Frank Girardeau Movies

Synecdoche, New York marked the directorial debut of iconoclastic, cerebral screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. Philip Seymour Hoffman stars as Caden Cotard, an eccentric playwright who lives with artist Adele Lack (Catherine Keener) and their daughter Olive in Schenectady, upstate New York. Prone to neuroses, misgivings and enormous self-doubt, Caden also begins suffering from accelerated physical deterioration - from blood in his stools to disfigured skin. Upon receiving a prestigious MacArthur grant, Caden decides to use the money to concoct one gigantic play as an analogue of his own life; he builds massive sets amid a New York City warehouse, casts others as his friends, family and acquaintances, and casts others to play the ones he's casting. After Adele whisks Olive off to Europe but demonstrates no sign of returning soon, Caden drifts into a series of relationships with lovers - first with box office employee Hazel (Samantha Morton), who purchases and moves into a house that is perpetually on fire; then with Tammy (Emily Watson), an actress assigned to play Hazel in the theatrical project; and subsequently with others. Unfortunately, the play itself grows so big and unwieldy - and rehearsals go on for so long, taking literally decades - that it becomes unclear if the production itself will ever launch.

~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Bartender Ronnie (Cameron Dye) has gone from one job to another a lot over the years, and he wants to settle at a place that he can call his own. So Ronnie teams up with his friend Dave (Kevin Geer) and together they raise the money to buy a popular bar in Manhattan. However, while things start out well for Ronnie and Dave, business has its ups and downs and soon they're in financial trouble; as they add fine dining and live music in an effort to keep people coming in, Ronnie and Dave find themselves learning the hard way about keeping a bar afloat. Meanwhile, Ronnie's love life takes it on the chin when his girlfriend leaves him, and Dave has to tighten his belt when he's let go from his regular job. The Tavern was the feature debut for director Walter Foote, and was screened at Ireland's Galway Film Festival in the summer of 1999. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The detectives investigate when Richard Spiegel, chief financial officer for an upscale family owned department store, is found murdered. As usual, the case is top-heavy with likely suspects. Eventually the field narrows to two women, the dead man's widow (Anne Twomey) and his possible mistress (Jean de Baer) -- both of whom are daughters of the store's owner Seymour Bergreen (Joseph Wiseman). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Larry Miller guest stars as Michael Dobson, an abusive comedy-club owner suspected of shooting his wife. According to the D.A.'s office, the victim was poised to get a divorce, something that Dobson could not tolerate. As the woman lies comatose, the lawyers must determine exactly what charges will be levied against the contemptible Dobson. Without revealing the outcome of the story, it can be noted that the sixth-season Law & Order episode "Encore" could be called a sequel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

George Sluizer's 1992 English-language remake of his 1988 Dutch thriller The Vanishing follows the same plot-line as the original film, yet with one important difference. The film details a young man's (Kiefer Sutherland) search for his girlfriend (Sandra Bullock), who disappeared at a gas station after the couple had a fight. Where the original film didn't reveal what happened to the girlfriend until late into the movie, the 1992 version opens with her kidnapper (Jeff Bridges) plotting his abduction. Over the course of the film, Sutherland's search for Bullock is intercut with footage of Bridges that illustrates his mental illness and his repeated attempts to abduct women. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

As detective Cerreta (Paul Sorvino) recovers from his gunshot wounds, Logan (Chris Noth) adjusts himself to his new partner, Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach, in his first Law & Order appearance, save for an earlier guest-star appearance in a different role). Logan and Briscoe's current investigation results in the arrest of a suspect who claims self defense. In mounting his case against the accused, assistant D.A. Stone (Michael Moriarty) is distressed to learn that he will be coming face to face with an old enemy from his law-school days. Elaine Stritch won an Emmy award for her performance in this episode. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this drama, a wife is so angered that her husband has been untrue to her that she decides to return to prostitution. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on the book Hot Toddy, by Andy Edmunds, this made-for-TV movie revolves around the mysterious death of '30s film star Thelma Todd (Loni Anderson). ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

This directorial effort from Phil Joanou stars Sean Penn as an Irish-American undercover cop working the Hell's Kitchen beat. Penn is ostensibly on a sentimental journey to his old neighborhood. Actually he's been assigned to infiltrate a criminal gang led by Ed Harris, the brother of Sean's best friend Gary Oldman. Penn suffers the requisite honor vs. duty anguish when he renews his childhood romance with Harris' sister Robin Wright. State of Grace would have had more clout had it been more clear as to time and place: it's supposedly set in the 1990s, but the attitudes and behavior are pure 1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Megan Turner (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a rookie cop who witnesses a robbery in progress on her first night on the job. With her more experienced partner using the men's room, Megan decides to take action on her own. She creeps into the supermarket where a man (Tom Sizemore in a small role) is holding the clerk at gunpoint. Megan gets close enough to shoot the gunman, and calls out for him to drop his weapon. He spins the gun toward her, and she unloads her service revolver into his chest. His gun goes flying, and a bystander, Eugene Hunt (Ron Silver), surreptitiously picks it up and takes it home. Megan's superiors, unable to confirm that the man she shot was armed, suspend her. Eugene, a wealthy commodities broker, becomes obsessed with Megan. He sets up an "accidental" meeting between them and begins dating her, romancing her with fancy restaurants and helicopter rides over Manhattan. He also carves her name into the bullets he uses to gun down strangers in the street. A tough homicide detective, Nick Mann (Clancy Brown of The Shawshank Redemption), gets Megan's gun and badge back so she can help him track down the psycho killer. Eventually, Megan realizes that Eugene is the killer, but he uses his money and influence to elude the law, and he starts coming after Megan's friends and family. Megan's determination to bring Eugene to justice quickly becomes a very personal obsession. This intense cop drama, Blue Steel, was director Kathryn Bigelow's major studio follow-up to her well-received indie vampire flick, Near Dark. Bigelow co-wrote both films with Eric Red (The Hitcher). ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi