Amy Ryan
- 2008
- R
- AddChangelingto Queue
Inspired by actual events that occurred in 1920s-era Los Angeles, Clint Eastwood's The Changeling tells the story of a woman driven to confront a corrupted LAPD after her abducted son is retrieved and she begins to suspect that the boy returned to her is not the same boy she gave birth to. The year was 1928, and the setting a working-class suburb of Los Angeles. As Christine (Angelina Jolie) said goodbye to her son, Walter, and departed for work, she never anticipated that this was the day her life would be forever changed. Upon returning home, Christine was distressed to discover that Walter was nowhere to be found. Over the course of the following months, the desperate mother would launch a search that would ultimately prove fruitless. Yet just when it seemed that all hope was lost, a nine-year-old boy claiming to be Christine's son seemed to appear out of thin air. Overcome with emotions and uncertain how to face the authorities or the press, Christine invites the child to stay in her home despite knowing without a doubt that he is not her son. As much as Christine would like to accept the fact that her son has been returned to her, she cannot accept the injustice being pushed upon her and continues to challenge the Prohibition-era Los Angeles police force at every turn. As a result, Christine is slandered by the powers that be, and painted as an unfit mother. In this town, a woman who challenges the system is putting her life on the line, and as the situation grows desperate, the only person willing to aid her in her search is benevolent local activist Reverend Briegleb (John Malkovich). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, (more)
- 2008
United 93 director Paul Greengrass explores the aftermath of the Iraq invasion in this feature adaptation of author Rajiv Chandrasekaran's literary exposé of the same name. A one-time Baghdad bureau chief of the Washington Post, Chandrasekaran was present as American forces attempted to set up a provisional government on the grounds surrounding former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's opulent palace. The resulting governing body, according to critics, existed in a bubble so far removed from the grim realities of the Iraq War that it failed to properly assess the needs of the people. In this fictional thriller, director Greengrass and screenwriter Brian Helgeland use Chandrasekaran's novel as the foundation for the story of an officer (Matt Damon) who joins forces with a senior CIA officer to unearth evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Amy Ryan co-stars as the New York Times foreign correspondent who travels to Iraq investigating the U.S. government's allegations about weapons of mass destruction, with Greg Kinnear appearing in the role of an additional CIA officer, and Antoni Corone essaying the role of a colonel. Brendan Gleeson rounds out the main cast for this Universal Pictures production. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matt Damon, Amy Ryan, (more)
The Kid Stays in the Picture director Brett Morgen turns his unique eye toward the infamous 1968 Democratic National Convention in this 2006 documentary. Using a star-studded voice cast along with a blend of archival footage and animation, Morgen tells the story of the eight demonstrators who were arrested and tried for conspiracy in the wake of the violent anti-war protests. Featuring the voices of Nick Nolte and Mark Ruffalo among others, Chicago 10 premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
Ben Affleck's adaptation of Dennis Lehane's novel Gone, Baby, Gone stars Casey Affleck as Patrick Kenzie, a private investigator from working-class Boston who takes on a case involving a kidnapped girl. The girl's aunt begs Patrick to take the case because he has connections to criminal Boston that the police do not. He agrees and along with his partner, Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan), they uncover a web of corruption that threatens the relationship between the two. Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman co-star as members of the Boston Police Department. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, (more)
- 2007
- R
- AddBefore the Devil Knows You're Deadto QueueAddBefore the Devil Knows You're Deadto top of Queue
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, and Marisa Tomei star in director Sidney Lumet's thriller concerning two brothers who hatch a plan to rob their parent's jewelry store. When the job goes awry, the entire family is set on a collision course with tragedy. Andy (Hoffman) is an overextended broker in desperate need of some cash. His brother, Hank (Hawke), isn't much better off, so when Andy hatches a plan to rob their parent's modest jewelry store, it seems like a foolproof way to make a quick buck. But Andy's trophy wife, Gina (Tomei), is secretly sleeping with libidinous younger brother Hank, and when the robbery proves a complete disaster it isn't long before loyalties start to shift. Now Andy and Hank's father, Charles (Finney), is determined to make the unidentified robbers pay for their crime. What's a father to do when he discovers that the ones he loves have become his worst enemies? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, (more)
