Donal Logue Movies
Combining low-key, average-Joe charisma with a bottomless capacity for shrewd comic timing, Donal Logue earned a reputation in the late '90s as one of the decade's most compelling -- and prolific -- character actors. First winning notice and a dedicated cult following for his portrayal of Jimmy McBride, a cab driver featured in a series of MTV promos, Logue went on to work in a string of films good, bad, and ugly before finally landing his first major starring role in Jenniphr Goodman's 2000 Sundance favorite The Tao of Steve.The son of Irish immigrants, Logue was born in Ottawa, Canada, on February 27, 1966. Raised largely in the Southwestern United States, he went on to attend Harvard, where he studied history and began to nurture an interest in theater. Although Logue had long aspired to be a writer, a stint at the British-American Drama Academy in London strengthened his dedication to acting, and after graduating from college, he began performing on the stage.
Logue got his first break in the early '90s, when he began doing the notorious Jimmy the cab driver segments for MTV and won a small role in Robert Redford's Sneakers (1992). Supporting work in films ranging from Little Women (1994) to 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up (1995) to the American remake of Diabolique (1996) followed, as did work on several TV series. In 1999, film audiences were finally given a greater opportunity to see what Logue was capable of when he turned in a scene-stealing performance as a slobby L.A. limo driver with half-baked acting ambitions in The Big Tease, Kevin Allen's light-hearted hairdressing mockumentary. Full-blown appreciation finally came the actor's way the following year, when he starred as the title character of Goodman's The Tao of Steve. A wry comedy about a late-twentysomething slacker whose savvy dating philosophy allows him to win over the ladies despite a gut whose bounty is matched only by the amount of pot he consumes, the film was a great success at the 2000 Sundance Festival, where Logue was awarded a Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Performance.
The growing appreciation that surrounded Logue's work was reflected in the number of projects the actor was involved with that same year. Appearing in no less than six movies, including the summer blockbuster The Patriot, Logue was soon being touted as one of the industry's more promising -- to say nothing of hard-working -- talents. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
A struggling actor decides to quit the business in the most permanent way possible in this dark comedy drama starring Paul Rudd, Donal Logue, and Mackenzie Astin. Dismayed at his lack of success onscreen and depressed by his lackluster personal life, actor Paul Miller (Rudd) announces that in two days time he will take his own life. Hiring a documentary crew to follow him as he says his goodbyes and prepares to take the final plunge, Paul steps to center stage for a starring role in the film that finds him seeking meaning and hope in the brief 48 hours before his scheduled demise. As the clock winds down and the crew nervously prepares for Paul's big send-off, one question remains -- will Paul have the courage to see his final role through to the bitter end? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Rudd, Donal Logue, (more)
In yet another sequel to the surprise family hit 3 Ninjas, the three young Ninja brothers, Rocky (Michael Treanor), Colt (Max Elliott Slade), and Tum Tum (Chad Power), are spending the summer with their grandfather (Victor Wong), who is tutoring them in the martial arts. However, there are foul doings afoot -- Jack (Charles Napier), an unscrupulous business tycoon, has been dumping toxic waste on a nearby Indian burial ground and keeping the matter quiet with kickbacks to the local police. When the Ninja brothers try to come to the aid of the local Indian tribe, Jack tries to intimidate them and their Native American friends, a plan that only makes the boys more determined to see that justice is done. 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up was actually shot in 1994, a year before 3 Ninjas Kick Back, and features the same three actors who played the Ninja brothers in the first film. However, 3 Ninja Kick Back, which replaced two members of the original cast, was released first. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Wong, Charles Napier, (more)
