John Logan Movies

Pixar veteran Brad Bird sets aside animation for live action with the grand-scale production 1906, a dramatic re-creation of the tragic events leading up to San Francisco burning to the ground during the 1906 earthquake, as seen through the eyes of a college student as he investigates his father's murder. The joint venture between Warner Bros. and Disney/Pixar will find Brad Bird adapting a John Logan script, with Paula Weinstein handling producing duties. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

A pet chameleon who has lived his entire life in the confines of a cozy glass terrarium discovers adventure beyond his wildest imagination in this animated Western adventure from Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski. When we first meet Rango (voice of Johnny Depp), the sheltered pet chameleon is safe in his terrarium, and embarking on epic adventures through the power of imagination. Then, suddenly, his safe existence is irrevocably upended thanks to a bump in the road that sends him soaring out of a car window and right onto the searing-hot asphalt of a desert highway. On the advice of a wise armadillo who relays the story of the Spirit of the West, our conical-eyed hero sets out in search of a town called Dirt, narrowly escaping a hungry hawk and encountering a self-sufficient pioneer named Beans (voice of Isla Fisher) along the way. Upon arriving in the dusty desert town, Rango wanders into the local bar and convinces the townspeople that he's a notorious gunslinger with a lightning-fast trigger finger. When one of the locals challenges Rango to a showdown on Main Street, the hawk that menaced our hero on his way to town shows up looking for a rematch, and ends up beak-down in the dirt. Convinced that Rango is the real deal, the Mayor (voice of Ned Beatty) decides to name the brave chameleon their new sheriff. But Rango's honeymoon in Dirt is short-lived when bandits steal the town's entire supply of water, and the newly christened sheriff forms a posse in order to get it back. Little do they realize they were all being manipulated by one greedy power-monger who's determined to keep the people of Dirt under his thumb with the help of a diabolical villain named Rattlesnake Jake (voice of Bill Nighy) whose Gatling-gun tail makes Swiss cheese of all challengers. Now, if Rango can just locate the Spirit of the West (voice of Timothy Olyphant) and summon the courage to realize his true potential, perhaps he can finally free the people of Dirt from the tyranny that binds them, and discover his true destiny under the scorching desert sun. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Martin Scorsese's adaptation of Brian Selznick's award-winning novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret stars Asa Butterfield, as an orphan boy who lives in a Parisian train station. Sent to live with his drunken uncle after his father's death in a fire, Hugo learned how to wind the massive clocks that run throughout the station. When the uncle disappears one day, Hugo decides to maintain the clocks on his own, hoping nobody will catch on to him squatting in the station.

His natural aptitude for engineering leads him to steal gears, tools, and other items from a toy-shop owner who maintains a storefront in the station. Hugo needs these purloined pieces in order to rebuild a mechanical man that was left in the father's care at the museum -- the restoration was a project father and son did together.

When Georges (Ben Kingsley), the old man who runs the toy stand, catches on to the thievery, he threatens to turn Hugo over to the station's lone police officer (Sacha Baron Cohen, who makes every effort to send any parentless child in the station to the orphanage. But Hugo's run-in with Georges leads to a friendship with the elderly gentleman's goddaughter, Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz), who unknowingly possesses the last item Hugo needs to make the mechanical man work again.
~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Will Smith stars as a media magnate in this Columbia Pictures drama penned by John Logan (Gladiator) and helmed by Michael Mann. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

Martin Scorsese directed this fast-moving, epic-scale biopic documenting the life and loves one of the most colorful Americans of the 20th century, Howard Hughes. The Aviator follows Hughes (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) as the twentysomething millionaire, having already made a fortune improving the design of oil-drilling bits, comes to Hollywood with an interest in getting into the picture business. It doesn't take long for Hughes, with his passion for airplanes, to jump from producer to director of his first major film project, a World War I air epic called Hell's Angels, which took three years to complete thanks to the shift from silent to sound filming and Hughes' relentless perfectionism. However, the film was a massive hit, and the eccentric inventor became a mogul in Hollywood, making Jean Harlow (Gwen Stefani) a star and enjoying a romance with Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett). But Hollywood's old-boy network never fully accepted Hughes, and in time his passion for flying began to reclaim his attentions as he began designing new planes, setting air speed records, flying around the world, and risking his life testing aircraft. Hughes also found time to romance Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale) and founded his own airline, Trans-World Airlines, though as his ideas became bolder, his approach became more eccentric, and he gained many powerful enemies, including the head of Pan-American Airlines, Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin), and Senator Ralph Owen Brewster (Alan Alda), who attempted to prove that Hughes' radical design ideas were actually part of an effort to bilk taxpayers for millions of dollars through government contracts. The Aviator's star-studded cast also includes John C. Reilly, Jude Law, Willem Dafoe, Ian Holm, and Frances Conroy. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Edward Zwick returned to the director's chair for the first time since 1998's The Siege with this sweeping period drama set in 19th-century Japan. After centuries of relying on hired samurai for national defense, the Japanese monarchy has decided to do away with the warriors in favor of a more contemporary military. Tom Cruise stars as Nathan Algren, a veteran of the U.S. Civil War who is hired by the Emperor Meiji to train an army capable of wiping out the samurai. But when Algren is captured by the samurai and taught about their history and way of life, he finds himself conflicted over who he should be fighting alongside. Billy Connelly, Tony Goldwyn, and Ken Watanabe co-star. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

The classic science fiction novel by H.G. Wells becomes this big-budget adventure directed by the author's great-grandson Simon Wells. Guy Pearce stars as Alexander Hartdegen, a scientist, professor, and inventor in 1895 New York City who believes that time travel is possible. The sudden and unexpected death of his fiancée spurs Alexander to build a time machine, which he hopes to use in an effort to change the past. When he is unable to change the past, Alexander hurls himself more than 800,000 years into the future, seeking answers about the nature of time, but instead encountering a dystopian world where humanity has divided up into two races, the peaceful Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks. Befriending the beautiful Eloi woman Mara (pop singer Samantha Mumba), Alexander must set out to save her from the underground world of the Morlocks when she is captured by them. Along the way, he is aided by Vox (Orlando Jones), a bio-mechanical being from the 21st century. Ultimately, Alexander makes a shocking discovery about the true nature of the Eloi and Morlocks and decides that the only way to change the future is to alter the present. Due to exhaustion, director Wells was briefly replaced during the last few weeks of production by Gore Verbinski, director of The Mexican (2001). The Time Machine co-stars Jeremy Irons and Mark Addy. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Beware of what goes "bump" (and "squeak" and "flap flap flap") in the night. Dr. Sheila Casper (Dina Meyer) is a respected zoologist dispatched by the government to Gallup, TX, a small community suffering from an unusual number of reported bat attacks. Casper finds this news puzzling, since bats are generally placid creatures who avoid contact with humans. The local sheriff, Emmett Kimsey (Lou Diamond Phillips), assures Casper that the reports are on the level and that something needs to be done about swarms of aggressive bats so thick they blot out the moon. Caspar and Kimsey discover that a new breed of genetically altered bats have escaped from a research facility and taken up residence in a cave near Gallup -- but the nocturnal bloodsuckers have no intention of leaving as quickly as they arrived. Bats was written by John Logan, who had two other projects hit the screen within a few months of Bats' release: Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday and Ridley Scott's Gladiator. The supporting cast includes Leon and Bob Gunton. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Oliver Stone takes on professional football, a sport whose grace and delicacy are a good match for his filmmaking style. Tony D'Amato (Al Pacino), the head coach of the Miami Sharks, won back-to-back championships four years ago. But new team owner Christina Pagniacci (Cameron Diaz) has little enthusiasm for the finer points of the game and is concerned only with the bottom line. The longtime strongman of Tony's team has been "Cap" Rooney (Dennis Quaid), a 39-year-old quarterback, but Christina balks at renewing his contract. When Cap is injured during a game, third-string rookie quarterback Willie Beaman (Jamie Foxx) goes on in his place and becomes a major star. But Beaman is mostly interested in fame and money, and he has little regard for Tony and his teammates. Any Given Sunday also stars James Woods as the team's doctor, LL Cool J as a star running back, Jim Brown as a former football great turned Sharks' defensive coordinator, Ann-Margret as Christina's alcoholic mother, Bill Bellamy as a wide receiver, Elizabeth Berkley as Tony's favorite prostitute, and Charlton Heston as the football commissioner. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Orson Welles first feature film -- which he directed, produced, and co-wrote, as well as playing the title role -- proved to be his most important and influential work, a ground-breaking drama loosely based on the life of William Randolph Hearst which is frequently cited as the finest American film ever made. Aging newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) dies in his sprawling Florida estate after uttering a single, enigmatic final word -- "Rosebud" -- and newsreel producer Rawlston (Phil Van Zandt) sends reporter Jerry Thompson (William Alland) out with the assignment of uncovering the meaning behind the great man's dying thought. As Thompson interviews Kane's friends, family, and associates, we learn the facts of Kane's eventful and ultimately tragic life: his abandonment by his parents (Agnes Moorehead and Harry Shannon) after he becomes the heir to a silver mine; his angry conflicts with his guardian, master financier Walter Parks Thatcher (George Coulouris); his impulsive decision that "it would be fun to run a newspaper" with the help of school chum Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotten) and loyal assistant Mr. Bernstein (Everett Sloane); his rise from scandal sheet publisher to the owner of America's largest and most influential newspaper chain; his marriage to socially prominent Emily Norton (Ruth Warrick), whose uncle is the President of the United States; Kane's ambitious bid for public office, which is dashed along with his marriage when his opponent, corrupt political boss Jim Gettys (Ray Collins), reveals that Kane is having an affair with aspiring vocalist Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore); Kane's vain attempts to promote second wife Alexander as an opera star; and his final, self-imposed exile to a massive and never-completed pleasure palace called Xanadu. While Citizen Kane was a film full of distinguished debuts -- along with Welles, it was the first feature for Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane, Ray Collins, Agnes Moorehead, and Ruth Warrick -- the only Academy Award it received was for Best Original Screenplay, for which Welles shared credit with veteran screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi