Melissa Leo Movies

Academy Award-winner Kate Winslet stars in director Todd Haynes' five-part, made-for-HBO miniseries charting the hopes and heartaches of a single, middle class, Los Angeles mother as she fights to win her daughter's affections during the Great Depression. Guy Pearce, Evan Rachel Wood, James LeGros, Mare Winningham, Melissa Leo, and Hope Davis co-star in a film based on the 1941 novel by author James M. Cain. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Kevin Smith steps his foot into horror territory with this politically tinged fright flick starring Michael Parks (From Dusk Till Dawn, Grindhouse) as a controversial Fred Phelps-ish reverend who brings his own brand of zealotry to a wayward group of teens. Smith directs from his own long-in-development script. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

A soldier comes home from the war but can't find peace in his heart and mind in this independent drama. James (Ryan O'Nan) returns to his hometown in Texas after serving a long hitch in Iraq, and is warmly welcomed by his wife, Sara (America Ferrera), and best friend, Michael (Jason Ritter). However, his homecoming party is awkward and it's clear James is not the same as he was before he left. Sara's father, David (Benito Martinez), arranges for James to get a job working beside Michael at a meat processing plant, but when an argument with a co-worker turn violent, James' life goes into a tailspin and Sara leaves him. James still hasn't come to terms with his experiences in Iraq, and a reunion with one of his Army buddies, Raymond (Wilmer Valderrama), convinces him he needs to make contact with Henry (Diego Klattenhoff), a fellow soldier who was part of an incident that scarred them both. The Dry Land was the first feature film from writer and director Ryan Piers Williams, and received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Their relationship steadily deteriorating in the eight years following their daughter's untimely death, a married couple unable to break the cycle of grief gets a second shot at love thanks to a scrappy, underage prostitute in this family drama starring James Gandolfini, Melissa Leo, and Kristen Stewart. Ever since the death of their daughter Emily, Doug (Gandolfini) and Lois Riley (Leo) have been drifting apart. As Lois wrestles with a suffocating sense of guilt over her daughter's death, Doug copes by entering into an affair with Vivian, a local waitress. Lately, Lois hasn't even been able to muster the courage to venture outside, summoning hairdressers to her home in order to maintain appearances and communicating with few people other than her sister Harriet and the local pastor. When Vivian dies and Doug finds himself in a Baton Rouge strip club during a business trip, he realizes he's come to a dangerous crossroads in life. Turning down an offer for a private dance by 16-year-old stripper Mallory, Doug instead accompanies the girl home and makes a most unusual proposition: if Mallory will allow him to stay in her run-down apartment long enough to straighten himself out, he will pay her $100 a day for her trouble. For Mallory, who isn't used to getting money for nothing, it seems like a great deal. She accepts, and Doug phones Lois to tell her he won't be coming home. As time passes, Doug and Mallory settle into an unconventional kind of domesticity. Meanwhile, back home, Lois realizes that she'll have to act fast in order to save her marriage, even if that means venturing well outside her comfort zone for the first time in nearly a decade. Most days she can't even make it to the mailbox, but after a couple attempts, Lois manages to start up her car and get on the freeway heading south. When Lois arrives in Louisiana and discovers that her husband is living with a foul-mouthed, underage hooker, she is at first horrified. Like Doug before her, however, Lois quickly warms to Mallory, due in part to her striking similarities to Emily. Before long, Lois, too, has moved in, and the three form something of an unconventional family. But when Lois attempts to steer Mallory from the path of self-destruction, the young girl bristles. Later, Mallory is hospitalized after being badly beaten by a client, and Doug and Lois rush to be by her side. Could this be the thing that pulls them back together? When Lois admits to Doug how their daughter really died, his kind understanding gives hope for a new beginning. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Widower Frank Goode has had to make plenty of adjustments since losing his wife about a year ago, but maybe the hardest one has been maintaining his relationships with his four adult children. It would seem that Frank's wife was the glue who held the family together, and when all of the kids bug out on a planned visit home, he decides to set out on a trip around the country, dropping in on each of their lives in order to help put things right. But their relationships aren't as simple as they once seemed, and Frank's paternal intuition is telling him that his sons and daughters are hiding something from him - and if the Goodes want to become the family they once were, the truth will have to come out before Frank returns home. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