Adapted from Neil Sheehan's 1988 Pulitzer Prize-winning best-seller, this $14-million TV docudrama, re-creating the Vietnam War with convincing combat footage, was the most expensive two-hour movie ever produced by HBO Pictures. Lieutenant Colonel John Paul Vann (Bill Paxton) spends ten years (1962-72) in Vietnam. When Vann exposes falsified casualty figures, deceptive battle reports, and other lies about the war, journalist Steven Burnett (Donal Logue) relays the truth to American newspapers, and Vann takes heat from higher-ups. Meanwhile, he's involved with a Vietnamese teacher (Vivian Wu), and his wife (Amy Madigan) is forced to lie so he won't be court-martialed for sexual relations with an underage Vietnamese girl. Back for a second tour, he gets another young Vietnamese woman pregnant and is forced to marry her. Returning in 1968 as a civilian, he's decorated and eventually promoted to general for his contributions during the Tet offensive. The music track features Grace Slick singing "Somebody to Love" while peasant villages are bombed. Filmed in Lompburi, Thailand. Premiered May 30, 1998 on HBO. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Paxton, Amy Madigan, (more)
Donal Logue (Grounded for Life) stars as a hard-drinking, has-been TV director who gets a second shot at success when he's assigned to run a fishing show in Scotland. Though he has to work with a miniscule budget, a challenging partner (who just happens to be his ex-wife), and a total lack of booze, his time in the highlands may be just the thing he needs to be happy. ~ Carly Wray, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donal Logue, Joely Collins, (more)
The late journalist Randy Shilts' best-selling book on the burgeoning AIDS crisis was adapted for cable TV by Arnold Schulman. In 1981, researchers begin discerning a mysterious new disease that apparently affects only homosexual males (or so they thought at that time). Working independently, and with marked hostility toward one another, an American and a French research team manage to identify and name the dreaded HIV virus. The long-range effects of AIDS is experienced through the first- and secondhand experiences of several unfortunates, including a choreographer (Richard Gere) whose character is said to be based on Michael Bennett. The all-star cast (most of whom eschewed their usual high salaries) includes Lily Tomlin as San Francisco health official Selma Dritz, Matthew Modine as Centers for Disease Control researcher Don Francis, Alan Alda as NIH official Robert Gallo (who emerges as the villain of the piece), Ian McKellan as gay activist Bill Kraus, and Glenne Headley, Steve Martin and Anjelica Huston in cameo roles. And the Band Played On debuted September 11, 1993, on HBO. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
- R
After a drug deal goes horribly awry, Bebe and Alex (Molly Ringwald and Donal Logue) flee to Baja where they wait for money and passports to arrive. Bebe's father (Corbin Bernsen) sends Bebe's not-yet-divorced ex-husband Michael (Michael Nickles) after her, hoping he can talk some sense into Bebe. While Bebe and Alex get increasingly irritated and Michael searches the streets of Baja, a ill-tempered and cut-throat hitman (Lance Henriksen) shows up and befriends Michael. Eventually, all the characters collide in the desert in an explosive confrontation. Typical Elmore Leonard-type plot situation among criminals, but the lush photography of Baja and the competent performances keep this film taut and fresh looking. Henriksen in particular breathes life into a very cliched character making the audience wish the whole film was about him. ~ Sean D. MacLaggan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Molly Ringwald, Lance Henriksen, (more)
British director Stephen Norrington helmed this David S. Goyer adaptation of the Marvel Comics character created in 1973 by scripter Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan. In the Tomb of Dracula comic book origin, just before Blade's mother gave birth to Blade, she was bitten by a vampire, which made Blade immune to vampires. Now a vampire hunter, Blade, joined by vampire detective Hannibal King and Dracula-descendent Frank Drake, stalks vampires. In the 1990s (in Marvel's Nightstalkers), Blade teamed with Drake and King in an agency created to fight a variety of supernatural beings. The Marvel origin is retold in this 1998 Norrington film, with Blade's mother dying as he is born. Thirty-some years later, Blade now exists somewhere between the two worlds, not human but not fully vampire. He has become a relentless and superhuman vampire hunter, out to avenge the death of his mother and protect the rest of humankind from the evil vampire race. In this pursuit, Blade storms a notorious vampire nightclub and in a virtual bloodbath manages to wipe out most of the blood-lusting denizens. But the burnt corpse of vampire Quinn (Donal Logue) is reanimated at the hospital morgue and bites hematologist Karen Jenson (N'Bushe Wright). Blade magically appears at the hospital just in time to whisk Karen to his hideaway, a machine-shop run by his mentor Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), who once rescued Blade and who now produces a antidote to keep Blade from turning into a full-fledged vampire and who builds custom weapons for Blade to use against his evil foes. Meanwhile, Blade's vampire arch-nemesis Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff) uses computers to translate the Book of Erebus, with the ultimate aim of bringing down the old-guard vampire council, headed by Dragonetti (Udo Kier), and triggering the Blood Tide -- an event in which everyone in the world becomes a vampire. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wesley Snipes, Stephen Dorff, (more)
- 2006
Indie director Michael Mabbott follows his debut effort, The Life and Times of Guy Terrifico, with a sophomore feature, the quirky underdog comedy-drama Citizen Duane. Douglas Smith plays Duane Balfour, one of the sons in a family known for fighting impossible battles against tremendous odds. When Duane loses his run for student council president, he vows to take on an even loftier mission: "Operation Infinite Justice," carried out against his sworn enemy, Chad Milton. Chad is the grandson of the local town bigwig, whose family extends its influence to every corner of the community. Duane's teacher, Miss Houston (Vivica A. Fox) discourages him, but he refuses to back down, and - in a last-ditch attempt to rid the town of the dark shadow that the Miltons cast over it - decides to run for mayor himself, backed by an eccentric relative, Uncle Bingo - a man notorious for once putting all of his money on a horse called 'Glue Factory.' First timers Jonathan Sobol and Robert Leskie penned the script; the picture co-stars Alberta Watson, Devon Bostick and Jane McGregor. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Smith, Devon Bostick, (more)
In a sleepy small town there are two vibrant comic books stores that are rival universes unto themselves. Events spiral absurdly, violently out of control when the owners of the two shops -- nerdy hipster Ray (Donal Logue) and the nebbishy husband and wife team of Norman and Judy (Michael Rapaport and Natasha Lyonne) -- compete for a priceless collection of books left by the dead son of elderly Mrs. Cresswell (Eileen Brennan). Ray's friend, Archie (D.J. Qualls), tries to stop Ray from hiring a sleazy thief (Cary Elwes), but to no avail. Things get very ugly indeed. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
James Foley directs the slick crime caper Confidence, written by first-time screenwriter Doug Jung. Told in flashback, smooth-talking con man Jake Vig (Edward Burns) relates an elaborate scheme orchestrated by his gang :Gordo (Paul Giamatti), Miles (Brian Van Holt), and Big Al (Louis Lombardi). The crew pulls off a swindling job stealing money from a guy named Lionel (Leland Orser), who turns out to be a mob accountant for the crazy crime boss known as the King (Dustin Hoffman). After the damage has been done, Jake and his crew attempt to pull off an even bigger scam to make up for their mistake. This time the con involves the King's enemy, the mob-connected banker Morgan Price (Robert Forster). Two corrupt cops (Donal Logue and Luis Guzman) join Jake's team while the King appoints his henchman, Lupus (Frankie G.) to oversee the operation. Rachel Weisz plays Lily, Jake's love interest who is also in on the scam. Eventually, Andy Garcia shows up as FBI Agent Gunther Butan, who has been perpetually chasing after Jake. Confidence premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Burns, Rachel Weisz, (more)
- 1991
Kevin Spacey plays legendary attorney/civil libertarian Clarence Darrow in this made-for-TV biopic. The story begins in 1894, when Darrow gives up his job as a railroad attorney to represent the participants of the Pullman strike. Darrow's "man of the people" reputation grows to mythic proportions over the next thirty years, a growth represented in this film by broad strokes and windy monologues. We last see Darrow in 1924, attempting to rescue young murderers Leopold (Jamie Harold) and Loeb (Barry Sherman) from the gallows. Darrow was first telecast June 7, 1991, on the PBS series American Playhouse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this comedy, a man trying to turn away from a life of crime starts performing a little larceny in the interest of helping others. Tom Turner (Greg Kinnear) is a small-time con man who makes the mistake of trying to cheat a pair of undercover cops one night. Fortunately for Tom, his case is heard by a lenient judge who orders him to get a straight job and stay out of trouble; if he can stay employed for a year, his conviction will be wiped from the record. Tom is hired at the Post Office and assigned to the Dead Letter Office, where he and his co-workers Rebecca (Laurie Metcalf), Herman (Tim Conway), and Vladek (Hector Elizondo) try to figure out what to do with the sacks of mail addressed to Santa Claus, Elvis Presley, and God. Against orders, Tom opens one of the letters to God and is moved by the sad story of the woman who sent it. He decides to reply and accidentally mails her his pay check; but when he sees how happy the answer made the recipient, Tom and his co-workers start opening more letters and trying to answer a few prayers that would be within their reach -- which leads Tom back to the courthouse again. Director Garry Marshall has a small role as Preston Sweeney. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greg Kinnear, Laurie Metcalf, (more)
Henri-Georges Clouzot's classic French thriller gets a Hollywood makeover in this glossy remake. Guy Baran (Chazz Palminteri) is the dull, loutish headmaster of a private school that has seen better days. While Guy oversees the day to day operations, the school is actually owned by his wife Mia (Isabelle Adjani), whose spirit has been crushed by Guy's casual cruelty and whose health is frail. Guy has been openly having an affair with one of his teachers, Nicole Horner (Sharon Stone), who has almost as much contempt for Guy as Mia. Mia and Nicole eventually join forces against their common enemy and plan to murder him and conceal the evidence. However, while the killing goes as planned, Guy's body mysteriously disappears from the carefully chosen spot where it was dumped, and when a chatty detective, Shirley Vogel (Kathy Bates) begins asking questions, both women begin to wonder who knows what about their murderous scheme. This was the third remake of Les Diaboliques, following two made-for-TV adaptations, Reflection of Murder and House of Secrets. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sharon Stone, Isabelle Adjani, (more)
Michael Douglas runs afoul of a treacherous supervisor in this film version of Michael Crichton's novel. Douglas plays Tom Sanders, an executive at DigiCom, a leading computer software firm. DigiCom is about to launch a new virtual reality-based data storage system that is expected to revolutionize the industry, and Bob Garvin (Donald Sutherland), the owner of the company, is in the midst of negotiating a merger that could bring $100 million into the firm. However, while Tom is expecting a promotion, he discovers the position has been given instead to a new hire, Meredith Johnson (Demi Moore), with whom Tom had an affair years ago, before he was married. After her first day of work, Meredith invites Tom up to her office and makes a concerted attempt to seduce him; while Tom doesn't fight off her advances with very much gusto at first, eventually he decides things have gone too far and leaves in a huff. The next morning, Meredith accuses Tom of sexual harassment, and he realizes this was merely a power ploy to get him out of DigiCom for good; Tom, determined to fight, files a counter-suit, which makes him no friends at the company, since rocking the boat too hard could very well scotch the merger. Dennis Miller also appears as one of Tom's wise-cracking co-workers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Demi Moore, (more)
- 2003
A tormented Kovac (Goran Visnjic) precipitates a barroom brawl and later lobbies unsuccessfully to operate on an ailing Croatian child. Demoted from surgery, Romano (Paul McCrane) becomes more irksome than ever before when he is placed in charge of the ER. A mother-to-be must choose between giving birth to her child or undergoing life-saving chemotherapy. Chen's (Ming-Na) birthday is spoiled by Pratt's (Mekhi Phifer) ill-advised gift. And the staffers get their first look at Lewis' (Sherry Stringfield) brand-new husband. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2003
Abby's (Maura Tierney) bipolar brother, Eric (Tom Everett Scott), raises a ruckus at the funeral of Millicent Carter. To save a dying Croatian boy, Kovac (Goran Visnjic) may destroy his own future -- or completely alter his purpose in life. And both Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) and Romano (Paul McCrane) are faced with two different but equally critical decisions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2003
Weaver (Laura Innes) treats a six-week-old infant who isn't thriving as it should. Already unnerved by the news about her brother Eric, Abby (Maura Tierney) must also deal with an overmedicated -- and extremely violent -- patient (Johnny Sneed). And Dr. Gordana Horvat (Nina Sablich) a friend of Kovac (Goran Visnjic), and a fellow Croatian, supervises the surgery on a boy with a congenital heart problem. Frances Sternhagen makes her final appearance as Millicent Carter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
An ordinary woman is driven to the point of violent revenge in this tense thriller. Karen McCann (Sally Field) is a suburban wife and working mother with two daughters. Karen's life is turned upside down when her 17-year-old daughter is raped and murdered, a crime she overhears on her cellular phone. Sgt. Denillo (Joe Mantegna), a bright and resourceful police detective, soon tracks down the culprit, an especially sleazy criminal named Robert Doob (Kiefer Sutherland). However, due to a minor technicality, Doob escapes conviction, even though he's clearly guilty. Karen's husband Mack (Ed Harris) suppresses his grief and tries to go on with his life, but Karen doesn't find this quite so easy; she joins a support group for parents of murdered children, and she discovers that within the group is an underground society that seeks vigilante justice against killers who've slipped through the net of the judicial system. Karen buys a gun, learns how to use it, and begins training in martial arts. She starts keeping tabs on Doob, and learns that he not only intends to kill again, he's targeting her younger daughter. Beverly D'Angelo co-stars as Karen's best friend Dolly, and Philip Baker Hall plays Sidney Hughes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Field, Kiefer Sutherland, (more)
The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara becomes this sprawling historical epic. As in Shaara's novel, director Ronald Maxwell focuses on a handful of major players to dramatize the events of July 1863, when the armies of the Union and Confederacy clash at the small Pennsylvania town of the title. Among them are Martin Sheen as General Robert E. Lee, who disagrees with his top advisor, General James Longstreet (Tom Berenger) over battle strategy, and Jeff Daniels as Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a college professor whose unorthodox techniques save the day (and possibly the war) for his beleaguered army. Other cast standouts include Richard Jordan in his final film appearance as the ill-fated General Lewis Armistead, and cameo roles for Civil War buff Ken Burns and media mogul producer Ted Turner. Filmed on-location at Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg was shot as a television miniseries for Turner's TNT cable channel, but earned a limited theatrical release. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Sheen, Jeff Daniels, (more)
When a motorcycle-riding stuntman offers his soul to Mephistopheles in order to save the life of the one he loves most, he is forced to play host to a powerful supernatural entity whose flaming skull visage strikes fear into the heart of his enemies in this feature-film version of the long-running comic series. By day, Johnny Blaze (actor and comic-book devotee Nicolas Cage) is one of the world's best-known stuntmen, but when the sun goes down and he is in the presence of evil, the death-defying daredevil bursts into flames to become the indestructible, motorcycle-riding antihero known to the world as the Ghost Rider. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, (more)
- 1997
- NC17
Josh Evans wrote and directed this cynical glimpse at power players and hustlers working the shadowy side of the film industry. After his mother's death, talented eccentric Sonny Daye (William McNamara) arrives on the Hollywood scene. His brother, Franky Syde (Frank Whaley), confident of Sonny's abilities, allows crass, scurrilous producer Sid Dalgren (Tony Danza) to see Sonny's journal. Recognizing Sonny's gift, Sid makes moves to manipulate and exploit him. Sid's girlfriend, Vanessa (Natasha Gregson Wagner), sees Sonny in a different light. The Glam cast includes director Evans' mother, Ali MacGraw. Some of the Glam character names link with characters introduced in Evans' directorial debut, Inside the Goldmine (1994), a film that also featured Wagner, the daughter of Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner. Shown at the 1997 Vancouver Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William McNamara, Frank Whaley, (more)
