Jean Brassard Movies
- 2007
- R
Writer/director Boaz Yakin explores the burdens carried by the descendants of those who survived with this family drama about a woman (Jacqueline Bisset) who managed to live through her harrowing stint in a Nazi concentration camp, and her two dysfunctional sons. Having managed to survive in a Nazi concentration camp by seducing the doctor who carried out experimental surgeries on the prisoners, a young Jewish woman moves to New York and starts a family. Years later, her two grown sons seem poised to become casualties of their mother's desperate past. Her eldest son (Josh Lucas) works at a fraudulent modeling agency that profits off the dreams of fame seekers. His psychosexual escapades and intellectual diatribes act as a barrier to the outside world, yet just when it seems that his life has lost all meaning, a charming young co-worker (Adam Brody) helps him to realize that in order to survive, he will have to embrace change. Meanwhile, the highly erratic mother and her younger son (Lukas Haas) have become locked in a compulsive, co-dependent cycle that now threatens to consume them both. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Josh Lucas, Jacqueline Bisset, (more)
- 2003
The recent, highly publicized arrest of a longtime fugitive from American justice was the evident source of this 2003 Law & Order episode. It all begins with a jewelry-store robbery in which the owner is killed and a customer (Mandy Patinkin) is wounded. A suspect is brought into court, only to be dismissed when the surviving victim fails to show up to testify -- and with good reason: The missing witness is none other than a notorious political activist, who had fled the U.S. years earlier to avoid a murder rap of his own. The question: Can a man who was tried and convicted in absentia still be sent to prison on the basis of the original trial -- or do the detectives and the lawyers have to reopen a case in which most of the evidence is cold and many of the original participants are dead? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This remake of the classic 1975 science fiction film follows the same basic story line but focuses far more on the sports action of the fictional game at its center. Chris Klein stars as all-American athlete Jonathan Cross, the most popular player of "Rollerball," a violent 21st century sport mixing elements of basketball, hockey, roller derby, and extreme sports, along with the development of live wagering that tracks each game's action. Along with his friends and teammates Marcus (L.L. Cool J) and Aurora (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), Jonathan is living the life of a media celebrity and millionaire, enjoying the adoration of fans and all of the perks that his fame brings. When the creator of Rollerball, Alexi Petrovich (Jean Reno), realizes that the sport's ratings spike during the on-court accidents that are de rigueur for the game, he schemes to create the bloody incidents that are popular with viewers but put the athletes in mortal jeopardy. Soon, Jonathan and his friends find themselves pawns in a vast corporate conspiracy in which their lives are far less important than profits. Rollerball (2002) also stars pop singer Pink in her acting debut. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris Klein, Jean Reno, (more)