An ageing Seattle rocker takes a pair of teens on a camping trip in this warm-hearted coming of age story starring Mark Duplass and Academy Award-nominee Melissa Leo. Sam Bryant (Duplass) isn't exactly the kind of guy a parent would recruit to take their kids on a camping trip; he doesn't have a job, he's still searching for a record deal, and he was nearly homeless until he moved into his aunt's house in the suburbs. But perhaps a change of scenery will do Sam well, and when Oliver (Bret Loehr) and Jake (Carr Thompson) need an adult to supervise their camping trip, Sam reluctantly obliges. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Lovelorn and lonely, 13-year-old Vanessa Lemor (Savanah Wiltfong) plots to win back her popular ex-boyfriend Philip (Shayne Topp) by winning a minority scholarship to the private academy he attends, but finds her plan backfiring when she's immediately lumped in with the unpopular kids. Vanessa is a Yup'ik (Western Eskimo) with a major crush on Philip. Though they were dating for a while, Philip cut things off in order to spend the summer in Paris. Heartbroken, Vanessa pours her heart out to her imaginary friend, Lemon Lima. Then, just when it seems that all hope is lost, Vanessa hatches a brilliant plan to enroll in the same school as Philip and win back his heart. Upon arriving at her posh new school, however, the smitten student receives the brush-off from her former boyfriend and winds up in the company of the misfits known as the FUBARs. Later, when it's announced that the students will be participating in the annual Snowstorm Survivor competition, the unpopular new arrival rallies her reject friends in a concerted effort to take first place, and impress Philip in the process. But as the even gets under way and the competition heats up, Vanessa begins to reevaluate her priorities and question her devotion to the boy who rejects her at every opportunity. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Fifteen New Yorkers head out for a night on the town that has unexpected consequences in this independent ensemble drama. Larry (Bill Sage) is a record company executive who is dating Mia (Maria Zyrianova), a beautiful model several years his junior, though he's also been sleeping with Emily (Holley Fain), his personal assistant. On Emily's suggestion, Larry goes out to a trendy club to see a promising local band fronted by Angelina (Donnamarie Recco) and Leroy (Aaron Staton); the two are also a couple offstage, but their relationship is on its last legs. When not singing, Angelina serves drinks at the club, and one of her regular customers, an actor named Greg (Christian Campbell), has finally worked up the nerve to ask her out on a date. Also at the club with romance on her mind is Michelle (Paola Mendoza), who is finally meeting Jack (Michael Muhney) after weeks of chatting on an internet dating site; however, Michelle's jealous former boyfriend (Billy Lush) is keeping his eye on her. Abby (Merissa Morin) is deeply in love with her boyfriend Marc (Bill Dawes), a bartender at the club, but is surprised to learn that her friend Clarice (Frankie Shaw) also has romantic feelings for her. And Wendy (Melissa Leo), who is older than most of the bar's clientele, finds herself vying for the attentions of both Marc and the more age-appropriate Doug (Robert Clohessy). One Night was an official selection at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

An orphaned boy is thrown head-first into a new and different life in this drama. Twelve-year-old Hector (Jacob Kiron Shalov), who has lived all his life in New Jersey, is riding in the car with his mother when they're struck by another driver; Hector receives only minor injuries, but his mother is killed. With nowhere else to go, Hector is forced to take up an offer to stay with his grandmother, who lives in the Philippines and has never met him. Hector can't speak Tagalog and his grandmother Lita (Angie Ferro) knows no English; not only can't they communicate, but Hector and Lita soon discover they don't much like one another. The teeming slums of Manila are like no place Hector has ever seen, and with few other options he falls in with a gang of teenage thugs led by Miguel (Pierro Rodriguez), who goads him into breaking into a house in a well-to-do neighborhood. Hector is caught red-handed by the owner of the house, Jose (Jaime Tirelli), a photographer who speaks fluent English. Jose insists that Hector work off the damage he's done, but he soon takes the boy under his wing, teaching him a bit about photography and giving him chores to keep him out of trouble. Hector also attracts the attention of a pretty girl, Sel (Maria Lopez), but while they're clearly fond of one another, Hector soon discovers Sel already has a boyfriend -- Miguel. Santa Mesa was the first feature film from writer and director Ron Morales. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

