Jennifer Roth Movies

Janet McTeer follows up her Oscar-nominated performance in Tumbleweeds (1999) with this period drama set during the 1910s. Dr. Lily Penleric (McTeer), an uptight musicologist, is furious after getting denied tenure again at an elite all-male East Coast university. She promptly quits out of protest, and having nowhere else to go, she joins her sister in a remote mountain school. Her high-minded, refined ways quickly clash with the locals, yet her academic interests are peaked when she realizes that this bucolic mountain culture is thoroughly infused with music that harkens back to traditional English and Scottish folk ballads. After retrieving some tools, including a primitive recording device, from the East Coast, she sets out collecting songs. The locals react with a mixture of amusement, bafflement, and suspicion. Meanwhile, a mining company is strong-arming the impoverished residences into selling their coal-rich land for a pittance. Lily soon realizes that the culture she's seeking to preserve is quickly being torn asunder. Aidan Quinn and David Patrick Kelly also appear in this film, which was screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

A man attempts to deal with a truly remarkable variety of personal and emotional problems in this comedy drama based on the real-life experiences of comedian and author Jeff Nichols. Jeff (Seann William Scott) is a man edging into his thirties who has a serious drinking problem along with Attention Deficit Disorder, Dyslexia and Tourette's Syndrome; to say Jeff has a hard time dealing with others stretches the boundaries of understatement, and he devotes a fair share of his day to support meetings, even ones dealing with conditions which don't involve his problems. Jeff prefers to blame his wealthy parents (Dierdre O'Connell) and (Denis O'Hare) for his problems, even though they haven't done much besides stand aside as he's burned down their home. Unable to hold down a job, Jeff has been evicted from the garage he was renting from Bert (Kevin Conway), who can no longer handle his many eccentricities, but with nowhere else to go, he somehow charms his way into the heart and home of Lynn (Gretchen Mol), a woman he met at a support group for people with relationship problems. While Lynn is a walking mass of phobias regarding men and romance, she discovers something in the damaged Jeff that encourages her to take a chance on him. Adapted from Nichols's autobiography The Little Yellow Bus, Trainwreck: My Life As An Idiot was the first theatrical feature from director Tod Harrison Williams. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

His sense of identity fading into nothingness after the spotlights dim and he experiences a close brush with mortality, a retired wrestler begins to evaluate his life while considering the comeback that could very well kill him in director Darren Aronofsky's poignant portrait of an introspective former superstar in the twilight of his career. Back in his heyday, wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke) was an icon in the ring. His image immortalized in action figures and video games, he would headline arenas across the globe. Twenty years later, those glory days have passed, and Randy is forced to earn his keep by brawling before handfuls of fans in high school gyms and community centers around New Jersey. In the wake of a heart attack, the former icon attempts to earn a little extra cash while working in a deli and making an effort to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter, Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood). Yet, despite Randy's continued attempts at convincing local stripper Cassidy (Marisa Tomei) to settle down with him in his humble trailer, the ring still calls to him. Later, when the prospect of a high-profile rematch with his longtime nemesis presents itself, Randy is forced to weigh his mortality against his desire to hear the crowd roar one last time. The Wrestler snagged two Oscar nominations, one for Best Actor (Rourke) and one for Best Supporting Actress (Tomei). ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A high school poetry teacher and single father discovers that the thing he covets most in life may not be what makes him truly happy in this pitch-black comedy directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, and starring Robin Williams. Lance Clayton (Williams) is a mild-mannered high school teacher from Seattle who was granted sole custody of his son, Kyle (Daryl Sabara), following a nasty divorce. As hard as Lance tries to connect with his hostile, loathsome son, all he receives for his sincere efforts are insults and scorn. The only things Kyle seems to care about are violent video games and internet porn, the latter obsession eventually serving to alienate the foul-mouthed teen from his sole friend, Andrew (Evan Martin). His books rejected by publishers and his poetry class on the verge of being canceled due to student disinterest, Lance does find a bit of happiness in his relationship with pretty art instructor Claire (Alexie Gilmore), though these days her gaze is drifting toward handsome young English teacher Mike (Henry Simmons), who recently celebrated the publication of his very first piece in The New Yorker. Then, one day, Lance discovers his son dead, the apparent victim of autoerotic asphyxiation gone horribly awry. In order to give the boy some dignity in death, Lance pens a suicide note before summoning the authorities. By chance, that note is published in Kyle's school newspaper, instantly transforming him into a misunderstood cult icon among the impressionable student body. Now, tragedy has become opportunity for Lance. Can the grieving father live with the knowledge of how he achieved such fame, or has he sacrificed his own soul in his blind quest to garner the kind of fame that has eluded him his entire life? ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A suburban family man inadvertently opens up a Pandora's box of dysfunction, treachery, and murder while attempting to grow the perfect lawn, and run a family of raccoons off his property. Jeff (Tobey Maguire) and Nealy Lang (Elizabeth Banks) have an ideal marriage; they've just celebrated their 10th anniversary, they've got a spacious house in a nice neighborhood, and a newborn son to make their family complete. But Jeff has lost the ability to love his wife, and he's desperate to regain the spark that's made their marriage work for the past decade. His inner malaise growing deeper by the day, Jeff diverts his attention to nurturing a lawn that will be the envy of all his neighbors. One problem leads to another, however, when Jeff begins an obsessive mission to rid his yard of some unusually persistent raccoons, and has an unsettling encounter with his reclusive, feline-hoarding neighbor. Before Jeff knows it, a simple pest-control problem has snowballed into a full-blown existential crisis involving bows and arrows, extortion, and multiple extramarital affairs. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Scott McGehee and David Siegel's adaptation of Henry James' novel What Maisie Knew stars Julianne Moore as Susanna, a self-involved rock star whose marriage to the equally egotistical Beale (Steve Coogan) is falling apart. They are both less-than-good parents to their six-year-old daughter Maisie (Onata Aprile). Maisie finds some solace in the care of the family's nanny as well as when she's looked after by Susanna's new boyfriend. What Maisie Knew screened at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi