancé, the pompous Harrison Howell (Nicolas Colicos), a boring Republican millionaire in the original play, here rewritten as a lampoon of General Douglas MacArthur; and a brace of Runyonesque gangsters (Jack Chissick, Teddy Kempner) who refuse to leave the theater until they can collect a 75,000-dollar gambling debt. All of the great Cole Porter songs are performed intact and con brio: "Another Opening, Another Show," "So in Love," "Faithful in My Fashion," "I Hate Men," "Tom, Dick and Harry," "Too Darn Hot," "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" "Why Can't You Behave?" and so on. As a bonus, Porter's "From This Moment On," not written for the 1948 theatrical version of Kiss Me, Kate, but performed in the 1954 movie version, is herein revived to give poor old Harrison Howell something to do besides get laughs. Michael Blakemore, who adapted and staged the 2000 revival, also oversees this irresistible TV version, which first aired in the U.S. courtesy of PBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brent Barrett, Rachel York, (more)
One of Marvel Comics' most popular characters comes to the screen for the first time in this sci-fi action-thriller. Matthew Murdock (Ben Affleck) is a lawyer whose father, a prizefighter, was killed by gangsters when Murdock was just a boy. Since then, Murdock has devoted his life to bringing wrongdoers to justice and is willing to help others by taking on cases no other attorney will touch. Murdock is also blind, after being struck down by a truck while trying to save a man from being hit. What no one knows is that Murdock was also doused with an unusual radioactive isotope which had a strange effect on him -- while Murdock's sight may be gone, his other senses have been raised to such a keen pitch that they act like radar, allowing him to tell where he's going and what happens around him, both near and far away. Murdock puts his gifts to use at night as the costumed crime-fighter Daredevil, whose pursuit of justice has earned him the wrath of underworld leader Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan). Kingpin wants Daredevil out of his way once and for all, and hires Bullseye (Colin Farrell), a super-assassin with an uncanny ability to throw blades, to do the job. Daredevil also makes the acquaintance of Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner), a woman with super-heroic talents who is also on Kingpin's bad side, though it remains to be seen if she has aligned herself with the forces of good as Daredevil has done. Jon Favreau, Joe Pantoliano, and David Keith highlight Daredevil's supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, (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)
One man's life is thrown into turmoil by picking up a telephone in this claustrophobic thriller. Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) is a brash, cynical, and self-centered public relations man who juggles a busy career with both a wife, Kelly (Radha Mitchell), and a mistress, Pamela (Katie Holmes). Stu steps into a phone booth on a busy New York street to make a call to Pamela without Kelly being the wiser, but as soon as Stu hangs up, the phone begins to ring. Curious, Stu picks it up -- and a stranger on the other end (voice of Kiefer Sutherland) informs him that if he hangs up the phone, he'll be shot. The red dot of an infrared rifle scope convinces Stu that the caller means business, and when another man tries to make his way into the booth, he's shot mere inches from Stu, calling the attention of the police. Captain Ramey (Forest Whitaker) naturally assumes that Stu was the killer, as Stu struggles to find a way to convince the police of what's happening before more lives are lost, without leaving the booth and putting his own life on the line. At one time proposed as a vehicle for Jim Carrey, Phone Booth was directed by Joel Schumacher, from a screenplay by exploitation icon Larry Cohen. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Farrell, Kiefer Sutherland, (more)
The fourth film to chronicle the life of fourth-century B.C. ruler Alexander the Great, Oliver Stone's Alexander stars Colin Farrell as the titular Macedonian conqueror. The film follows the young king as he leads his forces on a bloody empirical conquest across the known world, taking large parts of Asia and the Middle East to amass a giant empire, all by the time he turned 25. Anthony Hopkins co-stars as Ptolemy I along with Rosario Dawson as Roxane, Angelina Jolie as Olympias, Jared Leto as Hephaistion, Val Kilmer as King Philip II, and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as Cassander. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, (more)
- 2004
This 2004 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Colin Farrell and features musical guest Scissor Sisters. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Farrell, Scissor Sisters, (more)
- 2004
- R
- Add A Home at the End of the World to QueueAdd A Home at the End of the World to top of Queue
Directed by Michael Mayer and based on The Hours author Michael Cunningham's novel of the same name, A Home at the End of the World chronicles the 1980s reunion of childhood best friends Bobby (Colin Farrell) and Jonathan (Dallas Roberts). Where they were once best pals -- and teenage lovers -- in the suburbs of Cleveland, Bobby has become a charismatic but go-nowhere heterosexual slacker, and Jonathan is now living as an openly gay man in New York City, hoping to serve as father to his eccentric roommate Clare's (Robin Wright Penn) child. When Bobby impulsively moves to the city to be closer to his former friend, their bonds are tested sooner than anyone would have thought. Bobby falls for Clare, and in doing so, effectively eliminates what would have been Jonathan's position in the baby's life. Jonathan temporarily takes off; when his father dies, and he attends the Arizona funeral, Bobby and Clare unexpectedly turn up with the news that she's expecting. Despite the still-existent tensions, the trio becomes a family unit among themselves, ultimately buying a house in Woodstock, Upstate New York, where they all move together, challenging traditional notions of family, commitment, love, and devotion. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Farrell, Robin Wright Penn, (more)
Terrence Malick, the universally acclaimed American filmmaker responsible for the key 1970s features Badlands and Days of Heaven, returns for a rare directorial outing with the sweeping period piece The New World -- an epic dramatization of Pocahontas' relationships with John Smith and John Rolfe. Malick's story opens at the dawn of the 17th century, just prior to the colonization of the United States -- when the North American population consisted of an interconnected series of native tribes. In April 1607, three maritime vessels approach the unfamiliar continent, with 103 sailors on board. As members of the Virginia Company, these adventurers carry a royal charter to mount a society on the edge of the new continent. John Smith (Colin Farrell) sits chained below one of the decks. He is a 27-year-old loose cannon, who, for his persistently rebellious acts, has been sentenced to death by hanging as soon as the ships dock. Nevertheless, Captain Christopher Newport (Christopher Plummer) acknowledges Smith's ability to aid with exploration and consents to pardon him as a result. Upon landing, Smith seeks assistance from local Native American tribes with colonization, but runs into the unexpected -- he falls desperately in love with Pocahontas, or "Playful One" (Q'orianka Kilcher), the daughter of the omnipotent Chief Powhatan (August Schellenberg). Needless to say, this does not sit well with Powhatan or the rest of the tribe. Moreover, the oft-bellicose Smith enters a head-to-head conflict with his fellow Britons when he finds his tempestuousness calmed by the tranquility of the new landscape, as the anger and violence of his shipmates concurrently build in the face of the Native Americans. Later, Smith temporarily returns to England; believing that Smith is dead, Pocahontas accepts the hand of plantation owner John Rolfe in marriage (with her father's blessing) and follows Rolfe back to the old country. When Smith returns to America, his intended is nowhere to be seen, and the entire community teeters on the brink of a British-Indian war. Malick shot the production on location in Virginia; it co-stars Jonathan Pryce, John Savage, and David Thewlis. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Farrell, Q'orianka Kilcher, (more)
Writer and director Michael Mann updates the groundbreaking television crime series he created in the 1980s with this stylish thriller. Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) and Sonny Crockett (Colin Farrell) are two police detectives working undercover in Florida; Tubbs is smart, cool, and resourceful, while Crockett has his own way of doing things, though he stays close enough to the rules to stay out of trouble. Their latest assignment is to get the goods on Arcangel de Jesus Montoya (Luis Tosar), a local drug kingpin whose men are believed to be responsible for a handful of recent murders. In order to infiltrate Montoya's operation, Tubbs and Crockett pose as powerboat racers willing to use their talents to pilot drug-smuggling ships for the right price. The detectives' ruse works, but as they dig deeper into Montoya's inner circle, they become involved in a dangerous operation that will take them to Haiti and Cuba, where neither the Miami Police Force nor the United States government can help them if things go wrong. Crockett also begins walking a risky path when he begins an affair with Isabella (Gong Li), a woman high up in Montoya's organization. Miami Vice marked Michael Mann's third consecutive directorial effort with Jamie Foxx after Ali and Collateral. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, (more)
Adapted from a novel by John Fante, Robert Towne's Ask the Dust stars Colin Farrell as Arturo Bandini, a young writer who comes to Los Angeles during the Great Depression in order to write a novel. As the film opens, he is down to his last nickel and decides to spend it on coffee in a diner. He is served by Camilla (Salma Hayek), a Mexican beauty he is instantly attracted to even though he treats her horribly during their first interaction. Soon the pair is involved in a relationship that finds them sparring with each other at first, but slowly learning to trust each other. Bandini meets the acquaintance of a desperate woman who sees him as the most desirable man in the world. Eventually Arturo and Camilla get away from the city and their love deepens as he attempts to finish his novel. Donald Sutherland co-stars as a seedy but helpful and loyal neighbor. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Farrell, Salma Hayek, (more)
- 2007
In 2001, a pair of South African journalists and activists who were also serious soccer fans came up with an idea to help the world's homeless. They created a Homeless World Cup, in which teams of street soccer players from across the globe were organized into national teams and given the chance to compete as a way of putting a human face on issues of economic justice, as well as giving street people a chance to show their talents to the world. The first Homeless World Cup tournament was held in 2003, and since then tens of thousands of players from 48 nations have taken part in the games, with over 70 percent of the athletes reporting they've been able to leave homelessness behind after competing in the tournament. Documentary filmmaker Susan Koch offers a close-up look at the Fifth Homeless World Cup competition in Capetown, South Africa, in the documentary Kicking It, which focuses on six footballers from Ireland, Spain, Kenya, Russia, Iraq, and the United States as they look back at their chaotic lives and how sports have given them the chance to improve their lot. Narrated by Colin Farrell, Kicking It received its North American premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Director Woody Allen continued to work in the dark mold of his 2005 thriller Match Point with this suspenseful tale of two brothers (Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor) transformed into mortal enemies after scheming to alleviate their financial difficulties by turning to crime. Ian (McGregor) and Terry Blaine (Farrell) are two Cockney siblings whose lives seem to have simply fallen apart. While hard-drinking auto mechanic Terry lives with his girlfriend, Kate (Sally Hawkins), and suffers all the financial hardships that go with being a chronic gambler, his slightly more respectable sibling Ian helps their father maintain the family restaurant. Thanks to the steady income that the restaurant provides and the occasional help of their wealthy uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson) the family has always managed to scrape by, but when Ian learns of a potentially lucrative California real estate deal, he can't help but dream about moving on to bigger and better things. One day, Terry wins big at the tracks by betting on a speedy greyhound named "Cassandra's Dream," and promptly uses his winnings to purchase a small yacht that he names after the winning dog. Right around the same time, things also start looking up for Ian -- who falls under the seductive spell of ambitious actress Angela (Hayley Atwell). But the brothers' good-luck spell doesn't last long, because when Terry winds up owing a tidy sum to some violent local loan sharks, he's given the option of promptly paying up or suffering some particularly painful consequences. Just then, Uncle Howard shows up in London looking to settle the score with a whistle-blowing business associate. While agreeing to take part in Uncle Howard's diabolical revenge scheme could easily earn Terry the cash needed to pay off his substantial debt, the consequences -- should he get caught -- will be far greater than those of any small-time scam he has ever resorted to in the past. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hayley Atwell, Colin Farrell, (more)
Director Gavin O'Connor collaborates with Narc director/screenwriter Joe Carnahan on this family-focused police drama concerning an honest homicide detective (Edward Norton) assigned to investigate the precinct run by his potentially crooked older brother (Noah Emmerich). As the investigation begins to reveal some troubling facts about the precinct, it gradually becomes apparent that the policeman who is also the older brother's best friend (Colin Farrell) may be the man orchestrating many of the suspected crimes. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, (more)