David Strathairn and Melissa Leo star in first-time feature filmmaker Nicole Quinn's Racing Daylight, a feature length love story told in three short films about hope and forgiveness. Part ghost story, part murder mystery, and part time-shifting tale of eternal love, the film follows the journey of Sadie Stokes (Leo), who has recently returned to her family farm in Cedersville to tend to her catatonic grandmother (Leclanche Durand). For as far back as anyone can remember, there have always been Stokes in Cedersville, though the family legacy appears to be fading as Sadie and Grandma are the last surviving members of their bloodline. One day, Sadie's staid existence is suddenly shattered when a mysterious man appears to her momentarily in a mirror, calling out the name "Anna" before vanishing back into the glass. Haunted by the mysterious apparition, Sadie gradually begins to take on the characteristics of her ancestor Anna Stokes while realizing that the only man capable of satisfying both herself and the apparition is Henry (Strathairn), the local handyman, and an avid Civil War enthusiast. But Sadie can't help but suspecting that Henry is in fact her long lost love Harry (Strathairn), and against the backdrop of the magical Hudson River Valley, an age-old mystery begins to take form in the present. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A young man struggles to grow up with principles as his family begins to self-destruct around him in this coming of age drama. Cole McKay (Michael Angarano) is a boy in his middle-teens growing up in an Irish-Catholic family in Boston. While Cole has dreams of playing major league baseball some day, his parents Desmond (Brendan Gleeson) and Margaret (Melissa Leo) are blind to his ambitions, and his older brother Terry (Tom Guiry) is a petty criminal who is unwittingly drawing Cole into his orbit. While Margaret is obsessed with projecting an image that the McKay family are happy and God-fearing folk, Desmond has been sinking deeper into depression ever since he lost his job, and his marriage is slowly but surely falling apart. The family's pride takes a body blow when Cole's teenage sister Kathleen (Emily Van Camp) discovers she's pregnant, but Cole decides it's time he took on some adult responsibilities, and gets himself a part-time job at a restaurant. Black Irish was the first directorial effort for screenwriter Brad Gann. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Wrong Turn director Rob Schmidt takes the helm for this thriller inspired by the grim true-life exploits of an alphabet-obsessed New York serial killer and starring Timothy Hutton, Cary Elwes, Eliza Dushku, and Michael Ironside. When Rochester, NY-based police investigator Megan Paige (Dushku) discovers that ten year old Carla Castillo was brutally raped and murdered in nearby Churchville, she becomes convinced that the department is dealing with a serial killer. Paige is a driven detective whose devotion to her job often crosses the border into obsession. Her fiancé, Kenneth Shine (Elwes), is a lieutenant with the Rochester Police Department, and as both jockey for the same promotion, the cracks in their relationship begin to show. Later, when Megan becomes haunted by visions of Carla and fails to solve the case, a concerned Captain Gullikson (Tom Noonan) takes her off of the case. Suffering a nervous breakdown shortly thereafter, Megan is diagnosed with adult onset of paranoid schizophrenia and placed in a psychiatric hospital, where she promptly breaks off her engagement to Kenneth.

Two years later, Megan has returned to the precinct as a records clerk, and Kenneth is now the head of the department. Over time, Megan begins developing a friendship with wheelchair-bound Richard Ledge (Hutton). When a local girl named Wendy Walsh is abducted, raped, and murdered in Webster, Megan convinces Kenneth to let her ride along with Detective Steven Harper (Tom Malloy) as an advisor to the case. But the gruesome nature of the case once again prompts strange visions for Megan. Now she is haunted by two murder victims, and to make matters worse, she's beginning to develop embarrassing involuntary ticks and stops taking her medication. As the hallucinations get worse and the case starts to run cold, Megan struggles to find the one piece of evidence that will lead them to the killer before her dark side takes over once again. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A frightened and irresponsible girl and an emotionally conflicted woman are brought together under tragic circumstances in this independent drama. Stephanie Daley (Amber Tamblyn) is a 16-year-old girl who while on a school-sponsored ski trip collapses in a puddle of blood; a medical examination reveals that Stephanie has recently given birth, and in a nearby bathroom a newborn child is found dead, flushed down a toilet with its mouth stuffed with toilet paper. While Stephanie insists the child was stillborn and she had no idea she was pregnant, she is charged with killing the infant, and court-appointed psychologist Lydie Crane (Tilda Swinton) is assigned to interview the teenager. Lydie has her own issues with possible parenthood; she's been struggling to have a child after a recent stillbirth, and the matter is taking a toll on her marriage, with her husband, Paul (Timothy Hutton), seeking solace in the arms of another woman. As Stephanie shares with Lydie her feelings about her relationship with her parents, how she lost her virginity, and her growing conviction that God gave her a child as a form of punishment, Lydie finds herself dealing with her own feelings about the child she lost. Meanwhile, Right to Life and Pro-Choice groups threaten to turn Stephanie's trial into a media circus. Stephanie Daley premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi