Charles Weinstock Movies
Nicholas D'Agosto and Eric Christian Olsen headline this teen comedy concerning two high-school football players who attempt to avoid another summer at football camp by becoming cheerleaders. Out on the gridiron, Gerald R. Ford High School students Shawn Colfax (D'Agosto) and Nick Brady (Olsen) are star players. But summer is drawing near, and this year neither Shawn nor Nick can stomach the prospect of spending their sun-soaked months lunging at tackling dummies and getting berated by their coach. Fortunately, Nick has a brilliant solution to their current dilemma: sign up for cheerleading camp and spend the summer surrounded by gorgeous women. But head cheerleader Carly (Sarah Roemer) can see right through them, and when Shawn falls head over heels for her, their genius plan hits an unexpected hitch. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicholas D'Agosto, Eric Christian Olsen, (more)
A structural engineer (Anthony Hopkins) and an ambitious young district attorney (Ryan Gosling) become locked in a deadly battle of wits when the former is found innocent in the attempted murder of his wife in director Gregory Hoblit's tense tale of courtroom mind games. Ted Crawford (Hopkins) is an engineer who lives with his wife, Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz), in the couple's lavish Southern California home. One day, after carefully planning out the details to ensure that there is no way he can be convicted of murder, Ted shoots his wife in a blatant attempt to kill the woman. When head hostage negotiator Rob Nunally (Billy Burke) arrives on the scene to speak with Ted, he is shocked to find that the victim of the shooting is in fact his longtime lover. Though Jennifer survives the trauma of being shot in the head at close range, she hovers comatose between life and death as star prosecutor Willy Beachum (Gosling) reluctantly accepts the case while preparing to leave the Los Angeles criminal court system behind for a more promising career at a posh private law firm. Though the DA (David Strathairn) vehemently resents Beachum's lofty plan for departure, the hotshot young lawyer remains convinced that he can expedite the apparently open-and-shut case and be on his way to greener pastures in one week's time at the very most. Beachum's swelling ego betrays him, however, as his future boss Nikki Gardner (Rosamund Pike) begins to turn up the heat and fracture mechanics specialist Ted chooses to represent himself at the trial knowing well that a career spent spotting structural flaws in aeronautical systems has instilled him with just the kind of argumentative skills needed to riddle the swaggering young lawyer's "foolproof" case with doubt. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling, (more)
Directed by Joe Nussbaum, Sleepover revolves around one of the hallmarks of female friendship: the all-important slumber party. In hopes of shedding their not-so-cool reputations during the summer before their freshman year, best friends Julie (Alexa Vega), Hannah (Mika Boorem), Yancy (Kalli Flynn Childress), and Farrah (Scout Taylor-Compton) decide to host the sleepover of their lives. Far from a mere pillow-fight-laden girl talk-fest, this sleepover includes an intense scavenger hunt against the most simultaneously loathed and envied young women they know: the infamous "popular" clique. Along the way, the girls manage to hijack a car, sneak into clubs, engage in a first kiss, and learn more than a little bit about themselves and their capabilities -- all while evading the watchful eyes of Julie's mother. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alexa Vega, Mika Boorem, (more)
An ailing criminal and his excitement-starved nurse decide to knock over a bank for fun and profit in this comic suspense story. Legendary bank robber Henry Manning (Paul Newman) pushes his luck too far and ends up in prison, where he suffers a massive stroke. He is transferred to a nursing home, in the care of Carol Ann McKay (Linda Fiorentino), a high school prom queen who married her boyfriend Wayne (Dermot Mulroney), the star of her school's football team, and whose glamour days are well behind her. After a few of her personal effects mysteriously disappear, Carol Ann starts to suspect that Henry isn't as sick as he seems, and she and Wayne are soon working with Henry to plan his last and greatest score. The title comes from the remark attributed to the outlaw Willie Sutton, who when asked why he robbed banks, replied, "Because that's where the money is." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Linda Fiorentino, (more)
- 2000
- R
This historical comedy-drama is based on the true story of Joe Gould, a bohemian eccentric who was a fixture in New York's Greenwich Village from his arrival in 1916 to his death in 1964. Gould, who claimed to be a graduate of Harvard, would cadge drinks and subsist on catsup as he regaled patrons of neighborhood saloons with stories, poems, opinions, and his imitation of a seagull. In a 1942 New Yorker profile by journalist Joseph Mitchell, Gould spoke of his life's work, a book entitled An Oral History of Our Times, which he claimed would be eleven times longer than the Bible, contain a variety of overheard conversations from throughout the years, and document the decline of 20th century culture. Mitchell kept tabs on Gould, and tried to introduce him to publishers who might put his work into print, but nothing ever came of it, and it wasn't until Gould's death that Mitchell discovered the surprising truth about his friend. Directed by Stanley Tucci, Joe Gould's Secret stars Tucci as Mitchell and Ian Holm as Gould; Hope Davis, Steve Martin, Susan Sarandon, and Patricia Clarkson highlight the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Holm, Marc Alan Austen, (more)
