Bijou Phillips
- 2008
- R
- AddChoketo Queue
Victor Mancini (Sam Rockwell) has got some problems -- when he's not at Sex Addicts Anonymous meetings hunting for women to bed, he masquerades as a choking victim in restaurants as a scheme to gather money from unsuspecting strangers, which he uses to keep his ailing mother (Anjelica Huston) in a high-end extended-care facility for her extreme dementia. But what happens when this messed up Colonial-era theme-park employee finds Mrs. Right in the guise of his mother's doctor -- and how can he give their relationship a try when she tells him he's the next coming of Jesus Christ? Based on Chuck Palahniuk's (Fight Club) pitch-black comedic novel, Choke is adapted and directed by David Mamet alumni Clark Gregg, whose career spans stage, screen, and TV work as well as a screenplay credit for Robert Zemeckis' 2000 thriller What Lies Beneath. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, (more)
- 2008
- R
A naïve playboy investigating the suspicious death of his wealthy father finds his charmed life as owner of the hottest nightclub in town suddenly spiraling into disaster in this shadowy film noir fever dream from director Rachel Samuels. Gabriel Mann, Bijou Phillips, Izabella Miko, and Elias Koteas headline the film, which features music by Aaron Neville, Etta James, Dr. John, Natalie Cole, Chaka Khan, and more. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gabriel Mann, Bijou Phillips, (more)
A man who planned to marry his high school sweetheart, buy a house with a white picket fence, and raise a family kisses his dreams of suburban bliss goodbye in order to travel through a hundred mile section of Central and South American jungle known as the Darien Gap in this adventure starring Christopher Masterson, Brooke Burns, Johnny Messner, and James Duval. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Kennedy Masterson, Brooke Burns, (more)
A mysterious magician has some very unpleasant secrets in this gory tale of terror. Edmund Bigelow (Kip Pardue) is the publisher of Cacophony Gazette, a journal that covers the cutting edge of art and performance in California. Jaded Bigelow thinks he's seen it all until he and his girlfriend Maggie (Bijou Phillips) take in a show by Montag the Magician (Crispin Glover), who with the help of his sidekick the Geek (Jeffrey Combs) delivers a stomach-turning show in which he brings volunteers on stage and dismembers them, only to have his victims stagger off stage at the end of the show, shaken but still very much alive. Bigelow soon becomes obsessed with Montag's show and wants to know more about him and his illusions, but he suspects that there might be more to the magician's show than he imagined when maimed bodies start appearing all over L.A., and with the help of his pals Jinky (Joshua Miller) and Dr. Chong (Brad Dourif) they discover the bizarre secret behind Montag's hold over his audience. Based on a cult-favorite gore film from Hershel Gordon Lewis, The Wizard of Gore also features several members of the contemporary burlesque troupe the Suicide Girls as Montag's volunteers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kip Pardue, Bijou Phillips, (more)
- 2007
Love and lust are jockeying for position during one busy night at a hip dance club in this independent comedy-drama. Ryan (Patrick Flueger) is the house DJ at a nightspot in Los Angeles that is enjoying a brief moment as the hippest joint in town. Ryan carries a torch for Cassie (Lauren German), a waitress who is hoping to launch a career as an actress. However, Cassie isn't as strongly attracted to Ryan, and she has no shortage of other potential suitors. As Ryan and Cassie try to sort out their feelings during one busy night, a number of other folks looking either for new love or a new hook-up make their way across the dance floor, including Tony (Michael Biehn), who has been propping up his failing film industry career with some illegal business; crystal meth enthusiast Delaney (Chris Lowell); Mick (Adam Campbell), who works his British charm for all it's worth; and Aubrey (Bijou Phillips) and Apple (Katie Cassidy), who are friends with Cassie and are also struggling to get a break in show biz. You Are Here was the first feature film from writer and director Henry Pincus. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bijou Phillips, Lauren German, (more)
The true-life story of Darby Crash, who became a Los Angeles punk icon before taking his own life in 1980, provides the background for this gritty musical biopic. Not long after getting kicked out of an experimental high school in Los Angeles, charismatic misfit and major David Bowie fan Jan Paul Beahm (Shane West) announces that he wants to form a rock band. With his best friend Georg Ruthenberg (Rick Gonzalez), Beahm creates a group called the Germs, mainly because their first choice, "Sophistif--k and the Revlon Spam Queens" costs too much to put on a T-shirt. Beahm appoints himself lead singer, Ruthenberg becomes guitarist even though he has no command of the instrument, and Beahm creates new stage names for them -- George becomes Pat Smear, and Jan is now Bobby Pyn. After a few less-than-impressive attempts to putting Beahm's "five-year plan" into action, the Germs begin to click with the addition of sweet but musically inexperienced Lorna Doom (Bijou Phillips) on bass and Arizona transplant Don Bolles (Noah Segan) on drums. Bobby Pyn gives himself another new name, Darby Crash, and the Germs become the talk of the Los Angeles punk scene with their reckless but literate songs and Darby's aggressive performance style. The Germs become big fish in the small pond of L.A. punk, but when hard drugs enter into the picture, Darby begins alienating those closest to him, and after the Germs' collapse, he's at a loss for how to bring his grand scheme to the next level. The real Pat Smear served as a music producer for What We Do Is Secret, recreating the sound of the Germs and other seminal L.A. punk groups for the soundtrack, while the surviving members of the Germs played a series of reunion dates following the production of the movie, with Shane West standing in as lead singer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shane West, Bijou Phillips, (more)
Three American students studying art in Rome are drawn into a grim world of torture and suffering in director Eli Roth's blackly comic sequel to the horror hit that shocked the world. Beth (Lauren German), Whitney (Bijou Phillips), and Lorna (Heather Matarazzo) have ventured outside of their stateside surroundings in order to get a more worldly appreciation of the arts. But sketching nudes all day can take its toll on even the most talented artist, and when class is over the three girls jump at the opportunity to experience Europe firsthand. As they set out on the train for an impromptu weekend trip, however, the coeds are surprised to cross paths with the beautiful model they had just been sketching. It appears that she, too, is preparing for a vacation that promises to be both relaxing and rejuvenating, and a generous invitation to join her at a remote hostel surrounded by soothing hot springs ultimately proves too tempting for the adventurous Americans to pass up. Unfortunately for the unsuspecting students, one person's idea of relaxing can be another's worst nightmare. Now on an unavoidable collision course with two American businessmen who long to get an edge on their competition by experiencing the thrill of the kill and a scythe-wielding woman who maintains her youthful visage using the Elizabeth Bathory method, these unsuspecting students are about to fall into a trap that remains one of the sadistic and wealthy elite's most well-guarded secrets. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lauren German, Roger Bart, (more)
A good Samaritan becomes the victim of voodoo spells in this horror story produced by Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson. When an aged Creole woman is caught in a car wreck in a remote section of Louisiana, Ray (Rick Cramer), the owner of a nearby filling station, speeds to the scene of the accident to help. However, Ray doesn't know that the woman is a voodoo practitioner whose vehicle holds a case full of magic talismans. The magical spirits lead Ray to an unexpected death, and then they take over his body, turning him into a bloodthirsty monster. As the reanimated Ray makes his way into town, a group of teenagers including Eden (Agnes Bruckner) and Tammy (Bijou Phillips) find themselves running for their lives from the supernatural creature, while Deputy Turner (Method Man) looks for a way to keep the strange menace under control. Venom went into release in the fall of 2005 -- only a few weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated much of the state of Louisiana, making the film seem unfortunately topical. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
A pair of naïve young girls learn that even the most insignificant actions can have lasting consequences in this music-driven take on teen culture starring Anne Hathaway and Bijou Phillips and directed by two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple. Influenced by the hip-hop thug lifestyle and seeking to explore life outside of their insulated, culturally homogenized suburb, pretty young teenagers Allison (Hathaway) and Emily (Phillips) set their sights on East L.A. to experience the "gangsta" lifestyle firsthand. By the time the pair meet some true-life Latino gang-bangers and realize just how far out of their element they really are, it may already be too late to turn back. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2005
Filmmaker Nicholas Jarecki offers a celluloid portrait of a cinematic mastermind at work in this documentary shot over an eight month period and following director James Toback through each phase of production of his 2004 thriller When Will I be Loved. From pre-production to final cut, Jarecki follows the existential-minded director through the entire process of making a movie as Toback opens up to the camera to discuss a variety of deeply personal matters and explore just how they have manifested themselves in such films as Love and Money, The Big Bang, and Black and White. Candid interviews with such well-known Toback collaborators as Woody Allen, Robert Towne, Harvey Keitel, Roger Ebert, Brett Ratner, show just how much impact the well-respected filmmaker has had in Hollywood despite his stubborn refusal to fit into the commercialized mold so frequently associated with the showbiz mecca. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Tod Williams served as both director and screenwriter for this drama, adapted from a portion of John Irving's novel A Widow for One Year. Ted and Marion Cole (Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger) are a couple whose marriage is on the verge of collapse. After their two teenage sons died in an auto accident, Marion fell into a deep depression from which she has never fully emerged. Meanwhile, Ted has drifted into repeated infidelity, his most recent mistress being the sexually ravenous Mrs. Vaughn (Mimi Rogers), and neither Ted nor Marion are willing or able to devote their full attention to their surviving daughter, Ruth (Elle Fanning). Ted, a successful author of books for children, hires Eddie (Jon Foster), a bright 16-year-old prep-school student, to help him edit his latest manuscript. But Ted is fully aware that Eddie bears a striking resemblance to one of his late sons -- and that this would have a powerful effect on Marion. Eddie quickly develops a strong attraction to his employer's beautiful wife, and Marion, torn between grief and desire, draws him into a sexual relationship that brings the family's many emotional crises to the breaking point. The Door in the Floor also features Bijou Phillips and Louis Arcella. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger, (more)
Television commercial director and music video maker Marcus Adams directs the U.K. thriller Octane, shot entirely in Luxembourg. Madeleine Stowe stars as overprotective mother Senga Wilson, who doesn't want her teenage daughter Nat (Mischa Barton) to get into trouble. While driving down the road with her mother one night, Nat jumps out of the car and escapes with a bunch of backpackers. It turns out the crowd she's running with is really an evil cult that's out for blood, led by a freaky guy they call The Father (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). In order to save her daughter, Senga embarks on a thrilling journey into a rave/dance underworld of violent twentysomethings while she copes with her own past. The techno soundtrack was provided by Orbital. Octane premiered in the U.S. at the 2003 CineVegas International Film Festival and was renamed Pulse for its eventual video release. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Madeleine Stowe, Norman Reedus, (more)
Cat Storm (Dominique Swain) is a bored high school girl in New York City who follows her petulant, rich friends from one coming-of-age adventure to another. They experiment with cruelty, rudeness, brazenness, and idiocy before moving onto sex and drugs. Cat's best friend, Delilah (Bijou Phillips), is kicked out of school for using cocaine (her father's), forcing Cat to become best friends with Grace (Mischa Barton), who guides her into the arms of William (Brad Renfro), the boy Cat's had a crush on for some time. Eventually they all wind up at a luxurious country estate for a weekend of drugs, passion, and, inevitably, gruesome murder. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dominique Swain, Brad Renfro, (more)
Photographer and filmmaker Larry Clark, who made a controversial feature debut with the disturbing drama Kids, returns with another disquieting look at amoral and sexually precocious youth. Bobby (Nick Stahl) is a high school student growing up in southern Florida in the early '90s. Bobby is also a borderline psychotic; he frequently lashes out with brutal violence against those around him and especially enjoys humiliating his best friend Marty (Brad Renfro). While Bobby professes to hate and fear homosexuals, he goads Marty into performing phone sex with men, makes Marty and his friends watch hardcore gay porn films with him, and may have sexually abused Marty. But Marty is hardly the only victim of Bobby's abuse; Bobby has sexually assaulted Marty's girlfriend Lisa (Rachel Miner) and more than once has barged in on the couple while they were making love. Lisa's best friend Ali (Bijou Phillips) has also been raped by Bobby, and he has mistreated nearly everyone in their circle of friends. One night, Marty, Lisa, Ali, and several others decide Bobby's cycle of abuse must stop. But their solution is as ugly as the problem -- the teens stab Bobby, slit his throat, crush his head with a baseball bat, and throw his body into the bay, where the remains will be eaten by alligators. Bully is based on a book by journalist Jim Schutze, which recounted the facts of the 1993 murder of Bobby Kent, who after years of abusing his friends and classmates, was killed by seven of his acquaintances in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. As with Kids, Larry Clark's startlingly graphic depiction of sex, violence, and drug use among teenagers crossed the boundaries of what the MPAA could permit in an R-rated film, and the picture's distributors chose to release the film without a rating. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brad Renfro, Rachel Miner, (more)
Writer and director Cameron Crowe's experiences as a teenage rock journalist -- he was a regular contributor to Rolling Stone while still in high school -- inspired this coming-of-age story about a 15-year-old boy hitting the road with an up-and-coming rock band in the early 1970s. Elaine Miller (Frances McDormand) is a bright, loving, but strict single parent whose distrust of rock music and fears about drug use have helped to drive a wedge between herself and her two children, Anita (Zooey Deschanel) and William (Patrick Fugit). Anita rebels by dropping out of school and becoming a stewardess, but William makes something of his love of rock & roll by writing album reviews for a local underground newspaper. William's work attracts the attention of Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman), editor of renegade rock magazine Creem, who takes William under his wing and gives him his first professional writing assignment -- covering a Black Sabbath concert. While William is unable to score an interview with the headliners, the opening act, Stillwater, are more than happy to chat with a reporter, even if he's still too young to drive, and William's piece on the group in Creem gains him a new admirer in Ben Fong-Torres (Terry Chen), an editor at Rolling Stone. Torres offers William an assignment for a 3,000-word cover story on Stillwater, and over the objections of his mother (whose parting words are "Don't use drugs!"), and after some stern advice from Bangs (who says under no circumstances should he become friends with a band he's covering), Williams joins Stillwater on tour, where he becomes friendly with guitarist Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) and singer Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee). William also becomes enamored of Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), a groupie traveling with the band who is no older than William, but is deeply involved with Russell. Lester Bangs and Ben Fong-Torres, incidentally, were real-life rock writers Crowe worked with closely during his days as a journalist. Almost Famous' original score was composed by Nancy Wilson of Heart (who is also Crowe's wife).
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Fugit, Billy Crudup, (more)
The inner workings of the New York hip-hop scene, and the fascination of white observers with rap music and hip-hop culture, set the stage for this drama written and directed by James Toback. Rich Bower (Power) is a mover and shaker in the world of rap music (he's involved with a number of other licit and illicit business ventures as well), and his apartment is a favored meeting place for musicians, hangers-on, and hipsters who want to seem cool, including a clique of white kids who want to be on the inside of whey they consider the coolest scene of the day. Sam (Brooke Shields), a filmmaker, is making a documentary about Rich and his circle, with the help of her husband Terry (Robert Downey Jr.), a closeted homosexual who doesn't feel at home in this milieu. Dean (Allan Houston) is a talented college basketball player and Rich's friend since childhood who is offered a deal by a bookmaker, Mark (Ben Stiller) to throw a few games for a price. Dean takes the money against his better judgment, and he soon realizes how much of a mistake he made when Mark turns out to be a cop hoping to dig up dirt on Rich. Rich in turn discovers that Dean might be forced to tell what he knows to stay out of jail, and he decides that Dean has to be killed; however, rather than murder his friend himself, Rich asks one of the white kids who hangs out with him, who seems especially eager to prove himself, to do it for him. The kid, however, is actually the son of the District Attorney. Also contributing to Black and White's supporting cast are controversial boxing legend Mike Tyson, musician Bijou Phillips, Wu Tang Clan rapper Raekwon, model Claudia Schiffer, and Donald Trump's former spouse Marla Maples. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scott Caan, Robert Downey, Jr., (more)
