James LeGros
- 2008
Fate brings together two mismatched travelers in this comedy. Sherman (Michael Shulman) is a tightly wound, career-obsessed college student whose mother Evelyn (Donna Murphy) is a successful politician who micromanages her own life as well as that of her son. Planning to spend a few weeks in Northern California with his girlfriend Marcy (Lacey Chabert), Sherman instead discovers that she's dumped him for another, more fun-loving guy; adding insult to injury, Sherman's wallet and credit cards have been stolen and Evelyn decides it's time to cut off his allowance. With few options and eager prove he can be free-spirited and self-reliant, Sherman decides to hitch-hike to Los Angeles for an internship interview, and takes a ride with the first person willing to take him down the coast. Sherman's ride turns out to be Palmer (James LeGros), a former Olympic skiing champion turned footloose middle-aged bohemian who is more interested in keeping his vintage convertible in tune than in getting anywhere at any specific time. While Sherman and Palmer have next to nothing in common, before long the younger man finds himself learning some lessons about life from the scruffy stranger behind the wheel. Sherman's Way was the first theatrical feature from producer turned director Craig Saavedra. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James LeGros, Michael Shulman, (more)
Forest Whitaker, Dennis Quaid, William Hurt, and Matthew Fox star in director Pete Travis' Rashomon-style thriller in which an assassination attempt on the president of the United States is detailed from five unique perspectives. As the president arrives in Salamanca, gunshots ring out. An American tourist (Whitaker) has captured footage of the would-be assassin on videotape, and now, as the stories of the other four witnesses unfold, each essential piece of the puzzle quickly falls into place. Only when all of the stories are told will the chilling truth to this shocking crime finally emerge. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, (more)
- 2008
First time feature filmmaker Jared Drake makes his directorial debut with this quirky black comedy set in the near future, and concerning a curious spike in cases of spontaneous human combustion. The Jeffers Corporation is the largest business in the history of mankind, and they got that way thanks to their strict philosophy of happiness through mindless productivity. But when people begin literally exploding due to unhappiness, Jeffers Corporation Level Three Visioneer George Washington Winsterhammerman (Zach Galifianakis) begins to fear that his time will come sooner rather than later. George lives a comfortable yet completely uneventful life, and when he starts having dreams in which he's the first President of the United States, his doctor informs him that they could be signs of impending explosion. Later, as the dreams become more frequent and his co-workers continue to detonate, George is prompted to reevaluate his mundane existence. Judy Greer, Missi Pyle, and James LeGros co-star in an existential black comedy featuring music by Tim DeLaughter of the Polyphonic Spree. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zach Galifianakis, Judy Greer, (more)
The true story behind the murders that many crime scholars believe to be the most perplexing series of unsolved crimes in modern history comes to the screen in chilling detail as Fight Club and Seven director David Fincher steps behind the camera to tell the mysterious tale of the infamous Zodiac killer. A relentless serial killer is stalking the streets of the San Francisco Bay Area, leaving citizens locked into a constant state of panic, and baffled authorities scrambling for clues. Though the killer sadistically mocks the detectives by leaving a series of perplexing ciphers and menacing letters at the crime scenes, the investigation quickly flatlines when none of the evidence yields any solid leads. As two detectives remain steadfast in their devotion to bringing the elusive killer to justice, they soon find that the madman has control not only over their careers, but their very lives as well. Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr. star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Ruffalo, Jake Gyllenhaal, (more)
Two couples demonstrate that breaking up can be just as hard as staying together in this romantic comedy drama. Rebecca (Julianne Moore) and Tom (David Duchovny) are a seemingly happy married couple living in New York City -- she's a successful actress, while he stays home with the kids. However, beneath the surface, things are not going well. Rebecca is no longer amused with her husband's appetite for porn and constant sexual demands, while he's seriously considering having an affair. Rebecca's brother Tobey, (Billy Crudup), is in a more openly dysfunctional relationship; he's been dating Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal) for seven years but has no interest in marriage, while she's desperate to settle down and start a family. Tobey and Elaine decide to call it quits, as Tobey hooks up with an old friend from college (Eva Mendes) who is looking to cheat on her husband, and Elaine starts dating a handsome musician (James LeGros) who may be in need of a green card. Meanwhile, Rebecca and Tom go into couples therapy, which creates as many problems as it solves. Trust the Man also features Ellen Barkin, Garry Shandling, and Bob Balaban. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Duchovny, Julianne Moore, (more)
As preparation gets underway for the construction of an environmentally devastating oil well in a remote Alaskan base just outside the Arctic Circle, a series of unexplainable occurrences lead a team of adventurers to believe that something supernatural may be afoot in director Larry Fessenden's chilly snowbound thriller. Pollack (Ron Perlman) is the ultra-macho leader of a team of adventurers that include his former lover Abby (Connie Britton), pot-smoking mechanic Motor (Kevin Corrigan), and inexperienced newcomer-cum-fortunate son Maxwell (Zach Gilford). When research scientists Hoffman (James Le Gros) and Elliot (Jamie Harrold) arrive to assess the environmental impact of the proposed project, Pollack's unmasked contempt for the pair's stalling of the project immediately creates dissent among the group. As emotions boil to the breaking point and cabin fever begins to take hold, Maxwell's increasingly strange behavior is initially attributed to the blinding white barrenness of the region that has been known to fast wear thin the fortitude of even experienced men. There's more to Maxwell's midnight wanderings and incoherent mumblings that meets the eye though, because as the outside temperature begins to rise during the dead of winter and the team members begin to experience fleeting visions out of the corner of their eyes, it begins to appear as if mother nature may be voicing her opposition to the proposed pillaging of her luminous white landscape. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Perlman, James LeGros, (more)
Eight loosely connected city dwellers find their lives intersecting through their sexual proclivities in director Ken Kwapis' screen adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's enduring play La Ronde. As the revolving set of bedroom doors spin ever faster, the hopes, fears, truths, and heartaches of those longing to make a meaningful connection surface to offer a revealing look at modern sexuality. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
The Lord works in mysterious ways, and when astronaut Bobby Paradise (David Strathairn) has a divine vision during a moon mission gone wrong, he returns to terra firma a changed man. Subsequently devoting his entire existence to God and the ministry in order to do better spread the gospel, Bobby soon builds a vast religious empire as one of the most successful televangelists to ever grace the airwaves. When a corporate merger sparks a government investigation that reveals both a searing sex scandal and a son about to be paroled from prison, Bobby will need every ounce of faith he has to make it out of the coming storm with the grace of God still on his side. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Strathairn, Barbara Hershey, (more)
Bart Freundlich directs Catch That Kid, a Fox-financed U.S. remake of the Danish family action film Klatretøsen (2002). Adventurous 12-year-old Maddy Phillips (Kristen Stewart) is an excellent mountain climber. Unfortunately, her father, Tom (Sam Robards), was severely injured on Mount Everest and requires a costly surgery to repair his spine. With the help of her friends (Max Thieriot and Corbin Bleu) and her climbing skills, Maddy develops a plan to rob a bank in order to finance her father's medical bills. Also starring Jennifer Beals as Maddy's mother, Molly, who happens to be the security chief at the bank. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kristen Stewart, Corbin Bleu, (more)
From a script by first-time screenwriter Benjamin Brand, filmmaker Greg Harrison helmed this fantastical, psychological drama, the follow-up to his 2000 Independent Spirit-award nominated debut, Groove. Courteney Cox Arquette (TV's Friends) stars as Sophie Jacobs, a photographer who is stricken with feelings of guilt and sadness when her boyfriend is murdered during a robbery. Haunted by a belief that she could have somehow prevented the death, Sophie soon begins to see things that ought not be there and is forced to question the reality around her. Also starring James LeGros and Anne Archer, November had its premiere at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Courteney Cox Arquette, James LeGros, (more)
The horrors of war flow deep in the veins of two young American G.I.s who desert their platoon during the waning days of World War II in Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 director Jeff Burr's chilling tale of terror on the battlefield. Despite the best efforts of Allied forces, Axis troops still have a stronghold over many key European outposts. With time quickly running out before they are attacked by the enemy and branded deserters by their own battalion, these two desperate soldiers soon team with a deadly band of killer orphans to take out a key Nazi base and secure yet another victory for the increasingly powerful Allies. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ryan Francis, Scott MacDonald, (more)
Damaged Care is fact-based drama about the managed care industry. It originally aired on Showtime. Laura Dern co-produced and stars in the film as Dr. Linda Peeno, who gives up her career after earning a medical degree, so that she can take care of her family. Her husband, Doug (James LeGros), is a successful OB/GYN. In 1987, when their children (from previous marriages) have gotten a little older, Linda decides to return to work, and gets a job as a medical reviewer at Humana Health Care. Patient claims that aren't approved by the UR (utilization review) nurses are forwarded to the doctors on the medical review team, who, Linda learns, are expected to rubber-stamp the UR nurses' decisions. Every decision Linda makes to cover a patient's care is questioned, sometimes angrily. The head of the UR department, Cheryl Griffith (Regina King) befriends Linda, and shares her unhappiness with the system. Linda has a crisis of conscience when she gets a call about an emergency heart transplant that needs immediate approval. Pressured by the company, she finds an out in the employer's healthcare booklet, and denies the claim. The patient dies. Eventually, Linda quits Humana (angering Doug), and Cheryl gets her a job at a smaller, non-profit company, Brothers Managed Care. The system is pretty much the same, though, and Linda comes into conflict with the cost-conscious head of the UR nurses, Gemma Coombs (Michelle Clunie). When a nurse (Suki Kaiser) is stricken with a series of crippling strokes, Linda takes a stand against the company to get her the treatment she needs. Eventually, Dr. Linda Peeno gets out of the system, and becomes an outspoken critic of the abuses of the health care industry. Dern's mother, Diane Ladd, and Adam Arkin also appear in the film. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Nicole Holofcener, writer/director of the critically acclaimed Walking and Talking, shifts her focus from New York to Los Angeles for her second feature, Lovely & Amazing. Jane Marks (Brenda Blethyn of Secrets and Lies) is a middle-aged woman who's about to undergo liposuction. She has three daughters. Michelle (Catherine Keener) is a cynical, self-involved, would-be artist in an unhappy marriage. Elizabeth is a struggling actress who constantly takes in stray dogs. Her insecurities about her attractiveness come to the fore when she blows a screen test with a big movie star, Kevin (Dermot Mulroney). The youngest of the Marks sisters, Annie (Raven Goodwin), is an overweight eight-year-old African-American girl whose birth mother was an addict. Jane has adopted Annie, and is determined to provide her with a better life. Jane has a crush on her suave surgeon (Michael Nouri of Flashdance), but her family is thrown into chaos when complications arise during her outpatient procedure, and she's forced to stay in the hospital. Michelle, pressured by her husband (Clark Gregg) to take some financial responsibility for raising their young daughter, eventually gets a part-time job working in a one-hour photo booth, where she meets Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal), a misfit teen who awkwardly flirts with her. Elizabeth's boyfriend, Paul (James LeGros), who seems to disapprove of the entertainment industry, leaves her. Annie eats compulsively and misbehaves. When the family is faced with a series of crises, relationship patterns that had solidified over the years subtly begin to change. A festival favorite, Lovely & Amazing has been shown at the 2001 Telluride Film Festival, the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival, and the 2002 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Keener, Brenda Blethyn, (more)
What happens if you take one of William Shakespeare's darkest tragedies and move it to a burger joint in the early 1970s? The answer can be found in the satiric comedy Scotland, PA, the first feature from writer and director Billy Morrissette. Mac McBeth (James LeGros) is a hard-working but unambitious doofus who toils at a hamburger stand alongside his wife Pat (Maura Tierney), who has a significant edge in the brains department. Pat is convinced she could do a lot better with the place than their boss Norm Duncan (James Rebhorn) is doing, so she works up a plan to usurp Norm, convincing Mac to rob the restaurant's safe and then murder Norm, using the robbery as a way of throwing the police off their trail. Though two stoners (Andy Dick and Timothy Speed Levitch) and a would-be fortune teller (Amy Smart) warn Mac that bad luck awaits him, he gathers his courage and goes through with his wife's scheme. At first, things seem to have gone just as Pat hoped, and after Norm's sons (Geoff Dunsworth and Tom Guiry) sell the restaurant to the McBeths (they pay for it with the money they stole from Norm), business takes off. But vegetarian police detective McDuff (Christopher Walken) is convinced there's foul play at the new center of the fast food universe, and when the McBeths fear that fry cook Banco (Kevin Corrigan) knows more than he's letting on, Pat decides another murder is on the menu. Scotland, PA premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival; incidentally, Shakespeare does receive screen credit for his contribution to the story. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James LeGros, Maura Tierney, (more)