- 2007
Amy Ryan (Keane, The Wire) and Nick Offernan co-headline director Cecily Rhett's 13-minute fictional short Forward. The seriocomic work covers a reenactment of the Civil War, in addition to splits in various personal relationships. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Offerman, Amy Ryan, (more)
A widower and father of three who also writes a parenting advice column for his local newspaper falls for the girlfriend of his younger brother during a family vacation in director Peter Hedges' offbeat love triangle laugher. Steve Carell stars as the writer who finds his widely-known convictions put to the ultimate test, with Dane Cook and Juliette Binoche respectively assuming the roles of the younger sibling and his radiant girlfriend. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, (more)
- 2006
A woman discovers she has miraculous powers that make her unhappy life all the more complicated in this independent satiric comedy. Gwen (Martha Plimpton) is a woman in her mid-thirties who has been in a deep funk ever since her marriage fell apart. With nowhere to go, Gwen is living with her sister, Queenie (Amy Ryan), and brother-in-law, Lars (Ewen Bremner), and Queenie tries to lift her sister's sagging spirits by setting her up on a blind date. The date doesn't go well, but when her would-be suitor is unable to get his car started, Gwen discovers to her surprise that she can repair the auto with her psychic powers. Word gets around about Gwen's unusual talent, and soon neighbors are lining up to let Gwen fix old appliances with her mind, while Lars makes a fast buck charging folks for the privilege. But when it's discovered Gwen's talents don't stop at repairing toasters, Queenie and Lars launch her on a career as a faith healer. Queenie soon installs herself as Gwen's public sidekick and mouthpiece, while they hire Laura (Annabella Sciorra) to manage Gwen's growing public profile. But Gwen is no happier as a famous psychic and faith healer that she was immediately after her divorce, and she increasingly seeks solace in alcohol. "Marvelous" was screened in competition at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martha Plimpton, Amy Ryan, (more)
- 2005
- PG13
- AddLooking for Comedy in the Muslim Worldto QueueAddLooking for Comedy in the Muslim Worldto top of Queue
Comic and filmmaker Albert Brooks serves his country while struggling to get some laughs in this offbeat satiric comedy. Brooks plays himself, a comedic filmmaker whose most recent success was providing the voice of a fish for an animated feature and who has just been passed by as director for a remake of Harvey. As Brooks wonders what's going to happen next with his career, his wife (Amy Ryan), and his daughter, he's approached by government representatives who want him for a special assignment. The State Department, eager to better understand the cultural gap between the United States and the Middle East, have been directed by the president to make a study of what makes Muslims laugh. Brooks is asked to fly to India and Pakistan and bring back a 500-page report on Muslim humor; told the Medal of Freedom may be his if he comes through, Brooks accepts. With a pair of State Department officials in tow, Stuart (John Carroll Lynch) and Mark (Jon Tenney), and some help from a local assistant, Maya (Sheetal Sheth), Brooks sets out to find the funny bone of India's and Pakistan's Muslim communities, though it doesn't take long to find out what they don't find funny -- his standup act. Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World was originally set for release in the United States by Sony Pictures Classics, but when they became nervous over the film's title, they dropped the project and it was picked up for distribution by Warner Independent Pictures. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Albert Brooks, Sheetal Sheth, (more)
The creation of one of the most memorable books of the 1960s -- and the impact the writing and research would have on its author -- is explored in this drama based on a true story. In 1959, Truman Capote (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) was a critically acclaimed novelist who had earned a small degree of celebrity for his work when he read a short newspaper item about a multiple murder in a small Kansas town. For some reason, the story fascinated Capote, and he asked William Shawn (Bob Balaban), his editor at The New Yorker, to let him write a piece about the case. Capote had long believed that in the right hands, a true story could be molded into a tale as compelling as any fiction, and he believed this event, in which the brutal and unimaginable was visited upon a community where it was least expected, could be just the right material. Capote traveled to Kansas with his close friend Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), herself becoming a major literary figure with the success of To Kill a Mockingbird, and while Capote's effete and mannered personal style stuck out like a sore thumb in Kansas, in time he gained the trust of Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper), the Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent investigating the murder of the Clutter family, and with his help Capote's magazine piece grew into a full-length book. Capote also became familiar with the petty criminals who killed the Clutter family, Dick Hickock (Mark Pellegrino) and Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.), and in Smith he found a troubling kindred spirit more like himself than he wanted to admit. After attaining a sort of friendship with Smith under the assumption that the man would be executed before the book was ever published, Capote finds himself forced to directly confront the moral implications of his actions with regards to both his role in the man's death, and the way that he would be remembered. Capote also co-stars Bruce Greenwood as Capote's longtime companion Jack Dunphy, and Amy Ryan as Mary Dewey, Alvin's wife who became a confidante of Capote's. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, (more)
American independent filmmaker Lodge Kerrigan returned after a six-year hiatus with this formally challenging tale of a disheveled man desperately searching New York City for his young daughter. Keane takes its name from its central character, a middle-aged man (Damien Lewis) who wanders Port Authority with a seemingly tenuous grasp of his sanity, muttering to himself and causing altercations with passers-by. He claims to have lost his daughter at a bus station, and consistently pleads for assistance from indifferent authority figures. When he's not roaming the streets, he uses his meager savings to rent out a room nightly in a cheap hotel; there, he meets Lynn (Amy Ryan), a single mother with a daughter, Kyra (Abigail Breslin), almost the same age as Keane's missing child. As he grows closer to Lynn and Kyra, he starts to see the young girl as instrumental in deciphering his own loss. Keane premiered at the 2004 Toronto Film Festival before securing a 2005 theatrical release. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Damian Lewis, Abigail Breslin, (more)
- 1999
A woman is found dead at the bottom of a cliff the day before her wedding. It is up to Ballard (Callie Thorne) and Bayliss (Kyle Secor) to determine if the woman killed herself, or if she was murdered. In another investigation, Sheppard (Michael Michele) and Mike (Giancarlo Esposioto) find themselves with no shortage of suspects when a loud and obnoxious film fan is murdered in a movie theater. And on the domestic front, Al Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) learns that he is about to become a grandfather. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Belzer, Giancarlo Esposito, (more)
- 1999
Jonathan (Kevin Corrigan) is a computer expert who is a bit shy and lonely, though he's recently begun courting a schoolteacher named Judy (Amy Ryan). One night, Jonathan encounters a Latina prostitute named Roberta (Daisy Rojas), whom he's convinced he knew as a child. Jonathan is immediately obsessed with Roberta, though not for sex, which she finds more puzzling than reassuring. Jonathan soon moves Roberta into his apartment, begins teaching her office skills, even asking Judy to help take care of her. Roberta is not sure what to make of Jonathan's improvement program, her short-tempered pimp is decidedly unhappy with this arrangement, and Jonathan's friends try to convince him he's making a mistake. This socially and politically charged melodrama was shown in competition at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Corrigan, Daisy Rojas, (more)
Julie A. Lynch made her directorial debut with this low-budget indie, an AIDS drama set in 1992 NYC, where three women -- promiscuous artist Josie Ray (Christine Harnos), stand-up comic Jennifer Sharp (Brooke Smith), and MBA student Elaine Devlin (Amy Ryan) -- learn their old college chum Chris Goodman (Garret Dillahunt) is hospitalized with complications from HIV. Awaiting word, they drink, talk, and compare past sexual histories. As sexual secrets surface, Josie attempts to get together with her ex, Matt Devlin (Bill Sage), Elaine's brother. Shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christine Harnos, Brooke Smith, (more)
- 1995
A visitor to the ER (Catherine Lloyd Burns) must make a crucial decision after her boyfriend commits suicide, while novice nun Sister Elizabeth (Amy Ryan) likewise finds herself at an emotional crossroads. Elsewhere, the ER staff (and the viewers) discovers that Carter (Noah Wyle) is from an incredibly wealthy family. Swift (Michael Ironside) becomes increasingly displeased with Greene (Anthony Edwards), who has allowed his domestic troubles to take precedence over his work. Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) is at the end of her rope with Chloe (Kathleen Wilhoite). And the mystery of missing-in-action Dr. Div Cvetic is solved. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Two murders, one in Brooklyn and one in Manhattan, have both apparently been committed by a mentally retarded person. The established rules of jurisdiction governing the two boroughs -- and heated arguments amongst the investigating detectives over interrogation techniques -- make it difficult to exchange evidence and expedite a prosecution. Originally slated to air on February 17, 1993, this episode of Law & Order was not seen until March 3 of that year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
